Exams

Iqra · #1 06-12-2012, 03:53 PM

I have a bunch of really important exams coming up and I'm not sure whether there's anything I should be aware of or anything that you find happens to you/your levels when your about to sit an exam.

Any comments would be appreciated, don't want to put my health or education in danger?

emm142 · #2 06-12-2012, 04:45 PM

Do you mind me asking what country you are in? That might affect the type of accomodations you are able to get.

I'm in the UK, at university. My accomodations for an exam right now are:
-Up to 5 minutes break during the exam to test my BG (the time it takes to do BG tests are added at the end of the exam, so I don't miss out on any time),
-Allowed to operate my pump and check CGMS during exam,
-Allowed fast acting glucose source in exam,
-Up to 20 minutes break during exam to treat a low BG.

Those accomodations are really everything I need, and they make me more relaxed about the whole testing procedure since I know I won't mess up because of a low! In the past I have sometimes had low or high BGs during exams, but this year my exams were 3 hours long and I actually stayed pretty stable throughout all 5.

I try to keep my BGs in tight control (testing more often than usual) in the hours before an exam, because starting an exam with a really high BG pretty much means I will stay high. Although I'm not sure that damages my performance, I'd rather be safe than sorry (although I have done absolutely fine in exams with BGs up to 350). I also try to eat a fairly predictable meal before an exam. This year before most of my exams I had two slices of toast and two boiled eggs - something which I can bolus fairly predictably, but which also fills me up so I won't be hungry during the exam.

We certainly have more variables to think about, but it's totally possible to do well with D, even if it takes a lot of hard work!

Iqra · #3 06-13-2012, 04:23 PM

I'm in the UK aswel. Luckily, my exams arn't 3 hours long but some are 2 hours. I'll speak to the examination officer to find out what I'm able to do but thanks for the help! I will definatly take the points of eating toast & testing before going in, in mind.

Thankyou!

emm142 · #4 06-13-2012, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iqra

I'm in the UK aswel. Luckily, my exams arn't 3 hours long but some are 2 hours. I'll speak to the examination officer to find out what I'm able to do but thanks for the help! I will definatly take the points of eating toast & testing before going in, in mind.

Thankyou!

The examinations officer is a great place to start! Are these GCSEs? When I sat mine, I arranged with the examinations officer that I was allowed to have my BG meter and glucose with me at all times during exams, and that I could test whenever I liked. It worked well, and with planning I didn't go badly low at all (I think in one exam I dropped to 3.5, but it wasn't an issue as I didn't feel unwell so just had some glucose and kept going).

Best of luck! I'm sure you'll do great.