Reading week. Time to crack open those books, reference lecture slides and pour through notes diligently taken during class in preparation for next week’s exam. It’s polite of me to accredit a couple of my colleagues for some the notes through which I’ve been revising – having already taken one of the exams last term as full-time students, they volunteered to share their notes, and it seemed pointless to refuse. As I have no time for group revisions, I might as well make use of some of its benefits. (Just wanted to get this sense of camaraderie out there.)
Based on the nature of this term’s modules, exams are set to be slightly different this time around – particularly when it comes to quantitative research and data analysis, there are no open-ended questions. You either understand mean, variance, linear and multiple regressions, and hypothesis testing or you don’t; and you don’t stand a chance to discourse on statistical data analysis in the exam unless you understand the concepts. No faffing around. Plain and simple. A more straightforward approach, but certainly one that requires more studying. More time.
We are still set to have a revision class for the second module on Thursday, but having decided enough is enough, I’m set on skipping back home after work and concentrating on actually getting some studying done rather than sitting through a lecture in which we are told what we should revise for. We’ve already been clued in weeks ago as to the main topics which we will be able to choose from – so best to just get on with it!
With 2 exams this week and 2 major – and simultaneous – projects I have to manage at work at the moment it’s been difficult juggling all 4 pieces this past week. Not enough hours in the day, not enough days in the week. Women are supposed to be, in principle, great multi-taskers but I wonder where it is prudent to draw a line and admit I have my plate full – this week in particular it’s noticeably full – full enough to feed an entire country I reckon. And while I would like to think one is not affecting the other, only time will truly tell. As it stands, I’m still revising for the first of the two exams and am off to the Midlands for football on Saturday – passion and commitment or just plain stupidity? Also, only time will tell.
We’re supposed to get our assignment results next week ahead of the exams. Much of an improvement from last term, having only received the initial marks about a month after the exam, however, it’s still somewhat eyebrow-raising. If it’s meant to inform us of how well we must fair in our exams, surely it would make sense to provide us more than a couple of days’ time to revise any ‘exam strategies’ we may have prepared for? It would instead potentially have made more sense to extend the assignment deadline – although if I am being perfectly honest that would probably translate into me procrastinating for another week. I function well under deadlines, but give me loose dates, maybes and ifs and my attention will almost immediately focus on the next task.
‘The pressure of adversity does not affect the mind of the brave man... It is more powerful than external circumstances.’ (Seneca)
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