h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

... yes. Exams are here. Now, when I did my O-levels way back in the mists of time, I didn't revise much. Ok. Let's be honest: I didn't revise at all. But i got good grades in all of them.

When I did my A-levels (at school), not long after the dawn of civilisation, I did a wee bit of revision and did ok in the only one I liked and flunked the others.

about 20 years ago I took English Lit A-level for fun but only had a year due to something I can't remember now. No revision (you'd think I'd have managed to do some since it was "for fun" but no, not me) but I did brilliantly.

Over the years I've done various courses and things and hardly revised but always done fairly well (so not sure what happened to my A-levels - I'm thinking it was active but subconscious self-sabotage)

And now I'm facing my first really difficult exam in at least 20 years. 3 essays in 3 hours. I have 4.5 days until the actual event. I'm paying a LOAD of money I can't really afford for the course and I've struggled a bit with this one. (what can I say - the books send me to sleep and it wasn't until I'd got through everything that it all fell into place and I started to realise it is fun after all)

It's a subject I'm really interested in - but woefully under informed about. So why the heck am I painting my nails instead of reviewing my (inadequate, it now transpires) notes?

Someone kick me up the backside...

It's nerves - you'll be grand in the exam itself!

But your nails look lovely now. So go and hit the books

Sho, there's a reason I don't do exams and you're a shining example of what pre-exam nerves do to people.

It never seemed to matter how much or how little I revised, I did as well as I did - great results, and some not so great, in subjects I hardly revised for, bare passes in subjects I did revise for. But the last time I had serious exams, it was like I'd turned into a different person. Well, more of a monster than a person. That was before I got MS. Now the stress would do serious damage, possibly even a major relapse.

I'm doing my degree 'cos I was getting bored, so I don't have to worry about grades. A bare pass is good enough for me. Are you doing this course for your career or for personal interest. If it's for your career and results matter, get those books out now and get to work.*stern finger-wagging smiley* If it's for personal interest, do what you want.

Oh, and get hold of some past papers if any are available for your course. They'll either be a great help or they'll scare you witless.

Good luck, whatever you do!

it's personal interest for me - but I am a bit... hmm, competitive about grades so I definitely want to do as well as I can (although the best I can do here is a pass 2 and for that I need 70% which is around my average for this course so it's not beyond the bounds of possiblity)

I don't think it's nerves as such though. I actually love exams. The best time I had at school was the 3 weeks of O-levels. Probably because I knew I'd be ok, and probably because I didn't really care one way or another. But mostly because I could just read the books outside, in the sunshine, go to an exam, and eat sweets at my desk then just flop around until the next one. That is a real change at boarding school. Plus all the staff, house staff as well as teachers were rather nice and treated us like adults at that time.

Ah, nostalgia, eh?

But my nails. They do look fabulous!

Sho, imagine a sneering male chauvinist saying "women are better at painting their nails than sitting exams!" Studying will become much more appealing!

Your memories of exams are a lot like mine. Just coasted in, went through the motions and always got the grades. My main memory is of hanging out in the park in the sun because we got a couple of weeks off school for study leave.

no time off school for us prior to exams, but after our O-levels we had a week or so when we could do what we liked. There was a trip to London and I went to see several films.
Mostly it was just lounging around trying to get a tan.

Exams were great, but I, too, never got the hang of revising. I can to this day still remember a large proportion of everything our teachers told us, so I certainly didn't see the point of reading it again the night before the exam. I think this made me a weaker person. It would have been nice to have to force myself to work for good marks. Well, not nice, but more beneficial in later life.

Back in those days it all depended so much on the teacher's ability to motivate. Now you're learning on line, the only person who can motivate you is yourself. Are the rest of the family in any way interested in your results? Surely if you talk about it at the breakfast table a lot, they will realise what you are doing and when you do pass - or better still, get really good results - they'll be so proud of you. Hold on to that thought. It might give you a little more impetus. Up the backside or wherever.

Now I'm doing something which only a certain amount of revising or rote-learning will get me through. The only way to get any good at playing the piano or the organ is through daily practice. At my age, and with a full-time job, it's proving very hard to change my ways. Starting today (!!!) I am going to try harder!

they're all behind me, alright, which is great. But they all think I'm just naturally brilliant at this kind of thing and don't really realise how lazy (and in need of effective motivation) I am!

How's the organ playing going?

Don't ask. Need more practice. And when they start rabbiting on about the technicalities of the machine, I get completely lost. We are examined on that as well - but not till next year, thank heavens. I'll try to memorise Gnomon's entry on it at least.