Well I thought of making a blog-post for those of you sitting for your board examinations either the coming year or the year after whenever...to spread a very vital message about your examinations. They are not at all daunting! Key is confidence, the first thing even a doctor would tell you when you're ill; and the perseverance obviously we all have our weaknesses and strengths in various subjects. You maybe good with numbers not so with words, good at this, not at that and while you constantly ace one, you fail the other. And the solution for survival shouldn't be to simply consider 'dropping' the subject, solutions are there, are you? Being anti-social won't help you either. In fact science would encourage you to go out with your friends every once in a while. You must be meticulous, organised and be aware of time. It's always good to be social. 'A little party never killed nobody', or even some football with your mates. Just make sure when you get back to your books even if you're studying two hours, four hours or incapable to sit in one place and study for let alone 15 mins like myself. You do it meticulously, whole-heartedly and make yourself proud once that 'study-time' is over. Obviously overdoing your parties and stuff may have its consequences. So be well aware you are entering into a highly-significant phase of examinations in your life, you've grown up quite a lot, have and build that inner drive you get from yourself by yourself to (this is just for emphasis) bloody 'achieve'. Simply downloading and printing past-papers galore 'cause your mum or dad can will not necessarily help. Be aware of the material you have, exercise it to the maximum and trust me it's sad to study for a subject - last minute say Literature and the following afternoon to discover more material you had yet neglected. And having notes, past-papers and other material on your smartphone and tab will suffice. As they are freely accessible, not at all cumbersome and mother nature will be so proud of you! If you are sitting for your exams in June '15 you don't necessarily need to study like a mad-dog, be anti-social and have sleepless nights. Start downloading your material right away, keep 'em organised and execute it in a step-by-step approach throughout summer, if you want to. You've got plenty of time! A non-renewable resource. And remember the Edexcel site did crash for me right when boards were around the corner, so it'd be advisable for yourself to have your bomb-defusal kit ready in advance and that is your pastpapers: downloaded and organised on your desk-top or wherever, and it'd be good to also have 'em on your drop-box, USB drive or somewhere else for safe-keeping. Next up you are a bloody 21st Century child! There's the youtube that's got everything, for maths www.mrbartonmaths.com helped myself a great deal and there's the 'bbc bitesize' and plenty more! You can save a lot of time, prevent so much of fatigue that you could've easily gained travelling to and from various tuition classes. Don't let your past-grades force a rip-tide on your desire to work hard the coming year(s). Sometimes even your predicted-grades may put you down and you may think 'all is over', truth is: it's never over unless you're a lazy donkey. Regardless of what people say, your parents' high expectations that has a history of child-suicides all over the world...be detached from all that, believe in yourself, work smart and continue living life: making new friends constantly, doing tiny good deeds every-time whether that means carrying groceries for your neighbour (whether or not she has a beautiful daughter), offering a seat for the lady on the Dubai Metro etc. Don't feel shy to do good deeds, and while you be building on grades, you'd be also building character. Lastly well this blog-post has grown longer than I'd have expected, I hope I've covered my goal personally that is to motivate, encourage and drive you future-of-tomorrow lot despite how 'flunky' or hunky-dory your grades look on paper. Solutions are there, are you? Truth is I haven't received my grades but the experience of writing my 'boards' were amazeballs, keep me and all those who sat for their boards in your prayers and together hope we all fulfil our dreams and shake hands in the near future. One last thing if you have trouble with concentration like myself 'cause of social media and etc, here's some food for thought. Try meditation. Look it up online! And remember whatever you doubt, kill the teacher if you have to, provided your doubts get cleared (don't feel smarter than the teacher, that can prove 'cocky', just saying) and don't feel scared to speak to those the year above you for e.g. A Level students. Hope you find this relevant, no offense intended; just smiles and positive vibes! Big love, M M L Dias