Effective Study
NCEA Study
Learning Curve Programme
The Learning Curve, Living, Learning, Thinking Programme has been designed to enhance the development of students academically, socially, emotionally, culturally and personally. Resource sheets are available here.
Really Useful Resources specialises in publishing NCEA revision guides and distributing many hundreds of other textbooks for the New Zealand secondary schools.
To order: on line @ http://www.rur.co.nz or txt 0218 25273
AnyQuestions.co.nz – online homework website
Offers online homework help to New Zealand school students. Via the AnyQuestions.co.nz website, students can log on between 1pm and 6pm Monday to Friday and talk to a real person about homework. Librarians are specially trained to help find the answers to homework questions.
Notes from “thestudygurus” website
The Motivation and Procrastination Video Package is available for $27. It’s all about seeing the value in school, setting targets and showing ways to overcome procrastination.
Go to: http://www.thestudygurus.co.nz to find the free download pages.
How to make sure you’re studying the right stuff
A lot of students fall into the trap of studying everything. Everything ever mentioned in class, and every topic they come across in a textbook. This is not a sustainable or effective way to study. You’ll spend too much time studying irrelevant topics and burn out before you’ve covered the important stuff.
The solution: Make subject maps
A subject map is a list of all the important topics within a subject. Having a subject map will help you remember all the things you need to study and stop you from getting off track.
Follow these steps to make a subject map for every subject you have an exam in. It will only take you a few minutes!
1) Take a blank piece of paper and title it with the name of the subject.
2) Write down the name of the first achievement standard in that subject you’re going to study for.
3) Under this, list as bullet points all of the important topics you need to know for this achievement standard.
4) Below each topic jot down a couple of main points or important key words.
5) After you’ve written down all of the topics for the first achievement standard, move on to the next one.
Each subject map might take up 2-3 pieces of paper. As you study you can tick the topics that you’ve covered to keep tabs on what you’ve got left to study. You wouldn’t go on a road trip without a road map and studying is no different.
Making study notes
Some students aren’t quite sure what studying is all about. I don’t blame you if you don’t – studying is a complex business. There’s no perfect way to do it and we all learn differently, so no wonder a lot of students find studying difficult. However, there is one extremely important aspect of studying that all students should be doing during their study break. It doesn’t matter what their skill level is or how they learn. This is making study notes.
You spend the majority of your study time making study notes. Study notes should be written in your own words and should explain all of the topics you need to understand for your exams. Your study notes can be made up of a mixture of things – full sentences, bullet points, diagrams, whatever. The point is – do whatever makes you remember the best. You’ll probably have to practice writing study notes for a little while to see what you like doing best.
There’s something that all great studiers do to make sure they remember what’s in their study notes. They re-write all of the important bits again in shorter form. This means you write out the really important topics – the ones you know you’re going to be examined on – again. Re-write your study notes in a much shorter form – use shorter sentences or even just keywords.
The act of re-writing study notes firmly imprints the content of your study notes onto your memory. The more you think about what you’re studying, the more you will understand it, and the greater chance you will have of remembering it in your exam.
For more information go to www.thestudygurus.co.nz
Revision and Study Programme
by Mr Andrew Langley
Mr Langley structured his presentation around some training tips of the inspirational Steve Gurney.
“Unless my goals raised the hairs on the back of my neck, raised my heart rate, put a cheesy grin on my face, then they weren’t powerful enough to guarantee success.” Steve Gurney, 9 times winner of the Coast to Coast.
Even with the best intentions things do not always go to plan – but we must have plans with goals. We need to take time outside of study to reflect on where we are and where we want to be. More importantly, how are we going to get there?
You are undertaking your own endurance event, completing against every other student in New Zealand on a specific day in November. Are you really prepared to leave your success to chance?
How much study are you doing? Not homework, but study?
Cramming is not beneficial and only stores information in the short term memory.
Steve Gurney Rule #1: No junk miles
Focusing on short term memory is like doing junk miles. It’s called short term memory for a reason.
Be honest: are you simply…
- reading over your notes?
- highlighting your notes?
Highlighting is a form of procrastination, because you are saving note taking for later. This means you must use the book twice instead of once. Instead, make careful notes to compliment your classroom notes, along with page numbers so that you can refer back to the book if necessary.
Rule #2: Strengthen the support muscles
We have to work to strengthen our ability to recall specific information. This is called Long Term Memory.
- summarise your notes
- write out key ideas
- make and use flip cards
- draw mind maps
- develop mnemonics, acronyms, etc
All of these are tangible outcomes of study.
Rule #3: Train in the same terrain
Once you have up-skilled, you must then apply these new skills in the right environment.
- sit at a desk for 3 hours
- get a hard chair
- use past papers
- put the clock on to measure output
Do not study on the computer. You are bound to be tempted to check your email or surf the net.
Do not leave your cell phone on during study time. No matter who is calling or texting you, usually it can wait 45 minutes. Having your cell phone on during study time can be a major distraction and is not conducive to learning.
Do not study just after you have eaten. Studies have shown that thinking is slower after having a meal.