exam stress...

This time in two weeks I will be a complete, utter mess. I will have sat three three hour exams in three days and will probably be lying on the sofa sleeping having eaten fish and chips for dinner followed by ice cream. I am sooooo looking forward to these exams being over.

I know I always worry I won't pass but this time, I'm really worried! These exams are the first for the new syllabus. That means that, unlike previous exams, there aren't years worth of exam papers online which I can download, digest, review, analyse, study and compare.

Before past exams, I have gone through five or six old exam papers, learning what questions are always asked, what questions are unlikely to come up again - just generally getting a feel for what I'm about to face. This has helped me decide what areas I need to focus on (either weak points or strong areas that I know I can get really good marks on if the question comes up in section B).

This time round, there is one exemplar paper for each exam. I know the theory, I practice it almost every day, but these questions seem foreign to me and I have even less understanding of the sample answers.

This time round, I feel like I simply don't know enough.

It may be that I'm just putting too much pressure on myself. In previous years, I've sat two exams in May and two in November, a total of four a year. This year I am sitting seven exams.

It's damn hard to work a full day and then come home to study.

I'm not after pity. I'm just venting in the hope that it will make me feel better. I still have this weekend and three days official study leave next week, plus that weekend and then the commute to each exam during which I will be reviewing diagrams and the like one final time in the hope that something will stick.

I know this stuff. I do it every day. I will pass my exams. I will. I will. I will.