Help with FOCUS (urgent)

LittleMissLost

I haven't done much work for the Leaving Cert up untill now, and it recently hit me that it starts in 19 days.

I know (hope) I won't fail anything, I did well in the mocks with just some "night before" revision but recently I just can not focus. at ALL.

Whenever I think about it at home I get scared and disheartened that its too late to make a difference now, which I know it's not.

I usually eat and sleep perfectly no matter what's going on, but lately I can barely eat and can't get to sleep until 2/3am because I'm scared sh!tless that I won't meet everyones expectations (520+ so I've heard :cool: )

Does anyone know of anything I can do to focus my mind and do some study?

I do know its down to me, but last night I took out my biology books (I usually find biology quite easy to study) and burst out crying and couldn't stop shaking! I know its wimpish (lol) but the fact I can't do any study is very scary and I want to fix this before it's too late.

Any advice at ALL would be greatly appreciated :rolleyes:

flyaway.

Hi.

It's very easy to start panicking as it gets closer but just try to stay calm about the whole thing. Getting worked up about it all certainly won't help!

My advice would be to just... study. There isn't much else to it. You just take out the books and you cram for a few weeks and then you're DONE. It'll be a few weeks of hell but it'll be over before we know it I hope!

Don't worry or get stressed when you open a book and see how much you haven't learned yet. I find crossing off the topics as I go really helps me feel like I'm getting somewhere.

Exam papers are the way to go this late in the year. Especially for something like Biology. Just do every single question and at least you'll know more than you do right now!

There isn't any magical way to make yourself focus... you just have to put your head down and get to it. Try to make sure you're eating properly and get into a routine at night so you're sleeping at a decent time. Plus, if you're studying all day, you'll be so tired you'll have no problem sleeping at night!

I'm terrified too but I'm sure we'll all be fine. Good luck!

mpdg

You're running a high-capacity stress-machine right now. Stress is a bad, bad mistress and can lead to health problems if it is ongoing. Further, and more pressingly in your case, it can make you freeze and fear failure so much that making progress is terrifying. Once you calm yourself down and see how awesome you're going to do, the focus will return.
What do you usually do to alleviate stress? Punching out the rage with a pillow or running helps a lot of people. I usually lie down or sit on the couch with no distractions or people around and focus on my breathing for a few minutes when I'm feeling wound up. Those are all good temporary solutions for when the Biology book is about to go flying across the room.
For the next while, reducing the amount of adrenaline coursing through your veins 24/7 at the moment (it is contributing to keeping you awake and/or crying fits) will be of a massive help. I used to have crazy stress issues for years (exam-related, too!) and when I ended up talking to a shrink about the whole thing, he said that taking ten minutes every day (twice if you're completely buzzed right now), to do nothing. Lay in your bed, close your eyes, put on calming music from youtube and every time a thought floats into your head that isn't about beaches, drinking tequila on a hot day and other nice things, imagine the words of the thought floating up into a big blue sky and disappearing. If it comes back, let it float away again.
Also, when you start freaking out over the exams, get out a copy or notepad and write down your thoughts. If you keep a list of all these worries, they will look smaller. You'll notice they repeat themselves too, which means there aren't actually that many.

Also, screw other people. I wish I had learned this ages ago. You can even decide not to tell your damn family your results if you really want to! If they are in any way a caring bunch of loved ones, they aren't out to pile on the pressure, even though they are inadvertently doing so. The LC is an exam YOU are sitting, for YOUR own benefit. You are not doing it to validate you as a person to other people.

Also, plan out your study for the next few weeks. Marking schemes are worth their weight in gold, so are flash cards (if they suit you) and there is never a better time than the present to get cracking.

Salty

I'm having very similar problems. I tipped away all during 5th year up until Easter. There was a bereavement in the family during that midterm, and I never got back into working or studying. I really fell off the horse.

I hoped I would start fresh again in September of 6th year, but I just got off to a really bad start. I do home-ec, so I had a massive project to finish, and it nearly killed me, trying to get it all done, dragging it up to an A standard. The day before the deadline, I did an all-nighter, and went nearly 30 hours without sleep. I never got into a routine all year, I've been completely messed up, and have been sick more than ever. I'm well capable of getting well over 500 points, but I'm convinced it's not going to happen at this stage.:(

I have realised, though, that my results won't have anything to do with anybody else but myself. I've been terrified that I'll look stupid next to my friends, even though I'm just as intelligent as them, and comparing myself to my boyfriend who got >500 last year. I've managed to stop that, and just tell myself that whatever happens, I will go to college in September, and if I don't get my first choice, I will be able to a post-grad to get into my preferred career path.

I'm not gonna tell any of my friends my results. If they ask, I'll tell them they'll see me in UCC in September, and that'll have to do them!:P

We'll be fine! There's a way around everything!!