Stressed out need some advice

[YussifK]

Ugh... I haven’t tried hard enough or out any effort into My work, haven’t been motivated... I hardly study or just play games... and still manage to get B’s on exams and sacs I don’t know how tho... I’m in year 11 in 2020 and I’m scared I’m gonna get low on all my sacs and exams.. I don’t know what to do...

I want to receive an ATAR of 70+

[tigerclouds]

I'm probably not the best person to answer this since procrastination and I are old pals but here are some suggestions :

1. Watch motivational videos/ TED talks. (if you're gonna go on youtube, might as well make it productive). Same goes for motivation articles.
2. Place some motivation in your study area. Put in some study scores you would like to achieve into an ATAR calculator and then print that off and stick it on your wall as motivation. Also, don't be afraid to lift your standards and goals. "Aim for the moon and if you miss, you will still be among the stars".
3. Think about how awesome it would feel to go into a SAC prepared. and consequently get a good grade. I think once you get that one good mark, it acts as momentum and encourages you to foster that feeling. Conversely, think about the awful or indifferent feeling you get when you receive a lower grade. Was it really worth it, to play those games, especially when you're subconsciously feeling guilty about not studying?
4. Set up a timetable. Grab a blank page, write out the days of the week at the top and separate the left side of the page into the different hours of the day, like the image below. Then, fill in your day with all the non-study related things, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, shower, you can even have like a couple session of free time/ gaming and then put in the work you want to do (make sure you break that down to simple tasks). For example, you may allocate a specific time for doing 3 exercise questions for Further and another duration for reading a paragraph of chem. Having a timetable usually helps my get started, though I have to admit, I do get a little too ambitious and jampack my day with things I want to do and then end up only doing like a quarter of it. So definitely avoid that. Start out by setting yourself small tasks each day and then build on from there


5. Reward yourself. After you've say read 5 pages from your English book, have a small treat or play games but if you decide to do that or go on social media, I suggest you place a timer so you know when to get back to studying. Use this image as inspo hehe:


6. Speak with your teachers, family and friends. It's good to gain an outside perspective and they'll probably give you more strategies and specific ways to improve. I would suggest sitting down with each of your subject teachers during a lunchtime or something like that and having a discussion about how you can improve. Trust me, they want to see you grow.
7. Change your environment. Try going to a library or a cafe. Seeing other people doing their work is probably going to motivate you to do your own. Also, you kind of don't have an escape, as in you can't slouch on a couch or use your xbox so you're essentially forced to study. Changing your environment could also mean just taking a walk around your area to get some fresh air. Just try it once and see how it goes.
8. Get excited about your studying! Be curious and find something to look forward to for each of your subjects. For example, imagine coming across a French person one day and being able to have a conversation that flows with them! Or, get excited about understanding how your body functions or what gives the world around you the properties it has through studying Bio and Chem. For example, the other day, I learnt how glowsticks work whilst reading my Chem textbook! It can be simple things that just encourage you to want to learn more.


Sorry for the long post and if you've heard a lot of this before, hope it still helps! Hey, at least you're seeking ways of improving and it's good that you want to take that on before your VCE journey starts. Don't beat yourself up but instead use that as motivation to prove to yourself that you are capable of doing well. I would like to reiterate that I also find it really hard to get motivated so I'm far from perfect and I really do need to take my own advice but I know that we just have to stick the process out and be persistent

[yourfriendlyneighbourhoodghost]

I'm probably not the best person to answer this since procrastination and I are old pals but here are some suggestions :

1. Watch motivational videos/ TED talks. (if you're gonna go on youtube, might as well make it productive). Same goes for motivation articles.
2. Place some motivation in your study area. Put in some study scores you would like to achieve into an ATAR calculator and then print that off and stick it on your wall as motivation. Also, don't be afraid to lift your standards and goals. "Aim for the moon and if you miss, you will still be among the stars".
3. Think about how awesome it would feel to go into a SAC prepared. and consequently get a good grade. I think once you get that one good mark, it acts as momentum and encourages you to foster that feeling. Conversely, think about the awful or indifferent feeling you get when you receive a lower grade. Was it really worth it, to play those games, especially when you're subconsciously feeling guilty about not studying?
4. Set up a timetable. Grab a blank page, write out the days of the week at the top and separate the left side of the page into the different hours of the day, like the image below. Then, fill in your day with all the non-study related things, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, shower, you can even have like a couple session of free time/ gaming and then put in the work you want to do (make sure you break that down to simple tasks). For example, you may allocate a specific time for doing 3 exercise questions for Further and another duration for reading a paragraph of chem. Having a timetable usually helps my get started, though I have to admit, I do get a little too ambitious and jampack my day with things I want to do and then end up only doing like a quarter of it. So definitely avoid that. Start out by setting yourself small tasks each day and then build on from there

(Image removed from quote.)
5. Reward yourself. After you've say read 5 pages from your English book, have a small treat or play games but if you decide to do that or go on social media, I suggest you place a timer so you know when to get back to studying. Use this image as inspo hehe:

(Image removed from quote.)
6. Speak with your teachers, family and friends. It's good to gain an outside perspective and they'll probably give you more strategies and specific ways to improve. I would suggest sitting down with each of your subject teachers during a lunchtime or something like that and having a discussion about how you can improve. Trust me, they want to see you grow.
7. Change your environment. Try going to a library or a cafe. Seeing other people doing their work is probably going to motivate you to do your own. Also, you kind of don't have an escape, as in you can't slouch on a couch or use your xbox so you're essentially forced to study. Changing your environment could also mean just taking a walk around your area to get some fresh air. Just try it once and see how it goes.
8. Get excited about your studying! Be curious and find something to look forward to for each of your subjects. For example, imagine coming across a French person one day and being able to have a conversation that flows with them! Or, get excited about understanding how your body functions or what gives the world around you the properties it has through studying Bio and Chem. For example, the other day, I learnt how glowsticks work whilst reading my Chem textbook! It can be simple things that just encourage you to want to learn more.


Sorry for the long post and if you've heard a lot of this before, hope it still helps! Hey, at least you're seeking ways of improving and it's good that you want to take that on before your VCE journey starts. Don't beat yourself up but instead use that as motivation to prove to yourself that you are capable of doing well. I would like to reiterate that I also find it really hard to get motivated so I'm far from perfect and I really do need to take my own advice but I know that we just have to stick the process out and be persistent

Wow, i could not agree more. The gummy bear idea is super cool, i'll definitely use this for next year.

To probably emphasise what tigerclouds said, i think motivation and thus, finding that excitement is probably the most important thing. i found i needed to want to study or else it was such a laborious task. Maybe, once you get your first really high grade, that will spur you on and make you want to study more.

Good luck with next year. You are more than capable of getting that 70+ ATAR. also, every time you study, know that it is getting you closer to that 70

[YussifK]

Wow, i could not agree more. The gummy bear idea is super cool, i'll definitely use this for next year.

To probably emphasise what tigerclouds said, i think motivation and thus, finding that excitement is probably the most important thing. i found i needed to want to study or else it was such a laborious task. Maybe, once you get your first really high grade, that will spur you on and make you want to study more.

Good luck with next year. You are more than capable of getting that 70+ ATAR. also, every time you study, know that it is getting you closer to that 70

Sounds good to be honest, in year 10 I found things everywhere as in I didn’t know what to study cause it hadno focus on a specific chapter and sometimes on sacs I’ll see a questions that I seen in revisions booklets but bought it wasn’t important.... I’m not sure for year 11 I hope there is an aim for specific chapters.. this could help me study checkpoints and Atar notes course work which allows me to have a better understanding for work

[tigerclouds]

Sounds good to be honest, in year 10 I found things everywhere as in I didn’t know what to study cause it hadno focus on a specific chapter and sometimes on sacs I’ll see a questions that I seen in revisions booklets but bought it wasn’t important.... I’m not sure for year 11 I hope there is an aim for specific chapters.. this could help me study checkpoints and Atar notes course work which allows me to have a better understanding for work

I highly recommend having a look at and printing off the study designs for each of your subjects. They outline all the specific points you need to know about your units in one place.
Here’s a link to them:
https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/Pages/vce-study-designs.aspx

[YussifK]

I highly recommend having a look at and printing off the study designs for each of your subjects. They outline all the specific points you need to know about your units in one place.
Here’s a link to them:
https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/Pages/vce-study-designs.aspx

Thanks, but one problem how do I use the study design to the best of my ability, as in how can the study design prepare me for sacs and exams please I need you to elaborate more

Sorry for asking stupid questions

[tigerclouds]

Thanks, but one problem how do I use the study design to the best of my ability, as in how can the study design prepare me for sacs and exams please I need you to elaborate more

Sorry for asking stupid questions

No that’s alright. Personally, I’ve been using the study design to format my notes so I’d write one dot point at the top of my page and then read my textbook and perhaps look at other sources like edrolo and write only the information relevant to the dot point under it. This way, I’ll be studying everything I need to know because VCAA cannot test you on things that aren’t on the study design. After writing and reviewing your notes, you should also do some practice questions that you can get from your textbook or other resources the teacher might give you (in year 12, you can do past exams that are available on the VCAA website). Does that make sense?