Develop a system for taking notes and reviewing I

One of the easiest ways to head into higher marks territory is to organise your notetaking really well. Make it efficient. Make it suit you. Make it make it easier for you to learn the material from each class. Make it make it easier for you to keep up to date and to study for exams.

Make sure your notes are suited to your needs. Who does not want to have some success at school? If you are going to do exams and reports you will want to know what is on the exam and what to focus on in a report. Duh! Of course. So why is it that so many students have the rattiest looking notebooks with bits and pieces of several subjects jumbled together? Easier study, more efficient study, less exam stress and ultimately better grades are targets of better notetaking. Making your life more blissful; ahhh! Your notes are key.

You should never be in doubt about what to study and where to go for useful material. Write each subject in a different notebook. Doesn't matter if you can get one with eight, ten, twenty divisions so all subjects fit. Do not get a notebook like this. It will mess up your mind with what's in it. Separate books for separate subjects. If some subjects require less notes, get a thinner book with fewer pages.

In the back of your notebook goes a sort of diary. You write homework tasks; report information such as due date(s) topics, size, references, special data sources and so on; exam topics if they are mentioned; and page numbers and topics in relevant texts. Each entry needs a date. Use this in case any conflicting information comes along so you can go to your teacher ask them to clear up the confusion. Your classmates will thank you for keeping on top of things.

In the front of the book write down the date, heading and topics, and references. Number the pages in your notebook. Use the page numbers to link up with the summary information you are putting in the back of the book. It keeps everything very tight. No question about what is on the exam or what is due when.

Do not just copy off the board or image. Listen to what is being said and add notes to help your understanding.

Sometimes what the teacher says is more important to your understanding than what they write or show. Use this information to fill in gaps or answer questions you may have. Write as neatly as possible. Use very few colors. Blue, black, red, orange (only if dark) if you like. Colors must be dark so they are easily read and do not strain your eyes when exam time comes around. Work hard to get as much down as possible. Class time is is the best time to learn. Use the time wisely. It will mean you spend less of your free time trying to figure stuff out. So, good notetaking means you will have more free time. Yeeha to that!

As soon as you can, re-read your class notes to see if you understand all, yes all, that was written. Find out what you do not understand; look it up, ask your pals, ask your teacher, google it but quickly fill in the gaps in your required knowledge for each section. At least you will have the comfort of knowing you know all you need to know; :) Then once a week quickly go back over all you did for that week and the weeks prior. You will never have to read too much as exams are sort of doorways between components of knowledge. As you go through the material you may find the amount of reading becomes quite big. Now's the time to read English on Monday, Math on Tuesday, History on Wedesday and so on. The smaller subjects can be grouped into one evening.

As well as reading, do a few practise problems. This would be important for Math especially but also for Science and other subjects that need you to do problem solving. Do adequate often until you can solve most problems quite freely and do not leave your fate to Fate. Keep your brain muscle flexed and it will be ready to use at peak performance. It is vital you keep your learning up to date, day by day, week by week. Yes, people do pass exams by cramming, they do pass with little study. Is it worth the risk? Definitely no, no it is not. What if you get sick, find your family or friend needs help, you get stuck with too much work and get tired out, get too weary to study because your coach insists on extra training? Why risk your future when you can ensure it quite easily? Success at School is the key for your future success and future choice.

Work well. Do not think you have to half kill yourself with study to get anywhere. Consistency is the way to go. Do some often, not a lot in great big scary chunks that expose you to shallow learning and less chance of success.

Have a great day

For best exam results, empty your brain

How often do you go into an exam after a cramming session? Up till early morning. Night after night up late for the whole exam period. Poor diet. Little exercise. Feeling bleahh. Head full of a gooey mixture of math, history, art, english, language, social needs, work annoyances. Arggggh.

If you go into an exam with your brain in this condition, you will add to the stress of the situation as well as impede the information flow around your brain. All the answers, clues, suggestions your brain has to offer will be smudged and blocked by too many irrelevant signals and queries. Best to get rid of them. Just as we suggest you de-clutter your study area, you should also de-clutter the working part of your brain. Mmmmm. Yes a big Mmm because it sounds a bit hard. Well, not really. Just like the rest of this site, we are looking for doable ways to ensure Better School Marks.

So your brain is presented with a problem in a test. This is placed into an area that begins to work on the solution under the frame of key words it recognises and signals it adds to that frame to begin a solution process. If this area is full of bits and  pieces you are trying to hold there in temporary (until end of exam) storage as a result of recent cramming, then it is really hard to sort out useful ideas from all the rest. There is too much to do to make sense of the question and pull out relevant information from that mixed in with everything else. Brain goes into overload, stress builds, brain now has to cope with this too. Poor brain. Poor me. Recognise the situation?

Sounds like a disaster. Sounds like you? I think we've all been there. The fix? Empty your brain. That sounds a bit wierd. Empty your brain just as you are getting ready for testing. How does that work? Well, if you have nothing, or much less than usual in the working area, the area where questions go to be dealt with, your brain can easily view the information and draw more relevant pieces from storage. The pieces of information are then fit together easily to make up solutions. The less clutter in this working area, the easier it is for your brain to see exactly what is asked, figure out what you know about it, and retrieve what it needs to solve the puzzle and bring you a solution. Utopia. The exam becomes a more comfortable environmnent with greater chance of success.

So, how can we make this happen? You need to make it happen. Become familiar with each topic. So familiar that recall of information when you need to outside of the exam situation is relatively quick and easy. This means that the content you need is being hardwired into your brain where it is catalogued for easy future reference and retrieval. The only way to do this is through practise, review and careful reading of your notes. If you can achieve this, your mind can relax when you sit exams. In this relaxed state it can operate at its most efficient and effective best. Treat each subject as a sport you are trying to get better at. More practise gives more skills gives more success and more pleasureable feelings about oneself. Oh yeah, I like me because I can do things I found hard at first.

Just like all your workspaces, the brain too needs de-cluttering. Make its solution solving processes smoother and you will get Better School Marks.

Good luck with your studies. We wish you every success. Follow us to see if we can help. Email if you want to.

Participate in school for better school marks

Participating in school will be one of the big obstacles to overcome in your search for better school marks. It may take significant planning and risk, depending on the school and the area it is in. If you do not get negative feedback from classmates try participating in class with questions, answers, suggestions. It will keep you awake and focussed and, more importantly, it will encourage others to join in in a positive manner. What can happen? Well, you could learn more, the teachers would be more helpful when you needed guidance or assistance, you may get leadership approval from your peers. Many positives are there for your taking, not to mention that key of higher grades.

Sometimes you may need to seek approval from some people first if that will help. See if some of your friends may be encouraged to support you with the occasional answer or question, or even some homework done on time. Anything that may improve the learning environment will benefit.

Is it possible to start a study circle. This gives you the opportunity to be a leader, meet new and valuable school contacts, and have more sources of help and interaction. These can be small groups of peers who you can rely on. Meet on or off campus. The relationships formed in these groups are often long lasting, threading way into the future. You can use each others notes and ideas to advantage. Be reliable. Be useful. Be that leader. Make sure everyone's input is valued. Make sure everone has a turn. Make sure there are no put downs, even in fun because you never know how the other person may take it. The individuals in study circles tend to grow rapidly in maturity.

If the classroom is out of the question as a place to stand out, even a little, try putting something back into your community by offering to do a small extra job around campus. It might be that only a few notice at first. It seems that if you put a positive spin into something, the universe in some way rewards your actions. So once you feel a bit more confident about your power, take it into the classroom and work on your academic capability. Do not go for nerd of the week. Go for the likeable all rounder. This is a better target. You are looking for a more comfortable and more enjoyable learning place, that's all.

School too easy? Make your own rules

Complacency can happen when we find the "challenge" of school not a challenge at all. Since a young age you may have found it easy to learn new tasks, methods, skills and content; too easy. No wonder you find school boring and think of it as barely useful; a time consuming stepping stone in the years of your career. Your friends and others in your circle such as family think you are doing OK and often reinforce that with you. Most people see success as passing tests or reaching certain grade levels. That certainly is part of the picture but the real image is formed by considering the background, ability and potential of each individual.

How close are your grade levels to your real potential or to a potential stretched by your imagination? Passing and this grade may be a long way apart. So you get that gap that creates some discomfort for you when you receive congratulatory comment on your results. In your heart and mind you may not be totally satisfied. Great. What you need to do here is find your limits, if you have any, and write them down. Think of them always as intermediate and fluid, changeable at any point you care to choose. The changes may occur of their own accord with regular assessment of challenges and targets. Plan to promote your future premier choices for further study or employment and training. Do this by improving the marks you are awarded and the comments written about you by people in school. In this case, you can begin to analyse your capabilities, write them down, target new levels, and know that you need that challenge.

Positions in the queue for employment, training, or student acceptance at College are often pre-set by those institutions. Your best grades and fine comments will move you further to the front of any queue. Where do you want to put yourself? As far up front as possible, naturally. The choices then becomes yours, not to be cut off because you did not reach the necessary pre-ordained numbers set by employers, Colleges and Universities.

The teacher picks on me

I often wonder if people should think about this one a bit more and come to the conclusion that in most cases, this is a good thing. Think about this one. Firstly, is your behaviour reflecting that of a good student? Do you, perhaps, talk a little too much, write a little too little, look around vacantly often? Don't say "Everyne else does", because we are looking at you.

Most teachers want the best for their students, whether you like that teacher or not. They stay in their job hoping to be able to influence one or two people in a positive manner along the way so they become successful in the future. Teachers may annoy you but most of what they do is driven by outside influences. The content of classroom lessons is prescribed by State or other central bodies, so what they teach you is usually not of their choosing. They are just trying to lead you through it as best as they can. Their interactions with you is also governed by School Boards, parent groups, lobby groups, and Government legislation. Often they have a dress code just as the student body does. Often they do not like aspects of the dress code too. As you can imagine often the poor teacher is retricted and feels confined and frustrated by over regulation just like you do.

So, look at it a different way if a teacher says something to you and don't put yourself into a basket of talkers or non-homework doers or others like that just so you feel better because you have an excuse. Maybe the teacher  has your needs at heart and wants you to do well and just wants to remind you what you should be doing. If you get annoyed at that, of course they get annoyed too. Wouldn't you get a bit annoyed if you thought you were trying to help someone and they said something smart or angry back at you? You should actually, usually, be pleased because they may be more interested in your success than some others. They want you to be on task for success and try to keep you on track. Maybe they can see a lot more potential in your ability than you are showing. Your welfare and success is often at the top of their consideration. The more you work with them the easier school gets and the more likely you are to reach your success goals. Try it.

There are no "Ten Best Rules" for success

I am sorry to inform you that there is not a set of "ten best rules". Many sites give you a list that appears to be a cure all for all people in all situations, forgetting how individual we are and forgetting to say: "Here is a list of ten points that may help you gain Better School Marks, the list is nowhere near complete." Already in these support pages, you may be getting the idea that there are dozens and dozens of ideas that can be used to help people improve. Some will suit you, some won't. As you read with us, try some, reject some, go back to others, and then make up your own to share with friends. Once you start to form your own you can really give yourself just cause for celebration. You have then fully taken control of your own future prospects.

"Ten Best Rules" is too tempting. Do not get sucked into thinking that: "If I do all these, I am sure to be successful." What if none of the hints suit your style? What if none of the hints refers to the learning expected of you? What if you take a lot of time to put the idea into place and find that it's nothing like you wanted? Be cautious.

Do not be put off looking for ideas but approach with caution anything that offers to fix all your problems. Find new thinking that you are comfortable with. Do not try to implement ten new things at once or you will be swamped with too much to change, making the process of renewal and road to Better School Marks a winding, rocky road with few signposts, driven mostly in the dark. Small changes with a great probability of reaching each goal should be the start point. These then form the foundation and strength to make larger changes and more ambitious plans for targets that really stretch you.

The planning will become easier once you get going. Targets will be easier to come up with. Time estimates will be more realistic. Please, at this early stage of renewal, don't put too much expectation on yourself. The entire focus is on improvement at a sustainable level. A level that is a measure made up entirely of steps toward sealing greater opportunity in your future. Step up and enjoy the feeling that success brings.

Reduce distraction for Better School Marks

You know how when you are in class how easy it is to be distracted by something more exciting than the lesson? Smart comment. Random fart will do it. Screeching car. Teacher's fly undone. Someone makes funny face through door. They happen all the time. Well, you just can't get rid of these, they will always be there and will often be more annoying than a source of amusement. It will take some concentration and practise to get over these quickly and get back to the job. They clutter your clear concentration, stop your brain building links between the important bits. Most of all they waste precious time. Time when you could be learning that really key link or idea that makes you go: "Oh! That's what you mean. Now I get it!" Whatever the "it" may be.

Do not be one of those annoying extremists on the other end who wouldn't know how to have fun if you poked them in the ribs with a funny stick. But do recognise lost time as one of the few valuable assets we have that can never be regained once lost. If the distraction looks like taking over for a while (you know, one of those things that disrupts and keeps going with the class in no mood to settle back down), glance down at your notes to see if you can make some sense of bits that may have been vague. Do not openly ignore the activities or you may be ostracised for it but do take furtive glances at your notes or even take a furtive view into recent work in your mind's eye. Just think back to the last lesson or two and see if you can recall what you learned. It would look just like you were daydreaming, so not really ignoring the class at all.

Carry with you at all times, in your mind, your picture of you after fulfilling the next success task. Remind yourself of what you have achieved, even if you have begun with your success planner as mentioned a couple of posts back. This is good reinforcement for the effort you have put in so far and will give you proper reward for a job well done, so far. It is your success and your focus we are building on.

You cannot blame a disruptive day for a way out of work. What others do should be a separate world away from what you are trying to do. "They were talking"; "They didn't study"; "They did no work"; "They had no notetaking equipment". Being drawn into this is what a lot of people use as an excuse for their own laziness. Keep above it and don't become part of it. It will suck you down toward failure.

De-clutter at home

Home is often set up as the worst place to study and to prepare and get on with the plan for Better School Marks. Remember we are looking to set you up so you give yourself as much chance as possible of driving a successful future. Sometimes, especially at the start, things seem a bit tough. If they are, just email, and we'll try to sort it out. Somehow you need to allocate study space. If that solution is not immediately obvious, how about you find a spot around the school where there will be the peace to study. Note, not "try to find" but "find". Don't let yourself have excuses in such important matters. Could you use the local library?

Home is best because you can leave your stuff out without it getting stolen when you go for a break. You do need quiet. You do need calm.

Get rid of the ipod, phone, tv. Do not be tempted by the buzz of unanswered texts or the chance to listen to the latest song or by your favourite program or a possible facebook comment. Plan around all this. They can all wait until you are ready to consider them. They are not as important as you and your future. In this future you will much more likely be the rule maker. So, plan around all this. Did I already say "Plan around all this'? Well, if you are serious, do it.

What you are looking for, as much as possible, is for one signal to be going into your head and that is why the peace is so important. No tv, no phone, no friends over, no music, no facebook. Try to make a dedicated space in your room. It does not have to be showy. Flat top for desk, comfortable chair you can sit in for about 2h at a time, a lamp would be good as would be a specific spot to store your important notes. If your school uses computers a lot, then the space for this would also come in. But it is far more important to have book and pen space.

Get the equipment ready and lay it out. Get your head into focus. That may mean you have to bully yourself a little at first, until you start to notice the difference. Sit in that space, zone out to the rest of the world. This is the time that is dedicated to your success. Be very selfish about it.

How do you know if you are successful

So, we have written what we want down? Maybe that is proving to be harder than we thought. What sort of record should we keep? Get a notebook. Not large, say A5 size, and certainly not expensive.

It's a nice feeling to put pen to paper for a plan. So you may find your plan grows outside of school to become the way you look at life and its future. Oh, yeah. Now you're getting to the exciting part. Dream your future and then plan how to get there and then do it.

You know you are successful if you reach clearly defined goals. So you can be successful often. As many times as you reach a goal, however small, that is a success. Fill your life full of successes.

What sort of things would you define as being where you are at now? This can be somewhat overwhelming to answer. You do not have to put everything down. The more detail you have, the easier the task of future planning becomes. Notes can be added at any stage as you decide to include information. You might start with the grades you received over the last few exam and test sessions, grades for assignments, even how much you have in the bank. It all forms part of the picture of your growth.

Since we are about Better School Marks how about figuring out things like: how much actual study you do each day; how much homework you do each day (yes they are different and each important in its own way); a description of the place where you do learning work, including writing materials; how you learn best; when (time of day and day) you study; when you do other stuff like sport, chores, part time work; your satisfaction with each of these current situations. You can see this part is really important but also can be done in sections.

Once this picture starts to emerge, then you have something to compare with. Now you need to start picturing what it means to you to be successful. Be nice to yourself. Think about each of the above and add to them as you come up with new ideas. Draw up a table with five columns headed: "What" (Pick some of the things you want to target); "Current" (Your current position); "Next" (Put where you want to take this in the next stage of your growth. This allows for future changes, so some of these statements can be that you are OK with where you are now); "Timing" (How long you expect it to take. This can be things like: "by the end of this month I will be ..."; or "in the next examination period ..."; or "When I finish school ..."); "Feeling/thoughts" (what you think it will be like to be at this point or how you will feel about achieving this).

Again you can do things bit at a time. Early targets should be easily doable, creating lots of early successes. Make the commitment to yourself. A few moments now will hugely increase your chance of Better School Marks and hence a higher probability of a more secure future.

Measuring success with better school marks

What is success? There are a myriad measures of success and discussions (just look at tv, gossip magazines, blogs, twitter, facebook, msn ...) about who is/isn't successful or famous. Who is/isn't successful in $$'s, lifestyle, happiness, looks, skill, power .... How can we define and who defines our success? Yes, our success. There are just hundreds of ways to define what is "successful" and matching hundreds of experts willing to tell us what we should and shouldn't do to be considered successful. However the particular "successful" we are exploring is "better school marks".

What do we mean by "better school marks". This will be one of your measures of success so we must know what we mean by it. What will your "better school marks" be? What we are looking for here is a way for you to check if you have reached a level appropriate to your inbuilt ability. Yes, your ability. So, who needs all the experts when the success we are playing with here is very personal. It belongs to a single person. A single person who is able to declare that a pinnacle has been reached. The definer is YOU.

Make your own decision about your personal "better school marks". Take a long, careful look at where you are now. Write it down somewhere that you will keep as a record. It may be a long term record in which you put down thoughts, plans, successes along the way but make sure you can prove to yourself what has been done, what has been achieved, and what's next. Set a realistic (but not low target) mission. Aim high. If you miss high you may get reasonable for the first few shots. Don't worry about that, especially if success has been hard to come by in the past. The build to success may be a bit slow at first if this is the case. But, if you aim low to start with, the best you can get is low.

Remember, be selfish about this. It is for you. Who cares what others say. Once we reach a target we can stabilise and maintain that or go on to a higher plateau. Do not limit yourself under outside influence. Satisfy your own personal goals. Dream a bit. What sort of future do you want? What do you need to do to get there? Who will you be? Take your time to answer all these questions. Be sure to write it all down. Draw diagrams. Make up "what if ..." scenarios. Enjoy the thought of being successful now and in the future.

So, you wanna be a rock star

Or is it "movie star" or "sports star" or "famous artist" (performance or production) of some sort? Don't be fooled by the hype. Consider, quietly and clearly, just how many people you know would love to be a famous (and of course sickeningly well paid) identity and multiply that by how many communities there are like yours in your town, country, the world. Yes, world. All the above are international jobs. How many stars actually are right at the top? How many people want to be there? How many have the connections you don't (i.e. those with famous relatives willing to help out family)? How many have the financial support you don't? How many have "good luck"?

Extras in movies, local bar bands, local team players do not make much money. Most people in the arts area who have made it will tell you the best training in the arts world is bar work. You'll likely make more money doing that.

Always have a dream destination. The caution is that the odds of success in such competitive industries, with so few highly paid participants, are very low. Be realistic.

So, back to the success at school (where "school" is any formalized structure of learning) notion (not the easier "fail" path). Vomit? Sux? Nerdy? Wimpy? Oh, no. These people (successful at school) have the easier path to a dream lifestyle, whichever way you look at it. The idea of success at school is to have a good backup plan if plan A (being a fabulously wealthy and famous "____ star") does not quite happen. Qualified professionals, entrepreneurs and highly experienced people in most industries can be very well paid and live extraordinary lifestyles. And, there are hundreds of thousands more jobs like these. So plan B looks great too. Success, you will find, is a magnet for excitement and fun.

If you cover plan A and plan B as well as you can, surely your future has loads more potential fun.

How easy it is to fail at school

Too easy! Read the last post and look for even more reasons to fail than those offered there. Then do nothing about it.

It is easy to find blame in your school, the teachers, the courses on offer, your parents or friends or brothers or sisters or step mum or step dad or blah blah blah, part time work, amount of homework, discipline, being picked on by teachers, transport, Osama bin Laden or Obama or Islam or Christianity. Man the list is endless. It's easy to fail. There are just so many things and people to blame for it.

"I'm so tough I don't care if I fail. The world owes me because I breathe so I'll take my failure out on the world"

WIMP!! PUSSY!! Nobody really thinks failure is cool. If you go to school, get the most advantage you can out of it. Get over the blame thing and look to yourself. If you are at school, use the opportunity to line yourself up with a more secure future. Do something for yourself while you are there. Why go to school and be a waste of time, resources, space? Leave!

If you don't leave school or college, join us. Ignore the rubbish spouted by wimps too scared, too weak to do well. Join us here and we will help you out.

Failure sux

Nobody really likes to fail. But how often do we say 'who cares', 'school sux' or 'why should I give a toss?' But really, deep (or not so deep) down none of us likes to fail. Sometimes we find a glimmer of hope that makes the difference. That does not happen much. Nor often enough.

Does your teacher never explain, never tell you what's coming on the exam, not care, pick on you, come late, come unprepared, talk in a funny accent, forget what they said? Is your school rubbish with horrible worn out facilities, no help, old technology, lots of stupid rules, no good subjects to choose, god awful tasting food, ancient textbooks, broken toilets, no sports equipment? Are you overloaded with work, assignments, irrelevant tasks, stuff that won't help you get a job or get into College, boring non challenging work? Does the school and teachers not meet the same standards that they demand of you?

E. All the above? Sound like your situation?

Do lots of your buddies fail? Are any lucky enough to pass?
No wonder you can't do well at school. Your school is letting you down.

What is going wrong? How can we fix it?