lecture technique

Lectures are one of the main ways I receive information on my course.  Lecture technique can be defined as how get the most out of a lecture.  In this blog I will outline what I think is a good lecture technique. 

The point of lectures is receive information that can be used later in assignments, and as revision for evaluations and examinations with each lecture helping you to understand every section of the subject and build up your understanding of the whole subject.

The following are several things that contribute greatly to having a good lecture technique. You should be actually at the lecture. Hearing the information yourself is always better than having to rely on someone else’s notes or any hand-outs given in the lecture but remember that hand-outs are only part of what the lecturer said in the lecture.  Be prepared to start as soon as the lecture starts so that you do not miss anything and have a pen and paper ready, it also helps to have read through previous notes or other reading so that you are more  familiar with the topic.  Pay attention and make notes if there is no hand-out so that you able to have recorded as much of the lecture as possible.  What I do is focus on writing down what is on the slides as well as what the lecturer has said. If there is a hand-out I can focus more on the detail of what the lecturer is saying.  Sometimes you can miss a point while writing down the previous one but that depends on how fast the lecturer is going in some lectures so you should listen to the recordings made of the lecture to get anything you missed.  If your notes are messy and difficult to read because of writing too fast go over them soon after the lecture and rewrite clearly while you can still remember the content.

In conclusion while there is quite a few to remember to do to get everything written in a lecture most of it is common sense that should not be that difficult to do and if you have good lecture technique you should be able to get the maximum information from the lecture.  

Pressure Of Tests.

I have had many run ins with tests throughout my life and the pressure has always been the same. 'Do well or go home'. I have always wanted to do well on every test that I sit, however that is not always the case... I deal with the pressure in different ways, like not thinking about the exam until a few days before and just revise solidly for those few crucial hours before hand. Another way is that I just panic about it and nothing goes in and I fail. There has only been a few occasions where I have panicked and failed, this was because I was really unprepared and I didn't do the work needed to pass them. I have learnt from my mistakes. I have been trying to prepare better for each test by revising a lot earlier so the pressure turns to confidence. Although if it does get too much for me to handle I just throw my work across the room and play some games to calm down and return to it when I 'feel like it'.

In my opinion tests need to be done away with. This is because you may ace a practice test and get 100%, then buckle under the pressure... It also does not necessarily determine how much you have learnt/what grade you should get - like I may know how to do specific things really well and some not as well but the things I know how to do not show up on the test. So coursework is a far better way to go as people have a chance to work on it, instead of "OH JESUS FIVE MINUTES LEFT!" (proceeds to write everything that comes to mind, hoping to get more marks). Coursework, we need more of it!

The Pressure of Tests

The Pressure of Tests

There is always a sense of anxiety whenever the day of an examination or test approaches, no matter how prepared I am. Understandably, I get more nervous when writing tests based on my weaker subjects, but still find myself as nervous in my stronger subjects due to the fact that I feel obliged to pass. In some cases, this self inflicted pressure causes me to fail tests I may have prepared very well for.

I personally feel that examination/test pressure is created depending on how well one prepares for an examination. Good preparation involves perfect time management, an attribute which I struggle to perfect. I find myself procrastinating a lot, leaving me with piles of work to catch up on, making the whole preparation process more difficult and eventually building the pressure towards my test.

In my opinion, tests can be both positive and negative. Negative in the sense that, students who may be well knowledgeable in the related subject ,may fail a particular test, not because they were not prepared enough but because they weren't confident and ended up cracking under pressure. On the positive side, examination is an excellent way to indirectly compel students to revise. I end up learning and understanding a lot more things during my examination period. It’s almost as if my brain is forced to understand things I could not understand before, probably another positive thing pressure from test produces.However, the pressure of tests in my native country is probably three to four times as much because passing a module was based solely on tests and exams that were given every two to three weeks, making the pressure almost continuous.
Most students crammed up definitions and solutions just to pass a module with little understanding of the topic as a whole at the end of the day.

In all, I appreciate occasional tests because they help me figure out how well I am progressing, and if I need to improve in certain areas.  The pressure it brings can be reduced by good preparation, time management,frequent revision and planning. 

The pressure of Tests.

I usually, almost every time, feel a lot of pressure when exams are coming up. As the exams come closer, I tend to worry whether I have covered everything, whether I have any doubts and do I feel ready for the exam or not. To be honest, all the worrying doesn't help concentrate on revision. It is best to leave all the worrying at the back of your mind. This allows you to fully have your focus on the task ahead rather than drifting away from the matter.

There is no need to worry about whether the questions will be in your favour or not. As long as you have covered everything and done your best in the exam. There is also no need to panic after an exam about whether you did well or not. What’s done is done, just hope for your best. You can’t go back in time so why bother stressing about the exam that is over?

What has to be done is just make sure there are no lingering doubts before the exam. Answer all the doubts you have of the topic of examination and do your very best and pray that you did well. That is all you can do. Nothing more, nothing less.

The pressure of tests

The pressure of tests

There is so much pressure before, during and after tests but there are strategies you can use to help you.  Some people feel pressure more and some people feel it less and different people cope with it in different ways.

Before the test you are under pressure of having to revise as hard as you can and are constantly worried that it’s not enough and worried about what questions you have to face in the test.  If you work hard all the time in your course and make sure you understand everything then you might feel less pressure about revising, because you already know a lot of it.  But some people naturally worry more than others and feel under pressure even if they have studied a lot. 

During the test you are pressured by the time you have to do the test in and worried about what the best way to answer the question is.  One way to help with the time pressure is to work out how long you have for each question and try to spend the right amount of time on each question.  However it is difficult if you get stuck on a difficult question and then you have to rush to complete the rest of the test.  Some people find it easy to remember what they have learned under pressure in a test but some people get very nervous and cannot remember everything even if they have studied it.  It is also important to read the question carefully as you can go wrong and lose marks if you are nervous and misread it or assume the wrong meaning of the question.  It helps if you have done some practice questions when you are revising because then you are familiar with the way the questions are written and you can practice answering them quicker.

There is also pressure after the test because you worry about whether you got the more tricky questions right and whether you got enough to pass.  It is not a good idea to worry about the test after it is done because you cannot change it but I think most people cannot help worrying a bit anyway.  Some people like to talk to their classmates about what answers they gave in the test but I do not like to do that because I get worried in case I missed some points or got answers wrong and then feel more pressure.  In fact the other people might be wrong and I might be right but I tend to worry that I am wrong. 

Some people feel the pressure of tests more strongly than others but everyone can help themselves cope if they study hard before the test and do practice questions.  After the test you should try not to feel pressure and try not to worry too much about the result until you get it.  If you did well you wasted time worrying for nothing and if you did badly worrying cannot change that. 

First impressions

My first impressions of university are that everything moves fast it doesn't wait for anyone. So far I am enjoying it and the new challenges that come with it taking on a heavier work load, paying nine grand for this experience so I have to make the most of it. Hopefully in the future when I look back on my degree and my time here I can say that it was fully worth it and that I made the most of my time here.

It is a big culture shock in terms of work ethic has been the biggest change I took a gap year and I worked for a year in retail and the work demands are more different. I feel that in university the work is more tiring because it requires thinking unlike the job I did in retail. There are new challenges each day at university and they are both mentally and physically challenging; not monotonous like my job in retail.

 
Socially it is better than the first week and there are societies that made it much easier to settle in. I have also met people from London and all over the world, people from places I would have never thought people would come from.  I am part of the squash society which has helped me meet loads of new people in that sense and also out on nights too but I will try I avoid going out too much at night. Hopefully I can enjoy what the year has to offer.

First Impressions & Educational Culture Shock

First Impressions & Educational Culture Shock

My first impression of Essex was, ‘well this is big’. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, I thought maybe it would be a few building and then the main educational campus. I was so wrong. The campus itself was the greatest shock to me as I’d never lived away from home longer than four weeks. This is the fifth week away from home and I'm still getting used to it. My accommodation is more than I could have hoped for; I had imagined almost a prison like situation, small rooms just bit enough for a bed and maybe a desk, and a kitchen that people would be fighting for use over the oven. However I was pleasantly surprised when I found that the rooms are big enough for two people, but the kitchen is not as bad as I imagined it, we still need to fight over use of the oven though.

The first week I can go into some detail, not much as I can’t remember much of it. The things that shocked me where the ways that people just went around doing their business as though they had been living here their entire lives. For me I had some trouble with this, it took me at least two to three weeks to find my footing and make my room feel like my new home. Once I’d settled in the next thing to overcome was, the cooking. I have cooked for myself many times but I had always been dependant on my father to cook dinners for me; pasta, pasta and some curry this is the extent of dinners. However my first impressions of just have the same meal over and over again was, ‘how boring!’ but it has definitely grown on me.

The educational cultural here at Essex is very similar, and yet different in so many ways. Back in the Plume Sixth Form we got given a taste of the life that we would have at university, a lesson being told things (lecture) and the lessons to build on what we had been shown. Even though this is exactly the same, we weren't living alone and had to think about our own well being quite as much. This has affected me in many ways in sixth form I could depend on other people to help me a lot, however at university we are all so much more independent meaning the only person that I can one hundred percent count on is myself. Another way that the culture to me by surprise is that everyone is from all over the world. For example Nigeria, America, France, Germany and these are only from my flat. It has changed my perspective on different cultures though what food they eat, music and so many more.

I have never been good with money. You can see where this is going, my bank account over the past few weeks has been dropping like someone free falling from a high altitude. I have had a good think about what is necessary, and what things i can do without. I came to the conclusion that eating is a good thing and buying new games, however necessary is still trumped by living. There are still temptations for me and I do admit that I have slipped up a few times since I made the decision to stop spending money unnecessarily.

For the time that I have spent here I have thoroughly enjoyed it, and I look forward to all thing ‘exciting’ times ahead. It will be an experience that I will never forget, hopefully.