Motivation is very important during revision. Motivation is what drives you to work. At times, revision will become tedious and motivation levels will drop. When this happens, it is important to quickly restore your motivation levels. What separates an ‘A’ grade student from a ‘B’ grade student is their ability to sustain motivation.

A well structured revision plan can boost motivation. This is because you know, in advance, what you are going to do. Student’s without a plan revise spontaneously. They read through a large textbook and answer the odd exam paper. This is not very effective at all. After a while, negativity starts to creep in. Students begin to think, “why am I doing this? Is this really going to work? Forget it. I’ll do whatever I can”. At this point, they’ve lost their focus and it’s unlikely for them to succeed.

Remember, different students have different ways to motivate themselves. It’s just a case of finding out what motivates you the most. Personally, whenever I lack motivation or the will to work, I’ll listen to an inspirational song/video or visualize the exam certificate in my hand with the A* grade on it. Just imagine the euphoria you would get when you open your results envelope and see this (with your name on it):

Perhaps you could print this out and write your name on it. Then, place it somewhere where it’s clearly visible. Whenever you feel flustered, just look at the certificate.