Hi all,
Once again, today's 2nd year biomed revision session was a huge success! We had almost a hundred of you! Hope you found it useful, you can leave comments and feedback here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/W3QWNQG (things like "Hira you're the best" will really make my day, just kidding, but seriously let us know how we did so we can continue to improve). The recording and slides from today will be put up soon! Also for the Biochemistry year 2 session from yesterday (slides and recording) and from today's medical genetics session (only slides because as I said it's up the mentors what they would like to circulate).
Also reminding you we have a Chemistry Year 1 revision session tomorrow which will be just as amazing - mark my word! Again, you don't want to miss out if recordings aren't available after, so make sure you come.
Chemistry 1st Year: Wednesday 29th, 12-1 pm at Geog 1.26
And finally, I've uploaded the recording from the essay writing session on YouTube and you can access it here: https://youtu.be/yWQEdWrPIGE I'm also sharing the PowerPoint here for the slides that have the font a little bit too small on them.
Just to emphasize a few points from the session, don't stress, keep your essay well thought-out, easy to read, actually answer the question they've asked, if a question seems to have multiple sections answer each because even if you answer the other bits wonderfully you can't get marks unless you address the whole thing, do NOT waffle or mention things just because you know them even if they have nothing to do with the question, including irrelevant things REALLY reduces your grades (up to two whole grades), draw quick diagrams to get more bonus points (Caitlin and I did a diagram in almost every essay), explain the bigger picture (that's the mark for breadth) and give specific examples and facts and names (that's the mark for depth; more details of what I mean in the vid) and yeah keep calm and have fun!
Also as we said, different things work for different people. Caitlin and I had different preferences in what we would do in the same setting but we both got good marks using our strategies. e.g. she writes an essay plan then comes back to it later to add to it, continues with the rest of the exam, later coming back to it and find it works quite well to remind her of things she might have forgotten. I on the other hand would never do that because my brain wouldn't be able to focus on what I was working on. Similarly, if Caitlin found that she knew two questions very well, she would pick the shorter one so it would give her more time to write a good answer and review it at the end, whereas I would prefer picking the longer one because there was just more stuff to write and the potential to get more marks. In the end, if your essay is good, it will get a good mark regardless of how long or short it is (2-5 pages are good, anything longer and you're probably being too irrelevant)
So there you go, hope it helps. If you've get any questions, we are here to help!
Also correction: I said "I do more of a brain dump than an essay" but I meant "I do more of a brain dump than an essay PLAN" as in when I'm trying to make my essay plan I don't care about the structure I just try to recall all major points I need to mention to address the question so that my brain won't worry about the order and it's just better for recall. I then quickly number them 1,2,3,4 to specify the order I'll mention them in my main essay. In the essay be orderly and structured - please do not do a brain dump!
That's it for now. Good luck!
Hira
