The past few months have been some of the busiest of my life so far. In the last six months alone, I've applied to university, revised, had interviews at universities, revised, got offers from universities, turned eighteen, done a bit more revision and, of course, visited the Harry Potter Studios. It's all been a bit manic and now is no different. With mock exams just one week away and the actual exams looming, life currently seems like just one blur of work. True, that is what I had expected when I enrolled for A-Levels eighteen months ago. However, did I expect to get to the stage when social activities seem a hindrance, this early in the school year? No. It's only February; my first exam is over three months away and I'm already at the stage when doing something as minor as watching TV is affected by the constant feeling of guilt that I'm not working out the coefficient of friction or re-reading 'Frankenstein' for the umpteenth time.
I don't mind studying- I really don't. It's a part of my life that I have come to accept as something that is very important to me. Nevertheless, I find it concerning that over a third of the year is simply an overhaul of preparations for the five, six, seven exams that A-Level students will face in the summer months. And, when I say a third, that's only when exam fear starts taking its toll (in my case anyway). Even during the summer holidays, the so-called "break" after four weeks of A2 prep, students' lives are inundated with coursework and papers.
Whilst I completely agree that education is important, I do believe that sometimes us students need to sit back and reflect on what is going on. I have friends that are currently studying for nine hours a day. Yes, they may feel comfortable with that level of work, but do they manage to balance revision with preparing themselves for years to come?
Students who are planning on going to university next year, like me, are currently having to decide where they want to spend the next three or more years of their life. There's no denying that university is one of the scariest changes that some of us will ever come to face, Living in a flat with people you've never even heard of? A slight disconcerting idea for most, I'm sure. The decision of where we will go to start higher education is a tricky one- one that needs plenty of consideration. But, with hours of work to be done, it's easy to put off these decisions. I am personally beginning to panic as accommodation leaflets for university arrive in the post, informing that it's first-come, first-served on availability. Do I take the risk and decide what to do and where to go later? Or do I deal with the guilt of not working and take the time to decide now?
Ultimately, there's not a lot that can be done to prevent these stresses from arising- they are, after all, just a part of life. However, we can definitely help ourselves by simply taking a break and thinking about exactly what we're doing.
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