Tips for year 1 economics students during exam season!

If you are currently doing economics year 1, probably you have now realised the huge amount of work you have to do to prepare for exams. 7 exams are not easy tasks to deal with it; however, it is not impossible. As I always say when I meet a year 1 econ student, “If I did it, you can do it too”. I hope this have motivated some of you!

I have heard that many are struggling that year 1 is so difficult and sadly I have to say that year 2 is worse. Maybe this discourages some of you but it does not have to be the case.

First of all, you have to remember that year 1 does not count in your final degree result. This does not mean you are going to put no effort because what you learn in year 1 helps you in your year 2 modules. For example, Statistical Techniques teaches you the basics and fundamentals part of econometrics; so if you are doing good there, you will potentially be fine in year 2.

Some tips I can give you to prepare for exams are the following:

• Prepare with my time and do a revision timetable: this will help you to keep organise and to identify in with modules you need to revise more
• For EC104, I will recommend you to don’t stress. I know is hard because it is common that you don’t like writing essays or history (I love both!) and you might believe you are not going to finish the readings. One thing you can do is to make a group and divide the readings. Preparing good notes help to remember easily the main points of every topics. Look to past papers and the kind of questions that were asked. I know the questions change every year and the format is different than it was a couple of years ago; however, analysing how to answer some of the previous exams will help you to have a better understanding of how to solve the real one.
• Foc EC123 and EC124, the best advice I can give you is to practice as much as you can. Solve all the past papers, tests and quizzes because that is the best way to succeed in these modules! There are a lot of resources so use them properly. Also, some people struggle with time when they do these exams as you have just one hour and half. Therefore I will recommend you to practice with time! this will help you to be quicker and accurate!
• For EC109 and EC108, I would advice to revise carefully material of both term 1 and term 2, as you will have one section for each one. Check your notes as question can involve short essay answers or calculations. You should be familiarize with the topics and concepts, and should be able to explain them in a concise way.

Don’t forget you can go to the Advice and feedback hours, professors are always willing to help plus you can discuss with them answers to some exam questions, as they do not provide them usually!

Nevertheless, remember that taking breaks is important to keep yourself healthy and motivated. your mental health can be affected due to high levels of stress but you should keep in mind that this period will end soon; it is just a couple of weeks and you will be able to celebrate that year 1 is done and have some holidays!

Best of luck!

and feel free to ask me any question/advice regarding exams