As soon as the exam timetable came out, students knew it was going to be a tough ask to attempt 4 exams in the space of 10 days.
Most students either went travelling in December or went back home to spend time with family. Being in a holiday mood, followed by university exams is generally quite hard, as you have to balance both your social life and academic studies.
My overall exam experience was quite nice, as I made sure I studied during my time in India and made sure I set clear goals and targets so that it was easier for me to handle these exams. What I found most helpful were the lecture podcasts. If you make sure you revisit all lecture podcasts and read all additional papers then you pretty much cover everything you need to know for the exams. However, one big piece of advice is that you should never completely rely on past papers. This year students generally made a mistake by completely relying on past papers for one of the modules due to the module having a very large amount of content to cover. Even though the general reaction after that particular exam was that it was quite challenging, I am hopeful that most students should achieve merit level marks. There is also a very clear advantage to having these mid-year exams. It gives you a reality check in terms of your efforts and where you can improve. Most students like me have been tackling job applications so having another chance in summer exams for other modules can be really useful if you are pushing for those distinction level grades.
A general piece of advice from my side would be that make sure you revise EVERYTHING that is taught and not to pick and choose topics. This would ensure that you will be able to at least attempt a tricky question rather than leaving it completely blank. Maintaining confidence throughout this period is of utmost priority and so is making sure you work with your friends on areas of concern.
We finished the month of January celebrating the Chinese year.
