SMART STUDY SKILLS Essential Study Habits for Students in Years 7, 8 and 9 1 GETTING ORGANISED AT HOME Read this if: You want ideas for getting yourself organised. You want some tips for getting ready for school each day. The best place to start getting yourself organised is at home. This is where a key battle will be fought and (hopefully!) won. What can you do to get yourself organised? Read on for some suggestions. Have a regular place to study School work should be done sitting at a well-lit table or desk. Whilst your bed is without doubt the best place to relax, it is not a suitable place to do homework (unless it s something simple like reading). Have all the equipment you need to hand: pens, pencils, ruler, eraser, pencil sharpener, protractor, compass, calculator, USB stick, etc. Have somewhere to keep your books The best way to keep your exercise books tidy, and therefore quicker to find, is to have somewhere to store them. You could use a large plastic box (with lid), a drawer or a shelf for doing this. Your storage system should allow you to find any book for any subject quickly and with a minimum of fuss. So avoid just throwing books in a big pile in a corner of your room! Loose paper should either be stapled in exercise books or kept in a labelled folder. School lockers give you extra storage space for things like PE kit. Make sure you give yourself time to get things from your locker.
Get a bedroom noticeboard Stick a copy of your lesson timetable on your bedroom wall in a place you can easily see it. Add before and after school activities to it. Get a whiteboard (or pin board or magnetic board) put up in your bedroom and use it to write yourself reminders about homework, things to take to school, school trips and so on. Getting ready for school Getting ready for school should always be done the night before. This mainly involves packing your school bag but will also mean getting other things ready. When packing your school bag, use your lesson timetable to help you to check you ve got the correct books for your lessons the next day. Don t forget to pack your student planner, a reading book and pencil case! Write yourself a checklist and include on it things to remember to do each night and things to remember to take with you in the morning. In addition to packing your bag, things to do could include getting uniform out and packing PE kit. A list of things to remember to take with you might include: pencil case, coat, gloves, scarf, phone, keys, money, bus pass. You don t want to be rushing around in the morning trying to find these things, so check where they are the night before. Get the family involved In addition to putting up a copy of your lesson timetable in your bedroom, it s also a good idea to put up a copy where everyone else in the house can see it. The kitchen is an ideal place for this as your parents/carers can then see what you re doing each day (parents/carers are usually brilliant at reminding you to take stuff to school!). Keep computer files tidy Your computer filing system should make files easy to locate, whether on the home laptop, a memory stick or the school computer system. Start by creating a folder for each subject and as soon as you create a new file put it in the correct folder. Keep file names short and easy to recognise avoid using abbreviations as it is often difficult to remember what they stand for.
BACK UP! Regularly back up files so that when a nasty virus strikes to wipe out the hard drive on your laptop at home or you lose your memory stick you have a spare copy of your work. Tie a piece of string or ribbon to your memory stick as this will make it easier to find in a packed school bag and you are less likely to lose it! 2 MANAGING YOUR TIME Read this if: You want to meet homework deadlines. You want to stay on task when studying. One big difference you ll have noticed straight away when you started secondary school is the amount of homework you get. The only way you ll be able to get all this homework done and still have time for the things you want to do outside school is to make good use of your time. Get into a routine The most important thing you can do in managing your time is to get into a simple routine for tackling homework. The most simple and effective routine can be summed up as follows: Get home, get on with it! This approach is so important that it s worth repeating, so here goes: Get home, get on with it! You may want to unpack your bag, check your student planner and have a snack before you start working but don t leave it too long. If for some reason you can t do it as soon as you get home, do it at the first possible opportunity. A major benefit of doing homework as soon as you get home is that the work will be fresh in your mind and so will take less time to do. A possible alternative to doing homework as soon as you get in from school is to start doing it at a certain time every day. The important thing is to make studying a habit. A habit you definitely want to avoid is doing homework the night before it s due in and, even worse, doing it very late at night the day before it s due in. New habits take time to develop, so be patient with yourself!
Decide priorities Often, you will have several pieces of homework to do at the same time. The temptation in this situation is to start doing the work you think you ll enjoy most or that is easiest but this is a mistake. Instead, take a look at your student planner and see which piece of work has to be handed in first and start working on it. When this task is completed, move on to the task that has to be handed in next and so on. Longer tasks, that you are unlikely to complete in one sitting, need a slightly different approach (eg projects or essays). For extended tasks like these you will probably be given longer than usual to do them. The approach to take is to do a chunk at a time, spreading it over a number of days or possibly weeks. Create extra time! Why not try to get some work done whilst you are at school? This could be before school starts, at break, lunchtime or after school. School runs a homework club with computers for you to do your homework. Any time you spend doing homework at school is extra time you ll have to yourself at home! If you catch a bus to school or are going on a long car journey, use that time to read or do a quick piece of revision. Keep an eye on the future Keep an eye on commitments you have made for the next few days and weeks. When you have after-school activities, have arranged to have a friend round one evening or have a sleepover at the weekend, then you should plan specific times when you re going to do any homework you ve been set. If you get homework on a Friday and your weekends are normally busy, then do as much as you can when you get home from school that day. This isn t a nice thought but is so much better than having it hanging over you all weekend and then having to rush it on Sunday evening. If you do leave everything until the last minute then there s every chance you ll get totally overwhelmed and miss deadlines altogether. Stay on task Before you start a task: o think of all the things that might distract you o get rid of any possible distractions if you can (eg turn the TV off, switch your phone to voicemail, disconnect from social networking and gaming sites etc) o let your family know you don t want to be disturbed
o when you have a lot of work to do, let your friends know so that they don t disturb you o make sure you ve got all the books and equipment to hand Every time you check your phone for texts, look at a news story about a celebrity on the internet or see if your friends are on a gaming site, the task you are working on takes longer to get finished. When your concentration levels do start to drop, take a short break. If you find your mind wandering, don t sit there staring at your work, get up and walk around but don t leave the room. However, if you ve nearly finished a piece of work just press on and get it completely finished. Don t take on too much There are many exciting extra-curricular activities to take part in at secondary school and it s tempting to join loads of clubs! Just remember to leave enough time in which to do your school work and be careful not to overstretch yourself. 3 TACKLING HOMEWORK Read this if: You want to make good use of your student planner. You have to carry out research. Homework might include some of the following: questions, essays, researching on the internet, reading, learning vocabulary, drawing graphs, maps and diagrams, finishing off work started in class, revising for tests, preparing presentations, projects. Homework is important because: o It reinforces what you learn at school o It extends the work done in school o It helps to develop good study habits o It helps students to become independent learners Be clear from the start The most important moment in any homework task is when your teacher tells you what you ve got to do. Write homework accurately in your student planner and ask your teacher to make clear anything you don t understand. Write it in full and don t use abbreviations. If you have any doubts, go back the same day to double check with your teacher.
For each piece of homework, you need to know exactly what you ve got to do, where it should be done (exercise book, A4 paper, on a computer), how much is expected (sentence, paragraph, page, etc) and when it s got to be handed in. Never try to remember your homework without writing it down, as by the time you get home you re bound to have forgotten exactly what you ve got to do. Also, don t rely on your friends to have an accurate record. For homework done online, make sure you know how to gain access to the task including any passwords you need. Use your student planner Your student planner is your lifeline for keeping on top of your school work. Keep it up to date, keep it tidy. Your planner is the first thing you should get out at the beginning of every lesson don t wait for your teacher to tell you to do so. Sometimes you will be given plenty of time to write down homework tasks but be prepared for times when it s hurriedly given out at the end of a lesson. For this reason, make your student planner the last thing you put away at the end of a lesson. The first thing you should do when you arrive back home after school is to look at your student planner. Once you ve sorted out what homework you ve got to do and when you ve got to do it. GET ON WITH IT! Carrying out research There are many reasons why you might need to carry out research: for a homework task, for a project, for a presentation or for a test. Researching information can be very time-consuming so, before you start, be clear about what you need to know and why you need to know it. Next, decide where you re going to look for the information library, internet, reference books at home or maybe all of these sources. Think about which source is likely to be your best option. If you have any difficulty with your research, ask your teacher of the school librarian for help. The school librarian will know all about what books and online resources are available.
Carrying out research on the internet The internet can be an extremely useful and quick way to conduct research but it can just as easily produce irrelevant information. The best websites are the ones recommended by your teachers. If they don t mention any, ask them for suggestions. Before conducting your own searches, give some thought to what you put into the search engine. The key to using search engines is to use words or phrases that give you the most relevant pages. When conducting research on the internet it s all too easy to click on all sorts of irrelevant and seemingly interesting links. Avoid the temptation, as this only makes the task take longer! Making notes from the internet and books Good notes should arrange topics into chunks that are easy to look back at and to make sense of. Before making any notes, remind yourself of what you re trying to find out and then read through the information to get a basic understanding of it. When taking notes: o o o o o o o write down the web address/book title and page number give the notes a title write down a brief summary of the key points using your own words, shorthand and symbols use headings and subheadings don t copy text word-for-word and don t just summarise every sentence look back over your notes when you are finished make your notes readable!
Tackling projects From time-to-time you will be given a major piece of work to do and longer than usual to complete it. The deadline for handing it in may be weeks away. It is particularly important when tackling a project that you clearly understand what you should put in it, how much will be done in class, how much you re expected to do at home and how long you ve got to do it. When starting a project, keep a folder for anything relating to that project and label it clearly with the title of the project. With the deadline seemingly so far in the future, the temptation is to keep putting it off and then to rush it when the deadline gets close. The best approach to take is to break down the project into small steps and to do it a chunk at a time. A really good idea is to aim to finish the project a few days early. If it takes longer than you anticipated then this gives you a bit of extra time to finish it. 4 PREPARING FOR TEST - Planning Tests and assessments come in all shapes and sizes. There are one-off tests, end of topic tests, end of year tests, speaking and listening tests and so on. All of these tests require you to do some kind of preparation (revision). Revising for a test makes you feel more confident, reduces stress levels and helps you get better results! Find out about the test The first thing to do when you re told you ve got a test is to find out what type of test it will be; end of year, end of topic, speaking and listening etc. Then find out what topics will be covered, what type of questions will be on the test paper and how long the test will last. Find out what equipment you need to take into the test and if the test is in your usual classroom or somewhere else.
Decide what to revise For each test, make a list of all the topics you have been told to revise. If you re not sure about the topics you need to cover, ask your teacher. Before drawing up this list of topics, make sure your class notes are fully up to date. Each time you sit down to revise, look at the list of topics and pick one out. Then when you ve revised a topic, simply tick it off. Spend most of your time revising the topics you don t understand or find difficult. When you are revising for several tests at the same time, don t just revise the subjects you like or are good at but balance revision time between subjects. When revising for long periods, mix up the subjects you find boring or difficult with the ones you find easy or enjoy. Decide when to start revising There are 3 Golden Rules for deciding when to start revising. Have a plan 1. Start your revision when your teacher suggests you do. 2. Don t leave your revision until the last minute. 3. If in doubt, start your revision right away! For one-off tests you probably don t need a detailed revision timetable. However, even if a test is just a few days away it s still a good idea to set aside times when you re going to revise. For end of year tests, you ll probably put in more revision time than for other tests. So drawing up a revision timetable could be a good idea as you will probably have to juggle you revision time between different subjects. Include in your timetable the subjects you need to revise and time for leisure activities. It s a good idea to ask someone (parent, friend) to help you do this. During the period leading up to a test don t lose sight of the fact that you will probably still be set homework in other subjects. Revise in a good place Make sure you are working in good light, have all equipment ready (pens, record cards, highlighters, post-it notes etc) and have some water nearby (this stops you dehydrating so helps your concentration levels).
Clear your workspace of anything that will distract you and ask your family not to disturb you. Switch your phone to voicemail and disconnect form social Read this if: You want to know how to revise. You want to find out about different revision methods. networking and gaming sites, instant messaging etc. Under no conditions should you do your revision in front of the TV, so before you start, switch it off. No really, SWITCH OFF THE TV! Structure your revision session Set a definite time to start and finish each revision session and when you re going to take a break. There s no definite rule for how long you should revise before taking a short break but for most students it s between 20-40 minutes. Once you ve decided how long to revise for, an effective pattern to follow is: revise, test, rest. Here is an example: Step 1) Revise for 30 minutes. Step 2) Look back over what you ve covered and test yourself for 5 minutes. Step 3) Take a 5 minute break. Step 4) Now start revising again. Always stop revising at least 30 minutes before you go to bed and RELAX!!! REWARD yourself! Before you start a revision session, decide how you will reward yourself when you ve finished. This could be time on the computer, texting a friend, playing on your games console or watching TV. Go on, give yourself a treat! 5 PREPARING FOR TESTS - Revising Effective revision involves working actively rather than just flicking through your exercise books or a revision guide.
Ask each teacher for suggestions on how you should revise for their subject and experiment to find out which methods work best for you. You ll find that different revision methods are needed for different subjects. USE REVISION GUIDES Using revision guides can be an excellent way to prepare for tests. There are several different publishers of revision guides and each has their own style. If you decide to buy a revision guide, take time choosing one that suits the way you like to learn. Make sure you use revision guides actively by writing your own notes from them and tackling the questions at the end of each section. Don t fall into the trap of simply reading through them. TACKLING QUESTIONS Tackling test-type questions is a great revision method. You can find test-type questions in revision guides and on certain websites (ask your teachers to suggest some). Start by answering these questions with the help of your exercise books and revision guides or by going online. Later, have a go at tackling them under exam conditions without looking at any notes. MAKE REVISION NOTES Making revision notes is a good method for subjects where there are lots of facts and information to remember. You can write them on A4 file paper or on file cards, which you can carry around with you and look at in spare moments. To write revision notes, read through your class notes, pick out the key points and write them down as bullet points. Some students prefer to write these notes in the form of spider diagrams using lots of pictures and colour. You can also try writing questions on one side of file cards and putting the answers on the other side or by recording key facts on your IPOD or phone.
TEST YOURSELF Testing yourself is a good way of improving your ability to remember facts and Read this if: You want some tips for tackling test papers. You want to feel less stressed out when taking tests. information. Revision notes come in handy when doing this. Test yourself or get someone in your family to test you. Try testing yourself whilst walking around the room! TRY SOME OF THESE REVISION METHODS! 1. Write reminders on post-it notes and stick them to the fridge, on a wardrobe door or on the bathroom mirror. 2. Write key facts on large sheets of paper and hang them on your bedroom walls or even the ceiling! 3. Team up with a few friends to form a revision group. (but make sure you actually revise!) 4. Write a quiz for a friend and get them to write one for you. 5. Use revision websites and revision guides (ask your teachers which are the best ones) 6. Explain a topic to a friend 7. Use memory tricks like mnemonics, for example Naughty Elephants Squirt Water which is used to remember the compass points North East South West. 8. Make unusual or silly links between facts to help you remember them. 9. Make up your own stories, rhymes or songs that contain key words. 10. Memorise key facts again and again and again and again. 6 SITTING TESTS& REDUCING EXAM NERVES The night before a test make sure you have everything ready for the following morning, such as pens, pencils, rulers, a calculator etc. Go to bed at a reasonable time!
Sitting tests When you are told to start, read the instructions on the test paper very carefully and then have a quick look through it from start to finish. During a test it is essential to keep an eye on the time in order to check you are working at a good pace. Wear a watch even if you usually don t. Make sure you read each question at least twice, taking in the key words. Examples of key words are: explain, describe, suggest. Don t rush into writing until you are really clear about what the question is asking. Check how many marks each question is worth, spend more time on questions worth more marks. If there are two marks for a question then you probably need to make two points in your answer. If you get stuck on a question, don t sit there staring at it. Move on and come back to it later. If you re stuck on a multiple-choice question, get rid of the obviously wrong answers and choose one from the rest Leave a little time at the end of the test to go back and answer any questions you ve left out. Use any spare time to read through your answers and check for careless mistakes. If you find yourself starting to panic, put your pen down and sit back for a moment. Then breathe deeply and slowly to calm yourself down before you carry on. After you ve finished the test don t spend hours thinking about how you answered the questions or go through answers with friends. This will only make you feel more anxious. Reducing exam nerves One of the best ways to reduce nerves in the period leading up to a test is to be well prepared. Plan when you re going to do your revision, keep track of the topics you ve revised and find out what the test paper will be like. Get in the right frame of mind by thinking positively. Believe in yourself and talk yourself up! If you are worried about a test, share how you feel with a parent or a friend. Talk to people who listen to you, support you and encourage you.
Make sure you set aside some time to do the things you enjoy. Do the things that relax you and take your mind off your revision. If you can, include some kind of physical activity during the revision period. Even if you don t normally do anything active, try to do something! 7 HOW PARENTS CAN HELP It goes without saying that all children are different, so it follows that there is no single approach to how a parent can help out. Whilst your child needs your support, they also need to find their own way of doing things which often won t be your way. Let them find out what works best for them. Having said that, the basic aim for all parents is to help your child to become well organised and independent learners. The suggestions made here are designed to reinforce the advice given and follow the same headings. Getting Organised Make sure your child has a regular, quiet place to study where they won t be interrupted or distracted. Ideally, they need a large, flat surface to work at, such as desk or table, and it should be well lit. Read this if: You want to help your child develop good study habits. You want to be reassured about what you re already doing. Provide them with somewhere to keep their exercise books, such as a plastic storage box, shelving, filing trays, drawers, etc. Put up a pin board (or magnetic board or whiteboard) in their bedroom. They can use this as a place to write reminders about homework, after school activities etc. Get them into a routine of getting ready the night before school. This should involve not only packing their bag with books, pencil case and PE kit, but
should also include locating things such as uniform, coats, shoes, phone, bus pass and so on. Put up a copy of their lesson timetable in a visible place such as in the kitchen, perhaps on the fridge door or on a noticeboard. Also, pin up a copy of the school s calendar of dates/ events and check the school newsletter for activities that will include your child. Make a note of these in your diary or on your own calendar. Provide them with folders or document wallets for keeping projects or loose work in. Time Management & Tackling Homework At most schools, the student planner is an important way for contact to take place between school and home. If possible, take a look at their planner every evening and sign it as required. Also, check it for any messages from teachers and put a note in it if you need to send any messages regarding your child. The basic advice given for doing homework is as follows: get home from school, unpack school bag, change, have a snack, check student planner and then get on with it! Help them establish priorities for doing homework by looking at deadlines in their student planner. You could agree with them time for TV/gaming/seeing friends after homework is completed. Homework should never be done in front of the TV. Helping out with homework might involve discussing tasks, checking understanding of homework, listening to them reading, testing them and so on. Be on hand to help but resist the temptation to take over. Whilst almost all information is available online, it is still useful to have reference books at home such as revision and study guides, an encyclopaedia, dictionary, atlas, French dictionary etc. If they are struggling with any aspect of their studies make immediate contact with the school. If they are off school for any reason, get them to copy up notes from the lessons they have missed.
When your child is given a project, help them with the task of breaking it down into smaller, more manageable chunks. Keep an eye on the number of extra-curricular activities they are involved in. Taking an active part in school and other clubs is fantastic for all sorts of reasons but there is a limit to how much they can do before their school work starts to suffer. Preparing for Tests & Sitting Tests When your child is preparing for a test, talk about how you can help with their revision. Check they know the dates and times of any tests they will be taking. Help them to plan when they are going to do their revision. Encourage them to ask their teachers for help on topics they don t understand. Revision should be done actively by making notes, tackling questions, testing and working through revision guides. Discourage them from simply reading through exercise books as this is a poor way to prepare for a test. Offer to test them using their revision notes. Make sure they know what equipment is needed for each test. The night before a test, help them to get this equipment ready and check that it works.