Starting every journey is difficult. The first step towards any destination is often the hardest. Once you get going it gets easier. But, when you have someone there holding your hand it’s easier still. And, if they’ve already travelled this journey, surmounted all the obstacles and discovered all the short-cuts it’s even better.
I have put myself out into the world as an expert on achieving exam success, and offered my hand to you as your expert guide who has already traversed this difficult and winding route, because I feel that I truly have something unique to offer you from my experience.
I have achieved enormous exam success of my own over the years. I got pretty good GCSE results but really blossomed when I took my A-Levels, achieving 5 straight As. These spectacular grades took me to Cambridge University where I was awarded a 2.1 for my degree in Geography. Afterwards, I trained to be a teacher (at Cambridge again), worked in Secondary schools for four years and subsequently worked as an examiner.
It is all these experiences combined together that put me in a unique position to help you through this critical time in your life. I’m hoping you’ll take my out-stretched hand and let me guide you.
Make your destination your own
The most crucial lesson I have ever learned about how to achieve exam success is to make your destination your own. What do I mean by this?
Schools these days are obsessed by targets. You have target grades set by your teachers. But, do you really own these target grades? Just because your teachers have said this is what you can achieve, it doesn’t mean you can’t go way beyond it. And, it’s your drive and ambition that will make the difference.
I know from my own experience, and from messages from people like you, that your target grades aren’t always set with your hopes and dreams in mind. You need to take ownership of your destination in life and make your targets your own. When you’re shooting for a goal you’ve set yourself your motivation will be far higher than if someone else has set it for you.
I have already written about how motivation is a high-octane fuel, powering you on your journey to exam success. I want to explain to you today how I chose my own destination in life and how it fuelled my motivation to transform myself from an ordinary farmer’s daughter attending the village school, through two bog-standard comprehensives, into the ivory towers of Cambridge University.
Using your internal compass to set your direction
At the age of nine I was taken on a family day trip to Cambridge. It brings goosebumps to my arms as I remember walking around the Great Court of Trinity College, looking at the wide open space, the grand buildings and the grass which you’re forbidden to tread on. I can still recollect the feel of the cool East-Anglian wind on my face in that moment that I decided that I HAD to study at Cambridge University.
Clearly, at the age of nine I had absolutely no idea what it took to earn a place at Cambridge. But, it very soon became clear to me that getting the top grades was an essential component, and I became totally single-minded in my quest to achieve them.
I had my motivation and I had set myself on a journey where one of the most crucial milestones was exam success. I achieved this success and I want to teach you how to achieve it too.
What can you learn from my journey?
There are several things you can learn from my journey:
- Choose your destination. Not for a second would I suggest that everyone should make their chosen destination Cambridge University. It’s not for everyone. But, you must have some idea of your ideal future in your head. Use your inner desires to select your destination.
- It’s vital to take ownership of your destination. If you’re told by someone else what you’re expected to achieve, you’re going to find it hard to live up to your targets. You need to decide what you want to achieve. I knew the target grades I was set for GCSE weren’t good enough to get me to my final destination so I took it into my own hands to exceed them. My desire to reach my chosen destination kept me motivated.
- Pour your heart and soul into the journey. You need to live and breathe your desire to reach your destination every day. It takes guts and determination to set your heart on something, knowing that there is always the possibility of failure, and make it the focus of all your activities.
- Take all the help and advice you can get. No-one gave me a road-map showing me how to get to Cambridge. I worked out the major milestones and obstacles along the way (mainly exam results, University applications and the dreaded interview). I then gleaned all the advice and clues I could on how to swing these things in my favour. It was like gathering clues in a mammoth treasure hunt and putting them all together to come up with the answer.
- Take responsibility for your own hopes and dreams. So many people will want to help you, even more will want to give you advice, but, ultimately only you can make your dreams come true. Take responsibility for your journey today and, with a fair wind, you will reach your destination.
How to plan purposeful revision breaks
It’s widely acknowledged that it’s important to take revision breaks. You’ve probably experienced times where no matter how hard you try your concentration is shot to pieces and your mind will wander anywhere except to the revision notes or practice questions in front of you.
This is the time to take a break.
I would suggest to you that it’s best to plan purposeful breaks, acknowledging the times when you expect you’ll need to take them.
Let me explain.
When I’m driving my car on a long journey, I know that I will get tired and it will get harder and harder to concentrate on what’s happening on the road around 1.5 or 2 hours into the trip.
It’s the same if I go for a long hike. I know that probably after an hour my legs will appreciate a sit down and I will need a good drink of water.
Knowing how far you can go before you need to take a break is powerful. You can plan ahead, looking at the map to find a pleasant place to pull off the road for a walk around or a visit to a coffee shop, or, if you’re walking, a spot with a bench and a good view where you can ease your ruck-sack off your back and take a good long drink from your water bottle.
It’s the same when you’re revising. If you know that your attention starts to wonder after 30 minutes, plan for this. Set a timer for 30 minutes and stop working when the timer goes off. Set the timer again for 5-10 minutes and have something purposeful, but completely different to revision, to do in that time. You might decide you’re going to go outside and walk round the garden, pop to the letter box to post something, do some star-jumps or even just let the dog out. But the key is to have a plan for what you’re going to do in that time, and to make it a complete break from the revision work you’ve just been doing.
When the timer goes off again, get back to work, setting the timer again for another 30 minutes and having a plan for what you’re going to do in your next break.
Your top ten ways to spend a revision break
I challenge you to sit down and think of your top ten ways to spend a revision break. Come up with 3-4 for each of these lengths of break:
- 5-10 minutes
- 20-30 minutes
- 60 minutes
Make sure they’re all things you enjoy doing. Your revision break needs to feel like a reward at the end of a short but productive period of revision. It’s also important to make the break very different to your revision activity. It’s great to build some exercise into your breaks, social time chatting to friends or family or relaxation such as reading your favourite book or watching your favourite TV programme. It’s been proven, according to an article I read in New Scientist (28th March 2015)summarising the reasearch of Lila Davachi, that taking a break doing something completely different from what you’ve just been studying helps your brain to remember the information.
When you next sit down to revise, take a look at your revision plan and decide before you start which activity you’re going to do in your break. By making your break more purposeful your revision will become much more purposeful too. You can make your entire day of revision even more purposeful if you plan out your revision breaks for the entire day before you start. This means you’ve always got something to aim for, and you might feel like you’re achieving stuff above and beyond your revision e.g. getting fitter or learning to juggle, as my husband did during his revision breaks at school!
“But, I haven’t got time to take a study break!”
Some people are always in a hurry to reach their destination. Or they feel the weight of their to-do list crushing down on them. I promise you that you have got time to take a break. In fact, you haven’t got time NOT to take a break. When you’re aiming for a milestone in your life, such as achieving outstanding exam success, you desperately need to look after yourself. You don’t see Olympic athletes deciding to stop looking after their needs as they prepare for the race of their life, do you?
Taking breaks when you need them, and spending them in the right way, will mean you arrive at destination exam day happier, healthier, more-relaxed, better-prepared and more confident for what lies ahead. By planning purposeful revision breaks you’re actually boosting your chances of exam success, and you’ll keep your motivation higher because you’ve got the energy to forge ahead.
Your revision questions answered
When should I start to revise?
There is no right or wrong answer to this question. It is best for your memory if you include time in your revision plan to go over each topic area several times. You should also plan to have enough time to go over everything on every exam syllabus you are following. Once your teachers have finished teaching the course you should definitely be revising, but you can start before, especially if your teachers are leaving it a bit late to finish the course.
As you’re drawing to the end of the course, make a deal with yourself to work for a certain number of hours every evening. I’d suggest a minimum of 2.5 hours at GCSE level and 3 hours at A-Level. Once you’ve finished doing any school work that has been set, spend the rest of that time doing revision.
Really, the sooner you start revision, the better.
How can I organise my time effectively?
Have a well thought-out revision timetable that covers the whole of every syllabus you’re covering. Also, take purposeful revision breaks so that you never lose your motivation to keep going.
Am I revising in the right way?
I had this question:
“My GCSEs start in about 3 weeks’ time and I have been using the revision style that I feel works for me, for around 3 months. However, my friends have made flashcards, like over 500 of them, whereas I have written short notes and have highlighted paragraphs in my notebooks that I have written out, from memory and also text books. Should I branch out and make other sources of revision like flashcards? Or should I stick to my notebook note making which I have been doing?”
My advice here is to stick to what’s working. Everyone has different ways of learning and everyone has different ways of revising that work for them. So, if you’ve found something that works for you, no matter what your friends are doing, stick to it. It’s also a bit late in the day to start re-making all your revision resources. You’d be better doing loads of practice exam questions because that’s where you’ll pick up the exam marks that could push you over the next grade boundary.
What are the best things to do in the last bit of revision before the exam?
Look after yourself. By now, if you’ve followed the advice above, you will be incredibly well prepared for the exam. Gently read over your notes to reassure yourself that you know your stuff and then give your brain and body some time off so that both are ready to perform their very best tomorrow. A tired brain will never do as well in an exam as a well-rested one. Rest is as important for being able to remember stuff as actually doing the revision.
How can I ace every exam I ever take?
When I read the questions I’ve had from eager, hard-working students like you, what I really see, reading between the lines, is a deep desire to know the over-arching method to get outstanding results every time you take an exam.
I sense the anxiety and fear in a question like ‘What are the best things to do in the last bit of revision before the exam?’.
I see the inexperience and lack of confidence in your own ability to get everything done in a question like ‘How can I organise my time effectively?’.
Self-doubt resonates from the question ‘How do I get motivated, and stay motivated?’.
Rather than answer all these questions one-by-one I want to offer you a whole solution. I want to condense my years of experience as an over-achieving student and a conscientious teacher and examiner into one resource that will guide you through this minefield of uncertainty. I want to take you by the hand and guide you step-by-step along the journey I have taken many times before. I want to see your confidence in yourself and your abilities grow day-by-day so that you arrive in the exam hall, pencil case in hand, feeling a steady belief in your ability to prove yourself in the here and now, rather than having a nervous sweat overcome you as you take your seat.
Most of all, I want to see you achieve your full potential. Not only in these exams, but in your whole life. I know that getting the grades you deserve will open the doors to so many amazing and worthwhile opportunities in your future, and I want to pass you the key to unlocking those doors.
-lifemoreextraordinary.com
