Finals in Lockdown

The experience of doing final examinations during the lockdown has been surreal, to say the least. Waiting for the slow-acting faculties to provide us information on our new exam structures and then adjusting to new formats and regulations for exams and a new environment for revision was difficult but thanks to the help of my Oxford friends in similar positions and a few extremely dedicated tutors at Pembroke we managed to overcome a lot of the challenges posed. It’s been difficult to balance the host of personal and home life issues that have been created as a result of the coronavirus and being in lockdown with family for 3 months, but thanks to the regular revision classes organised and by maintaining a daily evening call to check in with my tutorial partner I was able to keep persevering on. The sheer amount of events and content produced by the Pembroke JCR and other societies such as the Oxford LGBTQ+ Society was impressive and really touching to see - despite the loss of what was meant to be a memorable final experience in Oxford enjoying the best it has to offer, it was comforting to still feel like part of a community till the very end of our degrees.

2020-05 See all items with this value

London, UK

Roshan Shah

Attached is a photo of me after my home ‘trashing’ (a friend sent a bottle of Prosecco to my house for exactly as my exam finished) post-finishing my eight and final exam in 8th week! It may have been a very different type of end than I had anticipated, but I have had the best 2 and a half years of my life at Oxford and I’m happy to say that I made the most of it, right to the end of this Hilary term and even in this remote Trinity, so even with the lockdown I will look fondly at my time here.