[stepurhan]

I'm doing my finals for ACCA on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Three exams. Three hours apiece. Each on subjects with 500 plus page text books (and that's not counting all the knowledge you're just assumed to have from earlier studies)

I know I should be able to do them. I've been practicing questions and spouting off bits of the syllabus to anyone who will listen (and some people who won't) but now they're almost hear I'm really worried about freaking out on the day and not knowing anything (or even just losing time. These exams are VERY time pressured. Much more than three hours of work to try to fit in)

How do other people cope with exam nerves?

[Melanie68]

When I took my Pathology boards, they were intense with lots of info that was overwhelming. I went into it with an "I don't care" attitude. I really did but with that exam what really gets people is their nerves going in. The more relaxed you feel (and it's easier said than done I know) the more likely you are to recall those things you've studied.

Also, you do this for a living so go in with confidence that you can answer the questions (even if they look horrible ).

[stepurhan]

Originally Posted by Melanie68

Also, you do this for a living so go in with confidence that you can answer the questions (even if they look horrible ).

That's part of the problem you see. I breezed through some of the earlier exams because, as you say, they were what I do for a living.

This stuff isn't. In fact, unless I end up working for a large company, chances are I will never use most of this stuff again. Bit of a bugger really.

[Melanie68]

I went into my exam feeling like I would do my best and if I didn't pass a part, I could always retake it and it wouldn't be the end of the world. It helped me relax.

With my exam, it had 4 parts that you took over two days. If you passed 2 or more parts, you got to keep those and had 2 more chances over 3 years to pick up the rest you missed. I got 3 the first time.

Although, this kind of question was the kind I hated the most:

3. Identify the correct sequence of events in antigen-antibody induced neutrophil activation:

1. Release of inositol triphosphate and diacylglycerol
2. Activation of phospholipase A and protein kinase C
3. Release of calcium from the endoplasmic reticulum
4. G-protein mediated activation of phospholipase C
5. Synthesis of prostaglandins and leukotrienes

A. 2,1,3,4,5
B. 2,5,3,4,1
C. 4,1,3,2,5
D. 4,3,1,2,5
E. 4,5,3,2,1

Yech! I couldn't answer this question off the top of my head today either.

[Lucien21]

Originally Posted by stepurhan

I'm doing my finals for ACCA on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Three exams. Three hours apiece. Each on subjects with 500 plus page text books (and that's not counting all the knowledge you're just assumed to have from earlier studies)

I know I should be able to do them. I've been practicing questions and spouting off bits of the syllabus to anyone who will listen (and some people who won't) but now they're almost hear I'm really worried about freaking out on the day and not knowing anything (or even just losing time. These exams are VERY time pressured. Much more than three hours of work to try to fit in)

How do other people cope with exam nerves?

I'm on the final stage of ACCA as well. Still the 2 optional ones to sit in Dec before I sit the final three.

Take heart in the fact that you probably know the stuff. The final 3 exams are hard, but i'm sure you can do it.

Also bear in mind that you no longer have to pass all 3 in one sitting. I previous years pass 2 fail 1 you still had to resit all 3. Now you get keep a pass on any of the exams.

GOOD LUCK

[GoT]

goddam, im doing 3 exams as well, monday, tuesday and wednesday, 2 hours a peice. they happen to be my first ever exams.. ive not done anywhere near enough study... im freaking out and the first one is tommorow morning.. i'm pretty sure im gonna fail...

if i do its a whole semester for nothing.... geez i hope i pull it off and get lucky....


GoT

[stepurhan]

Cheers for the support Mel and Lucien. Good point about being able to hold the passes Lucien. That's been a bit of a pain in the past.

For those non-ACCA people among you this is how the exams used to work. You had to take the block of three in one go. If you achieved a marginal fail in one exam you had the next two exam sessions to pass that exam (that's sessions which are every six months not attempts. You didn't enter the exam for a session that still counted) If you didn't pass within two sessions you had to retake all three. If you failed two (even if both marginal) you had to retake all three. It didn't matter how well you did in any you passed. You'd end up having to do them again.

At the moment exam passes stick. I'm hoping this will be irrelevant for me (I really want to pass all three now) but it is a handy fallback position.

GoT. All I can say is try to think calm thoughts and relax (I know. This is great coming from me isn't it? ) You can only ever do your best. Get a bit of studying done now though.

[Jelena]

Step
I'm going to send positive vibes to you throughout all of your exams!

[RLacey]

Ooh, an exams thread!

I have my prelims beginning a week on Tuesday. Lots of fun, because I have to pass to stay here (though it's actually pretty hard to fail a history exam).

[Huz]

I finished my last exam for the forseeable future last Wednesday. Hahahahahahahahahaha!

Erm sorry. Good look with yours Step, I'm sure you'll be fine!

[Fairygdmther]

Step, tonight, don't crack a book. Relax, you won't learn any more today. Instead, get a good night's sleep and go in with a good breakfast under your belt to go with the good night's sleep, and you will do the best you possibly can do. You know you're good at what you do, so do your best to not psych yourself out. If it looks impossible, it will to everyone else, too. Take your time and take it one step at a time. Don't backtrack and try to second guess yourself. Try to pace yourself, don't start in at a crashing pace, or you'll lose time later on. I'm sure that in your work, accuracy is the most important thing, so rushing may make you panic and make more errors.

Day 2 - After day one - put it out of your mind - there's nothing you can do once day one is over - it's history, for good or bad. Don't get discouraged after day one, treat day 2 like a new start - another good night sleep and good breakfast, and go into day 2 by congratulating yourself for making it through day one.

Day 3 - be happy as you can be - only one more day to make it through, and after the previous two days, you can handle day 3. The only kind of questions you should be thinking about, is the pacing of the tests. Is there anything you can do to make your approach to it any easier on you. There's no point in going over content - either you know it or you don't. Either you'll pass them or you won't, but whichever way, your life will probably not be significantly changed for the better or worse, whatever the results.

Overall, the only thing about this that you can control, is yourself. You can choose to panic or not, you can blow it all off, or take it seriously. Give yourself the room to fail, as long as you know you've given it your best, then you don't owe anyone any more than that. One last thing - we trust you and believe in you, so believe in yourself, we know you can do it!

Good luck - and knock 'em dead!

Lynsie

[simpson_yellow]

Originally Posted by stepurhan

How do other people cope with exam nerves?

I didn't handle exam stress all that well, so my posting here probably isn't very helpful. I freaked out every exam period, and the only way I managed to deal with it was by serious cramming (seemed to distract from the panic).

I also listened to a lot of classical music and drank a lot of chamomile tea throughout the couple of weeks leading up to exams. I'm sure both things helped to some extent, but to this day I'm still unable to listen to Pachelbel's Canon without having horror flashbacks.

In hindsight, I know it wasn't worth the stress and I wish I'd taken my exams a little less seriously - I doubt my marks would've been any different. I'm studying again this year and I'm definitely not letting it get on top of me like I used to. That said, my first exam isn't until October so I'm yet to discover if I've truly relaxed

As for "freaking out on the day", I'm sure you have nothing to worry about. If you've prepared (and it sounds like you have), things will almost certainly just come together on the day. It's probably all swimming in your head at the moment, but the moment you see a question on the page, it pulls everything back into focus.

Best of luck with it, step. I know you'll be just fine.

And if it helps, I'll underperform at work Monday through Wednesday, and telepathically transmit all my unused energy to you

[simpson_yellow]

So, how'd you go, step? Was my work apathy helpful? If so, I'm happy to continue for as long as you want.

[stepurhan]

How did I do?ask me in August when the results come out.

Thanks for all the positive thinking (though I don't think you were projecting hard enough Wednesday morning) Lots of good advice which other exam people should take note of. Not getting stressed about it is THE No 1 tip

ACCA specific tips.

1. When asked to write a report for an answer DON'T sign it off with your own name. (ACCA examinees are all identified by number because exams are marked by people in industry)
2. Don't call the examiner Satan. I know the exam paper looks hard but it will just annoy him. (Unless you get the examner who proudly proclaims his "number of Satans this session" in his feedback report)

[simpson_yellow]

Excellent. I'll slack off until August then.

Sorry about Wednesday morning. I was giving a presentation to my boss and his cohorts, so I had to be on form. I'd have thought the whole time difference thing would've prevented that causing you a problem, but apparently the cosmos is not so easily deceived. I guess we'll know for next time.

And thanks for the tips - I'm sure they'll come in handy if I ever make a move into accounting.

[SakSquash]

I make the most complicated and smallest yet fullest cheat sheet that I can...then throw it away. I find that after I write all that stuff down, I know it, so I don't need it.

[seebaruk]

That's what I used to do too, just write everything down and it seems to stick. Haven't done an exam in about 3 years now, and hopefully never will again

[Huz]

It used to work for me when it was a fancy new method I'd just adopted, but eventually my inherently lazy brain devised a way for me to copy things down without them registering at all.

However, did I mention that I've recently done my last exam ever? Haha!

[seebaruk]

No more exams for you ever either? Feels good eh! Bwahaha!

[RLacey]

I hate you all. Mine start on Tuesday, and I'm already exhausted...