My mum says i dont study enough?

[387]

I'm Polish and I live in England for 8 years now with my mum after my parents divorced. Since that time i have had issues with my mum, mainly about how i never revise enough for my exams. This is a constant issue when we argue because i study as hard as i can, sometimes 2 hours per day for one subject. Every time i end a "revision session", I take a short break and basically talk with my friends on facebook for no more than 10 minutes, and my mum chooses that time to go in my room and accuse me that i have done no work. I tried involving her in my revision but each time ends with me crying because she has very strong opinions, so if i say something in the "wrong way" she ends up yelling at me for "changing the subject and avoiding the question". This is really becoming a bigger issue, i have 2 weeks left of year 11 and this is really stressing me out for years, but it got worse since November of last year.

(don;t get me wrong, i love my mum and respect her and her rules but i dont know how to talk to her about it. once she has an opinion it stays there even if i prove it wrong)

[anne w]

There is a straightforward solution you'll be pleased to hear. Write a detailed revision timetable. The critical word is DETAILED. So, how to do this?
(1) draw a table that has enough rows to take you from tomorrow until the last day of your exams and about 10 columns
(2) title column 1 "date/time"
(3) columns 2 onwards are your 45 mins revision slots. Choose a start time that is realistic say 10am [I know that you are still going into school at the moment but your timetable has to cover week-ends and any study leave that your school gives you.
(4) between each column time leave 15 mins [these are your rest periods] so column 2 is 10-10.45 column 3 is 11-11.45 etc
(5) now you have a mind blowing number of revision slots. DON"T WORRY. I'm not going to say you should use every slot!!!! Strike through every slot where you are at school or have an exam [don't forget to give yourself time to get home from school and time to get into school for exams - so strike through slots from 3pm/4pmish
(6) now strike through a slot a day [this is your 'catch-up' slot. [You will inevitably forget something that you have to go to when your timetable says you should be revising; you have to go to the dentist or have a family celebration or such like]
(7) now make a list of all the subjects that you have to revise. Write the important or bigger subjects twice [likely to be maths, science maybe english and history?]. At the end of your list add the word "free"
(8) in the first clear slot write the subject that you have on your list, next clear slot write the next subject and so on, include "free" as if it was a subject.
(9) by now you should have about 20 slots for each subject. This is your revision time for that subject. If you want this timetable to be really, really useful, go to each slot and write in what you are going to revise in that slot. You can use chapter headings from revision books for this.
(10) lastly PRINT A COPY for your mum. Now she can see how much you are revision. She has to realise that it is vital that you get the revision/rest balance right. Show her this answer if you think it will help.
Now if you are face booking your friends when she comes in she should know if you are in a rest slot or
should be doing something, Expect to get told off if you are supposed to be revising!

Keep a copy of your timetable on the wall and strike off each slot as you do it. Don't work late into the evening, you won't learn anything when you are tired. Do something nice the night before the big exams.

I am a senior secondary school teacher head of upper school, so I tell my students how to do this and have done so for 20 years. Hopefully, your mum will have faith that I know what I'm talking about.

Oh, one last thing, I'm assuming you have a quiet place [bedroom?] to revise. This is quite important.

I can help with hints on how to revise if you'd find that useful.

[jackie m]

2 hours per subject per day is quite good, mum only wats the best for you, Good Luck

[Katie]

Your Mum is RIGHT. You should be doing a MINIMUM of 10 HOURS revision every day - 2 5 hour revision sessions each day.

ONLY take a 10 minute break between the sessions - that time is for going to the toilet and getting a drink.