# When did you stop having the "test dream"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 15, 2010, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707 "2010-11-15T05:19:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Azile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d07c76/32.png) [@Azile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azile)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2010, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707/101 "2010-11-20T07:55:32Z")
When I have the test dream, it’s never actually about the test. It’s always about the class, like I can’t find the classroom because I never showed up all semester or they changed rooms or something. During the dream I had last, I realized that my high school administration would have told me/called my parents if I was failing the class, so since I never heard anything maybe I should just skip the final and see how that goes! But on the other hand, if I showed up and aced the final… Oh, and it was a history test. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707/102 "2010-11-20T16:34:34Z")
I’m 55 and I still have it. Usually it’s something like I’m in my last year of grad school and never went to any classes and don’t even know when and where they meet. ---
**Author:** ![ripopgome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a698b9/32.png) [@ripopgome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ripopgome)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707/103 "2010-11-21T05:14:31Z")
39 and have the “oh noes, it’s almost the end of the semester and i forgot i was enrolled in these other 3 classes!” dream very infrequently, perhaps once a year now. Thankfully, since it’s one of the few actual “nightmares” I have. The only one that’s worse is the “being chased, on the run for my life” one which invariably ends up with me waking up completely exhausted and useless that day. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707/104 "2010-11-21T05:16:51Z")
I haven’t yet. (51) and I have the other ones as well, to this day. The falling out teeth (or other horrid physical issue) for one, the car accident one and so on. Not super often or anything, but on occasion I’ll have them. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707/105 "2010-11-21T07:29:11Z")
I can’t say I’ve ever had this dream, because I always tested easily in school and never stressed about them. Now ask me about the recurring zombie apocalypse/alien attack/robot uprising, and oh yea I still have those dreams. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707/106 "2010-11-21T17:13:16Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > I can’t say I’ve ever had this dream, because I always tested easily in school and never stressed about them. I tested easily as well (always got an A) and didn’t really stress over tests, either, but I still have dreams where I forget that I was in a class and suddenly have to take the final and am totally unprepared. I don’t think it matters how well you actually did in school as to whether or not you have these dreams. ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707/107 "2010-11-23T17:07:25Z")
Oh god, I had a nightmare last night that someone would ask me this today! ---
**Author:** ![ChordedZither](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9c0ed/32.png) [@ChordedZither](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChordedZither)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707/108 "2010-11-23T17:50:14Z")
I don’t think I ever had the “test dream”. I once had the exact opposite of that dream in which I saw a teacher at the blackboard reviewing material that I had, in real life, forgotten to study. I aced the quiz the next morning because I had a vivid memory of that dream blackboard in my mind. I’ve been teaching college for almost 30 years, and I have a recurring dream of wandering maze-like hallways looking for the room where a class I am \*teaching \*is supposed to be held. When I finally get to the right room, the students students react in surprise and then start glaring at me and muttering. Then I realize that we’re 3 or 4 weeks into the semester and that I have somehow forgotten to show up to teach this class until this day. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707/109 "2010-11-24T00:24:48Z")
> [@PeskiPiksi](#): > > I’ve had this dream, only for me it’s that I’ve forgotten to go to class all semester, just remembered that I’m enrolled, and the final is today! > > I’m 34…still have that dream occasionally. Hate it. I’m 38 and I still occasionally have it. It’s almost always taking place in high school as well. I had it as recently as this week, however this time it was probably inspired by the fact that I have a telephone meeting tomorrow with an academic advisor because I’m thinking abut going back to school and looking into a post-grad degree. So it doesn’t actually count this time, but I do get that nasty dream quite randomly. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707/110 "2010-11-24T01:42:51Z")
I’m 58 and still have this dream on occassion. I also have variant dreams, where I’m prepared but they’ve changed the room where the test will be given, where I go to take the test on the wrong day, and in one case, where I got tangled up with criminals on my way to take the test. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707/111 "2010-11-24T02:30:45Z")
I had “the dream” last night, actually: I was truing to get to my exam, and I was at the gas station on the south side of town, but I was in this weird old patched-up VW microbus with highly-nonstandard hand-built controls and shift levers sticking up in the wrong places, and I was late, and I couldn’t figure out how to get it in gear or get moving… …then I woke up, and I had to drive to my exam. Fortunately, that was completely normal, except for all the construction. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707/112 "2010-11-24T02:53:37Z")
I typically didn’t bother to study for tests so I didn’t have those dreams. I do occasionally dream that I’m back in basic training and that was 23 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707/113 "2010-11-24T08:40:31Z")
Well, I’m in school so I still have the test dream. I just had one recently actually. My most recent dream involved me having a panic attack because I got an 80 on my upcoming stats test and my professor wouldn’t let me do any extra credit. I am NOT in danger of failing this class and even if I did get an 80 on this test, I’d still have at least an A- but in my dream, getting an 80 meant complete failure. I don’t recall having the test dream when I wasn’t in school though but I did dream a lot about sleeping through the alarm and missing work, or dreaming that I went to work and waking up late thinking I didn’t have to work because I had already been. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707/114 "2010-11-24T08:51:44Z")
Oh, I’ve had the naked in public dream. And again, the way I deal with it is just to go around acting like it’s perfectly normal, and no one notices. Another common one I’ve heard of is the room with locked doors or doorknobs that won’t work. I get through those by closing my eyes and just walking through the door. I’ll be disoriented for a bit, and I will either wake up, or the dream will continue. As you can see, I have a recurring theme of overriding the problems in my dream through sheer will power. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707/115 "2011-03-28T21:47:14Z")
I had my variation of this dream last night. I’d spaced general chemistry for an entire semester and was just realizing it. In the dream, I hoped I could still get a W (withdraw) grade and was counting off the weeks to myself. (When I was an undergrad, I remember reading on my drop/add slips that one could withdraw up to 12 weeks into a 16-week semester, though I never had to do this.) In this case, I’m pretty sure my trigger was my procrastination over some filing I need to do. I also spent some time at my undergrad alma mater last week, and that couldn’t have helped. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707/116 "2011-03-28T21:51:15Z")
I had a variation a few nights ago where I wasn’t sure just when spring beak started/ended somehow and I ended up staying home when I shouldn’t have. This one makes a little more sense because I’m interning at a school library and the school is on a spring break and the other day I was trying to make sure I knew the exact day to come back on… ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707/117 "2011-03-28T21:54:26Z")
What about the “I went out in public completely topless by accident” dream? :smack: Does that one _ever_ stop?? ---
**Author:** ![TexasDriver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f04885/32.png) [@TexasDriver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TexasDriver)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707/118 "2011-03-28T22:06:25Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > Most of us have probably had dreams where we either oversleep for a school test, or worse arrive on time and realize we are utterly unprepared for the test. The odd thing is that these dreams regularly occured well after I graduated college. It took me about ten years to stop having these dreams. Is this common? Did you have variants of this dream? Did your dreams happen in real life? I haven’t had this dream since last week. (So far, so good!) I graduated from college in 1986. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707/119 "2011-03-29T00:05:22Z")
I’m 57. I was doing a degree in 1997 - 2001 and never had any dreams about those tests but I still have the occasional dream about my previous major exam, which was in 1975. I turn up at the hospital for my shift and everyone wonders why I’m not at the examination centre, sitting my finals. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707/120 "2011-03-29T00:23:52Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I enjoy tests and have never had test anxiety, so I’ve never had this dream. I’ve had the “naked in school” dream several times, though. I enjoy tests and have never had test anxiety, but I have this dream quite frequently. I am still in in school, though. (four more weeks! agh!) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-having-the-test-dream/560707.md?page=7)