Dear TEENage,

I’m in lower sixth form now doing four CAPE subjects. Although my CSEC grades were good with three ones and four twos and a three, and my grades since this year have been pretty good, I’m worried that I may not be prepared enough for my May/June examinations. It’s not even that I go out often and don’t try to study, but I just don’t feel very confident that I understand everything enough to do well.

For CSEC, I had a lot more time to understand everything and for sure I had a lot more resources. I had two years to learn and compact everything, and on top of that I had a load of past papers, the CSEC lecture series and the study guide from your paper. CAPE on the other hand is so limited! With only about eight months to study everything , along with limited past papers and no easy study guide to work with, I feel almost burnt out.

I trust that my teachers know what they are doing and although I’m going to extra classes for one of my subjects, I just feel that I don’t have enough time or help to get it all done.

Stressed with CAPE

Dear Stressed with CAPE,

Having been there, we can relate to the stress you are facing. No doubt, the time and resources for CAPE subjects are much more limited than that of CXC, but what’s important is how you manage your time and ensuring that you avoid getting too stressed out.

The length of time needed to understand the topics will depend on you and how well you understand the basics and also how much time you think you need. Although it is in fact hard to balance time between school, extra lessons, day to day and extra-curricular activities, and of course sleep, there is a method that will work for you.

In regards to getting resource info in the various subject areas, it may be best that you speak to your teacher and ask if he/she can possibly provide some additional sources of information. Another option is to try and get in touch with persons who have done the subject already, for example, persons in upper six. Of course, there is also the option of doing your own research and finding things online. And although this is possibly the best way for you to learn on your own, its always good to get a second opinion from your teacher on information you get from the Internet.

Time management is a bit more complicated, and will be determined by the various tasks you have on a day to day basis. Considering that you feel a bit overwhelmed with everything, it may be a good idea to put some extra-curricular activities on hold or to cut down on time you spend doing things you don’t really need to do.

It is hard to tell you how you should organise your time, but it is important that you prioritise your time, and put in place a study timetable. It is also good to try to learn as much as you can because even if you don’t know it all in depth, knowing the surface info for each topic will at least give you something to work with.

TEENage Advise Team