At Elevate, we emphasise the importance of feedback. Practice papers are only useful if a student can use them to identify areas requiring improvement. Depending on where the paper has been sourced from, there are often worked solutions available. Even then, we encourage students to submit their papers to teachers for grading or the procurement of oral feedback if written answers are unavailable. Additionally, we encourage students to form study groups so that they can mark one another’s work and critique that work, as this prompts further discussion and consolidation of the material.

Revision notes can be made periodically throughout the year, particularly on weekends or during holiday breaks. That said, if students adopt the ‘trigger word’ approach to making their notes at the initial stage, it may render ‘revision notes’ unnecessary. Instead of rewriting notes for revision purposes, we recommend that students restructure their notes in the form of mind maps so that they can understand the concepts studied and how they interrelate.

In our Time Management seminar, we recommend that students do 1 non-required task per subject, per week. This means that, rather than simply focusing solely on homework, students should spend 15-30 minutes per week (per subject) doing tasks such as making revision notes, doing practice questions, or memorizing the information for a test. This work is most often not set by a teacher, however it is the type of study that best prepares students for exams.

The earlier the better! If a student is testing themselves across the year, they are far less likely to forget the information come exam time. But for many students, doing a practice paper before the end of the year is impossible because "I haven't been taught everything yet!" This is partly true. A student will not be able to do a practice exam in the first few weeks of the year, as they will not have been taught enough content. However, by 4-7 weeks before the end of year exams, this excuse becomes a little less convincing! Whilst they may not be able to do a full practice paper yet, they will be able to do a significant part of it.

So, if a student has not finished learning Topic 5, then they can still do a paper but only answer questions on Topics 1-4. After they have completed classes for the course, they will be able to do full practice papers. For an outline of the most important aspects of completing Practice Papers, see the article entitled “Practice does NOT make perfect" here.

We recommend that students measure their productivity in terms of ‘tasks’ rather than ‘time’. That is, their ability to complete the necessary work is a better measure of their effectiveness than how many hours they have studied. That said, it is important for parents and children to be on the same page regarding expectations of time inputs. We recommend that parents sit with their child and make a study timetable together. The parent then has a copy of their own so that each person is aware of the expectations surrounding study load as well as the balancing of extra-curricular activities. For more information on this, have a look at our article on “Creating a study timetable with your child”.

Motivating your children is difficult because motivation is internal. In other words, to feel motivated, the child must themselves want to achieve something, rather than be encouraged to achieve or work hard by their parents.

Therefore, parents should assist their children to explore their interests, passions and curiosities. In doing so, the child may develop an interest in what they would like to do once they leave school. Once they have a goal, it is much easier for them to focus because their study is put into the context of achieving something greater than say, their homework.

This can be achieved through exposing them to open days at universities, deeper information in an area of interest that they hold, or introducing them to someone who is in the field they’re interested in. if your child loves video games, why not take them to a talk by a video game designer? If they love film, have them sit in on a film class at a university. For more information on motivating you child, make sure you have a look at our article, “Is your child motivated” here.

This is a very common issue that is faced by most parents. So fear not, you’re not alone! The solution is actually not in ‘getting them off Facebook’ but rather in showing them how to take responsibility over their studying and study breaks. A good way to do this is to create a distraction free study environment, and to empower them to use Facebook often - just not while they’re doing high powered work such as memorizing information or doing a practice exam. For more info on distractions, make sure you read the article “Attention, study and the Facebook effect” here.

Stress around exams is unfortunately an inevitable part of the process. The question is the extent to which they are stressed, because a little bit of stress is actually quite useful at this time of the year. The best way to help your child manage stress is to identify the reason they are stressed so that you can tailor your response. For example, if you child is overwhelmed by sheer volume of study and workload, you can help by reducing chores that they do at home. If they have a part time job, perhaps they can take a break from it during the exam period. You can also help them by assisting them in creating a study planner where they can break down their subjects into a series of specific tasks that can be ticked off a list and provide them with a clear sense of progress. Have a read of “Helping your child manage stress” for more info on this area.

There is no right amount of time to spend studying, but there is a wrong. A student wants to maximise the time they spend studying by ‘working smart’. For example, spending half an hour on questions from relevant sections of the textbook is lot more productive than a student spending three hours rote learning as they are actively identifying with the information and applying it in relevant ways rather than just passively writing notes again and again.

That being said, when it is coming close to exams, a student should be doing practice papers and will be working up to trying them in exam conditions so to say to spend 25 minutes then is not applicable.

Yes, with over 350 social media sites out there, countless TV streaming sites and the most random of distractions out there on the internet, this is the biggest problem faced by students today. For Apple users, Self Control is a brilliant place to start. For Windows, it is Cold Turkey. These are anti procrastination sites that allow students to block websites for a predetermined period of time. When a block is put in place, it cannot be bypassed until the specified time period is up. It’s important to not go too crazy and block everything for days because that then will cause demotivation. If used as a reward program when studying, it is a fantastic way for students to treat the Internet as a luxury during their well-deserved study breaks. It is much easier said than done, but will have a huge impact on attention and therefore memory creation and retention during study sessions. Also, make sure you check out our list of the top 18 apps a student shouldn't live without here.

Previous research has found numerous benefits to listening to music before performing a task– it improves attention, memory, and even mental math ability. It has also been found to alleviate depression and anxiety. However, the more realistic scenario is that students will study or do homework while playing “background music.” Research from the University of Dayton found that students performed better at spatial and linguistic processing if Mozart was playing in the background. So maybe having instrumental music can help performance, since it doesn’t have any distracting vocals.