Episode 23: Balancing exams and training at TTW

After a highly requested podcast episode from our older students. Esme, a group 3 Birmingham student, is here to talk us through how she deals with exam stress and how to balance training at TTW while also revising for exams. If this is something you are currently balancing please listen along and take on Esme's amazing advice. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello and welcome to Theatre Workshop Talks. My name is Alice and I'm a teacher here at the Theatre Workshop. We have a theatre school based in Birmingham, Barnt Green, Blackwell, and Bromsgrove. Here you will gain an insight to what it's like being a part of the theatre workshop. Along the way, we will be talking to TTW students, parents, teachers, and also some very special guests. Make sure you hit that subscribe button so you know when a brand new episode drops. Hi everyone, welcome back to another episode of our podcast. This week has been a very highly requested podcast episode from some of our older students. We're gonna cover some areas which involve exams and sort of balancing coming to theatre workshop and things like mocks and revision and important exams that some of our students are taking on at the moment. So today I've got Esme with me. Hello, Esme. Hello! Esme is one of our group three students. She's been with us for many, many years. She currently helps out with our Weenie group on a Saturday morning and our Lambda group also on a Saturday morning. So she's very much in touch with Everything Theatre Workshop. So, Esme, let's start off by sort of introducing yourself. How did you sort of find out about the theatre workshop? How long have you been with us?

SPEAKER_01 1:29

So I remember I was in year two, and my friend in my class, I think her name was Suva, she was like talking about it, and our mum sort of talking about it, and I was like, Oh my gosh, I really want to try this. So I went and I imagine I was probably seven or eight, and I remember being really scared my first day. Like I had to be like coaxed in by Julie, and I was really excited, but I just didn't want my mum to leave. Um, yeah, and then I just had a great time and was like, yes, we're in this for the long haul, and now I'm 16 and I've been doing it for like nearly 10 years now.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

Amazing. I remember actually you being it would have been group one or group two when I was in group three. We've gone full circle moment and we're back.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Yeah, lovely.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

At the moment, what are you doing now?

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Um, so in about a week's time, my GCSEs are gonna start. So we're preparing for that. And then at theatre workshop, I'm doing like the Saturday sessions, and then as you said, helping out with group lambda, we needs and a bit of group one as well, like all on a Saturday.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Mm-hmm. How are you finding GCSE time?

SPEAKER_01 2:43

I mean, obviously, it's quite stressful, and I feel like the issue is never actually feel like you're doing enough. Like, no matter how much you're doing, you don't feel like you're doing enough. But you know, it's going well, we're doing our best, we're getting through it. Um, yeah, I think that's all we can really do at the end of the day. Just try and enjoy it because it's not the be all and end all, really.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

So yeah. And we've got, like I said, we've got some students who are doing their sats as well. So you would you have done your sats while you were at the theatre workshop?

SPEAKER_01 3:15

I didn't do my sats, but I did like the 11 plus and like entrance exams.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

I sit.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

But I didn't sit sats. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

Was it was it COVID times?

SPEAKER_01 3:27

I think yeah, I think so. I think it was because it's COVID, because COVID kind of like year six for me was a lot of lockdown. Year five and year six.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Okay, so that was probably COVID times, but now you're sitting in your GCSEs and revision, how do you sort of balance that with also coming to the workshop on a weekend? Because I'm guessing you do school in the week and then revision time would be the weekend. So how do you sort of balance that?

SPEAKER_01 3:56

Well, I try like I often bring work to do like in my breaks because I have like a decent long amount of breaks. Um, and then when I get home, sometimes I'll do a little bit if it's like really urgent. But I kind of try and work around it and always have Saturday be like my day. But like I've definitely found ways to like, you know, if I'm busy, I can, you know, do like a little bit of something in the morning, like take a little thing off, and then like in a break, maybe write this like homework answer or something like that, and just try and make it work the best we can without being like super stressful and just like downpacking my day.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Yeah, of course. Do you have any revision techniques that you would recommend to anyone?

SPEAKER_01 4:42

I think flashcards are the best because what I usually do is I get on my spec, I make a whole bunch of notes on like based on the spec, and then I kind of highlight them based on like how well I feel like I know them, and then I'll make flashcards on the ones that I don't know, and just like keep on going over them until you've like reviewed everything, and then that's kind of like the first thing, and then doing like practice papers and past papers as well in kind of all subjects, I think, especially I'd say essay ones, like where you've got quite a bit of technique that's important. I think that's really helpful, and also like with timing as well.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

Great, and we also say to our students that we want theatre workshop to be sort of an escape for this stressful, pressured time. So, like you said, Saturday is a sort of your day. Um and obviously there's a morning school and an afternoon school. Take the morning if you're in the afternoon school, or take the afternoon if you're in the morning school to just sort of decompress, relax, you know, take that time for yourself because you don't want it to all sort of build up and build the anxiety. So, yeah, take the Saturday as your day. I think that's really good advice.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Definitely, like I always look forward to my Saturdays. It's kind of I feel like I build my week around my Saturdays, it's like, okay, two more days till Saturday now, and I can just like have just like a fun day where I get to see like because I'm really close with loads of people in my group and like Chloe, who I do a lot of like the assisting with, and the teachers and obviously the kids, who it's just like such a lovely day.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

In terms of actual revision, so do you revise in the evenings? How what's your sort of revision schedule?

SPEAKER_01 6:32

So normally if I'm at school, I'll then probably end up getting home from school and like actually starting to do some work at five, and then I'll normally do some work till like dinner time, which in my house tends to be like 6:30, 6:45. Like maybe not super intense, but that's where maybe I'll do some flashcards, some notes, a practice question, stuff like that. And then recently it was the Easter holiday, so if I'm not at school, I kind of just like I do like little chunks with short breaks, and then every so often I take like a long break, and then I'll kind of do like one or two practice papers every day as well, and that's just kind of that's what that's what works for me, and I feel like it's different for everyone, what they kind of find manageable, but that's how I do it.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Yeah, and another thing that I think would bring some fun into the sort of revision aspect, because I know it's it can be boring and it can be you know, not everyone wants to revise, it's just something that we feel like we have to do. If you are in the exam time, if you've got exams coming up, you could bring your flashcards to theatre workshop.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

You can you'd always like because I know there are quite a few of us doing it so often we can have like chats, like chats about stuff, and you can find someone who's maybe doing like similar subjects to you, and you can just like test each other a little bit and stuff like that. Like there are ways to definitely make it fun, and I feel like doing it with other people as well can help.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Yeah, you can like you said make it fun. You've got a 15-minute break, you can test each other, yeah, and it's a good way of sort of seeing what you do need to revise as well, I suppose. Yeah, definitely. So, what is the number one thing that you would what is the number one piece of advice that you would give to our students at the moment who are going through SATS and GCSEs and things like that, what would you tell them?

SPEAKER_01 8:33

Well, my first thing would be like take lots of breaks because if you get to the point where you're like just totally overwhelmed, you're like, I cannot do this anymore, nothing that you then do is actually gonna be helpful, and you're just gonna be, you know, just getting more stressed out, more upset. I've definitely done this a lot. So, like if you recognise when you need to take like a step back and just like go outside, go watch something, go talk to someone or something like that, like that's really good, and also kind of realise they're like they're a part of your life, but they're not all of your life. Yeah, like because I feel like, especially, you know, young years, I feel like 16, 17, 18, but also, you know, being like stats like 10, 11, yeah, like that sort of times they're really lovely times in your life where like there's so much you can do without much responsibility, which is great. So, like you need to actually enjoy it and not have the whole thing be the exam because at the end of the day, you're all you're getting are pieces of paper, important pieces of paper, but that's kind of all they are, and there's a lot more to life than that, I would say.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Yeah, I think I remember when I was that age and I was doing my GCSEs, I was thinking, this is going to decide what I will do for the rest of my life.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

Because at the end of the day, my mum always says, like, nothing is irreversible, like you don't do so long that you don't pass it, you then you can just retake it the next year. Like, everything is always like redoable, and everything like always happens for a reason, really. I think, and everything works out. So, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Of course. Another thing that I think would be useful for our older students is if you take lambda exams or dance exams or singing exams with us, then you can start to build up your UCAST points. Um, so UCAS points are basically things that you will need a certain amount of UCAS points to get into university. And some of our students just did dance exams and they got points on their certificate that you can then use. If you keep your certificate, you can then use it to apply for university. So some of our students might be interested in doing that. And I know they're getting closer to the age of applying for universities. So if you are interested in that, then get in touch and I'm sure we can get you some private lessons. Thanks, Esme. It's been lovely talking to you today.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Thank you very much. I've had a great time.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

And it's I think it's going to be really useful for our older students listening to this. Um, because, like you said, it's very pressured and overwhelming time for them. So letting them know that it's not the be-all and end all. Have that time for yourself to do things that you enjoy, spend time with friends, and not to feel too anxious about this time in their life. Yeah, definitely. Thank you, Resme. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Thank you for listening to TTW Talks. We hope you enjoy listening to this episode and look forward to hearing the next one. Make sure to follow us on Instagram at the Theatre Workshop Birmingham and TikTok at the.theatre.worksbam to see all of our class and show content and all of the exciting things we get up to. Once again, thank you for listening. This has been TTW Talks.