Preparing For GCSE exam results

Fear of failure

Many people are afraid of failure – but what is failure? Failure is learning. Failure is trial and error. Failure is giving something a go that might have highlighted that it wasn’t for you. We can choose how we see failure. Personally, I see it as being useful - as it's only by trial and error that I find out what I am naturally good at, or want to do.

When we are in school, we often feel forced to do subjects that we might have no interest in – that we might not even like! So, how do we get past this?

Focus on the overall goal

You may not like some subjects; that is natural, but you may want to pass them for what that can mean and achieve for you. Passing your GCSEs, or achieving certain grades, or passing exams, may mean you can go on to do other things that you want to do.

Plan a reward!

Whether you pass your exams or not, I encourage you, that if you decide to give the exam or exams a go, to plan a reward after giving it a go. Think about something to look forward to, something that, when you think about it, fills you up with excitement. I would encourage you to plan this event before you find out your results.

Your exam results do not define you

We often hear stories of entrepreneurs who didn’t pass their exams and went on to be highly successful people. If you want to be highly successful, then passing exams is only one way of achieving this. If you don’t want to be highly successful, then that is fine too. I often counsel highly successful business people who now wish they had a much easier job - without responsibility, without the pressure of success, and just had a simpler life!

Learning styles

Working as a counsellor, I often hear stories of how confusing and frustrating learning can be. It can be important to be aware of your learning styles. I am a visual learner, so if I look at a book that has only words in it, it will take me ages to read it! If this book has pictures, I will read that book in half the time and retain a lot more of the information. People who are kinaesthetic learners may need to get their hands stuck in to experience the learning. Some people are auditory, which means they may learn well by hearing instructions and sounds. I have often heard adults blame themselves for not doing well in school, when sometimes the way things were taught to them did not engage them, or the style of teaching didn’t suit them. I talk about learning styles as part of communication in this free video on my YouTube Channel @ youtu.be/NqW8Mv6wQ6Q

You can do it again!

There are so many opportunities now to relearn and do subjects that interest you at another time. This time may not be the right time for you. Some people can repeat a year, and if that is what is needed, then so be it.

Each person will have a separate story of their individual journey of learning, and in the run-up to the exams, so it’s important not to make comparisons.

Affirmations

You can use affirmations.

Affirmations are positive statements. You can decide to say positive statements to yourself, like ‘I have done my best and that is good enough’ or ‘The exam results do not define who I am’. You are still a worthy, beautiful human being regardless of whatever results you get.

Keeping calm

If you want to keep calm, then you can focus on your breathing. You can try rectangular breathing, where you breathe in for 4, pause for 2 seconds, breathe out for 5, and repeat. There’s a step-by-step guide in my free YouTube video at youtu.be/p-hFe992Ixw

If this doesn’t work, then you can find a breathing exercise that might work for you. You may even want to give my free 5-minute guided relaxation a go @ youtu.be/H0rrfprbcGg

In the meantime, for all of you collecting exam results, I wish you well, and remember, ‘You can only do your best and that is good enough’.

For more, please visit Sheila’s YouTube channel, mindmanagementforyou.com, or follow Sheila on any of her social media platforms.