Burnout

[Christiano]

So I've heard a lot about this, but I dont think I've ever worked hard enough to feel this..
What do you feel when you experience this?
Is it a common occurrence?
How can you prevent this from happening?

[iNerd]

When you feel an immense wave of guilt for taking a break when you "should" be studying, paired with the symptom of partial sleep deprivation as you can't sleep because you keep thinking about studying.

Avoid burnouts through a healthy balance of studying, rest and play.

NB: That's my interpretation only and subject to debate and interpretation.

[Predator]

It could also be seen as the point where one does not feel any motivation at all.
Mainly caused by a lot of study and doing nothing else such as exercise, breaks and time out with family and friends.
I know someone that all they did was study study study for their exams this year. They ended up getting very very tired before the exams and thought they could fix this by studying more to do better on their exams.

It is best to take rests and have a balance of exercise to get your mind in a good state and also get out and about if thats your thing if not read a book or play a game.

[nacho]

I don't think you can 'burn out'.. during the term 3 holidays this year i learned my whole 3/4 course on the 2 week hols + 1 week of school.
It was a lot of studying (for me anyway), I went over the whole course, around 5-6 hours a day for the 2 week hols and around 3-4 during school.
I remember getting sick, but i don't think it was from studying.
As long as you rest, you'll be fine.

[lexitu]

It's been taken from the sport concept of overtraining I think. Similar principles apply. If you do too much without rest and rejuvenation you'll get sick and feel demotivated. To prevent it you can do things such as adding variety to study and making sure you intersperse bouts of fun within study.

[Romperait]

I've felt it. It burns. 8-)

Just happens when the motivation you once had to work hard runs out.

[Russ]

I don't think you can 'burn out'..

Trust me, you can burn out from too much study/cramming

[eeps]

Avoid burnouts through a healthy balance of studying, rest and play.

Yes, I agree with that.

I think you should do everything in moderation. Have set periods of time where you study, play and so on. Take a break from studying - run around the block or something.

[luken93]

I don't think you can 'burn out'..

Trust me, you can burn out from too much study/cramming

Agreed

For me, the point at which I knew every definition for BM, and I had done enough practice exams, you basically have no motivation to try that little bit harder

I'd have to say though that it happened because BM is a boring subject, I eenjoy doing Maths/Science so I (hope) I won't burn out this year

[chrisjb]

Just happens when the motivation you once had to work hard runs out.

That's about right I think, whenever I have burnt out I always look for motivation but I can only ever kick start myself for like twenty minutes and then just go back to doing anything but studying.

[Ghost!]

Just happens when the motivation you once had to work hard runs out.

That's about right I think, whenever I have burnt out I always look for motivation but I can only ever kick start myself for like twenty minutes and then just go back to doing anything but studying.

And you starting thinking of every reason why your exam/sac/course doesn't matter at all, so you shouldn't bother.

[Streaker]

One way to prevent burnout (I found it very useful) is to spend your free time and study breaks doing something outside of the house (going out, exercising, shopping etc.) rather than sitting indoors and spending time on the computer or watching TV, because being indoors really accentuates the feeling of guilt that was previously mentioned.

And you starting thinking of every reason why your exam/sac/course doesn't matter at all, so you shouldn't bother.

Good point. To prevent this, aim to overcome your short-term goals (e.g. think "I will do two chapters from this area of study in Checkpoints" rather than 'Ok I'm going to study for the exam now") and don't think about long-term goals just yet. Set specific every-day goals and set out to overcome them each night that you study.

[QuantumJG]

Pretty much what people are saying defines a burnout pretty well. It happens to me usually by the time exams are around a month away I just literally burnout.

With uni and having at least one assignment each week, I just have zero motivation when exams are 1 month away. This year I'm thinking of putting less effort into my Maths subject assignments (the exam is worth 80%) and doing some proper study.

[QuantumJG]

Some of this advice seems great to me (and I'm 2/3rds through my degree). I really should take up some hobby to get some motivation and just a fresh mind when studying.

[andy456]

I'd describe it as having a feeling of despair. As in you question 'what's the point? I'm over it'
I think its hard to avoid and pretty much every year 12 gets it at some stage.
Btw I think its contagious so if your friends get it STAY AWAY FROM THEM




or that might just be laziness...