Revision

With just four weeks to go to my two exams in December, I’m beginning to feel extremely stressed. Panic has set in about how I can possibly revise the courses effectively and sufficiently in time for the exams. I’ve been here before, but still I can’t get used to the pressure that revising for exams puts on me and unfortunately on my friends and family around me. Word soon get round among colleagues and friends that exams are approaching, keep your distance!

"You have done well in the past, you don’t need to worry you will be ok" was a throw away comment from a friend. Of course this is complete nonsense because every course is different and there is no doubting that we all find some subjects harder than others. More importantly it ignores that past success is also due to hard work and good revision both which can be compromised by increasing demands on time, in particular work.

How can I manage the next few weeks so that I can constructively revise? Falling back on past experience the key to revising successfully seems to be doing as many past exams questions as possible. To maximise my time for the essay type questions  I tend to jot down the points I would cover, rather than write a full essay. I then carefully review the answers and make note of any key points I don’t already have in my revision notes.

With computational questions I tend to work through them firstly using my notes as guidance. By doing this it helps me to remember the methodology. Even with notes I still get some questions completely wrong. This is useful in that it identifies deficiencies in my notes and where I just haven’t understood the subject or the question. The key is not to get too disheartened or into a panic when this happens as it is all part of the learning process. Finally I do the questions timing myself so I can hopefully do them in the required time.

In general with a job and a family to look after it’s important that I don’t get too obsessed with my accountancy. My exception to the rule is the revision period leading up to the exams where I allow myself to become completely obsessed and revise as much as I can.  I put the rest of my life on hold as much as is possible, finding it useful to revise most evenings so that the information is going into my head in a drip feed fashion.

So taking a deep breath, I am determined not to panic and use the time I have left to revise effectively and efficiently.

Good luck to everyone taking exams in December.