It's exam season now.
Generally I love this time of the year. Why? You see students, especially graduating students, who are a lot more serious than usual because of the impending exams. That bout of seriousness mixed with desperation can work wonders for their results, enabling them to do things outside their normal range of studying. During this time of the year, I will have more quality questions asked, which is way more challenging (and fun) for me instead of the usual level 1 type of recall and remember questions.
Another reason why I like this time of the year is because I generally have an easier time when tutoring. Easier is a relative term here. I remember when I was younger tutor, this is an especially stressful time. Students start to do their past year exam papers and the typically harder prelim papers. What if I didn't know how to do them? What if I taught them the wrong things? All these tend to make me prepare a lot more in advance, in case I let my students down. But I think all these 'over-preparation' stands in good stead now, because after doing so many prelim questions in the past, I generally know what's the trick to doing them, so it became progressively less stressful to handle them should they arise during the tuition session.
It's funny how things that were once stressful for me turns out to be easy now. I guess that works for life in general. Practice (the right things) and it'll tend to get better with time.
The last reason, albeit a more selfish one, is that I finally get to 'smell' the end of my work season. Being a tutor is feast-famine kind of job, I feel. When I work, I really work 7 days a week. When I slack, I'll have months of (relatively) free time in my hands to do the stuff that I want. I guess months and months of stretching myself work-wise does take a toll on me. I generally get more tired towards the end of the year and couldn't wait for my graduating students to take their exams so that I can relax a lot more. Then I'll have, hopefully, a few more weeks of rest before I tackle the new work year again.
For all the students taking their exams, study hard and savour the experience. You probably won't believe me, but it's quite a luxury being able to study. It's one of the more enjoyable time in your life, save the occasionally exam stress, where you don't have to deal with those 'adult' problems. All in due time, so enjoy while you can. You won't get another chance like that again.
Generally I love this time of the year. Why? You see students, especially graduating students, who are a lot more serious than usual because of the impending exams. That bout of seriousness mixed with desperation can work wonders for their results, enabling them to do things outside their normal range of studying. During this time of the year, I will have more quality questions asked, which is way more challenging (and fun) for me instead of the usual level 1 type of recall and remember questions.
Another reason why I like this time of the year is because I generally have an easier time when tutoring. Easier is a relative term here. I remember when I was younger tutor, this is an especially stressful time. Students start to do their past year exam papers and the typically harder prelim papers. What if I didn't know how to do them? What if I taught them the wrong things? All these tend to make me prepare a lot more in advance, in case I let my students down. But I think all these 'over-preparation' stands in good stead now, because after doing so many prelim questions in the past, I generally know what's the trick to doing them, so it became progressively less stressful to handle them should they arise during the tuition session.
It's funny how things that were once stressful for me turns out to be easy now. I guess that works for life in general. Practice (the right things) and it'll tend to get better with time.
The last reason, albeit a more selfish one, is that I finally get to 'smell' the end of my work season. Being a tutor is feast-famine kind of job, I feel. When I work, I really work 7 days a week. When I slack, I'll have months of (relatively) free time in my hands to do the stuff that I want. I guess months and months of stretching myself work-wise does take a toll on me. I generally get more tired towards the end of the year and couldn't wait for my graduating students to take their exams so that I can relax a lot more. Then I'll have, hopefully, a few more weeks of rest before I tackle the new work year again.
For all the students taking their exams, study hard and savour the experience. You probably won't believe me, but it's quite a luxury being able to study. It's one of the more enjoyable time in your life, save the occasionally exam stress, where you don't have to deal with those 'adult' problems. All in due time, so enjoy while you can. You won't get another chance like that again.
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