No motivation to revise?

Hi everyone,

last year I really struggled with revision. Mainly because I really don't like my teachers and they really demotivated me. My AS grades were pretty bad because of that and now I'm starting A2. I thought my 'failure' would motivate e this year but everyday I'm just procrastinating revision. I do my homework now (which is a big improvement from last year lol) I just don't know how to make myself revise. I just feel like there's so much to do that I just don't do anything at all. Any tips?

Reply 1

username2088165

Original post by Oragon

Hi Oragon

When I did my A Levels, I had a similar issue to you - no motivation to do the work (revision especially), as I was feeling depressed, stressed and generally overwhelmed by it all. Eventually, when I had less than 2 weeks to go before my exams, I finally decided to do something about it.

Revision timetables don't work for everyone, but I'd highly recommend you try one if you haven't already. Instead of allocating topics to revise/homework to complete to specific times, I recommend allocating them to certain days. For example: on Monday study topics a b and c, on Tuesday study topics d e f and g, on Wednesday study topics h i and j, and so on. You can adjust what you allocate to each day depending how many subjects and topics you've got. I used this system of revision, and I found it much less stressful than allocating topics to times (which I also tried). It also gave me a visual representation of how much I needed to do, and by allocating topics to different days, I was able to break my revision down and make it seem less overwhelming.

I hope you find some way to motivate yourself soon, good luck :smile:

Reply 2

Oragon

Original post by Leviathan1741

Hi Oragon

Thank you! I think I'll do that. Should I make one every month or every week? Also, how many hours per day do you recommend I revise ? Sorry for all the questions :s-smilie:

Reply 3

loperdoper

In simple terms (for me, at least). Start small, but make sure you're consistent. At the start of the year, don't stress too much if you're not doing 2+ hours a night or if you're not revising x subject every night, the biggest thing you need to do is a get a routine started. Doing all your homework is a good start, and then consider reserving 30 minutes or so just to do a little bit of revision, or maybe to read ahead. The big thing is that you're doing this at least every weekday, and as you find yourself regularly doing 30 minutes without needing to time yourself/actively push yourself into doing it, you can consider increasing the time to an hour, and so on.

A big mistake I used to see with people around me is that they'd go "right, i'm going to do two hours every night!" without any previous habits or motivation to do so. It works really well for about three days, and then they burn out and feel rubbish for not doing anything. It'd be like going out for a run without any prior running experience and trying to sprint 5k through unmarked woodland at night. It'll go badly, you need to work up to it.

Reply 4

username2088165

Original post by Oragon

Thank you! I think I'll do that. Should I make one every month or every week? Also, how many hours per day do you recommend I revise ? Sorry for all the questions :s-smilie:

You're welcome :h:

I think making one every week/fortnight would be best, as you can plan out what you need to do more easily. I would also avoid trying to do x amount of hours each day, instead I would just pick a few topics and revise them, as trying to revise a certain number of hours will probably just cause unnecessary stress. Just do what you need to do, then more if you feel like it :smile:

Reply 5

Oragon

Original post by loperdoper

yeah I guess that's true. Thank you! :smile:

I really do burn out so quickly. Especially after school I just lie in bed then struggle to get back up and start revising.

Reply 6

loperdoper

Original post by Oragon

yeah I guess that's true. Thank you! :smile:

I really do burn out so quickly. Especially after school I just lie in bed then struggle to get back up and start revising.

Yea, in my A2's I really struggled in the first couple of terms to pick myself up, but you really have to take it at your own pace. Especially if you, like me, were historically very lazy in their education :wink:

My journey home wasn't far (2 miles), but the route was very hilly so I'd be so tired when I get home, so I know what you mean. At first, I used to take some extra food to sixth form and then stay behind in a study room after lessons to get work done when I still had energy, or turn up an hour early to work then (only in summer when it was bright enough though). Later in the year I found it was actually better to get home, immediately have a shower and a meal, and by this point I'd often have enough energy to start revising at home. Either way, make sure when you get home you have a little bit of time to relax, but I'd often find it was better to avoid social media in this little relax time or I'd get stuck procrastinating - use it to watch a bit of tv (maybe scrolling news), read a bit of a book (or a newspaper), or just to cook something. It was something that was easy to do, and easy to walk away from to actually do some work.