Wednesday 12 December 2012

Exams...exams...exams

Any A- level student will know that January exams are quickly approaching. I wanted to do a blog post on a personal issue because I know I'm probably not the only person feeling this way right now. Lately, although all these positive things have been going on in my life there is still one downside... the fear of exams and the lack of motivation. It's funny how for so many years I have been sitting exams but each and every time the exam period approaches I always get this sense of fear and unfortunately because of this I've been feeling extremely down.  I decided that I was tired of feeling this way as it was affecting my performance in college and I found some advice on what I could do to battle this and I've found it really useful.

Here are some tips that I have:


  • Talk to someone about it: It's always better to share how you feel with a friend or even a subject teacher if you don't feel very confident about a particular subject. It's always better to share how you feel because keeping it to yourself just makes matters worse.
  • Boost your confidence: A lack of confidence can definitely cause anxiety. Instead of focusing on all the negative things going on focus on the positive aspects of your life and your strengths. Dwelling on negative things only makes you feel worse about yourself so pick out the things you're good at and ask yourself what makes you good at them and this should help boost your confidence.
  • Create personal goals: Sometimes when we lose motivation it's because we forget what all this hard work and studying is for. If ever you find yourself going off track set some goals and remind yourself of what you aspire to become and what the hard work is for. By setting short term and long term goals this can help you focus again. Remember your goals must be realistic and attainable.
  • Time management: If you're the type of person that doesn't set aside enough time to complete work, STOP! Leaving everything till last minute puts extra pressure on yourself especially if you don't understand the work. This can leave you feeling as if you don't know much about a particulat topic but perhaps you do but you didn't set yourself enough time to go over it. Time management is extremely important not only at college/sixth form but at university and work. In my situation, I also have a weekend job so I have to arrange my time around that as well.
  • Revision: Part of this leads into time management also. Leave yourself enough time to revise for exams. Exams are getting closer and I'm definitely starting to think of how I'm going to divide my time up in terms on revision. Another important thing is finding the right revision technique for you. Not everyone has the same technique for revising but it's REALLY important to find the right one for you. This immediately helps reduce stress and fear because eventually you should feel that you're ready for your exams.
These are my tips for dealing with exams stress and I hope it helps anyone out there that feels the same way I do :)
                                                 

No comments:

Post a Comment