Category: Studying Page 8 of 15

Well I made it through my exam! It wasn’t half as bad as I was anticipating and I feel I may actually have managed to answer the questions well enough to pass. But who knows?! We just have to wait and see what results day brings. I’d like to thank every single person who wished me luck on my facebook and twitter accounts and for all the prayers I know have been said for me of late. I appreciate every single one and if I haven’t replied to the messages it’s not because the message isn’t appreciated it’s just I fell behind when I was conserving energy and I’ve found it hard to catch up!!

I think the events of recent weeks are really starting to catch up with me now though; despite getting the best night’s sleep I’ve had in about a month last night my body has started to fall apart. Pain levels have increased, joints keep popping out and I’m now paying attention to some of the other things that have started plaguing me like the recurring nerve pain where I had shingles earlier this year!

Despite this I have started making cards again today, it’s something I’ve been longing to do for a while and had all the materials still. I just hadn’t had enough energy whilst studying. Now I’m free for a few months I thought I’d start dabbling in it again. I’d forgotten how enjoyable it is to do!

I’ve also started making plans of how to make the most of my free time and summer (if the weather realises it is summer!). Trips out are in the pipeline, as is a bit of gentle gardening and a sort out of my room. Oh and of course there’s photographing the Trooping of the Colour as it passes over my garden before reaching London on The Queen’s Official Birthday! All these are things I’m unable to do when I’m studying as my degree takes priority over everything but my health.

I’m looking forward to meeting up with friends, writing on my blog a lot more, getting out and generally relaxing! Not having to worry about studying is like a weight’s been lifted off my shoulders. I’m hoping over the next few months despite planning to do all these things I will start improving again healthwise and find myself in a better position when I start my next university module in October. All these things will be carefully planned and pacing myself is still paramount if I’m to succeed in getting my health to improve!

For now I leave you with a massive thank you for your continuous support and if you’re a student or potential student with a chronic illness reading this, I’ve posted some study/revision tips here so hop over there and take a look if you’re interested!

To say this revision period hasn’t been easy for me is an understatement but I have managed to come up with some (hopefully useful) tips for revising in stressful circumstances and with deteriorating health. (Yes my health has taken a battering of late and as a result I’m facing a difficult few weeks of crawling my way back to where I was). Anyway here’s my tips:

Make a Plan
This may seem obvious but it’s something I was unable to do until the last week. I seriously advise making a plan or at the very least a list of the topics that need to be revised – that way you can tick things off on the list and see your progress which helps to alleviate some of the panic!

Look back through TMAs
TMAs, or just previous assignments at other unis, are a wealth of revision notes – you had to apply course concepts to them right? Therefore by reading back through them you can easily revise a few of them! These often also provide a context for the concepts. Having read through my TMAs the night before my exam I was semi-prepared for a question that came up which I hadn’t actually revised for!

Use earplugs
If you find noise distracting I really recommend using earplugs. They’ve been absolutely brilliant for me, and I have to thank a good friend of mine for sending me some to try since the ones I had hurt my ears! I’ll be ordering some of this type ready for next year’s studying.

Take rests when you need them
Sounds so obvious but there literally isn’t any point in ploughing on through feeling rough it only serves to make you feel worse. It’s not worth it and only sets revision back. Do something relaxing during these breaks, something that allows your brain to rest. For me I’ve been using guided meditations during my breaks which I found really helped.

Listen to advice
It took several friends and family members to persuade me resting was best and there was no point in pushing myself too much; I wouldn’t have been trying if it hadn’t been for the situation I was in. I wish I’d listened to them sooner as I might not be in quite the same state I am in now!

Find the best method for you
I can’t claim to have found my perfect revision technique yet but I have found ‘just reading’ doesn’t quite cut it. I have to write things down in some way. Saying that a lot of my last minute revision was just skim reading as I felt covering more topics in the time I had would serve me better. Connecting it with something in my real life helps too if I can do it. Whether it be mind maps, flash cards, quizzes, rewriting notes…do whatever works for you. If it makes it stick in your mind use that method. I aimed to give flashcards and quizzes a go but didn’t get a chance for this course! Perhaps for my next exam!!

And finally…
Don’t panic. You can do this. It may seem insurmountable but remember it’ll be worth it. I’ve had my moments during this revision period where I’ve seriously considered giving up on my degree completely. It seemed impossible to revise with everything that was going on and my health deteriorating. But thanks to some truly amazing and supportive friends and family I’ve decided to continue. I’m not convinced this exam will prove the best possible grade, but I am happy in the knowledge I did my best in some very difficult circumstances; circumstances that would be challenging for most healthy people, let alone those with a chronic illness, and that will have to suffice. Besides I might surprise myself yet!

So I got my final assignment back on Sunday, it meant all the more to receive it while my Nan was spending the day with us. Amazingly I got 93% on my Information Management assignment. It’s a subject I really enjoy so I’m guessing that made the difference. Absolutely thrilled and slightly shocked by that result though!

The comments from my tutor were brilliant as always, but this time round they made me well up too:

“It has been a great pleasure working with you on the module Clare…and you complete your TMAs with your best one to date.
Your Grandad would have been pleased…nice way to honour his memory.”

Now I know I’m definitely focusing on Information Management for revision alongside Marketing and Human Resource Management. I’ve made a reasonable start on Marketing today; the first day I can really say it’s gone quite well. But I’m still struggling to focus which under the circumstances isn’t all that surprising I guess, but hopefully I’ll be able to squeeze in enough revision before the exam despite everything that’s going on.

I’m thinking of doing a post on revising with M.E. would anyone be interested?! If so let me know in the comments, on Google+ or Twitter! I’ve also added a glossary page of Open University terms at the top of this blog so if you ever wonder what I’m on about that’s the place to look!

That’s all I’ve got for now, as ever I will update this as and when I can.

I had hoped that by now I’d be buried in revision and as a result wouldn’t be updating this blog. But it seems life has other plans for me right now and I can’t focus on revision. Don’t worry I’m still doing a bit here and there but it’s just not lasting long at all. I’m not convinced it’s going in either…we’ll have to wait and see!

I’m still waiting for my final assignment result, this isn’t helping my ability to focus – I need to choose three of the five subjects to focus on and I plan on choosing the three I did my best on the TMA’s for (figuring more of it will already be in my brain!) but until I know my last TMA score I can’t make a decision on my final subject.

Currently I’m focusing on revising Marketing and then I hope to do Human Resource Management. I’ve omitted Accounting and Finance as a subject of focus since unless a question comes up in the exam that I remember the calculation for I think I’ll be stuffed! There’s so much scope for what could come up it is almost unbelievable! Obviously I’m going to try and revise a bit on every subject as the first part of the exam is an overview of all the subjects. There just seems to be so much to do in such a little space of time!

Especially given recent events in my life; there’s no ideal time to lose somebody in your life and unfortunately this has happened to me at a time where energy was always going to be rationed to revision. Instead revision has taken a bit of a back seat this week, but next week I feel I need to get a lot of it done in order to make it through a funeral and recover in time for the exam. Missing the funeral is not an option and neither is missing the exam. I want to do this exam and pass for the person I lost; I know they’d be proud no matter what but I want to do my best for them.