"I believe that opportunity looks a lot like hard work."
- Ashton Kutcher
Now that I feel we’re truly setting into the “exams are happening this year, fuck!” portion of everyone’s educational experiences, I thought I would share some tips that help me stay motivated. These are what I have found that have helped me stay motivated and productive in my revision.
1. Wear comfortable clothes
Gym wear, pyjamas, dressing gown, joggers or anything really, just as long as it’s comfortable. When you’re setting out to get things done, especially if it’s studying, you don’t want to be uncomfortable in the clothes you’re wearing. Just maybe don’t opt for the pyjamas or dressing gown if you’re leaving the house to get productive.
2. Find a suitable study space
I know I will do homework in bed until the end of time, but when it comes to revision I could not think of a worse place. You need to find somewhere that works for you, whether that be at your desk, in your dining room or kitchen table, a coffee shop, the library, your back garden or anywhere in between. One of the places I found best to revise when I was on study leave for my GCSEs was the floor of my living room. It gave me the most space to work, and it was surprisingly comfortable.
3. Get rid of distractions
Let your friends know that you won’t be around to answer messages for a while, send a message to the family group chat they you aren’t to be disturbed, and have a talk with your dog about why you can’t play with them for a little while. That way, not only will people try to not distract you, but they should also encourage you to keep working if they get a message from you should you be procrastinating your work.
4. Use a range of study skills
Don‘t be afraid to try new things, or incorporate new skills into your system. That could mean making flash card and posters, or watching videos and creating mind maps, or trying to plan a question then using your flash cards as prompts rather than reviewing your notes as soon as you think you’ve written everything you remember or you're stuck. Something that I used to be against, but I know is meant to be an effective method, is dual coding where you condense your notes into a series of trigger images or phrases. However, you do have to have a fairly good knowledge of the content before this becomes effective. I’m trying to slowly incorporate this into my way of studying, as it's worth giving anything that could help you remember the content a shot.
5. Tailor your knowledge to application
What I mean by this is, when you revise, you can minimise how much work you have to do by focusing you revision around the questions they can be applied to. This could be as simple as learning a topic, and then planning questions, next time trying to plan the question again and see what you didn't remember from the original plan to focus on lesser known topics. Or it could be making mind maps grouping information together based on the type of questions that could be used for. Not only does this mean you’re learning the content, but you‘re engaging with how it can be applied at the same time.
6. Start revising
The hardest bit is going to be starting, so sit down and start. Whether that is by easing yourself in with reading overviews, recapping what you did in your last session, going over flashcards or Quizlet sets, or starting with your favourite topic and gradually beginning to focus on the bits you would rather avoid. Any activity that gets you started will motivate you to keep going. It may even benefit you to do this for a couple minutes after every rest period in order to motivate yourself. It's always worth experimenting so that you are able to revise how best suits you.
I hope everyone is feeling optimistic going into the lead up to exam period. If anyone has their own tips and tricks, be sure to let me know.
Enjoy it all
Hollie x