WHY STUDY

• Studying will allow you to achieve the goals you have in life, enter your chosen career and help you to achieve the entrance requirements for Higher Education.
• Achieving good grades will impress prospective employers and reflect the breadth and depth of  your abilities.
• Studying extends your understanding, develops your personality and improves your ability to reason and make decisions
• Studying teaches you to think, how to think for yourself and thus be independent.

WHEN TO STUDY

• Planning is important so as to have a reasonable mix of  homework and leisure activities.
• When you get home from school have a short break and a snack to maintain sugar levels. Going too long without  food hinders concentration.
• Alternate learning and written homeworks. Revisit the learning homeworks after you have done a piece of written work to ensure that you have understood and absorbed it.
• You must leave enough time to re-read and correct written homeworks.
• When you have project work divide it into components. After each component take a short break. Concentration levels dip after 40 minutes.

WHERE TO STUDY

• As far as possible study in the same place each day. When you are familiar with your surroundings you will not be distracted.
• Make sure your study area is clearly lit. Your eyes will tire working at a brightly lit desk in a dark room.
• Your study area should  not have distracting noises such as television, radio or CD player. Personal stereos and studying do NOT go together.
• Your work should not be shadowed by your head and shoulders.
• Use a firm, upright chair of the appropriate height and maintain a tidy, organised desk or table.

HOW TO STUDY

Effective Note taking

• Begin by entering the date and subject for ease of filing .
• The best notes are usually short.
• Note only the important points or facts .Do NOT try to write down all the teacher or author has said.
• Use key words and phrases.
• Lay out your notes clearly, highlighting important points and facts.
• Use cross- references to guide you back to the text  when you are revising .
• Read through  and pare down the notes immediately after taking them.
• Flow and web diagrams are easier to memorise and show  relationships between topics, events and ideas.
• Maintain neat notes. It is discouraging having to study from a disorganised file.

Memorising and Learning

• Use what you have learned as soon as possible.
• Each day read over what you have studied in your lessons, this should be part of your home study and will reinforce what you have learnt in school.
• Talk and discuss with others about what you have learnt.
• Summarising is an effective memory aid.
• Devise mnemonics to help you remember certain facts.
• revision should take place on a regular basis; weekly, monthly or at convenient intervals

IF IT IS TO BE, IT IS UP TO YOU