It's ok to say "I'm not OK"
#38 - Year 11 ✅
Hi there,
Goodbye GCSEs, hello Summer. The clock striking 3 pm on Friday declared the end of my exam season (the first of, sadly, many more to come). It’s been a multi-faceted war of two years, combating multiple topics from all spheres of knowledge but we’ve reached the other side, and can now rejoice…for 60 days.
These exams have been a test of endurance. As I put it to some teachers when asked, your grades aren’t solely based on what you do in the exam room, using your head. The 6 week period has demanded resilience, patience, determination and a will to keep going, or as one YouTuber puts it, ‘stickability’. That itself, a key life skill, is crucial to success.
No respite from hard work over the upcoming week though, although there’s more fun mixed in. I’m off to Edinburgh on Wednesday, for my first ever music tour! It should be a great experience, especially with the weather (forecasted) as optimal heat and cloud 🌤️.
Highlight of the week: finishing my exams would be a cop-out. I’ll instead highlight my return to sport, through a Year 10 cricket match yesterday. Got the team’s first wicket, later a catch that I had no business taking and our captain (and keen reader) Kian led from the front with a superb 74. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though today, despite my deliberate warmup, I’ve hobbling around the house with a sore back #shorttermjoyvslongtermpain
On Friday night, although it was late, I sat down at my desk to reflect on the exams gone, like I did with my previous 3 sets of exams. I find that it is and was useful to capture your thoughts and perception of how things went when you are still in the mindset, for future reading and learning.
One thing I notice is the idea that “we’re all in this together” is so true when it comes to exams. Especially with these exams being national, if you are having problems with something or found a question difficult, it is highly likely you aren’t the only one.
I made it a habit to come home after an exam and scroll through Twitter in bed, chuckling at all the jokes people made about the paper, the context of questions and the exam board. Whilst it was a good laugh, it created a sense of community and bonding over a collective struggle.
When reading about tips from an academic expert, she recommended talking to parents about how you want to be asked your exams. I was amazed: this was a problem I was facing - my parents trying to show care by asking how preparation is going and how I’m feeling, and my exam-anxious mind finding it probing, stressful and unhelpful.
I was chatting to a maths lover in my year group about how my ability to not give up on maths problems I would ordinarily try hard to crack had reduced since the beginning on the exams, something that demoralised me and made me wonder whether I really did love maths. But, as you’d expect, he said the same thing and we both put it down to the sheer mental fatigue of exams, sapping all the mental energy we would normally be able to use.
Over May Half Term, I found myself unable to focus whatsoever. The desperation, attention and motivation at the start of the 2-week period had vanished. When chatting with a friend, he said that he, and others he’d been speaking to, had been having the exact same problem of being unable to get their head down in spite of the prospect of more exams in less than a week. Another relieving conversation, relating me back to advice our Head of Year gave us in our Exam Briefing: talk to your schoolmates, because you’re all going through the same drill.
This formed the premise of a whole chapter in Jade Bowler’s book, The Only Study Guide You’ll Ever Need (you may know her as UnJaded Jade from YouTube). Only when she spoke to her friends, revealing that she was scared about her exams did she find out that her friend had been crying every day in the past week. She concludes that exam stress is real, so it is essential that you share your fears, worries and struggles because as the saying goes, “A problem shared is a problem halved”
Our egos stop us from opening up about our feelings and emotions. Although it is a more than just a stereotype that this is harder for boys who wish to appear manly, being vulnerable is actually a strength, because it takes courage to agree that you are imperfect. To communicate your true emotions and show you are struggling to someone else is difficult, but I’ve found that, personally, some of my best interactions, face-to-face or messaging, have been where I’ve been courageous enough to speak about how I feel and admit to having a problem, and seeking advice from a humbled perspective. I would say this was the case with last week’s blog post.
After all,
(My comment to the above tweet was “Therefore we can also take comfort in the fact that someone has been down the path that you are, making it a reality, or even better, something you can learn from.”)
Rather than pretending that all is fine, choose to be vulnerable, understanding that who you are talking to is also working stuff out and also has problems they’re facing, sometimes the exact ones you’re tackling.
Book of the week 📖
The end of reading textbooks means I can now resume my book-reading journey. Planning to get stuck into some good fiction. One series I remember loving in Year 7 and 8 was the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton, following 4 children and their affable dog on daring adventures in rural England.
Podcast of the week🎙️
The most populous nation on the planet is seemingly a whole different world. A former billionaire in Communist China, Shum opens up on the crazy lives they lived, including disappearing wives, 3 networking dinners a night and multi-million dollar watches!
Article of the week📰
Behind the scenes in Zelensky's modern HQ
The BBC’s Clive Myrie’s experience trying to interview President Zelensky; a fascinating read from and about a person I have huge admiration and respect for, putting his life on the line for the purpose of news 👏
Quote of the week💬
“Be brave when you are scared, and humble when you are victorious.”
Try having an open conversation this week with a friend, sharing an issue you’re facing - I promise you won’t regret it.
Adi