Chapters
When it comes to getting the exam results that you want, it is really only you that stands in the way of attaining these grades. That can be a scary thought for a lot of people. Perhaps the most crucial part that you will need to have in order before you set your sights on academic success is to adopt the right mindset for progress.
The road to the top of the class is by no means linear and you should expect many bumps and bruises along the path to get there. Achieving your potential is only going to happen if you remain consistent with your study. Sure there will be results that come back to you that you are unhappy with, in some cases, they might even destroy your confidence.
What’s important in these situations is that you are able to bounce back and get back to studying for the next exam. It is important that once you get a test or assignment back from your teacher and you are unhappy with the result, you must ask yourself how you aren’t going to let that happen again going forward.
As a student it is crucial that you don’t let a bad grade affect you too much, and that you show grit in the face of adversity, look to boost your confidence and use everything as an opportunity for your own learning and development.
Lack of confidence is one of the main causes why pupils don't perform to their full potential. Whether you are focusing on getting the highest score in a weekly class quiz or you want to attain the best scores in the country, your confidence and approach will likely determine whether or not your plan comes to fruition.
We can all probably think back to a time in our academic careers when we experienced a setback and felt uncertain about our future course of action. Everyone has thoughts of quitting, it's only natural, what separates successful students from the rest is how they deal with these intrusive thoughts.
Setbacks at secondary school or college can be detrimental to a student. For instance, after receiving a poor exam grade, anxiety and panic may set in, which may have a detrimental effect on future exam success. You might struggle to sleep properly, and we all know how crucial that can be to studying and succeeding in life.
In this blog post, we will look at some useful advice on how to regain confidence and make sure you ace those exams! Most importantly this advice can help you be more confident when speaking and learning to speak a language. Try to integrate some of the learnings that you take when you are handed your next disappointing exam result.
How to regain confidence
Most of us know someone whose apparent ease and confidence we admire. It is easy to assume that people are confident just because that is the way they are born. Famous author Simon Sinek gives an amazing talk about how nobody is born with confidence.
Taking a look at how confident people attain such confidence can be a great learning exercise, particularly when looking at how they bounce back from moments of failure. Ironically, making it look simple may be the key to finding self-possession.
In situations where you are handed back grades that are unsatisfactory, it can be easy to channel the wrong response. It’s easy to refute the grades by loudly denouncing the system as flawed and questioning the validity of the marking scheme. After all, it is a bitter pill to swallow. This isn't constructive, though. Instead, it is better that you take time to go through your exam or assignment, look at the corrections, discuss with the respective teacher and go through the paper in its entirety alongside a personal tutor.
After all, it’s easy to put the blame on your teacher. You should at the very least disavow your own effort by saying that you didn't do any preparation and that the grade was appropriate given the circumstances. At the same time, you need to not let this be too much of a hardship on yourself, and still manage to stay positive about your chances for the future.
The most practical method that you could employ going forward if you are looking to boost your confidence going into another assessment, is to ensure that it won’t happen again. Using your mistakes as an opportunity for learning will ensure that you don’t end up in the same position further down the line. Being prepared is a great feeling and extremely comforting when you are walking into an exam hall.
The more you learn from your mistakes and accept responsibility for the grade that disappointed you in the first place the more you will grow. This will subsequently help in improving your confidence so that you are ready you ace your next exam.
Using your mistakes as an opportunity for learning will ensure that you don’t end up in the same position further down the line
Restoring your confidence at school
School can be a confusing time in general. Results that give you minimal feedback don't help you to work things out. While failing an assessment that is graded on a pass/fail basis can lead you to dig a little deeper to rebuild your confidence, failing a test when there are follow-up assessments that give you the possibility to improve your grade is obviously easier to deal with.
It's a terrible feeling to fail a test, especially if you know that you had given it your best effort. It has a way of making you question whether you are heading in the correct direction. Self-doubt can hit you like a wrecking ball, and you could start to doubt the validity of your original plans.
While confidence is a mindset, it is important that we are genuinely confident in our ability to succeed rather than tricking our minds to think so.
Of course, we would rather be confident than pretend to be confident. The two, however, are intricately linked and interwoven like a double helix, with the one feeding the other thanks to some bizarre alchemy. There is some truth in the "fake it 'til you make it" school of thought.
Confidence will likely alter your approach in how you go about tackling an exam. It will keep you focused and locked in through each moment in the exam hall, and will help you in your approach. Confidence alone won't get you through the exams, but it certainly gives you a better chance than crippling self-doubt. This is why it is vital to cultivate self-confidence.
You will likely remember times when you were younger and your mind went blank when you flick through the exam booklet. Your mindset can actually have something to do with this. Exam anxiety is a huge problem, but there is plenty that you can do about it. The following video explains that getting a good night's sleep, eating right, and familiarising yourself with the exam room can help.
Make sure that your confident mindset trumps any fear or doubt that you might have regarding your potential to achieve.
Naturally, fear is powerful and vital for protecting us from harm and for guiding how we react to the world around us. However, it appears improperly far too frequently in modern life, which prevents us from performing as well as we are capable of.
Remind yourself of your achievements
One of the best tips is to remind yourself of times when you have felt afraid or lacked confidence, and that you have overcome these challenges in the past. You are capable, and even if something feels daunting and overwhelming right now, it is not something that you can't achieve.
Work hard
It's no secret that we need to work hard to get good grades. It makes sense that this will boost your confidence. If you have worked hard, or are prepared to do so, it makes sense that you will overcome any challenges that are put in front of you. You have earned the right to confidence.
Focus on the task at hand
There is no point in taking on too much, or overthinking things. Multitasking is a myth, and to progress in your own ability and confidence, it is best to work through one thing at a time, rewarding yourself with every bit of progress and building your faith in yourself.
Boosting confidence in other walks of life
Mainstream wisdom touts countless strategies of varying complexity that focus on the self or focus on others. Often, they go something like this:
Recipe for Self-Confidence (which is not a secret recipe but just because it’s made of everyday obvious items, or is easy to understand, doesn’t make it easy to follow).
Ingredients: In no particular order, mix together in a living soul all or some of the following: standing tall, speaking slowly, breathing deeply, knowing yourself, believing in yourself, living by your principles, preparing well, dressing well, being kind and generous, thinking positively, rejecting negative thoughts, setting small goals and achieving them, focusing on solutions, changing small habits to acquire the habit for changing big habits, smiling, exercising, and being grateful.
Method: The next thing to do (which can be done first—unlike conventional recipes, you can start cooking up confidence at any time) is to remember that confidence is as confidence does, behaves, appears, or simply pretends to be.
The apparent cool composure of a person on stage talking to five hundred people does not mean inside they are not terrified, grim and wishing they were anywhere else.
Religions, ideologies, stock markets and love all depend to varying degrees on our hopes, beliefs and mutable points of view, and the confidence, high or low, that derives from that place. What we think as individuals or as groups massively influences the world we live in.
The idea that confidence is some sort of magic sauce is not true. Even Ted-Ed have created content regarding boosting your self-confidence:
Boost your confidence with the help of a tutor
Working alongside a tutor can give you a good level of reassurance as well as help to increase your knowledge.
The key as a student is to be respectful, modest, and extremely ambitious. After receiving constructive feedback, you must be sincere with yourself if you are going to make the most of the situation and improve on your grades.
Perhaps the best way for students to increase the confidence that they feel when walking into an exam hall is to know that they have done all of the work with an experienced personal tutor. If you want a confidence boost then work hard and avail of a tutor!
Think about learning to drive. One of the main reasons people fail their driving test is nerves and feeling worried about the big day. The idea of working with a driving instructor is not just about preparing you to drive, it is about making you confident in your abilities for the day of the test.
You will need to be completely transparent with your tutor and convey your areas of weakness so that you can improve going forward with your learning.
When it comes to getting bad results or messing up an assignment at school the best thing that you can do is own your mistake. It's acceptable to feel let down and to admit that you still have work to do.
The sooner you realise that you're not alone in your learning the better. Reach out to one of the experienced teaching professionals over on the Superprof website and begin working on your confidence so that you can ace your upcoming exams!
Alternatively for more tutors specialising in a range of subjects go to the Superprof website and search for a tutor near you.
Enjoyed this article? Leave a rating!
Loading...
