Getting into revision

Hi, I'm a Yr 12 student revising for my AS exams in May and I have hit a bit of a block. I finished consolidating all my information into flashcards and so are focusing on doing exam questions and memorising my notes.However when I go to sit down and revise, I don't want to start and always myself getting distracted and never getting enough done. I know I have enough time but when I haven't done enough, I start to get stressed. Does anyone have any good tips that help them get into the mood to do practice questions?

Reply 1

loulai_

Watch some videos of people studying, and study videos on youtube/tiktok yknow those aesthetic study videos where their notes are super pretty and organised? they always get me in the mood to do work, and you can literally find them by doing a quick search on tiktok or youtube! And making sure my desk is tidy, books/resources in a neat pile to the side, wipe my desk before using it, lighting a candle, making sure ive got a water bottle, setting a timer on my phone (i use an app called MinimaList, and writing a list of things i want to do in a set time really helps!). For just getting into doing work, id suggets setting a timer for 5 minutes and seeing how much you can do in those 5 minutes - that way even if you cant get yourself to work anymore than those 5 or 10 minutes because you just cant be bothered, or cant concentrate properly for that day atleast youve tried to do 5 minutes yknow? You've atleast attempted to have a go. After those 5 minutes tho, try up it to doing work for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20, 25. And eventually you could find yourself doing the pomodoro method (where you do work for a solid 25 minutes, then a 5 minute break and repeat, since realistically you can only focus for so many minutes at a time, like its extrememly difficult for most people to concerate a full hour without breaks, you'll always find yourself thinking of something that has nothing to do with the work at hand or find yourself looking outside the window, or getting distracted by an animal outside making a noise etc. so the pomodoro method is a great one that works for me (:

Try recording yourself while writing practice questions 1. so your not getting distracted by going on your phone, because your using your phone to record yourself, and 2. for in future when you dont feel like/feel like you cant study, you have a video to refer back to where you see yourself studying so you know you can do it, the next step is actually doing it.
If you get distracted by members of your family, try put a polite sign on the door saying like 'if you need me knock 3 times or call my phone, i really need to study and if i get distracted it'll be hard for me to get back into work again, thank you!' so they may not just barge in and try talk to you for ages (like my large family does lol)
You could also try noise cancelling headphones/earplugs! Or listening to music very quitely, like 'study' music such as classical music, or a instrumental soundtrack from your favourite game/film if you dont like working in complete silence.

For practice questions getting ready for exams a tip that someones recently told me (and what i think is a good one!) is always do them in timed conditions, but in shorter timed conditions than you'd actuall have, if that makes sense? For example if an essay question is meant to take 30 minutes to complete including planning and writing, only give yourself 20 or 25. 1. to see how much you'd write given only those conditions, and 2. so you get use to writing faster, so that when it comes round to the actual exam you have those few minutes to spare gaurenteed to go over it again, add some more stuff in, go over things you've missed, and so that you have enough time to 'panic' in a way. Like you've just opened the paper, looking through the questions and thinking your screwed, you have those few extra minutes to gather your thoughts, BECAUSE you've practiced doing questions in smaller amounts of time, so you have the time to spare (idk if any of that makes sense im sorry for soem reason im strugglin to explain it lol)

Im sorry for the long response, i rambled a lot, but i hope it could be useful for you!