Exam Period

Hamilton Harbour

So the stress has begun to try and end the year on a good average in order to put me in the best position possible for the third year. With my exams varying between being worth 30%-45% it proves to be much lower than the final exams back home in the UK, where the minimum percentage is usually 50%. So trying to figure out how much revision is needed is pretty hard. Although there is a lot less content to revise, this is compensated with the numerous amounts of assignments throughout the term.

Hamilton Harbour

It doesn’t help that the sun decides to raise temperatures to 26 CE and so threatening any attempt that I make at revision. There is the “lets study outside”, but that usually ends with people lounging around, eating and drinking the coldest beverages the scarce fridge has to offer.  One of these days was inevitable and so we decided to go for a bike ride along the harbour of Hamilton. It was quite nice considering certain areas of Hamilton are pretty run down, due to the remains of the steel industry that swooped over the city during the 20^th century. The bike trail was rammed with families, runners, long boarders and roller bladders. Everyone was clearly making the most out of the weather. It was a pretty cool ride up until we come across a child throwing stones at a few ducks whilst his mother followed behind trying to take photos of him doing it. Albeit entertaining.

So the day ended with strawberry and bananas smoothies in the garden along with a pile of unopened books. Although, it is fair to say that we deserved a day off as we recently finished all our classes.  

Mairi's Smoothies

Midterms: Good or Bad?

Studying for Theology midterm

I will be cutting in between each post to give you a quick update on uni/school life.

Reading week arrived and marked the half way point to the end of the second semester as well as the arrival of midterm exams. As one exchanger noted, "Why are they not called mid semesters?", considering they do not use the word 'Term'. They can be a bit of an annoyance when you are also overcome with essays, debates and presentations at the same time. Experiencing midterm exams last semester enabled me to be more organised and prepared for them this time round. Although, it does seem odd that many students get tested 5 or 6 weeks into their semester as what could you have possibly learnt in such a short amount of time? However, I have come to realise that the extra revision allows you to be more prepared for the finals and you learn a lot more than you think.

The value of midterms can vary from 10%-40% so it's always a struggle trying to figure out how much revision you need to do for a test/what you'll be MSAFing - basically a form that exempts you from handing in an assignment below 30% without a doc note but with only one a semester, you have to be selective! Im happy to say that i did not use one last term and i hopefully will not be using one this term either. On the plus side - if you fail to hand in an assignment and use your MSAF they simply add the percentage onto your final exam or give you a new deadline. This is something that wouldn't happen back in the Uk unless you have a very serious reason, such as a medical reason. Many students here in Canada  have used it due to having 3 assignments due in on the same day, so in a way it can be seen as a good thing or a maybe a sign that a person should be more organised. One other strange thing is that midterms can stretch from the beginning of February to the middle of March. This can be annoying as people would probably prefer not to worry about revising for a small midterm percentage two weeks before their final. Overall, I'd say that yes midterms can be annoying but they do allow you to bag marks towards your final grade!