Getting Close Now!

The weather is actually pretty mild, the days are already getting longer and tomorrow is the fateful day marking 3 weeks until the start of exams. And because of that other thing everyone is getting excited and worked up about, those three weeks will fly by.

For engineers, these exams are only blackboard tests, but are worth a 30% chunk of each module’s marks. Content learned in these exams is also going to be tested again in the summer exams so it’s doubly important to know it.

Because of this, the last couple of days I have been furiously working and managed to complete a magnificent revision timetable that I will certainly manage to not stick to.

Because, although I have also been doing a number of other things, not least applying for a year in industry, the fact remains every time exams come up I promise myself that I will study hard and early but I don’t. I’m just not good at managing time when comes to exams.

When it comes to it, I’ve done alright at the actual test because I can cram pretty successfully- I’m good at doing stuff last minute. I put off my formal reports until very late but ended up getting good marks. I joked it was because I’d left it until I was older and therefore wiser but I know my luck will one day run out and so I’m going to really make an effort to work hard this time.

I’ve got various family things on till the 3^rd of January and after that I’m going to have a fortnight of misery, studying solidly. But because it’s my birthday the day before the last exam, I’ll be able to have a belated party after the two weeks with no guilt.

Unfortunately it’s hard to know exactly what to revise for in these exams. That’s because they are online and so there are no past paper as the tutors like to reuse the questions which makes it much harder.  On the plus side, as a general engineer, I had the choice of an embedded systems module which is assessed 100% by course work, so I have one less exam than many of my classmates.

So that’s my plan anyway.

As I say, I begin the period with a similar mantra every year and unfortunately I don’t think there is an easy fix, I just need to pull my socks up and get stuck in! I’ll let you know how it goes.

Let me know if you have any revision tips or exam techniques worth sharing and I will do that.

I’ll leave you with a great quote from Leonard Bernstein which is so, so true in my experience!

‘To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.’