Don't pressure kids to get the best marks!

Students, parents and teachers put unnecessary pressure on students to get the very best marks. Unfortunately as with any situation we do not perform at our best when we are under pressure, as the brain moves into survival mode mode and cannot study.. So the more stress the less is achieved.

As a student the best thing you can do is to set up a study timetable as this will take off the worry and enable you to get the maximum study done in the minimum time.

There are also things you can do to get the subconscious mind working for you so you can achieve as both hemispheres will be working with you...

First make sure you take an afternoon break between formal education at school or University and when you start study.

Now to get your subconscious send working at maximum capacity do the following:

• Set up your own desk or area with paper, pen, computer - everything you need so that you are not hunting around for anything - it is always right there at your fingertips. Before you go to bed reset the desk for the next night.
• Always study at the same desk or place - you want your brain trained so that from the minute you are sitting at the desk your brain switches on maximum concentration and enhanced learning capacity.
• Put on some classical music in the background - while you might not like the classics playing Mozart will enhance your brain function.
• Do most important homework before dinner and then finish homework/study after dinner. Ensure dinner break is fully relaxing time for you.
• Start study at the same time every night as your brain will train itself that as you sit down at your desk your mind is already conditioned to study - and you will get the maximum benefit.
• Take a 10 minute break every hour to refresh yourself, stretch - do not watch TV, IPad, Netflix or anything else as this will extend the break time and you are wanting your mind switched on to study not relaxation.

If you have to study a text book - you divide the number of chapters of each book into the number of weeks you have before the exams e.g.

• 10 weeks to exams and you have 10 chapters of a book to revise or study then you know that if you do just 1 chapter a week you will have studied the entire book before the exam.
• Then assign the night that you will do that chapter and do it then. Do this with each of your textbooks and everything will be covered by the exam time without any stress at all worrying about how much you have to get done..
• If you study every night Monday to Friday and rest on the weekend, have divided your books into the weeks available to you before the exams, then you will take off the stress, you will get the maximum concentration out of your mind and you will be as ready as you can be for the exams. As you head for the exam, remember you have done all you can and don't stress about the outcome.

I find that students who have not put the effort in are the most stressed because they know they only have themselves to blame and so the guilt makes them blame everything else for their worries.

Sometimes students who study hard still fail - and this may be your mind telling you that the career you were studying for is not really what you want to do but rather what you think you are expected to do.

Our mind always works for us - you may find that your subconscious mind has given you an out through failure so that you can pursue something that would suit you better.

For instance, I had a client who was very upset that although she had studied really hard she didn't get into medicine, her next option was to study physiotherapy, which she did and loved it and was a great physiotherapist. She said had she not failed medicine she would not have found her true vocation and talent.

If you really do what you love you will be fulfilling your life purpose and happy too - and if you love what you do, you will always succeed.

Good luck and happy studying!