Day in the Life of an Exam Season Third Year Engineer

Recently, I came across with Bronwyn’s blog- Day in the Life of an Exam Season Second Year’ (http://studentblogs.warwick.ac.uk/history7/entry/day_in_the/)- and found it very interesting so I thought I would write a ‘Day in the Life’ blog entry too but put a third-year engineer twist to it.

Before I start documenting my day, I have to admit that my day-to-day routine during exam season is rather dull, so 70% studying and 30% of bits and bobs. Also, I work the most productively when I am alone and none of my friends seem to study at Uni House so unfortunately (or fortunately) I have most of my lunches and dinners with James Corden and Seth Meyers but hey, exams come first at this time of the year and this ‘antisocial lyfe’ shall be over once I walk out of my last exam next Thursday!

———

7.10am After pressing the ‘snooze’ three times, I finally got out of bed, got ready and headed to gym.

7.45am Arrived at Simply Gym, which is just a 10-mins walk from my house in Canley. As a person who has mild claustrophobia, one thing that I really like about Simply is their ladies-only gym room. Although the room is usually very packed in the evenings when most of the people work out after uni and work, there are almost guaranteed fewer than 10 people in the room every time I went in the morning since term 3 started. So naturally, I went straight into the ladies-only room and YES, I HAD THE WHOLE ROOM TO MYSELF HAHA. I hopped onto the treadmill and ran a quick 3km. And then I did some strength-training and abs exercises.

8.55am Felt refreshed and energized after showering. Passed by Greggs at Canon Park Shopping Centre to grab a coffee and food for lunch. I have never been a big fan of pastries so I never tried their pies and sausage rolls but I would definitely recommend their wraps. I picked up a chicken, multigrain and peppers wrap and a cup of cappuccino. In total, this cost me a grand amount of £3 and you can even get a sausage roll or a piece of cake for free if you have your student card. But since I’m not a fan of cakes either so I gave that a pass.

9.10am Arrived at Uni House and found a space on the second floor in the learning grid. Started working.

11.00am Took a 10-mins break researching things to do in Tenerife as I might be heading to there with a few friends from uni after exams (Woop woop!)

12.15pm Lunch time! I usually don’t call it ‘lunch break’ as I like working whilst eating and then take a 15-mins walk after having my food. So I had my wrap whilst continue doing a past paper of the exam I am going to sit this Friday. Like any other mathematical degrees, I would say doing past papers is the most effective method when it comes to revising for Engineering exams as it allows you to practise applying the theories you have learnt at lectures to problems. At the moment, School of Engineering only has past papers from 2015 and 2016 available online, however, if you ask around your class or people from the year above, I am sure you will get hold of some past papers from earlier years eventually.

1.15pm Resumed revision.

2.55pm Headed over to Psychology building to participate in a SONA experiment. For those of you who don’t know what a SONA experiment is, it is basically a paid psychology experiment that are based on researchers’ current topics. For a more detailed description, you can read my previous blog here (http://studentblogs.warwick.ac.uk/engineering4/entry/its_not_about/). My task today was to play 20 rounds of snake game with a partner on the other side of the screen. I was told that my partner was a robot all the way over in Italy. (Interesting, right?) The research was on coordination so I controlled the left and right keys and my partner controlled the up and down keys and we tried to eat as many apples as possible in each round.

3.45pm Earned £6 after completing the task. Went to Rootes Grocery Store for some juice and snacks.

4.10pm Back at my desk at Uni House.

7.20pm Finished another past paper. Put on BBC News live to catch up on some updates on yesterday’s tragic attack at Manchester. Went downstairs to heat up my prepped dinner in the microwave. Started writing this blog. I’m planning to finish (or at least make a start) on another past paper after finishing my dinner then head home when Uni House closes at 10pm. Normally I go to bed between 1130pm and midnight to make sure I get at least a good 7-hours sleep.

——-

So yup, this is essentially what I have been doing on a daily basis (except SONA which was a one-off thing) since term started although I do switch things up a bit once in a while such as studying at home instead, catching up with friends over dinner at a restaurant, going to Vibe cycle or insanity at the gym in the evenings…