STUDY SKILLS.
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10 Top Tips to boost your confidence
Improve your memory
Study timetable
Study skills
Exam techniques
Using your mock exams to help you achieve your best results in June
10 Top Tips to boost your confidence
1. Know who YOU are – know what is important to you, what you care about and what you value in life. If you put these values into
action in your every day life, you are being true to yourself and your self-esteem will improve.
2. Start a Journal – write down all of the positive things about yourself – make it a BIG list with at least 10 items on it’. Concentrate
on your strengths. It can be easy to focus on the negative things but FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE.
3. Get a ‘protective layer’ and set some ‘boundaries’ for yourself. Setting boundaries means setting limits for what is ok and not ok
for people to do … List three things under each of the following …
a.
People may not …
b.
I have the right to …
c.
It’s ok to …..
Don’t forget to tell others about your ‘new’ boundaries so they know what’s cool with you !
4. Get a ‘positive affirmation’ for yourself – an affirmation is a motivational statement to inspire and reassure you, such as –
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a.
“I am good enough”
b.
“I am working on being fit and healthy”
c.
“I am going to pass my exam”
Write it on a BIG PINK STICKER and put it on your mirror so you will see it every day. Say it LOUD and PROUD every
morning and evening !
5. Get a ‘Confidence Strategy’ – Remember a time when you were confident: what did you look like ? What were you wearing ?
What did it feel like ? What could you hear ? Think of that time as your ‘Confident Coat’ and put it on every time you need it !
6. Be prepared for when your confidence might get thrown off – prepare instructions for what you will do if that happens. Practise
it. Visualise it. Be prepared – you CAN turn the situation around.
7. Learn to give and take – help others and don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it. We sometimes try to do everything
ourselves when it would be easier to ask for assistance. Once you know what to do – you can help somebody next time !
8. Reward yourself – when you do something that makes you feel proud or you have achieved a goal that you set – it’s OK to feel
good about yourself !
9. Make better next time – we all make mistakes and sometimes feel like we have failed – but actually mistakes are just opportunities
to learn and make sure that you do better next time.
10. Know yourself. Understand yourself. Be proud of yourself – Remember we all have unique qualities and characteristics –
otherwise the world would be so boring !
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Remembering can be easy.
The following are the most useful strategies for remembering:
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Use as many senses as possible. It is said that we remember about 20% of what we read, 30% of what we hear, 40% of what
we see, 50% of what we say, and 60% of what we do. However, we remember 90% of what we read, hear, see, say and do.
Drawing maps and graphs, summarising chapters using spidograms, with the body being the subject heading and all the
spider’s legs being important points – all assist memory.
One of the most powerful ways of committing information to memory is to tell it to another person. Don’t forget we
remember 50% of what we say. So bore family and friends with a description of the characters in Hamlet or the details of
Martin Luther’s life or whatever !
Alternatively, practise for a pretend audience or put information onto an audio tape and then check it.
Always learn with a question in mind. Look up the exam papers before you begin to study any topic to get an idea of how
exam questions are composed. Keep them in mind as you learn.
Recreating the conditions in which you will be examined is important. We recall best in the same situation in which we learn
the material. That is why studying on the bed with the TV on does not aid recall in a silent examination hall. From now on
study as if you were in the exam and test yourself as if you were doing an exam paper.
Always use headings when studying. They guide us though the material and help us to break it down into meaningful units that
we are more likely to remember.
The more often you revise and check and re-check what you have learned, the more you are assisting your memory.
Use as many mnemonics (aids to memory) as you can – use acronyms to help you remember main points – eg if you wanted
to remember the main points such as
Succession, Terror, Anti-Fascist, Land Collectivisation, Industrialisation, No contact with West as the policies of Stalin – use
the acronym STALIN
Avoid distractions. It cannot be said too often how important this is if you are going to learn and recall.
Every time you finish a study session, check what you have learned or revised and then mentally see how much you recall.
Prepare flash cards, index cards with summaries and revision headings and memory maps.
Use every spare moment. Dead time is the term for time that we waste – carry around a few notes for revision – dead time can
add up, particularly in the last month.
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Do not be afraid of overcrowding your memory – the more you know – the more you will remember as information will attach
itself to other information that you already know.
MAKING A REALISTIC BUT WORKABLE TIMETABLE
1. Keep the layout simple – make several blank copies so that you can alter it weekly or as you need to.
2. Keep the timetable realistic but flexible – there will be times when you will not be able to study as you planned. Be able to fit
in some extra study sessions if you have to. Divide your time into ‘have to’ and ‘want to’. You have to do certain things. When
they are done, you are free to do the things you want to. Balance is the key.
3. Assess how to use your time – average out the time you will spend doing different things.
4. Sleep and rest.
5. Exercise regularly – this is not a luxury. Make sure that you have adequate exercise without making it your sole purpose in
life. The body and the mind are inter-connected. Exercise clears the academic fog, keeps you fit, helps you relax, and increases
your ability to focus and concentrate.
6. Try to eat a balanced diet.
7. Monitor your prep – work out how many hours you need to spend at prep on a daily or weekly basis. Tick off work as you
complete it. Stay ahead of your deadlines – this will give you a sense of doing well.
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REVISION
1. If you haven’t already done so, start NOW ! You can alternate prep with some revision each night.
2. Make a revision timetable. It helps to keep track of each subject and makes sure you don’t give all your time to your best
subject and none to your weaker subject. (You should do the opposite !)
3. What is your revision style ? Some people work best on their OWN. Some people work best in a SYNDICATE, where
2/3/4 people revise a topic together (this requires good discipline !)
4. When revising : revise everything on a topic at the same time (class notes, text book, practical …). Revise related topics
together. Pause frequently to ask yourself, what do you recall from what you have read, don’t just keep reading on and on …
5. To learn diagrams/labelling/formulae/definitions, etc: look at it in detail until you think that you know it, then cover it up
and reproduce it. Check on your attempt. Repeat this at regular intervals.
6. Practise exam questions from past papers. Answers can be jotted down in outline form / bullet points to save time.
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THE EXAMINATION
1. Gather all the exam equipment the night before (and don’t try to learn anything new)
2. Be familiar with the layout of the paper beforehand – any compulsory questions, how many need to be answered form each
section …. Etc
3. ALLOCATE YOUR TIME ACCURATELY according to the marks per question. This is very important and should be
worked out beforehand –( ask your teacher about timing) – you must KEEP to the time decided and then MOVE on (write the
times at the top of your exam paper)
4. Read quickly through the exam paper, allow 5/10 minutes for this.
5. Underline key words – know the difference between verbs – comment, compare, explain, list, review, summarise …
6. Jot down any ideas as they occur.
7. Answer your best question first, then second best …
8. Write to the point, not in circles …
9. Don’t leave early, use time to check your paper – more ideas may come to you.
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USING YOUR MOCK EXAMS TO HELP YOU ACHIEVE YOUR BEST RESULTS IN JUNE.
1. Practice makes perfect.
2. Answer blind
3. Time answers
4. Use marking schemes
5. Rework mock papers
6. Work with your teachers.
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