In approaching study for the OSPRE Part 1 exam, you need to set your self a target, a goal, call it what you will, that is realistic and achievable. The study process takes place over a considerable time and if you are too ambitious, you will not be able to keep it up, and will then fall behind. That can lead to feelings of failure and that in turn are de-motivating, leading to you fall further behind and so on; over-ambitious plans will set you up to fail from the outset.

Set your self a set number of hours for each working day that you can achieve, and allow your self more hours on your days off. It is common advice to settle on about two hours during the working day and eight hours for each day off. If you have the type of job that makes heavy demands on you, you may need to have a strategy to help you say 'No' both at work and during study time at home. I am not saying your work should come second, but sometimes you do need to be selfish, and study time is one of those occasions.

You may find that eight hours a day is too much in the early stages but you will need to build up the time as you get nearer the big day.

So have realistic goals that fit with your work, your study schedule and your home life. If the goals are incremental and achievable and are organised to get your study complete by exam day – job done!