What to do when motivation drops is one of the most asked questions in exam preparation, and the answer is usually looked for in the wrong place.
Why motivation is not enough
Motivation is a feeling, and feelings fluctuate. A six month preparation cannot be carried on six months of high motivation; nobody can do that.
This is not a failure of willpower, it is a consequence of the length of the process. The fix is not wanting it more, it is building a routine that depends less on wanting.
Same time, same place
This is the single most effective intervention: studying at the same hour in the same place every day. It removes the burden of deciding again each day.
Deciding is tiring, and it is the first thing to run out when motivation is low. Making the decision once and repeating it lowers the demand on willpower.
Procrastination and the first step
Procrastination usually comes from the size of the task. Sitting a practice test looks large, so it gets postponed.
The fix is to shrink the first step: not a full test, ten questions. Sitting down at the desk is a sufficient target; a student who starts usually continues.
Visible progress
Progress that cannot be seen lowers motivation directly. Questions answered, topics closed, practice scores rising: these need to be recorded somewhere.
An error log does this job too. After three practice tests you can see which mistakes have disappeared, and that is concrete evidence of progress.
A plan for the bad day
Every plan breaks eventually. What happens when it breaks should be written in advance: work missed on a day is not added to the next day at double, it goes into the space deliberately left empty in the week.
Without that rule, one bad day becomes one bad week.
When it is not a motivation problem
Persistent reluctance, changes in sleep and appetite, and daily life being affected are not a matter of study routine. At that point the response is not a different programme but a specialist.