Hello, I hope everyone is having a fabulous holiday!  

Everybody has different plans for Christmas, whether that’s traveling or simply having a nice dinner with friends and family.  This is the first Christmas I’ve spent away from home.  It was my decision to stay behind this year because I knew what was coming after the holidays and I would not be able to focus if I was in Hong Kong.  I have always had exams after Christmas holiday but for whatever reason, this time it’s seemed so much nerve-racking.  Maybe it is because it is my first exam as a university student or because I know I am not familiar with the way they do things here.

I actually only have two exams and at first, I was so relieved.  I thought if I could do six subjects in high school, two should not be too hard but I could not be more wrong.  The amount of materials you have to learn, regardless of what degree you are doing, will be more in depth and detailed.  Except for the two exams, I will also have two coursework to complete which came as a surprise for me.  I thought we would have an exam for each module because that is how it has always been, at least for me.  It is quite scary to think that a piece with two thousand words will determine 75% of your module grade.  In some ways, I find courseworks scarier because you were given the opportunity to do detailed research and double or even triple check everything, so if anything goes wrong it would be mostly your fault.  Obviously, there is no good excuse for failing an exam but sometimes, luck and nervousness does play a part in your performance.

I am not complaining, though, I think it is good to have various types of assessment methods because that is how you know you have truly understood the materials and I am sure there is always things to learn from your assignments.  At the end of the day, if you like your degree, it should not be too hard to spend hours on it! 🙂

A lot of people do say that first year does not count which means that the results of your first-year exams do not contribute to your overall degree grade but you would still have to get 40% to move on to the second year.  I think it is quite important to try your best in your first year because most modules are designed to provide a good foundation for harder materials next year.  I think it does not count because going from high school to University of quite a difficult transition.  So it is the perfect opportunity to figure out how much time and energy you need to spend on the things you want to do and when the second year starts, you will be ready to excel!