Are the pressures teachers feel reflecting back at us

I am currently studying for the looming A level exams. Particularly over the last 6 months or so, I have become more and more anxious and began to suffer from anxiety because of the pressure of school and at home. I lost my Dad whilst studying GCSE's so am not sure whether it's that as well as school pressure resulting in me feeling so unconfident in myself and not believing I can achieve what I wish to.

was wondering whether anyone had any tips on 'how to stay relatively calm' or strategies for revision? (I currently use mind map strategies to revise as well as practice questions and essay grids).

I'm sure I'm not alone in the way I feel and believe that we no longer need to be put done and pressurised but celebrate what we do achieve rather than focussing on what target we may not have reached this time. I find this a growing issue within many sixth form colleges, as are they focussing to heavily on grades and forgetting our mental state as teenagers in todays society.

Firstly, I'm sorry to read that you lost your father, that must have been very tough to cope with, especially during an intense time like GCSEs.

Secondly, you need to find the motivation again for your studies. You need to remind yourself why you picked those subjects and why you're still in sixth form/college.

Yes there are pressures that teachers and relatives will put on you; they want you to do well, it's a tradition to expect the best out of those in your next of kin. And they're mainly doing it because they really just want you to succeed, because if you succeed, you'll be happy, and they'll be happy cos you're happy.

But if you feel it's too much, tell them. Talk to them about how they have far too high expectations and that you work in a different mindset, such as with your anxiety problems. It's not all about the grade at the end of the road, you want to fully appreciate the journey too. They are there to help you and they've probably had many students who were worried or having problems, just like you.

But if you really do want to achieve high as well and want to meet, heck even exceed the expectations of whoever, then you need to rediscover that passion for your subjects. ____ fascinated you before, realise that you're still studying it because you really do love it, and you want to prove to yourself that you can be a master at it.

Just take a moment. Forget all about A-Level exams for a minute. Forget that you have this heaving burden to do well. Once you reconnect with what you love, you can take the stress much better.

Then re-organise your time and start having a comfortable revision schedule. Don't do some casual revision this Easter holiday and then a few days before the exam start packing it in, set your time out. Figure it all out, see how you can allocate your time between now and that day for your studies. Locate what you need to study, any weak areas, and of course Past Papers.

F.u.c.k those teachers who want more, I'll progress at a pace I'm comfortable with and at a pace I know that will get me the grades I want. I'm doing this for me, because I want to learn and I want to succeed. If I'm happy with the grades I get on result's day, but my teachers aren't so, well f.uck em cos I did this for me.

I'm so so so sorry about your loss. To get through exam time and still get to this point with such a horrific event happening is so brave- I really credit you. Ever need to rage, express sorrow, type out your feelings, whatever- I'm 100% here and my PM is always open to you.



I get pretty stressed around exam time and worked last year during GCSEs on developing strategies ready for 6th form. Here's what I got for relaxing:
1) Exercise- even if it's doing a few sit ups in your room, having a positive body image (science- endorphins allow this) and feeling better just helps you out
2) Clean your room and get organised. Keep a corner of your room for school work, allocate slots in folders for each subject, keep your pencil case handy, organise notes and sections of revision guides with post-it-notes, keep it tidy and be proud of your revision.
3) Turn off your phone/laptop around 9pm and keep your eyes closed and picture putting your hands and feet in sand and lifting the sand and it falling back to the ground. Soft, gentle thoughts and keep calm and sleep well
4) Sufficient revision is key to feeling calm(ish) on exam day. Nothing feels better than walking into an exam knowing the exam layout, your topics inside out and closing the paper without being able to stop grinning. Also, don't forget examiner's reports. They seem pointless at first like "candidates were good here etc" but they do point out common errors like CO2 isn't emitted from volcanic eruptions, which I always thought. The report explains the thought processes of examiners and influences your ways of writing. Also, places where candidates slip up is a dead giveaway that topic may come up again in the future. Questions are repeated so many times!
5) Give yourself some me-time. Massage yourself with cocoa butter, take baths and read a book, go for a run in a park, grab a costa and walk around a busy high street and people watch, do something that is independent and distracts you for a second. You're NOT allowed to think about exams during this short period, so keep it short and busy
6) Confiding in friends that are struggling too helps too. Go to a park, or if you're near London I sit in Trafalgar Square and discuss stress there bc it's so diverse and everyone near you has their own worries from completely different directions. Idky that helps.
7) Go on year 12/13 threads on here, find people who do your subjects and get their help! Ask their alevel grade and any tips.



Yep, you're deffo not alone. I'm a firm believer of this, my peers are, my teachers tell me how stupid it is that they've seen us all in tears due to school, and it's all for one stupid envelope in August.

The problem is, nobody will listen. There's been countless protests about mind over grades, and reducing workload for us- but think about it this way: Imagine a world where some people didn't stress about learning the content for biology/chemistry, and flew through A levels knowing what a covalent bond was and went to med school with that. They're qualified doctors, barely knowing anything. The grades you aim to get reflect your chosen career path. Aiming for the top grades opens doors for top careers, less good grades doesn'tcompletely close doors, absolutely not, but obvs in an interview you'd not be chosen against someone who has higher. We will ALL be victims of this at one point in our lives.

Focus on present you. Focus on how you feel, how much you want to work today, how you want to revise today. I've spent my whole life making decisions based on my future, and in some cases they;ve worked out but there;s been more times when I'm stressed and petrified and angry about my future than I would be if I had taken the subjects I loved at GCSE. Care about the present!

School is a small fraction of your life. You get the grades and get out. I agree with what someone mentioned above about how getting stressed and being in a horrific mental state (as long as you reach out and get help OR manage it yourself) you'll find is usually worth it over the next 2 years to get the grades and get out of education or off to uni. You can take a gap year to get a break and go travelling and breathe different air, or get a part time job and earn some money and then go to uni. I hate saying this, but you've got to pull through these next few years and they'll go by so quickly. Hang in there gal, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now and know it'll be perfect