5 Ways To Survive GCSES

GCSES can be incredibly stressful if you're just starting. I personally went into both year 10 and 11 being extremely confused with how I'm suppose to survive the 2 years alone. Having a healthy balance of revision and a social life is very important if you don't want your brain to completely fray. I wish I was able to read through a blog post or get some tips on how I could survive GCSES, therefore I thought this blogpost may or may not help somebody. So here we go, 5 ways to survive GCSES.

1. STAY ORGANISED

This was one thing I thought I did particularly well, although I did miss out some vital steps on the way. Staying organised in year 10 isn't as important as it will be in year 11, everything within the last year goes so quickly that you genuinely don't realise. A few ways you can keep organised is to head up notes early. This was one mistake I made as I made my revision material whilst revising which wastes quite a lot of time and also I noticed it didn't stick in my head as well as it should have. A few ways I headed up notes was to keep a revision folder, using dividers I organised my lessons from A to Z, and put any lose sheets, revision notes, past exam papers and anything you was told to improve on within them. This helped a lot once I started revising as I was able to point out my weakest areas within a subject through old exam result marks. Revision is a key aspect and I know a lot of people that have a short attention span, therefore try and take short breaks between subjects, 5 or 10 minutes break may find it helps you a lot better.

2. BALANCING BETWEEN SOCIAL LIFE AND SCHOOL

At 16 (especially in my school), all of a sudden came the invention of alcohol and a lot of parties. One thing your parents will always say is that school comes first, and partially in your GCSES, it is really important that your priorities are right, you will be able to tell those whom put their social life first when you're coming closer to your exams. I found a balance between my social life and revising quite easily, sometimes using both at the same time. E.g. revising with friends, or revising for a few hours and then going to see friends for the other few hours. But genuinely being organised and knowing where your priorities lie I found was one of the most important aspects of GCSES.

3. AVOIDING FRIENDSHIP FULL OUTS

I found that during my GCSES, my teachers would continuously repeat that staying with your friends and getting through them together is one of the most important factors of GCSES. Stress does tend to build a lot more within the last few months before GCSES so you may find your friends get a lot more 'stressy' and argumentative (trust me I found this one out for myself). If you are like me, I used to hang around with a very large group, therefore arguments were on and off with everyone and anyone throughout (as you'd expect within a friendship group, however; I found it a lot easier to concentrate and get through my exams not getting involved, and staying well out of the way so I didn't become de-motivated and stressed out.

4. TELL SOMEBODY

As I keep repeating, GCSES get very stress-worthy and I know that a few of my friends didn't cope very well with the amount of work you're going to have to handle. Therefore telling somebody, whether that being your parents, your teachers, your friends or anybody you feel close enough to talk too, that you're feeling stressful or you feel like everything is constantly building upon you and they will find a way to possibly help you. OR, if you are one of those people that don't feel like they can talk to people, try and write how you feel down. You can also try and start a blog, this was initially my idea for the use of my blog, to write down how I felt and that personally was the way in which I felt better.

5. BREAK FREE FROM DISTRACTIONS

I bet you don't even realise the number of times you check Facebook, Instagram or whatever your vice is? When you add it all up together, it amounts to a significant waste of time. It can be hard to detach your life outside of studying but keeping the end goal and timeframe un mind will ease the process. If you want to go to extreme deaths, I recommend the SelfControl website blocker.

Amy xx