Motivation
I'm sure I don't need to tell everybody about kami's post on the many different educational pathways and alternative pathways into uni. For those of you who haven't seen it, here's the link:
http://community.boredofstudies.org/showthread.php?t=73329
Just remember, university is by far the most requested educational resource (and most likely the reason why the UAI system was introduced) but it is not the only resource. There are private providers as well as TAFE colleges which provide excellent education solutions at much lower costs – in many instances, TAFE is more industry-valued for its practical skill base and resourceful attitude.
Now, without trying to sound too preachy - I'm a big believer in three things: creative visualisation, greater understanding and listening to yourself. I'm going to try and speak about these in a quasi-report format.
No doubt you've heard the quote, "If you imagine not succeeding, you've already failed". I've come to shine light on this.
Creative Visualisation. Let me first explain that there is a difference between wishful thinking and creative visualisation. Creative visualisation is essentially the imagining of an event or outcome in your mind, which you *believe* will become a reality. Creative visualisation works for both positive AND negative attributes -- if you are constantly visualising in your mind the stress and pressure you will feel in the exam situation and/or anticipate a result that is below your expectation, you are setting your subconscious mind (sorry to be Freudian) on making this a reality.
Think negative and allow this to saturate your thoughts, and this shall become your reality.
Let us move onto positive creative visualisation. Let me first make it clear that I am not trying to tell you to become blindly optimistic, but rather to prevent those nasty negative spells from draining your energy and motivation. I'm sure there are a number of you, who in your sparse spare time, think about how you're going to under-perform or how badly you've been performing at school. How about visualising walking into the exam room with an aura of confidence and knowledge that what you do will be your absolute best and nothing can undermine this, or creatively visualising yourself tomorrow, studying and making notes with your favourite album playing for a few hours, giving yourself a break at regular intervals and rewarding yourself (perhaps with a social life, if even briefly). How about visualising yourself mastering the difficult concepts which you flunked out on in the trials?
It is your choice what kind of reality you wish to make for yourself - if you consciously think negative, than you shall be engulfed in it. If you think realistically with a tinge of self-confidence and ambition, then your goals shall be realised and your obstacles shall melt away.
Greater application. No doubt there are quite a few of us who will sit in front of text books and read the words on the page, but nothing in our heads is registering. Worse yet, we'll lie to ourselves and to others about how much we have done, rather than further ourselves... "I couldn't be bothered / I can do it tomorrow / it's too meagre to be worried about".
I believe that, the first step is for visualisation but the second step is action. I am a firm believer in temperance - in the balance between work and play - but I am also a believer that work should be done with meaning and with vigour. If you're not going to sit down there in front of your text book or sources and be prepared to make your experience beneficial, rigorous and even hopefully interesting, then you're pretty much wasting your time. We all recall information differently - whether it be by drawing humorous diagrams, parodying the names of your chemistry compounds or making anagrams of difficult maths and English concepts. Greater application essentially means taking in information with a purpose of feeling confident and astute, greater application means making whatever efforts necessary to make the information more easily absorbed.
And finally, listening to yourself. I remember at the start of this year, with a great deal of optimism I told a family friend that I was determined to knuckle down and get the UAI of my dreams – nothing would stop me. Her words came back to me as blunt as a short staff – “Without a doubt you will have a lot of voices jabbering away inside your head all throughout Year 12. It is your job to identify which ones you need to listen to and take their advice on board, and which ones you need to control.”
At first I was quite unsure what she meant by this, until the very first HSC assessments came early in Term 4 of Year 11. There were some voices that were screaming with fear, some which screamed for procrastination and one small voice of intuitive wisdom that told me what I needed to do in order to complete the task.
It’s as simple as this – ask yourself what you need to do. The next time you’re wondering, “How do I prepare for my Biology exam?”, let that small whisper be amplified and heard – “Well, I know The Blueprint of Life pretty well but I’m a bit rusty on The Human Story… maybe I should do that option first and then do a bit of light revision on the others”.
Again, it’s your choice which voice you wish to hear. One final note I wish to make on this issue: if you feel tired, if you are procrastinating endlessly and when you do try to study you aren’t receptive, then you’re body is telling you it’s time to take a break. There is still time until the HSC, amazingly, and I’m sure a little time out of Stuvac won’t hurt to catch up with mates – even form a study group. You’d be amazed – there’s actually a world of people outside your bedroom. How do I know this? Because this morning, I lifted my head from my plethora of Ancient History sources, unmotivated and took a brisk walk around the neighbourhood with some friends. I came back feeling much more refreshed and managed to get a few more hours of work done by encouraging myself onward.
Keep in mind guys, that you are in control at all times – don’t ever loose it. You have the power to give yourself a break when you need it, you have the power to motivate yourself and imbue yourself with a greater ambition. You have the power to master those difficult concepts. We’re a smart cohort this year and there’s a plethora of resources available to us and teachers and tutors to ask for assistance.
You just need to begin by believing in your own abilities before you’ll be able to conquer milestones…
I hope this has helped!