You know its revision time when you emerge from your prison of a room to find all the lights out in your student living room at 9.30 on a Sunday evening; typically prime house bonding time. Theres an tangible tension that fills the house and the only sounds that can be heard are the tapping of computer keys or the scribblings of pens.

Some housemates are stranded in hellward or marooned on Jubilee campus, while others have barricaded themselves in their rooms to stop you distracting them (I only wanted to play hide and seek for 10 minutes guys! rain check?). Needless to say, these are not the most fun weeks I’ve spent at Uni this year, but it is why were here … right?

My first exam was yesterday at 4.30pm. In terms of the best times for exams I think this is the middle man. It’s not ideal as it falls in that afternoon lull when you fancy a nap, but for me personally 9am would be worse; my brain does not work in the morning. If I had the choice, I think 1.30 is the prime exam time UoN offers, its not too late, but you’re awake and there are lights switched on upstairs.

So as 4.30 is a ridiculous time for a 2 hour exam, I had to adapt and adjust my schedule to best prepare me. The first thing I had to sacrifice was getting up early; I HAD to sleep in and get up later than usual, so I wouldn’t be tired for my exams. As for my diet it makes sense that I would need as much energy as possible for my exam, therefore I HAD to eat everything in sight, including copious amounts of dairy milk chocolate, pesto pasta and chorizo! These were all tough but necessary sacrifices I had to make to prepare for my exam, luckily I found the strength to undertake them.

Other exciting news is that I received my welcome pack from my exchange university for next year. I’m going to be studying at the University of Illinois in America next year, starting on the 18th August! I’m incredibly excited for next year, its going to be an amazing opportunity and now that I’ve received my welcome pack I’ve been able to book my accommodation, flights, sign up to courses and do everything in between. It feels much more real now. The only down side is some of my friends will have left Nottingham when I come back for my final fourth year.

For now next years excitement is going to have to wait, its back to the books. I keep reminding myself there’s life after exams, that they are not the be all and end all. This is not very convincing sometimes when you know theres a lot riding on them, however it helps to remember the world won’t end if I don’t do spectacularly.

Good luck to everyone with exams this week, take comfort in the knowledge that they’ll all be over in three weeks 🙂

Posted in 2012 Shane