Posts Tagged ‘Revision’
Exam time
Posted on January 25th, 2009 by Matt
Most of you reading this will be in the middle of yet another stressful A Level exam period, whether you’re in Year 12 doing the “new” AS Modules for the first time, or in Year 13 doing A2 modules and possibly the legacy AS resits. My college caused a bit of controversy last year, when it decided to scrap the idea of students doing January exams, except for where subjects had a proven record of better overall performance by doing them. This seemed to leave all but the physicists worried about how many exams they had to do in June. After representation from the Learner Forum, the college revoked its decision, and allowed January exams this year.
There were many compelling arguments for not letting students sit exams in January. One of the main ones is that you could have potentially 2 three-hour long exams on the first day back at Christmas; common student feeling in the college appeared that most students didn’t fully revise over the festive season. Another concern for the college was the attendance level of ordinary classes – a lot of students would skip 3 morning lessons to prepare for an afternoon exam, for example. Statistics were sometimes quoted, for example a subject’s performance in January/June compared to just June.
Equally, the students had their own very strong arguments for being allowed to take some modules in January. The reason often cited was that it placed students under a lot of stress. In a lot of cases, they we having to revise the entire one-year syllabus for 3 hour-long exams taking in the morning sitting, but then also needing to know another year-long syllabus for 3 hour-long exams in a different subject in the afternoon sitting. Increased time in the exam hall means less time between exams, so most people couldn’t spend an hour or so doing last-minute cramming. Also, a lot of students were worried about resits; if you don’t quite get the grade you want in January, you can apply to retake it in June (the same academic year), but if you need to retake following the June series, you have to wait until January (the next academic year). This could have adverse effects with a UCAS application, because if your predicted grade is an A, but your AS is only a B or a C it doesn’t look as good – and UCAS has no way of telling universities that you are planning to resit that module you got a C or a D in!
I’ve found that by going along to extra study clinics, or extra lessons offered by your subject lecturer is a great way to prepare for forthcoming exams. Every lecturer I know has a different style when it comes to running these – some prefer to work on basic practical skills, some will take any questions from students, some hand out past exam papers, and others facilitate small group discussions amongst the students. For me personally, I can sometimes find it hard to make time to revise, especially when there is so much going on around me all the time, so by going to these sessions, it’s like adding guaranteed revision to my timetable. Attending these should be supplemented by individual revision, for example doing a past paper one night a week, and asking your lecturer to mark it for you – most will if you have made the effort, and will listen to their feedback. And that feedback is often invaluable, because it highlights your weaker areas in the subject, so you know where you can then concentrate your revision.
Finally, best of luck from all of the MedicalAdmissions.co.uk team with all of your exams!
No Comments »Chemistry resits
Posted on December 26th, 2008 by Matt
I know I’m not the only applicant out there who’s resitting Chemistry this year – apparently last year was an incredibly bad year for AS Chemistry across the country!
My Xmas holiday from college was started with some wonderful “paper-based presents” courtesy of the Chemistry Department. Past exam papers, booklets from last year, and revision textbooks seem to form the most of my plans over the 2 weeks off.
Coming up on the 9th of January, the week of my return, is an afternoon of fun-packed(!) exams for 2 hours. I’m retaking Foundation Chemistry and Chains & Rings in the hope to bring my AS grade up to a high B or low A…
So, for now, whenever I get a moment to actually sit down, I’m working through past papers, reading revision material, and trying to memorise balanced equations and reaction conditions for organic compounds. Electrophilic addition seemed boring enough to look at, let alone memorise everything about!
Matt is braced for a very boring holiday…
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