<p>This girl I know who's actually a good friend of mine is always gone on test days. I have 3 classes with her and I've noticed that every time we have a test in a class, she's gone for that one period if not the entire day.. So far for all those 3 classes, she's never even taken one test. My teachers keep asking me where is she and I honestly don't know what to say. But now I'm starting to notice that every time we have a test, she's gone. And when I ask her why she was absent, she says something like "headache" or "feeling sick" yet she's able to attend school the rest of the day.. </p>
<p>My teachers tell me that she hasn't taken any one of their tests yet since school started. (Imagine that in 3 different classes. And it might even be in her other classes too.) </p>
<p>Do you think this is all a coincidence? She's really smart, and she actually helps me with homework sometimes. She doesn't seem like the type of person who'd do that. I really don't know why she happens to be gone on test days. Is severe test anxiety a possibility? Even when I transferred in to those classes 2 weeks late, I still caught up with all the tests and material, yet, she hasn't even taken one.. </p>
<p>I don't know what this thread is even supposed be about. I think I'm just ranting. Am I the only one who knows someone like this? I mean what'll happen next year in college...there's no way she'd survive. </p>
<p>When I tell her that she needs to stop missing school right on test days, she tells me that she "really tries not to" . Now all my teachers keep asking me about her every time we take a test. It's annoying too because she's usually my only friend in those classes, so after the test when we have to do partner activities, I always have to work alone since my main partner (her) is always gone. </p>
<p>Yeah, I think I'm just ranting now. It just annoys me how people can avoid school so easily like this while other people work so hard to maintain straight A's and do well in every class. Why take AP classes if you can't even handle taking the tests? </p>
<p>There was a girl like that in a couple of my classes in high school. She’d always miss tests days and come back and do miraculously well (studying on the days she got off). The girl was very intelligent and was headed off to be salutatorian, but I’m glad that didn’t happen. To me, it is somewhat unethical, especially if the person was not actually sick or even talks about possible test questions to other people.</p>
<p>I would branch out and make other friends in the class to be honest. You can’t really depend on a friend like that. And in the end it will come back to haunt her. She will have to make it up and if she does it often enough, she will miss important lectures and will fall behind. Our school eventually initiated a stricter attendance policy where you have to be present for a certain amount of days (unless there is extenuating circumstances) or you won’t get credit for the course.</p>
<p>Make it clear that while you may be friends, you will not be taken advantage of. If you notice it happening often, and refuse to give her the notes or supplementary material from when she missed class, then she may be less likely to skip. There may be other things at work here, but if she is skipping certain periods in a day, she could be eventually found out. Teachers at our school had a zero tolerance policy for that and you could get zeroes if you skip. Let her know that could be a possibility in a cautionary tone and that her not being there is affecting more than just her.</p>
<p>I’m assuming she still takes the tests, just later than everyone else?
Usually there’s a limit to the number of allowed absences before they start making you bring in doctor’s excuses (or similar). If she’s missing school without a good reason, she probably won’t be able to do it for long.
Whether or not you’re prepared for a test is based on how much you studied compared to how much you needed to study. Being smart can actually be a hindrance in this because a lot of smart people don’t have to study for most of high school, and once they take a class that requires it they realize they don’t know how or they’re inclined to procrastinate.
College tests are usually a lot less frequent than high school tests, and it’s sometimes possible to get a makeup test or have your final exam grade scaled to replace the missed test if you notify the professor long enough in advance (you don’t necessarily have to have a good reason either—I missed a test once because I was going to an event for a student organization, but I had to take the makeup test before everyone else took the regular test). Usually if you get a makeup test it will be different from the test everyone else takes.
I’ve also had professors who said on their syllabi that they would drop your lowest test score, so if you didn’t take a test you would automatically get a zero, but it would be dropped if your other test scores were higher. So you could miss one of the tests for whatever reason you wanted, whether it was an emergency or not, but you would have to take the other ones. </p>