In the Dark

Just time for a very quick post today to mark the fact that this afternoon I did my last lecture of the 2022 calendar year, a revision class on special relativity. I’ll be back to do further classes in January ahead of the examinations but that’s it for me until after Christmas. It’s been a very hectic term so I’m glad it’s almost over.

Thoughts are now turning to the exams, I ended today’s lecture with some tips about examinations as the January session will be the first most students have ever had at third level. The tips I passed on today included:

1. Try to get a good night’s sleep before the examination and arrive in plenty of time before the start.
2. Read the entire paper before starting to answer any questions. In particular, make sure you are aware of any supplementary information, formulae, etc, given in the rubric or at the end.
3. Start off by tackling the question you are most confident about answering, even if it’s not Question 1. This will help settle any nerves.
4. Don’t rush! Students often lose marks by making careless errors. Check all your numerical results on your calculator at least twice and – PLEASE – remember to put the units!
5. Don’t panic! You’re not expected to answer everything perfectly. A first-class mark is anything over 70%, so don’t worry if there are bits you can’t do. If you get stuck on a part of a question, don’t waste too much time on it (especially if it’s just a few marks). Just leave it and move on. You can always come back to it later.

Readers of this blog are welcome to add other tips through the comments box below!

This entry was posted on December 14, 2022 at 4:04 pm and is filed under Biographical, Education, Maynooth with tags Examinations, Maynooth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.