When thinking about your revision for Part I of the Linguistics Tripos, it can be ...
will come up as first and second questions in all of the four papers. Then, for.
Hello first year linguists! Approaching your first exams in Cambridge can seem quite scary, but it doesn’t have to be! Here are a few tips about how best to approach Easter Term based on my experience from last year – I hope they will be helpful! When thinking about your revision for Part I of the Linguistics Tripos, it can be difficult to know where to start. Because the structure of first year is so broad, I found that the most useful starting point was to learn the lectures really well. After going through those, you should have a reasonable background for what will come up as first and second questions in all of the four papers. Then, for each paper, you will have one essay question to answer at the end, so it is good to prepare a number of topics in more depth than they were presented in the lecture notes in order to be able to answer them. There are four options for essay questions displayed at the end of each paper, most of which are quite broad: take a look at what has come up in the past papers and pick a few topics that you are comfortable with, especially if you’ve already written an essay on the topic for a supervision or you’ve done a bit of reading about it! As for past papers, it is a good idea to go through the first and second sections from the past papers, as they can vary a lot from year to year – this is not too daunting a task, as we still don’t have a very big collection of past papers! Insofar as essays are concerned, it is good to practise handwriting them in an hour without your notes if you have not had the opportunity to do this yet: it is likely that one or two of your supervisors will ask you to do this for Easter term supervisions. Learning to write essay questions under time pressure is a really important skill to develop. After all that talk about work, I think it’s now really important to remind you that while Easter term is dominated by exams, they’re not the be-all and end-all! It’s really important to have time to unwind and relax alone and time to have fun with your friends as well. At the end of the day you have to remember that your results are not just based on the amount of work you do: they’re also based on your feeling calm, happy and rested before you sit them, so make sure you schedule plenty of me-time and don’t ever let work be more important than your wellbeing! Of course what I’m saying here is based on my personal experience, so if you’re experiencing different issues from what I’ve mentioned or have queries about anything that isn’t in the following, don’t hesitate at all to ask someone! Needless to say, I am here for any and all questions you may have, but there is also a massive support network there for you including your tutor, your supervisors, your DoS, your lecturers and the course co-ordinators, all of whom should also be able to help. If in doubt about anything, asking about it is always the best way forward. All that remains for me now is to wish you a good Easter term, and to say good luck for your exams – please contact me if you want to know anything more!
Sarah Bennett
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