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When students start their quest for knowledge at Semmelweis University everything is new and they spend their first couple of weeks getting use to their new life as medical, dental or pharmacy students.
Then, after a month or so, they begin to look ahead - at the first exam period.
This is the first big challenge for 1st year students. Some will even fail out because of these exams, but with good notes, being able to turn off the TV or computer for a few weeks and focusing on the material they need to know, the first exam period is not a problem.
Signing up for exams
At Semmelweis University we have an intranet (Neptun System) that all students can access (with their personalized code).
In the intranet they can sign up for exams.
Each subject will have 1-2 exam dates listed for each week during the entire exam period.
So, Chemistry might have available exam dates on December 20th, December 22nd, December 27th, December 29th etc.
The student needs to shuffle his or her exams based on personal choice and available seats during the exam (the number of vacant seats is listed along with names of the students signed up for the exam that given date).
So the first exam period is as follows:
The last week of school is usually over around the 15th-20th of December. Then there will be a few exam dates open from 17th-20th to 22nd of December.
There are usually no exams available from 23rd to 25th of December (holiday), but there are some in the days leading up to New Year.
Then there are exam dates every week in January.
Plan accordingly!
One example (based on this semester; check the Neptun system to see if the exams are available for these dates. These dates are only examples!)
Student A is in the first year.
Student A takes Chemistry on December 18th and passes.
Student A tries to take Biology on December 20th, but fail.
Student A decides to go home for Christmas and stays home from December 21st to December 25th.
Student A studies Biology some more and takes the retake exam on December 28th and passes.
Student A takes Biophysics on January 7th 2008 and passes.
Then student A spends 10 days studying for Anatomy, takes it on January 17th and passes.
He can now relax for about a week and prepare for a new semester!
If he would have failed Anatomy on the 17th, he would still have had a week to retake the exam.
For the Fall semester 2007: The last day of the semester is December 14th |
Word of wisdom!
Students that fail out during the first exam period usually do so because they run out of time! If you fail more than two times, you will feel that the exam period is too short for you to be able to fully prepare. Therefore, study as much as you can during the semester and DON'T try to spend the exam period learning something for the first time!
Just my advise to you' :-)
The short answer is yes.
You responsibility is to finish all your exams by the end of the exam period. When you do it is up to you.
Therefore, you can already plan ahead that you take 22nd of December until 26th of December off (or something like that), so that you can spend the Christmas holiday with your family.
There were students in my year that took the entire week off, so that they could spend Christmas and New Year with their family, but unless you manage to get one or even two exams done before January, I suggest you try to limit your time off from studying to a few days.
Don't bring books home with you to 'try to get some studying done during Christmas' !
I see students in the first and second year on the plane back home for Christmas with backpacks filled with books. They all have the same hope of studying, but when I talk to them after the break they all say the same thing "Yeah...I didn't study much over the break...spent time with friends, family and time flew".
My suggestion is: Take the Christmas break off and enjoy it with your family. Don't bring any books with you!