Just a reminder that our school subscribes to the study skills website www.studyskillshandbook.com.au which means that all parents and students at the school can access the site at school and at home. Please take some time this week to log in and have a look.
This is a website with units of work on different study skills topics, looking at how students can improve their results as well as other resources and planning templates to make dealing with schoolwork easer.
On the THINGS TO PRINT page at the top of the home page, there are many useful handouts. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see an alphabetical list.
One of these is the ‘Top Tips For Parents’ handout. Some examples of the types of tips on this handout are as follows:
- It is a great idea for students to set up a folder for each subject that stays at home, somewhere to file away past tests, assignments, completed topics and to keep everything together for that subject.
- Each night students should work on homework first, then assignments or test preparation. After this students need to look for other things they can do to enhance their understanding of their subjects, such as making study notes, doing extra questions, revising earlier topics.
- The best way to deal with distractions is to work in half-hour blocks with no distractions during this time. This means during the half-hour blocks allocated to schoolwork, no social media etc. not for the whole night, just for those half-hour blocks.
- One of the biggest mistakes students make is leaving their study notes until just before their exams. One of the best habits students can get into is doing their study notes throughout the year, at the end of each topic is a good time to do this. Whenever students don’t have much homework, they should be working on study notes.
The HELP guides on the Things to Print page are also useful resources. Each is a 10-page booklet that targets specific areas. There is a great one for students starting Year 7 and another for those starting Year 11.
For students, a very useful handout is the term planner. It is a great idea at the start of every term to print off the term planner (or print out 4 for the year). Simply fill in the due dates for the term as you find out about them, and place the term planner somewhere visible at home – for example above your desk on a noticeboard. Highlight tests in one colour and assignments in another colour so they stand out clearly. Cross off each day as you go, so you have a clear picture of how the work is spread out over the term and how long until things are due.
Writing these due dates in your diary as well is essential of course, but it does not give you the overall picture like a term planner does. This is a good thing to do at the start of every term right from the start of secondary school through to the end (and beyond to university as well!).
Our school’s subscription details to www.studyskillshandbook.com.au are available from the link on the Canvas Library page.
Lisa Millar (Head of Library & Information Resources)