The Student Room Group
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>

Essay Subject Exams Make Me Insanely Worried

(English lit)
Mostly because a large proportion of the marks come from what is thought of on the day during the exam, unlike sciences and maths which asides from application (And don't worry I know this is a big part of it- its just more logical than english) are all heavily content based.
Typically I am actually a very good writer and am quite good at writing on the spot, however I am much better with editing time (of course) and I am a massive control freak, I like to be assured. I feel so anxious for the English Lit (AQA- OMM and Anthology) exam tomorrow and I know that no matter how much I do I will always feel like that- and that knowledge prevents me from being motivated to revise well. Along with the fact that the exam is so soon and I have left revision to the last minute because I thought I was confident in English. I'm not so sure anymore.
Part of myself is saying that I have done what I can and I should just relax and do my best tomorrow, but then I think about my family and their perception of me if I get a bad grade, and how it will affect my self confidence in english and life in general, how others will perceive me and how I will perceive myself. I wont be proud of myself if I get lower than an A grade, partially because I will have known I could have done more, and partially because it will outwardly reflect badly on me. I always get As and A*s in English, and I forgot that you actually need to practise and prepare, and now I feel so uncertain and I don't know what I can do to reassure myself that I will do well. Someone help.
Reply 1
Avatar for PolarisVega
PolarisVega
OP
4
Also for any Essay subject- History, RE, Language...
Reply 2
Avatar for luciie
luciie
14
I kinda feel the same way as you :frown: The thought of just having to come up with something on the spot within such a short period of time freaks me out. However, you still have quite a lot of time to prepare. Use the rest of the night wisely and maybe you could even wake up a bit earlier and get some preparation done then too? Do you have all the resources you need?
Reply 3
Avatar for PolarisVega
PolarisVega
OP
4
Original post by luciie
I kinda feel the same way as you :frown: The thought of just having to come up with something on the spot within such a short period of time freaks me out. However, you still have quite a lot of time to prepare. Use the rest of the night wisely and maybe you could even wake up a bit earlier and get some preparation done then too? Do you have all the resources you need?


Thats true, I'll probably stay up fairly late since that never really has much of an effect on me, maybe wake up early too. It's just the knowledge that I can't change it afterwards and i care about English a lot- I'm doing lit at A Level too. I have all the resources it's just so intimidating and I'm worried it wont matter what I do at this point. I'm so scared.
Reply 4
Avatar for PolarisVega
PolarisVega
OP
4
I'm honestly PRAYING to God that on the day I will write really well, not be intimidated, get the structure right, write about enough, write about some really good points and that the exam question will be not too difficult. The only thing I can think of to tackle that last one is to list all possible topics of question and prepare quotes and events and annotations for them for each character. Would this be sufficient guys??
Reply 5
Avatar for luciie
luciie
14
Original post by PolarisVega
Thats true, I'll probably stay up fairly late since that never really has much of an effect on me, maybe wake up early too. It's just the knowledge that I can't change it afterwards and i care about English a lot- I'm doing lit at A Level too. I have all the resources it's just so intimidating and I'm worried it wont matter what I do at this point. I'm so scared.


Of course what you do now matters. Every little bit of revision you do now is going to help you in some way tomorrow. You seem really panicky at the minute so maybe it would be a good idea to just take a break, forget about the exam for a bit and just start revision when you've calmed down. Once you're ready, just go through everything slowly and orderly. Make sure you know the major characters in your book, what the represent, quotes to go with them, the themes and which parts of the book happen when and where and you should be good to go :smile:

Best of luck for tomorrow and I'm sure you will be fine. Once you get in there I bet the ideas will just flood into your head and this time tomorrow you'll feel a bit silly for being worried in the first place! :smile: Even if you don't do so well in the exam tomorrow (which I doubt will happen) you still have things like coursework to bring your grade up.
Reply 6
Avatar for PolarisVega
PolarisVega
OP
4
Original post by luciie
Of course what you do now matters. Every little bit of revision you do now is going to help you in some way tomorrow. You seem really panicky at the minute so maybe it would be a good idea to just take a break, forget about the exam for a bit and just start revision when you've calmed down. Once you're ready, just go through everything slowly and orderly. Make sure you know the major characters in your book, what the represent, quotes to go with them, the themes and which parts of the book happen when and where and you should be good to go :smile:

Best of luck for tomorrow and I'm sure you will be fine. Once you get in there I bet the ideas will just flood into your head and this time tomorrow you'll feel a bit silly for being worried in the first place! :smile: Even if you don't do so well in the exam tomorrow (which I doubt will happen) you still have things like coursework to bring your grade up.


Thank you that actually really helped, and yeah you're right, I also have the poetry exam, thanks :smile:

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you