This paper explores Danish upper secondary students’ preparatory processes for high-stakes exams rich in tradition: Oral exams. To graduate, the students must convince two teacher-examiners that they should pass. Grades are crucial numbers determining students’ admission into tertiary education. Fieldwork data following students transitioning from teaching to exams show students struggling to identify the characteristics of a ‘Fitting response’ (Bitzer, 1968) to the exam situation. Case-students navigate verbally explicit, implicit bodily and teaching structural indications from classroom interactions when they interpret appropriate exam participation. They are ‘cracking teachers’ codes’ instead of delivering the curriculum requirement of independent critical interpretations of text material. Alternative interpretations were considered as a confrontation with the teacher-examiner. Abstract norms of subjects called ‘super-addressees’ (Bachtin, 1986) are not transparent to students despite an almost symbiotic interrelationship between teaching and exams. Researching students anticipating exams illuminates their notions of what it takes to succeed in Education.