Take home exam and reading help!

Hey guys,

I'm starting to get really stressed here. Basically I'm on a taught MA course and have several take home exams in May. There's one in particularly I'm really worried about, which is the core module. I attended all the lectures and did the reading every week so I'm not particularly behind, but in the exam we're expected to write two essays of 2000 words each, in 48 hours, which to me is a really daunting task. Basically the equivalent of a full length essay in a fraction of the normal time. Does anyone have any tips on how to deal with this sort of exam? I'm not a natural essay writer and I have to put a lot of work and time into them at the best of times.

Also, I'm just so clueless as to how to go about the study for it. We only have to answer 2 questions from a possible 25, but obviously it's a good idea to study 5 or so just to be safe. However, all the lectures sort of tie into each other and all are relevant to the course, as is typical I imagine, so I just don't know when to stop reading. We are supposed to do extra reading for the topics we want to cover in the exam, but I'm finding that it's not until I do the extra reading that I know if I really like the topic or not, and then if I don't, it's 2-3 days wasted that I could have spent on something else. Also the amount of reading is insane, 5-6 books per topic, so that's about 25 books to read on top of all the class notes and handouts, HOW can anyone do this? I also have a big computer project, several translations and a dissertation outline to do over Easter.

I'm sort of overly panicking here, as the main issue was making sure I had the books I needed copied and the notes to hand, as there are only a few copies of each text in the library, so people hog them, hide them, don't return them, and I was afraid of ending up with nothing before the exam (I've still only managed to get half the books I needed) and the vast amounts of paper and bulging files are freaking me out.

Time Magazine

[quote=[Deleted User];65317158]Does anyone have any tips on how to deal with this sort of exam? I'm not a natural essay writer and I have to put a lot of work and time into them at the best of times.[/QUOTE]If you have a good idea of the topic of the question (just not the specific take), then you'll have a good idea of the references and bibliography. Do them out now to save on the formatting end of things. Also I'm not sure if this applies to every realm of academia, but when I've studied I've often found that the most important insights apply to any area within the field. So pick out those awe-inspiring quotes that you know are going to be in any essay you do.

Also, I'm just so clueless as to how to go about the study for it. We only have to answer 2 questions from a possible 25, but obviously it's a good idea to study 5 or so just to be safe.

Think of dropping this to four? 20% less work?

However, all the lectures sort of tie into each other and all are relevant to the course, as is typical I imagine, so I just don't know when to stop reading. We are supposed to do extra reading for the topics we want to cover in the exam, but I'm finding that it's not until I do the extra reading that I know if I really like the topic or not, and then if I don't, it's 2-3 days wasted that I could have spent on something else. Also the amount of reading is insane, 5-6 books per topic, so that's about 25 books to read on top of all the class notes and handouts, HOW can anyone do this? I also have a big computer project, several translations and a dissertation outline to do over Easter.

Chill, everyone is in the same boat as you. Realistically, putting in a strong twelve hour shift each day will see you through. Unless it's the first year of a completely changed course, it has been done before. So chill, it can be done

Time Magazine

Time Magazine wrote: »

If you have a good idea of the topic of the question (just not the specific take), then you'll have a good idea of the references and bibliography. Do them out now to save on the formatting end of things. Also I'm not sure if this applies to every realm of academia, but when I've studied I've often found that the most important insights apply to any area within the field. So pick out those awe-inspiring quotes that you know are going to be in any essay you do.

Good idea about the referencing and quotes, I'll try to do those next week so I can copy and paste into my essay when the time comes.

Think of dropping this to four? 20% less work?

I probably will only end up doing 4 in detail. I just keep changing my mind about which topics I'm interested in and the constant photocopying and printing of notes I might need takes up so much time.

Chill, everyone is in the same boat as you. Realistically, putting in a strong twelve hour shift each day will see you through. Unless it's the first year of a completely changed course, it has been done before. So chill, it can be done

The exam is still 7 weeks away and I have other stuff I have to do before then Like today, I'm not even working on any of this, I have a localisation project to do. Twelve hour shifts?! :eek: I'd probably collapse if I did that every day. I'm doing about 8 hours a day now (losing days because I need to go to the hospital one day a week, and have other GP appointments) and that feels like loads....I was thinking of cranking it up to 10-12 hours a day a month before the exam, I'm conscious about burning out too early, finding it hard to find a middle ground...