Exam tomorrow morning. Can't retain anything...help!

[crazynanna]

Got a 2 hour seen exam tomorrow at 10am...2 questions.

And I cannot retain a bloody thing in my brain! I hate this frigging menopause

I need to remember lots of facts and dates (Policies), and I have made point form revision notes, and have tested myself 100 times, and I keep getting some dates/facts wrong, and missing important points altogether!

Been revising for weeks! It just won't sink in!

Any tips? There is so much to remember..I can't do it

Dont worry about it now. Go to bed and get a good night's sleep. In the morning read through your notes a few times...maybe when you are en route to the exam. You are probably stressed and tired so best to hit the sack. Sleep helps the info stick! Good luck tomorrow

Oh you poor thing! I've been there and I don't envy you.

It's probably a bit late now but for my exams I used to invent mnemonics for everything. The ruder the better I found as they were easier to remember! I had to remember all sorts of accounting and auditing standards and equations and I just tried to make the first letters of each element into a phrase that I could remember. I would then jot them down in the 5 minutes reading/note taking time we got at the start of the exam.

I also used to go to bed very early the night before the exam rather than cramming until late and would get up at about 5am. I'd have coffee and a banana and would do some light revision and re read my notes. By the time I got to the exam venue I was absolutely wide awake, fully alert and had had time to review my revision notes - and mnemonics.

But you will undoubtedly know a lot more than you think you do. Don't panic. Read the question. Then read it again and again. Many candidates fail because they don't read the question properly and therefore don't answer it. And do a draft answer plan on scrap paper, just bullet points. It might seem like a waste of time but it really helps you to focus your answer.

Best of luck!!

Yes you're probably right geologygirl....I am winding myself up now and I have a bloody headache! I am in the menopause and I can't even remember my own name atm

Thankyou..time for bed

Yes MrsP..I was going to do the quick draft on a piece of paper in the exam for 10 minutes....especially the Acts of Parliament and their dates.

Thing is...I do know the stuff normally...I can cite all dates,etc in seminars. My first exam,see. Pathetic.

Ah you'll be fine. Definitely jot as much down as you can before you start. You will remember it if you know it. Don't be intimidated by the exam conditions. It's just a room with desks. A different kind of seminar if you like.

And another top tip. Airwaves chewing gum. That stuff really clears the cobwebs and the fog!

Have a good night's sleep and do your best!!

Thankyou

You're welcome. Go to bed!

How did it go crazynanna?

Not to bad,MrsP

I used the whole time (2 hours), and I did a ten minute draft/plan for each of the 2 questions. I think I did better on one question than the other, as the words seemed to flow easier on the 1st question. I think I got in most of the data and dates, but I may have got a couple of dates wrong, and where I should have wrote "The xxxxxxx Council", I actually wrote "The xxxx Commisssion". When the exam finished, and I rushed to the back of the room to get my revision notes out, and realised, I screamed a big "AAAAGGGHHHH", and everyone laughed

But yes...'twas ok...and it's only 20% of my total module mark, so not too final and morbid.

Thanks for asking, and all your support last night.

Sounds like it went pretty well! Very well done! I think we all make daft mistakes like that cos we're under pressure. I don't know whether that would lose you any marks though. Usually the examiners are looking more at the content and depth of your answer rather than dates or specific titles. Our exams called for us to quote Acts of Parliament but I don't think marks would've been lost for getting the year wrong to be honest. So long as you know the ins and outs of the Data Protection Act or whatever and understand it's relevance to your area of professional expertise I can't see that getting the year wrong would be a massive problem.

And a colleague of mine once missed out an entire question in an exam because he didn't turn the paper over after he thought he'd answered the last question. He only realised when the invigilators were collecting the completed papers. He still passed though!

Anyway. Now you can relax and forget about it. It's done!

And you're very welcome. Exams are horrid!!

Yes...all over now..phew!

Actually, on my way out of the room, my tutor (Nervous Norman) said much the same to me as you have here..that he wants to see I understand the effect of said policies, not so much I remember the dates/names of them. Trouble was, the names of the 5 Acts I mentioned were very,very similar to each other (Asylum/Immigration Acts 1993-2009), so it was a bit of a nightmare.

Am sure you'll be fine! Nervous Norman is right, the effect is far more important that the full title and year.

I know it's hard but forget about it for now. You can't do any more. Stress no more!! Have a glass of wine and relax xx

I will..thankyou