Home Work & Study
If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.

Exam stress and revision :(

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited March 27 in Work & Study
My whole life depends on the grades which i get this year, ive only just realised that ive got less than 2 weeks to the start of my exams - i have not even started revising! :( my first exam is on the 10th of January, i have got a total of 6 exams to take and they are all in the space of about 2 weeks - has any one got any tips for me or advice...encouragement....anything as my whole life depends on me getting 300 ucas points to get into university and to guarentee my graduate job! ( ive already got A C C in my AS year but i feel as if i don't know anything )
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    YEah, start tomorrow and do 8 hours revision a day, with loads and loads of past papers. They are the best practise you can get.

    If you need help finding some let me know your subjects and I'll see if I can point you the right direction. My brother is in a similar position at the moment and I am playing slave driver.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Can I just say, don't panic! Your AS grades are great, I mean I got BDEE in mine, repeated a lot of tests with bugger all work and did the whole night before revision thing for my A2's and still got BBB. And believe me, I am not what you'd call a genius, or anything close to it for that matter. And don't forget, you can always repeat your modules in June should you REALLY need to!! But as Scary Monster says, past papers are great, and may even give you an idea on what might come up in this years papers. For anything English related, http://www.sparknotes.com is amazing, and nothing short of it!

    capo2
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Don't think negatively. You might not have as much time left as you'd like, but you still have time. There's no point panicking about not having much time left because that's not going to bring it back! You'll be much better off, thinking positively that you've got a whole 11 days to devote to revision, and using that time as constructively as possible.

    Set yourself a subject to revise each day for the next six days (one day for each exam). That way you'll still have five days left before your first exam, and you'll feel you know at least a little for all your exams. Then you can spend the next five days revising for the first few exams (and save the stuff for the last few to do in the evenings after you've taken the first ones), or revising anything you feel needs special attention.

    Divide each subject into several topics. Spend an hour revising each topic, and set specific times to start and stop - say, 10.00-11.00 on topic one, twenty minute break, 11.20-12.20 on topic two, forty minutes for lunch, 2-3pm on topic three, twenty minute break, 3.20-4.20 on topic four, twenty minute break, 4.40-5.40 on topic five. Maybe you'd prefer to start earlier, do some further revision in the evenings, spend two hours working at a stretch before taking a break - it's up to you.

    But whatever you decide, make it manageable - no point saying you'll work non-stop from 9am-6pm, as that's too ambitious (you need regular breaks to help your brain take in as much as possible) and too vague as well. Dividing up your time makes the work seem more manageable and gives your targets to work towards, whih will hopefully motivate you.

    Like the others have said, if the worst comes to the worst you can retake the exams in the summer. But if you put your best effort in now, you might well end up saving yourself extra revision to fit in then. So don't stress yourself thinking that your whole life depends on the grades you get in these exams - it's not your last chance to get the grades you're capable of. It would be great if you could get them this time round, but if not, it's not the end of the world - you've got a second chance.

    The most important thing, I think, is to take each day as it comes, and make the best you can of it. It's never too late to make a difference. If you can't revise everything for each subject, never mind - you can revise some of it at least, and who's the say those aren't the bits that will come up?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Thank god you have posted :p Let me tell you ... you are not alone! I am in exactly the same position. I lay in bed at night thinking oh my god i know fuck all, i'm going to fail my final year. I achived the same grades as you last year too.

    Anyway i think my plan is going to be keep doing a little bit of revision everyday, and then when i'm back at college, spend like for example 3 hours on solid revision on one section i have to learn until i feel confident i know it and know about 14 different hand outs !! My first exam is on the 19th so hoping il manage!

    Good Luck with yours too :) You'll have to let me know how it goes when you get the results! What subjects are you revising for?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The alevels i take are geography, business, ict and as level communications studies...

    thanks for everyones advice and encouragement ill have you know i have started my revision today :) so just a little recap on topics has boosted my spirits :) and i wish everyone goodluck on their exams x
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Devote the most time to Geography, trust me!!! You can blag the other 2 to a certain extent, but you have to know facts, figures, and all that for Geography!! Even if you make them up, i got from an E to a B through doing that!! ;)

    capo2
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I had the same panic, in the end only revised the day before :confused:

    ended up with ABC and now I'm at the University of York. Go me :cool:

    Everyone feels like it's the end of the world, but in general it's not. Just cool it a little bit, and start doing rather than thinking. Just tackle a chapter of your revision or whatever. I did ICT and found the exams were quite hard but there wasn't much to revise, it was about applying the case study to what you'd learnt.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I did that. I'm also doing it now in my first year of uni, and have been asked to work tuesday-friday this week, plus the 17 hour shift I'm doing on Saturday, when I have exams tuesday and wednesday next week.

    It's a bitch, but you need to focus. Just get started - I like to write out keypoints from notes and textbooks, and I aim to go through a chapter or three at once. Once you've gotten going it becomes so easy to carry on, but do short bursts rather than trying to revise for 40minutes if you're finding it boring.

    Good luck.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ICT is a bitch of a paper, all the way through the course we were convinced we had the right answers, and always got them wrong as the examiners meant something else. You need to do as many practise questions for that as you can.

    Business I found easy, but then I'm doing it at degree level now. If your teacher is anything like mine was, you'll know that inside out anyway. If not, key facts and theories.
Sign In or Register to comment.