noradoesrevision

[noradoesrevision]

Day 21/70: diaries of a burnt out student

Today I was a lot more tired, I didn’t get to sleep very early and I definitely felt it.

I had 1 free periods today and it was kind of productive, but I wasn’t really that focused and I kept stopping to read pages of my book 🤦

Anyways, after school I had planned to go to the gym but for some reason today I just couldn’t bring myself to, which is weird because usually I quite enjoy it - maybe it’s the lack of sleep???Perhaps I’ll go tomorrow instead.

After school I walked to the co-op and bought an ice cream. The weather has been so warm lately, it’s so lovely.

I started my revision at 6:30 and finished at 8:15, and was focused the whole time which is pretty great, however the work wasn’t really that taxing. I was typing up flashcards from all of the difficult physics word-y questions from past paper, which I’ve been doing for the last two days. But guess what… I’ve finally finished, at least until I complete more past papers. I’m hoping these flashcards will be really useful to me when I start actually going through them, as it will be a way to learn lots of actual past paper questions without having to do the whole paper.

As for the rest of the evening, I didn’t really do anything - just listened to an audiobook and ate some supper.

From the last couple of days it’s become very obvious that if I want to get productive revision done then I really do need to get enough sleep. Therefore as much as it pains me, I am going to try and get a relatively early night tonight, but I’ll update you tomorrow and we shall see what happens.

Goodnight!

[noradoesrevision]

Day 20/70 - Diaries of a Burnt Out Student

Today was actually such a good day.

I think it was all because I got a decent amount of sleep last night (a whole eight hours on a school night!!!) and so getting through the day felt so much easier, not like a constant slog.

I had two free periods today and I spent them working on a past physics paper 3a, which is all about experimental technique and just very strange and different to the rest of the papers.

(It’s one of those that seems easy, as if there’s not much to it, and you wonder why they bother dedicating so many marks to it, but then you do the paper and you realise it’s actually quite difficult)

Anyway, I ended up getting an A on that paper which I was pretty pleased with since in my mock I think I got a D or a C for that paper.

After school I chilled and listened to an audiobook book and watched some YouTube. Dinner was lots of sugary porridge and some toast, which isn’t the best but I guess I’ll eat something proper tomorrow.

After dinner I started my revision (I always aim to start at 6 and do 2 hours a day at home). I felt very productive but I was only making flash cards of all of the wordy questions on past physics papers that I’ve done so it was honestly pretty easy, just a little boring and not the most productive use of my time, but hey, I have to make them at some point.

Also, since the clocks have gone forward, it’s lighter in the evenings now so I decided to go on a late evening run. It was only about ten minutes, but it was kind of nice to get out the house (I feel like I spend so long hunched at a desk) and exercising honestly makes going to bed so much nicer since I actually feel more tired.

It’s also been pretty sunny recently, I’ve actually had to get the suncream out. Are we really getting towards summer? No, that means a levels are soon and we can’t have that, although, it is only about 50 days now I’m at day 20, scary.

Okay, goodnight, I’m gonna go and listen to some more of my audiobook. Have an excellent day!

[noradoesrevision]

This is a reminder to myself…

If you feel like you cannot concentrate on school work for the life of you, or that you can’t resist the urges to do anything but revision,

✨Sleep✨

I’m serious, get a full eight hours on school night and it makes the world of difference. Do that for a few days in a row and it’s really amazing how much better I can focus.

[noradoesrevision]

Day 18/70, diaries of a burnt out student

Hey my dudes, I’m back. Still burnt out though.

Basically my sleep schedule went completely to shit so I felt too bad staying up even later than I was in order to blog how my day went.

…but now it’s are going slightly better so I have returned, yay!

Today my goal was to finish lots of past papers off that I’ve started but then not got round to finishing. This happened because I made a schedule for myself but I don’t think I gave myself enough time to properly go through all the questions and figure things out that I don’t get. Hence, a lot of mostly-completed papers have been piling up, which are quite stressful to keep track of.

I woke up and after having some breakfast, I finished off a mechanics paper. I ate lunch then, and did the comprehension section on another maths paper, and it actually went okay, which was nice (they are normally awful). Anyways, the. I procrastinated on YouTube and finally finished my revision off with a bit of a physics paper.

For dinner, I went out with my parents since it is Mother’s Day. We talked and I ate a really nice vegan sausage sandwich which is a bit random for dinner but it was really nice.

Then I got home and just chilled and washed my hair and listened to an audiobook. All I have to do now, before bed, is…

Duolingo

Health app stuff

Make tomorrow’s breakfast

Have a lovely eight hours of sleep

Sorry, I feel like this update is super ramble-y and random, but hey, it’s been a while, and I’m typing this all pretty quickly.

Alright, goodnight! have a good wonderful day 🪷

[noradoesrevision]

your journal can be whatever you want it to be!

[noradoesrevision]

Just deleted instagram. Sad times.

[noradoesrevision]

To-dos for tomorrow-

No social media

Biology mock

Maths mock

Go to the gym

Make a revision timetable

1.5hrs of studying

[noradoesrevision]

Day 6/70: Diaries of a burnt out student

Damn, I can’t believe it’s day six already.

Today I went into school to do revision. No one else really does since we’re on study leave, but I find it so much easier to get work done when I’m in the routine of going to school, where there are already set times for work and breaks. Also, there’s just not that much else to do…

I wasn’t super productive today, I did a maths past paper at school and half of one at home.

My YouTube watching has come back with full force after taking a break for a couple of weeks and I’ve decided it definitely is counterproductive. Therefore…

I ’m going back to my no social media plan until exams.

(Besides tumblr.)

I’m determined to have a good study day tomorrow and to kickstart, after school, I’m finally going to make that study plan I’ve been thinking about. Now that I’ve got my last two mocks tomorrow, I’m anticipating being at a bit of a loss as to how to spend my revision time, hence, the timetabling will begin!

Not gonna lie, I’m not really the best with revision schedules. I often put work off and before I know it, I’m too far behind and just give up completely. I’m just going to do the best I can though, I think the most difficult part is predicting how much work you can do in a day.

Anyways, have a great day besties! Goodnight :))

P.s. I really need to get better at taking nice photos so I can fulfill my aesthetic tumblr dreams

[noradoesrevision]

Day 5/70: diaries of a burnt out student

Hey my dudes, total was an alright day. I had a statistics mock and a physics mock which was kind of hard, but in a weird way, nice because I don’t need to feel guilty about not studying - it’s pretty unavoidable when you are sat in a silent hall for 5 hours.

Despite that, the wondering how the tests went (and expecting that they haven’t gone that well) is still a bit anxiety-inducing. It’s so weird because I have over a month until exams start, but since that’s not that long, relative to the rest of my school sixth form years, it feels like I’m never doing enough (which, often I’m actually not) and that anything I do do is making very little difference. Not really sure how to avoid those feeling, maybe I need to make a proper revision plan at some point, it’s just that the thought of doing that is quite overwhelming since you it’s difficult to understand what stuff you need to revise before you understand the stuff (if that makes any sense).

Anyway, I came home, had some snacks and a music lesson which was pretty fun, and then ate dinner. Afterwards I had a physics lesson where I went through mechanics, although, if anything, mechanics is the one thing I probably don’t need to revise. For the rest of the evening I just chilled and watched YouTube which I’ve not done in a little while - I’ve been taking a break from social media these past couple of weeks but it’s slowly creeping its way back in and I’m not sure whether I should stop it.

Im going to leave you with some lovely diagrams of micrometers, so you can get a taste of my day, cramming for physics paper 3. What a stunning aesthetic study blog this is!

[noradoesrevision]

How to reset and start studying part-way through the day:

(because we can still get things done even if we didn’t wake up at 6am with a matcha latte and a yoga session)

If it’s before 12pm -

Notice what you’re doing and stop for a second. take 5 deep breaths

Grabs some shoes

Get outside and have a stroll

Make it 5 minutes or 50 - the length is up to you

Listen to music, a meditation or your own thoughts, but not something you’ll get too invested in, like a podcast or audiobook

On your way back, imagine yourself going through the motions of all the things you do prior to sitting down at your desk (e.g. take shoes off, get a drink)

When you get home, go through the motions you went through in your head, in real life

At your desk, grab some paper and write a quick list of the things you want to do

Begin studying

Between noon and tea time (I find this one the trickiest) -

Notice what you’re doing and stop for a second. take 5 deep breaths

Take yourself to a quiet place, maybe your bedroom

Put on a meditation that is 15 to 30 minutes long (you can use, Spotify, YouTube or a meditation app for this, just search up, 30 minute meditation for beginners / before studying etc)

After the meditation is finished, if you feel ready to start work, go!

If not, just sit there for a minute more

imagine yourself going through the motions of all the things you do prior to sitting down at your desk (e.g. making a drink, getting school stuff out)

When you are ready, reenact the processes you went through in your head

At your desk, grab some paper and write a quick list of the things you want to do

Begin studying

After tea -

Notice what you’re doing and stop for a second. take 5 deep breaths

Brush your teeth, even if you really wanted a cup of tea whilst you were studying, I promise, it will be okay with one (okay, that tip might have been for myself, specially)

Whilst you’re brushing your teeth, imagine yourself going through the motions of all the things you do prior to sitting down at your desk (e.g. getting some water or school stuff)

When you’ve finished brushing your teeth, reenact the processes you went through in your head

At your desk, grab some paper and write a quick list of the things you want to do

Begin studying

These are things that I have found are helpful for myself when I find myself feeling stuck and unable to start my work because my day hasn’t started well.

It doesn’t always work, but if you can take yourself out of whatever you are currently doing and give yourself space to think, without impulsively reaching for the next distraction, it’s usually a lot easier to begin your work.

[noradoesrevision]

Day 4/70 - diaries of a burnt out student

Today was really bad for productivity. God, I hate that I do this to myself. I’ve got two really difficult mocks tomorrow and what did I spend my weekend doing? Nothing. I read, I watch TV, and ate junk food. Why can’t I just make myself do the thing that I need to do??? I can’t give up my dreams just because I couldn’t be bothered to put in the work.

[noradoesrevision]

To dos for tomorrow -

No TV, YouTube or instagram

Physics paper

Stats paper

Watch stats videos (paper walkthrough?)

Long dog walk (an hour or so?)

Start night time routine AT 20:00!!!

[noradoesrevision]

Day 3/70: diaries of a burnt out student

Yesterday I made a to-do list of everything I wanted to do today, so here’s how I got on with that…

Did I wake up to do parkrun? Absolutely not. I didn’t get to sleep until 1:30. I don’t know what happens but it’s like it’s 20:00, and then I blink and it’s 23:00. Anyway, at that point I just gave up on going to bed on time and so here we are. That being said, I still did a 5k at 13:00, so I’m gonna count it anyway.

Afterwards I just chilled for a bit and did my laundry (🥳)

Later I went into town with my mum and we went food shopping. It was kind of fun to get out of the house, I feel like I never do those kind of spontaneous, not mega exciting trips out but it really does give the day some structure, instead of lurking indoors all day.

Then came a big mistake on my part, when parted ways with my mum to go to a cafe and eat banana bread and then went to the gym. I forgot that since I’m getting a new SIM card, I currently have no signal or data, so my plan to call my dad to pick me up was out of the question and I was stranded in town.

It was a big day for my social anxiety guys because here were my options of how to get home: A) ask the gym reception to call my dad to pick my up - he didn’t pick up. B) lurk outside a cafe to get free WiFi to WhatsApp my dad - it never works, and that didn’t change today. C) get some cash and use a phone box so I can try calling again lots of times - the Tesco didn’t do cashback. D) walk home - it’s a 1.5 - 2hr walk and it was getting dark but hey, I didn’t have much other choice, so off I went. Luckily, on my way, my dad drove past, I think maybe he called the gym back so found out I wanted to be picked up.(thanks dad x)

Anyway, after that whole ordeal I basically collapsed onto the sofa and read my book which was nice. Unfortunately the longer I stayed there the less nice it got and I ended up doing that thing I do when I want something comforting to do - staying up late bing watching YouTube and eating junk food.

And that’s how we get to now, me posting at 2:00am. These past few days have been been pretty good, so I’m a little upset that I’ve gone right back to old habits, but writing this has forced me to really reflect instead of just wallowing and digging myself further into a hole. I always tell myself that if I start to feel bad I just need to stick to good habits and that will at least keep me anchored, so this time I’m going to really try doing that.

[noradoesrevision]

To-dos for tomorrow:

Park run

Gym

Go to a cafe

Walk the dog

Finish my physics paper

1 load of laundry (guys this is the one I never get done, it’s bad…)

Book a hair dressers appointment

Do some art

Start my night routine at 20:00, I am in dire need of some sleep 💀

Saturday is usually my day of but I’ve not been great at taking days off (hence the physics work) because I’m bad at doing revision when I should be during the rest of the week. That being said, I’m not going to push myself too much if I’m not feeling revision tomorrow

[noradoesrevision]

Day 2/70: burnt out study diaries

I did a mechanics mock and a biology mock today…

They actually didn’t go too badly (yay!).

The biology one was okay because I had quite a lot of time to spend on it (extra time, whooo) which forced me to dig deep into the dark corners of my brain for all of the stuff I thought I didn’t know. Annoyingly though, all of the topics that came up seem to be the ones I hadn’t revised yet.

Maths was actually so good considering I’d been staring at past papers that made me want to cry only days before, thinking I’m going to fail my a levels. Literally, as I was doing it, it felt like I’d got every single question right until it came to the last two, where, admittedly, I had no idea what was going on.

Overall, it was a long school day full of exams, but it was kind of nice to spend so much time focusing.

My maths exam ran on until 3:30 at which point I realised I was supposed to be going to a driving lesson and I was going to be really late, so the anxiety of that did kind of put a bit of a downer on my day. But then, it turns out my driving instructor left because I was so late so I didn’t have a lesson and for some reason that made me feel a lot better.

I did about an hour of revision in the evening which was really more of an hour of sitting at my desk getting distracted by various things, I think I did about one physics question (😭😭😭).

In the future, I think it’s going to be important to make sure I remember to write a to-do list the day before because otherwise I feel like I’m just doing random school stuff with no purpose. I really need to write myself a proper revision schedule because there’s less than two months till exams and it makes me feel like I haven’t got enough time to properly improve on anything. Like, yes, I might not have the time to go through absolutely everything that I’m struggling on and get everything perfect but you can still do so much in two months and sometimes the stress and anxiety of exams makes me forget that.

Anyways, I’m going to try and get a relatively early night and if I manage to get to sleep on time, I’m gonna do the park run tomorrow which will be exciting (it’s been ages since I last went, since I seem to have not been able to get to sleep before 2 am on the weekend for ages)

Good night! Have a lovely day :)))



[noradoesrevision]

Day 1/70: burnt out study diaries

Honestly today was the best day I’ve had in a while.

Who knew that leaving the house, exercising and socialising with friends could brighten one’s outlook on life so much??

Anyways I’m gonna try really hard to do these updates regularly, because I just don’t have time to waste before exams.

Recently I’ve been feeling so burnt out, tired and have been struggling a lot to concentrate. But I’m back to semi-healthy habits now like sleeping a bit more and exercising, so I’m just gonna keep that up and hope it helps improve ability to do school stuff.

To-dos:

Finish the dam stats paper

Finish the dam biology paper

Watch stats videos

Even though I didn’t get everything done today, I still did way more than I have in a while and I managed to focus a lot better (I think a change of scenery can help). I still do get distracted a lot but it’s better and that’s positive at least.

Biology and mechanics mocks tomorrow, ahhh

(Actually rlly stressed bc I need As and A*s and I’ve been getting like Cs and Ds in practice papers)

Okay, gonna go to bed now and get that sleep I was talking about (although I might read first….)

Goodnight :)))

[noradoesrevision]

Locking in tomorrow

70 days till exams and I seriously need to get good grades. I wanna go to a good uni.