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Do you know of a colleague who is extremely good at their job, yet cannot pass the professional exams required to ascend the career ladder? Or an exceptionally bright friend – who seems to fall apart during exam periods? Or do you yourself struggle when it comes to final assessments? I’m sure most of us are familiar with situations like this, as they are a very common occurrence.

The post Exam preparation: More than just studying? appeared first on OUPblog.

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Kirsty Doole has been part of the OUPblog team since…possibly forever, and yet I don’t know that we’ve ever properly introduced her to all of you. Formerly known as the ‘UK Early Bird,’ she is our UK Contributing Editor and keeps me on my toes at every turn. To my great delight, she’s also joined me on the @OUPblog twitter account! Without further adieu, I present this (fantastic) Q&A.     -Lauren

If you had to reread one book every year for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Jane Eyre. It’s my joint favourite book, alongside Mrs Dalloway. But the thing about Mrs Dalloway is that you (or rather, I) have to be in the mood for it. Jane Eyre works anytime. Also: Matilda by Roald Dahl.

What’s the longest book you’ve ever read?
A love of Victorian literature means I’ve read a few doorstops. I’ve just finished The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope, which is 1,024 pages. It’s brilliant, by the way, you should definitely read it.

What’s your most obscure talent/hobby?
I’m desperately boring and can’t think of anything particularly obscure. How about my favourite obscure historical figure? Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham.

If you lost your voice for a week, and could only communicate by playing portions of a song, what song would you choose?
‘I Am The Walrus’ by The Beatles. Might as well have some fun confusing people.

What’s the funniest thing that ever happened to you?
It wasn’t funny at the time, but it’s funny now. Ten days before my undergraduate English Literature final exams I broke my writing arm. Due to the short notice I had to get friends and family to scribe for my exams because most of the postgrads who would have done had already left for the summer, or were in the middle of their own exams. A friend scribed the first exam, and out of the first three words of the first essay in the first exam, he misspelled two of them. Funny now. Thought I was going to cry then. How did I break my arm? Long story.

Where did you grow up?
A small town called Barrhead , about 8 miles outside of Glasgow, Scotland. The most famous alumnus of my high school is Gregor Fisher, of Rab C. Nesbitt fame. I have no idea if Rab C. Nesbitt made it outside of the UK, so it could be that as far as you’re concerned I’m my high school’s most famous alumnus.

If you had to live outside of the UK, where would you move?
I’m better at dealing with cold weather than I am with hot, so I might go and join my Dad in Oslo. That said, apparently Norwegian is tough to learn. So, how about New York during the Snowpocalypse? (You can tell I’m British by how important weather is to me.)

Cat’s Cradle vs. Rubik’s Cube. Go. (Unless you don’t know about cat’s cradle?)
Neither. When I was a kid I had a Rubik’s *Clock* .

How do you feel about hats?
Given a beanie hat and my husband’s glasses, I look like Meg from ‘Family Guy.’ Seriously.

How do you feel about American versions of British TV shows?
*Obviously* they are inferior. I’ve seen your version of &

Last week, I went to the doctor for my physical and well-woman exam (VERY uncomfortable, btw). I'd scheduled the appointment because both sides of my family have a history of cancer, high blood pressure, and diabetes. I wanted to make sure that all was right in my health world. The last time I went to the doctor, I was told that I had borderline high blood pressure. This summer, I came to the conclusion that I might've gone from borderline to actual high blood pressure. I'd been experiencing some of the same problems that my parents (who both have HPB) have: constant headaches (I don't just get headaches...I get migraines), swollen feet, etc.

It turns out that, unfortunately, I was right. I have HPB now. ARGH! So, now, I have medicine, thankfully just one, that I have to take everyday, which sucks 'cause I'm horrible at taking medicine. I had to write a note to myself on my dry erase board (yeah, I'm a nerd...I have a "to do" board in my room) to remind me to take the medicine. I've never liked taking medicine.

The good thing is, with exercise and good eating habits, I can lower my blood pressure. I've been exercising pretty faithfully since June. I've been watching what I eat since August. I have fallen off the wagon, so to speak, every once in a while, but I've gotten back on. Overall, I've lost 11 pounds. Yay me! My sister and I have really buckled down this month and have been doing well. We've either walked 2+ miles, played volleyball in front of the house, or had 45 minutes to an hour of Dance Dance Revolution, which, btw, is an awesome form of cardio. We've added strength training in between our workout days. My original goal was to lose a few pounds for our Puerto Rico trip, but, now I've added lower my blood pressure. As far as eating in concerned, the problem isn't that I eat too much, it's that I don't eat enough. I usually only eat dinner because I don't make the time to eat breakfast or lunch. This is bad because I usually get cravings and end up eating junk food. So, now, I'm working on eating 5 times a day - breakfast, lunch, dinner, and 2 snack times in between.

I guess if I blog about my journey, it'll hold me accountable. I'm supposed to have a checkup in November to see if my blood pressure has gone down. So, my BP was 155 over 113 (I know...horribly high). My prayer is that I can lower it some by my next appointment. Also, my goal in June was to lose at least 30 pounds by the end of this year (I'm not even going to say how much I weigh). I'm now at 11 pounds down and 19 to go. Can I do it? Will keep you updated!

Author Kevin J. Hayes has been very busy writing American Literature: A Very Short Introduction, but he needs your help. Find out what you can do below.

When I was studying for my exams at the University of Delaware, I found little books about big subjects to be the most useful study aids. Despite the usefulness and convenience of these little books, I still resented the time studying took. I was eager to finish my degree and start my career, to stop reading the work of others and start writing work of my own. As part of the studying process, I drafted a brief history of American literature. After passing all my exams, I realized my draft history had been a way to force myself to keep studying. I set it aside without a second thought, graduated, and moved to Oklahoma. The draft history disappeared along the way.

Upon completing my forthcoming biography, The Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson, I wanted to work on a tiny little book next, so I started writing American Literature: A Very Short Introduction. The book will consist of eight chapters and will be organized in a rough chronological manner. Each chapter will concentrate on a particular literary genre and will have a central focus, too. For example, Chapter 7, the first chapter I drafted, presents an overview of the novel refracted through the idea of the “great American novel.”

I’m working on Chapter 2 now. It will trace the story of American travel writing from colonial times through the twentieth century. Though travel writing constitutes some of the best writing in the colonial American period (see Daniel Royot’s fine chapter in the recent Oxford Handbook to Early American Literature), literary histories have typically slighted subsequent travel writings in favor of belletristic literature. Deciding which travel writers to include has proven to be more difficult than I initially anticipated. I need help. Obviously, I do not have room to discuss too many travel narratives in such a short book. Here’s my question: which travel writers should I include?

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Erik and Jaap, the guys from the Delft Public Library who visited the Chicago area in February to talk with librarians about gaming, are coming back this month on a nationwide tour to explore innovation in U.S. libraries. Yes, a nationwide tour. Only these two could pull off something this ambitious. They’ll be driving cross-country on their way to the Internet Librarian conference in California at the end of October, stopping at the following libraries along the way:

• New York Public Library
• Darien Library
• Public Library of Charlotte Mecklenburg County
• Ann Arbor District Library
• Mortenson Center
• Council Bluffs Public Library
• Denver Public Library
• Salt Lake City Library

They’ll be talking with librarians, interviewing them on camera, shooting video of services, driving westward, participating in the annual “gadgets” presentation at the IL conference, and then heading home to create another great documentary (like the one they did for their first trip). They’ll be in the Chicago area around October 20-21, and I can’t wait to see them again. If nothing else, we will definitely have another video game night.

If you’re on or near their route, consider contacting and getting together with them - I guarantee you won’t regret it. Their enthusiasm and creativity is infectious. I mean really, who else do you know who could get funding for such a big idea as this?

When Erik first drew up the plan on a napkin in February, I loved the idea of librarians as “shanachies.” Their theme is “Keep stories, tell stories, make stories.”

“Originally the shanachie in Ireland was a very important person who in rank came after the chief and the druid carried the gift of keeping and telling the stories. They travelled the country and were given free lodges and food in return for stories. The gift was passed on when the Shanachie died.”

More info is available on the official Shanachie Tour site. They’ll be posting a video diary there as the trip progresses. I can’t wait to watch what they do next!