Doing coursework will always be better than sitting exams

If you’re a fresher, here’s a bit of advice: when you choose your modules always pick those which will be examined by coursework. Why? There’s nothing worse than cruising through a year then realising at the end that you have 12 exams to cram for and you know nothing about any of them. The beauty of coursework is that you do it alongside your modules and then when the module finishes – you can forget about it forever.

Sure, I don’t really love doing coursework, but would I rather do exams? Hell no. Here are the reasons why doing lots of coursework is the best thing you could do at uni.

There’s no exam stress

Exams mean stress. Have you done enough revision? Will your mind go blank? Is stress stopping you sleeping? Even when you’re eating or watching TV the guilt about not revising kicks in. You just can’t relax. Not so with coursework, when you can structure your work over a period of time. It’s pretty much the only way to preserve your mental stability.

There’s no time limit

Coursework doesn’t have time limits. Yes, you still have deadlines, but three weeks sounds so much better than a crammed two hour exam don’t you think? This means that you can write the essay when you want to, not when you have to. And the pressure to perform right then in the moment barely exists for coursework. It also means you won’t feel guilty when you go out for spontaneous night at Snobs. I mean, there’s still two weeks until the deadline, so it’d be rude not to.

No one’s ever ready for exams…

You can get help from your clever mates

We’ve all come out of an exam and spoken to a friend who makes you realise that you’ve basically fucked it.  If only you could get your mates to read through the answer to your exams before they were marked. Oh, wait, you could have if you’d chosen modules assessed by coursework. With coursework, you can get all the help from friends you need. Not to mention your tutors who are your on-hand experts.

You have all the resources at your fingertips

Some people naturally have bad memories. Unlike exams, coursework is not just a memory test. Instead, it allows you to produce work which represents your true intellect, not your goldfish memory. Again, this makes coursework less stressful – as you have all the resources you will need in front of you,  you don’t need to panic about remembering stuff.

How are we meant to remember all of this???

Coursework can be tweaked over time

45 minutes into an exam, you can’t really decide you don’t like your question and answer a different one instead. Coursework allows you to change you mind, and in fact, it’s encouraged. This produces a stronger argument – there is plenty of time to review what you have written and tweak it if you want to.

So the next time you’re moaning about doing coursework, remember – at least you’re not doing an exam instead.  And make the wise choice when choosing next years modules- you won’t want to go through this again.