Irish final exams

So the higher education system here is much different than I'm used to and I'm having a hard time adjusting to their approach at final exams. Back in the US, you semi know what to expect on your final exams and especially being an education major it's all about reflecting and what you've achieved and learned personally over the semester. Going from reflections, reflections and more reflections to writing essay exams for an hour and a half is stressing me out a bit.

The way that higher education in Ireland works is that students attend lectures and tutorials all semester long. By all semester, I mean for 2 1/2 months they have classes. Then, they have a month off to "prepare for exams" before one week of review classes. At that point exams start but exams can be anytime over a month long period, in this case from May 6th-May 28th. For me, this approach has been somewhat difficult to handle.

For my essay exams, I am expected to remember and write about information that I learned 2 1/2 months ago which isn't the easiest thing to do. Most Irish students don't always attend classes on a regular basis and spend the week before their exams cramming and doing research in the library. Students in the US are no strangers to cramming, but to have a whole month and a half of time off makes it hard to crack down and get back to work. One of my friends has an Irish roommate who literally studied for her final exams in the car on the way to take them.

The exams themselves are unique as well. They put a mix of different classes all in a huge room of rowed desks and put you to work. You have 90 min to write 1-2 essays depending on the course. You are asked to cite sources from books that you were to have read. So beyond remembering the information you read you also have to remember the title, author and year of publication of these books. This seems strange to me and another burden that is hanging over my head.

My exams aren't until May 26th and May 27th so I have quite a bit of time to wait still and motivate myself to do some research before attempting my luck at my first Irish exams. Hopefully they go well but I won't know until after I'm already back home in the US :)