Inez’s First Year Blog: Exams, Austen and Anxiety

Hey everyone,

C- Go ahead. Haven’t used C in a while.

Hope you had an awesome winter break and a less-than-terrible exam period.  Exams ended last week… And I have to say I didn’t know what to expect.   I was terrified… and a recurring scenario would play before my eyes: Upon entering the exam hall, everything I revised would just vaporise.  Vanish.  Disappear.  Leave. And I’d be left staring at the blank answer sheet…. With NOTHING in my head!! I’d answer the multiple question paper using the “ A,B,C,D” methodology.  For those less experienced in the arts of anxiety and knowledge-procurement, this method is  simple and user-friendly. Idiot-proof.   It relies on an easy-to-follow thought process.  You think to yourself, “ hmm, what letter have I not used in awhile—A,B,C or D?”  If your answer sheet is severely lacking in “A”s—well then—fill in as appropriate.

 Thank goodness, nothing so extreme happened! All the same, I wish information would be as willing to enter my brain as it is to leave it. Diffusion rather than vaporisation.    I have to say though, in university, for the first time I’ve actually enjoyed studying some modules- I was surprised by that.  I guess doing something you like has its perks!  I could drone on and on and bore you to extinction with my list of exam- related complaints. But I’ll be kind and spare you today!

I had applied for the Manchester Autumn Mentor Program last year September-ish, and that’s probably one fo the best things I’ve done whilst in uni.  I got assigned to a lovely lady named Kate, who is a features editor at New Scientist.  I got to see for myself what a day in the life of an editor is like.  It was amazing! The topics they write features on are so diverset- they range from articles on whether humans are alturistic, to articles on the evolution of language.  The latter particularly interested me, because I’ve always loved archaic, olden English.  This probably stems from my IGCSE Literature class, when we would read Jane Austen’s lively, witty prose in a sun-soaked classroom.  One particular quote of hers burned itself into my brain-” I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them.”  Probably not politically correct, and said with bad intentions- but the woman echoes my rather selfish, bad-tempered sentiments.  She’s a genius!!

Until next time,

Xoxo

Inez.

 

 

Harry’s Final Year Blog: My final Christmas in Manchester D:

As the late  John Lennon once said: “The exam period is over, if you want it” or something like that. Fortunately this year both my exams were on the first and third days of the exam period, so I had a kind of second Christmas holiday afterwards! And lets face it, although technically I had less time to revise than if they were at the end of the two week exam period, I would only have postponed starting my revision for two weeks!

Unfortunately they didn’t go too well, my first exam “Living with Climate Change” I thought was my last until at 11pm the night before, and then procrastinated during that exam, and in the second exam “Advances in Behavioural Ecology” which I had thoroughly revised for, the questions fell appallingly 😦 Also, to make matters worse for my final degree grade, I have just learned that I got ~65% in my “Nuclear Age” module, which although a 2:1 is a reputable mark, it dents my hopes of boosting my current 48% average into at least 60% (2:1) overall (I would need about 70% on average this year).

However one thing I AM chuffed about is finally having my finances sorted! The past couple of years I’ve had to beg, borrow, and steal to cover my rent, but this year due to having worked a full week in Manchester before going home for Christmas and returning briefly at the start of January to  work two more shifts (including at a televised event at the velodrome and seeing a couple of famous people!) I’m actually in the black!! Also, managed to buy Christmas presents for the fam using an Amazon gift card from the (potential) in-laws, they don’t call me moneybags Keates for nothing 😉

Tip of the Week:

Christmas time is a kind of recession as a student- you probably haven’t factored in the additional presents, nights out (inc. new year’s eve and Christmas eve), travel, etc. so could be left severely out of pocket, so not only try and save a bit of dollar for it but also try and do things on the cheap! Don’t count on getting loads of Christmas money!

Next week will get onto the outlook for this final semester!

Harry x

Tom’s Foundation Year Blog: Exam Period

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year. I had a lovely four week holiday back home in Surrey, was so great to see all my family and friends from back home again after a long time. My time back home mainly consisted of relaxing, sleeping, eating, riding bikes occasionally, visiting friends and family and revising. And I loved it. Unfortunately I had to force my self to revise for the upcoming January exams!

I arrived back in Manchester on the Saturday (12th). I had an exam on the Monday, so it was a sensible idea to have a full day before exams started to settle back down, and do some last minute cramming! It was difficult to say goodbye to my family again, but the prospect of an exciting couple of months coming up made me excited again! The first thing I notice when I got back was the fact that halls were uncharastically quite. No music, no voices, pure quietness, and I soon realised why. A trip to the library the next day saw every Manchester University student packed into all the available study spaces. It was heaving. I walked into the main Library was walked around for around 15-20minutes searching for a place to seat and get cracking with some work. But literally every single space was taken. So I went over to the Alan Gilbert Learning Commons and eventually found a spot. I’ve never seen it so busy, just shows that exam period is in full flow!

I have a total of 5 exams in January, which means I’m under room and library arrest for two weeks. It’s going to be a busy couple of weeks, with not a lot of activity. The newly found FaceBook page ‘Spotted: University of Manchester Library’ has given me much entertainment during revision about all the antics going on in the library.

Rocking the Manchester kit before a ride.

Before we broke up for Christmas vacation, myself and friends from halls took a trip up to The Lake District for the weekend. It was an amazing couple of days with long walks, visiting the Christmas market and attempting to climb the highest peak in England, Scafell Pike but unfortunately didn’t make it to the top due to limited sun light available, but we were able to make it to the summit of a neighboroughing peak Bow Fell. It got us all in the Christmas spirit, there was snow on the hills and was all round a brilliant weekend.

This weekend was also the time Tree Court B had to say goodbye to a fellow student. Will, an exchange student from Missouri, America was with us for the first semester, but had to go back to America last weekend. It was such a sad time, but was awesome to call him a friend, plus it gives me an excuse to take a trip to America! That’s one of the best things about University, the fact that you meet such a diverse range of people from all over the world.

Now I must get back to revision, till next time!

T

Up some mountain, Lake District

Summit of Bow Fell, Lake District

Mumford & Sons