Exam time can be extremely stressful. Writing the exam online in a country where the internet and power grid are unstable is even more stressful. But if you are studying at UoPeople, one of the things you have least to worry about is the Moodle server.

I have said it before: I believe that UoPeople has one of the best-developed Moodle servers in the world today. They have a team of programmers in Tel Aviv, Israel, doing a sterling job of providing the 20,000+ students (Editor: 137,000 in 2023) with a stable platform to work on.

In South Africa, we recently had another season of load shedding. That is when the local power utility decides that you will sit in the dark. The obvious thing for a student at an online university to do is to get an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) (Editor: Or an inverter with Lithium batteries and PV Panels). But the battery can keep the router and Wi-Fi access points running for only a limited time. Mine lasts about 40 minutes. My computer’s battery can last at least two to three hours.

If that happens, you have to tell yourself to calm down because nothing helpful happens at a ballistic level. Once you are calm enough, think of your contingency plans. If you have none, you have obviously not read this post before, and you are screwed. Sad to say.

What contingency plans should you look at?

Power

It is better to use a notebook computer with a built-in battery than a desktop computer. But if you only have a desktop computer, make sure it is connected to a UPS large enough to keep it running for an hour or so.

Be careful of running computers directly on a power generator. These generators do not always supply power at the required 50Hz or 60Hz and can damage your computer’s power supply. If you have a generator, run the power, preferably through an online UPS.

An online UPS provides continuous, clean power from the battery while the generator charges it. A line-interactive UPS provides the computer with dirty electricity from the generator and switches to the battery only if power fails. The switch-over takes three milliseconds and, in itself, is a little surge-creator. Preferably, use the online UPS.

Internet

There are so many sources of internet access that it is difficult to describe every possible scenario here. The best option is to use an uncapped service rather than a “metered connection,” where your data can run out.

In developed countries, the internet is usually not a problem. In developing countries, the internet can be slow and a major problem for online users.

My contingency plan for the internet is to go to my office at work, where I know we have a 50 Mbps fibre line with a 15 Mbps failover line. In other words, I have another internet source 22km from my house, and I can go there if my house's internet is not functioning.

I have next-door neighbours who would also help if I need it. But neighbours’ houses are not always exam-friendly. So be careful who you choose to be your backup internet source.

Make arrangements with these sources beforehand. Tell them about your upcoming exams and ensure that they will be there for you in case you need them.

Having the above contingency plans in place will give you the peace of mind to focus on what you should do: Your academic work.

At UoPeople, your exams are all multiple-choice questionnaires. When Week 9 opens, first check to see if you have a Review Quiz available. That is what you should repeat over and over until you nail it and get 100%. Review all the other quizzes from Week 1 to Week 8 to make sure that you know the answers.

Most of your exams, even some proctored exams, are “open book” exams. So, you can search for an answer in your textbook. But do not spend too much time on it.

My strategy is to click “Attempt quiz now” and start answering the questions I know first, flagging those I do not know (there is a button you can press to flag them). Once I have gone through the whole questionnaire, I return to the ones I flagged beforehand. Then only do I search for answers in my textbook.

The better you are prepared, the less stressful exams are.