Monday 7 April 2008

Tomorrow

Tomorrow or today as it is marks the start of the examination period. I'm a bit nervous/shit scared. I have worked out that I have 8 days revision/actually doing the work per each 5 of my exams, so it is going to be quite tight. Exams are a nerve wrecking time, people vomit, pass out under stress, and all your work comes down to 3 hours of an exam, in which you are supposed to write about 4 pages per question, 4 questions = 16 pages give or take. Not a lot considering you may have 20 pages of notes per topic ( a rare occasion but if I have done the work then I normally do have that amount) Then there is picking the topics and hoping that they do come up, question spoting (which is apparently never a good thing to do) either redoing the whole topic because you have no idea of what your notes actually mean, then if your exams are closed book you actually have to learn everything you have written down which can be an imense task in itself. Does anyone have a tip for examinations?

In accordance with examinations comes the dreaded exam result day when everyone really just wants to know if they have beaten other people and as law is so highly and boringly competitive, you get those who boast and those who are your mates and are quite shy about revealing their exam results.

What really does annoy me about exams and how they make up your grade of your degree is that no-one really knows or wants to tell us how are degrees are marked. There are various ways to do it of course and average of what you have done over the two marked years, or the four best marks over the period of two years (withstanding the fact that you have similarily consistent marks a 2:1 for example can be obtained if you have a mixture of 2:1's and 2:2's but if you were to get 4 3rd's in your 2nd year and then four 2:1's in your final year then the likelyhood of getting a 2:1 is unlikely)

So tomorrow dawns a new day for me perhaps because I actually will have to start doing the work at an alarming rate. And doing work constantly for the next 40 days isnt going to be appealing or attractive. Thoughts of exams are depressing and currently turn my stomach...

Good luck to all of you that have exams! I know that I'll need it, or by some divine intervention and hard work I can hopefully get some 2:1s this year :)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree-Exams are deeply unpleasant and seem almost grossley disproportionate to the ammount of work they demand of the student.
I HATE revision, and have never really found a truly successful way of tackling it properly; the only useful clues about exam content came from the lecturers themselves, who would drop heavy hints about what would appear on the paper, though one particularly LOVELY tutor made no bones about telling her classes the precise content of the subject paper, which got her into no end of trouble with the exam board...but I digress.
The thing that REALLY bugged me about exams was the way in which EVERYONE want to get together to dissect the paper over coffee as soon as it was over.Whats the point?! To make yourself FEEL better? 99 times out of a 100, it only made me feel WORSE. Once the exam is done, let it go for heavens sake; its in the hands of the markers - who arent two headed devils; they do want to see you succeed.
As to results - to the boasters, BLAH; you are FULL of sh*t. To the friends, I commend you for your collaboration and your support, and to the shy abut the results, fair enough.
Don't get your knickers in a twist about calculating your classification - the system is so horrendously complex, that I'm not sure even the examiiners understand it!!
All The VERY best for your exams LLLS - I believe you can pass the lot with no problems!! ( I think you just have to believe in yourself!)

Android said...

Hey LLLS,

All the best for your exams. Just don't leave it till the last minute!

Do your 1st year results count? If not, I wouldn't stress yourself too much about the 2:1 - do you best and save all the panicking until the next year :)

Lost said...

Hey Android im in my 2nd year..
passed last year which didn't count, but this year does! ahh! Have wasted the past two days partying eek!

Law minx - some tutors have been helpful telling us what things will are likely to come up, as long as we have done the reading they say there shouldnt be any suprises its just getting all the reading done!