How to keep motivation levels high, and how to begin studying ?

[aiming_95]

This has probably been done to death, but lately I've found that my motivation levels are very up and down, so I wanted to get some tips on how to keep them sky high ? what do you guys do ?


Oh yeh, and another thing. The hardest part of studying for me has always been starting off, I'm an A-grade and elite procrastinator. HELP ME !

[pi]

Honestly, this may seem a a bit tight, but for motivation, just think that you don't ever want to become like this:

[yearningforsimplicity]

Keep an aim of the score you really want to get somewhere in your room/on your desk (you've got it as your username so you shouldn't feel demotivated mister! ) haha, and I think just remember that it's only a few months from now and you'll be done - you can procrastinate anytime (you'll have 3 months to do it after year 12 haha) but vce is just a one-time shot so don't give yourself excuses this early in the year - it's never too late to get back on track (seriously). How to begin studying? Begin Studying! LOL there's no other way out unfortunately! If you find it really hard then try to avoid the things that make you procrastinate. FB addict? Deactivate or make your friend/older sibling change your password or something. Try to finish your work first then go onto do whatever you like - that might motivate you to study.

GOOD LUCK KIDDO! You can do this!

[aiming_95]

haha thanks a lot for the advice guys this may be weird, but I've found it extremely easy to study 4 hours straight when I know there is a SAC approaching very soon.

[oliverk94]

haha thanks a lot for the advice guys this may be weird, but I've found it extremely easy to study 4 hours straight when I know there is a SAC approaching very soon.

Yup. I'm exactly the same. I procrastinate heaps and don't do enough study, but when it comes to the days before the SAC, I tend to study heaps. Maybe a good technique is to somehow make yourself think that you have a SAC tomorrow (self-deception lol) and then study really hard for it?

[Greatness]

Keep an aim of the score you really want to get somewhere in your room/on your desk (you've got it as your username so you shouldn't feel demotivated mister! ) haha, and I think just remember that it's only a few months from now and you'll be done - you can procrastinate anytime (you'll have 3 months to do it after year 12 haha) but vce is just a one-time shot so don't give yourself excuses this early in the year - it's never too late to get back on track (seriously). How to begin studying? Begin Studying! LOL there's no other way out unfortunately! If you find it really hard then try to avoid the things that make you procrastinate. FB addict? Deactivate or make your friend/older sibling change your password or something. Try to finish your work first then go onto do whatever you like - that might motivate you to study.

GOOD LUCK KIDDO! You can do this!

Yeah agreed with what's been said here. I was king at procrastinating last year, but you just have to be able to balance it out. Just master having fb/msn/vn up on the computer screen while having hw in front of you. Once you do that you're set It's hard and probably not the best advice but that's what i did and it turned out ok A good way to keep yourself motivated would be creating small goals for yourself i.e. finish 5 math questions then have a quick squiz on fb then go back to your hw. However, when exams come around or study for sacs you should probably try doing study for the same duration as the exam then reward yourself with chocolate or something lol
Take home message here is you don't have to sacrifice everything to achieve what you want. As long as you get your work and study done you can do what you want with your extra time

[HossRyams]

Several ideas:
1. Put your goals EVERYWHERE, people always look at my myki, ID card and phone wallpaper and ask why the hell it says 981 on it hahahaha
2. Have a friend who has similar goals to you (in the sense they want to do well in VCE) so you can always talk each other up
3. Read up on people or talk to those who have already succeeded in VCE
4. Don't be too harsh on yourself so that you want to give up - sometimes its important to have those low moments where you just want to shoot yourself in the leg, so that you can pick yourself up and do a whole lot of work

In terms of beginning studying.... For me it's just really, just doing it. I find that I have trouble starting it, but as soon as I start, I do much more than I've planned.
OR you can make a bet with your friend and say if I don't get this done by tomorrow, I'll give you $10. (Not promoting gambling but I've used this several times if I'm seriously reluctant to do something)

[greenbeans]

Tell yourself:

"Just Do It."

When that doesn't work....remind yourself of your goal.
How badly you want it.

When that didn't work for me, I thought of what would happen if I didn't do the work.
I.e. what it would feel like to be stressed out because I forgot to do something, if I got lazy, then I would fall behind, then I wouldn't be bothered catching up, my teachers which I really respected, would've felt disappointed in me. So yeah that never happened and I know that's a bit extreme but I took school pretty seriously, so imaging what the worst could happen helped, but don't do this if you get too uptight or stressed easily to the point of insanity!

[Menang]

There's this weird thing going on in VCE where students sometimes feel like they have to be super motivated all the time, or do lots of work, or be always 110% prepared for everything.

Yes, it's important and you need to work. But that doesn't mean you have you be pumped to study all the time.

If you're on AN, chances are you already take your studies seriously. If you don't feel like working, then don't. If you don't feel like working but something urgent/important is at hand, then you'll do it anyway because it's due the next day :O. When you feel like working, sit down, work efficiently and have fun. But if you don't, don't stress about it. Everyone gets lazy and it's better to enjoy the lazy times without stressing and then work efficiently when you actually work.

I found that not stressing over when I was being lazy and then enjoying my subjects when I actually worked made Year 12 a really enjoyable year. Yeah, I actually enjoyed the whole study routine in VCE.

If you're doing subjects you enjoy (and by looking at your sig, it looks like you are) then you should be alright!

That aside, here's a practical list:
1. Have a to-do list.
It helps you collate everything you need to be doing each week on a single document.
Ticking off completed tasks makes you feel like you've accomplished things. If you must, break big tasks down to little bite-sized pieces and tick lots of them off! (A good way is to separate all your work into chunks that require about 30 minutes each and work in blocks).
If you have a master list or save all your to-do lists, you can look back on what you've done for the year and that will help motivate you even more for the rest of the year!
Useful app: myHomework
2. Have a routine
This only works for some, but having a set period every week where you sit down and do work can be useful to get regular, productive study done. Last year for example, I stayed back after school in an empty classroom with a friend or two and we would sit silently from 3:30pm to about 5:30pm doing work. We'd take breaks every 30-45minutes to chat, eat, etc and then go back to work. We would do this 2 or 3 times a week, and this was my most productive time. In fact, I barely got any work done at home because I was so used to the routine of working in a classroom after school with friends. You can designate specific free periods for this, or an afternoon on a weekend. It's useful when setting a routine to also establish a certain study area/study buddy to do it with.
3. Exercise
Doing it gets you pumped up and feeling energetic and by extension productive. Go for run and you'll likely return home ready to get some work done.
4. Don't be pedantic about things
If you fall behind, don't feel the need to try to catch up. This is particularly relevant to high-reading subjects like history, philosophy and politics. Most of the time the set readings are great for extra information and historiography but not crucial to the core content. Skip to what the class is up to and come back if you ever have time. Feeling the need to always catch up will just demotivate you because of how much there is to do.
This can also apply in other things. In English, don't get pedantic about essays. Just write whatever you can, don't worry if you think it sucks, and just get it done. Come back later to edit, or get a trusted buddy to proofread.
In maths, if you're several exercises behind, again, don't feel the need to catch up. Don't be pedantic about finishing all the set questions (if you're a MacRob girl, you'll know what I mean with those tick sheets). Skip to what the class it up to and go back to it.

[LOLs99]

There's this weird thing going on in VCE where students sometimes feel like they have to be super motivated all the time, or do lots of work, or be always 110% prepared for everything.

Yes, it's important and you need to work. But that doesn't mean you have you be pumped to study all the time.

If you're on AN, chances are you already take your studies seriously. If you don't feel like working, then don't. If you don't feel like working but something urgent/important is at hand, then you'll do it anyway because it's due the next day :O. When you feel like working, sit down, work efficiently and have fun. But if you don't, don't stress about it. Everyone gets lazy and it's better to enjoy the lazy times without stressing and then work efficiently when you actually work.

I found that not stressing over when I was being lazy and then enjoying my subjects when I actually worked made Year 12 a really enjoyable year. Yeah, I actually enjoyed the whole study routine in VCE.

If you're doing subjects you enjoy (and by looking at your sig, it looks like you are) then you should be alright!

That aside, here's a practical list:
1. Have a to-do list.
It helps you collate everything you need to be doing each week on a single document.
Ticking off completed tasks makes you feel like you've accomplished things. If you must, break big tasks down to little bite-sized pieces and tick lots of them off! (A good way is to separate all your work into chunks that require about 30 minutes each and work in blocks).
If you have a master list or save all your to-do lists, you can look back on what you've done for the year and that will help motivate you even more for the rest of the year!
Useful app: myHomework
2. Have a routine
This only works for some, but having a set period every week where you sit down and do work can be useful to get regular, productive study done. Last year for example, I stayed back after school in an empty classroom with a friend or two and we would sit silently from 3:30pm to about 5:30pm doing work. We'd take breaks every 30-45minutes to chat, eat, etc and then go back to work. We would do this 2 or 3 times a week, and this was my most productive time. In fact, I barely got any work done at home because I was so used to the routine of working in a classroom after school with friends. You can designate specific free periods for this, or an afternoon on a weekend. It's useful when setting a routine to also establish a certain study area/study buddy to do it with.
3. Exercise
Doing it gets you pumped up and feeling energetic and by extension productive. Go for run and you'll likely return home ready to get some work done.
4. Don't be pedantic about things
If you fall behind, don't feel the need to try to catch up. This is particularly relevant to high-reading subjects like history, philosophy and politics. Most of the time the set readings are great for extra information and historiography but not crucial to the core content. Skip to what the class is up to and come back if you ever have time. Feeling the need to always catch up will just demotivate you because of how much there is to do.
This can also apply in other things. In English, don't get pedantic about essays. Just write whatever you can, don't worry if you think it sucks, and just get it done. Come back later to edit, or get a trusted buddy to proofread.
In maths, if you're several exercises behind, again, don't feel the need to catch up. Don't be pedantic about finishing all the set questions (if you're a MacRob girl, you'll know what I mean with those tick sheets). Skip to what the class it up to and go back to it.

I truly agree with this !! and the tick sheets are like tick off which areas you have completed?