Love May Well Tear Us Apart Again, But Exams Won't

You'll all be glad to hear that, after this post has been put online, I am going to find something other than university/me to write about. Yes you may well find my mishaps and other self-deprecating stories funny but I feel it is about time that I branched out the scope of this blog further than just 'ME!'. But before all of that fun begins I have an interesting (well what I hope will be an interesting) topic for my latest posts - exams. Now I was heckled for mentioning exams in my last post but I feel that it is better to talk about them than to ignore them - after all the majority of you will have some sort of exam before the Christmas and New Year festivities can begin. I hope that, rather selfishly of me, that this post will help me to understand better what I have to do over the next couple of weeks to get through these exams unscathed but I also hope that you take something out of it as well.

Now as the title suggests, I think that the next month or so will prove to be the biggest period of bonding that any of us have done since we left high school. Forget fresher's week and all of those subsequent nights when you've had your bum squeezed in a club after a few shots of vodka - these exams are more likely to bring you closer to people I think. Now it might not be something that you've considered in the past when you've been sitting high school exams, but during these periods you become much closer to people. I suppose it is human nature to come together in times of difficulty and when challenges pop up and this is no different to exams. It is actually fundamentally important to have people around you that are going through the exact same experiences because that way you can help each other through. The person that shuts their-self away from the world over the next month is the person that is more likely to crack first. I'm not saying that you shouldn't spend time on your own because your own company at times is often better than the company of others when you're studying, but there needs to be a balance between the two in my opinion.

Nobody ever said that exams were going to be easy and in fact there is a very good reason for that - I mean what would be the point of doing them otherwise? There wouldn't be a point in going to university if exams were easy. My view on exams though is that you can make them as easy or as difficult as you want. If you work yourself into the ground and put your all into studying for exams then you'll make them as easy as you can for yourself. However if you stress about them and don't do anything about it as a result then you might as well not turn up. From personal experience (and I don't think I'm particularly proud to say this) I have a fear of failure which often stops me from being at my best. I do say this more than I probably should in this blog but I know that I'm pretty good at things and that I've never failed anything (except that STUPID computing Nab! - some people will remember it well) and with that comes serious problems. I'm now undertaking the most challenging set of exams that I've ever done and with that comes a serious risk of failure if I'm not performing at 100%. In short, I don't have a choice but to work hard now because failure isn't an option for me and never will be. 

Anyway enough trumpet blowing for one post and back to my main point. One thing that I'm counting on over the next few weeks is to have people around me who are in the same situation so that we can all help each other through. I can make as many timetables (you'll be chuffed to hear that my timetable is now up on my wall and looking as slick and efficient as I predicted in my last post) and as many flashcards, notes etc as I want but I'm banking on having some human support on top of all that - not to give me answers and not to take some of the studying load off, just to be there when I need a break. I've pitched all of this from my own point of view but I know that each and every one of you feels the same and don't shy away from it. It's time to pull together before the fat man comes down the chimney.

Thanks again for reading and a special thanks to everyone that has complimented my blog in person over the last few weeks. I write because it makes me feel good and nothing more but when so many people seem to enjoy it, it does make me feel all warm inside - although that might just be the coffee again!


Please vote in the poll over there on the right and keep it cool for the exams.

Over and out,


Martin