HELP :'((((( (1 Viewer)

[Lemonlime]

I lose motivation at times, and procrastination has a pretty strong hold of me quite regularly. But it's business and economics i worry about. Actually, I worry about all my subjects. I don't understand the format of business responses whether it be short questions, or if someone quizzed me on the spot about it I would be blank. Probaby because I'm not as enthusiastic in class as I should be.

Prelim Economics, I did pretty well, but I'm falling behind with my notes so I feel helpless. Last assessment for economics i got 13/20, but i could do much better. THERE IS SO MUCH INFORMATIONT TO LEARN. I think if i caught up with my notes i wouldnt feel so stupid cuz i'd understand what's happening almost 100% and feel confident when the teacher asks me something?

Business studies was always average for me, but it started off better when the subject was fresh to me. I just don't really understand how to aproach and answer questions in my assessments or stuff we get in class, let alone how clueless i would be in the hsc. and there's so much to learn. sometimes i think, is business studies like english? like, is there always a definite answer for everything or are they a bit more broad and not as distinct?

IPT, i didn't put as much effort in prelims, but now in my HSC year I try to be motivated for it since I can understand it pretty well. But i hear that you'd have to score a 90+ in the hsc exams for it to scale decently... and i dont think i'm going to get that. it's a bad scaling subject, no doubt, and so is business, so i really worry about trying to maximise my exams, especially in ipt and business.

English, I think it's just a matter of preparaing early for assessments and tasks, but other than that I think I'm doing okay.i just worry about my ability to "adapt to the question' and bah blah, everyone knows how it goes. i need improvement on english, because i could prepare 5 months in advance but if i cant improvise and adapt well to random questions im given..well then, i'd fail wouldn't i?

Maths....the extension 1 bit just makes me hate life. And because we move so fast, my 2unit slips behind from the fact that near exam time i'd have to revise everythiing again because the time period of learning it is far, plus i am forgetful. and by that time, i'd have to be cramming all 3 units of maths, which doesn't do me any good in last minuute.. and then i do bad in all 3 units.. maybe maths just isnt my strength, and i dont practice enough. but i dont want to risk the idea of 10 units if i drop extension 1.

My notes... are so behind, for everything. and i want to just end my life for the sake of not doing the hsc. Prelim notes aren't even completed. this is bad, i tell myself i won't do these things to myself, and i do. How can i stop this attitude once and for all?

 

[enoilgam]

It sounds like you have a huge motivation problem, which is pretty much causing your problems in each individual subject. Its fairly normal to lose motivation at some point throughout the HSC year - you just need to take time to reassess and change your game plan. From the tone of your post, it seems that you care about the HSC, but have lost motivation for the day to day grind of studying etc. I made this post in another thread a few weeks ago and I think it applies to your situation so i will repost it

Setting small achievable goals is the key to staying motivated throughout the year. If you set yourself a mountain of work, it will probably overwhelm you and chances are you arent going to be able to complete it, which will lower your confidence and crush your morale (i.e. loss of motivation). When this happens, people start avoiding study because they dont feel as if they are achieving anything

However, if you set small but achievable goals, then chances are you will complete them, thereby boosting your confidence. Also, by setting and achieving small goals, you can sustain your motivation for a long period of time which is extremely difficult to do during the HSC. Obviously, there are points during the year where your workload will be high - at those points, try stretching your work out and avoid cramming. Big goals like "I dont want to fail my HSC" or "I want X ATAR" are still important, but for most people, they arent effective at motivating you on a day to day basis - thats where managing your workload comes in."

Also, have a look at your subject choices - if MX1 is causing you a lot of problems then you should consider dropping it - especially if you dont think it will count and if its causing you this much stress. By the sounds of it, keeping will probably do you more harm then good as it is wearing you out.

 

[Lemonlime]

I think all of this stress and worry about not doing well is linked to my procrastination. I fell behind, then lose motivation to catch up as it builds up and then realise I need to pick up my game a few weeks prior to assessments and exams. Procrastination is so hard to get rid of >< how do those people stay motivated at all times?! :/

 

[Spiritual Being]

Think of what you want to do when you're older, picture yourself doing a job you don't want to do, studying a degree that you don't want to or not as interested in as you are with a "goal degree". Think of it this way, without studying you will be that girl doing the degree you don't want or working that crap job. Your mind could argue to yourself that there is ways to get around the HSC to do what you want (ultimately causing you to procrastinate), however you have to ingrain this into your mind; it's much harder and requires more time and effort when you could do it now. A game, a video or anything is merely satisfaction for the present and without your study under control, theres just a massive pile of work to catch up on, rolling down a hill and that's not going to stop unless you do something.

Just my 5c

 

[mirakon]

I think all of this stress and worry about not doing well is linked to my procrastination. I fell behind, then lose motivation to catch up as it builds up and then realise I need to pick up my game a few weeks prior to assessments and exams. Procrastination is so hard to get rid of >< how do those people stay motivated at all times?! :/

think....

The average lifespan for an australian is 80

The hsc is 1 year. Just work hard for this 1 year then voila! You're in uni doing what you want

 

[Lemonlime]

Think of what you want to do when you're older, picture yourself doing a job you don't want to do, studying a degree that you don't want to or not as interested in as you are with a "goal degree". Think of it this way, without studying you will be that girl doing the degree you don't want or working that crap job. Your mind could argue to yourself that there is ways to get around the HSC to do what you want (ultimately causing you to procrastinate), however you have to ingrain this into your mind; it's much harder and requires more time and effort when you could do it now. A game, a video or anything is merely satisfaction for the present and without your study under control, theres just a massive pile of work to catch up on, rolling down a hill and that's not going to stop unless you do something.

Just my 5c

That's true. I should work harder.. :S

 

[Lemonlime]

think....

The average lifespan for an australian is 80

The hsc is 1 year. Just work hard for this 1 year then voila! You're in uni doing what you want

That really hit me hahhaa. Yeah, one more year. Not even. How did you cope with the stress though?

 

[mirakon]

That really hit me hahhaa. Yeah, one more year. Not even. How did you cope with the stress though?

Well, its actually better because if you think about it you got only 8 months now.

How did I cope? Determination. I knew the course I wanted to get into had a high ATAR requirement, but I also knew it was the *one* career that really appealed to me. So I knew that in the end, it wasn't so much an option to work hard as much as it was a necessity.

 

[enoilgam]

That really hit me hahhaa. Yeah, one more year. Not even. How did you cope with the stress though?

Uni can be even more stressful then High school. For some reason, people seem to think stressful academic work ends in year 12.

 

[mirakon]

Uni can be even more stressful then High school. For some reason, people seem to think stressful academic work ends in year 12.

Personally I'm finding uni to have the same workload as the hsc but with less stress simply because you have a bit more surety as to your career and because a lot of the time you have a genuine interest in what you're studying (if you're doing the course you want) which lessens the chore of studying somewhat

 

[Timske]

Well firstly if you don't want to be stressed then stop worrying and actually do something about it. I know its hard but its the only way. The more you worry and start fearing the consequences in the future the more you're going to be stressed. Start at the present and stop fearing the future, the future is yet to come. Set short term goals/long term goals anything that will make you feel like you've accomplished something. Your ego wants to be lazy and procrastinate. Once you sit down and start this habit of making notes everyday, study everyday you'll do it on a daily routine.

 

[delian]

Yes, it can be hard to be motivated at times, but if you can visualise the benefits of doing well in HSC, then it may help.
Also, try to like your subjects- if you don't like them, try to appreciate the importance and relevance of them e.g. Economics has so many real-life applications.

Good luck, and persevere.

 

[seremify007]

I realise that you (Op) and myself have pretty much the same subject choices for the HSC. The other guys here have posted some great motivational posts which I am rubbish at- the only suggestion I have is to gain some perspective on what needs doing now vs. later, and prioritising workloads. For example, an assignment with a due date is probably more pressing than just writing notes. I personally only wrote notes during revision periods rather than during semester because after all, that's when you need to go back and really re-think (and even re-learn) concepts which you may have forgotten. Writing notes right after you get home from school may be great in terms of offering good quality notes but they're out of mind by the time exams come round- and really, you would've been better off taking down better notes during class. It all comes down to different learning styles and preferences- but don't get so caught up that you feel like you're falling behind because you aren't able to stick to an unrealistic (and ineffective) study plan.

For what it's worth, the sooner you get your English pieces downpat (i.e. good quality, consistently good marks, etc), the sooner you can move on to other stuff.

IPT was a subject where you didn't have to do much prep outside of classtime but you needed to stay on top of the chapter exercises in class- i.e. don't fall behind. It's very tempting and easy to muck about in class (especially if you're in a class full of boys who play games- like I did). Whilst I say that I mucked around, I also made sure that I caught up on those exercises at home because I knew it was my one subject which I could do really well in.

Business studies and economics interlink quite a lot and you can get alot from reading the business section of the news and staying on top of current events. Business studies as I mentioned in my visitor message is really about memorising syllabus dot points and examples of things whereas economics is more conceptual based and case study driven. In the case of business studies, memorising and learning examples is a good way to prep whereas economics is something where you need to learn concepts, memorise definitions, get good exam technique for answering questions and of course, learn a case study.

Also, have a look at your subject choices - if MX1 is causing you a lot of problems then you should consider dropping it - especially if you dont think it will count and if its causing you this much stress. By the sounds of it, keeping will probably do you more harm then good as it is wearing you out.

I too had that thought especially as I was really struggling to keep up (and even failed my trials with 24/50) but somehow, it still scaled so well that it counted for my UAI. Maybe my school rank helped pull me through but the point I'm getting at here is if you can hold out, try to hold out because you never know how things will turn out with this. I personally studied enough to answer about 50% of the paper (correctly-ish) and ended up with 39/50.

Hope this very disjointed post helps (in some way). Best wishes and try to look at the upside, only 8 months to go