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photo by Walt Stoneburner |
The pressure is starting to be cranked up for anyone taking exams
in May/June, whether it is GCSE’s, A-Levels, college or university. Feelings of stress, anxiety and panic can
become all too familiar for students.
For A-level students early March signals the arrival of
results for the exams taken in January – this may be the time that reality
comes crashing down; the remaining exams are just around the corner and the
results are on track for what you need, these results have only just scraped
through or the results are lower than expected.
The key thing to remember is that it all there for the
taking– you just need to refocus and put key things in place to achieve your
potential. Here are some top tips to
help with this:
What you are doing it all for?
Take a few minutes to think about what you are putting
yourself through this for. What do you want to be doing in October? Where do
you want to be? Why do you want to be doing that thing? How great is it going
to feel when you are there?
Write it down, draw it or tell someone.
Think of your successes
Think of a time when you have achieved something you were
pleased with (exam, coursework, piece of work). What did you do? What worked
well? What can you learn from that time, to help you now?
What might send you off course?
Unfortunately the rest of life doesn’t stop happening when
we have exams coming up, so take some time to think of the things that can send
all your study plans into a spin.
What things happen that increase your stress / distract from
your revision? What can you do to limit these distractions – try and think of
realistic steps you can take.
e.g. getting distracted by a sport, set some boundaries that
allows you to have some time doing this but as a reward for having focussed on
your work.
Who can help you?
You really aren’t on your own with this, even though it can
feel like it. Who do you have that can offer you support and how do you
actually want them to help you? The support can be in all sorts of ways (e.g.
helping with work, helping with other practical things that will take the
pressure off, providing emotional support, providing an outlet to relax).
When asking people for support it is really important to
have clear communication: be clear in what you expect from people (why, what,
when and how).
What do you need to do now?
Now with each of the steps above in mind, what do you need
to do between now and your exams?
Set yourself a series of small steps that will help you
achieve your best in your exams. For each step:
- say what the aim (goal) is
- how you will do it
- who can help you
- when it needs to be done by and
- how you will know when you have done it.
Finally, it is also important to factor in some ‘you’ time to relax, recharge and feel refreshed (e.g. exercise, reading a book, watching a film, seeing friends, relaxing bath)
Coaching can provide a really useful space to work through
any issues that are holding you back from achieving your full potential. A few
sessions will help you reduce your stress and begin achieving your best: find
out how to work smarter!
“It
gives you a different perspective. Allows you to take a step back and start to
think rationally” LD, 16 years old
Thank you for reading my blog!
Thank you for reading my blog!
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