Doing this will help you tremendously to use your class time well. While everyone else is trying to grasp the concept, you are already consolidating the new information. You will then find that doing the homework becomes much easier!

When you have pre-read the topic before class, you will have specific questions to ask the teacher and this will help you pay more attention in class.

OR tbc If you have pre-read the material, you already know what you don’t understand, so you are going to class with a purpose. It enables you to ask the right questions. Remember it’s easier to learn if you know what you’re looking for.
You spend most of your day at school, you may as well make the most of it!

I cannot stress enough the importance of getting enough sleep. Sleep experts (yes, there is such a thing!) recommend that teenagers need up to 9-9.5 hours of sleep (on average…?).

Well, that would apply if we all lived in an ideal world or lived like the time of caves and fires with no electric lighting and you were not doing VCE. My point is; getting enough sleep is important.

Sleep helps you learn!

I know you’re probably thinking, ‘What is he on about, sleep helps you learn, what?’
Much research has been done and the results show that anything you learn today, you will recall and understand better the following day!

I hope you no longer think sleeping is a waste of time, as many people seem to think.
Numerous studies show that sleep deprivation in fact impairs mental performance!

It’s also important to rest your eyes by looking into the distance. The muscles around the eye tense to focus on books – they relax when you look into the distance.

During this time you ’store’ all the information you have studied for the past 45 minutes. If you continue studying for hours with no break, you are actually wasting your time because you are not allowing anything to ’sink’ in.

Active study involves reproducing what you learn. It engages your mind in a creative effort.  Active Study requires you to think!

…so here are 2 of the 4 Active Study methods

Writing Memory Cards

These are especially useful for learning a language. On one side, I wrote the English word/phrase and on the other side the translation. I brought a whole lot of index cards form the newsagent and wrote my quotes for English on them and revision notes for all my subjects.
You can also use them to learn definitions and maths formulae. They’re really good because a few fit in your (blazer) pocket, so you can easily learn your vocab etc, while you’re traveling to and from school. They’re small – so you don’t look like a nerd!
This is a way to include anxious parents in your studies – ask them to test you with them, you’ve provided them with the answers.

Reading Aloud

Have you ever read a book, got to the bottom of the page and can’t recall a thing you have just read? I know I have!
Reading aloud stops you doing this as it forces you to concentrate on what you’re reading (otherwise you couldn’t read it aloud, right?).
After you have read a passage aloud, speaking out aloud what you have read in your own words is even better as you are actively summarizing the material. This also is a good test to see if you have actually understood what you just read.

Remember, in order to learn and remember something you have to understand it first.
(The first time I heard about reading aloud, I almost laughed. What, I’m not in primary school anymore! But then after someone suggesting it to me a third time I thought I’ll try it… Trust me, it works)

The 4 steps to committing something to your long-term memory:

1. Absorb information (eg, reading)
2. Test yourself on that topic to see how much you can recall
3. Re-learn what you forgot and check that you did it correctly.
4. Repeat step 3 and 4.

Ideally, repeat steps 3 and 4 at intervals of 1 day, 1 week, 1 month and 6 months. If you can remember everything after 6 months, you can be sure it’s in your long term memory.

The problem is that a lot of students think that learning involves only step 1! In fact, step 1 by itself is quite useless, as after day we forget 80% (on average) of what we’ve read.

Every time you revise something it takes less and less time to learn!

That’s why it is far more efficient to revise something for 30 minutes 6 times at regular intervals than to leave it all to the last minute and revise for 3 hours.
Repetition is the key!

A lot of books say it’s a good idea to write up a study routine/study timetable. Well, it didn’t work for me. I made up a timetable, where I scheduled the study for all my subjects for every day of the week, including meals and free time etc. When I was finished, I had a dreadful thought, “ooooh no …  this is what I’m meant to do tomorrow, the next day, week, in the next month, during this whole year.  NO WAY!”

It was just too depressing and boring.

How many hours to spend on each subject?

Rather than making such a rigid time table which says you should do maths from 5-6pm eat dinner 6:30-7pm History 7:15-8pm, English 8-9pm, etc,  you could decide how many hours you will spend on each subject during the week. Then make a solid commitment to yourself. And then tick the number of hours off as you go. It’s rewarding to see a record of the study you’ve completed.

You might even find you do much more than you set out to do!

Note: Just because a strict timetable didn’t work for me, doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. Try it out. See if a study timetable suits you.
Keep in mind there is no one way to organise your time effectively. Take responsibility for your learning and ask yourself this question, ‘What works for me?’

I failed the mid-year chemistry exam in year 1 but at the end of the year, I was top of my class with an A+.  How?

Firstly, instead of saying, ‘I’m no good at chemistry, why bother, may as well drop it all together,’ like many others, I was determined to change! I made myself believe I could do very well and I didn’t let myself have any doubts. If you have that vision of yourself succeeding you tend do whatever it takes to achieve it. So for the 2nd semester I paid attention in class, did all the homework, always asked my teacher when I didn’t understand something, went to a revision lecture, did practice exams etc… and it paid off!
You might say, ‘But what does that have to do with attitude?’ Well, I wouldn’t have made that extra effort to do any of the above things if I didn’t believe 100% that I could do it!

This powerful question also motivated me to get off my backside;

How much do I expect of myself?

My decision to actually do something about chemistry was a result of asking myself this question. I wasn’t happy with my mark and I expected more of myself.

Oh, by the way, none of this is about bragging or showing off. I have no interest in doing that. I tell you so that you can see what’s possible and apply it to your own life.

So, don’t let previous low marks discourage you!

In retrospect, I think failing the mid-year Chemistry exam in year 11 was the BEST thing that happened to me; it made me more determined!

My aim is to provide something simple, easy and readable.

My aim is to offer a short, easy to read guide which you can refer to often.

If you ask anyone how to do well in year 12, chances are they’ll say, ‘Do the homework and study hard.’

There’s no doubt that hard work is the cornerstone of success in year 12.

But I think many students don’t because they have developed poor study habits and just don’t know how to study properly.

This book will help those students who want to do well and achieve their full potential.

Another reason why I want to keep this accessible/short/ easy to read is because I want you to refer to it many times. Why? Because research shows that we in fact forget 80% of what we read the by the end of the next day!

Even if you adopt (just?) a few of the outlined strategies to make your life easier and more rewarding in year 11 and 12 this book has been worthwhile.

I wish you a stress-free, successful year!

Christian Stephens