How am I supposed to revise TWO YEARS of work in THREE WEEKS???

I am revising for my A-levels. I have mocks straight after my Easter holidays. My Easter %26quot;holidays%26quot; are three weeks long. I have to cover TWO YEARS of work in THREE WEEKS. How on ****ing earth do I do this? I%26#039;m trying to revise at a %26quot;fast%26quot; pace, but its not working and its starting to be at the expense of what I am remembering. I am trying to simultaneously fight a mental illness as well as revise. This is not working and I%26#039;m going to end up in hospital at this rate.

How the **** am I supposed to go through that much work in three weeks???

Some people in my year are going on holiday for a week during this period, and I know that they will get straight A%26#039;s with no problems. Why am I doing three times the work that everyone else is doing, yet still struggling? The teachers at school say that I am %26quot;gifted%26quot;, and that I am %26quot;extremely clever%26quot; compared to the other girls. So why am I falling apart? My meds aren%26#039;t even working any more.

How am I supposed to revise TWO YEARS of work in THREE WEEKS???

I think Sparkles pretty much hit it there in that if you panic you%26#039;ll find you can%26#039;t remember any of it and things get very mixed up.

One thing to remember is unless things have changed a lot since I was at school, mocks are just that - a dry run to show you what you do and don%26#039;t know. It gives you and the teachers an idea of what you need to work on and of course how much you actually know even if you don%26#039;t realise it.

Memories need a path and they need triggers, so taking Sparkles idea of splitting it up, that%26#039;s what we were always taught to do. Just split into major sections and then see what you can remember from each section.

Don%26#039;t worry about what you don%26#039;t know, just worry about what you do know. Then go back to the notes and fill in the gaps. Essentially in your head you%26#039;re writing a route plan to access that information, like planning a journey. Each heading and subheading forms a point on the journey and when you get there your brain knows where to go next.

Once you%26#039;ve been over that bit a couple of times, then just let it be for a while. You need around 24 hours to move it from short to long term memory and it knows what it%26#039;s doing. Well, it%26#039;s had plenty of practice over the years.

Also don%26#039;t cram study as you need energy and sleep to give your brain time to sort this stuff. Revise for an hour then go do something really uneducational like watch TV. I know the teachers say that%26#039;ll rot your brain, but teachers sometimes forget how to be human.

Another good idea is to switch subjects each time you revise so that you%26#039;re not mixing things up.

Also remember that to get to the end of the course you have to understand some of the beginning stuff, so in reality you instinctively know a lot more than you think you do.

As for the others - well, I%26#039;ve seen this kindof thing before where they sail through mocks and then go to pieces in the real thing because they didn%26#039;t really revise everything and were lucky. Remember that mock exam results are misleading because they%26#039;re marked against pupils in the same school - not how it%26#039;s done with the bell graph against everyone in the exam board.

You are very intellgent because you can think around the subject, not just recite facts. That%26#039;s where you%26#039;ll win over people who simply know facts because you can apply what you know and understand to both exam questions and everything else you do in life.

For example - if Stephen Hawkins had looked at black hole facts then we%26#039;d still think there%26#039;s this idea of a big black circular thing that is very greedy but we don%26#039;t know if it actually exists. It%26#039;d be regarded as the uninteresting universe schoolyard bully that pinches everyones stars, instead of something that might connect universes and provide an insight into the 10th dimension.

In conclusion - just take it steady and worry about you. Then you%26#039;ll find when it comes to the exams that you have to know your way around the facts and be able to apply them....watch the white faces coming out of that mock.

Oh and do take lots of fluids as your brain needs those. And brush your teeth to get rid of the acid, but don%26#039;t brush them too much or you%26#039;ll damage your gums, but do it enough so you don%26#039;t get gum disease from the acid....and watch out for the floride in the water, and if your hair turns green....

See - much more important things to worry about... ;-)

PS: Regarding uni....trust me, they ain%26#039;t stupid. OK exam results count for something, but they also tend to talk to teachers and look at other things you do. Einstein was called thick by his teachers...! lol

How am I supposed to revise TWO YEARS of work in THREE WEEKS???

You%26#039;re not supposed to revise it all in three weeks - you should have started revising ages ago, not left it until the last minute. Sorry!

How am I supposed to revise TWO YEARS of work in THREE WEEKS???

the most important thing to do is NOT to panic

i was in a similar position to you a few years ago only it was my gcses i was taking and my teachers had no hope in me, i was the stupidest in my year and i hadnt had time for revising because i had to go seeing nurses and councellors because of my depression. i just felt like giving up.

but about 2 weeks before I turned it all around by revising the main important topics we had learnt, wrote down the most important points that i couldnt remember before and went over them again to help me remember. i didnt revise everything because i didnt have time only the topics that we had covered alot and i thought would probably come up and i would have no idea what to put

there is no point putting yourself under alot of pressure now, just get as much revision done as you feel is possible, maybe an hour a day and if you feel ok after that a bit more

you will know at the end that you have done your best and that you also had mental health problems to deal with at the same time so anything you will get at the end will be much more of an achievement to you than it would be to anyone who got straight As and just messed around on holiday

i didnt get the best grades at gcse, just 5bs and 4cs and a D which at a grammar school was awful compared to everyone else. But i was predicted to pass about 4 so this was a large achievement for myself. Try not to compare yourself with others, i know its hard but they are not in the same situation as you and as i already said, if you put the effort in now you will be the one feeling proud of yourself at the end knowing you did the best you could

best of luck to you xxx

How am I supposed to revise TWO YEARS of work in THREE WEEKS???

Hire people to do it for you.

Ethical? It is exactly what you will do in the real world.

Try outsourcing yourself to India.

How am I supposed to revise TWO YEARS of work in THREE WEEKS???

Do you have a tape walkman and some spare tapes. Spend a day recording things from the textbooks on to them. Then go to bed and relax as much as you can while you focus on listening to them. At other times just do other things while listening to them - it will still lodge in your mind evn if you don%26#039;t focus on them. Go for a walk while listening to them. Listen to them while cleaning. Just constantly listen to them. When you go to sleep have it playing in your ears as you can learn in your sleep.

Try your best but try not to get worked up over it, you will learn best by remaining relaxed. Remember if you were to get ill again you can always do resits.

Good luck! Keep positive!