How ironic is the fact I am creating a post about exam motivation when my motivation is at an all time low... but I am hoping this post will also help me feel more motivated as well as some other people who may also struggle with motivation. As I am currently revising for my second CII exam, this chatty post will be more focused around that as well as just general exam motivation.
The knowledge of knowing you have passed an exam is great and also knowing that your hard work has paid off to get good results. As a person, I love learning new things. I am a nerd, a geek, whatever you want to call me. I love learning in general, I love the feeling of trying to and being able to understand complex things. I find learning so fulfilling and I feel it is so important for self development and discovering who you are as a person.
Despite all this talk about loving to learn though, I really struggle sometimes to motivate myself if things don't go the way I want them to. I'm not ashamed of the fact I failed my exam more than once, I was honestly really struggling with it, they always say that every person struggles with one of the exams with CII. Problem is, there isn't anyone to really go to if you are in my situation and struggling. At school you have your teachers whereas if you do an apprenticeship... you don't really have anyone to go to for help. I had an online lecturer for this particular exam and he was called Kev and he had very prominent curtains. He was an absolutely awful lecturer though, which made me and everyone else learn nothing from him so I can't ask him for advice.
This is a really random place to start... but one apprentice in particular isn't helpful to any of us at all. He literally creeps us out. His opinion is that all exams are easy and if he fails, he got a harder paper than us. And he always asks how we have done and he pretends not to have done any revision when we blatantly see him carrying his revision book everywhere. Don't feel sorry for this guy, he is an arrogant person and tip number 1 is to try and avoid this type of person at all costs as this type of person will not help your motivation one bit, this person will put you down unintentionally.
I always have the thought of the future in my head, and I always have the logic that whatever exam I do will help me in the future in some way, which is true because why else would I be taking that exam. This exam definitely will help, for me it is the last and final exam I will have to do for a while and the foreseeable future. However, I know a good half of the knowledge itself won't help at all within my job, that was the reason I failed as I failed on those topics. I know my weaknesses which is great as I can work on them. Once the exam is passed and over with, I will never have to remember motor, health, money or package policies (just as a few examples) which is good as they are challenging for me to remember plus they do not relate to my life right now.
But for the future, this exam will also help me big time in completing my apprenticeship course. As I will be over 2 thirds of the way to completing my course and becoming CII qualified, and the only thing I will have left to focus on is my coursework and this apprenticeship will be out of my life.. honestly this is my main motivation to work for it! (If my assessor ever marks my coursework books I will be finished soon after passing this exam). I will then be qualified to work in any kind of career in insurance, which is great to me as I like my job (so far), I am also entitled to a pay rise, which again is a lovely motivation!
Motivation also comes within yourself, I like to set goals and realistic achievements. For example I am always determined to start revision at a certain day (e.g. two weeks before an exam for these CII ones) and revise for a certain amount of time each day at the weekend. Having enough time to prepare for an exam is key. I want to try and make use of all the time at work and whenever I can get away with it to revise (my mentor watches me like a hawk so not always possible). I want to cover quite a bit of content that we are required to know and revisit all the chapters.
I know this might sound random, but as a visual learner, I always like to start in a fresh new notebook for my notes, I got a beautiful notebook from Paperchase covered in rainbow stars which I dedicated to IF2. Even starting notes in a new notebook and using a favourite pen makes me feel more motivated. I won't have time to do massive notes of revision but I want to do notes for the basic parts and the content we need to know for definite. Every time I failed, I felt like I knew the content enough last time, however the questions are my weakness, the questions were horrible and worded weirdly and I get confused easily. So I also need to do a lot of practice questions, as well as learning the content of the exam. With this type of revision, small but often sessions of revision works best, I tend to find after an amount of time, I drift off but if you have small sessions and regular breaks you will find the information will stick with you more. Use social media time or a cake or a walk around where you live to motivate you to finish a chapter. It works.
At the same time, I don't want to make my days too long, after a full day at work I am unmotivated to do revision when I get home. Which doesn't help as I literally won't do revision for 5 days in a row especially if work is busy. I won't make myself do some in the evening if I am too tired as nothing ever sticks in my head as I am normally too tired and I just want to chill. When I do revision at the weekends, I always turn my phone off or put it away to avoid distraction. It is sort of like self discipline in a way, but again you have to remember you are working for yourself and increasing your future prospects and hopefully get a qualification out of your work. Once I do this exam, I will have one qualification and be very well on the way to getting another.
I have also been on an outside course offered by the CII for Exam Techniques, I went with my good apprentice friend who is also in the same situation as me. It was a free course with free food and it was surprisingly good as the course leader told us our normal revision way doesn't work and we should be doing it a different way, which will also cut revision time. I'm going to try this method of revision, which basically applies sections of the textbook to the syllabus and start with your favourite topics first. And we should all wear the colour purple. It was a good course in all fairness and it has actually motivated me to start revising again so I am glad I went, plus a morning off work!
To motivate yourself even further, you also have to cut down your social time which is difficult and say no to things which honestly really does suck, but at the end of the day, you are working towards your future and you can look forward to being social after you have passed your exam!
Communication with others is also good, like I got told that my own notes are key to revision as there is so much to learn and practice questions were the way forward. Also being in the same situation as other people makes you feel like you are not alone and others can also help with motivation. My main battle is a positive mind set for this exam... I need to become more positive for it and it can be so tough when you have already failed it. I thankfully managed to turn that around in less than a day after talks with my manager but I still do get those self doubts as I'm not perfect.
And finally, treat yourself. Even if you don't pass, treat yourself to something you really want, like I treated myself to a Lush bath bomb and a shirt I really wanted. I also got tickets to the Circus when I passed as well. I really didn't want to treat myself when I found out I didn't pass, all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and I felt like I didn't deserve it, I was really down about it. My manager was luckily really understanding and nice about it, she sent me a long text which reassured me a lot, especially as my family was away that weekend, and Jordan was also a massive help by providing alcohol and Wii games. You need a treat and an overall goal to keep motivated. If you do fail... have a bit of a break from all the work and revision and try your best to forget about it, pick yourself up and try again as soon as possible. I know its hard as I have been there, but once you do more work for it and you pass and it is out of your life... you'll feel so much better!
I hope this post helped some people in some way. This will be the last exam post in a while as I have no more exams ever in the foreseeable future. Just keep positive and remember that the examiners want you to pass.
You can do it!
So yeah, it's all good...
Amy :)
No comments:
Post a Comment