Thursday, May 20
Criminology Exam Tomorrow - Could Be A Massacre
My Criminology exam is starting in less than 12 hours. I have done an absolute bare minimum of revision for it, and I've only just about managed to reach that threshold. This is even worse than for that Evidence exam I had this time last week.
I'm fairly sure why I just haven't done the work for this exam: the subject has been incredibly boring since Christmas, and I've lost all interest in it. Pretty much the only reason I bothered to turn up to classes at all in the Spring semester was because Girl was in them. I generally didn't do the work, or if I did I did it in a disinterested fashion and without taking great care over it, and I contributed very little in class, which is most unlike me.
I did manage to get to at least 90% of the lectures, which stands me in fairly good stead for knowing the basics of each topic, if nothing else. That, and the fact that the exam is Open Book should mean I will pass without too much bother, but getting a high mark is going to be next to impossible. Especially true since my coursework (worth 25% of the final mark) was rushed and, to be perfectly frank, atrocious.
I don't know why I got so turned off the subject after Christmas, I just lost interest in it completely, and therefore didn't really concentrate on getting the work done, which in turn led to even less enthusiasm towards it and so on and so forth. An ever-deepening spiral of apathy, I'm afraid (Quick aside: what a great phrase that was! I need to use that more).
This week has been a prime example of how I've failed to drum up my interest in doing the minutest bit of revision. My last exam was on Thursday, which means I have had 6 days to revise in. No worries. I gave myself Friday off, since I'd been revising solidly for 10 days for the two exams in that week. Unfortunately, Saturday also turned into a day off. We were in the pub by 12.30 to watch some football, left it at 2 and I was back there by 4 to watch the second half of the Arsenal game. Of course, I had to stay to watch the trophy presentation, which meant it was nearly 5.30 by the time I left.
I was on a real high, a little drunk, and figured that I wouldn't be doing any revision due to the volume of alcohol milling around in my blood stream. Threshers and some more beer suddenly seemed like a good idea. 4 Stellas later in my living room, and I fell asleep on an armchair. This is why I tend not to drink in the afternoons, especially when it's sunny, because I get really tired by about 9 o'clock and generally fall asleep.
I woke up again at 10.30, and hauled my ass into bed for what was going to be a brief, 1-hour sobering up nap. After 5 minutes of lying there, I thought, nah, I'll just sleep through till the morning. I promptly woke up at 3.30 on Sunday morning with a raging hangover. A few pints of water, and it was back to sleep until 10, this time waking with no hangover.
For some unfathomable reason, I didn't crack open the books and get on with doing some work that day. I can't remember my exact reasoning, but no doubt it involved sitting around and doing nothing instead. I even started reading Thomas More's Utopia in the evening, which I'd been meaning to do for over a year, but had finally done so at one of the most inopportune moments. Sunday became another "day off" revision.
As did Monday, for the best part. I did manage to get a list made of the 14 or so topics that we covered over the year, along with various subsections, but then I once again did fuck all. I even went and bought the fucking Spectator magazine just for something to read. Talk about up its own ass with high-flying and convoluted ideas. I won't be buying that magazine again. As much as I do lean to the right politically, that was just too (small c) conservative for me. I'll cope just fine with Private Eye and the occasional Economist, thankyou very much.
Of course, Monday evening was taken over by Keown's testimonial at Highbury. I couldn't really revise whilst in the East Stand, surrounded by gooners and taking loads of photos, could I? Oh, and on the subject of random things to do, me and Pete went to Sainsbury's at 11 in the evening that night, because we were bored and it was a nice night out. Buying a barbecue whilst there was an even more random thing to do, but buy that barbecue we did. I pieced it together that night too, into the wee small hours.
The lengths I go to to avoid revision!
I paid a sort of lip service to the idea of revision on Tuesday, getting my books out and having a quick read of some little bits of them. Nothing too major though, I didn't want to peak too soon. Ahem. Of course, we had to try out the barbecue that night, so I was up on the roof for a few hours doing that with my housemates. We then popped to the pub for an hour, to watch yet more football, and the remainder of the evening was once more a washout.
This morning, I managed to get up at a reasonable hour. Well, 11 is a reasonable hour for me. Unfortunately for my good intentions regarding revision, it was the hottest day of the year, with not a cloud in the sky. I couldn't resist.
I did take my books and notes up onto the scalding roof with me, but it just didn't happen. No matter how much and how often I opened the books up, intending to learn a tiny bit from them, I managed about a page before getting thoroughly bored. It's the fault of all these Criminology writers, they all try to sound really intelligent and high and mighty. This makes them inaccessible, although no-one will dare tell them for fear of looking stupid. Fuck it, I'll say it. I know I'm not stupid, and that the style they employ is totally unnecessary. Think of your readers, not your peers in the publishing field!
On the plus side for today, my tan is coming on very well. There's a couple of spots that are a little pink and a little tender, but that can't be helped. I'm not a big user of suntan cream, you see. I have quite olive skin, and tan instantly, without burning that often, if at all. Therefore I go without suntan cream most of the time, and if I do use any, it's a very low factor, something like a 4 or 6. I'm a prime candidate for skin cancer, a housemate told me today. Meh. There's cancer on both sides of my family anyway, I'm odds on to get it at some point...
And now I find myself at my computer, at 11.20 in the evening before a 10am exam, feeling very unconfident about it. I'm such a conscientious person.
Actually, I'm not that fussed about getting a good grade in this exam, because I found out last week that of the 8 modules you sit in your final 2 years of your degree, only the best 4 count towards your final grade. That's the best news I've heard in a long time. Obviously you have to pass all 8, but it matters not a jot if you get 4 2:1s and 4 3rds: you get a 2:1 overall. Fantastic news! I could pass my degree after all.
2 Comments:
what an excellent description of revision avoiding techniques. i know the feeling except i do an english course and only have about one exam every ten years.
revision sucks.
sam
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