24 hour exams in uni

Psychology students and graduates. How did you find the 24 hours exam. It has affected me since it's just so hard to get everything down.

Please tell me about your experience. Do you like or dislike it??

Original post by Anonymous

Psychology students and graduates. How did you find the 24 hours exam. It has affected me since it's just so hard to get everything down.

Please tell me about your experience. Do you like or dislike it??

Hey,

I personally liked them as it meant I had more time to plan things out and make sure I didn't forget anything! Our 24-hour exams were normally open-book as well which I liked, but we only had a couple of them. The only thing is, I used to get so stressed that I'd forgotten something so I tried to always do them within the 2 hour-ish limit you would normally have in an exam and just submit it, otherwise I would spend the rest of the 24 hours going back and changing things :biggrin:

I think some unis are slowly getting rid of them now, as they were definitely more of a COVID thing! What did you not like about them?

Natalie
University of Kent Student Rep

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

OP

Original post by University of Kent

Hey,

I personally liked them as it meant I had more time to plan things out and make sure I didn't forget anything! Our 24-hour exams were normally open-book as well which I liked, but we only had a couple of them. The only thing is, I used to get so stressed that I'd forgotten something so I tried to always do them within the 2 hour-ish limit you would normally have in an exam and just submit it, otherwise I would spend the rest of the 24 hours going back and changing things :biggrin:

How did you find the presentations? Not sure if you do group presentations. I am quite shy and I feel like I will be completely silent during this period. Tell me how it went for you

Original post by Anonymous

How did you find the presentations? Not sure if you do group presentations. I am quite shy and I feel like I will be completely silent during this period. Tell me how it went for you

Hi,

I am a Psychology student going into my final year and have done a few group presentations and have a couple more for my final year. Hopefully as time goes on you will see familiar faces so feel more comfortable around people.

Some tips for group presentation/group work:
- Make sure you have regular group meetings. Try plan regular meetings to make sure everyone is on the same page and check in with how you are all doing with individual tasks (if you divided the tasks). In these meetings following a structure like the following: discussing how everyone is/how they have been getting on with the work, discussing next steps. This way every time you meet it is actually productive. These meetings are essential for making sure you are all on the same page. I would also advice being honest in these meetings because you care about the work, especially early on. Raising things can be hard. One potential solution to this could be your group has an anonymous google form people can write in if they are too scared to bring it up in the meeting. This could work well especially when you don't really know each other that well at the start.
- Create a group chat. Whether this be on Teams, or WhatsApp they can be really helpful to keep up to date with what's going on.
- Create your own deadlines. To make sure the work is done on time, try work to your own smaller deadlines, it will also help you and your group feel like you are not behind.

Finally, if there is conflict that you cannot resolve amongst yourself or there are people not pulling their weight make this known to the lecturer or supervisor if you have one as soon as possible.

Is there anything I haven't covered about group work that you were worried about? Let me know and I would we would be happy to answer your questions. :smile:

Alia
University of Kent Student Rep

Reply 4

Anonymous #1

OP

Original post by University of Kent

Hi,

I am a Psychology student going into my final year and have done a few group presentations and have a couple more for my final year. Hopefully as time goes on you will see familiar faces so feel more comfortable around people.

Did you do the reading set out by the lecturers in second year as they expect you to read around it

Original post by Anonymous

Did you do the reading set out by the lecturers in second year as they expect you to read around it

Hi,

I mainly only read textbooks if I had an essay on it or needed to understand the topic better. I found that for Psychology, reading papers was much more helpful for my coursework and knowledge of the area. I treated the textbook reading as supplementary to the lectures.

It became harder to find time to read when all the deadlines came at once so I would say try prioritise your time and there is no harm in reading extra, especially if it is a topic that interests you.

Are there any topics within Psychology that interest you?

I hope this helps. :smile:

Alia
University of Kent Student Rep

Original post by Anonymous

Psychology students and graduates. How did you find the 24 hours exam. It has affected me since it's just so hard to get everything down.

Please tell me about your experience. Do you like or dislike it??

Hiya,

Just wanted to weigh in since all of my exams were 24 hour exams.

From my experience, I do feel like 24hr exams are better than unseen and timed exams because it doesn't focus on how well you memorised the information but how much you actually understand. Everyone retains information differently, but I found that going through the power point presentations and basing your independent reading time around what's included in the power point presentations usually helps you anticipate the questions and prepare for them better.

I also like to read the questions first, understand what they're asking me exactly and researching for a maximum of 1 hour before I start attempting essay style questions. If they're question and answer style exams, I usually start with the questions that take the longest or are the hardiest and if it takes me longer than 20 mins to figure out a question, I move onto another one and go back to it later. Although you have 24hours, time moves very quickly and your efficiency dwindles with every hour so pondering over a question while you still have others isn't something I would advise.

The one thing I dislike about them is the fact that they are 24hrs, which means you're in an endless cycle of anxiety and stress for 24hrs up until you submit your exam and move onto the next one but I still prefer it over unseen timed exams.

-Ghala
(Official DU Rep)

Reply 7

Anonymous #1

OP

Original post by University of Kent

Hi,

I mainly only read textbooks if I had an essay on it or needed to understand the topic better. I found that for Psychology, reading papers was much more helpful for my coursework and knowledge of the area. I treated the textbook reading as supplementary to the lectures.

How did you tackle the essay based exam question where you need to write it with a pen in person. Was that hard? It has been a long time since a-levels

Original post by Anonymous

How did you tackle the essay based exam question where you need to write it with a pen in person. Was that hard? It has been a long time since a-levels

Hi,

Apologies for the bit of a delay in response.

For my first and second year exams I did them online. Going into my final year, my exams will be in person. I am not sure how many essay based written exams I will have so I cannot give out many tips for doing them as I have not done them myself. I have not actually done written exams since GCSEs.

Some things I plan to do to prepare include starting revision early and spreading it out, group study to help myself remember the information better and practicing answering question by hand (not writing whole essays but writing paragraphs just to practice writing) or planning example questions.

I hope this helps. :smile:

Alia
University of Kent Student Rep

(edited 7 months ago)

Reply 9

Anonymous #1

OP

Original post by University of Kent

Hi,

You're the older and experienced sister I wish I had as I don't have any. How did you find your PhD interview?

Original post by Anonymous

You're the older and experienced sister I wish I had as I don't have any. How did you find your PhD interview?

Hey!

Not going to lie, the PhD interview was quite scary :biggrin:

Basically, beforehand we had to submit a research proposal for what we wanted to study during our PhD, outlining our aims, plan for the 3 years and the potential value of the project (both theoretically and practically). The interview was then with a panel of academics in Psychology, where I had to do a 10-minute presentation on my research proposal.

There were then about 10-15 mins of follow-up questions with the academics, who essentially asked lots of questions & scrutinised the research proposal (so you had to know it pretty much inside out). They also asked things such as why you in particular were the best person to do the research etc., as you have to show your own value to the university as well as the value of your proposed research, especially if you're applying for funding! So overall, pretty scary as you have to really know what you're talking about/be able to show that you have the knowledge & research skills to be able to do it! :crossedf:

But aside from that, it was definitely all well worth it, as I love it!

Are you thinking of doing any postgraduate study/a PhD? :h:

Natalie
University of Kent Student Rep (PhD Psychology)

Reply 11

Anonymous #1

OP

Hello Natalie!!

You know when you completed the written exams for your degree, did you have to reference and add the dates. I think its quite hard to know them, but this would make more sense for a history degree, not mine. So im. just confused and terrified

Please help me out!

Original post by Anonymous

Hello Natalie!!

You know when you completed the written exams for your degree, did you have to reference and add the dates. I think its quite hard to know them, but this would make more sense for a history degree, not mine. So im. just confused and terrified

Please help me out!

Hey,

We did have to reference and have dates (if we remembered them :biggrin:

)! I always made essay plans for each topic as revision and in those I would have a few key references that I would try to remember so I had a basis for every essay! I’m pretty sure if you forget a few/get the name or date slightly wrong in the exam, it wouldn’t be the end of the world, as long as your ideas are right! I’ve marked a few first/second year student exam essays and normally we’re told to focus more on the content and won’t mark down if references are slightly off!

Best of luck with everything and let me know if you have any other questions :smile:

Natalie
University of Kent Student Rep (2nd year PhD Psychology)

24 hour exams in uni

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