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assessments

Hi, Im new to this service and basically the main reason I joined is that I think Ive hit rock bottom with my studies. I havent been feeling well for the past few days. I could feel my heart beating faster and I would always wake up earlier than usual, all because of this one large assessment task that I couldnt complete because I was busy with prioritising other assignments and tutoring homework, not to mention I also do swimming lessons that tire me out every week.

 

One of the electives that Im doing right now is IST (information and software technology) and so far what we are doing in class is animation, using Adobe Animate to create a mini animation/video. However I feel like I havent been focusing on classwork in IST compared to the first and second terms. 

 

About this assessment, it was due not long ago and I feel extremely terrible about it. I did tell my teacher in advance that I would not be able to submit this task and that I would face a risk of losing 10% of marks every 24 hours. I did complete only a small portion of this work but that was right at the last minute. A few hours after the submission time, I felt nervous,  uncomfortable in my heart and my brain was aching quite hard, mainly because I was gonna lose marks even more and that this would be recorded in my reports and that I would freak my parents out.

 

I still feel terrible to this day and wanted to send a letter telling my teacher how sorry I am for being irresponsible with this task. If anyone could help me with tips of:

 

1. how to overcome and deal with terrible assessment results/marks

2. how to concentrate and study more efficiently

3. how to stop high amounts of procrastination

 

.. that would be extremely great and helpful. I have faith in myself that I will complete this task, despite already losing a lot of marks per day. I am really trying to make an effort and have set plans for the next topic and assessment. Please send wishes for me as that would be appreciated.

yonglixx
yonglixxPosted 21-10-2023 03:29 PM

Comments

 
Rara
RaraPosted 23-10-2023 11:58 AM

Hi @yonglixx 

 

I'm sorry to hear you are struggling with your assessment and workload but I completely get it. I set unnecessarily high standards for myself and my grades that when I do submit my work I feel anxious about submitting them and it will take me weeks to check my results once I've gotten them back.

 

It's great to see that you were able to email your teachers about not submitting on time, if this happens again you can always ask for an extension. I often find that they will often offer extension were they can, when you ask for them. 

 

For your first question, I found an assignment that was worth 50% of my grade and I just passed the class. This upset me but then I reminded myself its just a grade and doesn't define me, even if it upset my parents, I tried my hardest. I also told myself that this is a subject that I didn't enjoy and that I am not making a career out of it. I wrote this down as well it helped me. My tip is just reminding yourself that 1 grade doesn't define anything.

 

For your second question. My tip would be writing out when things are due and do them in order of due date. That way you give yourself enough time between each and think one week ahead, tell yourself one week earlier that its due friday or something when its not actually due until Tuesday. That way you can finish and then refine the work when needed. 

 

For your third question: stopping procrastination is hard, I find setting breaks or goals. When I am having a really hard day with it I will either go every 200 words or every article I read I get a small break. However, in this break I won't pick my phone up or do a hobby, I'll get up walk outside, do some other research or a small bit of another assignment. That way I am not totally distracted.

 

I hope these help and all the best with the rest of your assessments. 

 
Chloe-RO
Chloe-ROPosted 21-10-2023 04:06 PM

Hey there @yonglixx ,

 

Thanks for sharing what has been happening for you. I'm sorry to hear that you are struggling with assessments and work. I can see you have a lot on your plate so it is understandable when you just feel too exhausted and unmotivated to get something done. What's inspiring about your post is that you are determined to make improvements. Well done on having this growth mindset and having faith in yourself! This in itself needs to be recognised.

 

The Adobe creative suite can be quite fiddly to play around with. It's not so much the effort, but the time that is required. Everything is to the pixel. So I can totally relate. Especially if you have other assignments, swimming and tutoring homework on top of that.

 

It's probably a good idea to send your teacher an email/letter to explain that you are really struggling with the work/task. They may be able to better guide and support you, even if it is not for this assignment, they would be more mindful of your needs in the future and perhaps have regular check-ins with you. What do you think? By being open and honest about it, you may find you will get more support for such tasks, and get the encouragement you need from the beginning rather than when it is due.

 

As for getting your time sorted, what have you found helpful? Some people like to tackle the easier tasks first to get them over and done with and so they can feel a sense of achievement. Others tend to like a whole chunk of time to focus on the one task and not do anything else until the tasks is done. What have you found helpful? Lists? Small rewards in between? Visual calendar?

 

Here are some articles that might be helpful for you:

Motivation Boosters 

How to Manage your Time 

Study Stress Tips 

 

And while you are studying, don't forget to remember your wellbeing:

Wellbeing and Self-Care

 

When we are stress, our bodies react in different ways. If you are still concerned with your physical symptoms, it's good to speak to a GP.

 

We look forward to hearing from you.

 
 
yonglixx
yonglixxPosted 21-10-2023 07:39 PM

Hi there, 

 

Thank you for having the time to respond to me today and thank you for addressing about my positive mindset despite my results probably gonna be terrible (like below 50%). Im glad that someone also uses Adobe at least in their lifetime and can also relate to me about it not being the easiest software to use.

 

In the near future, I definitely will either send an email or talk to my teacher in person about the reasons for my late submission, and hopefully they understand my situation a bit more. I really like the idea of regular check-ins time to time as it can help my teacher understand our moods and progress with current topics that we are learning and studying.

 

For assessments, I usually write it down on a sticky note, with date and week number next to it, and helps me keep track of time.

 

With my time management, I sometimes do complete easy tasks first just to get them out of the way, or complete the hardest tasks so I dont have to deal with them again. However I struggle a lot, especially procrastination which Im trying to gradually remove in my studies until Year 12. Usually everyday I always think that I can "do this task tomorrow" and soon repeats until the day before the deadline. I know that this stresses me out and I am glad you have provided links to deal with this.

 

In my opinion, I dont think Ive tried any of your suggestions but I probably will in the future.

 

Meanwhile could you possibly list how to overcome and deal with terrible assessment results/marks? 

 

Anyways I just want to say thank you for taking the time listening to my current situation and Ill definitely use this platform more to discuss/vent events that may or may not be related to studies and stress. 🙂

 
 
 
Pho-RO
Pho-ROPosted 21-10-2023 10:56 PM

Hi @yonglixx it's great to hear that you are so open and willing to try some of the things Chloe has suggested. And I am glad to hear that this space can be a source of support for you during this stressful period of time. 

 

You could have a read through of this article about failing a course or subject for some ideas about ways to navigate it all. It is always important to talk about failing, so that you aren't struggling through it alone, as well as giving you an opportunity to learn from the experience. There's no shame in failing when it can become an opportunity for growth! 

 

We look forward to continuing to see you around the forums, and of course you can always reach out to us with whatever is on your mind and we will do our best to support you. 

 
 
 
 
yonglixx
yonglixxPosted 22-10-2023 09:32 PM

Sorry I couldnt get back to you earlier because I was finishing that large assessment task, but I wanna also thank you for the help and I really appreciate it. However even though I know that there are many people around the world who are also failing due to the same reasons as me, I still feel uncomfortable as Ill be the only person in my class with a ridiculously low score compared to others. To be honest Im quite introverted, shy and probably reluctant when I talk to teachers about failing and about results as I feel like Im disturbing them more. Meanwhile thank you for also guiding me and assisting me while Im struggling.

 
 
 
 
 
Chloe-RO
Chloe-ROPosted 22-10-2023 10:37 PM

Hey there @yonglixx ,

 

Thanks for getting back to us despite you being so busy at this time. Good on your for being able to find the motivation to work on your assessment. It takes a lot of effort to push through the procrastination I reckon. Well done!

 

After reading your post, I'm hearing that you are thinking that you will have a ridiculously low score compared to others. I hear how stressful this is to you. I'm curious to know whether at your school, the teachers share your scores with others? 

 

As natural as it may be for us to compare ourselves with others, I'm wondering if you can look at your mark as your own? That is, use the mark you get to help yourself? Rather than using the score to compare it with others, can you compare your next assessment score to this score as an indicator of improvement? 

 

As Pho-RO provided the resource about failing a subject, I remember reading the part where it mentions that it's not necessarily bad. That is, by getting a not-so-good-score, you can be motivated to improve next time so as not to repeat the same mistake. Do you think you would do that?

 

Please know, teachers are not there to find you annoying. I'm sure they genuinely want all their students to do well. Having an honest chat with them may be the key to getting that little nudge that you need sometimes.

 

All the best. Let us know how things go for you 🙂

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