Test Taking Folklore (W18)

Introduction:

  • We interviewed 16 different Dartmouth students to get information about what types of test taking folklore they might have. We focused on all different areas of campus, from Dartmouth athletes, Dartmouth Outing Club members, Dartmouth sorority and fraternity members, and other Dartmouth students who do not categorize themselves under any one activity. One feature all these Dartmouth members had in common was they considered themselves above average intelligence and claimed to care a lot about their work. Many considered test taking stressful and described the studying process as something that could be grueling. Through one-on-one interviews, we were able to gather a lot of information about what test taking superstitions are prominent at Dartmouth. After looking at all of these superstitions, we noticed a lot of them started at a young age before even coming to Dartmouth, so having informants that came from all around the country allowed us to get a deeper understanding about how their upbringing and hometowns have influence their test taking superstitions. We also found that many of the informants categorized themselves as creatures of habit, so doing the same things every day, which makes sense, as superstitions become a habit as well. Please enjoy learning more about the test taking superstitions at Dartmouth by browsing our folklore collection page!

Presentation:

Items:

Collectors:

  • 💡 Bridget Douglas
  • Abigeal Aboaba
  • Spencer Ross
  • Matt Moniz

Tags/Keywords

  • folklore, superstition, contagious magic, glasses, test, studying, pen, first, second, banana, food, dress, clothes, pencil, song, backpack, neat, test area, prepared, underwear, color, calm, mantra, run, cross, squash, sports, temperature, water, watch, camp