Top Tips for balancing Year 13
Top Tips for balancing Year 13
How to avoid burnout
Year 13 is probably one of the hardest, most important years of your education. With the stress of UCAS applications, interviews, and A-levels, it can be hard to prevent burnout – but hopefully these tips will help try to reduce the chances and help you successfully navigate the challenges this year throws at you.
Recognising burnout: What are the signs?
In order to successfully prevent burnout, it’s important to initially recognise the signs. These can display differently for all individuals, but common signs include:
- Constant tiredness
- Struggling to focus
- Feeling irritable or unmotivated
- Procrastination
- Feeling isolated
- Skipping rest to “catch up”
Top tips to help balance Year 13:
1. Use the 80/20 Rule
“80% of your results come from 20% of your effort,” in other words, “study smarter, not harder.”
To do this, ensure you are focusing on high-impact tasks to improve your learning efficiency and to overall achieve better results.
This includes:
- Exam questions: Use to practise exam technique and also to identify your weak points and high-yield topics
- Active Recall: Instead of passively re-reading notes, use flashcards, practise questions, and blurting to help your long-term retention
- Reflect on your learning: Regularly review your strengths and weaknesses to tailor your revision to those weaker areas of your knowledge.
- Use Past Papers: Past papers are an incredibly useful tool when it comes to revising. Ensure you regularly do past papers and try to replicate exam conditions when possible.
2. Manage your time effectively
This doesn’t mean you need to meticulously create a strict daily schedule in which you have every hour planned out, because let’s face it – not everything goes to plan. Which is why it’s so important to be realistic with your time. You are not going to be able to do 5 past papers a day or 3 hours of interview preparation before you start your first class. And there’s nothing wrong with that – remember you are not a machine! So remember to ensure that your weekly routine or to-do list for the day is flexible and can be adjusted based on your energy levels or deadlines.
I found that creating a weekly routine on Google Calendar, which I set aside blocks for studying, interview preparation, and free time around my lessons, was helpful. It also meant I was able to easily move things around if needed.
3. Protect your rest like it's revision
- 7-9 hours of sleep = better memory + focus
There’s no point pulling all-nighters if the information is not going to stick in the long term, so try to ensure you are getting plenty of sleep.
- Short breaks reduce stress & boost productivity
Taking short breaks between study sessions is so important and can help you study more effectively in the long term. Some people like using the pomodoro technique to help with this. Others prefer changing the timings to whatever suits them best.
- Take guilt-free time off – it’s an investment
Ensure you are taking time out of your busy schedule to do things you truly enjoy. Part of being a medical student and a doctor is knowing how to have a good work-life balance. Ensuring you are looking after your mental health and wellbeing is so important, and you should never feel guilty for that! I liked to ensure I had time allocated in my weekly routine to just rest and do things I enjoyed.
4. It’s a Marathon, not a Sprint
Pace yourself – year 13 is a long game. The last thing you need is to burn yourself out in the first term. Remember, consistency is much more effective than cramming, so ensure you are reviewing things little and often. Ensure you’re getting plenty of rest and are not pushing yourself too hard. Patience and consistency are key.
5. Reach out for support
If things are getting too much and you’re feeling too overwhelmed, don’t hesitate to speak to someone. Whether it’s a teacher, mentor, friend, or parent, it can help so much just to tell someone how you’re feeling. Bottling things up often makes things much worse and can impact you negatively. With so many challenges and unknowns you’re facing, it can be easy to feel like you’re “falling behind,” but I guarantee that so many others are in the exact same position as you are now. Just know that it does get easier, so give yourself some grace – you’re human at the end of the day!
These were just a few of our top tips for balancing the workload in year 13.
Wishing you the best of luck on your journey, you’ve got this!
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