How to prepare for exams

Most of us mere mortals out there (fact: there's at least one or two aliens in every school who will do well at almost everything, usually with the exception of sport) have a time where we do badly at exams. Now, there's a time and place for fails. I'll tell you now, the acceptable place to either metaphorically or physically faceplant is NOT at your desk in that quiet hall full of people. It's usually on a Friday night when you're out with mates, getting pissed and doing silly things. On holiday when you go skinny dipping and your clothes get washed away. On the weekend, when you plan to try and get up and end up in bed until gone one pm. NOT as you sit down in the Room of Doom. Don't let your mind go blank. better still, don't let your mind be blank.

I have some tips which should, hopefully, help you study a little more successfully.

Firstly, pick subjects you're interested in if you're going to attempt to do any good amount of work to an acceptable standard. This goes without saying, really.

Secondly, accept that sometimes you'll have to sacrifice time you'd have spent doing other things in order to get work done. You want to play WoW? You want to read some of that HILARIOUS book you got for Christmas? Fine. Just do it AFTER you finish your work. Some level of prioritisation is useful.

Set yourself a goal. "I will do ten essays today" is probably not achieveable. "I will revise one whole topic of (Subject X)" is better. Subject X will be all the more understandable if you don't flood yourself with it.

Past papers. Oh my god. They're beyond useful. They help you with timing, with clarity of work. And they'll teach you, if nothing else, to READ THE QUESTION and proof read your answers. When your hand is spewing out words as fast as your mind tells it to, there are likely to be a few silly mistakes. Go back and check. Clever people don't not make mistakes, but they do correct them before others get the chance to catch them out.

Mark schemes! Don't do a past paper without having the mark scheme to hand to check your answers. That being said, don't read it BEFORE you answer. You won't improve unless you know how to rewrite and evaluate your work.

Extra essays. These are the bane of my life, but boy are they useful. Write an essay, send it in, get a lower grade than you want? Keep a copy and update it. Trust me, three weeks down the line it's much more useful because you've learnt what mistakes you've made. ALWAYS read what you've written.

Stress a little bit. No stress is the same as saying, "don't worry about missing that bit out". Of course you should. Just don't let it get to the point where you feel like you're imploding. When something is set, try (and really TRY) to do it that evening or afternoon. You get it out of the way and it's usually better quality than the piecemeal shite you'd have written much later on (say, the night before the deadline).

Revision timetables. These make revision manageable instead of daunting. They also mean you can actually go and see your friends and chill when others are stressing. Keep your work under wraps, and you won't miss anything out. Good organisation is tantamount to exam preparation and studying. You need a set time to do things, because that way you can get into the routine of it.

If I've missed anything out or you have anything you'd like to add, comment below.

Happy reading, folks!

The boredom has set in.

I have done my homework, written my personal statement (entire first draft), watched about twenty movies, been ice skating, tidied up... I'm now getting to the stage where I create weird art projects just to fill my time. Today, for instance, I spray painted a white T-Shirt with sky blue spray paint. before this I'd made clouds out of stickyback plastic and stuck them to the shirt, so now it's finished and the plastic is off, I have what can only be described truly as a SkyShirt. I quite like it, but I'm not sure how well it'll fare in the wash.

I now find myself watching mundane programs on T.V. or doing various other strange things. The worst thing is because I've properly stopped growing I now have very little appetite so I have to make a conscious effort to eat. Before it was a "should probably be eating less" situation, now it's more like I have to ask people to remind me at various points in the day. I'm sure when term starts I'll be hungrier as I'll actually be having to leave the house and walk around and do things (naff stuff like learning). I've done lesson plans for when I go back... I've pre-made a timetable sheet... For god's sake, there is nothing else to do. These holidays, they feel so great when they start, after all the exams and the effort and the latenights and hard work. But after three or four weeks, you become disillusioned with the idea of six weeks of no routine and nothing useful to fill your time. You have to make conscious efforts to do anything remotely constructive.

What makes it worse for me is I live in a basement flat and the man upstairs has a new girlfriend. Kudos, UpstairsMan, this one's not as loud as the last one, but please stop having two-hour long sex sessions. At one in the morning. Or at seven in the morning. I want a wake-up track, I'll find something off Youtube like "She's Got You High". What I DON'T want to wake up to is you getting bizzay to the rhythm of my alarm clock, thanks so much.

One day I will record the sounds and post it through their letterbox in CD form, each track a different date or something. There's nothing like embarrassing someone in STYLE. It does actually give me joy, sometimes... But only when people really deserve it.

The worst bit is the end (now) of the holidays, because my bodyclock's out of whack and I nhave to learn to go to school all over again... just like every year.

Also, I have found out something new. On days that start off rainy and then get hot, your flat will be somewhat infested with garden spiders. Remember this if you are afraid of spiders. Particularly because they are bloody MASSIVE (Grade 2!) and therefore run fast. Faster than you. That's a very frightening prospect.

I highly suggest you click that Grade 2 link and watch intently. I relate to the man very strongly on this subject.

Happy reading, folks!

AS Results

Well, I was very nervous for the AS results. For those readers who don't understand AS and A2, in England we take A-Levels. these are for two years, the first being AS (modular exams, two modules per subject) and the second being A2 (again, mod, 2mod/sub). I've just finished my first year. AS results are as follows:

Sociology A
German B (8 marks off an A, so frustrating!)
Law B
Critical Thinking C
Government and Politics E

I'm pretty happy with that. In fact, I'm very happy, because Crit and Politics, I'm dropping (hate both) so it's brilliant that the grades for my other subjects are good. This sets me up for a pretty successful (if I work!) A2 year. Whooooooooooooop!

I did a lot of jumping around and such. A friend of mine got five As. Bastard, but well done nonetheless.

Welp, I'm tired. So, g'night!

Also...Reading a book on genetics. On the misunderstanding of the inheritance of acquired characteristics: "In every society, part of the point of self-improvement is to pass on the benefits to one's descendants. Unfortunately, biology is not like real estate."

Happy reading, folks!

News, news, news

I got a job. And another. I now have two jobs. I also have a blondish streak in my hair and a pretty new scar to add to the collection (I'm not into scarification, I just have a tendency to hit the ground a lot). It's cool, I kind of heal quite well. I have to eat a lot of food to deal with all that energy I use up healing myself. Seriously though! I lose weight after an accident usually. Fun fun.

I refuse to go below nine and a half. If I'm below that I'm too light. I love me. But I don't love me lite, that's like being diet coke... People only see you in a begrudging light, with that sort of offputting resigned acceptance I really hate.

We dyed Aggie's hair again. It's lumo-pink. I quite like it, and may indeed update my own streak (blondy sort of rust colour at the moment) with that pink. My hair dyes very well, so it's fun to experiment because the results are usually pretty striking. Speaking of results, I get mine tomorrow, for AS. I'm a big bundle of excitability and nervousness. It's been the wait, the long wait, that's the worst thing. I wish there was no more than a week between exam and results, like with modular tests at school, but alas this cannot be so.

I got some more music for you... This is one by RHCP, I like its vibrance and fun feeling http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfOdWSiyWoc&NR=1

Happy reading, folks!