29 October, 2011 in Guides and Tips, University by Aonghas

Time to Cram!

Don't be tempted to sleep while you're cramming!

So you look at your calendar and realise your first exam is less than two weeks away and you haven’t studied. At all. Not only that, but you were half asleep in most of your morning lectures so you don’t even know what you were supposed to have learnt. You really have two options in these situations: you can either (a) not study and just wing the exam, hoping for the best or (b) start cramming like there’s no tomorrow. Hopefully if you’re like me, you’ll have come to to the conclusion that simply winging a test or exam never goes down too well, so your only option left of course is to start studying like crazy!

But how are you supposed to cram all that information into what little time you have left? Is it even worth the effort? Although cramming for an exam is never encouraged, desperate times are unavoidable sometimes, and you have to work with what you’ve got. From doing a little research online and from previous experience, there are definitely tips that can help get you on your way to becoming a Master Crammer. Here are some important pointers you may find useful:

Before you start cramming

• Find the right place to study. I often try to study in a silent environment away from others I know I will get distracted by. Avoid places where distractions like TV or Facebook access may become tempting. Some people like to listen to music while they study, but I find that it can be distracting sometimes, especially if the songs have lyrics. I would suggest listening to quiet non-lyrical music if you feel uneasy in a silent environment.
• Good lighting. You will want to study in a well-lit area with enough working space on a table.
• Sit at a table. I try to avoid lying on a sofa or on the floor because these positions get too comfortable and encourage me to fall asleep too easily.
• Be prepared. Make sure you have all the stationery and resources you need before you get into it. It’s not only annoying to have to find a glue stick or highlighter half-way through your study, but it can interrupt your flow of thoughts and concentration.
• Make a plan. Have a rough estimate of how long you want to be studying for each subject/topic. The worst thing would be to spend a whole day studying one topic and still not understanding it, whereas you could have moved on a lot earlier and completed more as a result.

While you are cramming

• Stay focused. It’s easy to let your mind wander about what you’re going to have for dinner/breakfast, what your friends are saying on Facebook, etc. but you can’t let those thoughts distract you. Often when I find myself starting to lose concentration, I remind myself when my exam is and how much I still have left to study. Usually that’s enough to scare me back into study mode.
• Stay hydrated. When people think about studying/cramming for long periods of time (often throughout the night), they immediately think that energy drinks will do the trick. While they may work for some people, I find that green tea or even just hot (not boiling) water works best for me. Milo is good the first time, but if you’re planning to study for a long time you don’t want to have that warm milky after-taste lingering around. Hot drinks help you stay warm during those all-nighters as well!
• Track your progress. You may feel like you’re achieving nothing after several hours of study. Don’t worry, keep going. It’s a good idea to test your knowledge after each chapter/section by trying a practice question or trying to recall facts you have just read.
• Active studying. Don’t just read your notes. Write key points down, say something out loud a few times. Come up with mnemonics to help you remember steps or processes easier. They say that your brain can only remember 5-7 things at a time, so break bigger chunks down and group similar points together to trick your mind into thinking it only has to remember a smaller number of things.
• Look at previous examples. If you have access to previous exam papers, have a look through them beforehand and if you have several years’ worth of previous exams, compare them to see if there are trends. If you have access to the answers as well, don’t look at them before you start studying. Have a go at the questions first, and then see what the answer is. That way you can see how closely you answered the question, and see what you have to change. It’s easy to simply look at the answer and understand it without trying to answer it first, but often it’s coming up with an answer yourself that’s the hardest part.
• Take regular breaks. By regular I mean around once every 3 hours. I find 3 hours to be a good length for each sitting because it’s generally the length of an exam so you can train your mind to concentrate for that long. And by the way, breaks are only supposed to be long enough to go to the bathroom, maybe a quick snack and have a stretch. Don’t even think about going near Facebook.

After cramming

• Lather. Rinse. Repeat. One session of cramming is not enough. I would like to think you would have thought about studying at least a few days prior to your exam and not just the day before. The more cramming sessions you have, the more information you will retain.

All the best with your cramming. I better get back to mine.

28 October, 2011 in Social, University by Aonghas

CompSys Class Rep Lunch

I had Thai green curry for lunch

We’ve been meaning to have a lunch for the CompSys class reps this year but it was always postponed – until today. Thanks to the second year class rep Kenny, we managed to meet up for lunch with Dr Partha Roop, our course director and Head of Department. Partha suggested we go to a Thai restaurant close to uni called Khao Thai, so we met at his office at 12pm and walked down to the restaurant together. The purpose of the meeting was to thank all the class reps for their efforts this year, especially the Part 4 reps Jonathan and Isuru as they are graduating next year, and also to discuss ways in which can give the Computer Systems programme more exposure to businesses and connect with industry. We talked about hosting an event to show businesses in the industry what we’re doing (project work etc) and I also suggested that we make a promotional video that shows what CSE is all about. Partha really liked the idea of a promotional video, so I might get started on it after exams are finished. The lunch was really nice, I had Thai green curry and Partha paid for all of us which was very generous of him!

From left: Aonghas, Kenny Doria, Jonathan Foulkes, Dr Partha Roop, Isuru Pathirana, Haihao Zhang, Jervis Ferreira