study motivation
hey guys i need advice on how i could actually get up and motivate myself to study as i have my gcse’s next year and i was only heavily revising during mocks and now that their over i’ve completely stopped and am practically starting to forget things again. i do know that i need to start but i procrastinate too much and don’t really have an idea on how to properly study aswell so any advice would be greatly appreciated
Reply 1
Current YR11 here! I would honestly say that GSCEs are way harder than they need to be if you don't start revising now. So just do little and often
Hello there!
It’s great that you are already aware of your situation, that is a big first step.
A lot of people feel unmotivated after mocks, but the important thing is how you bounce back and take control again.
Start by asking yourself why you are studying. What do you want to do after your GCSEs? Do you have a college, or career in mind?
If yes, what grades do you need to get there?
Having a strong “why” will help push you through procrastination.
One of the best tricks is the 2minutes rule in order to make the start easier. Commit to studying for just 2 minutes.
Once you start, you will just keep going. The hardest part is starting, then it will flow.
When it comes to creating a routine, try short, focused sessions, such as 25-30 minutes of studying with a 5-minute break. Try to use the Pomodoro method.
Pick one or two subjects per day and plan your week in advance. Weekly planning is better than daily planning because it gives you flexibility.
Make your revision visual and rewarding. Use colourful notes, mind maps, or posters to keep things engaging.
Try to study with friends when possible. It helps to keep your accountability.
Finally, take care of yourself!
Get enough sleep, eat properly, take breaks, and don’t beat yourself up if you have an off day.
Progress isn't about being perfect; it’s about consistency over time.
You’ve got this!
I hope this helps!
Kind regards,
Reka - Coventry University Student Ambassador
It’s great that you are already aware of your situation, that is a big first step.
A lot of people feel unmotivated after mocks, but the important thing is how you bounce back and take control again.
Start by asking yourself why you are studying. What do you want to do after your GCSEs? Do you have a college, or career in mind?
If yes, what grades do you need to get there?
Having a strong “why” will help push you through procrastination.
One of the best tricks is the 2minutes rule in order to make the start easier. Commit to studying for just 2 minutes.
Once you start, you will just keep going. The hardest part is starting, then it will flow.
When it comes to creating a routine, try short, focused sessions, such as 25-30 minutes of studying with a 5-minute break. Try to use the Pomodoro method.
Pick one or two subjects per day and plan your week in advance. Weekly planning is better than daily planning because it gives you flexibility.
Make your revision visual and rewarding. Use colourful notes, mind maps, or posters to keep things engaging.
Try to study with friends when possible. It helps to keep your accountability.
Finally, take care of yourself!
Get enough sleep, eat properly, take breaks, and don’t beat yourself up if you have an off day.
Progress isn't about being perfect; it’s about consistency over time.
You’ve got this!
I hope this helps!
Kind regards,
Reka - Coventry University Student Ambassador
Reply 3
Original post
by gabi.23hey guys i need advice on how i could actually get up and motivate myself to study as i have my gcse’s next year and i was only heavily revising during mocks and now that their over i’ve completely stopped and am practically starting to forget things again. i do know that i need to start but i procrastinate too much and don’t really have an idea on how to properly study aswell so any advice would be greatly appreciated
Hi @gabi.23 !
My main piece of advice would be to start small. Spend small amounts of time on topics you need to look at then try to build it up from there.
It can be difficult to self motivate so interrupt your studies with short and frequent breaks to keep yourself feeling fresh!
I hope this helps, good luck!
Emily
Third Year Creative Writing Student
Reply 4
Year 11 here, and I will say I also only heavily revised right before my mocks (predicted all 9s but we'll see how that goes). You remember a lot more than you think from that crammed study session I promise. I recommend you to revise for topic tests as that helps you kind of in the long run even if you feel like you don't remember everything, but to be honest I only found my proper revision method about two months ago - almost every single resource I had made during my time period between 10-11 has not been used by me apart from my computer science flashcards.
That doesn't mean they were useless, however. Enjoy your summer, really, but when you go back to school use your lessons and free periods if you have any well. This is personally how I would revise if I could start year 11 again - (I won't cover all subjects):
For bio, chem, physics during my frees or maybe when I came home from school I would do a past paper - maybe twice a week (like only do two past papers a week max because I know I would not be able to bring myself to do more).
Cliché but they are the way to go and the only way I've revised the past two months. Go over your mistakes (there will be a lot of them at first) then if you really don't understand a certain topic they covered, watch a youtube video or go over your/online notes.
Then turn each of your mistakes into flashcards directly from the mark scheme. I recommend anki to create online flashcards as it uses spaced repetition. Every day (or at least try to) go over these flashcards. You might start off with 10 flashcards to revise every morning but that number will shrink very fast and you'll find yourself never making the same mistake in a paper. In about 10 days I raised my mark by like 20 over the Easter break. Imagine doing it over the course of the school year.
English usually is my hardest subject, but I would personally not change the fact that I procrastinated on revision of it for the entire year. This does not mean I did not try in lessons, however - always participate in discussions or formulate grade 9 ideas as it really helps train your thinking. Try hard for every essay you write for homework. Honestly, I just used Mr Salles on Youtube about 5 days before any exam and it turned out fine and would highly recommend if you do AQA. A week before English paper 2 I remembered a grand total of around 5 AIC quotes from mocks but you would be surprised by how much you can do in a week so do not stress too much. For poetry however, I wish I made flashcards a little sooner as there are so many different ones and so many good things to write about.
Any coursework (I did music) get done as early as possible. Makes life so much easier.
For languages, I did Sanskrit. It's not an MFL, but if you do Greek or Latin I think it may be comparable. Just know your set texts inside out. With cases/endings, do not revise unnecessary ones until later - just focus on the key ones like masculine female and neuter and please please revise vocabulary often as it was pretty annoying to do it in one night. Again just try in lessons/tests and more will stick than you think.
Computer Science (OCR in my case) or for any subject that you know there is not many past papers on, I recommend you create more resources such as flashcards for. Again if you find a better way to revise that suits you do that. Personally if I did not have spaced repetition flashcards or due dates for my flashcards in anki I'm pretty sure I would have forgotten all of the content for paper 1 in a week. It's again about that consistency - whatever you do, do it often. For coding, even if there's only two past papers available do those. Practicing python on other ways online is helpful - I recommend on focusing on the less code-like paper though as it is easier to get marks in if you are not used to coding. A good resource is CS Newbs for OCR or Eqduqas.
Revision is a very personalised thing and different people are motivated by different rewards! So feel free to not use any of the methods I just talked about.
Please enjoy your summer, but when you start your revision in year 11, whilst there are more efficient ways to revise doing anything is better than nothing. Cramming WORKS (but please go outside/exercise, I personally signed up for a gym because after mocks was the least fit I have ever been in my life). Also I didn't write about maths but this is getting too long so just say if you would like advice on that as well.
Sorry if this was long, I hope I somewhat helped
That doesn't mean they were useless, however. Enjoy your summer, really, but when you go back to school use your lessons and free periods if you have any well. This is personally how I would revise if I could start year 11 again - (I won't cover all subjects):
For bio, chem, physics during my frees or maybe when I came home from school I would do a past paper - maybe twice a week (like only do two past papers a week max because I know I would not be able to bring myself to do more).
Cliché but they are the way to go and the only way I've revised the past two months. Go over your mistakes (there will be a lot of them at first) then if you really don't understand a certain topic they covered, watch a youtube video or go over your/online notes.
Then turn each of your mistakes into flashcards directly from the mark scheme. I recommend anki to create online flashcards as it uses spaced repetition. Every day (or at least try to) go over these flashcards. You might start off with 10 flashcards to revise every morning but that number will shrink very fast and you'll find yourself never making the same mistake in a paper. In about 10 days I raised my mark by like 20 over the Easter break. Imagine doing it over the course of the school year.
English usually is my hardest subject, but I would personally not change the fact that I procrastinated on revision of it for the entire year. This does not mean I did not try in lessons, however - always participate in discussions or formulate grade 9 ideas as it really helps train your thinking. Try hard for every essay you write for homework. Honestly, I just used Mr Salles on Youtube about 5 days before any exam and it turned out fine and would highly recommend if you do AQA. A week before English paper 2 I remembered a grand total of around 5 AIC quotes from mocks but you would be surprised by how much you can do in a week so do not stress too much. For poetry however, I wish I made flashcards a little sooner as there are so many different ones and so many good things to write about.
Any coursework (I did music) get done as early as possible. Makes life so much easier.
For languages, I did Sanskrit. It's not an MFL, but if you do Greek or Latin I think it may be comparable. Just know your set texts inside out. With cases/endings, do not revise unnecessary ones until later - just focus on the key ones like masculine female and neuter and please please revise vocabulary often as it was pretty annoying to do it in one night. Again just try in lessons/tests and more will stick than you think.
Computer Science (OCR in my case) or for any subject that you know there is not many past papers on, I recommend you create more resources such as flashcards for. Again if you find a better way to revise that suits you do that. Personally if I did not have spaced repetition flashcards or due dates for my flashcards in anki I'm pretty sure I would have forgotten all of the content for paper 1 in a week. It's again about that consistency - whatever you do, do it often. For coding, even if there's only two past papers available do those. Practicing python on other ways online is helpful - I recommend on focusing on the less code-like paper though as it is easier to get marks in if you are not used to coding. A good resource is CS Newbs for OCR or Eqduqas.
Revision is a very personalised thing and different people are motivated by different rewards! So feel free to not use any of the methods I just talked about.
Please enjoy your summer, but when you start your revision in year 11, whilst there are more efficient ways to revise doing anything is better than nothing. Cramming WORKS (but please go outside/exercise, I personally signed up for a gym because after mocks was the least fit I have ever been in my life). Also I didn't write about maths but this is getting too long so just say if you would like advice on that as well.
Sorry if this was long, I hope I somewhat helped
Reply 5
Original post
by gabi.23hey guys i need advice on how i could actually get up and motivate myself to study as i have my gcse’s next year and i was only heavily revising during mocks and now that their over i’ve completely stopped and am practically starting to forget things again. i do know that i need to start but i procrastinate too much and don’t really have an idea on how to properly study aswell so any advice would be greatly appreciated
i would say that GCSEs are a lot more spaced out than mocks are, so you have more time to revise per subject. That means that some (only some) things you can leave until the day before if that is the only way it will go into your head. But just make sure there are no huge gaps in your knowledge, and just do some practise papers every so often and learn from the mark scheme. Also, vocab is a big thing in language so its good to build that up slowly over time. But don't stay up late revising or cram because you have plenty of time 🙂 Just do a few things to gradually build up your skills and any gaps in ur knowledge - essay plans, past papers, youtube, making notes, reading websites/books can all be small things to do. If you are tired watch youtube videos and take notes, make cheat sheets so that you have access to lots of resources, explain it to someone etc. Mostly depends on which exams you are doing though but that would be my general advice
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