Planning for exams

Glenn_6So the final timetable is now out for 2nd semester exams!

Time to get organised! The first port of call is to make sure your study notes are up to date. That means catching up on your reading and also reviewing the notes you took during lectures. You might want to start making up some flash cards for important concepts or building some mind maps of how ideas link together. If you don’t have a system why not drop in on the ASK desk in the CLIPP area top floor of the Albert Coates building. One of the SALs can certainly give you a heads up.

Most of the current text books have some level of on-line support, so it is worth checking this out now to see what is available. Some of them want money to let you access the resources and that just isn’t cool. Of course if you have money burning holes in your pockets then use every resource available, but most of us have pretty strict budgets so we work with what we get for free. Did I say free? With the average cost of a text book these resources are definitely not for free! They are however VERY helpful. Lots of multiple choice practice questions and examples of short answer questions can be found. You can usually run through them several times so I like to go through once before I start my study to give myself an idea of how I’m going, then again several times during SWOTVAC before the exams. Now a lot of text book publishers provide our lecturers with test banks of questions. The lecturers can choose to use some, none or all of them. More than once I’ve read a question on the exam only to discover it is identical to one I have practised online. Bonus!

Once your notes are up to date it is time to take a closer look at the timetable to see when your exams are happening (and where!) Remember to check for changes before the end of semester!! It is worth checking out how many days (hours!) you will have between exams. This is potentially extra study time for certain subjects. You should also consider the difficulty and importance of the subjects you are taking. In week twelve you should get some final info from your lecturers so don’t miss your classes. Write up a study plan, remember to include breaks and down time (nap time!!) to keep your mind fresh.

Good luck!!

~Glenn

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