Study Skills and Exam Preparation

To prepare calmly and effectively for any work, it is important that all necessary preparation starts well in advance. This involves focusing on precisely what needs to be done, what your motivation to do it is, how you can most effectively plan and organise your work, effective time management, and the self-discipline to do what needs to be done.

There are many ways that we offer appropriate support in school. Study skills are regularly revisited and practised across subject classes, support is offered in developing reading and writing skills, there are revision workshops and clinics, skills are worked through in PSE classes, and time is made available with tutors and for interviews with a pupil’s Head of House. We also organise half-day workshops for our examination classes on motivation and revision. This is a whole-school approach and an ongoing process that is not confined to the pressured weeks before exams.

Tests, assignments and exams are a fact of life, and revision can be hard graft. Putting the required effort in is a discipline that requires regular revisiting and it is all too easy to be distracted or to concentrate too much on topics where success is achievable and ignore the problem areas. Because we do not want our pupils to be passive recipients of knowledge, but rather actively and collaboratively responsible for their own learning, we encourage them to concentrate and contribute in class, check out concerns, make time to speak to their teacher, and decide how best to make the most of the extra sessions that are available for all subjects and are widely advertised around the school.

Where do we start? We recognize that pupils have very different learning styles, so through assessments and questionnaires across all subject areas we help them identify their individual preferences whilst introducing techniques that perhaps they have not tried: note taking, memory games, mind mapping, visualization, mentoring etc. Most pupils will use a variety of these techniques and use them consistently across all school subjects so they become good habits.

Secondly, pupils need to understand why they are being assessed. If they can see the potential rewards of personal achievement they will be better motivated and focused. So, pupils experience small amounts of regular and realistic testing, which should be seen as opportunities for success – to show what has been learned, enabling pupils to have positive feedback and staff to identify any concerns that can be addressed. It must always be a two-way process between the teacher and the pupil. Effective learning should be a collaboration between school and home, so we would hope that time can be made for children and parents to talk about the school day, encouraging sharing and support for what pupils have been doing in class.

There are many good self-help books available. We use some in school and others are available in libraries, bookshops or through the net. Study guides that we have found accessible and successful are in our school library either in book form or on CDs. In particular, we recommend:

Study Skills and Strategies, Leckie and Leckie
The Buzan Study Skills Handbook, Tony Buzan
Master Your Memory, Tony Buzan
The Mind Map Book, Tony Buzan
Improve your Study Skills, Careers Research and Advisory Centre
Strategies for Studying, Mike Coles
How to Pass, Hodder & Stoughton (Standard Grade and Higher course for every subject. Each book gives an overview of course work and exam requirements, and offers a guide to revision techniques)
Determined to Succeed - A CD to aid motivation and relaxation, Tree of Knowledge.

All the above, plus subject-specific revision and course notes, are available in the school library and from individual departments.

For our certificate classes, there is guidance on how to make best use of exam study leave in the Senior School Notices section of this website.