exams suck and i am nervous

I have an exam next week, the most dreaded part of my most dreaded course. This will be the first real exam I've taken since university, some 30 years ago. I had one exam last term, but it was open-notebook. This is closed book, part multiple-choice and part short-answer. It's 35% of my grade. And I am nervous.

I don't care about getting a good grade. My only goal is to pass. But I do have to pass.

I understand the concepts of the course - most of them, anyway - but I am worried about my recall. My crappy memory. My fuzzy brain. Like many people, I find it very difficult to absorb material that I'm not at all engaged with.

The whole thing just seems so stupid: trying to force this stuff into my brain so that I can regurgitate it to prove I've learned it. I'd much rather write a paper.

In addition, I'm nervous. That isn't helping!

Test-takers and test-givers, I have a strategy question for you, bearing in mind I'm aiming for a B-minus, the lowest possible passing grade. Of 10 course units, I have a decent grasp of eight and a poor grasp of two. Do I spend more time trying to get a better handle on the weakest two? Or should I focus on trying to do well on the less-shaky eight, and consider whatever I manage to recall on the troubling two a bonus?