Hello Exam Seekers,
The question today is: “How are you dealing with the expectations.“
Usually, anxious people get anxious about everything.
When you are too anxious about something, you start creating expectations about things. And I’m not only talking about pre-course, but I’m also talking about anxiety within the whole course.
First, it is before the course start: You catch yourself thinking if you are going to deal well during the whole course; if you will have money to pay for the entire year; if you will meet nice people; if you will learn; if you will be able to achieve some grades and attend the pre-requisites; how will the course be; etc.
Then, you have the during-course expectations: If you will have time to finish things within time; if you will have a good grade; if what you did was correct; if you will have ideas to start writing your assignments; if you won’t look dumb; etc.
The after-course expectations: These as the “least bad,” I mean, you will be anxious about getting the certificate, when, how you will get the results, was this a pass, merit or a distinction?; etc.
Well, I do have some tips to help you adjust your anxiety and avoid expectations to come along.
PRE-ANXIETY:
1) Money: If you are worried about money, you have to: first, get financially prepared. The course costs over R$6.000 (around $2.000) if you live in Brazil. Yes, that much!!! So, be sure to have at least 1/3 of the money saved for emergencies. If you are still planning to take an ICELT, try to save the money until the day you go to school and sign the contract. Remember that each installment (of 12) is around R$500. It is a lot of money. If you can, save the whole amount before (all the 6 thousand), there is a good chance you can ask for a discount if you pay it in cash. And remember there is also the Cambridge fee, be prepared! You think you are ok, that you paid everything and suddenly 600 reais are withdrawn from your account. It’s the $200 Cambridge fee. If you have it in dollars, you can also try and get a discount. It’s intelligent if you keep checking the value of the dollar, you might get a day, when it’s cheaper, if you buy it, it will make your life much easier.
2) Nice people: If you are taking such a course, don’t go for the people, go for yourself. Happily, I met such nice people when I took the ICELT, but I could have been less lucky and not managed to make friends. You should look at this as an opportunity to make co-workers or colleagues. People who will add something to your career, they might be nice or not, but don’t get too much excited about something that might not happen.
3) Management: If you are going to take an ICELT, be sure to look for a good school. In Brazil, there aren’t many schools that teach ICELT, so be sure to choose it properly. Make lists of all the questions you have, and once you are being interviewed for the course, make sure that all your doubts are answered so that you won’t have any problems along the way. Once you have all the questions answered, check your lists and see if it is possible to add ICELT into your routine, add any factor that might interrupt your trajectory and calculate if it is still possible to manage everything. If you can, just take a deep breath and dig in. J
DURING-ANXIETY:
4) Deadline: If you checked the last item off the list, you shouldn’t be worried about it, because you scheduled everything to your timetable, but if you are still concerned about it, I would say that you should prepare a better timetable. Assignments, Tasks, Observations, they are not sent to you within a one-hour deadline. Since the school plans a meticulous schedule, once you get it, sit down and write them down on yourself in your agenda. Also, write the dates when you are going to finish or start doing one of the projects. Because most of the time, you believe you have plenty of time to finish, but suddenly it’s for the next Monday, and then you lose a whole week with an assignment. Usually, these things don’t work out as expected. So, plan yourself, try to do every day a little bit. If you spend every day at least ten minutes working on your things, I am sure you won’t lose any deadline or sleep over the ICELT.
5) Grades: Don’t worry about grades. If you prepared yourself for the assignments, be sure that at least a pass you have. If you don’t, a Resubmission can be sent twice before the final version. Just be sure to add them to your schedule, so you can be better prepared and don’t freak out about it.
AFTER-ANXIETY:
6) Certificate: If you did everything above, be sure that you passed. 99% of the candidates pass. To avoid any problems, just keep asking questions regularly, reach your tutors, they will help, and some months later the school will call you to get your certificate. If you live far away, they will give you the possibility to send you by mail.
If you follow all these simple steps, you will avoid a whole lot of anxiety!!!
But you have to keep up with the good work, okay?!
Hope I have helped you lower your expectations. Be sure to keep following @ExamSeekers to have more tips on how to deal with your examinations and certifications.
Have a nice week,
Patty