How to stop mock exams from ruining your Christmas holiday
It sucks. Teachers schedule mock exams every January. That means, if you're a conscientious student, that you need to spend the Christmas holidays revising. However, you don't have to let revision ruin your Christmas holidays. Here are my top tips on stopping revision from ruining the most wonderful time of the year.
How to stop mock exams from ruining your Christmas holiday
1. Schedule in your days off
Keep certain days sacred over the holiday. You choose which ones but make sure you allocate certain days when you won't be studying. If it was me I'd pick Christmas day, Boxing day and New Year's day, possibly finishing early on New Year's Eve.
You may also have family parties or special events scheduled. Block them out as fun time in your diary, calendar or planner now.
2. Prioritise your revision
Use the red, amber, green system to prioritise the things you need to focus on most. What I mean by this is go through your specification or syllabus and rank everything listed for how well you understand it. Red means you're clueless, amber means you get it but it needs some work. Green means you're comfortable and confident with that area of knowledge.
Your task is to focus firstly on the red bits, then the amber bits.
Click here to find out how to access your specification online
3. Make a revision plan
When you've got a revision plan in place you know exactly what you need to do each day when you get up in the morning. There's no need to procrastinate while you decide what to study. All you have to do is get on with it.
Click here to find out how to make a revision plan.
3. Do power hours
Power hours are THE most effective way to revise. That's because they incorporate exam practice as well as learning and repeating content knowledge. Power hours are high stakes revision that really make a difference.
Click here to find out how to do a revision power hour.
4. Use a timer
Time every study session that you do. Set the timer for your optimum concentration time (anything from 20 to 60 minutes) and focus entirely on your revision. When the timer goes off take a break.
5. Incentivise yourself
Every time you sit down for a study session know how you're going to treat yourself when it ends. Maybe you'll help yourself to a chocolate off the Christmas tree, do some Christmas karoke with your Santa hat on or watch your favourite Christmas movie wearing the slippers that Aunty Sue gave you. Just give yourself something to look forward to.
Every time you sit down for a study session know how you're going to treat yourself when it ends. Click To Tweet6. Make sure you're revising in a way that suits you
While you're revising you should always be checking in with yourself asking, “Is this going in? Is this revision working?” If it's not working then you need to change it up.
Click here to discover 7 Signs You're Revising the Wrong Way and What to Do About it
7. Remove distractions
If you're easily distracted by your phone, that fabulous new guitar you got for Christmas or the riveting novel you just can't put down get them out of sight while you're revising. The closer these distractions are to you the more likely they are to get in the way of your revision. You'll then fritter hours away that you should have been using to revise, get stressed and cross with yourself. Exactly the reverse of Christmas cheer.
January Mocks Revision Kickstarter Workshop
If you've read the above and thought, “That's all very well, Lucy, but I can't do all that on my own! Help!” then sign-up for my January Mocks Revision Kickstarter Workshop. In this two hour, online workshop I'll guide you through creating a personalised revision plan that will work for you, without ruining Christmas.
Click here to find out more and book.
Over to you
It's miserable having to revise over the Christmas holiday but try to keep the bigger picture in mind. All the revision you do now is building towards your success in your summer exams. The more effort you put in now, the easier the summer will be for you. And, when there's a mince pie (my favourite) waiting downstairs as a special revision treat, there's hardly a better time of year to keep you pushing through the resistance for the incentive at the end.
