how much study for exams?

FledNanders

so generally when do people start givin it welly for the exams? I'm in 3rd year now. I used to tend to just leave it till a week or 2 (or even the night) before which has worked out ok for me but fear i may have to get goin a bit earlier this year!

gubbie

I've started in on the harder subjects. Ah you know yourself how long each one will take. Plus it depends on what you study, and how much this year means to your degree

Rosita

Obviously it depends on the nature of the subject.

I put a big effort in my final year and got first-class honours for the only time during my time in UCD.

What I found was that there is no way from getting away from a combination of good studying practice near the exams with good practice throughout the year. For example, people getting assignments in late find themselves under a lot of pressure. This is needless.

As fro studying, it is not so much a case of when you start studying as what you start studying and how smart you start studying. It will vary from person to person but the one thing is that you cannot claw time back once it has passed.

I would recommend identifying exam topics that will inevitably arise and concentrating those as early as possible. There is no substitute for long-term preparation. No amount of 'up all night' stuff will get near proper longer-term preparation.

p-nut

Rosita wrote: »

Obviously it depends on the nature of the subject.

I put a big effort in my final year and got first-class honours for the only time during my time in UCD.

What I found was that there is no way from getting away from a combination of good studying practice near the exams with good practice throughout the year. For example, people getting assignments in late find themselves under a lot of pressure. This is needless.

As fro studying, it is not so much a case of when you start studying as what you start studying and how smart you start studying. It will vary from person to person but the one thing is that you cannot claw time back once it has passed.

I would recommend identifying exam topics that will inevitably arise and concentrating those as early as possible. There is no substitute for long-term preparation. No amount of 'up all night' stuff will get near proper longer-term preparation.

Top quality reply:)

Time to get started i guess

lizzyvera

I did 3 hours a day after college for the last two weeks and 10-4 on the eleven days off before exams (four weekend days and the five weekdays).
Make a timetable or list of everything you have to do in order of priority and cross them off as you go. Forces you to get through everything. You can usually cram the last little bits the evening before.

If you're studying the stuff for the first time and not revising you'll need to do more than that to do well.

Jonny Arson

FledNanders wrote: »

so generally when do people start givin it welly for the exams? I'm in 3rd year now. I used to tend to just leave it till a week or 2 (or even the night) before which has worked out ok for me but fear i may have to get goin a bit earlier this year!

i'm 3rd year too, i got all my past papers from SIS during the week and yup it's scared the sh!t out of me which is a good thing and lo behold i've finally started doing some study. you should get those past papers now!

with myself i think i've left it too late to aim for big grades with only 3 and half weeks to go, 2 long essays due the last week are also going to eat into my study time. if i just pass everything this semester i'll actually be chuffed but for a final year student i know i should be aiming for alot better

i know now to get a 1st you've got to do consistent study from your first lecture onwards, luckily with a decent GPA from 2nd year i can still make amends in the 2nd semester!

Ernie Ball

These threads are testimony to the travesty that education has become. Everything is about gaming the system and who cares what anyone learns. Such skills will serve you well as you slot in as another cog in the machine, earning your daily crust. Throw in a few parties and, voilà, a life worth living. Or is it?

Stepherunie

I think that's dependent on the person.

I'm in final year and it's turned into a long hard slog - my weeks are planned out study wise and every spare minute is filled with something.

Between my thesis and study and job I'm keeping on top of things but it's a lot of work.

I get out once a week at most - in saying that I've been out once in the past fortnight and won't be out again until my christmas party which is one night between now and the 18th of December when I finish exams.

The rest of the time I will be slaving over books trying to cover a lot of work for final year classes that have never been thought before.

The joys of modularisation.

princess-sprkle

I've a good few big essays due the next 3 weeks. Worth 3X50%, 60% and 80% so most of my time is devoted to them with hopefully a solid week of studying then.

in final year as well,but i'm only hoping to get by at this stage...

Umaro

I'm in final year too, I usually try and keep up with all my work or stay ahead of the game by doing essays a week or two early. I don't have a huge amount of work, I could probably fit in a social life if I wanted, but right now I'm apathetic to that... it's way too cold outside.

Inevitably I fall behind because I keep putting something off, I have 5000 words due for Tuesday and I'm only starting now on Sunday night. Once this is out of the way it's clear sailing though.

lizzyvera

Ernie Ball wrote: »

These threads are testimony to the travesty that education has become. Everything is about gaming the system and who cares what anyone learns. Such skills will serve you well as you slot in as another cog in the machine, earning your daily crust. Throw in a few parties and, voilà, a life worth living. Or is it?

Sometimes I think you're a parody of yourself!

I love my course and I've learnt a lot and it has changed the way I think. You don't learn very much information in four years - the important thing is that education changes the way you think and reason and if you like you can do a PhD or something actually significant. I know in science if you think you know anything then you're an idiot because everything has so many layers and such depth.

Anyway, understanding the material isn't good enough for UCD exams because of time constraints. You have to learn it all off so you can regurgitate it without thinking.

I think it's fairer this way because clever, logical people will naturally do well in Science because there is so little learning and such an emphasis on understanding that they effortlessly pick up marks in labs and tutorials because if you can follow the lecture you hardly need to study. Everyone has an equal chance in the exams because you just need to get your head down and learn the stuff. Boring as rote learning is, you need to know some stuff off by heart to learn harder material later on.

stereoroid

After my first semester, it still doesn't feel to me as if my course has really started yet, since 1st year Engineering seems to be a case of "throw the lot at the students and see what sticks". Huge chunks of it will be completely irrelevant to me, since I'm not on the general M.E. or Omnibus tracks. It does make it difficult to motivate oneself to study, even though I haven't missed a single lecture and feel I have a good handle on the material.

There have been some unnecessary hurdles that could have been avoided, had certain lecturers a better grasp of what their students actually need to learn, and what they know coming in. I got the impression they lectured with an emphasis on their pet subjects, and assumed the students have skills that aren't taught at Leaving Cert. level. That kind of sloppiness would not do them any favours in the real world outside Academia. :rolleyes:

Lands Leaving

Ernie Ball wrote: »

These threads are testimony to the travesty that education has become. Everything is about gaming the system and who cares what anyone learns. Such skills will serve you well as you slot in as another cog in the machine, earning your daily crust. Throw in a few parties and, voilà, a life worth living. Or is it?

Life is about gaming the system to do as little work as possible, whether in college or job, so you have more time for important things like friends, family and feckin about on the interweb