Exam time is around the corner, and if you have someone in your house sitting the Junior or Leaving Cert this year, we can only imagine that things are getting a little tense and stressed these days.
Right now, the best thing you can probably do is help your child keep on track with their studies – and keeping their motivation up will play a large part of this.
Self-motivation can be one of the hardest things to do – especially if you have had a less than flattering mock result.
But fear not – you can help your kid turn those results into a positive and help set themselves strong goals over the coming weeks in their study plan.
Luckily, we have chatted with the experts at iRevise.com, an expert website providing students with direct access to study notes, video tutorials, sample exam answers and so much more.
Here are their golden rules for keeping spirits up and motivation strong over the coming weeks:
Goal setting and where to begin can be difficult, but if you set these rules to every subject and then set a plan in place it will make it much easier to break it down.
1. Set SMART goals: It is important to help your child apply the SMART rules to their goals to focus them and be able to break them down and put them into your plan.
Specific – Be specific in what you are looking to achieve
Measurable – Give it dates and time frames
Attainable – Ensure that it is attainable so don’t set it that you are going to demoralise yourself, however it is important to challenge yourself also.
Realistic – Keep it realistic, i.e. you are not going to step up to a higher level paper at this short stage to go.
TimeBound – Remember to set time limits and move on to the next goal.
2. Write your goals down: Writing your goals down makes them real and accountable, when writing them down use words like “will” rather than “would like” as they are more reinforcing and more accountable.
3. Make your plan: Now your goals are set take out your diary or print a calendar page and then start setting timelines around each goal in order to give yourself a proper schedule.
Tip: Look at IRevise.com to assist with Time Management plan – and then, as you complete your tasks, you can strike through and visually see what you are achieving.
4. Stick with it: Remember that these are your goals and it is what you want to achieve and you can re-set your plan if it is not working for you as many times as you need to but don’t get taken over by the plan.
Many people work better with visual aids, and so setting a vision board can be helpful too, and this is someting you can help your child do.
If you decide to do this, apply the same goal setting principal, but create it in a visual way – maybe like a mood board on your wall? Or do it digitally, and make this on your compyter, so you can use it as your screen saver for the day on your phone. This will help keep you focused.
Tip: If using it in this way, then make the goals shorter so set it to be three goals for each day and that will make it very achievable and then you can update it each day to be the next step.
As human beings we tend to focus on what we know best as that is the easier option. It is important that we challenge ourselves and maybe set our goals on those subjects that we are more on the back foot and build ourselves back into confidence.
With the assistance of IRevise.com, your child will be well on their way to challenge themselves with past papers, study tips, examples answers and so much more to allow them achieve their goals.
Here is a what Gillian, a former iRevise student had to say:
“My mother signed me up for irevise.com when I was in second year and I’ve now just finished my leaving cert and I’m in college studying the course I wanted. I found the site a must have – it saved me time, helped me study and was exam focused. I honestly found it brilliant – I would definitely recommend using the site if you’re in secondary school”.
iRevise.com specialises in providing study tools and premium study content for the Junior and Leaving Certificate students. Their standard features are free, while the Premium users also have access to premium study notes, exam papers, aurals, MCQs, exam creator, video tutorials and sample exam papers.
