What does getting good grades boil down to? a. Being the smartest kid in the class? b. Going to the best school? c. Studying 20 hours a week? d. None of these. Of course, the answer is ‘d’. Getting good grades really boils down to being strategic. To get good grades, your teen needs to employ strategy. You would not want to head into battle without a well thought out strategy, and you sure as heck don’t want your teen to head into study-time without one either. A CRUCIAL part of a … [Read more...]
3 Ways To Maximize Your Output During An Exam
Good grades are won and lost in the way students approach the actual sitting of the exam. Obviously it’s the hard work put in before exams that counts the most, but it would be a huge mistake for your teen to not appreciate how important having an in-exam strategy is. Today I’m talking about the 3 most important things to do in an exam to ensure your teen gets the most out of their exam time. 1. Make the most of your reading time Most exams allow for about 15 minutes of reading time … [Read more...]
The Simple Solution To Procrastination-itis
It’s a terrible curse that even when it’s in our own best interests to do something we still procrastinate. Even if dire consequences await if you do. Procrastination is a particularly common problem for high school students. Perhaps your teen is currently suffering from a vicious strain of procrastination right now? If they are, they’re not alone. Every single person procrastinates. And unless some drug company comes up with a very freaky type of drug to cure procrastination-itis, I’m not … [Read more...]
Sam’s Cautionary Tale: Why It Pays To Get Good Grades
Generally speaking, the single biggest cause of teens’ underachieving at high school is their inability to think long term. And by long term, we mean life after high school. The brain’s frontal lobe is an important region – it controls decision making, problem solving, purposeful behaviours, and emotions. Yet it doesn’t fully developed until we reach our early to mid twenties. This is why, even though your teen feels all grown up, their ability to plan ahead, think long-term, and … [Read more...]
Sitting An Exam Is Like Going For A Run
When it comes to exams, we like to think of our brains like our muscles when we exercise. Most of us don’t launch into exercise like an Olympic marathon runner. We take a bit of time to warm up, to override the niggly pains, to come into our stride. Sitting an exam is exactly the same. It’s our experience that for the first half an hour or so of an exam, your brain is just warming up. It’s only jogging – not quite ready to get into a full sprint. At the beginning stage of their exam … [Read more...]
Exam Success 101: How To Study For And Sit Exams
Between the two of us we've sat quite a large number of exams since high school. In fact, we estimate we've sat 98 2-3 hour exams between us. This doesn't even include tests or assignments or internal exams. (That's not supposed to impress you by the way... Only to inform you we really have sat a lot of exams!) And on top of our own experiences, we're each currently spending three to four hours a day tutoring high school students about to sit their own round of exams. I think it's fair to … [Read more...]
How To Sit Exams Like A Pro
When exams are looming it’s easy to get caught up in the exam preparation side of things and completely forget about planning your time in the exam. That’s right – your teen needs to sort out an in-exam strategy too. Not doing so can be the difference between scraping a pass and absolutely nailing it. Your teen needs to have an exam plan. A plan for how your teen spends their exam time will: Mentally prepare them for sitting the exam beforehand Make sure they spend their time in the right … [Read more...]
How to Ace Multi-Choice Tests and Exams
Multi-choice tests can be deceptively tough. Despite their seemingly simple format, they should definitely not be your teen’s cue to switch off and forget about studying! Multi-choice tests and exams are actually far from one-dimensional. At times multi-choice questions (MCQs) can be pretty straight forward, but it’s been our experience (particularly at tertiary level) that they can be absolutely horrible! Examiners can make MCQs particularly tricky by either: making at least 2 (out … [Read more...]
The Most Powerful Procrastination-Squashing Technique For Exam Study
For many teens, exams are just a big annoying disruption to their social life. Instead of planning their study time carefully, they find it extremely difficult to knuckle down - even when their exams are only days away. Procrastination. It gets us all. But it seems to be a particularly rampant disease amongst teenagers faced with upcoming exams. We want to share something with you that still helps us get off the couch and move to our desks when we need to study. Pain Vs. Pleasure The … [Read more...]
Subject Maps: Your Teen’s Study Roadmap
No matter what time of the year it is - exams are never far enough away! It’s amazing how quickly they’ll creep up. Here's a painless task for you to help them with that will significantly help them with their exam preparation - no matter what time of year. The first thing your child must know before they actually start swatting is what they need to study and in what order. To achieve this we suggest they (perhaps with your help) make a subject map for every subject they’re going to have an … [Read more...]