Failing everything lol

[HamzaAbbasi]

My life overall is pretty good and I'm happy to say I'm still young. I'm in my first year of my A-levels and I got As+Bs for my GCSEs. I got into a good college and it comes with its strict policies but It was to be expected.

Anyway, thats enough for a back story; my problem is that I'm falling behind in grades, attendance and overall workload. I know what my problem is I just don't know how to tackle it. I come in late quite a lot and the late rule in our college means that coming late by even a minute you can get marked absent and locked out. It's happened to many people many times but it depends on how lenient the teacher is. My attendance is around 82.7% and the average is 91%.

With 3 months remaining I don't think I can ever bump it back up to the average. I'm already on a warning and it says that if I don't correct my attendance I might not be allowed to come back next year.
To add to this I slack off at home and barely do work on my own. When I do work however I can get amazing amounts done. I'm just so lazy and unmotivated that I don't know what to do.
This laziness makes me waste the hours I get when I get home and it ends up getting really late when I start any work and if I do I manage to procrastinate a hell of a lot. Therefore, I end up staying up really late and either wake up late next morning (causing me to be late) and be exhausted in college and look like a zombie in lessons.

Overall, I don't know what to do with my life. I don't know how I'm failing so badly even at subjects I like. In GCSEs I did average on exams and aced almost all my coursework. I'm terrible at exam style questions and the way they are so different from what you revise for.

In the end, compared to other peoples problems this may seem like nothing and I understand that but I just thought I'd get some outside help and see what other people think I should do. I tell myself everyday that when I get home I'll work instead of wasting time but in the end I do exactly that, waste time. I don't know how to get myself not to.

Thanks for reading~

 

[DMR]

Be strict about the timetables you set for yourself. When it's time to work, force yourself to work. Tell yourself to do a paragraph and then take sometime to do other things for a limited amount of time. Usually, when I get to work, I don't take the breaks I plan on giving myself cause I'm so into my work. Turn off any devices that may distract you when you work and go to a school library if that helps you. As for the lateness, just go to bed early and wake up early. Make sure to do your work before going to bed and don't tell yourself you'll wake up early to work on it before class, that NEVER works.

Also, maybe you should look into studying something you enjoy? this way you wont have to force yourself to do the work. The work I usually tend to procrastinate a lot with is on subject I despise. Think of all the time you're in school, don't let that go to waste by failing in your courses.

 

[whaatitdo]

Learn to live in limits. Don't overdue the time you have, use it meaningfully. Trust me, you don't want to keep your bad habits and make mistakes. Think of me as a possible future you, saying, don't miss classes and do poorly, and then get kicked off with no college degree to show for (just time of life wasted).

Get going! All the best.

 

[HamzaAbbasi]

Wow was going to write a whole paragraph then pressed Ctrl+R by accident and can't remember what it was. .-.

Thanks for the quick reply And I'll try working away from my PC I guess but I just don't know if I have the motivation
I do computer science that I enjoy and within Physics I love cosmology as a major interest but there's none in the first year and I have to admit I'm terrible with my memory, makes it hard to revise and do calculations from formulas or otherwise :/

EDIT: Thanks whaat for the reply Strong words :') I'll think on it overnight as I get a good 8 hours of sleep tonight Thank you !

 

[Allusion]

If you are bad at exam style questions, when you study get a practice exam with exam style questions. Go over it a few times a long with other packets. You will get a lot better at them over time and eventually do better on exams in the future good luck on your next exam.

 

[Naxious]

don't think too much about exams, fix your habits. I personally barely study for an exam unless Im weak in an area then I go to my teacher for help. Im good in evry subject beside spanish (lol) and I still end up with 90s or barel high 80s beside in spanish

 

1st problem - Why are you being late consistantly?

Go to bed earlier if you're sleeping in. Have a relaxing bath, read a book or listen to chilling music before bed. No junk food, no screens, nothing that'll make it hard for you to sleep. Go to bed well rested and get at least 8 hours of sleep a night, 10 if you can manage it. That'll make it easier for you to get up in the morning. I tend to find that the thought of getting up is worse than the actual getting up.​

2nd problem - Why are you unmotivated?

Are you not enjoying your course? Are you feeling like you don't know what your next step is after? Look up what you can do next; uni, a degree, a job, look at the salaries, the job perks.. anything that will drive you to attain what you need to get. Just think that when you get there and are successful, you'll have more time later in life to kick back and relax. If you slack now; you'll probably be paying for it for the rest of your life.​

 

[HamzaAbbasi]

Thanks so much to all of you, not sure whether it was just reading the advice or just getting support from people I don't know too well It just motivated me to work, some of the advice in there is gold, I've been off sythe for these very reasons Studying and working my ass off

Thanks so much again and may god bless you all

 

Why not try studying with a friend? It will motivate you way more.

 

Why not try studying with a friend? It will motivate you way more.

I second this suggestion. I didn't do great at college because of the same motivation problems as you, but I did find late on that I studied way better with friends than in a classroom. It was more of a "I'm spending time with my friends" than "I'm studying" kind of mindset for me.

I went from A-B's at GCSE to CDD at A-Level and so far that hasn't landed me a single job. So keep trying to solve it otherwise you may find yourself in a similar situation to me right now.

 

[Arya]

On a more self-conscious level, a lot of times the monotony of everyday life can affect a person in ways that they wouldn't believe even related to their issues.

From basic monotony to surrounding yourself with people who drain the energy out of you, etc etc. It's these types of things that we have to pinpoint in our lives and have the courage to separate ourselves from.

Try working out, meeting people with similar interests and similar goals in life as well as meeting people who build you up as a person instead of people who drain the energy out of you, even if it's unintentional.

If it seems like it won't help you, it won't hurt to try. I found that these things, among other things, greatly helped me get out of certain habits that were destructive in all sorts of ways.

 

[Katherine]

looks like basically it's in your attendance. if you attend school every time you will have much more time to complete the work and better understanding. just go to school.

 

[Deathsnova]

haahhhahahha american college.

In australia they don't check attendance. The ball is in your court, if you dont come and fail, thats your money wasted, not theirs.

And even if you do come late, its no biggie, just walk in and take your seat quietly. This isnt highschool lol.

It sounds like you need to make a routine, i know when i lived and studied in china i got pulled up by the office 5 times for attendance because I'd just stay home and not bother going in. They finally told me the next time i miss class without a reason they would cancel my visa and i'd be sent home so i straightened up, hopefully now that the college has threatened you, and you'er thinking about all those wasted school fees you'll straighten up.

 

[Potion]

You're in the same position I was a few years back. To give you a little bit of context; I got A*s and As at GCSE level with little effort, however when I got to A Level I had reached the point where I had to revise in order to get the grades I wanted. Similarly to you I went to a college instead of a sixth form so as Deathsnova said it was basically put the effort in or don't, it's your choice. There was nobody to push you like you there was back at GCSE level.

It wasn't until I got to second year when my results started to dive quite rapidly (predicted As and Bs but getting Cs and Ds). This was mainly due to a complete lack of interest in my subjects and consequently a lack of motivation. What got me through it was firstly the use of a hired tutor and to help with my grades in the short term, but also the motivation I got from not wanting to miss out on university. I then made sure that what I studied at university was a subject I held a much stronger interested in and this has kept me motivated throughout my studies.

It's now four years later, I'm about to graduate with a first-class degree in Computer Science combined with the experience I got from completing a placement year at a large software company. I've since been offered a position on a graduate scheme with a well known company starting this August with a very respectable starting salary for the area I'll be living in.

The point being if you can sort out your motivation, with hard work (and perhaps a little bit of luck too) the rest will follow.

 

[Sin666]

Your first problem is the title of this thread. "Failing everying, lol". You'll have plenty of opportunities to slack off after you graduate, but every job you apply to for the rest of your life will ask what college you went to and for how many years. Although there can be good reasons for dropping out early (financial difficulties, better opportunities, etc), most employers view an incomplete degree as a red flag. It's not really the place for levity.

In terms of countering procrastination, try keeping a study planner if you don't already. Write down what assignments are due when so that you can get an idea of how much work you have each night. As you finish assignments, cross them out (for many, this simple act provides a modicum of reinforcement). Also, try to find a quiet place to work were there aren't a lot of distractions and where you won't get sidetracked - a library at school is ideal, but anywhere in your house that's not your room works as well. Lastly, if you can't complete assignments at school, at least try looking over them and starting 1 or 2 problems before you get home. Procrastination tends to be from inertia, and it's often much easier to return to an assignment once you've started it.

 

Attendance is my strong point, but the only one I have. I can show up every day all day whether I stayed up late, have a hangover, sometimes when sick but absorbing the knowledge on the other hand often times escapes me.

It's strange how professors and college presidents / board members think, although it is understandable. You pay to be there so you should be able to do whatever you want with your education, but because colleges require high percentages and averages to draw in more business and be a top ranking institution they throw out people that go against the flow of things. Just because a student doesn't show up to class doesn't mean that they don't know the material. Same as a student that never missed a single day may have the worst grade in the class. In your case, I would suggest setting an alarm at least an hour before you have to be in the class, or more if you live farther away.

Interested if you are still having problems, as I just looked at the date you posted this and the last response. The semester should be wrapping up here soon, hope everything worked out for you

 

1st problem - Why are you being late consistantly?

Go to bed earlier if you're sleeping in. Have a relaxing bath, read a book or listen to chilling music before bed. No junk food, no screens, nothing that'll make it hard for you to sleep. Go to bed well rested and get at least 8 hours of sleep a night, 10 if you can manage it. That'll make it easier for you to get up in the morning. I tend to find that the thought of getting up is worse than the actual getting up.​

2nd problem - Why are you unmotivated?

Are you not enjoying your course? Are you feeling like you don't know what your next step is after? Look up what you can do next; uni, a degree, a job, look at the salaries, the job perks.. anything that will drive you to attain what you need to get. Just think that when you get there and are successful, you'll have more time later in life to kick back and relax. If you slack now; you'll probably be paying for it for the rest of your life.​

This. When I know i'm going to be late to class quite often I will change my sleeping schedule.

 

[Edgemaster]

In addition to what other users said, reward yourself. After you complete an assignment, sit and watch a little TV, play a match of casual CSGO, smoke a bowl, rub one out, grab a snack, etc. Be strict with your self-administered guidelines. These should improve the speed at which you get done with your work and thus let you go to sleep earlier. Then the attendance problem will sort itself out. If you don't dl something, only you will be to blame and you will have wasted tuition/scholarship money.

 

[RSPS Trader]

I guess you need to step it up a bit huh