How to deal with stress

Hey guys!

Today a short article on how to deal with stress! 

1. Accept that stress is part of life! Don’t waste time and energy thinking « I shouldn’t feel like that... »! It’s totally normal and we all know what it feels like. 
2. Get more sleep! You should go to bed at roughly the same time each day so that your mind and body get used to a predictable bedtime routine.
3. Try relaxation techniques. Each day, try to relax with a stress reduction technique.  There are many tried and tested ways to reduce stress so try a few and see what works best for you. Don't worry if you find it difficult to relax at first. Relaxation is a skill that needs to be learned and will improve with practice.
4. Manage your time! At times, we all feel overburdened by our 'To Do' list and this is a common cause of stress. Accept that you can not do everything at once and start to prioritise and diarise your tasks. 
5. And my last tip : Take control! Stress can be triggered by a problem that may on the surface seem impossible to solve. Learning how to find solutions to your problems will help you feel more in control thereby lowering your level of stress.

I know this is easier to say than to do but I swear to you that these tips really work.

I hope it will help you!

Dear terminales,

why was there no spam on the blog the two days before your first exam? I am highly disappointed.

Best,
A terminale from last year.

PS: I hope your first exam went well, good luck for the next ones!

IGCSE results

The IGCSE results are out! Congratulations to our candidates!
Please check your emails.

Congratulations to our 2017 graduates

You Shaw did it. Well Donne! (It never gets old, does it)


We are proud of you.


 Enjoy this beautiful summer fully, you've earned it!


Good luck!

Yipee!
Mrs. C
ps: I'm still in denial about you guys leaving us for good.

Story of the bac

IT'S OVER.
So I thought, I should write about it !

It all started in September 2002, when I entered kindergarden. I then spent 15 years in school learning to read, write, count, learn dates, count but with letters, read while analysing, learn dates to evaluate.
And then THE MONTH arrived. And I was panicked.

On June 1st, I started a night-before-the-bac routine : prepare bag with food, drink, best works of the next day's subjects, and of course convocation and ID - prepare chamomile infusion - shower - prepare clothes for the next day (ALWAYS baggy pants and comfortable shirt) - close all shutters - drink - set my alarm - sleep.

June 2nd : stressed as I have never been
When I went home, I put my lessons on John Donne, Alice Munro and Bernard Shaw in my recycling box and the books on my enjoyment bookshelf. Then I fell asleep.

June 3rd, waking up : um maybe I should work I still have a lot of exams to go. Including History Geography 3 days later and I haven't revised much yet. Oops.

Program : read my lessons, take notes, take notes again, sing my lessons to memorise the facts, kidnap my sisters so they listen to me recite the keys to the maps, all the while being thankful for the 3 days instead of the 2 other years have had.

June 6th : stress maxed out. Get the paper. Leaf through it to check whether we have a map to do. There isn't. Disappointment. Oops I did not look at what we had. Leaf through it again. China ! Let's start writing.
Once home, I go through all my history geography lessons... and barely put anything in my recycling box because I have the oral to go.
8 very intense days, with roughly 8 hours of philosophy revision per day, with awful stomachaches for the last few...

 

"I am more stressed than for the two OIB writtens combined" - me, June 15th, 7:10
"Wait this is fun I should sit the bac more often" - me, June 15th, 9:50
"Aaaah I'm on holidays !" - me, June 15th, 12:00

I do not remember the rest of the written week, except for the fact that I felt lost because I had a work schedule that actually let me have free time. And that I had two illuminations in the last quarter of an hour of the maths bac. Also I was too stressed to work so I drove up to Luynes to find the lycée. Bad idea because I couldn't be in denial anymore.

Literature exam : on Oedipus, like for my French exam last year. "At least this is the last time I'll be writing about him ! Judith you're going to do psychology you are not done with Oedipus. Okay then the other L are. Let me be happy" - my mind in the middle of the exam

AND THEN came the orals.
Essentially this means that I went crazy again the two days before history geography - I had a paper patchwork that hid my bedroom's floor.

  bis

Saturday, June 24th : Stole a long dress from my mom because pants are too hot, and my non-pants clothes are too short and I didn't want to stick to the chair. Why are my examinators nodding so much ? Am I really saying interesting stuff ?
OH WAIT I SHOULD REREAD THE BOOKS FOR THE ENGLISH ORAL. Oops. (Okay I have started to reread Shakespeare and A Passage to India already). Wait before I do that I'm putting history geography in my recycling box.

June 26th : what is Italian ? A language ? And I have to speak in it for 30 minutes ? Now ? Are you sure ?

June 27th, 16:50 : why am I alone in the waiting roooooooooom ? Why am I the last one todaaaaay ?
Little discussion with Nadja about how the Immigrants is a horrible poem to have at the oral, and as my examinor arrives I think I see "Immigrants" written on the paper and almost faint... only to find out that what I had read as an "I" from 10 meters way was a "J". I am reassured.
A little over an hour later : "so you're donewith school !" "I... am !" "Look at that smile !"

(sorry)

Since then and until today, I have taken a break from my room, not wanting to sleep in an area polluted by revisions. All of my lessons were waiting for the results before going to the recycling bin, so I am taking them soon.

I have never worked as intensely as I did in the past two months. Good luck to next year's terminales, I'll be in Glasgow suffering on my own.

Judith

How to revise history geography

Make sure your door is closed and then sing your lesson while reading it

PS : I hope my spamming is just to relieve exam stress otherwise next year you'll have one-sentence-long posts three times a day where I'll be telling you about my fascinating student meals

How to survive the first OIB exam

As you can see, Charlie, we survived.

Here's a quick guide to help you :
1. denial until one month before the bac (but still working on your mind palaces as Beverly explained)
2. hard work, panic, crying for three weeks
3. one week of denial where you're revising other subjects
4. yoga and crying and finding everything that could potentially bring you luck (in my case : Saint Charles tote bag containing all my literature revision sheets + my best essay in Donne, Munro, Saint Joan and the unseen) the day before the exam
5. drinking chamomile tea out of the OIB mug (paradoxical, calm and OIB don't go together -> noticing you apply analysis to normal life -> feeling happy because if you do that you certainly can do it in front of your blank sheets of paper)
6. approximately sleeping and waking up early to be there at 7 (I failed I arrived at 7:10)
7. stressing because other people are missing and you're scared for them
8. four hours of writing all the time AND WRITE AS QUICKLY AS YOU THINK
9. getting out and calling Mrs Choffrut
10. hanging up and going to relax
11. starting to worry about what you thought you did right but now you're not sure anymore (I'm not sure this helps to survive though)
12. sleeping
13. oh you have a new exam in three days guess you should go back to work (nono not denial, work !)

Tip : don't drink much between the moment you wake up and 8 because then you'll want to go to the toilet during the exam. Bad idea I suggest drinking during the exam and running to the toilet as soon as you've signed the paper

WEIRD WAYS TO MEMORISE YOUR QUOTES

In class: 

Mrs Choffrut: Close you eyes imagine a place that makes you think of Munro/Donne

In our minds: Ok why not? Is this really useful

*closing our eyes* : Ok think of a place that makes you think of Munro/Donne *thinks* will this be useful? ok let's give the first thing that comes to your mind and find a very convincing argument

Mrs Choffrut: *trumpet sound from the phone* time's up, hope you didn't take a nap,  know you are all tired, so *calls a name* what place did you chose

Person explains

*Ohhh not bad very interesting*

Today at the exam 

In my head ; *Mrs Choffrut voice* close your eyes imagine a place and stick a quote at a certain area in the place that you imagined 

 *Close my eyes imagines the place* and the quotes came and also helped for an introduction.

Even though it was weird, the activities were fun and useful.

Thank you Mrs Choffrut 

BAC

TERMINALE YEAR SUMMARY:

BAC = STRESS = WANT TO IGNORE STRESS = WATCH A MOVIE = NOT ENOUGH = NEED

MORE DISTRACTION = BEGIN A SERIE = FINISH THE SERIE = REMEMBERING OF THE

BAC = STRESS = GUILT BECAUSE OF WATCHING SERIE INSTEAD OF STUDYING = EVEN

MORE STRESS = NEED TO IGNORE GUILT = WATCH ANOTHER SERIE = EVEN MORE

GUILT = EVEN MORE STRESS = DEADLINES + EXAMS = STRESS = YOU CRY = YOU

THINK YOU ARE GOING TO FAIL = SCARRRYYYY = YOU MAKE PLENTY OF SUMMARY

SHEETS = YOU LEARN WELL = SCARRRYYYY : YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOUR

FUTURE = STRESS = MISS CLASSES BECAUSE YOU WANT TO REVISE EXAMS = NIGHT

BEFORE THE EXAM : STRESS + MAKE STUPID ARTICLES ABOUT THE EXAM + CAN'T

SLEEP + CUP OF TEA = DAY OF THE EXAM : STRESS , CALM , STRESS , HUNGRY ,

THIRSTY , ANGRY , SAD , HAPPY ... = AFTER THE EXAM : SCARED , REASSURED

BECAUSE YOUR OIB CLASSMATES ARE IN THE SAME SITUATION AS YOU = YOU GO

TO SLEEP = YOU DREAM WELL = DAY OF RESULTS : YOU HAVE YOUR BAC ,

EVERYONE HAS IT = ALL HAPPY = GRADUATION DAY = PERFECT = CRY OF JOY = CRY

OF SADNESS BECAUSE WE WON'T SEE EACH OTHER EVERYDAY ANYMORE = HAPPY

ENDING FOR EVERY ONE = GOOD SUMMER FOR ALL : DURING SUMMER

WATCH/REWATCH/BINGE-WATCH ALL SERIES YOU COULDN'T WATCH BECAUSE OF

THE EXAMS = BEGINNING OF A NEW LIFE

Goodnight

 

Me, trying to fall asleep early, the night before an exam

BAC

Oh I forgot to ask..
Is there any way we can retake the exam
if we don't have enough points for the BAC ?

BAC

Who's coming with me ?
If my exams don't go as planned, I'm doing a road trip across the world
(first Europe then Africa, Oceania, Asia, North America and South America)
and when it's over, I do it again but on a boat

We can make easy money by translating menus in restaurants !!!

BAC

So I was wondering...

If I fail my BAC, 

can I come back in the OIB next year ?

Please, 

A desperate student, 

the night before the exam

Good Luck to our dear terminales for tomorrow. We will all send you good Oib vibes! May Munro and  Wilde be with you!

The bac is a great invention

Reason : it makes me exercises to force the frustration out

Good luuuuck to the Terminales!

Good luck, we think of you!

PS: Please stay alive to tell us how it is...