RHS update

[Snadger]

I used to have my kids shouting out the common name and I had to recite the latin equivalent!

By the time the exam came my kids new the latin names better than I did!

They still remember them 20 years later and often say "Can you still remember the latin name for xxxxxxxx Dad? I usually say NO......then they recite it for me!

[digthatchick]

I only now refer to plants by their Latin names, it was difficult at first but with the great number of reference books available now it is much easier.

I take it your exam is RHS Level 2 - I loved mine and took mine in Feb. Also try City and Guilds Growing Organic Fruit and Veg, this was a great course.

[BumbleB]

I think vocal learning is good. Rhymes, repeating etc And also tapes in the car. Maybe you could record from your coursebooks and then playback while driving. Its amazing what goes in.

[di]

Don't know how easy it'd be to do it with Latin but I learnt basic Spanish with association techniques,ie cow is vaca,imagine a cow doing the hoovering.suitcase is maletta(sc?),I have my letter in my suitcase.Could bore you with many more,which fifteen or so years later is pretty good going for me.
Sure you'll be able to do it love,trust in yourself is probably the biggest step!x

[Hazel at the Hill]

I know my weakness is recall, I know garden stuff and should pass but given a quiet room full of people and a bit of paper - well, I just turn to mush and don't even remember who I am, let alone why I'm there

Oh, honestly - this may have happened when you were, like, 16 yrs, but you is a proper grown up peeps now, with proper self esteem and everything!

You may have thought the world would end if you cocked up your O levels ...um... a year or two (*coffs) ago, but it doesn't end does it? So -

Repeat - 'I am not intimidated by a quiet room' - 20 times.
Repeat - the names of 3 latin doofers a day - Flum's right, there is logic in the names you can tap into
Repeat - 'this doesn't actually matter, it is for my own pleasure'

If you do well, BRILL- self fulfilment, and all that; if you feel like a worm in the exam room and end up loathing it all and flunk the lot. So what - it's hardly 'field conditions', and you've learn't how to be a clever plant-person anyway.

You can have a ((hug)) anyway, if you're good.

[Flummery]

As Mr F's main hobby is botany we've always used Latin so that we know if we're talking about the same thing - I might use a colloquial name or a garden name and he might use the Latin and we could be actually talking about close members of the same family and not realise. Therefore, our kiddy winkles (now grown up) learnt the Latin for wild flowers at their Mother's knobbly knee. I still cherish the memory of my now Big Lad toddling about with a daisy saying he'd found 'Dennis the Menace' (Bellis perennis!)

[Hilary B]

Oh, honestly - this may have happened when you were, like, 16 yrs, but you is a proper grown up peeps now, with proper self esteem and everything!

You may have thought the world would end if you cocked up your O levels ...um... a year or two (*coffs) ago, but it doesn't end does it? So -

Repeat - 'I am not intimidated by a quiet room' - 20 times.
Repeat - the names of 3 latin doofers a day - Flum's right, there is logic in the names you can tap into
Repeat - 'this doesn't actually matter, it is for my own pleasure'

If you do well, BRILL- self fulfilment, and all that; if you feel like a worm in the exam room and end up loathing it all and flunk the lot. So what - it's hardly 'field conditions', and you've learn't how to be a clever plant-person anyway.

You can have a ((hug)) anyway, if you're good.

Seconded! (especially the 3rd 'reminder'. Why be worried by something that, sure it's nice if it works out, but not the end of the world if it doesn't!)

[piskieinboots]

Yer I know you're all right that it doesn't matter in the scheme of things and I do consider myself extremely lucky that she is letting me sit in on some of the lessons for free - it really was that good first time around

She told the boss of Waterperry what she had suggested and he was thrilled with her initiative and support and, of course, the more passes the better the College looks

[SarzWix]

Smells promote recall, so try having a certain scent around you while you're revising, and then have on a hanky or something you can sniff in the exam room. Lavender and/or chamomile are both good because they're calming too.

Best way for me to remember something is to write it several times, sticks in my head much better than just reading it.

If you go into a panic when you sit down with the paper, just write "piskieinboots" at the top of the page. That'll make you think of us lot, it's got to help hasn't it?!

[BFG]

Have some confidence in yourself. You'll see it when you believe it!

Your subconscious mind is always working away in the background. What you picture in your mind is what it'll try to achieve. Thinking that you're rubbish at exams is telling your mind that you want to be rubbish at exams and it's doing it's best to make it happen.

[Lottieval]

Piskie,
I took the RHS Level 2 exams 3 years ago when I was 67, I found it difficult to remember botanical names but just kept at it, I passed with distinction, so if an ancient body like me can do it you surely can. There is so much more to write than proper names, don't let these bug you. It's possible to get past papers from the RHS, these also have notes on how each question was actually answered overall. If you can't get hold of these I can send you some, and if there's anything else I can do just shout. I really enjoyed the course and felt that it put my years of gardening experience into some sort of order. Go for it girl!

[enrich100]

from the sounds of it it more of a confidence issue more than a knowledge issue with you

I would sugest seeing a hypnotist, I have had a couple of friends use this route as they had had bad exam experiences, they both said it worked and they stayed calm through out the exam, not even sweaty palms, perhaps Paul McKennas book on confidence might be another possibility

[Pumpkin Becki]

Smells promote recall, so try having a certain scent around you while you're revising, and then have on a hanky or something you can sniff in the exam room.

...or, you could just write the answers on the hanky... (Oh! Who said that!! )

N.B. - You all know I don't really mean that.

[HeyWayne]

Unfortunately my memory acts like a very short conveyor belt (think Generation Game) in exam situations, and to remember something new I must lose something from the back.

I'm too busy wondering if my chair will squeek, if my stomach will rumble - am I going to fart, is that a tickle in my throat.......must........not........cough and all other manner of distractions. By the time I've worked my way through them all, the conveyor belt has been replaced with entirely new stock.

It's why I think I've never (apart froma couple of Marketing ones) sat any exams, or taken any courses - much as I'd dearly love to. I don't take faliure very well.

I'm now comfortable with the knowledge that I'm a more hands-on, practical person, than a sit down, head-in-book dude.

[piskieinboots]

...I'm a more hands-on, practical person, than a sit down, head-in-book dude.

We have yet more in common that just silliness