My advice now that I've graduated and moved on would, I guess, be not
to learn anything that's not going to be on the exam. Working hard is
no good at all if you don't work smart. Other random pearls of
wisdom/foolishness might be (you certainly wouldn't find your tutors
advising you like this):
-Depends a bit on your subject, but if you're told to read 50 pages of
journal articles before each lecture then SKIM READ. Know the gist so
you can understand the lecture.
-As tempting as it is, try and attend. By all means don't go to
lectures which you know to be pointless because you feel like you're
being naughty if you don't - they're there for your benefit - but I've
been saved in exams a few times by things that randomly sank into my
brain as I was sat bored in a lecture.
-Research well in advance exactly what sort question comes up on the
exam, and what sort of answers get you what marks. This can be time
consuming, but not so time-consuming as study-time that's
disproportionate to results.
-If you realise the exam is in 24 hours and you have a whole subject
to learn then for god's sake don't try and learn it all. Learn a
little of each subject. It's no good getting top marks on question 1
then nothing on questions 2,3,4 and 5. If you're in such dire
straights you need to compress your learning so that you could write a
pass answer on any subject.
-Make sure you have some fun, and do some extra-curricular activities.
I know someone at the moment who has brilliant academic results, but
in job interviews hits a wall the moment they ask her about her
outside interests. She has none. When it comes to job interviews,
bosses want someone who's good at the job, but also someone they can
go and have a drink with after work on a Friday.
Hope that was useful, but don't come crying to me if you follow my
advice and end up on social security. Also thought you might enjoy an
article I wrote a couple of years ago for our Uni's student newspaper
(apologies for the odd asterisked profanity but, well, it was that
kind of newspaper):
-
"So exams are over and done with, and I hope you did well. But what do
most of you count as doing badly? Some people just hope that they’ll
pass, and that anything else is a bonus. For plenty more, a score of
40% would mean years of therapy. We all have different ideas on what’s
bad and good, so inevitably there will be some people who, not to put
too fine a point on it, piss me off.
First up you have the worried looking student sitting in the exam hall
thinking, “please just let me pass, please”. Of course a lot of these
have never got less than a 2:1 in their life. Whether male or female,
you’ll recognise the whiny voice in the days leading up to the exam,
“I just know I’ll have to resit, I don’t know anything, I’m so
stupid”. The fact that they know more about their subject than their
lecturer, and have memorised every question to come up in the last ten
years escapes them. The only reason they whine and moan is so you can
say, “But you’re really clever, you’ll do better than me. Stop
worrying and have a nice cup of tea”. This need for an ego trip is
unhealthy. Instead, I suggest you give your moaning friend a hard slap
across the face; it will do them good.
My favourite kind of person is the staunch hero or heroine who has
devoted his semester to either sitting on his arse watching TV, or
trying to drink more shots of vodka per hour than Boris Yeltsin. He
drags himself out of bed early in the morning to take an exam he knows
no more about than your average Hull dustbin-man. All he needs is that
magic pass, so he can spend another three months drinking, whoring,
watching Jerry Springer and avoiding so-called “real life”. Some would
call this type of person lazy, uncommitted, and immature. Yet surely
he deserves the utmost praise. With a mere six or seven hours spent
the night before, learning the most basic facts, he scores 40%. Our
whining friend above has probably spent every day for the last three
months doing work, and then only scores twenty percent more.
Of course you’re thinking now: “yeah, but the lazy b*stard won’t get a
job”. Okay, so to earn big bucks nowadays you’ll probably need a good
degree. But think back to when you were at school. Remember the
teachers, being paid about ten grand a year while spending all day
having kids tell them to f*** off? They all studied hard, and got not
only one degree, but two! A lot of success depends on playing the
system, and this is where our lazy b*stard excels.
A final warning. Either play the system, or study hard, or do both.
Don’t be like me and do neither. My results last year were 42%, 18%,
and 12%. The magic pass was not attained and I found myself alone here
in the summer for resits, which IS as bad as you imagine. "
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There you go. |
