Lost motivation

Hi everyone,
Recently I’ve lost all motivation for school work. I haven’t done any maths or biology for about the last 3 weeks. My mocks are as soon as I get back to school so Monday but I’ve barely done anything. My school is very academic and my parents are very pressuring so I know that neither of them are going to be happy with my mock results. I’ve basically given up as there are always going to be people smarter than you, especially seeing as I’d like to study something mathsy at uni and I’m not even doing FM GCSE. My worst subject is by far chemistry which I can’t seem to grasp for the life of me (which is ironic seeing as nearly half my family are chemical engineers). Does anyone have any advice because I want to do well I just can’t get myself to continue working.
Thank you.

Hi everyone,
Recently I’ve lost all motivation for school work. I haven’t done any maths or biology for about the last 3 weeks. My mocks are as soon as I get back to school so Monday but I’ve barely done anything. My school is very academic and my parents are very pressuring so I know that neither of them are going to be happy with my mock results. I’ve basically given up as there are always going to be people smarter than you, especially seeing as I’d like to study something mathsy at uni and I’m not even doing FM GCSE. My worst subject is by far chemistry which I can’t seem to grasp for the life of me (which is ironic seeing as nearly half my family are chemical engineers). Does anyone have any advice because I want to do well I just can’t get myself to continue working.
Thank you.

Hello, you mentioned "I’ve basically given up as there are always going to be people smarter than you". Really, you should not compare yourself to others Comparing can be extremely detrimental. You only need to do the very best for yourself. Since you said your mocks are very soon, why not just start somewhere, its better than nothing, right? Just starting can be the hardest but once you do, it gets easier. Okay, well, I'm not too sure what the current situation is with the mocks but I'd say just give it your best shot. Once you get the ball rolling, you can build the momentum from there for your actual exams.

I can understand being demotivated but don't lose heart! Forget about how people might feel towards you (i.e. disappointment), that will only bring you down and demotivate you further. You said you want to do well, see there's still motivation in you! Maybe do short periods of studying like 20 min, short break (and so on) to begin with. As long as you start somewhere Very best of luck!!

you need to start with a change of mindset. Just because you will never be the smartest doesn't mean you shouldnt work. Also, trust me, not doing further maths GCSE will not hinder you future at all, provided you do A level further maths. Obviously its important to keep working, and you know that, but we are all finding it difficult and everyone has lost motivation at some point. I myself am just coming out of a motivation slump - I narrowly missed an offer from cambridge and I preceded to waste 3 weeks doing f all. When I decided to get back to working, it was hard, and I found that I just needed to tough it out before I could get into my normal flow of work. I have to keep building day by day - currently I am doing about 3 hours of independent work on top of lessons but in my peak its about 6.
There is a saying that motivation is a myth - what you need is discipline. I generally agree with this. If you can force yourself to sit down and start work, you will build up a mindset over time in which you are naturally motivated. Basically what I mean is just force your self to work at the start and you will get into a natural rhythm soon.
There are obviously little tricks which can help you, such as planning exactly what you are going to the next day beforehand, moving your phone about 5m away while you work, making the working environment nice - Iv started turning lights off and using candles, and putting a video of a fire on my TV - weird I know but its nice.
But the more important thing is knowing how to study. I think you can definitely do well in every subject with less effort - even chemistry - if you know how to study. Im not sure if you have come across efficient study techniques in YouTube videos before but if not, here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukLnPbIffxE&t=7s
Basically the main point is that you should use revision methods which involve your brain actively recalling information to answer a question - this increases memory retention a lot. This means that making notes, reading notes and highlighting notes are ****. The best thing for GCSE as well as A level is doing practice questions. I got all 9s and 8s at GCSE and am on for 3 A*s at A level and by far my most important advice is just do every practice question you can find. Do it for all subjects, especially chemistry. There are plenty of question banks and past papers on the internet. Do the questions, mark them and write out the corrections on the question, make a note of your weak areas (I keep a note of this in my exam plan) and learn from it. The more questions you do, the better it will get.
Not only is making notes really boring and probably causing your lack of motivation, it is also wasting a lot of time and energy. Just focus on active recall stuff e.g. questions and flash cards.

If you already know about this stuff, then half of this isn't too useful for you but I hope it helps some how

Thank you for this post, I really appreciate all that you’ve said. I defiantly agree with active revision, I’m trying to do questions as much as I can, I think my original problem was that I was just making notes and reading things, assuming that I would magically remember it all.
I am sorry to hear about your Cambridge offer, that must have been hard but at the same time where ever you go I’m sure you’ll enjoy it and I wish you all the best!
I find it very interesting what you said about motivation and discipline because thinking about it In my head i am motivated to do well but I can’t stick to it. I will try to change my mindset because re-reading my original post I actually just sound pathetic (I don’t mean that in a self deprecating way). I just need to get on with it, it’s nearly over and I can’t wait to start over again with my a levels.
Seriously thank you for all the advice, may I ask what a levels you did and what course you’re looking to do/are doing?

Glad it helped! I do Biology Chemistry and Maths and am hoping to do medicine... As I said Cambridge rejected me mostly due to having soo many applicants (something called being pooled), and I haven't heard back from my other unis. The wait to know if I can go to uni next year or have to take a gap year definitely distracts me from my work aha...
But yeh the motivation < discipline thing is something I found interesting too. Typically we feel like we need to be motivated to do work, but this just isn't true. Often if we can exert enough discipline to just sit down and work for 10 mins, we enter a 'flow' state In which you could easily work for the next 45mins without getting distracted. But obviously its hard to exert discipline when your not motivated. The way I help myself with this is that I eat my breakfast at my desk in the morning. While im eating breakfast, I check my to-do list and pull up whatever I decided im going to work on, which requires no effort at all - this is removing friction between wanting to do work and actually doing it which helps. Then once iv finished, I start work and after about 5 mins of working I will easily carry on for an hour and then take a break. My point here is that it is hard to exert discipline so we need to make it easier. If your sat on bed playing games, you have to exert more discipline to start working than if your already sat at your desk with your work in front of you.
You should try and find things like this which make it easier to start working, because your more likely to work if it is easier to start

I mean especially this year Oxford and Cambridge have had so many applicants so it would have been even harder than usual, and for a subject like medicine where everyone tends to study the same thing it is so competitive. I know the course at Edinburgh is supposed to be pretty good?
I will try the checklist thing, I normally wake up pretty early just because I’m a morning person but tend to not have breakfast so maybe I’ll start having that as well and then starting works right after. I am also very messy so maybe if I make my workspace neater it will make me more productive.
You sound very wise 😂

yeh it was stupidly competitive this year ahaha 140 applications for 17 places at my college... Yeh I think Edinburgh is pretty good I have seen a lot of Oxbridge people also apply there
Also I mean you don't have to completely change your routine... obviously it's worth trying it because having breakfast might give you more energy for work however don't feel bad to just keep changing things which don't work - everyone works differently. For example I hardly ever have a clean desk but can easily be productive despite it, whereas others genuinely see a benefit from cleaning. Like I said, you should try to look at your own life and see where you can change little things which will help you to achieve whatever you want.... for me its been not sitting on my bed during the day (My brain associates it with sleep too much), creating to do lists the night before, sitting at my desk for breakfast, throwing my phone on my bed while I work and lastly stopping work when I feel tired because its usually ineffective (usually from 3pm - 5pm and after 10pm)
Just random things that I incorporated over a couple months of lockdown and works well for me. Figure out what works for you

Also that's the best compliment ever ahahah iv just spent way too long listening to 'productive' youtubers

Also what are you doing? I thought u said you were at GCSE but then you also seem to know a lot about medical school aha

Yes I’m doing my GCSE’s atm but my parents are quite pushing really so I’ve kind of grown up to them expecting me to do medicine at Oxford in particular for some reason. I also had to look at a lot different courses before I chose my a-levels for next year but decided that it wasn’t for me as I can’t stand chemistry.
This morning I made a list of what I was going to do and I’ve actually done some revision!! Thank the lord! My physics is the first exam and is on Monday so it’s a bit last Minuit but if it takes me from one grade to another then it’s worth it, especially seeing as I plan to carry on its physics next year. Thank you again

Hi everyone,
Recently I’ve lost all motivation for school work. I haven’t done any maths or biology for about the last 3 weeks. My mocks are as soon as I get back to school so Monday but I’ve barely done anything. My school is very academic and my parents are very pressuring so I know that neither of them are going to be happy with my mock results. I’ve basically given up as there are always going to be people smarter than you, especially seeing as I’d like to study something mathsy at uni and I’m not even doing FM GCSE. My worst subject is by far chemistry which I can’t seem to grasp for the life of me (which is ironic seeing as nearly half my family are chemical engineers). Does anyone have any advice because I want to do well I just can’t get myself to continue working.
Thank you.

hi there i have lost all my motivation to i wont even get out of bed i am verry depressed at the moment and i am going in to school verry soon i dont know how i am going to cope i have not been doing any schoolwork since the school closed i have missed most of my exams

i feel so crap i am in my bed right now and i have not got out of bed since the start of lockdown

im really sorry to hear that. This is why I think it is so important we go back to school, because most really just can't work well at home. I think its important to reflect on what you want to be doing. If you figure out that you want to be working, then you need to find a mindset which will have you out of bed and wanting to work.
I think we should approach going back to school with an optimistic attitude. It will allow us to develop a normal routine, allow us to see friends and allow us to seek help when we need it. It's easy to moan about going to school, but I truly think that for people like you and me, it will really benefit our learning and help us to get back to a good rhythm.
One of the hardest things about working from home is that we need to motivate ourselves to do everything, or exert a load of discipline, which makes maintaining a proper work schedule quite hard. When we go back to school, the majority of it is set out for us so even when your lacking in motivation you will still show up to lesson and learn.

Im not sure where you are right now in terms of exams e.g. if your in year 11 or 13, but you can defiantly turn things around regarding your lack of work and motivation. It might take a little extra work to catch up, but it is definitely do-able. If you want to that is.

hi there i have lost all my motivation to i wont even get out of bed i am verry depressed at the moment and i am going in to school verry soon i dont know how i am going to cope i have not been doing any schoolwork since the school closed i have missed most of my exams

i feel so crap i am in my bed right now and i have not got out of bed since the start of lockdown

Are you sure you’re not some kind of inspirational speaker disguised as some 18 yr old med student ahaha?

hmmm maybe im pursuing the wrong calling in life.... ah probably not...
Also wrong disguise - 17 year old pre-med aha

I’d say get qualified as a doctor or whatever and then take up inspirational speaking, not the other way around 😂

Here's some tips and advice:
-try using the Pomodoro technique to study (25 min study, 5 min break), it really helps
-Anki flashcards is an extremely powerful way to study and I would definitely recommend
-in the long term, GCSE mocks are really not that important so if you don't do that well then don't worry. A pandemic is a legitimate excuse for not doing well (though I guess maybe this year they might be more important than normal because of cancelled exams)
-take breaks, do exercise, eat healthy, drink a lot of water
-at GCSE it is possible to cram and do well (not that I recommend it, but it's doable. For quite a few of my GCSEs I got up at 5am on the day and crammed, but like I said it's not a good idea and it's more a of a last resort).
Hope that can help!

Here's some tips and advice:
-try using the Pomodoro technique to study (25 min study, 5 min break), it really helps
-Anki flashcards is an extremely powerful way to study and I would definitely recommend
-in the long term, GCSE mocks are really not that important so if you don't do that well then don't worry. A pandemic is a legitimate excuse for not doing well (though I guess maybe this year they might be more important than normal because of cancelled exams)
-take breaks, do exercise, eat healthy, drink a lot of water
-at GCSE it is possible to cram and do well (not that I recommend it, but it's doable. For quite a few of my GCSEs I got up at 5am on the day and crammed, but like I said it's not a good idea and it's more a of a last resort).
Hope that can help!