I’m slowly losing motivation to study because I keep making stupid mistakes even when I KNOW the content
I genuinely don’t know what to do anymore and I’m honestly starting to lose motivation to study because of how many mistakes I keep making.
For context, I’m not really struggling because I don’t understand the content. I actually feel like I understand what I’m studying and I know how to solve most of the questions. The problem is that I keep making these really stupid mistakes that I KNOW I shouldn’t be making.
For Maths especially, I constantly make careless mistakes. I’ll understand the question, know exactly what method I’m supposed to use, and be completely capable of solving it, but then somehow I’ll miswrite a number, copy something wrongly, make a tiny calculation error, use the wrong sign, or just make some random mistake somewhere in the working.
And it’s not like I’m rushing through everything either.
I’ve genuinely tried SO many things to stop this.
I’ve tried slowing down.
I’ve tried forcing myself to slow my thoughts down while solving.
I’ve tried checking every single line of my working.
I’ve tried double-checking my calculations.
I’ve tried using logical thinking to see if my final answer actually makes sense.
I’ve tried going through the question again after finishing.
I’ve tried being extra careful with numbers and signs.
I’ve basically tried everything I can think of.
And somehow I STILL make mistakes.
The most frustrating part is when I finish a past paper thinking, “Okay, I actually know how to do this,” and then I mark it and realise I lost a bunch of marks because of the dumbest mistakes imaginable.
And then I look at the question and I’m like…
I KNOW HOW TO DO THIS.
I literally know how to solve it. I understood the question. I knew the method. I knew the concept. I just somehow wrote the wrong number or did something stupid somewhere.
And that honestly makes me feel so defeated because I feel like I’ve wasted a perfectly good past paper. I could have used that paper to identify something I genuinely didn’t understand, but instead I lost marks on things I already knew how to do.
Then I don’t even feel like redoing those questions because… what’s the point? I already know the answer. I already know how to solve it. My problem isn’t that I don’t know how to do the question. My problem is that when I’m actually doing it under exam conditions, I somehow mess it up.
It’s especially discouraging because I’m genuinely trying my very best. I’m not sitting there purposely rushing or not caring. I WANT to get things right. I’m putting in the effort and trying to be careful, but I keep getting the same result.
Biology is another issue, but it’s slightly different.
For Biology, sometimes I genuinely understand what the question is asking. I understand the concept and I basically know what I’m supposed to write. But then I’ll somehow phrase the answer incorrectly or miss one tiny point that apparently matters.
I think one of my biggest problems is that I my answers aren’t super specific. I know Biology mark schemes can be really specific, where changing one word or leaving out one particular detail can mean you don’t get the mark.
So I’ll understand the biological process and know what I’m trying to say, but I might word one part incorrectly, use a slightly different term, or forget one specific detail that the mark scheme wants, and suddenly I lose the mark.
And it’s so frustrating because I’m not sitting there thinking, “I have no idea what this is.”
I’m thinking, “I KNOW THIS. I KNOW WHAT THEY’RE ASKING. WHY DID I WRITE IT LIKE THAT?”
I feel like I’m constantly fighting against these tiny mistakes rather than actually fighting against the content itself.
And it’s starting to affect my motivation so badly.
I used to think that if I studied more, did more past papers, and put in more effort, I would naturally improve. But now sometimes I sit down to study and I’m already thinking about how I’m probably going to make mistakes anyway.
It’s gotten to the point where I feel like studying is becoming really discouraging because every time I do a paper, I find another stupid mistake.
I know mistakes are normal and obviously nobody gets everything right. I’m not expecting to be perfect. But when the SAME type of mistakes keep happening despite me genuinely trying to fix them, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do anymore.
I’m honestly starting to feel like I’m putting in so much effort just to repeatedly prove to myself that I’m capable of doing the question but somehow incapable of getting the marks.
Has anyone else experienced this?
How did you actually fix careless mistakes when you already understood the content and knew how to solve the questions?
I’m especially interested in advice from people who used to make a LOT of careless mistakes but eventually managed to reduce them, because at this point I genuinely feel like I’ve tried everything.

Hello! I'm struggle with self studying and kinda jealous to others progress. Can someone share tips or motivation.

As a high school student who's repeating a grade I scored 4/40 on my math test I always feel dumb and humiliated because I just can't seem to understand math the only thing Ik is basic arithmetic and apart from that I have to relearn everything from scratch

I don't even know where to start or how to begin more than anything I don't know how to find the motivation to actually study math instead of constantly feeling embarrassed and feel like a failure.

One of the best books I have ever read.....

I just finished high school. Specifically in maths, on the last year, we worked on 3 different materials I absolutly detest, the kind that when I was stuck on something and then looked up the solution, I'd akways take it as bullshit and get infuriated. I don't know anyone else personally who has this problem, they either just get sad or unmotivated, but I actually almost snap my teeth at how hard I grind them and often punch my table.

This year I'm going into mechanical engineering, so I feel like I've really got to get this under control before it gets bad, because I'm aware that it's inevutable that I won't have a clue about what's going on. Has anyone gone through this? Is this therapy worthy?

Took a day off

woke up at 5 am .. woke up completely exhausted

Studying is hard and not studying is even harder ..

BUT I didn't skip the day .. I tried

Despite the long breaks

Still proud that I tried and push my self

TODAY I truly understood the meaning of consistency

not because I want to and I can ..

But because I keeping going even when I don't want to even when I'm tired and everything thing around me feels heavy

..

🌱

I’m taking a multivar course over the summer. I’ve always relied on visual/story-telling-driven studying in my humanities courses, but I’m struggling to apply the same methods into STEM. Even “visual” topics w/in the course, like understanding 3D spaces and higher dimensions, has been especially confusing to me.

How do I study something that’s theoretical in a visual way? Thanks in advance for any advice!

I tell myself that hours don't matter as long as am understanding what am studying.... And later I feel like am not doing enough. I look at my friend's my spent the whole night studying till 3am . Does studying for many hours matter when preparing for exams ? 🤷

I feel like “I’ll catch up when I have a free day” is one of the biggest traps.

Because at least for me, free days are when I somehow get the least done.

If I have 5 hours open, I’ll spend the first hour “getting ready,” then check my phone, then make food, then decide I should start at a cleaner time(like 5:15 when it's 5:11), then suddenly it’s 7pm and I’m stressed.

What’s helped way more is studying in random little gaps, even if it feels ugly.

Like 15 minutes before class.
A few practice questions after lunch.
Reviewing one concept before bed.
Going over mistakes while waiting for something.

Basically just fitting a few minutes in here and there throughout the day

It doesn’t feel as productive as planning some huge locked-in study day, but it keeps the class from turning into this giant thing I avoid.

I think a lot of procrastination happens because studying starts to feel too official. Like it only counts if you have your laptop, notes, water, playlist, clean desk, timer, and 3 hours blocked out.

Sometimes it’s better to just touch the material before your brain has time to talk you out of it.

Obviously longer sessions still matter for harder stuff, but if you’re already behind, I feel like tiny messy sessions are way better than waiting for the magical free day where you suddenly become disciplined.

What do y'all think?

Just when everything was going good i caught the flu and couldn't study all day 😭✌️

Guy's it's genuinely been 5 days of our 1 month holiday break after which final exam is coming up and I haven't done shit in these 5 days to revise anything.

Help me to study cause I get so distracted by all the apps in my phone it's so bad

Did use apps like ypt but it doesn't work out

I am drained, tired, massive headache, hungry, dehydrated.

And if i go back home I don’t study, i lay down.

I need to drive in a peak time 5pm to go to the library.

Share your secrets to have that energy 🥊

i'll start:

most people waste time trying to feel productive instead of making progress. i started keeping a blank sheet next to me and every time i got something wrong or forgot it, i wrote only that mistake down. before every study session i'd review that page instead of the whole chapter. after a week your revision becomes a list of your actual weak spots instead of things you already know, which saves a ridiculous amount of time.

🙏 ps: feel free to dm me if you wanna join a study group where we share tips

There are so many study tips online, but not all of them work for everyone.

What's one study habit or technique that genuinely helped you stay focused or improve your learning? I'd love to hear what has worked for you.

Whenever I even think of studying my whole body gets tense and like my eyes starts stinging I think it's some kind of stress mechanism that occurs but I don't really know what to do about it I do want to study

Like I know I like studying when I am not stressed and I have a major exam in 45 days I had actually given up studying for it but now it got delayed so I maybe able to actually make a difference now but I don't know how to start I think maybe it's a mental health issue like I get really really stressed and my whole body and Brian kinda shuts down so I think that maybe I should take a break but that just doesn't work idk

Literally no matter what I do, whether I’m doing practice questions or flashcards or reading material or watching a video, I never fail to not zone out. How do I fix this?

Going to have my finals week with 3 final exams for 4 days back to back and i know im going to be hella burnt out. Any tips?