by Bill Graves
You sit in a classroom, and your teacher puts an exam on your desk. English History during the Middle Ages?
You sit in a classroom, and your teacher puts an exam on your desk. English History during the Middle Ages?
You know nothing about it. You forgot you ever signed up for this course. You've not cracked a single book. You've skipped every class. And if you don't pass this exam, you don't get your degree. You reel between dread and panic.
And then you wake. Sometimes sweating.Seniors in Oregon's public universities cramming for final exams next week may never have had the exam dream. But chances are they will. In earning a college degree, they've become prime candidates for the nightmare for decades to come.
It is among the most common anxiety dreams, says Dr. Alfred Lewy, professor of psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University, probably because everyone spends a chunk of life in school.
The exam is a symbol of a test in waking life, maybe a presentation, job interview, relationship or performance. Lewy says the dream also raises the question, "Is there something that I have overlooked in my life that I should be prepared for that I haven't prepared for today?"
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