Whatever your stage of education, whatever your course, we’ve all experienced the dreaded exam season. We've put together a list of the revision stages you're sure to go through.
Sitting inside, staring blankly at your open textbook before gazing longingly out the window at all the people who are clearly enjoying the sunshine without the hideous shadow of exams looming on the horizon.
Welcome to exam season.
1. Denial
Doing the classic ostrich impression and burying your head in the sand, pretending this isn’t happening. Exams, what are those? Surely they can’t expect us to revise while we still have lectures?
At this stage you’ll be watching Netflix with a niggling feeling of guilt which slowly leads you into the next stage...
2. Organisation like crazy
You find yourself buying highlighters in 8 different colours, a whole stack of notecards, making a revision plan, tidying your workspace and organising your pens by colour. I mean you couldn’t possibly think of starting revision without doing this, it would be madness!
3. Bonding
You’ve reached that point where you’ve messaged your friends and you all agree that’s it's far too early to be getting stressed about exams and you’ve all done equally non-existent amounts of revision.
Except that one person who’s already done notes for each topic and is writing their own mock questions. You all ignore that person who is selfishly pushing up the grade boundaries for the rest of you.
4. Being on it
Today you’ve woken up and actually starting revising and found that it really isn’t too bad! If you stick to working at this rate you’ll cover everything with plenty of time!
You feel like an exemplary student while you highlight and diligently type away.
5. The Timewarp
Has it really only been 5 minutes since I started? I’m only on slide 2 of 50? I’m sorry but there is no way I can carry on doing this, this is too dull, and should be against my human rights.
I feel like counting the grains of rice in my dinner would be more interesting than continuing to read this textbook.
6. It’ll be fine
I mean I know my revision hasn’t gone exactly as planned but come on I’ve been to lectures all year, something must have sunk in?
I know more than I think I do for sure. Ultimately I only need 40% to pass, I definitely know 40% of the content.
7. It won't be fine
Doing a mock paper and realising I actually don’t know more than I think I do, I know a lot less than I thought I did. We have DEFINITELY never been taught this ever.
I don’t remember this lecture? What do my notes mean? I don’t even understand my own notes!
8. Cramming
Don’t panic, do not panic. Okay, exams are exactly one week from now and I’ve only actually covered half my modules. The new plan, skim read the important bits and skip the extra stuff. I mean most of this is common sense, right? As long as I know the basics I can wing the rest of it.
9. What I don’t know I won't know
The point of acceptance. Ultimately, it’s the night before the exam, is panic revising now really going to help me learn anything or will it just stress me out even more? Best to just get a good nights sleep and let the chips fall as they may.
10. Never again
Standing outside the exam room, listening to everyone firing facts at each other, I'm wondering if I could have made better use of my time?
Never again will I do this, I will become a dedicated student who rocks up to every exam with an air of supreme confidence. I’ll whizz through the paper and even leave early because of my incredible preparation. Just please say the questions in the next exam are on the modules I’ve covered!
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