Confidence in exams

Right so im just going to give it to you guys straight.

Year 13 has started for me, year 12 went awful for me, consistently low grades in progress assessments. Ds, Es', Cs, my confidence has taken a huge toll when it comes to exam papers. I have end of topic assessments next week and I am revising hard for them. But as I work, as I put the work in I get doubts in my head. 'You're going to fail again', 'you did bad in the last tests there's no way you can get a good test result'. Things like this just circle my mind, I'm constantly worried of failure, however much I have revised I still have this feeling in myself.

Does anyone have any advice for confidence in examinations?

Reply 1

5hyl33n

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post by unknown_1219

Right so im just going to give it to you guys straight.

Year 13 has started for me, year 12 went awful for me, consistently low grades in progress assessments. Ds, Es', Cs, my confidence has taken a huge toll when it comes to exam papers. I have end of topic assessments next week and I am revising hard for them. But as I work, as I put the work in I get doubts in my head. 'You're going to fail again', 'you did bad in the last tests there's no way you can get a good test result'. Things like this just circle my mind, I'm constantly worried of failure, however much I have revised I still have this feeling in myself.

Does anyone have any advice for confidence in examinations?

Positive affirmations might help. Stick them everywhere (around your house, in your textbook, in your school bag etc) and read them out loud every time you see one.

What A-Levels are you taking?

Reply 2

unknown_1219

OP

11

Original post by 5hyl33n

Positive affirmations might help. Stick them everywhere (around your house, in your textbook, in your school bag etc) and read them out loud every time you see one.

What A-Levels are you taking?

Biology, Chemistry, Psychology.

Yeah I have tried that before tbf but its just a feeling I can never get out of myself. Like I dont know how to explain it. I wanna smash my exams/tests, but like I see how Ive performed in the past and it just puts me down and I start to question if I can even see myself doing well.

Reply 3

TypicalNerd

18

Original post by unknown_1219

Right so im just going to give it to you guys straight.

Year 13 has started for me, year 12 went awful for me, consistently low grades in progress assessments. Ds, Es', Cs, my confidence has taken a huge toll when it comes to exam papers. I have end of topic assessments next week and I am revising hard for them. But as I work, as I put the work in I get doubts in my head. 'You're going to fail again', 'you did bad in the last tests there's no way you can get a good test result'. Things like this just circle my mind, I'm constantly worried of failure, however much I have revised I still have this feeling in myself.

Does anyone have any advice for confidence in examinations?

With the subjects I wasn’t confident with (physics and biology, particularly), I would take a few minutes to read the paper first and see if there were questions on topics I was more confident of - I targeted those first and that way I could be sure I at least scored a number of marks, which was an early confidence boost. Then I would move onto questions on topics I wasn’t as strong at.

I also found it useful to underline important information in the questions as I was reading them so as to help me keep track of important information and any instructions. By far the most common mistake in exams is to not understand exactly what the question is asking and this can be attributed to missing those things.

(edited 7 months ago)

Reply 4

5hyl33n

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post by unknown_1219

Biology, Chemistry, Psychology.

Yeah I have tried that before tbf but its just a feeling I can never get out of myself. Like I dont know how to explain it. I wanna smash my exams/tests, but like I see how Ive performed in the past and it just puts me down and I start to question if I can even see myself doing well.

You will do well.

I think you are aiming too high for now and by doing this you are unnecessarily stressing yourself out. What you need to do is aim lower, achieve that grade, aim a bit higher, achieve that grade etc and repeat. Does this make sense?

If you look at #2 of the thread below, you will find a GCSE/AS and A-Level Performance Tracker created by @TypicalNerd for you to keep track of how you have done. Yes it is in the chemistry forum, but it can be used for any subject.
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7393061

Reply 5

unknown_1219

OP

11

Original post by 5hyl33n

You will do well.

I think you are aiming too high for now and by doing this you are unnecessarily stressing yourself out. What you need to do is aim lower, achieve that grade, aim a bit higher, achieve that grade etc and repeat. Does this make sense?

If you look at #2 of the thread below, you will find a GCSE/AS and A-Level Performance Tracker created by @TypicalNerd for you to keep track of how you have done. Yes it is in the chemistry forum, but it can be used for any subject.
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7393061

That is right, I am very aiming very high against what my predicted grades actually are.

Thank you for your advice I really appreciate it, hopefully I do well hahah

Reply 6

unknown_1219

OP

11

Original post by TypicalNerd

With the subjects I wasn’t confident with (physics and biology, particularly), I would take a few minutes to read the paper first and see if there were questions on topics I was more confident of - I targeted those first and that way I could be sure I at least scored a number of marks, which was an early confidence boost. Then I would move onto questions on topics I wasn’t as strong at.

I also found it useful to underline important information in the questions as I was reading them so as to help me keep track of important information and any instructions. By far the most common mistake in exams is to not understand exactly what the question is asking and this can be attributed to missing those things.

Thank you so much for this advice, it really really benefits me!

Reply 7

5hyl33n

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post by unknown_1219

That is right, I am very aiming very high against what my predicted grades actually are.

Thank you for your advice I really appreciate it, hopefully I do well hahah

Do you have any further questions?

Reply 8

user1567945

13

Original post by unknown_1219

Right so im just going to give it to you guys straight.

Year 13 has started for me, year 12 went awful for me, consistently low grades in progress assessments. Ds, Es', Cs, my confidence has taken a huge toll when it comes to exam papers. I have end of topic assessments next week and I am revising hard for them. But as I work, as I put the work in I get doubts in my head. 'You're going to fail again', 'you did bad in the last tests there's no way you can get a good test result'. Things like this just circle my mind, I'm constantly worried of failure, however much I have revised I still have this feeling in myself.

Does anyone have any advice for confidence in examinations?

It is very hard. Keep revising, if these thoughts persist can be worth speaking to a GP in case they fall into more areas.
the more you revise, the more it will unconsciously stick with you. However, if these thoughts keep speaking whilst you are revising it may interfere the revision completely.
Talk to your subject teachers too about how you can improve- and how you feel. They will provide honest feedback as they want you to do well. Take it into account. If you’re able to, ask them for extra work.