Study Skills for Sixth Form Life

After a long day at school and a more than hectic trip home, whether it's by foot, bus, or train, our bodies naturally feel drained. After a long day of work, our brains have been operating at 100% and over, aiming to be as efficient as possible. Then we walk through the door and have to figure out how we want to spend the hours from 4–9 p.m.: studying, doom-scrolling, or simply sleeping. Approaching studying is hard, but developing study skills that work for you is another mountain to climb.

Personally, it took me forever to adjust. When I came home from school, I would just fall asleep after a gruelling seven-hour day of code-switching, major sucking up, and trying to fill gaps in my knowledge. What I want to say is: you are not alone! We have all been there. Even the A* students have afternoons where they go home and crash because life gets overwhelming. It's about giving yourself a break and allowing yourself that space to breathe.

Words of affirmation

When I get overwhelmed, I repeat my words of affirmation:

• You are beautifully and wonderfully made.
• You are enough.
• My education is my passport to success.

Studying doesn't have to look perfect

One thing that I have learnt is that studying doesn't have an image attached to it or a set of rules that tell you what and what not to do. In other words, studying doesn't have to be perfect. Social media will have you thinking that aesthetically pleasing flashcards and colour-coded notes is the way to go, and that if you're not studying for 4 hours plus a day you're somehow behind your peers — but realistically, that is not true. Some days that success is simply opening your laptop and trying.

The Pomodoro method

When studying I like to use the Pomodoro method. Yes, yes — I know you have probably heard about this a thousand times — but this method allows you to have a quick 25-minute burst of hardcore revision. When starting out, saying that I am going to do an hour of revision sounds quite overwhelming, and I know realistically my brain will divert to another task quite quickly.

Thanks for reading and participating in my posts! This is me signing off, S.C.