Exams

Hi everybody today we are going to try and talk about exams. (Insert Jaws themetune)

As we all know exams are a nightmare but revising for them is even worse. The anticipation for them means for some sleepless nights and for others tears. Some people don't care and others can read something once and remember it fine. For people who aren't blessed with incredible memory or just dont give a dam there are some easy tricks to help out. These are from my experiances at uni and so won't be usefull to everyone but can be used for a levels as well.

1. Textbook vs Lessons

One important part of revising is knowing what not to learn. This may sound odd when considering revising but unless you can remember everything you read, its pointless to revise something that propably won't come up in exams. Textbooks often aren't specific to your course especially at uni therefore you need to go through the textbook to find what you need to know. Sometimes you might find that you don't need to know a page or so, check to make sure you really don't need to care then move on. (Seriously check 1st though and don't blame me if you actually need to know it). I do law and in my textbooks there are times when i can skip whole pages as its not appliable to me.
Save yourself the trouble and find out what will definatly come up in exams, at uni ask the head of the department for a list (often in handouts) or if at school ask your teacher. This means that you can start revising the stuff you need to know as opposed to the stuff you will never be asked on.

2. What you know V what you don't

By now you will have a list of stuff you need to know so look at it (useful tip for most things just having something is useless unless you use it). Find out what you know already and what you don't so that you can make sure by the end of revision that you know everything that you need to. Its pointless to revise things you already know to make you feel better about yourself, if you don't know about something then you can't ignore it (unless you don't mind failing). Review the stuff you know to make sure what you think is being said is actually whats being said. In an exam many people fail as they write an essay based on what they think is being asked. To take one example if i asked a law student an essay question (i'm not but just pretend for a sec) "What has the Treaty of Lisbon done for you" some would answer nothing others, who cares as they read the "to you" bit and think personally while the question means what has the Treaty of Lisbon done that effects you. This is a bit of a simplification but the point still stands. It is important to figure out what is being asked of you so that you can answer the real question not the Joe Bloggs version. Sounds silly but loads of people fail becuase of it. This may seem abit off topic (dangerous in an exam btw)
but if you are unsure about something many people start writing about eveything they can think of to fill the void. Simply put if your girlfriend (or boyfriend) asks you about how a new designer top looks on them they don't give a flying monkey about the weather.

4. Revisions like chocolate

As we all know everybody loves choclate (to people who dont shut up) but hate revision. But we also know that chocolate is bad for us, unfortunatly revision is good. So most people only have a bit of chocolate occasionally like once a week. The same trick can be used for revision. Done in small amounts makes it alot easier than cramming it all in at the end. Once you have completed the topic/ chapter etc read it again and write a summary of the main points. This can often be done by writing out the relevant (part 1) headings into a list. If they are explain themselves then your sorted. If they are more complicated then bullet point describe them remembering important facts like (for history) key dates, facts etc. If done in small amounts then it becomes alot easier to deal with than trying to do it all at once. Their is a saying in Japan that someone can't see the trees for the forest. Then chop down the trees and look at the forest.

5. Focus

Like most people i get distracted easily when doing revision, lets be honest its boring and we can think of lots of things we would rather be doing. The trick is 1st to remove distractions. I do all my work on the computer and the internet is so much more interesting than memorising cases that o could care less about. This means i need to get away from the internet so i go to the libary where i cant get online to do my work. Some people talk to friends to much (girls all men are looking at you) so go to a quiet or secluded place, again like the libary. Secondly humans can only focus on something for so long and if its boring its even harder. One thing is not to revise for 17 hours a day we justc ant focus that long so why bother. Get up and walk a short distance or just do something that wont distract you for too long but lets you relax a bit. This gets easier (so they say) but if done regualry (part 4) then it gets easier. Excellence isn't a one off but a state of mind.

6. Chill

Underrated but over used by some. In the upcoming time to revision people stress out. People cry, mope about how stupid they are or worse. We've all seen it or done it. The 1st thing to note is that you should have left yourself plenty of time to revise, so take a step back and find something that makes you laugh to relax. My personall fav is the easter bunny hates you on youtube but standup comedy also works well.

At the end of the day you get out what you put in so start earlier, do more (but broken down into chunks) and relax. Talking to friends can help providing the talk is work related but you need to find the way that you work best.

Final tip the 1st step is the hardest once your past that and actually start revising its alot easier.

Good luck and i hope these help

Jack

Before Uni

Hi everyone

Getting ready for uni is a worrying task; leaving home, cooking on your own food and not relying on your parents anymore can be scary for some. For others they couldn't care less but will most likely soon find out how much they rely on their parents for food, washing, transport etc.

For some of these the soultion is simple; quite simply grow a pair (no this isn't sexist it just gets the message across). Cooking is something that is simple to do but hard to do well, i've been living on sausages so far and while edible they do get abit burnt. Don't worry about 5 star food but try your hand at the simpler stuff like spag boll, omlettes and scrambled egg. These are basic but tasty and healthy food. These can be learnt by asking parents (read mum) to watch and help as you cook dinner. Cooking is prehaps the most daunting thing most students find, your parents (mum) has had to do this for as long as you have been alive so lean on them (her) for help about how/ what to cook and what to use. More advanced stuff can be picked up by cookbooks but just remember to read the cookbook first as some are difficult to understand. Best bet is less is more, the less recipies the more instructions you'll get with each one. At the end of the being able to cook basic and quick to prepare food will get you through uni or until you find someone who can cook.

Universities will normally give you a room, a bed and not much else so look online at what they give and what they don't so that you can prepare. One lad i know thought that towels were provided at the uni (they weren't) so think ahead. Cooking stuff like plates, bowls, pots, pans and frying pans are essential. Shop around for the best deal but remember that quality is good. We bought some cheap plates only for one to crack after being put through the washing machine. Moral of the story look around but get something of good quality.

Going to uni isn't scary but a challenge. You will meet new friends (facebook allows you to keep up with the old ones) and learn loads not just about your course. Good tip for making new friends is that 99% of people don't know each other and are just as scared as you. Walking up to someone is a great way to meet people. My whole block met as 2 people were talking and the rest just started to walk towards them to introduce themselves. It was a great was to say hello (same as during registration) the only snag was when we found out that we were talking outside the toilet when someone walked out. Nice guy but abit akward.

Cheers everyone and i hope this helps (if not why are you reading this)

See ya

Money makes the world go round, but alcohol makes it work.

Hi guys

I have now been an official student for over 2 weeks now. And the wisdom that i have learnt is that the two most important things you need for freshers is money and alcohol.

Unfortunatly you have to bring your own money (unless your a girl who can get free drinks, lads sorry) but you can buy the alcohol. Women seem to be able to know everything about each other after a five minute conversation; lads on the other hand have a simpler method. Go to pub/ club, get drunk and bob's your uncle your best mates with someone you don't know (or can't remember anything about). To quote the most popular eastern European besides Borat "Simples".

These two things require money and alcohol so make sure you have/ can get both for simple friends that reminds me off those cheap meals where you just add water, but in this case its alcohol. Please note the word alcohol is used as beer implies a slow drinking or pre drinking session and vodka is for those cheap basterds (like me) who want to get drunk quickly and cheaply.

When talking about getting drunk the downside (hangovers aside) is the urge to dance. Most men cannot do this, lets be honest, but fortunatly their is a solution. Brief pause for drummroll... Women at the start of any clubbing dance on their own in a circle, that looks like they are trying to exclude lads. Most of them aren't so if you (and preferably a mate) simply ask one if you can join them they propably will let you. Best things is that if you are the only lad there (the popular, sporty and good looking is still at the bar) there is no one to compare to so all the girls go to you. Dont be afraid to offer drinks but at least get the dance first. Dont be afraid if you cant dance since not many people can proberly dance to most songs anyway but if you can pick some common and popular songs, check youtube for dance vids to that song. Sorted.

All there is left is to find the drinks you like (recomended to do this before you go to uni) and can keep drinking.

Cheers for reading

Jack

New message from new student

Hi everyone who is currently reading this. I am a law uni student about to go to the University of Buckingham. The purpose of this blog is, besides giving the odd (okay commonish) rant is to show my experiances to the next years crop of uni students so that they can digest and enjoy.

Thanks for reading

Jack