In the latest blog from our Student Perspectives series the Student Advocates provide top tips for preparing for December assessments.

1. Think about how you’re being assessed

Around exam time, it’s very easy to get so caught up in trying to learn the content that you forget to check how the exam is formatted and what exactly is expected. Don’t forget to check mark schemes, timings and past papers. Consider:

• How many questions are there?
• Is there an opportunity to choose from a list of questions? If so in-depth knowledge of certain areas will be more beneficial than a surface-level understanding of all of them.
• How much time do I have in total?
• How long is advisable to spend on each section?
• What knowledge or skills are they looking for?

Whilst these considerations are easily overlooked, having definite answers to these questions will make you feel much more centred and prepared come the big day.

Rachel Shortall, English and Philosophy, Year 2

2. Create an effective study routine

First, create a revision schedule, which will help you to stay organized and focused. For example, I block out time on my calendar to revise specific topics and include dedicated break times.

Secondly, set up a good study environment. Our external environment can affect our revision efficiency significantly. Here are some important considerations when setting up our study environment:

• Have a natural light source.
• Remove distractions from the dedicated workspace.
• Noise control using ear plugs or white noises or calming music.
• Have a comfortable chair.

Finally, buddy up! Joining revision groups or revising with friends can really help to maintain motivation.

Emma Lau, Veterinary Science, BVSc5

3. Be aware of your units’ Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

Focus on the Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) of your units to identify the skills and knowledge that you’re being assessed on. Based on the ILOs set yourself some questions similar to the exam format to test yourself on that particular topic. If you are not familiar with that topic, go over it again and try to recall it after a certain period.

Adrian Tung, Biomedical Sciences, Year 2

4. Give yourself a break

Make sure to schedule regular breaks during study sessions. Stepping away from your work (even for just 10 minutes) can help clear your mind and reduce stress.

Go for a short walk, have a snack, or listen to music to reset before going back to your revision.

Maansi Gupta, Economics Year 3

5. Don’t be afraid to ask for help

Meeting and talking to the right people often helps to solve my problems or, at least, makes me feel less stressful. There are lots of people you can go to:

• If you have questions regarding your subject see if you can schedule a meeting with your lecturers. Most of them have weekly office hours where they meet with students who need help. If you have a mentor or supervisor, you can also contact them.
• If you feel stressful, you can book an appointment and chat with the University Wellbeing team.
• For Study Skills support you can come to our drop-ins at the Study Skills Hub in Senate House to talk about anything related to study skills, time management, assessment preparation, etc.

Jiamiao Chen, English Lit, PhD

If you’d like any more support with preparing for assessments then check out our online resources, drop-ins, tutorials and workshops – all available via the Study Skills webpage.

In this post Student Advocate Shraddha Sriraman (Medicine) reflects on her experience of clinical years, and offers 10 top tips for making the most of the opportunities available.

1. Know what’s expected of you

Check your portfolio requirements and try and plan exactly how you’re going to achieve these goals, e.g. getting 2 histories a week to keep you on track to meet your targets. Planning this out in my first week helped me figure out exactly what needed to be done.  

2. You’re not expected to know everything

Coming to placement can feel a little daunting, especially after a couple of years of lectures. It can be tricky to put the content from Year 1 and 2 into real-life, but you’ll definitely get used to it in time! Everyone’s first couple of histories can be a bit rusty (I look back on mine and laugh at the quality). The goal is to show progress in your clinical skills throughout the year and in time you’ll gradually become more confident in your aptitude.  

3. Use Online Resources

Online resources can be incredibly valuable when there’s no more structured lectures to support your learning. For medics Passmedicine and Quesmed are valuable resources to emulate the exam situation, with tens of thousands of multiple-choice questions and mock tests.  

4. Practice OSCEs

Practice, practice, practice! I was incredibly nervous with my OSCE skills at first, but roleplaying uncomfortable scenarios with you friends or family is honestly the best way to practice your skills. I worked in a group of 3, with one as the examiner, patient and student, and found this worked pretty well. Make sure that the examiner is as strict as possible, as that’s the best way to learn what the mark schemes are looking for. For the medics: Geeky Medics have several free OSCE checklists for a range of stations which were quite helpful!  

There’s no better experience than talking to patients on real wards, so definitely make the use of it when you can.

5. The majority of patients enjoy talking to you

When I started, I was quite nervous about chatting to patients. After I got into the groove of it, a lot of the patients really enjoyed having a chance to talk to someone. You often have more time to spend with patients than other staff have, so it’s also really useful to the doctors when you present – you might’ve found something they’d missed!  

6. Always have a pen on you

Or even 2 pens. You may find that some get (inadvertantly) taken by doctors if left lying about!

7. Practice the entire examination as often as you can on wards

Getting used to rehearsing it makes it stick much better in time for OSCEs. Patients are great to practice on so you can get used to giving them instructions and explaining what you’re doing as you go.  

8. Get feedback on your histories and exams

I found this really constructive. Practicing at bedside is helpful to get feedback from clinicians on your technique.

9. Share your goals with the doctor

Let the doctor you’re with know what you want to get out of the day at the beginning – they’re more likely to be helpful! For instance, if you need to get 2 clerkings done, a drug chart and a mini-CEX, letting a doctor know makes them much more likely to give you patients to clerk and help you get the most out of your time on placement.  

 10. If you’re not sure what to do… ask the doctor ‘How can I help?’  

In these situations be proactive and show your willingness to assist rather than waiting around with nothing to do.

Do you have any more tips for clinical years, or have questions to ask about the experience? Share them in the comments below.

Welcome to the new academic year at the University of Bristol! We extend our warmest wishes to all students, both new and returning. In this update you can learn about the Study Skills service and how to access our support. If you have any questions, please email study-skills@bristol.ac.uk

What is Study Skills?

The Study Skills team are here to support you with the core skills that underpin studying at university. We can help you with time management and learning independently, with academic writing and essay planning, research projects and dissertations, and a whole lot more. Visit our website or watch the short video below to learn more.

Talk to a Study Skills tutor or Student Advocate

Drop in to see us at the Study Skills Hub on Floor 2 in Senate House – no booking required! We’re open 11am-3pm on weekdays from Welcome Week onwards. Visit our drop-ins information page for the latest timetable. Drop-ins are run by our team of Student Advocates.

For more in-depth support you can book an online or in-person tutorial with a Study Skills tutor. Book a tutorial.

If you have a quick question about study skills you can also post it anonymously to our ‘Ask a question’ Padlet and our team will be very happy to answer it for you.

Discover your Study Skills Mascot

Take our quiz on your study habits to reveal which animal is your personal Study Skills mascot. Will you be the critically-minded owl, the team-working lion, or perhaps the ever-communicative cuttlefish? Once you’ve completed the quiz visit the Study Skills Hub in Senate House to pick up a free bookmark featuring your new Study Skills mascot.

Online resources

Our Study Skills page has a huge range of useful interactive resources covering many different topics. These ones may be particularly helpful to help you make the best possible start to the new academic year:

• Welcome to study
• Upgrade to University
• Time management
• Study from home

Find all the online resources here.

Coming soon: workshops

Our small-group workshops cover a huge range of topics, from managing your time to critical writing and using AI during your studies. Our program for workshops for September and October will be finalized and available to book into soon. Keep an eye on our workshops page to view the latest plans.

Any questions? Email us at study-skills@bristol.ac.uk

Visit our website: bristol.ac.uk/studyskills

 

How do you feel about the huge developments in Artificial Intelligence we’ve seen over the past year? Depending on your point of view you may feel excited, overwhelmed, anxious, or all 3 of these things (and perhaps many more) all at once.  

Many of us in the study skills team felt precisely these things. We’re particularly aware of the opportunities and challenges that generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Google Bard and Claude present to students. When used appropriately they have the potential to massively enhance your learning and take your skills in any number of areas to the next level.  

But these AI tools can also be used unethically: to write essays or generate code for assessments which students should be creating themselves. We also know that lots of students want to use these tools but don’t know how, or are worried they may inadvertently break the University’s rules. That’s why we’ve put together a guide to help you. 

The online resource

Our online resource Using AI at University explores how generative AI works, so you can understand what it’s capable of and what it can’t do. We also set out some of the university rules about using AI for assessments, and explain why these rules will vary from unit to unit. The key principle behind these rules is to consider your own learning – are you using AI in a manner which develops and enhances your skills? Or are you using it in a way which is actually stopping you from gaining some really important skills for your subject? 

Besides understanding the rules about AI we want to help you start putting these tools to practical use as study aids. Our guide contains a catalogue of some of the most popular AI tools, and pages on writing effective prompts and turning these AI programs into your own virtual tutor. AI tools are far from perfect though, so it’s important you approach them critically and cautiously as we outline on our page about AI errors, hallucinations and fact-checking. 

AI playgrounds 

We hope that the online resource will help you to understand generative AI and how to use it within the university guidelines. However, we also believe that the best way to develop your AI skills is through practice. That’s why we’re running AI playgrounds in November. These are practical sessions where you can experiment with tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Google Bard and more.  

In the playgrounds we’ll show you how to how to access these tools and discuss some strategies for using them effectively before giving you some space to play around with them. Our Study Skills tutors and student advocates will be close at hand to assist.  

You can view times and dates of our upcoming AI playgrounds and book into them here.