The rules

It has come to my attention that people have recently been ignoring one of the rules.* Nobody is allowed to lounge around having fun in the piazza until I have finished my exams! So, until next Wednesday, no having fun!

*the rules – this rule can be found in your handbook which you received when you arrived at uni. It can be found in between the one about always locking your door in Rootes whenever you leave your room and the one about checking your departmental pigeonhole daily…

: 26 May 2005 21:22 |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Exams & life

What is it about exams that make you feel like a complete loser? I think i've worked really hard throughout my degree & I don't feel like it's paid off at all. I suppose in this way the exams are doing their job – they're supposed to differentiate between the truly excellent people and those who 'just' work hard. That's fair enough I suppose…

I've loved my time at uni & have been lucky enough to have had many amazing experiences & meet people who I hope will remain life-long friends, but i'm looking forward to my job now. I've had enough of my course & while i'll still have to do exams next year, I think i'll be able to get on with them better as I will see what I learn being applied daily. Also, i'll be back in a classroom, so i'll be able to flag things as & when I don't understand – nice change! I'd love to keep the uni life though!

One thing that I think it is important to remember is that a degree is only one part of your set of skills. No matter what result I get, I know that I have many other skills I can offer to my new employer, so i'll try not to be too disappointed if I don't pull off what I want…

Good luck in your exams everyone.

: 26 May 2005 21:14 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Exam–type rant

Probably best for people not to bother reading this – a lot of people could be thinking it anyway…

1) I never seem to leave the library at the moment – exams seem to be never-ending & I seem to have been revising for ages. Only problem is, I still feel like I know nothing! Once i've finished my exams I never want to go into the library again. Ever.

2) On Thursday, I had a 2hr exam which didn't start until 2:10. Fine, no problem. So you finish at 4:10, right? You'd think so, wouldn't you? Except in this one, we finished 5 minutes early, which ordinarily wouldn't bother me too much, as that's usually well beyond the time I can write anything coherent which will get me any marks. This time, however, I was trying to pick up the easy definition-type marks on the extra question. Rubbish.

3) When i'm at home & I want to sign into my blog, sodding let me!! (on a break in the comp centre at mo, so can get into my blog. And yes, I really did say break). Don't just take my password & then do nothing. Grrrr. Also, if I do manage to sign in & I write an entry, let me post it!

4) On the same subject as 3) – the day before an exam and weekends, it's really not helpful for the log-on system to say 'sorry, log-on is down' when I need the answers to past papers.

5) What are exams for? I never questioned them at GCSE/A-level etc because I could do them, so it wasn't really a problem. However, at uni (where i'm not too hot at them), I have begun to question. I feel they are short-term memory tests & hate them, to be honest. Again, if I was any good, I probably wouldn't care. My coursework marks are so much higher than exam marks ever are. Also, I think out of the 3 years I have been here, there are 2 modules (both from this year) that apply to real life. Think this goes to show that the degree you get from uni is only one of many aspects of uni life (but that's another blog for another time…)

End of rant.

: 22 May 2005 12:48 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Just a football match?

Having just played a fairly even (in my opinion) game of football, which resulted in a draw, i'm thinking a bit about how it went.

It really could have turned nasty, thanks in particular to one person on the opposing team. I understand that people get fired up in a game, but is there really any need for continued comments, such as 'come on, these guys are s*** – we should be winning this' and other comments about the way we were playing, our team in general and comments aimed at individuals. Also, given that we needed a win to get through to the cup, we had no desire to time-waste!

I hope the guy who did it doesn't again, because I think it only made our team play better, so he may have cost his team a win. I think that has been the only time we've played this season where we've got so little respect.

As one member of our team put it, if one of our missing players was around 'he would have been kicked over the perimeter fence…'

Well played to everyone else for a tough, even game.

My point is that football can be a hard game where tempers flare, but shouldn't you have a certain level of respect for your opposition? Any comments?

: 19 Apr 2005 23:20 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem