A-Level Maths Week 4 Exam Preparation Tips

“I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE. THERE’S TOO MUCH TO LEARN. I’LL NEVER KNOW IT ALL IN TIME!!” she screamed with tears falling down her face. She starts hysterically ugly crying and slides down the wall like princesses in Disney films after a minor inconvenience and Gabriella in High School Musical 1 when she overheard the things Troy about her (no spoilers, watch the film, rewatch it if you must).

Dramatic? Yes. Because of A-levels? Yes. A real-life throwback to me ‘coping’ with A-levels revision? Yes.

I am not lying to you at all, I will never forget that epic meltdown I had; it was my main character moment – I was feeling like I had had enough with revision and could not possibly take anything else into my brain. Maybe that’s how you’re feeling right now, and if so, *adopts deep Texas accent* ooh chil’ don’t you worry I got some good tips for you down below. *Back to London accent* Perhaps, however, you’re wondering why on earth you’ve been taking advice from this blog and are about to click off – WAIT. I promise I’m not crazy, but I did struggle with motivation, on levels as referred to at the beginning of this post and on much lower levels of simply just not being bothered or feeling burnt out or demotivated, and much more. There gets to a point in revision (or many points) where you just want to stop, and so the point of this post is just to say keep going.

(A serious picture, who am I ???)

Now, this is evidentially easier said than done so luckily, as well as my embarrassing story and bolded letters, I have some tips that may help you when you just want to give up/stop trying. And just in case you think they may not work, let me share a bit about me with you.

I am currently in my 5th year (of 6) of medical school. Whereas everyone else gets 3 months of summer at uni, we get 1 month and our year spans from the end of August to July. My exams are mid-July this year and the way med school is means you just have to constantly be studying from day 1. And guys, I am TIRED. I love my course, I do, but there are some days, and as we are getting towards the end of the year, some whole months, where I have to trick myself to work, which is where I currently find myself. So just know, as you’re trying these tips out and not feeling it – same, just same. But, it is working, I am getting stuff done and studying is happening. So I can say with my head held high – that it does work, and thus, let’s get to it.

1. Remind yourself of your goal

This is a key one for me! When you sit down and wonder why and how you found yourself in this position, it is a good idea to try and remember why you are doing all of this. For me, it’s because I want to be a good doctor who helps people. You may also have a dream job you’re working towards or maybe there are certain grades you need for your course, maybe it’s a sense of satisfaction or a ‘see I could do it’ to prove the naysayers wrong. Or maybe you just don’t know yet. And so, for that I’d say, get a goal. You don’t need to determine your life ambitions now, but it may just be the goal is to do well enough to allow yourself to have multiple options in the future – and to make it even more tangible, decide what ‘well’ means to you. BCC, BBC, A*A*A, A*AB, it will vary – but whatever it is write it down (this makes it more real in my opinion), display it somewhere (so you have a constant reminder), and work towards that. And if you are still not sure of your goal, I have one for you – to do the very best you can do (again define what that looks like for yourself) because you have put this much work in this far, and so you owe it to yourself to see this through to the end.

2. Set *tiny* goals

It’s a lot less daunting facing a day of study versus an hour of study, or 10 minutes of study versus 1hr of study. I’ve had phases where I can sit down for a few hours but the thought of doing another session makes me want to cry and I’ve had phases where to sit down and do 40 minutes seems like just too longgggggg. I’ve found that a good way to get through this, whatever you’re feeling, is to plan mini-goals. For example, start by saying you’ll just do 10 minutes and then have a 5-minute break and go again, or if you can hack it, do 20 minutes or 30 minutes and then repeat each session with little breaks in-between. Once you start, it’ll be easier to continue. Alternatively, instead of focusing on the time, you can focus on tasks. For example, you may say ‘I’ll start by just doing 3 questions’, and then give yourself a break once you’ve completed the task. Or the task may be to complete some coursework, do a page of notes or complete a past paper, and so forth. The bonus of this method is that if you get it done quicker than the allocated time you get more of a break, but if it takes longer than expected, you still make sure you get it done instead of stopping halfway because your time is up.

3. Change up your environment

This is my current favourite tip and one of my top ones being utilised at this moment in time. Change up your environment - studying in the same place can get extremely boring and repetitive, so try going to different places, either in the house or in different locations altogether. For example, if you always revise in your room maybe you do one day in your room, then another in the kitchen, then another in the living room, then another in someone else’s room, then another in a garden if it is a nice day etc – or you can change it up for each subject or study session, not just day. Some of you may not be able to do that in your homes for whatever reason and that’s the situation I find myself in too, so I’ve had to stick with going to different places. At the moment, I’m loving going to different friends’ houses to revise but other options include revising at a café, at a local library, your school’s library or in a park (on a nice day if you have enough battery etc). Try it out, you may be surprised at how changing the environment alone gives you a whole new set of motivation.

4. Reward yourself

The good old trick of bribery! But seriously, it works, and you can do this with small rewards or big rewards. You could say if ‘I do this study session I can add 5 minutes onto my break’ or have a sweet or go out on the weekend. This is similar to setting yourself mini goals but with the incentive of rewarding yourself for completing the goal. It may not be possible to do all the time but can be quite effective at times. Here are some ideas for hourly, daily and weekly rewards:

5. Friends

Friends! Or just other people! This tip incorporates 2 things. The first is just having an absolute gossip session with friends, not about other people, but the subject of Maths. It can be therapeutic to just sit and talk with people also doing the exam about the things you are finding frustrating as they may be able to relate. And if they don’t, they may be able to help with whatever it is that you are struggling with – so it’s a win-win situation.

The second is to work with friends! I know it may not be the most productive time if you are all sitting there doing past papers whilst talking about something completely unrelated, however you would have at least done something – which is much better than doing nothing. And if it goes well and you’re able to focus and get a good amount of work done, you may have just found yourself a new study buddy. You may not talk to each other but sometimes just sitting doing past papers at the same time or being with someone whilst they’re also studying, even if it is a different subject, can be the motivation you need to keep going.

6. Stop & take an extended break

We got a few days off for Easter and I took every single one-off. I did absolutely no work and hung out with a friend for a few days to just try and relax, and I came back ready, and surprisingly even wanting, to revise. Now, you may not have enough time to be able to take off a few days but you can take an extended break.

At first thought, this may seem counterproductive, and you may want to stress about how much time you are missing, but if you feel like you’ve in a place of burnout, where you just cannot do anything, the best thing for you right now, is to take a break.

By saying extended break, I am hoping that you are already taking regular breaks when you study (e.g. every 45 minutes/1hr etc plus breaks for meals and time off at some point) and therefore I mean actual time off study. I would suggest a whole day if you’re feeling completely burnt out. If your exam is tomorrow, maybe not, maybe an hour, but if it’s in a week or more, take a whole day off, or even just half a day. But here’s the catch, you need to do it well. Don’t think about your exams as much as possible, try to rest completely – you don’t want to end up having taken a day off but not feeling rested as you kept thinking about all your work, otherwise, you’ll almost be worse off than when you started – you’d have thought about work, but not done any, and taken a day off but not rested. At least once you’ve done this, even if you for whatever reason don’t feel fully rested, the knowledge you’ve had some time off (and slight stress from taking time off) may motivate you to get some work done, and if not, then tip 7 will be your saviour.

(Please note, that your break can be taken both with or without a Kit Kat.)

7. Just do it.

Friends I am currently on this point myself. Well, truth be told I am concordantly using a few of the above points simultaneously (which I guess in itself is another tip, try different things to get you to study on different days – friends one day, rewards another, motivational talks to yourself another, etc, etc). This is the least enjoyable point but perhaps at times, the most realistic. Just do it. I know you may be tired; you may not be feeling it, you may feel like nothing is going in, you may hate the subject, it may feel long, it may be boring, but you know what – just do it. Just sit down, get your notes out or get a past paper out and do it.

To get you started, maybe start with something you find easier to revise. If you know you would rather not review some notes, then do a past paper or vice versa. But at some point, you will just need to do whatever needs to be done – so just do it. Don’t run away from it or leave it too long so you run out of time. Sit down, and just do it. I don’t have much more to say other than that. Just do it mate.

Hopefully the above helps give you some tips when you feel meh and lack motivation. All the above being said, honestly, I understand you guys. It’s a long road, BUT YOU’RE SO NEARLY THERE! Please don’t give up now, in just a little while you will be DONE with exams and free to enjoy a very long summer. And with that comes a final bonus tip. Plan something nice for after you’re done; a picnic in the park, a weekend away, seeing some friends you’ve not seen for ages – because knowing you’ve got a summer of fun awaiting you, can also do the job.

Keep going with the revision, and I’ll see you in the next and final post!

Have any questions about how to prepare for your A-Level exams? Having problems with any hard to understand content or tricky past exam questions? Then ask Seyi. Seyi will be hosting a series of Q&A webinars in the 2 weeks before final exams. Post your questions here, and Seyi will answer them in these sessions.