Rayse the Game Blog

“I never thought I would sit my Leaving Cert.” These are the words of Emma Ronan. But instead of letting negativity define her, she turned it into fuel. She sat her exams. She smashed them. She earned a degree. Then a master’s. All while battling Lyme disease and chronic fatigue—debilitating conditions that meant she spent…

Last weekend, I was coaching a Leaving Cert student who was completely overwhelmed. She was preparing for her mock exams. We decided to look at English and in particular her English Paper 2 comparative study essay. She looked at me and said: “I cannot process my thoughts and get them down on paper.” This is…

“Why bother with Irish? Nobody even speaks it anymore!” If I had a euro for every time I heard this from a student, I’d have a half my pension plan sorted! As a study skills coach, I’ve seen it all: the subject students love to hate, the one they tolerate, and then there’s Irish—a subject that…

“I’ll do it later. I’m too tired. I don’t want to go studying.” Sound familiar? These are the words of the first year student I was coaching yesterday. I loved her honesty. This is also the anthem of the average teen. After eight hours of school, homework is about as appealing as eating celery-flavoured ice…

“If I study something a week before a test, I can never remember it – a week later, it’s gone.” Picture this: I’m chatting with a 5th-year student last week, and he lands this on me: “So I would literally wait until the last minute to study.” Cue my jaw dropping. I never realised many…

“I don’t get it all!” These were the exact words of one of my students while reflecting on her Christmas Maths test this week. “With Maths, you either get it or you don’t,” she elaborated. During our conversation, she explained that her Maths grinds teacher couldn’t work with her the previous weekend due to illness.

More than half of Leaving Cert students get a grind in Maths! This is a massive number! Maths can be the one subject that sends most teens into a tailspin. With the mock exams approaching, Maths is that one subject that can induce panic and midnight meltdowns. I know I was there! But here’s the…

“Oh God I have a test. Then I freak out.” These are the exact words a student said to me during a coaching session earlier this week. She went on to explain that she had a History exam this week and she had ‘learned’ 5 essays for this exam. However the exam did not go…

I just wrapped up the Rayse The Game 2024 Tour, where nearly 9,000 students attended my motivational study skills seminars. It’s been a whirlwind, but off the back of that, I’ve got so much to share with you. Something that’s I have noticed is that more and more students are struggling with English. For many, English is their…

Question: why are teens so lacking in motivation today? Every day I get phone calls from teachers asking me to work in their school. When I ask them what is your number one issue with your students, the answer is nearly always the same. ‘Motivation. Our students are not motivated.’ I am lucky. My product…