How to stay motivated during your GCSE exams

Staying motivated during the GCSE exam period can be tough, but it’s crucial to keeping performance levels high.

Here are 6 things you can do to stay motivated over these last few weeks.

1 - Focus on your goal

Keep your eye on the prize. Your GCSE exams are the culmination of two years hard work and the grades you’ll earn are the reward.

Focusing on your goal also means being strategic about which exams you are looking to get the highest grades on - i.e. the ones that are most important for whatever you want to do next - so you can give maximum energy to those subjects.

2 - Reward yourself

While the grades are the prize at the finishing line, you're still able to give yourself rewards and incentives along the way.

Whether it's your favourite snacks during study breaks, a day off from studying to clear your mind and recharge your brain batteries - little moments of joy along the way can do wonders for your energy and motivation levels. 

3 - Create checklists and tick things off

One way to combine focus and (mini) rewards is to create checklists of the things you need to do. Writing things down helps free up valuable brain space, while also helping you visualise priorities, optimise your time and prevent you from questioning what to do next.

Then, as you work through the list and tick things off, you get a little hit of dopamine that comes with the sense of accomplishment of a job well done.

4 - Take regular breaks

To keep your energy levels high, it’s vital that you build regular breaks into your revision plan.

Even during the longer chunks of time you plan to study, always include multiple breaks. For example, the Pomodoro method of revision recommends breaking study sessions into 25-minutes of revision, followed by a 5-minute break. 

5 - Do your best

There is only so much you can do, and your grades will be what they will be.

The important thing is not to compare your grades with other people and focus on doing what you can so that when you look back you can be proud that you did your best - and that’s all anyone can ask.

6 - Keep things in perspective

While your GCSEs may seem like the centre of the universe right now, they will come to an end and life will go on with an array of options open to you - whatever grades you achieve - so keeping things in perspective is important.

You’ve got this.