Rayse the Game Blog

“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…

Can you remember your first day of secondary school? I remember it well. Sitting in the huge hall I remember that moment of terror when I got separated from my best friend Declan Whyte. We were put in separate classes. An hour later, sitting at that old fashioned oak desk (which even had a pull-up…

Yesterday I did my first coaching session of the new academic year. I was pleasantly surprised. When I hit the zoom button a bright yellow blur appeared in front of me. My new student was sitting in a van and he was wearing a hi-vis vest. “Are you on a building site?” “I am.” He…

There is a fine line between success and failure. Just ask Akani Simbine from South Africa. Who? He was 4th in the Men’s 100m Olympic Final. He missed out on a place on the podium by 0.01 second. Many young people today are struggling with the concept of success. This is what drives perfectionism. It…