Category Archives: Note making

Tips to Ace your Online Open-Book Exams

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By Leanne (Student blogger: Business Management)

It’s time for the most crucial part of the academic year – finals. For many of us, these exams could make or break our final grade.

During the pandemic, most of us are faced with online open-book exams. At first, this might sound like a blessing, but we’ll soon find out that a relaxed deadline and uncontrolled environment could lead to our long-dreaded familiar friend – procrastination.

To avoid slacking and last-minute panicking, here are a few tips to ensure you’re prepared to ACE your online open-book exams!

  1. Create effective summary notes

I hate to break it to you but… relying on your search function isn’t enough! Creating your own concise and effective summary notes can reduce the time you spend searching through lecture notes. Take this as an opportunity to actively recall important parts of your lectures and process information in your own words.

  1. Apply your skills

Markers will be grading your answers based on how you tackle each question, this is especially relevant in essay-based exams. You should be focusing on forming linkages with frameworks taught in class and building a strong argument.

  1. Take the time to plan

Stay calm when reading your exam questions. Thoroughly examine and understand the question instead of jumping directly into it. Be cautious when identifying theories and structure your answers with clarity (e.g. PEEL answering technique).

  1. Practice time-keeping

A 23-hour submission timeframe might sound ideal until you find yourself being too relaxed during the exam, potentially leading to a lack of focus, discipline and critical thinking. We can combat this by practicing past papers, doing our best to stick to the given time and double checking our answers. The bottom line is: “One always has time enough, if one will apply it well.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  1. Don’t forget your mental health

Your grades do not define you! It’s important to remind yourself that you have enrolled onto the course and picked these subjects because of your interests. The skills you have nurtured over these past few months will benefit your career and life even if it does not show on paper. Your university experience is a stepping stone in life that guides you closer to where you are meant to be.

With all that being said, I wish you good luck in your online exams and all the best!

 

Tackling the Exam Period

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By Lucy (Student blogger: MSc Management)

Revising for exams is never an easy process and certainly not one that people want to relive in a hurry. However, exams are generally a part of university life no matter which stage you are at, so it is best to be prepared for them. Exam revision can be very stressful. Many of us face obstacles such as a lack of motivation or uncertainty about what is expected of us, but sometimes all we need is a little bit of direction. Therefore, after reflecting on my years of assessment preparation (the successes and the setbacks) I thought it might be helpful to provide some tips on what I found beneficial in easing some of that exam stress.

  • Keep up to date

With an abundance of new circumstances over the past year, including online exams, online teaching and a greater focus on independent learning, it can be easy to miss learning material. Lecturers provide vast amounts of detail in lecture recordings, additional readings and workbooks – so I would just ensure you have double checked the Moodle page. It is also a good idea to be strategic and make comprehensive and logical notes from the pre-recorded materials throughout the year to save time when you revise.

  • Use a variety of revision techniques

When I first came to university I did not know how to begin tackling revision. The types of exams and exam content were different to what I was used to at A-Level, and I often found that trying to replicate techniques I had previously used was not always effective at university level. I learnt that the most effective approach for me was to compile many methods together to ensure a greater comprehension of material such as: re-visiting lectures, condensed notes, cue cards, diagrams and lots of colour. People obviously know what works best for them, but from my experience variety is a winner.

  • Create to-do lists

Often it can be rather overwhelming trying to balance current learning with revision. Making to-do lists can ensure that everything you need to do is written down so nothing is forgotten. Making to-do lists can provide you with the motivation to work towards getting something crossed off, as there is nothing more satisfying than having a finished list. However, one thing I would say in regards to such lists is to be reasonable with yourself. It is very easy to get carried away writing down everything you want to get done but this can often make the targets unattainable. Breaking the lists up into different days can ensure that your goals and strategy work for you.

  • Have a weekly schedule

Again, emphasising the previous point, sometimes we can forget how much time we have in a day to get things done. By creating weekly schedules, you can physically see how many days you have to get stuff done. Mark key deadlines and activities on these schedules so you can actively plan smaller personal targets to work towards. Remember, there are 24 hours in a day – following the 8/8/8 method (8 hours sleep, 8 hours studying and 8 hours for eating, socialising and jobs) often helped me manage me time and my life.

  • Take breaks

Finally, make sure to take some breaks! Having small breaks in-between study sessions for some snacks, exercise (such as walks) or chatting to friends and family is really important. The Pomodoro method of 25 minutes studying for a 5-minute break often keeps me focused but ensures I don’t burn myself out. Looking after your health and well-being is a number one priority when undergoing stressful situations, and by having breaks it allows for a change of scenery while also making it easier to focus on your return.

Best of luck to everyone in their assessments and examinations, I hope these tips can be of assistance to anyone who is feeling a bit overwhelmed and lost. You can do it!

My exam preparation tips

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By Tsz Yan (Student Blogger: MSc Business Analytics)

Examinations are a difficult issue for us as there are a lot of things to understand and remember before the exam period. So, I am here to suggest a whole set of steps that can be taken during the academic year in order to make the final revision period easier.

  1. Prepare study materials before the lesson

Our lecturers usually upload the teaching material before the lesson. You should read these materials and have a brief understanding of their content. Therefore, you can catch up with what the lecturer says during the lesson.

  1. Take notes and ask questions during the lesson

It is important for all of you to take notes during the lesson. Not only can this help you to pay more attention to the lesson, but also help you to have a better understanding of the teaching material. If you have any questions about your understanding of materials, don’t hesitate. Just ask the lecturer politely and they will be happy to answer your question.

  1. Study after the lesson

The first two steps are just basic steps you should follow. If you want to have better preparation for the exam (i.e. achieve a better result in the exam), you should concentrate on this step.

After the lesson, you should tidy up all the notes you made. If you find that there are some important things missing, just listen to the recording again to catch up on what you missed. If you have any questions on the topic after reading all the notes you made, ask your classmates and ask the lecturer if needed.

Also, in order to have a better and deeper understanding of the specific topic, it is important for you to do further reading using the textbooks and/or articles that the lecturer recommended. These further readings may also answer some of your questions on the topic.

Finally, you should make a complete set of notes for each topic (combining the notes you took during and after the lesson, the additional information and/ or knowledge from textbooks, articles, as well as some explanation you obtained from your friends and/or the lecturer).

If there are any after-class exercises or case studies, you should also complete them at least once to make sure you have fully understood the topic.

  1. Study in the revision period

After you have completed the above steps, life will become easier in the revision period. During this period, all you need to do is just go through the notes you made and the after-class exercises or case studies you have done. Keep asking yourself questions related to the topic during revision. The more questions you can answer, the more confidence you will have for the exam.

The above four steps are my process of preparing for the exam. I hope these steps will help you to achieve a good result. Good Luck!

Making notes [with style]

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by Melissa (Student Blogger: MA English Literature)

Now, I am sure that any student practising university level study will be fully aware of the importance of approaching texts critically, and that memory is an imperfect accomplice when it comes to recording valuable thoughts, so for this post I have spoken to students about how they like to accessorize their reading with notes.

FOR THE FASHONISTAS…

[pretty post-it notes, coloured biros, bookmarks, highlighter pens]

If you’re style-sensitive and looking to make an impact, you might want to use your motivation as an opportunity to colour co-ordinate your thoughts.

Pretty post-it notes will add colour to boring black-white pages, but also look neat, scholarly, and catch your attention when flicking for the correct page mid-seminar. Post-it notes will also prevent you from damaging your book if you plan to resell when your course is finished, or if you’ve been borrowing from the library.

If you’re not planning to resell/ return your book, you may want to invest in some coloured biros or highlighters. I use red, green, blue and black biros to help me categorize my thoughts. For example, black underline reminds me of impending doom, red reminds me of war and harm, blue is an emotional colour, and green is for nature and happiness. I’m a literature student, but students from any subject can adapt colour coding to their advantage; one colour for quotes you find interesting, and another for quotes you want to use in an upcoming essay.

FOR THE STUDENT ON THE GO…

[dog ears, biros, accompanying note book]

Perhaps you’re a student who is too busy for bits of paper and multi-coloured pens. The ‘student on the go’ can emulate the eye-grabbing quirks of post-it notes by folding the corners of pages to point to particular lines or passages, and scribble their thoughts on said corners or margins. Folding corners makes a clear indent in the book to remind you there is something interesting there, and is much quicker than post-its. The student on the go may want to carry around an accompanying note book in case their thoughts exceed the margins.

FOR THE I.T. SAVVY…

[digital notes, ctrl+F alternative to page numbers]

If you’re using digital texts such as kindles or online pdfs, you will have a slightly harder time annotating your texts directly unless you sink money into a printer. On the other hand, setting up a word document for making digital notes will make them harder to lose, and you’ll never worry about failing to read your own handwriting. For searching through digital texts, it is imperative that you locate the ‘find’ function on whatever device you’re using (‘ctrl+F’ for Windows PCs) so that you can find the context of any quotes you’ve recorded at a moment’s notice.

EXAMS COMING UP?

[single sided A4, working on condensing, highlighter pens]

If you’ve got exams coming up, you might want to adopt an alternative method of note making, such as writing your notes out on single sided paper with the intention of sticking them on your walls. If you struggle condensing your notes into a reasonable amount, highlighter pens are an essential tool for marking out what you need to focus on. Don’t forget the underline and highlighter tools on Microsoft Word if your typing your notes.

CONCLUDING STATEMENTS –

I use a variety of these methods to help streamline my own learning process, so don’t be afraid to try out new things to find what works best for you! If you’re not sure what exactly you should be making notes on, you might find what you’re looking for here – http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/studyblog/2017/11/10/close-reading/