Winter Break Motivation

As my comprehensive exam date draws closer I continue to persuade myself to use all my winter break time to study. Unfortunately, motivation to do just that is low. Instead I find myself reading other things, binge watching on Netflix, and studying every now and then throughout the day. I spend my day lounging at home and just enjoying this down time with my family.

Now in my defense I have begun to create my pile of books and notes for exam day but outside of that I’m not studying day and night. Part of that reason may be because all the material covered on the exam is based on coursework that I have already completed. I merely have to trigger my thought process into remembering what it already knows. The other reason may be because one truly never knows how to really prep for a test like this. I mean how does one study for an exam that is 8 hours long, with 4 questions, based on four courses you took? I have my books, my notes, and my thoughts. What else can I bring besides my laptop charger of course.

Nevertheless, I question how prepared I am because of the limited hours I am spending reviewing. But then I remind myself yet again that I took the courses, excelled in them, and now just have to apply the knowledge I already know. So then I relax again and it hits me. That’s really the only thing I can truly do to prepare for exam day. Relax. I need to trust that I know the material. Trust that I can apply the knowledge I acquired in those courses and trust that I will do well. Those thoughts are the ones that I need to cling to because the negative ones are the ones that will hurt me the most.

So here I sit at home during this break, reviewing now and then because I have to remember how to use SPSS for that dreaded statistics question but the rest I trust I know because that’s the best thing I can do.