Are You Prepared?

August last year, I wrote about  my AS results day, and the frantic feeling I had on that dreaded day, however, I failed to write about how I felt just before the exams I had taken the two months previously.

This year, however, I am writing this the day before my first A2 exam, and to put it bluntly, I am feeling less than prepared.

Despite the fact that I will start answering a past paper, and after about 5 minutes on the question I'll suddenly stop, put my pen down, and squint at the paper and think "I've done this before...", in my head I need a lot more time before I'm going to be ready for this exam. Actually, I am never going be ready for any exams.

I realised this a few weeks ago, after learning some of my, what feels like, 4000 definitions. Despite completely ticking off your list of things to learn, there's always that nagging feeling inside you that there's something that you've missed out. Your mind then skips to that one question you did on that mock paper once, that you simply couldn't do.

Panic sets in and you spend the next hour staring blankly at your textbook desperately trying to see inside the page to scour for that secret fact that will get that you extra mark, when in fact, it's not there. It then dawns on you that you've just wasted an hour of your day and learnt nothing, an hour which could have been used more productively doing useful things like sleeping or making brownies.

At which point, you make those brownies, eat them all in one go, explain why you and the kitchen is covered in cocoa powder to your mum and then proceed to sleep for four hours, or perhaps that's just me...

The number of stupid marks I have lost when doing past papers these past month would add up to a good solid A at A-Level now. Although it is daft and I know that I am not the only one experiencing these last minute silly errors, now is the time to make those mistakes and hopefully next time you'll remember that 2x2 is in fact 4 and not 2. Nice one me.

So, just before your exams, don't panic, get enough sleep and if that's not working for you, eat brownies until you feel better.

Motivation is a hard thing to find

So, it is half term and I have piles of work to do, but instead, I am sitting on my laptop writing about the piles of work I have to do, rather than doing them.

The art of procrastination is a fine one, which I seem to have mastered to a level never known to man before. I procrastinate in many different forms, such as writing, which isn’t too bad because at least it is a form of work, but I will also do things I hate.  I will offer to help with the gardening, which is unheard of, tidy my room, which is even more unheard of and spend at least an hour washing my hair.

Yes, it’s a bad habit and I really need to buckle down and get some work done. I have my first AS exams in January and it’s probably a good idea if I start revising now, judging by my recent grades on my tests.

The motivation however is extremely hard to muster. I am one of those people who can work continuously for a good two of three hours once I get started, but getting started is the thing I find the most difficult.

There are websites which suggest different methods of getting started such as doing the work before you go out, so you have an incentive for doing it. Starting work first thing in the morning so nothing else can distract you, came up on quite a few websites.

Unfortunately, mornings aren’t really my thing and all my friends live quite a way away so it’s difficult to arrange something to encourage me to do work.

Maybe having my computer right next to my work isn’t the best plan. Twitter and Tumblr just seem to call to me when my German grammar book sits open waiting to be written in.

If you are one of those people who can get started on work easily, I applaud you, to me you are a hero.