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.