Elevate Education ran one of a series of study skill sessions for our Year 10s. The enthusiastic presenter actively engaged the girls in a process to determine what their current study habits are and how they could study more effectively in the future.

The group generated the following nine study tips which are useful for all girls in Senior Years:

1. Use your syllabus. Ensure you always have a copy of your syllabus and use it to find outcomes/objectives from which you can derive your notes.
2. Takes notes during the term. Writing your notes should be completed approximately 2-3 weeks before your test. That will give you time to memorise your notes and complete practice papers.
3. Use loose leaf paper. Often notes you take in class are out of order. Flicking through pages to revise your notes disrupts the memory process, which means you have to re-write all your notes. Loose leaf paper saves you from having to re-write notes, as you can simply rearrange the pages.
4. Use a traffic light system. Use different colours to identify areas of strength and weakness. Colour co-ordinate your objectives to differentiate between topics you know well, topics you have some understanding of, and topics you don’t know or understand. This allows you to focus on what needs work, rather than continually revising what you know.
5. Pay attention to space and colour. Use trigger words to condense large bodies of information into a few key phrases or words. This reduces how much you write down, and increases how much you can remember. Colour co-ordinated information can also be used to trigger your memory.
6. Use mind-mapping. Mind-mapping is a powerful graphic technique you can use to transform your knowledge into a visual image. It allows you to organise and understand information more efficiently.
7. Have a system of review. Once you’ve written your notes you should review them immediately, then again 24 hours later. After this, you should be revising your notes monthly, to ensure that at the end of the semester or year you still have a good understanding of what you learned previously and haven’t forgotten everything.
8. Complete practice papers. You should spend at least one week before a test completing practice papers, finishing at least three per subject. The first few can be done open book, while the final ones should be done under test conditions to ensure you’re prepared.
9. Do extra reading. Use your own time to expand your knowledge of what you’ve learned. This will enable your exam answers to stand out.