For those of you who recieve study days for exams, apart from taking time off in and around the exams, which day of the week do you tend to take off. I'm currently trying to decide and have been told that my personal favourite (Friday) and second choice (Monday) are generally frowned upon (translation: your not having Fridays or Mondays off!!!) I think the argument is that being the lazy students that we are, we'll just take the study day as an extension of the weekend and not actually do any work! (It's like they read my mind! )
I can't vote on the poll as it doesn't give me the option... But I usually take 2 half days - on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons - to study... I find that firstly, this breaks up the week nicely, and secondly, it gives me more study time, as when I took one full day, I never really got started until the afternoon anyway (as I just slept for longer!). But I guess it's a personal preference thing...
Tuesday and Thursday afternoons are definitely the way forward. That's what I used to take when I had study leave. Thursday afternoons are particularly good as you know that the next day is Friday! In general, I think 2 afternoons are more productive than a whole day, especially if you are studying a subject that is not very interesting!
The only problem I would foresee personally with afternoon studying is that sometimes it can take me a while to get myself motivated but when I do get into the groove I tend to be pretty productive. Having a whole day gives more continuous spells of studying, whereas the stop/start of the afternoon tactic could end up wasting more time motivating myself. (I hope that makes sense) Of course this has to be weighed up with the temptation to spend the morning in bed anyways and thus negating this whole point!
Well, whatever format you decide to take, don't waste them! Study days are very important and easily the most valuable part of any study package. I have just SA2 to go but no study days and I really miss them ...........
Full day Wednesday always did the trick for me. Splits the week up nicely and I have no problems putting a full day study in - my dogs ensure there is no chance of a lazy lie in. Not a big fan of 2 half-days; if you start to drift it's hard to make up for lost time - plus you've still got travel time for both days, plus it's always hard to get away from work for an afternoon session. If busy at work and I took a morning session, then always pressure to stay late - and that blows any chance of getting more study done in the evening. I also agree that employers don't like Monday/Friday study days - isn't it sad they don't trust their employees to put in the study? I mean, as if anyone would be tempted to take a sneaky long weekend away early in the session!