It can be horribly discouraging and disheartening when students study really hard for an exam but don’t get the result they were hoping for. And fair enough too. It’s an awful feeling when you’ve given something a really good shot and haven’t reaped the rewards you were hoping for. Well today I want to talk about something that I suspect is a big contributing factor to why students don’t always reap what they sow. As Chris and I have said from the beginning, so much of the time, … [Read more...]
Studying 101: Study Tips Every Teen Needs To Know
We are quite familiar with the art of studying. Not only from our experience as students, but also as tutors. Along the way we've met countless students who are certainly not 'dumb' - quite the opposite in fact - but regularly struggle to get good grades. Along the way we've collected a huge amount of 'data' about how an academically successful teen studies, what work they do, how they do it, and how it pays off. Interestingly, the best students aren't the 'smartest' students Teens that ace … [Read more...]
How to Write Incredibly Bad Study Notes
Studying IS making study notes. At least that’s what students tell us when we ask them what studying involves. We agree that, in most cases, making study notes should be what your teen spends most of their time doing while preparing for exams. It’s our belief that it doesn’t matter what your teen’s predominant Learning Style is, study notes are a must for everyone sitting written exams. Because study notes are such an integral part of studying for exams, we think all teens should know the … [Read more...]
What Do Good Studiers Do?
When we want to get good at something, we look to those who have already achieved highly in that area. Would you take weight management advice from someone who thought cream puffs#eb were a healthy afternoon snack and hadn’t exercised since they were 10? Probably not... You want your personal trainer to look amazing in lycra and have a six-pack. In the same way, you wouldn’t want your teen to mimic the study habits of a student who gets less than stellar grades. You want your teen to adopt … [Read more...]
The Two Biggest Reasons Why Kids Fail At School
When learning something new it can be incredibly useful to find out what works from people who are already successful in that field. Conversely, you can also learn a lot from people who haven’t done so well... Success (or not) at school is a great example of this. Not surprisingly, kids who do well at school normally have very similar attitudes towards studying and doing their schoolwork. While kids who don’t do so well also have a number of things in common. Over the years, we’ve noticed … [Read more...]
How Your Teen Should Use Their Learning Style To Get Straight A’s
At school I remember I spent a lot of time reading and writing stuff down in an exercise book. This was the way our teachers expected us to learn most of the time, and it still is today. This is a serious problem for many children Some students learn best by creating a picture in their mind and committing that to memory. Others are incredibly good at storing information by what they hear. Some like to feel what they are learning, by physically doing something or mentally placing … [Read more...]
The Three Cardinal Rules of Studying
The three ‘Cardinal’ rules represent the trunks of the studying tree, if you will. They are an essential part of studying 101. Their application will provide a sound foundation on which your child can begin building their study skills’ repertoire. Cardinal rule #1: Identify what you need to know A trap that a lot of students fall into is believing that they need to study everything under the sun. An efficient studier knows that the best thing they can do is sort out what topics are … [Read more...]
How to Remember the Boring Stuff
Sometimes, especially when sitting in an exam room, you need to have some prepared ‘memory jogs’ to help remember pesky little bits of information. Studying to understand is always going to be the best recipe for success, but there will always be certain things that your child will need to rote learn. This is where mnemonic devices and acronyms come in. For example, the most commonly (over) used one in biology is “MRS GREN”. This acronym is used to help remember the 7 characteristics of … [Read more...]