I Don't think I can take much more of this...

[John79962]

Okay, stressed is an understatement, I've got an entire unit for my ICT to finish in 3 weeks (Including this one) and I have barely even scratched the surface, my teacher wants me to have time to make structure diagrams, gantt charts, and on top of that have 5 functional pages, this is a near impossible feat, I am not familiar with the software I am using as I spent only 4 hours with someone who actually understands the workings of it. the exemplar is about 5 times larger than the amount of work I have and I need to get at least a C in this subject and in my other subject to get into university.. supposedly my C last year (In AS) may help towards my grade this year but I don't want to fail just because one of my 3 units is more or less non existent.. I don't know what to do, and being this stressed may also ruin my chances of doing well in my other subject too... Never in my life have I hated websites more than now.. I would be working on it at the moment but I'm just in a cycle of wanting to continue but also knowing that I'm not thinking straight after trying to work with this stuff for several hours already... I'm also moving house.. Tomorrow. I really don't know if this is just bad luck, or if it happens on purpose, but either way, I feel absolutely crap.

[WantToChange]

I know how you feel. I got depressed at uni when I did my honours because of the pressure. And I couldn't cope with my teacher training. But when I got stressed I did the following:

Take a step back, try to stop panicking! I know that is hard but you're wasting time by panicking. You need to concentrate on it fully to get it done on time.

Manage your time for the next three weeks.

Don't think about doing any work tomorrow, just get settled into the new flat as soon as you can, if there are things you can wait three before before unpacking, then leave them until then.

Don't wear yourself out by spending hours at a time on it, the more tired you get the slower you will work.

Get a good night's rest, it's not helpful if you're tired.

[Hidden]

I too have been at Uni and I found it so difficult. Sometimes I found my head spinning and would take off and go somewhere just to chill and feel better. Can you get an extension John? if not on grounds of moving house, how about stress or better still both of them? Is that a possibility?

[Marz21]

I am also a student and struggle to keep up due mainly to the physical and mental affect of arthritis but also due to general ups and downs of home life. I have quickly worked out panic makes no positive difference, and it has been hard but letting yourself realise this can actually help you achieve the things which appear impossible as you don't waste your energy and time with it. I have been off sick with a flu virus the last week, so will have more to catch up on but I will plan my time out when I feel better and would recommend this as a good way to manage things. Having set time to work and relax really organises me, and I wouldn't say so if I didn't understand where you're coming from. It could also be worth having a chat with student support if you are struggling. They can really help. Thinking of you.

[Marz21]

I also should have said I am a mature student, but if it helps, my son is currently in school and has struggled with 1 or 2 of his Higher's this year. He failed his prelim in 1subject and was absolutely gutted, thinking he couldn't move on without this qualification. I myself failed my Maths higher despite working hard for it. There is always another route to Uni. I tried 3 years while at school to get into a Uni to do a particular course I wanted and was unlucky every time, but I then went to college and did an HND (which was brilliant!) then the Uni accepted me, on an even better course. I have told my son the same and it did make more positive, and he made a plan to best use the 5 weeks before final exams. So try your best, do what you can and don't waste the time you have worrying, but don't think things are final if they don't work out exactly as you wanted. If you want something enough there is always another way. x

[wallflower_fairy]

Hi John,

It's so cruel the pressure they put on us in these days isn't it? It's shite isn't it?

We've had the house - in my mind destroyed (in my parents mind decorated and I guess I can see their point because it does look like nice now but it was so awful and a lot of my possessions have either been moved or thrown out), because we're moving house in the not so distant future. So I can give you a vague high five because we share the theme of moving house somewhere along the lines.

I had to ask for an extension on my lab report for Stats which involves using a database I was unfamiliar with - because my mobile phone stopped providing network and this stressed me out as I had no contact with home. And then during the extension period, I got ill with my condition but couldn't really ask for more time as I had already had an extension, so I just had to muddle through. Well you can guess what happened. I did crap. I passed but that's nothing spectacular seeing as it's easy to pass but it's the quality of the pass that it's important, and I need to do well with my coursework to give myself the best chance of passing the Stats module overall because if we fail to Stats then we fail the whole year.

I'm not really sure what other advice I can give you, aside from the ones people have already mentioned but I wanted to say I know how it feels, also - you're so overloaded with work and stress at the moment that there isn't really much of a possibility that you're going to be able to get this all done and no way to a high standard unless there's an uncanny miracle, so stop giving yourself a hard time, and take the best option you've got left, talking to your teachers, talk to your tutors, talk to whoever you can who's involved in this and ask for more time, so that you can pursue the work in fair, healthy conditions and get the grade you deserve. If all else fails, then John, you might have to accept that this isn't going to be your year, I know that might sound like a harsh thing to say, but I've been where you are now, and I'm just being truthful mate. It's not worth getting that stressed about if it's something you can't change. I know you say you don't know what else to do, but you can still aspire to be what you want to be - I assume you're in your second year - which means you can stay a third year and retake year 13 if you have to, I'm sure that's still doable hey, and then you might do better than you ever thought you were going to do.

When I was going through what you were going through I was in my third year at sixthform and therefore on my last chance, so it was either get acceptable grades then, or not do well enough and only having the option of paying to retake them as a private student. I didn't have that option. I still got into uni but I had to settle for my insurance choice (which I'm fully loyal to now and wouldn't change). I don't know what I would have been able to do if I didn't get the grades. Get a job I suppose. Or continue to battle to be where I want to be. Although it's still a battle anyway. :/

Remember, you're young, you're healthy and life is a resilient thing. It's all going to work out ok, so give yourself a pat on the back for how far you've come. I would advise focusing on the subjects you know you can do and like (such as philosophy), and seeing about your options of either getting an IT extension, or if you do you could it next year. (When I was at school, some people could got to school just to retake 1 or 2 subjects to improve on their grades,as a part time student, after they'd done year 12 and 13).

~~~~~~~~****HUUUUUGSSSSS!****~~~~~~~~ (((())))

wanderingwallflower xx