Motivation and confidence sound good words and are sought by many learners. Also from the instructor’s point of view, they are not bad things at all. or really?
After seeing a couple of cases of mis-using the two good things, I want to share with everyone what the core thing really is.
Student A was learning the skills to deal with smaller streets in the lesson and it went well. The next lesson she came back with a much worse performance that she did well in last class. So I asked her what she did in between, she said “I try to practice with my husband to build up my confidence”. While practice with family is a good thing but never lose sight that the P test is a technical test, you pass because of your sound technical performance not your confidence level.
Student B was preparing the P test and the time is limited, so she was very “motivated” to get the things done, but she just seemed to always miss one thing or two that were enough to fail if its a real test. So I had to remind her: this is not a motivation test, but a technical test, please take away ” I must pass” in your mind, but focus on the situation now and use what you learnt, her performance improved.
In sum, the best way to handle the P test is, don’t worry about if I will pass, just handle the situation NOW,focus on your technics for the situation, you will get your peak performance. Being too much motivated or confident could cripple your technical performance and take you away from your goal.
