GCSE Maths Week 4 Exam Preparation Tips

Can you relate to this situation? The one when you know you need to do work, but you really can’t be bothered. So you say you’re going to do a bit, and maybe even make it as far as sitting down to do some, but then end up procrastinating doing something else or taking time off. BUT when you’re doing whatever you’ve decided to do instead of work, at the back of your head is this niggling voice/feeling that you should be working and SO THEN you can’t enjoy your rest/procrastination activity in its fullness. AND THUS, you end the day not having got any work done but also not having enjoyed your time off. Sound familiar?

I know all too well the absolute drag exams and revision can be on day-to-day life. You know you have work to do, and you may even want to do it, but you just can’t be bothered. You’ve been revising for ages, and even if not, have just seen the letters G, C, S and E too many times now, and just want this whole thing to be over. You’re done. You just want to throw the towel in (i.e. give up).

But if you do that, unfortunately for you, I’m just going to have to throw the towel right back at you. You did not come this far just to come this far (one of my fave quotes, free for you to have, you’re welcome xoxo). You have already put in so much work. Whether that’s the lots of revision you’ve done over this exam period, or the mere fact you’ve gone to school more days than not for the past 13 or so years – you’ve put in a lot of work. So let yourself have something to show for it. “I know Seyi, but I just can’t be bothered/have no motivation/am tired/can’t do anymore.” – well no fear, your motivation queen is here!

Perhaps that isn’t the best title for me as I’m not entirely sure I can increase your motivation from this article alone, but what I can do is give you a few ideas of things to do when you just can’t anymore. Because you can – you can get through this, you can push, you can do one more past paper – you can choose to not give up now, so let’s choose that.

So, how do we move past this place of eurgh? Here are some ideas.

1. Take regular breaks

If you’re not already doing so, take regular breaks. Even if you feel like you don’t need a break try taking one after 45 minutes – 1 hour (max) even if it’s just for 5 minutes. Giving your brain a rest every hour or so (or less if you need more regular breaks) will help it be sharper when you come back to study later. To make this as productive as it can be, ensure you have a set length for your break and time yourself, so you go back to work after. And please, revise a bit longer than 3 minutes before giving yourself the break.

2. Change up your revision style

What I find helpful when I’m finding it hard to find the will to revise is to revise in a different way to my go-to revision style. For example, if I am trying to make notes or review my notes for a topic and it feels like the driest thing in the world, I’ll change my information source from a textbook/my written notes to a video, as it is, personally for me, less effort to watch the video than to read notes as I can just sit, listen and process. It means I’m still getting work done when I would otherwise be procrastinating. You can use this now and then, but I would be wary of doing this all the time if it is not your most efficient way of gathering information or if you choose to do this instead of important things like past papers then you may put yourself at a disadvantage. That being said, doing this when you really can’t be bothered to do anything is better than not doing it at all.

3. Change your revision location

This is a point I am currently finding the most helpful in my study. This can be anything from changing what room in the house you revise in, to changing the actual location you are revising in. Some people choose to revise different subjects in different rooms, e.g. sciences in their bedroom, maths in the living room and English in the kitchen, etc. Doing this may help get you in the zone properly for each subject as your brain associates each room with a different subject. However, this may not always be possible due to a myriad of different reasons (as is currently the case for me) and so changing physical buildings is another option. With this, you could choose to spend one day revising at home, another in the local library, and another in your school library, etc. I’ll do this and then treat myself now and then by going to revise in a coffee shop (the treat being I get myself a drink or snack from the café too). I also highly recommend going to different friends’ or family’s houses to study when you’re feeling meh, as even though you may not get as much done as if there was no one to talk to, you still get more done than if you allowed yourself to have an unproductive meh day and you get to see people you love – it’s a win-win situation.

4. Have a nap

I’m not even joking. I also, therefore, have not a lot to say on this. Have a snack, have a nap, and see how you feel when you wake up. This alone can do wonders for your productivity. It gives your brain some time to rest and gives you some extra energy if you’ve not been sleeping enough (but please start sleeping enough, please I beg you x) – naps are our friends. Just make sure you don’t sleep the day away – a good nap maybe 10-30 minutes long (set an alarm!), enough time to gain some energy but not too much that you wake up groggy.

5. Set yourself a big goal and a few little goals

There are three types of goals that can help you when you are feeling meh – long-term goals, short-term goals, and bribery goals.

Long-term goal – This is the goal that tells you the ‘why’ of what you’re doing, the reason you’re revising and doing these exams, apart from the fact that you have to. I spent a good amount of time researching different jobs before GCSEs as I had no motivation and needed something to work towards. Once I settled on medicine, all the work I was doing finally started feeling like it had a purpose. I wasn’t enjoying revising but it was the means to a goal, a bit of discomfort for something enjoyable in the future. A lot of my friends didn’t know what they wanted to do (which is okay if you find yourself in the same position!) and so their goal was to do well enough so that they could still have their options open for whatever they did decide to do in the future. Other people were aiming for certain grades to prove to themselves and/or others what they were capable of. Whatever it is, however specific or general it may be – think about what your goal could be.

Short-term goal – your ‘how’ goals. These are the goals you meet to help you work towards your intermediate and long-term goals. During revision periods these could be weekly goals (e.g. 5 past papers this week) or daily goals (e.g. complete a non-calculator maths paper using all the correct steps (see the previous blog post)). These types of goals help you break down your long-term goal into shorter-term goals that you can focus on and that feel more readily achievable.

Bribery goal – This is kind of an adjunct to both my long- and short-term goals but can also be used by itself. This is where you reward yourself for the work you’ve done. This may be in the form of time doing things you like, i.e. on your phone or watching TV, monetary goals, food goals, and more. For example, you may decide with your parents that for each 6 you get in your GCSEs you get a month off of chores, or for each past paper that you finish, you can have an hour of free time, etc. Linked to this you can set time-based goals, e.g. after 40 minutes of work I’ll reward myself with so and so, but what may be more helpful is setting task-oriented goals. This could be aiming to finish a practice paper, review a certain topic, etc. The benefit with this is that if you finish the task earlier than expected then you can end up with more free time/time to revise something else but if it takes you longer than expected, you still ensure you finish what you aimed to and get the sense of satisfaction from completing it all.

6. Just do it

You can try and trick yourself into doing work, you can try working with friends, you can take multiple breaks, and more, but sometimes you will just have absolutely 0 motivation to work, and then it boils down to one thing – you’ve just got to sit yourself down and do it. No tricks or gimmicks, just tell yourself it needs to be done so sit down and do it. It’s not pretty, inventive, fun, or cool, but it needs to be done. You can’t always wait to be ‘feeling it’ to work because the truth is you may not ever be ‘feeling it, but the work still needs to be done. It can be helpful to have an accountability partner if you struggle with it. This could be a parent or a friend, who is really on it, who checks in with you to see if you’ve done your planned study for the day. If it is your parent/guardian checking in on you, it can be extremely annoying, BUT what is better – not being annoyed by your parents but not getting all the work done or occasionally being annoyed by parents checking in on you but getting better grades as you did the work? Mhmmm that’s what I thought.

These are just a few tips to help you push through the revision sludge. But I do just want to say to you, yes you currently reading this (cheesy I know but keep reading), KEEP GOING. The journey is LONG but you made it this far and you can definitely make it all the way. Look after yourself, exercise, go for walks, eat good food, get lots of rest – just whatever you do, keep going, don’t give up – you’re oh so very close and then these exams will be over. Give it one last (or multiple last) push(es) and keep it up, you’ll be proud you did at the end.

See you next week x

Have any questions about how to prepare for your GCSE 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 questiogcsemathswk3ns here, and Seyi will answer them in these sessions.