Reflection

At Oxford we have only one set of exams that matter in the whole 3 years of study – the Finals. Everything that we have learnt in the 3 years is examinable, and the questions are very difficult. Despite the fact that we can choose 5 out of 8 questions to answer in each 3-hour exam, the top grade is only 70% and to pass you need only 40% - this reflects how hard it is to answer even the questions that you believe you understand.

During the first two terms of the third year we were still learning new courses. Then we had Easter and Trinity term to revise for the finals. That is 3 months of very intense revision. I estimate I spent more than 600 hours revising in the last 3 months and I haven’t been doing anything but revising, eating and some sleeping in the last couple of weeks before the exams. After this there are six 3-hour exams and then it is done. It is a very strange feeling finishing something so big and important. I have to admit my mind was quite confused in the past days due to lacking an important goal like this one, ‘lack’ of caffeine and ‘lack’ of stress.  Nonetheless, it has been an exceptional experience, and I hope that in this case the proverb ‘what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger’ really applies.

Now I am trying to calm my mind down and start focusing on other, this time minor, goals like books I want to read, online courses I want to do, fitness instructor course I am about to undertake etc.

I am also in the final stage of sorting out the housing, visa application and other things necessary for my research at MIT next year. Another great experience that awaits me at the end of August. For 8 months I will be conducting research in Boston on sintering of metal nanopowders for example for armour application.

To sum up the three years at Oxford, it has been a great challenge and a great experience for me. University is what you make it to be. In the first year, I wanted to do everything  - I wanted to be one of the top students, I wanted to represent the university in volleyball, I wanted to do fitness, I wanted to have friends and socialise and I was willing to sacrifice sleep for it. During the terms it was normal for me to sleep 4-5 hours a day, sometimes working the whole night to do well on laboratory write-ups. In the end I did succeed in all of these things – I became a Blues player (representing the university), I got the prize for the best practicals, I got a distinction and made friends.  The experience was that I proved to myself that I can achieve my goals if I am willing to push hard enough, but at the same time I realised that the all-nighters and lack-of-sleep were not part of a sustainable lifestyle. I always got sick once the stress fell off and I generally hated not sleeping enough.

In the second year, I also became a sports representative in the JCR (Junior Common Room) for our college. But at the same time I started to organise time much better. I kept playing volleyball and I actually worked even harder for our tutorials. The year passed without any major stress as we had no exams and I had amazing summer in Santa Barbara where I conducted a research on magnetodielectric materials but also managed to relax and travel at the same time. The experience from the second year was that good time management and responsible organisation of work can bring as good as or even better results than last-minute stress and alnighters. Also, I realised how important rest is – I have never been in such long-term good mood like after returning from Santa Barbara. This refreshment allowed me to start early pre-revision and I actually ended-up second best in mock exams after coming back to Oxford.

In the third year I prioritised my activities. I started continuous year-round revision for the finals, I set myself a year-long work-out plan, I built myself a nutrition plan, I stopped playing volleyball as it took too much of my time and was hurting my shoulder and I stopped going to any parties and other similar events. I set myself a strict lifestyle which helped me to gradually improve both in study and in the gym. I think it worked out quite well and I was very well prepared for the exams.  On the other hand I have to admit that I often felt that I was bit antisocial as I was spending hours and hours revising in my room, I was cooking for myself, eating on my own and I when I wasn’t studying I was working out in the gym. Exams went well, although not as well as I expected. The experience from the third year was that I am able to work consistently very hard throughout a whole year according to the set priorities. At the same time I think that next time I will have to find a compromise between diligent work and social life because long-term hard work (studying) can be really exhausting both physically and mentally.
I hope that my reflection on my choices of how to invest time will be useful to someone starting a university now who has similar ambitions to mine.  But at the same time I am aware that everyone has different experience, as I said, university life is what you make it to be.

And of course, if any current or prospective student/applicant for the scholarship has any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me on my mail or my facebook.