Insider’s Guide to Studying
Study secrets that teachers wished they had time to teach
Let’s face it: teaching students the secrets to acing tests isn’t on the curriculum. In fact, there’s barely time for teachers to cover the basics, let alone spend extra time teaching solid study skills. So, it’s no wonder that students struggle when it comes to study time!
Without solid study skills, students are left to figure it out on their own. However, The Oxford Learning Insider’s Guide To Studying gives students the tips that the pros use. These are the tips that teachers wished that they had known when they were students.
Insider Tip 1: Review with a Pen and Paper
Before beginning to study, students need to know WHAT to study. So, the first step is to grab a pen and paper and read over all notes, writing down subject headings, subheadings, and bolded words. This helps to give a clear picture of the study material.
As studying progresses, students should continue to write down any and all meaningful keywords. This creates study notes, which can then be used as reference material during the study process. Rather than continually looking through a textbook, or flipping through notes, students can just refer to their own study notes.
Get an Edge: Focus on writing down the ideas or concepts that are the most challenging, or that are the most difficult to remember.
Bonus! The physical act of holding the pen and writing makes study time active rather than passive. Reading over notes is passive; writing down keywords is active. Active studying is good studying!
Stay tuned…tip 2 is next.
Related: Study Tips for Exam Success
I got your flyer….I want to have more info for my son who is almost 12 and my daughter who is 15 .. my problem is my son needs always the help of his mother and he can not study without her presence or her help and he is so depending on her which create some kind of depression for her do you know the solution ) an example: if she study with him a night before the exam he can get 90th or some times more , if she doesn’t study with him he can get 30 or 40th….it is surprising… For my daughter she is independent noww but she doesn’t care to pass or not the exam and more we talk to her we find more she is careless so we don’t bother her that much but we tried private teacher even with this way she still not improving that much ….also we need your suggestion…pls let me know your opinion. thanks A .Attara
Dear Albert, Thanks for your post. We can certainly help your son and daughter. You have come to the right place! Your son needs to learn how to study independently. We teach children how to become independent learners for life. His mother won’t be able to go to College or University with him, so he will need to learn how to study by himself. It is also important that he learns how to determine what material he needs to study. This may explain the huge gap in test results between him studying alone and studying with his mother. His mother is able to pick out the important information for him. Now lets move on to your daughter. She will also need to learn how to study and become an independent thinker. If she has been working with a private teacher she is probably counting on that teacher to essentially do her work for her. She needs to learn how to do it herself. We have amazing programs for our high school students that teach organization, time management and study skills. Once our students improve their skills they gain more confidence and become motivated. It sounds like your daughter has lost her motivation. We have many Oxford Learning Centres, so please send me your address and I can set up a meeting for you with your local Oxford Learning. It will be beneficial for you to go and meet the team there and discuss a plan of action for both of your children. I can be reached at emma@oxfordlearning.com Kind Regards, Emma