graduate from university with a first class honours degree

I got my results when I was in Fiji and I ended up getting a high 2:1. Funny how this was so important to me for most of my degree and now I can’t bring myself to mind that much about it. After everything I’ve done this summer, those few percentage points seem to have paled in significance! I would have liked a first, but I honestly didn’t put the work in – mainly because job-searching in my final semester took up so much time. But I’d rather be in London with a 2:1 than in Dublin with a first any day.

I got my results from my Christmas exams this week and was 2% off a first! I was disappointed at first but having had time to think about it, I realise that I just didn’t put in enough work during the semester to deserve a first. Studying non-stop for the month before the exams just doesn’t cut it, and there was a crystal-clear pattern to my grades – the ones I did best in were the ones that I worked hard at throughout the semester.

So now it’s time to rally:

• Actually go to the library more. I’m not always in the mood for it but the fact is I get more done there than I do at home.
• Prioritise study periods and not just fit them around everything else.
• Study at weekends and stop seeing them as mini-holidays from college.

Glorious freedom! I had my last Christmas exam today and thank God I am off for a whole month now. This has been the toughest semester I have ever gone through – before today I hadn’t left campus for a month, had done nothing except study. I am going home tomorrow for the first time in 6 weeks, I’m so excited! I have a month off! It’s Christmas!

Anyway, to get back to the goal at hand, I feel I did quite a good job this semester. I still haven’t perfected the art of consistent study, but I’ve done a much, much better job keeping on top of continuous assessment work this year. My exams in general went really well, I’m so pleased with myself and, while I don’t want to go down the dangerous road of predicting marks, I’m quite confident about being able to achieve this goal.

I must also apologise to my subscribers and to everyone who’s cheered me recently, I know I have been a less-than-exemplary member of the 43 things community recently but it’s all been for a good cause and I’m back now!

There is one subject that I’m a bit worried about – I haven’t been doing brilliantly in it but it’s my own fault for not putting in as much work as I should be. It’s a subject in which it’s possible to get extremely good results so it would be a shame for me to do badly in it just because I couldn’t be bothered working hard enough. I’m planning to spend most of this weekend working on it.

I also got an A+ for a French essay that I didn’t even want to hand up because I was sure it was terrible – the best part is that it’s worth 50% of my final grade so I’m doubly thrilled!

...80% in my first class exam and two B+s and one A for my French assignments, hooray! To be honest though, these exams are not difficult compared to what I have coming up in the next few weeks so I need to step up my efforts even more if I want to keep this goal on track.