In future I may choose to do my revision somewhere other that at home, for example, the library. This means I will be away from the distractions of children and phone calls. I will also give my friends and family a copy of my revision time-table so that they know not to bother me.
I felt that we were given enough information before the exam to know what to expect though I would have liked to have seen a copy of an old paper and perhaps given the opportunity to have a go at completing one.
When we were allowed to look at our paper I read it through once before answering any questions. Once I had done this I first answered the questions I did not need to think about too much before going on to the others, and if there were any I did not know then I left them blank. I then went onto the essay question and decided which to do, though I found making a choice difficult as I did not know how I would get on once I had started. Once I got started on the essay I realised the mistake I had made by not revising my specialist modules. I wanted to be able to include examples, statistics or case studies in my essay by could not remember any.
Once I had completed the essay I went back to the questions and any that I did not know the answer to I guessed. I then proof read the whole paper and corrected some errors which I had missed.
If I could have done thing differently I would have planned my revision better to avoid distractions. I found that spending 30 minutes a day trying to revise while cooking dinner and running around after the children does not work.
Before the exam I was not nervous but I think this was to do with the fact I did not have time to think about it too much. I also think that I did not take it as seriously as I should have and therefore did not revise enough. While waiting outside the exam hall I seemed to “catch” nervousness from other people but cannot see any way to avoid this.
During the exam I was more nervous than I expected and was really aware of how quickly the time was passing. I wanted to work out how much time I could spend on each section, but this seemed to make me feel worse as I could not remember how many points would be awarded for each.
After the exam I felt a bit disappointed as I feel my lack of revision meant I could not do my best.
Dealing with stress during my revision sometimes helped. It made feel more awake sometimes, though this was often short lived and I usually ended up feeling worn out. Stress often meant I could not concentrate properly and I would try to do too much in one session.
In future I will try to avoid the negative affects of stress by taking regular breaks, planning my revision better, finding a better location for my revision, not revising when I am tired and taking revision more seriously. I also think that revision is something that should be a continuous process not only used just before an exam. Reviewing work monthly or termly is something that I will try in the future.
