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Learn effective study habits and how to support your child in developing them. Topics include time management, revision techniques, and note-taking methods.
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St Andrew’s and St Bride’s High School Fifth year Parents’ Revision and Study Support 7TH September 2017
Study Habits Successful students have good study habits. They apply these habits to all of their classes. Read about each study habit. Support your child to develop any study habits they do not yet have.
Study Habits • Try not to do too much studying at one time. • Plan specific times for studying. • Try to study at the same times each day. • Set specific goals for their study times. • Start studying when planned. • Work on the subject/ topic they find most difficult first.
Study Habits • Review their notes before beginning an assignment. • Tell their friends not to call them during their study times. • Call another student when they have difficulty with an assignment.
Preparing to Study • Does my Study Place contain all the study materials I need? • Does their Study Space contain a large enough desk or table? • Does their Study Place have enough storage space? • Having a good Study Place is important for good studying
Managing their Time There are only so many hours in a day, a week, and a term. They cannot change the number of hours, but they can decide how to best use them. To be successful in school, they must carefully manage their study time. Here is a strategy for doing this.
Managing their Time • At the beginning of a term, prepare a Term Calendar. Update it as the term goes on. • Using a Term Calendar, a Weekly Schedule, and a Daily Organiser will help them make the best use of your time.
Managing their Time • Each Sunday before a school week, prepare a Weekly Schedule. Update it as the week goes on. Here is what to do to prepare a Weekly Schedule. • Record their daily classes. • Enter things to be done for the coming week from their Term Calendar. • Review their class notes from the previous week to see if they need to add any school activities. • Add any out-of-school activities in which they will be involved during the week. • Be sure to include times for completing assignments, working on projects, and studying for tests. These times may be during the school day, right after school, evenings, and weekends.
Managing their Time • Each evening before a school day, prepare a Daily Organiser for the next day. Place a √ next to each thing to do as they accomplish it. Here is what to do to prepare a Daily Organiser. • Enter the things to do for the coming day from their Weekly Schedule. • Enter the things that still need to be accomplished from their Daily Organiser from the previous day. • Review their class notes for the day just completed to see if they need to add any school activities. • Add any out-of-school activities in which they will be involved the next day.
Revision techniques • This is not the time for simply reading over notes or copying out notes. Instead, become familiar with exam technique through using Past Papers. • Your child should attempt past paper questions as timed exercises, without notes. • Pupils should access marking schemes to correct their work and identify the specifics they need to focus on.
Revision techniques • Pupils should revise these specific topics by breaking whole units down into smaller, manageable sections for each study session; this is less daunting. • Past paper questions can then be attempted again, following the same procedure. They will see an improvement in their performance and become familiar with the range of questions. • Pupils should keep a record/ diary/ log of topics they are revising to track that they cover the whole syllabus. Otherwise there is a danger they may miss out on one or two topics.
Revision techniques • Once the above strategies have been employed, if there are questions that your child cannot answer or topics with which they are having difficulties, your child can write these down and ask their teachers to help them.
Revision techniques • Don’t dwell on what they can’t do – this will be addressed in school. • Your child will attempt most past paper questions 3 or 4 times before mastering it. • Parents can monitor revision everyday by looking at the answers your child has written, they can do plenty in 3 hours! • You will both see their improving performances; such success further motivates pupils.
Revision techniques • Focus on what they can do and what they will do next. • Help pupils to remain motivated by talking to them about what they are studying, and highlight that good performance in the exams has a very positive impact on their future.
Note Taking • Note taking is one of the most important study skills for High School Students and University/College Students. • It is important to learn how to take notes both during classes/lectures and when preparing for examinations.
Note Taking We will look at some general note taking tips and two specific methods that may be of use: • Cornell Method • Outline Method • Whatever method you use, ensure that you create and review notes regularly!
Note Taking • General tips! • Short, sharp reviews work best Review 1: Same day as class Review 2: At the end of the week, compile all of your notes from class onto one sheet Review 3: Each weekend, review that sheet and ask yourself if anything has changed. Before your exam, review your notes. Due to your ongoing review, studying will be a much less difficult task.
Note Taking • Reciting your notes! Studies show that reciting material aloud helps with information retention. • Don't write everything down – use abbreviations and key words only! Aim to reduce your notes as much as possible. • Take notes in different colours. Colour can be used to show main ideas, important or emphasised material or movement from one topic to another. Alternately, when reviewing notes, use several colours of highlighters. • Use pictures and diagrams - make your notes visual!
Note Taking • The Cornell method helps condense and organise notes. • You must divide your paper into two columns: the note-taking column (on the right) is twice the size of the questions/key word column (on the left). • You should leave five to seven lines at the bottom of the page.
Note Taking • Notes from lessons are written in the note-taking column. • Long sentences are avoided; symbols or abbreviations are used instead. • Key words/Questions/Memory Joggers are recorded in the left column. • After the notes have been taken, write a brief summary in the bottom five to seven lines of the page/or create a mini mind map for that section of study. • When reviewing the material, cover up the note-taking (right) column to answer the questions/keywords in the key word (left) column.
Note Taking • The Outline Method • The general idea behind this method is to write points in an organised pattern using space indention. • The information which is most general begins at the left with each more specific group of facts indented with spaces to the right. • As with the Cornell Method, long sentences are avoided; symbols or abbreviations are used instead.
Mind Mapping • Mind mapping is a method of putting ideas, and linking information, on paper using colour, text and pictures. • Its not for everyone but give it a go as you might find it’s a method that works for you!!!
Note Taking • You can use mind maps for: • Making notes during a lesson • Planning for an essay • Illustrating a process • Brain storming • Revising
Think of more ideas • Recall information more easily • Visual signs and key words are easier to remember than linear notes. • Revision will be made easier with all the key points illustrated. • You can arrange notes in a way that your brain recognises. • Clearly shows links and associations. • Organised and creative. • Compact, and can summarise pages of information. • You can review the information at a glance, helping you remember it. • Quick and easy to do. No unnecessary words.
Flash Cards • Write questions/terms on the front of each card and answers/explanations on the back. • Take a card from the deck and try and answer the questions/explain the term. • Shuffle the cards and regularly test yourself until you can comfortably answer all the questions!
Flash Cards • Organise your cards into decks, one for each subject or topic. • Illustrate the cards. The more you work at making a card distinctive and interesting, the easier you will find it to recall the information on the card.
Flash Cards • Don't put too much information on any one card. • Use flashcards in several different colours. Use colours as cues to help you recall a distinctive characteristic about the information on a flash card.
Flash Cards English Use flash cards to remember quotes/motifs related to key themes. For example, Romeo and Juliet. On one side write the theme ‘Fate’ and on the other side the quote "From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, a pair of star-crossed lovers, take their life."
Flash Cards Vocabulary – Musical Terms/Languages Write the word to be learned on the front of the card and a short definition on the back of the card. Chemistry Draw the formulae for a chemical compound on one side and name it on the other.
Wellbeing is important! • Encourage exercise to release pent up adrenalin and energise their systems. • Good sleep patterns are invaluable- make sure that they are in their beds at a reasonable time; there should be no phones, ‘Facebook’ or games to the wee small hours. • Remember, if your child is ‘studying’ on the computer for more than 15 minutes, they are doing something else!
Resources • Many departments have revision notes and questions that pupils can access on the school website. • The SQA website has many supportive aids to study which you can access such as: MyStudyPlan - Mobile study plan app for learners. There are tips for effective study and candidates can build their personalised study timetables onto their phones. • Past papers and specimen papers with marking schemes are to be found on the SQA web site.
