Taking London exams: how do you feel in their arms?

Third-year student Anastasia Makarieva shared her impressions after taking the London exam in International Political Theory.

“For me, the exam passed very quickly because, it seems to me, when you are writing and understand that you have three hours to write three essays you try to concentrate as much as possible on the process itself and these three hours pass unnoticed as you need not just to write essay, but also to choose topics, carefully consider and work out a plan. In general, there is a lack of time and a lot to do. I cannot say that there was something supernew in the organization because since we, third-year students, took the exam for the second year then, accordingly, the format was the same, nothing supernatural. The subject which this year was the first exam - IPT (International Political Theory) - was not very different from what we had last year but I want to note that this year, in my opinion, the subjects were still more difficult compared with the previous one because last year we had subjects of category “one” which weighed 100 credits. This year our subjects are of a more difficult level, they weigh 200 credits which is reflected in their theoretical saturation and volume of material. During the second year we did get basic knowledge but now it is not enough and we need to dive deeper into the ability to analyze events, to understand different theories and positions of researchers. With you, you need to take, first, yourself, your head and brain. And generally, pens, water, if you need, chocolate, some kind of food can also be taken. I do not even know what is worth highlighting since the exam is standard and complete set of things that should be on the exam remains unchanged.

Regarding what I felt while writing the exam, let's say, of course, it was nervous. Besides, I didn’t study all the topics, and learning as much as possible all the blocks, at least, for me is not the best strategy (it’s better to take a few, but to work them out thoroughly), and somewhere on a subconscious level I felt the fear: what if suddenly there will be no topics selected by me? I want to say that their number should not be very small, the best option is 5-6, depending on the questions of past years. Not absolutely all the topics have to be covered because then, it seems to me, in the end you get some kind of a mess in your head which will certainly prevent you from concentrating and will even distract sometimes because when you answer the question, anyway, it is very important not to deviate from the topic but to clearly answer the question posed. I had such a strategy.

 

When we were given forms and sheets with questions I just had a thought: “The main thing for me is to open and see questions that I can answer.” Fortunately, these questions were there - what I am very happy about - and then I just had the task to quickly outline my essays’ plans. By the way, I strongly advise when you write an exam, especially if it is an essay to make a plan, so that, firstly, to group all the thoughts that you have, to make your life as simple as possible and make the essay more logical. Secondly, it helps to write faster and more logical. When I was writing the introduction I had a task not to forget to write the main argument that I will conduct through all the essays. Then I also controlled myself if I didn’t get away from the topic, because it is very important since the introduction “sets the tone” for the rest of the essay and it is the examiner who concludes what the entire work will be about. And when memorizing it helped me to write or even typewritte by hand (most importantly, not just copypaste) because while I was writing / typing out the outline or sketching an essay plan I mentally recited it again and this, I think, contributed to memorization. Plus, do not associate the subject with the teacher because if suddenly there was some kind of negative experience, for example, this association will only disturb. It seems to me that it is worth setting a goal for yourself that it is crucial for you to pass this exam. It is necessary to calculate how much time you have for this, to distribute material over it. Also, the experience of last year helped me a lot when my friends and I explained the material to each other and prepared together. When you explain something to someone else there may be some questions that will help you to understand your weak points, to understand them, but also to determine your strengths. This year I had another strategy: my friend and I have a common table with the schedule of exams. We made a schedule for each day and the topics that we wanted to take and then marked each day what we managed to analyze and do, for example, a theory analysis, an essay outline, or summary. It helps to assess the readiness, to understand what topics were left uncovered. Such strategy includes a competitive aspect that helps to motivate.

 

What else would I recommend? Firstly, I repeat that very few topics cannot be taught and prepared, because even in comments examiners always advise to avoid choosing only some particular topics: it’s not a fact that they will appear, so you should always take more topics. For instance, in international relations it is worth focusing on theories and analyzing both classical and critical approaches because even if there is no question regarding the theory but you know them well you can always approach another question with their help. Last year knowledge of theories really helped me out during the exam: I was not ready to write some topics but it was the analysis of theories that helped me write an essay. Secondly, and most importantly, I advise you not to panic during the exam in any way - just concentrate and try to look at the questions from the other side, to understand what you at least somehow know from this. If someone forgot the pen ours always helped, many take additional ones with them. It seems that no one forgot a passport, although if you suddenly forget it you need to have with you any ID with your photo and name. For example, a driver's license and, it seems to me, even a pass will do, because there is your picture and your name. Passport is just needed for personal identification. Generally, even if there were any similar incidents or problems - everything is solved. The only desirable thing is to realize this before the exam :)

For the rest I would like to wish all of us good luck and peace at London exams and not only :)

PS: Thanks to Anastasia for her time! Special thanks to Alexandra Zinovieva, who hold the interview!