Mitigating Circumstances

Had your final exam and not feeling they went as well as you had hoped?

If you have been ill or experienced circumstances beyond your control, you may want to consider submitting a Mitigating Circumstances Form to tell the School about it. Mitigating Circumstances can include, but is not limited to illness, injury or bereavement. You can also submit the form for ‘Procedural Defect’, which may cover things such as the fire alarm sounding during an exam or if you feel that your specific exam arrangements did not fully compensate for your condition.

What happens if I submit a Mitigating Circumstances Form?

If the Sub-Board of Examiners believes that because of mitigating circumstances, you have fallen marginally short of a higher degree classification, they may recommend to the School Board of Examiners that the higher degree classification be awarded. Or, if the Sub-Board believes that a your mitigating circumstances have resulted in you exhausting all attempts at an assessment which is yet to be passed, it may recommend to the School Board of Examiners that a further attempt is granted.

Please note that individual marks are never changed as a result of mitigating circumstances.

The deadline to submit Mitigating Circumstances is 7 calendar days from your last exam and it needs to be submitted to the Student Services Centre (Old Building). It is really important to keep to this deadline as late submissions may not be considered.

The Students’ Union Advice and Support Service are able to advise students on submitting the form and writing the statement. Please email su.advice@lse.ac.uk.

You can read more information the School’s website and you can download the form here.

Library Works Planned for 23rd May.

BEWARE early risers & revisors! There’s more drilling to be expected in the LSE Library tomorrow between 7am and 9am whilst the Toilet Refurbishment Works continue.

The ground floor and first floor are expected to be the worst affected areas.

Good luck with the revision!

Night before and on the day of your exam jitters

Exam revision going well but last night nerves getting the best of you? Here’s 6 simple tips to calm you down and allow you to do your best and succeed!

Screen your calls and take the bus to uni alone…

Spending too much time with your panicking class mates just before the exam will NOT do you any favours. Stress is contagious, so resist the urge to have a last minute revision session with your friend where you just confuse one another about what you know and trigger unnecessary panic.

Get a good night sleep

Last minute cramming sessions will not help. Make sure you get yourself a minimum of 8 hours so you wake up refreshed, and your concentration levels are high! If you can’t sleep, try and do something repetitive- whatever you do, don’t turn on the TV or muck about on Facebook- this will not help you to fall asleep!

Keep it light on the caffeine before your enter the exam hall

Whilst caffeine may give you a boost at the start, it will soon wear off, making it more difficult to concentrate. The last thing you want to do is burn out halfway through. Caffeine is also a diuretic, meaning it is more likely you will need the toilet during the exam! If you’re a smoker, whilst its tempting to chain smoke before your exam, nicotine is also a stimulant which will not do you any favours.

Eat a decent breakfast

There’s a good chance your stomach is flipping about and making you feel rather ill. Try and force yourself to have something to eat; slow burning energy food like cereal such as granola or porridge is ideal. If you really can’t face eating before your exam, take a snack in with you- though don’t let it be something noisy! A banana and a bottle of juice is perfect!

AMENDMENT: Food is not allowed into Exams - see the examination procedures booklet for more info. 

Pace your breathing

The quickest and most effective way of eliminating feelings of stress and panic is to close your eyes and take several long, slow deep breaths. Breathing in this way calms your whole nervous system. Simultaneously you could give yourself some mental pep-talk by mentally repeating “I am calm and relaxed” or “I know I will do fine”.

Keep things in perspective
It certainty might not feel like it at this point in time, but in the grander scheme of your whole life they are only a small part. It’s great to succeed and reach for the stars. But keep things in balance. If you think that “anything less than A+ means I’ve failed” then you are creating mountains of unnecessary stress for yourself. Aim to do your best but recognise that none of us can be perfect all of the time.

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If things are getting a bit overwhelming this exam season, remember you aren’t alone. LSE has a professional, free and anonymous counselling service for students. They can also advice you on school-related matters such as applying for mitigating circumstances. For more information on how to access the counselling services, click here.

Positive reinforcement websites to help you make the most of your revision break

Need a little pick me up on your tea break? Here are some suggestions to get you through another day of revision and essay bleakness.

Talk to Calming Manatee

Manatee gets what you’re going through, Manatee feels your pain.

Celebrate with a cute kitten.

Let’s be honest. Written Kitten never gets old.

Slap yourself on the back and give yourself a badge

If the kittens aren’t doing anything for you (how is this possible?) Then let’s try another trick, chances are you’re a pretty competitve type of person; given you go to LSE, so perhaps the badges available at 750 words could be the solution. 

Need to totally clear your mind?

It’s a good idea to use a different part of your brain whilst on a revision break. Kolastothemax will help you clear your mind of jumbled up quotes. Don’t play with whilst drinking coffee. Trippy.

Revision break dragging on?

Procrastinating? Don’t feel like going back to work on that boring essay? Well, there’s a solution for that… check out Write or Die…

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If things are getting a bit overwhelming this exam season, remember you aren’t alone. LSE has a professional, free and anonymous counselling service for students. They can also advice you on school-related matters such as applying for mitigating circumstances. For more information on how to access the counselling services, click here.

Writing strong essay-based exam answers

Here are some tips on how to make your exam answers as strong as possible!

SLOW down.

Firstly, take a few deep breaths and allow yourself to calm down. Then read over the exam questions. Don’t read them once, but twice so you are sure you know exactly what it is the examiner wants from you- and not what you think they should know!

Plan.

Organize your thoughts into a clear logic. Firstly underline the key words in the question, and then identify the main topic and discussion areas. Try to create a list of paragraph titles so you know that each paragraph will serve one specific point and you know exactly what you want to say within in. Feel free to use a full A4 piece of paper from your answer booklet (simply scribble over it at the end of your exam). This process should take you a good 5-10 minutes for an essay-question exam. Don’t think of it as wasted time, it’s invaluable and keeps you on track when you’re starting to flag an hour or so in.

Work out your timings.

Chances are you have to answer several questions. You should know this type of information in advance of the exam, so don’t waste time in the exam itself, figure it out in advance. Give yourself time to plan for each question, time to write the question and time to re-read what you have written to make edits, add extra information and check grammar and spelling. Be brutal with yourself, if you need to get on with the next question then quickly write a short conclusion and know you can go back to it at the end if time allows. Do not run over your timings.

Decide on question order.

Typically in essay-based exams, you just need to pick X out of Y number of questions from the options provided. Because of this, you can pick what order you answer them in. For some people, they prefer to start with the topic they know best to set them off on a good start, others prefer to keep their strongest question to last so that they can relax and expand on their best ideas and gain mark. Do what suits you. 

Mind gone blank?

Don’t panic! This happens to everyone once and a while! Grab your drink, take a few sips and stop for a second. Then go back to the start of your answer to the question and read what you’ve written so far, chances are this will prompt you to remember what it is you were going to say, or it might even inspire you to think of other, more stronger points you’d not planned to mention!

Running out of time?

Again, do-not-panic! Look at how many questions you have left and try to divide the time up equally. If you’re on your last question and only have 5 minutes to go start bullet pointing each point you were planning to make. Whilst this should only be done in emergencies, it is well worth it as you can pick up some points.

Avoid sloppy mistakes that can cost you points.

Firstly, don’t use colloquialisms. Avoid using statements such as “I think” but instead make statements and back them up with academic sources (remembering to reference the professor and the year). Don’t try shoehorning something in just because you revised it loads, it hasn’t come up but you’re determined to mention it; frustratingly it happens to us all but don’t let your essay go off on a tangent because of it.

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If things are getting a bit overwhelming this exam season, remember you aren’t alone. LSE has a professional, free and anonymous counselling service for students. They can also advice you on school-related matters such as applying for mitigating circumstances. For more information on how to access the counselling services, click here.

The art of revision

Revision. Urgh. Even reading the word raises blood pressure. Sadly it’s got to be done. So, if you’ve got to do it, do it effectively and smartly to ease the pain.

Make yourself a revision timetable.

If you’re a postgraduate, this is likely to be the LAST revision timetable you may ever draw up. Wahaaay! It’s tempting to get yourself a pack of felt tips and spend the day making neat colourful boxes to demarcate your carefully thought out timetable, but let’s be honest, it’s just a procrastination tool. So just get on it with it, and make the most of the free templates available on the net, the BBC has a good one. Make sure you plan in breaks and time to eat! 

Cramming won’t work.

And that’s not just cramming the night before, that’s revising for 12-hour periods without decent breaks. You’re setting yourself up for a headache and you’ll struggle to recall what you’ve revised. Give yourself breaks!

Break your work into chunks.

Work for 25 minutes, then get up, have a stretch, go to the bathroom, look out the window for a minute or two. Repeat this 3 or 4 times and then give yourself a decent break. Put down the notes, push the laptop away and go have a cup of tea or a snack for about 15 minutes. This isn’t wasted time, it’s all sinking in- and allowing your brain to recover from that intense workout you’ve just given it! 

Set yourself a realistic target.

And do it everyday. Each morning work out what you want to achieve in that day and try to stick to it. Make sure you set your own targets which suit your capabilities- not your library friend’s.

Turn the TV off.

Trying to combine relaxing with revision is a bad mix. You might think you can multitask, but really what’s happening is you’re not giving all your attention to your revision. Try to keep units of time set for specific tasks; revision, eating, exercising, sleeping, socializing (you still need to do this to keep your sanity). Some studies suggest light background music might be okay, but repeats of Friends has alas never been proven.

Wifi is only for downloading articles and getting PPT’s off Moodle!

When you pause to think about your next revision point or what you’re going to write, don’t use it as an opportunity to check Facebook/ Twitter/ Tumblr/ Instagram/ E-mail/BBM/Skype/WhatsAp! Turn your phone onto silent and ideally turn your WiFi off! Only check during your allocated breaks.

Download some past papers.

Pulling some papers off the LSE library is really a must. Go through several years of past papers and try to pull out ‘themes’ of questions, this will allow you to revise savvy.  Once you’ve done some revision, grab a past paper and set yourself a ‘mock exam’. This allows you to test your timing and exam technique. Once you’ve finished go over your practice paper and spot gaps in your knowledge that you need to swot up on.

Work out what type of learner you are.

Use revision styles that suit how you best learn. There’s no point making yourself a pretty mindmap if you’re a kinesthetic learner is there?

Start with the dawn chorus.

The mind is the most alert first thing in the morning. So that means no late nights! Start with the subject/topic you like least, while your powers are still at their strongest. Getting up means you can make the most of the day, and it also means you can keep the for evening relaxing.

Call in reinforcement.

Forge alliances with your classmates and become study buddies. Meet up for a couple of hours once you’ve revised all your topics and go over what you’ve learnt and write out exam model exam answers. Try to keep your group revision sessions to a set amount of time- 3 hours at the max- make up an excuse if you need to so you known the session will only go on for certain period of time. After this your concentration will go and it will just become a time to muck around and gossip.

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If things are getting a bit overwhelming this exam season, remember you aren’t alone. LSE has a professional, free and anonymous counselling service for students. They can also advice you on school-related matters such as applying for mitigating circumstances. For more information on how to access the counselling services, click here.

Destress from your Head to your Stomach to your Feet!

An Early Welcome to DESTRESS FEST 2013! From 7-17 May, the LSESU is doing whatever we can to turn those exam frowns upside down.

On Houghton Street over these two weeks there will be plenty of activities intended to turn those study breaks into a fun and productive time: break a sweat (Smoothie Bike), break into a dance (jammin’ to your own music is highly encouraged), or just break into a smile when you’re enjoying your free ice cream (that’s on Friday!). 

But when you can’t leave your computer and still need a break, just return here. This blog is going to have loads of new content ranging from study tips, to quick getaways within the London limits, stress-relieving stretches and foods with nutritients specifically designed to help you gain energy and serenity. 

We hope you enjoy all the content that’s headed your way! 

If you have any specific de-stress tips that you want to share or that you want us to research, please let us know!!