Review of the year so far

Week eleven starts on Monday. It’s very almost the end of my first semester of my first year (the second time around), so I thought I’d do a little bit of a review and a comparison to this time last year.

So far, the year has gone amazingly. This year has so far been better than I could have imagined, and I think that’s for a variety of reasons.

It’s really been a couple of months of unlearning in a way. Journalism is different from anything I’ve studied before. For the past three years I’ve been focused almost entirely on the sciences, and even GCSEs, which seem a million years ago now, weren’t really enough to prepare me for this. My old way of learning has been made completely redundant and whilst that’s a little scary, I’m glad.

All through secondary school and college, and last year at university, I had to work constantly to get the grades I achieved. My little brother, who sat his GCSEs last year, was able to get away with minimal studying outside of class, whereas I had to be working all the time, so much that I didn’t really get much of a Christmas break during my A-Levels and when my youngest brother was a baby and his crying woke me up in the night, my brain would immediately be trying to work out a made up maths equation. It wasn’t a healthy way of living, or studying.

For the first time that I can remember, I don’t have to be constantly working in order to do well. I’m not saying that I show up to lectures and that’s it. I do work outside of class, but nothing more than the required reading and any set work, really. I can relax and hang out with my friends without panicking that I should be doing something else. It’s a little strange, after so long of constantly working, but I like it.

Comparing this year to last year isn’t really fair. I was unhappy with my course, over-worked, and incredibly stressed. This year, I’m getting the help I need to cope with learning differences I didn’t even know I had last year, and I feel completely at home with my course. This year is an entire world away from last year.

This time last year I was panicking about all the revision I was going to have to do over the Christmas break (which I didn’t end up doing after I decided to drop my course). Most of my exams this year are before the winter break, in week 12. So that’s less revision time and, really, I should be panicking. But I’m not. I feel completely relaxed about my media law and my news writing exams, and a little nervous about my philosophy exam. My politics exam is after the winter break, and I’ll be doing lots of revision for that, but not as much as I was expecting to do over the winter break last year.

This year I’ll get to enjoy my winter break, like I’m enjoying my course.

Staying Motivated

One of the hardest things with studying is staying motivated. It’s all very well and good knowing you have to do something, but finding the motivation to get it started, and not to get distracted during what’s supposed to be a “small” break that ends up lasting the entire day, is something that I know a lot of people struggle with.

I consider myself lucky in that I don’t struggle with this as much as my friends and course mates do, and will happily – maybe not happily, but easily – spend an entire Christmas break revising for January mock exams and entire days pretty much locked in my room.

So, how do I stay motivated?

First off, there’s the big picture. I’m not revising to pass exams or pass a course. Whilst I was revising through Christmas break during my A levels, the key motivation was “I want to study at Edinburgh”. Edinburgh University required rather high grades, but getting the As needed wasn’t what motivated me. It was the thinking “study for just another hour and you can study at Edinburgh” and then, once that hour was up, “you did that hour easily, you can do another one, and then you can study at Edinburgh” (once, when I was a kid, my mum tricked me into eating three of these disgusting vegetable finger things using the same method. And it worked then too, though I don’t think Edinburgh University was the reward back then.)

After going on an open day to Edinburgh, I decided against going there to study. So, what’s the “big picture” motivation now?

A job.

Not just any job.

What I told a friend when they asked: “Ok, here’s my secret. Have an obsession. Find a job to aim for within that obsession. Become totally focused on getting that job. Have an unrealistic view that everything will be perfect when you get that job. Worry about that not being true when you have to face that fact. Just focus on getting there first.”

This pretty much sums up the “big picture” motivation.

Of course, that isn’t always going to work, and I don’t rely on that all the time. For long projects, such as stupidly long chapters I have to read or exam papers, I use a reward system.

Chocolate is my reward of choice, but stickers also work for me. You’ve probably seen the picture of gummy bears on a book and, when you get to a gummy bear, you can have the sweet. Same thing. And it works, or it works for me anyway.

These two things are what really keeps me motivated and, most of the time, makes me get everything I have to do in a day done.

Back To An Old Style Of Learning

Reading.

At secondary school, during GCSEs, I had to read the assigned texts for English and I read text books and sometimes I read photocopied hand outs the teacher gave us. This, at the time, was quite manageable. Three years of having hardly any reading set has made the part of my brain that made that manageable go to sleep, it would seem.

I knew when I decided to make the drastic change from Geophysical Sciences to Journalism that it was going to be a completely different learning experience to that I’d become used to. No more sitting with maths problems and coming with a definite answer (or not, as the case very often was). No more being able to learn facts, regurgitate them in an exam, and get marks. Not even being able to use those facts to work out answers to related questions. I knew those days were gone, and a wave of essays and reading was just on the horizon.

I just never anticipated how much reading.

I have at the most nine contact hours a week but in the whole two weeks I’ve been in time tabled lessons, I’ve yet to have met those nine hours. Plenty of time for reading. Maybe. But when it takes me three hours to read one chapter of my philosophy book (and make notes), that time begins to slip away a little. I simply do not understand how, with so many free hours in the week, I end up having to read six chapters of three different books (four from one, two each from the other two) in one day.

Ok, I do know how. Because I did the reading for last Monday’s lecture and this Monday’s lecture all in one week and decided I had time to spare to see a friend yesterday.

The me from GCSEs, though not perfectly equipped to deal with this level of private studying, is probably a lot better equipped than the now me. My motivation to get to where I need to be has… died, since I started university last year. Gone are the days when I would work solidly through Christmas break on the off chance I might decide to accept an offer of three As. It’s as if everything I learned about learning whilst I was at school and college disappeared the moment I sat down in the lecture hall last year. I really need to get that motivation back, and figure out my time management.

(On a side note, today has been the most productive day of the week so far. Not only have I almost finished my to do list but I’ve also done quite a bit of painting between chapters. Looks like I might have figured out a study method…)

 

Coming Out Of Exams

The stress is finally open. After sitting for hours in silence, the exam is finally over! Here are some tips for what to do when you get out of the exam:

Get out of the way: No matter how well the exam went, whether you’re waiting for friends, or anything else, DO NOT STAND IN THE DOORWAY! Move away from the door way because 1) nobody else can get out. And you will annoy everybody waiting to leave the exam hall. And 2) some students will still be working. Students with extra time will still be in the exam hall and, chances are, you’re not actually being all that quiet. Move out of the way of the doors before you start having a chat with your friends. Before the exam, arrange to meet up with your friends somewhere far away from the exam hall, so you or they don’t feel the need to hang around waiting for you.

Don’t feel the need to talk about the exam: Everyone’s different. Some people like to chat away about the exam and compare answers. Others (like me) prefer to forget about the exam as soon as possible. Don’t feel like you need to talk about the exam if you don’t want to, and don’t feel about you can’t talk about the exam if you want to, but find somebody who shares your preference to talk with.

Take a break: Even if you have another exam coming up, take a bit of a break. You’ve been working solidly for at least an hour (probably longer). Take a walk, get some food, and have some fun. Then, if you still have exams, get back to revision. I wouldn’t recommend revising after a morning exam if you have an afternoon exam the same day. You really need a break, or you won’t be able to focus in your second exam.

Check forums before talking about exams: Some exam boards run exams in a number of countries, and so forums such as The Student Room ask people to not talk about certain exams before a certain date, as not all countries can complete exams at the same time. Check the rules before you post about exams and questions in them.

 

This Time Last Year…

This time last year, I was studying for my A Level exams. Three A2 maths, two A2 geography, two A2 physics, two A2 chemistry, and one AS maths resit exam. Not the most enjoyable time of my life, I have to admit. Even though I’d spent all of Christmas break revising like a mad person, I didn’t do as well as I was expected to do in my mock exams. At the beginning of A levels I was predicted three As and, to get onto the course I started last September, I needed an A and two Bs.

By this time last year, revision was already well under way. Learning case studies for geography and trying desperately to remember trigonometry rules for maths (rules I still don’t know). I remember having a huge, hand made poster about Simple Harmonic Motion next to my bed, and a littler one showing the development of a Temperate Deciduous Woodland next to it. I had a box (I still have the box, actually) of flash cards, hand made dominos and jigsaws which I used to revise, laying them all out on my bed and going through packs three or four times a day.

My chemistry course still hadn’t finished all the content I needed to cover at this point, which was pretty scary. I don’t think my physics had either. Chemistry ended up being my worst subject. I got a C overall, but it was remarked and I ended up with a B. I knew I was going to have trouble with it because there was a lot of fact learning and a lot of maths and there was no one specific thing you could revise and you would be sorted. The same is true of Geography, but my Geography teacher was so good at preparing us for our exams I wasn’t really worried about it.

This time last year, I cried at least once a week. It was a stressful time. Between the pressure of exams, the pressure I was putting myself under, and the fact one of my maths teachers was a complete and utter douche bag, it was very uncommon for me to not be crying. My back up university required the same grades as my first choice (everywhere wanted that kind of grade, except Edinburg, who wanted three As) and, with my mock exam results coming back A, C, C, E, I knew I needed to do a lot better.

I think revising for A Levels was the most stressful period of my life so far. More stressful than GCSEs, even if I was doing fewer subjects. I was so relieved when it was over and am now relieved I never have to go through all that again.

I got the grades I needed to. Just. The scary part for me is that, if I was to go through all that again, I would have to do things the same way in order to get the grades I needed. I would have to push myself to the point I spent more time crying than not in order to get onto a course (where I again spent more time crying than not, but that’s another point).

This time last year was a long time ago, and I’m glad it’s over.

Pros and Cons of Revision Methods for Exams

Because everyone has different learning styles, everyone will find different revision methods work for them. What you might rely on might be awful for your best friend. This is how I found different revision methods worked for me:

Past Papers:

Pros:

• It’s exactly what you can expect in the actual exam
• For short answer questions, the answers can usually be easily found

Cons:

• Limited number
• Essay type questions can’t be mark quite so easily.

Mind Maps:

Pros:

• Good for visual learning
• Easy to update
• Puts bullet points in a more visual format

Cons:

• No practice of exam questions
• Not so good at consolidating information

Flash Cards:

Pros:

• Good for kinetic learners
• Shortening the information helps consolidate it

Cons:

• No practice of exam questions
• Can take a lot of time to make
• Not so easy to add things to

Revision Quizs:

Pros:

• Can be tailored to the type of exam questions you will be
• Having to come up with an answer scheme consolidated the information

Cons:

• Can take a long time to make
• Difficult to add to
• Only have as many as you make

 

Exam Day Tips

It’s getting closer to that time of year again, when all your learning, revision, and preparation over the past year (sometimes longer) is assessed. It might be one of the most important hours of your life and, no matter how much preparation you’ve done and how well the teachers have explained the exam, it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous.

Some tips for your exams:

Before the exam:

It is ok to be nervous. And, no matter how well prepared and cool some of your classmates are, they’re probably just as nervous as you are.

I was one of those annoying kids who arrived half an hour early with their pencil case already out and sat chatting to my friend about music or something. You would think I didn’t have a care in the world about my exam. Wrong. This was just my way of coping. Don’t feel bad because you’re doing last minute revision or relaxation techniques. It’s ok to be nervous.

That said, last minute revision is probably not the best thing to be doing before your exam. It might be the case that, if you don’t know it by now, you’re not going to know it at all. Maybe having a little flash card of the most important information might be a good idea, but going through a textbook worth of material is only going to do you more harm than good.

Have all your equipment ready. Pen, and a spare pen, and another spare pen (make sure they’re all black, as a lot of exams ask for only black ink), a pencil (a mechanical pencil is a good idea, as you won’t have to waste time sharpening it if it breaks), a sharpener, rubber, ruler, colouring pencils, a calculator (if allowed). Your school or college may have the equipment already, but there’s nothing wrong with having your own.

Don’t bring your phone. Leave phones at home, or in a locker if those are available, or in a cloak room if possible. It saves so much time after your exam. If that isn’t possible, and it sometimes isn’t possible, you will have to hand your phone in. Believe me, it is so much better to be safe than sorry. Even turned off, at the bottom of your bag, it could still be a problem and it is not worth the risk.

During your exam

Manage your time well. Don’t spend fifteen minutes on a question that doesn’t call for fifteen minutes. Those fifteen minutes could be spent perfecting an answer for a longer questions or picking up a couple more marks elsewhere. Allocate your time wisely, knowing where you should be up to at half time and keep one eye on the clock.

If allowed (and it sometimes isn’t allowed, so make sure at your school or college) it may be a good idea to keep a watch on the desk, in case you find it difficult to see the clock (you probably won’t, they’re usually fairly big, but it’s a possibility). Having the watch on the desk will reassure you.

Write down important formulae you’re likely to need if you’re not given a formulae sheet. Those are probably the things you’re going to have on your flash card, right? Get them down quickly, before you forget about them.

After your exam

Don’t go and find the mark scheme. There is no point in doing this, though a lot of people do. You can’t change your answers and you’re likely to get caught up on the questions you got wrong. It’s much better to put the exam in the past and focus on the future.

That’s it. The exams over. There’s nothing more you can do now.

More About Notes

As those revising are probably finding out at the moment, making good notes when studying will save you hours of time during revision. As different people learn in different ways, different notes work for different people, and you need to find your own way to make notes.

During lessons and lectures, it’s unlikely you’re going to be writing anything more than bullet point notes or short sentences. Especially during lectures, where all the information may not be written down, it’s even more important to not think about fancy colour coding or neat thought bubbles. You just need to get the information down as quickly as possible.

Sometimes, it can be appropriate to make notes in grids, with boxes for each key subject of discussion. For example, watching a video on animals from different environments, it would make sense to split a note sheet into boxes for each different environment. It’s a quick and easy way to put some order into notes without missing anything else that is said.

After writing the initial notes, it’s a good idea to write up notes later (once a week is a good rate to keep on top of everything). This is where the colour coding and thought bubbles come in.

Colour coding is actually a really good idea technique for helping to organise your notes. Having a different colour for examples, key points, and important data, for example, will help when revising. Colour coding will have to depend on what subjects you’re studying, but in the past, I’ve had different colours in maths for examples and step by step how to guides, and in geography for key definitions and case studies.

Sometimes “neat notes” can be written up in differently to the original style. Power points, for personal use only, can help consolidate the knowledge and make for a useful revision technique. Mind maps, revision posters, and flash cards all make good notes that you can use to revise later.

When writing up notes neatly, there is very little point simply rewriting the notes. As a lot of you will know, it’s easy enough to copy come thing out without reading what you’re writing. The revision begins as soon as you’ve finished the lesson or lecture, including writing up your notes. Something as simple as colour coding would help as you need to pick out the important information and actually read your notes.

It’s worth experimenting with different note forms, as everybody learns differently. Whilst your best friend might swear by making power points for all their revision, you might find something else much more effective for you.

My Revision: Subject By Subject

Different subjects are going to need different revision methods when it comes to exams. With maths, for example, there isn’t a better way to revise (or many other ways to revise) than to sit down and do past papers over and over. English and other subjects have other ways that would be more effective.

At A Level I studied maths, chemistry, physics, and geography, so I’ll talk about how I revised for each of these.

Maths

As I said before, the only real way you can revise for maths is with past papers. The best ones to use are the ones for your own exam board (eg OCR, AQA, edexcel). You can usually find the past papers on your exam board’s website, or sometimes on your college/school’s website. Often, the latest paper is not released, as schools use those as ‘mock’ exam papers. You can find the answers to these papers online as well.

The best way to revise I found was to first go through papers with my notes*. Then, without my notes. Then, without my notes under timed conditions. That way, you’re getting into the habit of keeping track of your time, as you will need to in exams.

The few other parts of my maths revision included making a power point of integration techniques and a poster of differentiation techniques.

Chemistry

Again, my chemistry revision consisted of a lot of past papers. For my exam board (OCR), there was a way you had to answer the questions, a recipe for longer answers in order to get all the marks. Part of my revision was learning how to answer those questions.

Then there were games. Dominos of key facts about acids and bases, a pairs game for my definitions (always learn definitions – not only for chemistry but for any science and some humanities – they are easy marks), and a jigsaw puzzle for learning the colours of transition metals.

Physics

Physics was, again, mostly past papers. My physics exam board, WJEC, didn’t have that many papers and I ended up doing the same ones three or four times.

Power points, posters, and revision booklets were also made, covering some of the key concepts, as well as the pairs games for my definitions.

Geography

Geography, like most essay based subjects, are a little harder (for me at least) to revise for. It’s important to do past papers (and extremely important to do them under timed conditions) but marking them must really be done by a teacher. Luckily for me, I had a teacher who would mark anything I did. I didn’t do quite as many past paper questions for geography as I maybe should have.

It was important in geography to learn my case studies. This consisted of making power points, making posters, playing dominos games, condensing information down to only a flash card, ect. It was learning and remembering facts and figures.

 

*A note on notes

It is extremely important to make good notes. There is one lie that every student tells themselves: I’ll remember that. You won’t. You won’t remember that. You probably won’t remember that by the end of the lesson, let alone when it comes to revising. If you think it might be important – or if your teacher tells you it’s important – write it down. What’s a couple of drops of ink worth, anyway, if it turns out to not be important?

Stress? What Stress?

Exams are probably one of the most stressful things I have ever done. They’re strange things. Your entire future depends on how well you remember things you spent weeks reading about. Or a couple of hours the night before, depending on who you are.

This exam period, I have six exams. One has already been completed and, thankfully, did not go quite as badly as expected. I expect the next five to be a lot worse.

There are lots of different types of exam takers.

There are those who organise their revision months ahead of the exams, making posters, doing past papers, and working hard. I used to be one of those people. I had to be one of those people. It is not a glamorous lifestyle to spend the entire holiday working hard and barely leaving your room, but it got me the grades I needed.

Then there are those who do not need to revise. My eldest brother, currently sitting his GCSEs is one of these people. I despise these people and their ability to do well in lessons but only have to put in minimum effort to do so. They don’t have to revise. Some brag about this fact and make you feel insignificant when they get good grades by doing nothing. Others will just shrug it off, because everyone’s different.

Then there are those who spend the night before revising desperately. I am not one of these people (Yet) but I know a fair few of them. Every teacher on the planet will tell you this isn’t how to revise, but it works for some people and if it works for you, continue to do it.

Another type of exam taker are those who are so stressed out they no longer care about anything in the world. These are the people who have come to accept the fact they have failed and, instead of trying to desperately change a fact that is written in stone, are making plans to begin their life of a failure. This is currently the category I have found myself in.

You think I’m stressed? Stressed has become part of my personality, and the only reason I am not sobbing on the floor currently is because there is no use in that.

Have a happy exam period!