GCSEs vs. Procrastination (Bella van de Grampel, PHS)

As teenagers across the country edge closer to their GCSEs in the summer, this word will be increasingly tossed around by frustrated parents or students themselves, often being misconstrued as laziness: but what do students themselves see to be the cause of this problem? So often, there is a root cause which is not addressed, whether this be habitual – such as tiredness due to a poor sleep schedule, a psychological one as you think you cannot achieve highly (so why bother), or even struggling to focus for extended periods of time without tools to encourage concentration. I spoke to a few of my friends and asked which struggles they face, and what manageable changes to their work approach they have taken in order to fight back against this well-known enemy.

Distractions are a common problem: “Whenever I go to my room, I associate it with sleeping and nothing else” remarks Jess. With busy schedules and simply spending hours at school, being in a space that invites sleep might not be conducive to getting your work done. She advised that often the best solution for her is finding a comforting, calming place to work, wherever you are (in the middle of Barcelona having to revise, or your local Nero: there is always a cafe nearby.) On top of your room, living in a house where everyone else is dealing with a million other things can be distracting. Blocking out the noise with noise cancelling headphones or white noise tracks (which are only one Spotify study playlist away) can really help to draw your attention back to your work. Finally, a more collaborative, motivational approach is always helpful. GCSEs are very much predicated on timed exam questions, and so you can use a timing app such as Flora (free plug!!) which allows you to set up a timer and grow a virtual plant throughout the time – yet kills it if you leave the app – in order to add some risk to your focus. Plus, your friends can join your timers!

However, sometimes it is better to actively move around and take the time to organise. Lily spoke to me about how she uses running and other forms of exercise as a way to destress and add variation to her day. They become something to look forward to, or to alternate with work tasks so you don’t find yourself constantly working for several hours straight, in which time you become steadily less productive. Instead, you can mix your day up with an hour of work and then a meal, exercise or self-care (yes, sometimes you have to make the simplest things something to look forward to). Moreover, you can keep your room tidy, stick to a routine and build to-do lists in order to clearly visualise what you need to do, allowing you to limit the chaos and the thinking to the work itself.

And last but not least, Sarah is here to tell you that you can trick your procrastination and stress (which tells you that everything is impossible) with a little reverse psychology. By doing the things you don’t like first, and doing them as early in the morning as possible, having the rest of the day free will make you feel highly productive and you will gain serotonin from your achievement, hopefully inducing you to try it again the following day. Furthermore, reducing the stress of your tasks by having a calm atmosphere is key. For Sarah, that means tea and music (probably Big Thief or Phoebe Bridgers knowing her) whilst you write down your schedule for the day, so everything is clear and well planned out.

Overall, the most important thing is not to berate yourself if you haven’t been as productive as you should have been. What’s more, so many of us could implement these strategies and be productive, yet still feel like we could have done more. In our constantly active society, we need to remember that relaxing and letting go of the need to constantly work is an important part of setting boundaries, and will help you succeed as much as any study tip will.