Finals Forums tips

OUSU Finals Forums 2008
Advices from students and tutors

General Advice
Study skills
Mind maps, flash cards
Past papers are important; do them as early as possible
Look at past questions and examiner’s report
1 side of A4 technique – Gradually condense material from 12 lectures to 1 side of A4 that can be looked at before exam, in the process go through material again and again and get familiarised
Went through past paper with a friend/ tutorial group

Timetabling is crucial
Students do it in different ways, but all agree that a timetable of some sort is needed.  Some find a rigid timetable most useful; others think it increase stress so prefer setting goals for a fixed period rather than a rigid timetable.  Another students also advised timetabling in a lot of breaks and getting plenty of sleep throughout revision period, otherwise brain doesn’t do as well.
If you are not used to revising for many hours intensively, then you can try gradually build time slots up, for example from three 15-minute sessions to a three-hour session gradually
A student suggests using a bar chart instead of an actual time table.  On one axis you write down the topics of your finals, on the other axis you put down how many hours of work you have done.  When you have revised for a topic for an hour, colour in the bar chart.  This makes you feel positive!

Be honest with yourself
Be brutally honest with yourself, make an emotion-free decision – realize what you want to achieve
Be reasonable with your ability and goals – 12 hours in library per day is not going to happen if that is not how you revise; don’t set impossible deadlines
Finals are intense, don’t pretend you can still revise after exams have started.  Finish your revision before your first exam!

Keep motivated
Finals is not just about techniques, but have to stay motivated throughout the process
Students advise setting intermediate goals which would lead to an ultimate end goal and giving yourself some reward so that you can stay motivated, such as taking some time off once a goal is achieved.
Guilt and fear of regrets can be a motivation, too.  If you feel guilty about not revising, then you probably will make yourself revise.  Similarly, if you don’t want to feel, after finals, that you could have done better, you probably are going to stay motivated, too.

Stay sane!
Don’t believe in people who tell you they are studying 12 hours a day and get panic.  They are either lying or they won’t survive.
Don’t be the nasty person who gets so stressed out that shouts at his/her friends, it is not worth it!

Stay healthy, keep elements of normal life
Keep elements of normal life, too, such as taking one or two afternoons off per week without feeling guilty, go to pubs once a week [don’t get drunk though], so that you are motivated to revise for the next day.
Students also advise doing exercises, as they will keep you focused during revision
Students also suggest taking tea-breaks everyday and keeping evenings off in order to keep sane!
Eat healthily – loads of fruits and vegetable.  Don’t start drinking coffee/ red bull now if you are not used to them!
Be positive, finals do not have to be hell!

Highlights from tutors’ advices

You don’t have to know everything

Revision technique
Learning is about memorizing & recalling. If you are given something to learn, after ten minutes, you reach the peak your recalling ability, it then falls off very quickly afterwards and you can only remember about 10% after 24 hours.  Memorizing is a process.  When you study a piece of work, after ten minutes, review it for ten minutes.  Then, after 24 hours, review it again.
You have to be fit and wide awake during exams, so do some exercises and get plenty of sleep.
Remember to practice past papers.

Negative feelings are a luxury
Don’t let your emotions rule over you.  Be a master instead of a slave to your feelings.  Don’t pay attention to your feeling.  It is a luxury to avoid revising because you are not feeling well.  Treat revision as a job; imagine yourself as a plumber or a carpenter – if you do not work you will starve.  Finals revision is the same thing.  Conquer negative feelings!

Don’t fall out of love with your subject
You are doing your degree because you thought you wanted to study it three/ four years ago.  Don’t let finals be the reason you fall out of love with your subject.
Enjoy what you are revising

Examiner’s point of view

Don’t reproduce a worked-out answer
In the examination room you are expected to think, not to recall and reproduce an essay
Relevance is everything.  Spend about 15% of your time thinking about how to answer the question.
Your answers can afford to be short if they are relevant.  Tutors are looking for 2-4 pages per essay.
Allow yourself to stay experimental; look upon finals as an opportunity to expand instead of to contract.  Be aware of things that are uncertain and don’t be afraid to point them out in your answer – you have to be certain in your answer but can at the same time be aware of things that are uncertain!

Don’t waste time
Don’t waste time on questions that worth few marks

Stay positive
Remember that if it’s a rocky paper, it is the same for everyone

Micromanagement is crucial
Neat handwriting, structured answer reflect a better organised candidate.

Subject-specific advices

Biochemistry
Can’t learn everything in the course, remember you only need to answer 3 out of 8 questions, so only have to revise 4-5 topics for each paper

Physics
Plenty of time to get material in but have to learn in great depth
Rotate between different topics to keep thought reasonably fresh

Medicine
A very good syllabus; go through and make sure you learn it properly.  It’s stupid not to be able to answer questions that are included in the syllabus!
Synoptic exam – how to revise?
Student suggests revising with a friend and learning to manipulate what you know to fit into an answer

PPE
Revise 4/5 topics for each paper

History
It is worth asking for a collection after Easter, as you probably haven’t done any exam for a while…

Q&A

When did you start?
Some people start working over Easter, most take breaks for 7-10 days over Easter vacation, and start at the beginning of Trinity

Where do you work?
It depends on where you find yourself working most efficiently.  Most people find the library the best place to work because there is less distraction, other people find working in their own room more helpful because they can easily get stressed out by other students who (seem to be/ are) revising in the library.

What would you do differently?
Some people say they would start revision earlier and be more realistic about what can be achieved. Others, by contrast, say they would take time off earlier so that they can stay motivated.  Work more with friends is also recommended.

Did you spend Easter revising for collection or finals?
Most people say they took collection as a practice for finals.  For subjects that do not have a collection in the final term, students advise asking for one proactively from tutors because they can be exam practice.

Any useful website?
Stanford encyclopaedia for Physics, Physics & Philosophy, Maths & Philosophy.
Past paper: www.oxam.ox.ac.uk
Examiners’ report should be on faculty websites

How do you keep going when friends have finished?
Trash them.  Also, If you work in a room, lock it

What did it feel like when you have finished?
Great!
A bit phenomenal, looking forward to it could keep you motivated throughout finals

Final summary
1.    Strategy is crucial – everyone has a different one, work out your own and don’t be disturbed by others’ strategies!
2.    Knowledge is power, use past paper, syllabus, examiner’s report, revision classes
3.    Regard revision as an intellectually stimulating exercise
4.    Don’t be afraid of stress, guilt or fear of regrets if that they are what keep you motivated
5.    Keep elements of normal life, stay healthy, eat healthily, do exercises, get plenty of sleep
6.    Remember, no matter what you get, a degree from Oxford is still great!  Finals is just an experience, a hurdle in your life which you will undoubtedly get through.

Good luck with finals!!

With thanks to Joy Wong, Ingrid Frater, Claire Addison, Louise Randall, Ross Murdoch, Tristan West, Teresa Marsay, Gabi Norrish, Dr John Sykes, Dr Mishtooni Bose, Dr Lucia Nixon, Dr Dave Leal.