School Stresses and Moving on

When I was younger, the biggest stresses at school for me was whether or not I had packed my PE kit and oh no did I have more than 3 pens and a pencil. Pretty meagre stresses really, but as you go through school it can just get more and more stressful and maybe half of that is what we put on ourselves, but for 15 and 16 year olds like myself, these worries can feel as if they are taking up our whole lives. Okay maybe that was dramatic, but you get the point.

So this year, I'm in year 11, that's my final year of school and the end of my GCSE's and it is a really stressful year for a lot of people. Obviously when you get past these you have plenty of other exams all through your live, but right now, at this moment GCSEs feel like a pretty big thing and getting past them can be pretty tough.

I know plenty of people who couldn't care less about what their GCSE results are and in some ways I wish I could think like them, but I just can't. For one thing I actually want to do well and get good grades, I have ambitions to go to college and Medical School as I really, really want to be a doctor and that takes work and brains. For another thing I have a lot of pressure from everyone around me to do well, my parents, teachers, family, I almost feel as if they are relying on me to do well.

My older cousins also did fantastically in these exams and one was even upset at having an A grade in her list of A* results, crazy right?

 

The whole thing almost feels like a competition, who can do better than the other, first person to get a set of perfect A* results wins, but it really shouldn't be like this

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To add to this whole deal teachers are constantly reminding you that, "Your exams are in eight months, you need to crack down, start revising early!" This just adds to the stress loads and makes me really nervous and panicky, crap am I really prepared for my exams, what happens if I fail them all

and embarrass my whole family?

 

Then the other day I was talking to my R.S (religious studies) teacher and she told me that sometimes you really need to filter what people are saying as often it's not directed at you. I think that this is really important because some people need motivation, but if you are doing well by yourself and this "motivation" just makes you stress out and panic don't listen to it. Know that if you are doing well (and that's well for yourself- NO ONE ELSE- I can't stress that enough) then keep going because you're doing just fine and at the end of the day, when you get those results, you know whether or not you tried and did your best. Parents and teachers are often trying to help, but they don't know if you've pushed yourself to your limit or tried your personal best, only you know that. So I've decided that as long as I work as hard as I can and do as well as I can then that in itself is an achievement and, if I do get good grades because of it I will know that they were earned and they shouldn't matter that much to anyone other than myself.

 

Not only are you trying to get through these exams though, but you also have to make the decision of where to go to study A-Levels and what to even take there! Personally, I am so ready to leave school, I feel as if I have almost grown out of it and I'm just really ready to move on. However my school offers a sixth form and all of my friends are staying there, I'm not saying that they should come with me or anything, but I am already getting anxious about not knowing anyone at college. I think that in many ways, having no old friends at college could be a really positive and good thing to do, I feel the need for change and newness right now, but it is scary!

 

I'm sorry that this post is so long and boring and it's nothing like anything I've really said before, but I really felt the need to get it off of my chest. If anyone is at college and has tips let me know or if you are also stressing then the comments can be your relief?

Alice x