If you’re anything like me at the moment, we can’t wait for the end of term, can we?? at the same time, there’s a looming black cloud on the distant horizon… Not easy to enjoy your holiday when it’s threatened by torrential downpours….

So, it seemed to me that this blog could therefore serve a useful purpose here, seeing us through the revision process AND allowing us to enjoy the rest of our life too! so not so much about the subject matter of Psychology, but advice/tips and sharing to minimise stress and maximise output!

So I’m going to start with 2 main points here:

Firstly:

Do you want to do these exams? and what grade do you want?

This seems a pretty basic question doesn’t it? But it’s the key to success - exams are all about cause and effect - so think - a lot of students:-

• don’t listen to what they’re being told
• don’t read anything
• don’t write anything
• don’t practise what they are being asked to do

and are then surprised when they don’t do very well!!!

Can you spot where they’re going wrong? looks obvious doesn’t it? These are YOUR exams, they will be YOUR results - not your parents’, not your teachers’, YOURS!!!! This means you have got to take responsibility for them!! it should be obvious - if you do nothing, you’ll get nothing - true in exams as well as the rest of life - so don’t wait for other people to do all the work for you - get on with it yourself!!

Second:

At this time in the term, work is probably the last thing you want to be thinking about, but there are a lot of ‘low energy’ things you can do now that will ease the path later.

• Sort your notes/folders out - saves loads of time later if you can find your information quickly!!
• Spend some time planning your revision schedule - a lot of students think this is a waste of time - they’re wrong! You need to have a timetable of what you’re going to revise when, for all of your subjects, so that it fits into the time available. This will save a lot of ‘thinking time’ later, cos you won’t have to make up your mind ‘what to revise today?’. Leave it to chance, and it’s highly likely you’ll miss bits out completely, have shaky knowledge and/or get highly stressed, cos you’ll have too much to do in too little time - trust me - I’ve seen this far too many times….

Stress management is largely about being in control - so get yourself in control sooner rather than later.

Sort this bit out now - then take a break - you need some time off over the Easter break, but then make up your mind that you’re going to work HARD when you start again!!