Revision and Exams
I’ve been recovering for a couple of weeks now - I think I was too traumatised to talk about it earlier but I had a week or so off work to study for my CIM diploma exams. Now, perhaps I was over-confident, perhaps I was lazy or maybe just plain overworked, but I really hadn’t put in any extra time at all above attending the lectures. And boy did I suffer for it!
It was HORRIBLE. I have never worked so hard for any exam in my whole life - and I’ve sat scores of exams, possibly even hundreds. I recognise that I’m out of practice - it’s at least 8 years since I last sat one, but not only had I lost my exam technique but I’d forgetten how to study effectively and also how to actually revise and remember.
In the end I only sat one of the two exams - there was no way that I had time to study both modules. And I still felt ill prepared for the one I did sit - I really needed an extra two days of revision to get it completely straight. Actually, I hadn’t even read the books at the beginning of the week so it wasn’t really revision - it was the first time I was studying it. Fortunately I have a mind like a pampers nappy - it’s very absorbant (you can take the simile further but I’d prefer you didn’t), and by the end of the week I’d just about got the hang of it all again.
I also can’t believe how stressed I got before the exam either - I couldn’t sleep, I was irritable, I couldn’t eat and I actually started to shake as I walked into the exam hall. That has never happened to me before. I kept telling myself it was just an exam but I was really on the verge of all-out-panic. I wouldn’t mind but this is one of the few exams that I’ve taken that you can resit if you fail. It’s not as if you get kicked out of uni or anything.
The exam was pretty tough though. After two and a half hours I’d had enough, run out of steam, and wanted it to stop. But there was still half an hour and 25% to go. Urggh. I’ve got to work on my stamina.
I have no idea if I did enough to pass - I really hope so. The thought of still having all four modules left to go is soul-destroying. Three modules is bad enough.