Every school student has notes from their classes, but what those notes look like varies more than the UK Government advice on face masks.
Making study notes
Some students write down every word that the teacher says, in the hope that they’ll make sense of it later.
Others write down a title and then spend the rest of the lesson chewing the pen and staring out of the window.
Some of my teachers used to put study notes up on the board for us to copy down. Cue shouts of, “Miss, what does that say?”
It doesn’t inspire confidence that they actually understand what they’re writing down, or why they need that information.
And often when it comes to revision, the go-to plan is to make a new set of study notes on the entire course. I’ve seen students spend vast amounts of time colouring in headings, creating flowery borders, and choosing the perfect pastel highlighter combinations at this point, rather than spend the time on what’s important.
So it’s fair to say that every student knows that they need notes, but not necessarily how to take and to make notes that will help them.
Active Revision
I am always telling students that they have to use active revision methods for effective learning. But what does that mean?
Active revision is about actually processing the information through your brain in a conscious way so that you are moving more of it from your short-term memory to your long-term memory.
How can you do that?
Before you make your notes, you need to understand what you’re writing about. So I sometimes tell students to look at a video on a topic, or I’ll explain the key points to them, so we can have a discussion on it before they transfer it into a set of notes.
I can then review those notes to make sure they’ve captured all of the key points they’ll need, and explained them correctly. If they’re working alone, they can check the notes against the course specification.
That way, they’ve moved the information into their long-term memory at the same time as they’ve created a set of notes they can use before the exam to review the information and recall anything they might have forgotten in the meantime.
Look after your future-self
Future you will be delighted that you’ve made a great set of notes up-front. As soon as possible after learning a new topic is the best time to create that set of notes, while it is fresh in your mind.
Also, it means that you can create that bank of notes over the entire course, rather than the last-minute cramming period before the exams.
At that point, you’ll be experiencing heightened levels of stress and anxiety, perhaps having trouble sleeping, and feeling the pressure of deadlines. There are also lots of emotions around that time of year as students spend less time in school, and start saying goodbye to their friends. If you can take something out of the mix by getting started early, it’s a great idea to do that! Look after your future self with a little extra work now.
Highlight anything that’s missing
Following these good note-taking and review practices means that you will be able to spot anything that’s missing early on. I encourage students to check their notes against the specification to ensure they’ve covered all of the required content. If you can see that you’ve completed an entire topic but there’s a key element missing, you can reach out for help to fill that gap early on, rather than finding out later. Again, this will reduce the last-minute stress.
Do you struggle to recall things you know you’ve learned, and wish you knew how to improve your memory for exams?
Effective revision requires a lot of self-motivation, organisation, and good old-fashioned hard work. It means making a long-term commitment to study and putting the work in even when you don’t feel like it. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts.
But sometimes it feels like it really isn’t worth it when you keep covering the same topics time and time again and none of it is sinking into your memory for exams.
In this article I’m sharing my top 10 tips to improve memory retention and recall, so that time spent on revision is as effective and rewarding as possible.
Don’t just read it
When we’re reading, the words pass through our head for long enough to string sentences together, and then pass straight back out again. What we retain might be a general picture in order to keep a story together, but not much more. It is very rare to read a text once and be able to quote it back afterwards, unless it was really meaningful to you.
What helps to move that information from short-term to long-term memory for exams is doing something more with it, which can be as simple as writing it down.
But that doesn’t mean copying it word for word – that takes very little brain work and so doesn’t retain the information. Turn it into bullet points, a table, a mind map, a list, etc that will stick in your memory for exams.
Make it meaningful in your memory for exams
While we don’t fully understand the way the mind works yet, we know it is capable of some astonishing things.
While studying isn’t about memorising facts without understanding, it does help to make the most of your memory and recall.
And we can recall much better facts and events that meant something to us.
Can you think back to an event from your childhood that had an impact on you? Can you recall specific details about sights, smells, sounds?
Having a feeling associated with something helps to keep it in our long term memory. We spend more time processing it.
So when Derren Brown connects standard playing cards to people in his life, he’s giving them personal meaning, and they stay in his memory.
You don’t need to go to these lengths to improve your memory for exams, but spend some time thinking about the content your learning, and what it means to you, how it relates to other things you’ve learned, and if it can be connected with something you enjoy to make it more memorable. Like a mnemonic.
Be the teacher
Take it from me – nothing helps you understand something like trying to explain it to someone else. Be the teacher for a moment and try teaching a friend or family member. Even the dog! They don’t have to take an exam.
To do this, you’ll need to think about the key points to cover in your lesson, the way the topic builds from the basic principles to apply the content, and how to explain it to someone with no prior knowledge. It’s a great way to cement your understanding into your memory for exams.
Put it into practice
When you’ve processed some new information, it is important to then put that learning into practice with worksheets or practice exam questions. Not only does this help you to see how much you have remembered, but it is also a great way to further knit the knowledge into your brain so it sticks in your memory for exams.
You can find lots of example questions with a quick Google search, but it is good to ask your tutor to double-check they are relevant to your course. You don’t want to be battling more complicated questions than you need to!
How does this fit into your existing knowledge?
Your school curriculum, believe it or not, has a story to it. There’s a method to the madness! It is designed to provide a series of interlinked topics building an understanding of the subject as a whole, with some tier systems to build in the foundations of the next level of learning for those wishing to take it further.
The idea is that the topics will be taught in an order to build that story in your mind, and ultimately you will be able to piece them together.
So when you’re revising a topic, can you see how it relates to other things you have learned?
They don’t have to be in the same subject – many subjects have crossover or connections between them.
Or does it relate to something you’ve learned outside of school?
It is a sign of a developed learner that they can develop their understanding of learned content beyond the curriculum. And it also makes it more interesting if you can see how it relates to your world.
Paint a picture in your memory for exams
Memories aren’t all about words. Do you ever see images and faces when you’re thinking about something? These are part of your memories too.
We can create visual memories to help us recall things, and it is a lovely way to get creative with our notes. You might already have pictures and graphics in your textbook to help create these memories for exams.
When you’re re-processing your learned content, can you make it into some sort of graphic, picture, table, graph, etc? Bonus points if you can stick it up on your wall!
This provides extra opportunities for learning – when we read the information, when we process it to create the poster, and every time we see it after that.
I used to have a drawing of the photosynthesis equation stuck on the back of my toilet door. When I’d be sat there I’d have nothing better to do than look at it! (I didn’t have a mobile phone then…). I have never forgotten it.
If something’s really catching you out, give this trick a go!
Set up a dedicated study area
It is important to be able to focus the mind when studying. The brain can’t multitask so if you keep getting distracted, you aren’t revising effectively.
You will need a quiet place to work, or some noise cancelling headphones. If you have to, ask your household to give you space during your study time, and agree it with them ahead of time. Perhaps you’ll need to revise at school or in a library to be free from distractions.
Set up a comfortable work space. Balancing your books on your knee while sitting on the floor might be alright for 10 minutes, but not for prolonged study periods each day. You’ll end up with sore joints and study doesn’t need to be any more painful. Set up a comfortable chair at a desk or table, with everything you need around you and plenty of light.
Listening to music can be helpful, as long as that isn’t stealing your attention. I can’t listen to my favourite music when I’m really trying to focus on my work. It has to be something bland with no words to sing along to. There’s lots of options for study or concentration music online. Classical music is often recommended, but see what works for you.
If your physical space isn’t distracting you, is your mental space any better?
Are you thinking too much or worrying about something that you just can’t get your mind off of? It’ll be difficult to focus on your studies if that’s the case.
It can help to talk to someone who understands what you’re going through. If you don’t feel like you do have anyone to talk to, why not visit Young Minds. They’re dedicated to supporting teens with their mental health struggles.
We all have periods where we struggle with our thoughts and feelings. It doesn’t make us broken. It’s just another part of our health that we need to take care of.
Preparing for exams can be a trigger for these sorts of feelings. If you’re finding stress and worry stops you from focusing on your work, make sure you talk to someone who can help you to work through your worries and support you. There’s no overestimating the value of a supportive ear when you need one.
But even smaller burdens on the mind can build up and become distracting, which is why it is good not to make a habit of commiting things to memory that you don’t need to.
Why try to remember your schedule for the day when you can keep a diary?
Don’t bother memorising a shopping list when you can write it down.
If you have regular things to remember weekly/monthly put them on a recurring calendar entry.
Lots of things to do? Write them all down and schedule them for later, and then put them out of your mind for now.
Clear your mental desk so that you have the space you need to work.
Sleepy?
Sleep is one of the most important elements of a great study schedule and seems to be the first thing to go out the window when stress kicks in. And do you know what happens then? Stress levels go up, focus goes down, and its a vicious cycle.
Make sure you keep as close as possible to a regular sleep schedule, and get 8-9 hours a night. Teenagers need more sleep than their parents, especially if they’re studying or exercising lots. And it is a lot easier to get those hours of sleep in if you go to bed at the same time each night, Your body likes routine, and you’ll find it easier to go to sleep.
If a busy mind stops you from drifting off, try listening to some soothing sounds, or a bedtime story. They aren’t just for babies – I listen to these on Calm when my mind won’t shut off. It helps to drown out the noise and quieten the mind into sleep.
Alternatively, when there’s just too much going on in there, keep a notebook by your bedside and write down everything that’s going through your mind when you can’t sleep. Letting it all out can help you to leave it on the paper and go to sleep.
Change things up
Variety is the spice of life, a change is as good as a holiday, all work and no play, etc. Basically, don’t make it boring.
If you’re really finding revision isn’t working, mix things up a bit.
Work somewhere different.
Use someone else’s notes.
Try a different technique.
Change your schedule.
Trying something different makes things more interesting, and it also means you’re thinking more about what you’re doing, which is always a bonus when studying.
I’d love to be able to help build your confidence for your exams, which is why I’m sharing revision resources in my free Facebook group. Come and join us to help reduce your stress and build your confidence for exams.
It may be no surprise to parents to hear that the biggest issue most students face is with their confidence.
It’s nothing unique to them either. We all face crises of confidence when we learn something new or push out of our comfort zone.
The reason we call this a comfort zone is that it is uncomfortable to leave. But that is where growth happens.
But to encourage students to take that step, there have to be mini-successes lining the path to build their confidence.
And so it is important for students to have someone to hold their hand a little along that path. I make sure those successes happen by setting the pace for them, keeping them away from overwhelm.
Tracking progress
When I look at a goal I’m working towards, it is easy to be put off by how big and scary it looks from the beginning of the journey. We can’t see the route to it, or imagine ourselves reaching it. And so it is easier to just decide we don’t want it and ignore it
You might see this in your child with emotional outbursts. They might have a lack of interest in school and studies, not want to talk about school or act up in lessons. Lack of confidence might spill into other areas, and you might notice they’re self-conscious about things they’re usually comfortable with.
It’s easy to decide Netflix and chocolate is a better option than going out for a run. It’s just as easy to then get angry that my jeans won’t do up anymore. We know that the short-term brain is no friend to long-term success. But we make these choices in the moment anyway because they feel better.
Students make those choices every day with their school work. I can’t even tell you how many times a student tells me “I can’t do that” before proceeding to do exactly that. And it doesn’t change their attitude because they’ll tell me they can’t do it again 5 minutes later.
So it’s my job to tally up those little wins as we go and keep reminding my students of them. I lay out the steps for them to take as they go to get closer to their goal. And when they don’t feel like they can take the next one, I turn them back to look at all the steps they’ve taken so far and give them a little nudge forwards.
That’s 90% of what tutoring means. It doesn’t matter what we know, how fast we can do sums, how many words we’ve memorised. It is just important that there’s someone there who understands the path you’re taking and is prepared to support you through it.
Goal setting
Rather than looking at the big daunting task of ‘passing exams’, break your goals down into small steps that can be achieved in one day.
If I want to complete a sponsored run (unlikely) but have never run before, I might sign up for a ‘couch to 5k’ program, go out on training runs with a friend, perhaps even a coach, and learn about what’s involved first.
Exam prep is no different. Your goals should be broken down into manageable steps that build to the end goal. Review the exam specification to know exactly what to expect, find out the dates in advance and plan your revision time, and have supportive friends and family around you to keep you on track.
GCSE students usually haven’t sat exams before, so they don’t know what to expect. That’s why practice papers help, even when they’re unpopular. The more familiar something is the less scary it becomes.
Keeping positive
The human mind is exceptionally complicated and powerful. It can feel like a minefield at times, but we have more control over it than we think.
A positive outlook really makes a difference to success.
It has long been reported that attitude is the biggest factor to success. If you don’t believe you can do something, you’ve already lost the battle.
But how do you get a positive attitude about something you far?
A generally positive outlook makes a big difference. And you can build this by adding little habits into your routine.
Every morning, make a list of ten things you are grateful for.
Every evening, note what you did well that day.
Make a list of ten things you like about yourself.
When doing these things becomes a habit, we’re encouraging our brains to be more positive overall, and it keeps us to see positivity in more places and experiences.
It sounds really cheesy, and it’s easy to pass off as rubbish, but it doesn’t cost you anything to try and I think you’ll be surprised!
Community support
I know it can be hard to make changes to your habits, especially when you don’t know where to start.
I run a Facebook group to help students and their parents make a plan for their revision and to stay motivated.
Optimising a home study space can make a big impact on achieving study goals. But what can you do to make a difference?
Not every child has equal access to education
Students are spending more and more of their study time at home. We may not be in lockdown right now, but is still the need to isolate for many families. There has also been an increase in the uptake of homeschooling having spent so long out of school in the past year.
Not every student has a quiet, comfortable place to study at home. This can have a big impact on their productivity. Without access to the internet, or an internet connected device, without a quiet space to sit and work, or with caregiving responsibilities, clearly not every child has an equal access to education.
You can learn more about the barriers to educational success in society, as well as how you can contribute to make a difference, at https://www.suttontrust.com/support-us/.
Productive zen or crumpled chaos?
But even if your child is one of the lucky students to have access to a laptop and somewhere to study at home, they don’t always make the best choices, and could do with some guidance in optimising a home study space.
It doesn’t need to be anything fancy to make a difference. I have a desk in my living room, as I’m going to be spending most of the day at it and I want it to be comfy!
Georgina’s home working desk
Many students work on their bed, which is not ideal:
Sleep and work space should be separate to encourage quality sleep
Beds filled with pens and snack crumbs aren’t ideal for a comfortable sleep
Homework can get lost under the bed/pillow/cuddly toys
There’s no writing surfaces
Posture is poor
A lot of students work on their dining table, which can work well if it is set up well. But this is less effective if this is the hub of the house and there are lots of comings and goings. Every interruption can mean 20 minutes of focus lost as the brain gets back into ‘the zone’.
How can you improve your study space?
If you have desk space at home, can you work out a system to share it so that everyone can schedule their work and rest time? If you’re working there during the day, can it become the homework space in the evening? At least that means you won’t stay working into the evening!
If time management and planning is an issue, you might find some helpful guidance in my blog on 7 Ways to Master Time Management.
It helps to have a comfortable chair to sit on while working, so there’s less fidgeting. Dining chairs are not usually made for sitting in for hours. A swivel, padded chair with back and lumbar support and armrests is ideal. You can create a similar effect with cushions.
It is also good if there are doors that can shut out noise from the rest of the house. If that isn’t an option, noise cancelling headphones also work well. I use these: https://amzn.to/3FIRsqi.
I also have things on my desk to motivate me. On one side, I have my goals to keep me focused. On the other side, I have thank you notes from my students. You could put up quote cards, your child’s study goals, a picture of the University they want to go to, or the job they’re hoping to get. Anything that helps to keep them focused and positive. The Little Box of Calm has a great selection of uplifting messages, plus a stand so that you can rotate them day to day. I tend to stick with ‘Focus on one thing at a time’.
Is there anything you could do today to make a more productive study space at home?
Need some extra help?
If you have a great study space but your child still struggles to stay focused on their revision, it may be that they need a plan to help them to set their direction from the start. Its very difficult to get started when you don’t know what the first step is. You can book a revision masterclass with me to get a personalised study plan for the year ahead, and lots of tips and guidance on how your child can make the most of their revision time.
Does it feel like you’re processing a constant to-do list in your mind, from the minute you wake up, until the last minutes (or hours) of the day you spend trying to turn it off and go to sleep.
Walking from one room to another involves picking things up on the way, calling out to your child to find their PE kit, phone in hand scheduling appointments for the weekend, mentally processing a shopping list, noting the handle needs tightening, and the bin needs emptying. Does this sound familiar?
There’s always ONE person in the house whose brain is on that permanent cycle. And that person keeps everyone else going on the right path while they are mentally burdened.
My experience visiting different families each week tells me that 99% of the time this person is the mother.
And that mother will be the one who sought me out, asked me all the questions to make sure I could help her kids, scheduled the appointment with the family’s entire weekly schedule committed to memory, put the appointment on the calendar to make sure everyone knew I was coming, made sure the bill was paid, made me a cup of tea when I arrived, and was there at the end of the lesson to ask how it went.
While my time management tips are generally shared with overwhelmed GCSE students, lets face it – Mum is the one who needs to make time for a gin on the sofa today.
So what can you do about it?
1. Prioritise
Yes, I know. That got your back up. You wouldn’t be doing things if you didn’t really have to.
But most of the time when we absolutely have to make time, like when there’s an emergency, or we break a leg, things don’t get done and it’s OK. So make sure you’re very aware of what your priorities are.
Ultimately, you could drop absolutely everything if you were comfortable with the consequences. But presumably you want a roof over your head and food in your stomach. And you might want the same for your dependents.
Basically, decide what is really important to you. Perhaps you can drop some of the stuff that isn’t.
Take some time now to write out literally everything you have on your mental to-do list. Or maybe you already keep a list somewhere, in which case make sure you’ve done a complete brain dump into it. Get if all out of your head, and all in the same place so you can see it. Marvel at its epic glory. That is not even all that lives in your head at any one moment. It’s now easier to see why we forget where we left the car keys, and put the hairbrush in the freezer!
Pick out from that list the things that are really important to you. Can you put them into some sort of order? Or perhaps highlight them in different colours – top, middle, and bottom priority.
2. Focus
These two are often confused, but they’re not the same. You can put your tasks in order but if you still try to do them all you haven’t saved yourself any effort. Focusing is about letting go of the things that don’t serve you right now.
If something has been on the list forever and doesn’t ever get done, maybe it can just be taken off and forgotten about. If you’ve lived this long without it, do you really need it?
Have you made something really important in your mind when really it isn’t, and it’s just causing you stress? Let it go.
If you struggle to let them go, try writing them down and literally binning the list. Burn it, shred it, whatever you like. But show your mind it’s gone, and it can be forgotten.
3. Deal, delegate, dump
Work through your list now deciding what you can just do in 5 minutes to tick off, what you need to delegate to someone else, and what’s getting added to the burn list to forget about.
I like to schedule a power hour every so often to blast through those 5 minute jobs and shrink the list a bit. It’s very satisfying when you feel overwhelmed and need a boost.
4. Morning and evening routines
I keep seeing these on Instagram, where some health guru has their vitamin rich smoothie at 4am, meditates, reads their motivational book, runs 5 miles, hugs their kids, and then goes off to earn their 7 figure salary.
That’s not what I mean. Those guys did that once, put it on Instagram, and are now trying to live up to it like the rest of us.
But you can build handy habits into your day by ‘linking’ them to something. And the beginning and end of your day are a great place to start.
What are the things you’d like to do each day?
Get enough sleep
Brush your teeth
Floss
Eat breakfast
Take any medication / vitamins
Check your email
Review your schedule
Stretches / physio?
Exercise
Shower
Empty the bins
Wash up
Clean surfaces
Read
Cook
Meal plan / food tracking
Sort the mail
They quickly stack up, right? When are you going to do all of this? It already seems like a full day.
You can do this in the first hour of the day and the final hour of the day by linking them into routines and building good habits.
I would recommend the Fabulous App for this, but you can do it on your own. Decide what you want your routines to look like, and tweak them over time. Go from one thing to the other in the simplest order each day. It becomes habit, and you don’t even think about it.
5. Limit your time cleaning
There are some tasks that will never be finished, and housework is one of them. The phrase ‘A woman’s work is never done’ was coined by some non-feminist who otherwise knew what they were talking about. You could clean for as long as you can clean and you’ll still find something that needs a Hinch. Forget it. Unless you’re Mrs Hinch and you get paid to obsess, don’t! No one cares as much as you do. And actually I bet guests would LOVE that you aren’t perfect so they can relax and be imperfect too.
It’s great to take pride in your home, but preserve your energy for where it better serves you.
My trick is to pick a room a day, set a 20 minute timer, and clean like mad for that 20 minutes. As soon as the timer ends, I’m done. I do that every day and my house stays clean. Now I don’t have a big household so you might set a longer timer, or you might get more people involved in it. Just don’t give it too much of your time.
If you can afford it, get a cleaner. It isn’t extravagant if you have the money. It doesn’t make you a diva and it provides income to someone, and time to you. Why not?
6. Schedule
I could not live without my calendar now. Everything I’m doing goes in there. I know I have that to the extreme, but I’m sure you have some way your organise your appointments at least.
Don’t try to keep it all in your head – that’s how we get the mental overload. Keep a paper diary, or a whiteboard, or a calendar app on your phone. Whatever works for you.
Obviously appointments will go in there. Maybe also for other members of the household. But you can also use this to plan out time for getting things done.
Schedule an hour when the kids are out for your ‘dealing with quick win tasks power hour’.
Make time for yourself, to do something relaxing.
Plan when you’re going to do the big shop – when the shop will not be jammed.
Turn your top priority to do list into your schedule for the week and month ahead, so that you can see things will have time to get done.
But make it realistic. Planning to file your tax return in the morning, jet wash the patio through lunch, and decorate the bathroom in the afternoon is setting yourself up for a crumbling fail. Be kind to future you.
7. Make time for wellbeing
The big mistake we all make is to keep pushing through when we need to rest. If you don’t look after yourself, you will reach a point where your mind will start pushing back and you will struggle. If you ignore it, you will feel it physically. Eventually, you will have to listen. And in extreme cases, you can do real harm.
Resting is not laziness. Everyone needs sleep. Athletes sleep for 9-10 hours a day in order to cope with rigorous training and diet regimes. Sleeping makes you stronger!
But it isn’t just sleep. You need to do things you enjoy. It nourishes your soul.
Take a, walk
Visit a farm
Visit friends and family
Go clothes shopping
Watch a film
Read a book
Go to a craft class
Play an instrument
Take a bath
Light a candle
Call your Mum
Hug someone
Do some gardening
Anything that makes you feel good, without doing harm, will nourish your soul, and you need that regularly.
And there’s one thing you can do right now to take a worry off your mind – message me to see how I can support your child with their exam preparation, and turn GCSE Stress into Exam Success.
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