"From Disorder To Distinction" by Henrique R.

Dear Year 7 Student,

I’m in Year 9 and I am going through some difficulties this year. I’m having trouble with my grades, mostly in math. I usually have problems with history, geography, etc. But I am scared because I wasted most of my time studying for math and totally forgot about the other subjects. The worst part is that I am not doing well in math either. 

I already did all my tests and now it's too late. The report card comes out on the 12th of September and I am extremely worried about the results and how my parents are going to react. I feel really stupid. The worst part is that next year I am going to another school, which is going to be even more difficult and if I am doing really bad here, imagine next year. I am really worried about my future. 

I would appreciate any help,

Anonymous

Dear Y9 student,

I am really happy to help you. I read your text and understood your problems. You are having problems with school, mostly with your grades in Math, History and Geography and having problems with the organisation of your routine. If that happened to me, I would organise my routine better and take different ways of study, focus more on my grades and study more.

You are having problems with school, it is extremely common, so don't be scared, your problems are with the grades in Geography, History and Math. If you receive your report card, you are afraid of your parents reaction. I understand what you feel, you are pressured and scared and that is ok. One idea is to study more, organise your routine to have more time for each subject and use different ways of study including pauses. Because when people study more and take different ways of study, including pauses to relax, it helps the brain to absorb the information studied. According to CornellHealth “Research shows that taking purposeful breaks (anywhere from 5–60 minutes) from studying to refresh your brain and body increases your energy, productivity, and ability to focus.”  Studies show that when people take breaks from 5 to 60 minutes in the middle of their studies, it helps the brain to absorb the information, helps to increase your energy, productivity and focus. Now talking about your parents reaction  you could talk to them, explain your point and say that you didn’t organised well your studies and went bad on your grades, they will understand you, or if this doesn’t work why don’t you try to forgive yourself for your  grades and say to them that next trimester you are going to organise better your routine to try to get better grades. Because your report card is going to come anyway so the best way for your parents to understand your point is talking to them and telling the truth.

You are scared because you wasted most of your time studying for Math and forgot to study for the other subjects. So if you don’t organise your routine, you will have bad grades  . In addition, you didn’t do well in Math because you were extremely pressured. Also, you feel bad because of your grades and next year you are going to a harder school, and that means that you need to be prepared for that new school. You really should organise your routine better, it could be by hand or by talking to someone in your family to see if they can help you. Also it might work to watch videos on youtube of how to organise your routine. Because as you are having problems organising your routine, having someone to help you will be extremely effective because you will have two minds thinking about the same problem. According to better health,vic.gov. au. “Talking about your problems can release pent-up feelings. Talking to someone outside of the situation may help you to find a solution to the problem.” Also, as you are going to change schools, try to understand the school’s method of teaching because then you can try to prepare yourself for this new step, however, if this doesn’t work try to focus more on Stance in your grades for the final trimester and after you receive your third report card start to think about your new school and how to deal with that. Because if you start to worry about this new school it will change your focus and that will make you really lost on your way of organising things and will make you have less focus on the third trimester.

Organising your routine better is extremely important because it helps with all your problems with school because you will have time to study for all subjects and consequently will improve your grades. If everything fails, I suggest seeing if talking to your teacher helps your grade and if they know what you are having problems with, try to study it, to see where you need to improve. That way will help you to get better grades, eliminating the stress that you have.

Sincerely,

Y7 - Henrique Reinas