You might be one of many students who did their mock exams either just before Christmas or just afterwards and weren’t very pleased with the results. So, if you’re struggling after mock exams – read on.Chances are, if your mock exam results weren’t great, you’re probably being chased by your teachers and your parents / guardians to sort it out. You might be feeling a bit hopeless about it all right about now. It’s February, it’s cold and dark and probably quite easy to literally put your head under the covers and avoid the problem. A bit of advice – don’t; in the words of Taylor Swift ‘Shake it off’.It is never too late to do your best and to make a difference to the outcome (in this case your grades) It might well be that if you are really honest with yourself, you haven’t really given your studies your all between September and now – perhaps you thought that there was plenty of time? You can still turn it around though so don’t give up (perseverance and positivity are great employability skills you know).Don't panic after mock examsFirst things first – if you are panicking, stop because it won’t help. If you focus on the whole picture (in this case everything that you have to get through and catch up on before exam time) then chances are you will go into overload. Instead, try to focus only on now and what you can do day to day (this will be really hard for some of you for it can really help you to calm down and also to feel a sense of achievement each day).Organise yourself (at least mentally)You probably have several subjects to study for so perhaps you could start by prioritising. If there is one subject that you’re doing great at, you know that you need to focus on catching up on the others – likewise, if there is one topic that you have fallen behind on then prioritise this. We all work differently and for some of you sticking to one subject a day will work; for others, you will want to cover several topics or subjects in bite-size chunks but in one day.Don’t skiveStudying is hard work – I doubt that anyone has ever told you any different, so don’t pretend. Guess what though…hard work pays off. You know what needs to be done, so you shouldn’t be surprised if it turns out bad when you don’t do it. The good news though is that as I say – it isn’t too late – you just have to decide that you want to do it and go for it.Understanding what’s expected of youSome of you might be saying to yourself ‘hang on a minute. I’ve gone to every class, I’ve done all the homework and I know my stuff, but it still went wrong’ – for lots it’s often the case that you haven’t yet developed the skill of understanding what the exam questions are asking of you – they can be tricksy you know. The best thing to do is to practice, practice and practice some more – not necessarily writing out whole exam answers, but rather just deciphering the questions. Ask your teacher to spend some time doing this with you or get yourself a load of exam question from the exam board websites and then grab the mark schemes too – these can really help you understand what the examiner wants to see.Remember, if you’re struggling after mock exams - it’s never too late to do your best, pace yourself and try to worry only about today rather than the distant future, ask for help and reward yourself when you do a good job.
