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How to stay motivated for 2024 GSCE

Hiya, gsce are in 40 days and each day I find my self more and more nervous, I didn’t get the best mock grades and I’m aiming for really good grades for gsce. I keep losing the motivation when I need to sit down and revise and I end up just going on my phone instead. I really want to change that for this Easter break but I’m scared I’ll waste that time like I did last holiday and screw up the real exam like my mock😭😭

Any advice?? I’m desperate here

Reply 1

LaNy0014

Hey 🙂

I did mine back in 2018 but I still know the feeling well. First-up (and it's hard to believe) but ease up on yourself just a tad. Like me, adding that stress will only make it worse. I ended up embracing feeling distracted (this started mostly at uni), but I gave myself some time to chill...have you done that since break started?

I never found making a revision schedule including times was useful because I'd end up sat at my desk doing the opposite. Instead I used that big timetable to plan out what I had to do/when each exam was and then I'd make a to-do list each day/week. This didn't have timestamps, but I'd tick each one off and it would be done by the end of the day (because it was realistic). It meant my days could still be unpredictable, I wasn't forcing myself and I still had some time to enjoy my break. This'll sound weird, but maybe as it's 40 days, focus on the stuff you know well (so you'll know it even better - especially the days leading up to each subject) but make sure you don't forget about the stuff you're not so confident on (they can sneak up on us too). I was always told to use past papers as revision at this point e.g. use past paper and answers together (so you know what kind of answers to write to get the mark) then eventually fade out the answers and think about each question for yourself. At the end of the day, at this point it's about the paper not the recall.

Easier said than done, I've definitely put less pressure on myself over the last few years. My mocks were never great, I dreaded them more than the exam itself. Something about sitting on my own desk in rows was exciting...it didn't make me enjoy them any more but I enjoyed an assigned seat :smile:

).

Bottom line: 1) forget about the mock (there's never enough time to prep for those during term anyway, 2) when you do sit at your desk hide your phone under something (or put it in another room), 3) find ways to enjoy it! Posters, flashcards, drawing the information out, talking about it to family (or an inanimate object) - it's all going in.

Adrenaline also does wonderful things <3

Reply 2

shin_noodles

Original post by LaNy0014

Hey 🙂
I did mine back in 2018 but I still know the feeling well. First-up (and it's hard to believe) but ease up on yourself just a tad. Like me, adding that stress will only make it worse. I ended up embracing feeling distracted (this started mostly at uni), but I gave myself some time to chill...have you done that since break started?
I never found making a revision schedule including times was useful because I'd end up sat at my desk doing the opposite. Instead I used that big timetable to plan out what I had to do/when each exam was and then I'd make a to-do list each day/week. This didn't have timestamps, but I'd tick each one off and it would be done by the end of the day (because it was realistic). It meant my days could still be unpredictable, I wasn't forcing myself and I still had some time to enjoy my break. This'll sound weird, but maybe as it's 40 days, focus on the stuff you know well (so you'll know it even better - especially the days leading up to each subject) but make sure you don't forget about the stuff you're not so confident on (they can sneak up on us too). I was always told to use past papers as revision at this point e.g. use past paper and answers together (so you know what kind of answers to write to get the mark) then eventually fade out the answers and think about each question for yourself. At the end of the day, at this point it's about the paper not the recall.
Easier said than done, I've definitely put less pressure on myself over the last few years. My mocks were never great, I dreaded them more than the exam itself. Something about sitting on my own desk in rows was exciting...it didn't make me enjoy them any more but I enjoyed an assigned seat :smile:

).
Bottom line: 1) forget about the mock (there's never enough time to prep for those during term anyway, 2) when you do sit at your desk hide your phone under something (or put it in another room), 3) find ways to enjoy it! Posters, flashcards, drawing the information out, talking about it to family (or an inanimate object) - it's all going in.
Adrenaline also does wonderful things <3

Thank youu