All students and teachers know something about test anxiety. Under the pressure of an exam, some students are unable to demonstrate some of the knowledge and skills that they have learned.

Recently a student in the Mathematics Department at the University of Manitoba, Canada earned a doctorate in math without passing the comprehensive exam. Here is a quote from the Chronicle of Higher Education (11/29/2010).

Mathematicians from around the world are protesting the University of Manitoba’s decision to award a Ph.D. to a student who twice failed a required examination because the student was diagnosed with so-called exam anxiety, reports the National Post (http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/Mathematicians+protest+degree+granted+University+Manitoba/3897066/story.html). The protesters wrote a letter in support of Gabor Lukacs, a professor of mathematics at the university, who was suspended without pay for three months for his attempt to get a court injunction against the awarding of the degree. The letter, with 86 signatories from Canada, Europe, Israel, and the United States, warns the university president, David Barnard, that the contested doctorate, if awarded, will seriously affect the reputation of degrees granted by the university.