As end-of-year exams approach, the BSU thought it would be useful to include a series on the BSU website on different study tips and tricks.
The BSU runs Study Skills Workshops during the term, and you can read more about them here: https://learning.bishops.org.za/bsu/study-skills/. For further information, you can contact us on bsu@bishops.org.za.
To kick off the series, we will first have a look at a useful strategy to help learners to GET ORGANISED, before they even begin to study!
One strategy we use often with our learners is the STUDY COLUMN method. All that is required is:
- Blank sheets of paper
- Post-it notes of various sizes and colours
- Koki pens
- Subject roadmaps or exam preparation guidelines, which can be found on the Intranet under the various subject pages.
HOW-TO: On sticky notes, each subject topic to be studied is summarised and placed in the ‘To Learn’ column. Once reading and notes are started, the topic is moved over to the ‘In Process’ column. Once the notes are completed, and the student is confident that they understand and can explain a topic, it is carried over to the ‘Done!’ column. They can even be attached to the side of the ‘Done!’ column once the student is confident that they can answer past papers (available on the Intranet) and are feeling ready for the exam.
We have found that this process helps students to hold themselves accountable, to plan out their study timetables, and even determine which section they wish to study in each study session (i.e., “I plan to finish the reading/notes for 2 of the post-its by the end of today”). This can be filed in the front of the subject notes, ready for studying to begin!
Below is an example a Grade 8 student completed for Natural Science for the June exam:
This one was a demonstration of the Grade 9 Mathematics preparation for this year’s December exam – Two different coloured sticky notes were used to seperate Papers 1 and 2:
