There is a reason why I haven’t written a post in an entire term. It’s not laziness – although I can’t deny that I’m lazy. It’s not being overwhelmed with work – although that definitely happened. The reason why I have had no free time this term, the bane of my existence, the scourge of my day and night(mares)… has been Mods.
I’m not even being (that) dramatic. Seriously, they plagued me. Like a plague. Of doom and death.
ANYWAY. What are Mods? Standing for Moderations, Mods are the exams that 1st year law students and 2nd year classicists (and maybe some other people??) take at the end of Hilary Term (March). They’re our version of Prelims, which other subjects take at the end of Trinity (summer) term, and whilst it means that we get the whole of Trinity to lounge around and have picnics on the lawn (…and do our degree too), it also means that we don’t get a holiday just before exams. Which is stressful. But also weirdly empowering, if/when you survive them.
It’s a little strange, because you have to stay behind to write these exams when everyone else has gone home, so the only people in college are you and the finalists who have stayed to revise – but in a way, I appreciated the chance to see my college when it was quieter than normal!
Pre-exams, our tutors were really great – they set up two revision sessions for each subject (Criminal, Constitutional, and Roman law) where we went through past questions and topics we were less comfortable with, and they put up with an inundation of extra essays from us, which is always appreciated! We were taught the last bit of material in 7th week (exams were in 9th) and had our final collection (mock exam) that week too. 8th week was for revision sessions – they ended on Thursday, and exams started the Wednesday after that, so we had 6 days to revise. I’m one of those annoying people who plans out their revision at least 2 months in advance, because I cannot handle the stress of cramming, so for me those 6 days were all about doing past paper (after past paper, after past paper…). Even so, I made sure to finish work by 7pm and be in bed by 9:30 or so, and took frequent revision breaks to walk around the lake – the only way I managed to retain my sanity! I spent a revision day at a friend’s house, too, which helped a lot (as did her dog, let’s be real) – basically, even though it was challenging, I tried really hard to make sure that I didn’t burn myself out right before Mods, and for me that meant setting cut off times for working and making sure that I was working out of college (i.e. the Law Bod) so that I got some fresh air. Different strokes for different folks, of course – what worked for me may be the completely wrong strategy for someone else!
More on post-mods life from Ruchika coming soon!