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How do people just MANAGE to do revision?

As I am writing this, I am currently revising Computer Science A-Level by taking notes down off the class PowerPoints whilst listening to music and putting literally everything there which I know is not effective but its the only thing that I've ever known how to do.

I have problems retaining information - nothing really "sticks", organising myself, and procrastination is a really bad habit, as well as doing everything all at once or alternatively doing nothing at all - something that has been a consistent problem since the start of Y12 - even as far back as when I was doing my GCSEs. I've tried making flashcards, too, but they're extremely tedious for me.

I feel like I'm definitely on the "gifted kid to college burnout" pipeline, and I just feel so jealous of my peers sometimes because they manage to do revision so easily and get good grades and balance everything just like that despite them having problems of their own - whilst I just really collapse underneath all of the pressure and go into self-destructive spirals where I become so obsessed and hyperfocused on all of my subjects that it becomes harmful.

And the thing that really rubs the salt of the wound is that I DO try but I feel like I'm not trying hard enough and that I'm a fraud, because I wouldn't be getting ABC at this point in the year if I was "intelligent", which everyone has been telling me since childhood but now it's more "I thought you were more intelligent than that". It's so confusing because it feels like my emotions control everything that I do, which just like my thinking, are either feeling too much or nothing at all. Sometimes my brain just goes "screw it. Don't revise." especially when it's near a trail exam period / MOCKs which sets me up to fail.

It happens in every subject, but especially Computer Science.

I DO care, I just simply can't bring myself to revise some days. I think it might have also something to do with complex trauma and undiagnosed mental health problems (suspected autism, anxiety, ADHD, as well as a few others that I've done extensive research on), but I don't want to make it so that I'm using whatever mental disorders that I suspect to excuse myself - that's the last thing that I want to do.

I need some tips to get myself through Year 13 without my brain just completely frying and burning out. I need help with revision urgently. Any tips?
Original post
by dantay051207
As I am writing this, I am currently revising Computer Science A-Level by taking notes down off the class PowerPoints whilst listening to music and putting literally everything there which I know is not effective but its the only thing that I've ever known how to do.

I have problems retaining information - nothing really "sticks", organising myself, and procrastination is a really bad habit, as well as doing everything all at once or alternatively doing nothing at all - something that has been a consistent problem since the start of Y12 - even as far back as when I was doing my GCSEs. I've tried making flashcards, too, but they're extremely tedious for me.

I feel like I'm definitely on the "gifted kid to college burnout" pipeline, and I just feel so jealous of my peers sometimes because they manage to do revision so easily and get good grades and balance everything just like that despite them having problems of their own - whilst I just really collapse underneath all of the pressure and go into self-destructive spirals where I become so obsessed and hyperfocused on all of my subjects that it becomes harmful.

And the thing that really rubs the salt of the wound is that I DO try but I feel like I'm not trying hard enough and that I'm a fraud, because I wouldn't be getting ABC at this point in the year if I was "intelligent", which everyone has been telling me since childhood but now it's more "I thought you were more intelligent than that". It's so confusing because it feels like my emotions control everything that I do, which just like my thinking, are either feeling too much or nothing at all. Sometimes my brain just goes "screw it. Don't revise." especially when it's near a trail exam period / MOCKs which sets me up to fail.

It happens in every subject, but especially Computer Science.

I DO care, I just simply can't bring myself to revise some days. I think it might have also something to do with complex trauma and undiagnosed mental health problems (suspected autism, anxiety, ADHD, as well as a few others that I've done extensive research on), but I don't want to make it so that I'm using whatever mental disorders that I suspect to excuse myself - that's the last thing that I want to do.

I need some tips to get myself through Year 13 without my brain just completely frying and burning out. I need help with revision urgently. Any tips?

Autistic student here (who is currently seeking an ADHD diagnosis).

How are you currently revising? For me I always struggled so much with being consistent with revision, but not having prepared revision materials made it even worse for me. I tended to use flashcards and mind maps to revise (I did biology, geography and RS at A-level). I was really inefficient with revision and having hindsight means I think the best thing for me would have been more mental health support and more investigation into ADHD.

I know this isn't particularly helpful but I did use some resources to try and help: Forest - pretty virtual tree as a reward for doing stuff, Google Calendar for timeblocking, StudySmarter for making my flashcards and creating spaced repetition for me. These will not fix things but they are tools to help manage the difficulties you are having.

Reply 2

Original post
by dantay051207
As I am writing this, I am currently revising Computer Science A-Level by taking notes down off the class PowerPoints whilst listening to music and putting literally everything there which I know is not effective but its the only thing that I've ever known how to do.
I have problems retaining information - nothing really "sticks", organising myself, and procrastination is a really bad habit, as well as doing everything all at once or alternatively doing nothing at all - something that has been a consistent problem since the start of Y12 - even as far back as when I was doing my GCSEs. I've tried making flashcards, too, but they're extremely tedious for me.
I feel like I'm definitely on the "gifted kid to college burnout" pipeline, and I just feel so jealous of my peers sometimes because they manage to do revision so easily and get good grades and balance everything just like that despite them having problems of their own - whilst I just really collapse underneath all of the pressure and go into self-destructive spirals where I become so obsessed and hyperfocused on all of my subjects that it becomes harmful.
And the thing that really rubs the salt of the wound is that I DO try but I feel like I'm not trying hard enough and that I'm a fraud, because I wouldn't be getting ABC at this point in the year if I was "intelligent", which everyone has been telling me since childhood but now it's more "I thought you were more intelligent than that". It's so confusing because it feels like my emotions control everything that I do, which just like my thinking, are either feeling too much or nothing at all. Sometimes my brain just goes "screw it. Don't revise." especially when it's near a trail exam period / MOCKs which sets me up to fail.
It happens in every subject, but especially Computer Science.
I DO care, I just simply can't bring myself to revise some days. I think it might have also something to do with complex trauma and undiagnosed mental health problems (suspected autism, anxiety, ADHD, as well as a few others that I've done extensive research on), but I don't want to make it so that I'm using whatever mental disorders that I suspect to excuse myself - that's the last thing that I want to do.
I need some tips to get myself through Year 13 without my brain just completely frying and burning out. I need help with revision urgently. Any tips?


Sooo relatable. Currently starting my BSc in Psychology this September and my "revision" also consists of just rewriting my notes or PowerPoint slides.

However, I did find some methods *added* to this revision style made it more effective.

One of which would be to teach someone. It doesn't even have to be a person really; try talking and explaining the concepts you're covering to an audience. Better if it's an imaginary young kid you're tutoring. It allows you to absorb the information, understand the principle of it, and then translate it to an easy-to-understand language. You can do this after each new concept.

Another method that helped me was using Notebooklm and using their podcast feature; you just add in your source documents and bam, you have two people discussing it like a radio show! I really liked this one for consolidating your understanding, so I would only recommend it after fully understanding the concept.

Best of luck, you're not alone and you got this.

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