Getting into A* study habits

I didn't make notes last year and while I didn't do badly I didn't do amazingly either. 

This year I've been making diligent notes and I've found everything to be a lot easier. If you copy word for word from the textbook it doesn't really help but if you process the notes into your own words I find it really helps in getting you to remember them. 

It takes a bit of time but I find it's worth it come revision time when you have everything written in a way that makes sense to you.

snikatsmullac

I would make notes in class. Your teacher will pretty much tell you what you should note down, or you'll know because it’s obvious. 

Do it lesson by lesson and organise them per topic. Personally, I scribble down notes on a piece of paper, put it in my folder and save it for study periods. 

Sometimes I bring my voice recorder for debates or oral work. During revision or study periods, I go through my notes and add any extra details, do any extra reading and go over things that confuse me. 

Then store them away as revision material, or turn them into flashcards, mindmaps or quizzes so that they're ready for exam season.

iggy azalea

Keep subjects separate – have work at home and current work to take in. Date everything. I found that the best way to organise my college work was to keep it in folders with dividers separating each subject. 

As part of my revision, I also spent time typing up my notes in documents, so that all my notes for each subject were all together instead of spread in various folders. 

I'm planning to get smaller folders to take into sixth form and keep all the work from the current module in that, then leave bigger folders for each subject at home. Then at the end of each module, I can file all of the work into place in the bigger folder. 

Means my day-to-day bag will be far lighter as I will only have to take smaller folders in.

NJiamh Gibson

At the start of year 12 I had A4 lever-arch folders for each subject. I took these to school each day to make sure I had everything. This was useful but after a while it became tedious to carry them everywhere, and more often than not I didn't need previous work each lesson. 

So what I started to do was take in plastic wallets for each subject with the necessary homework in as well as anything the teacher asked for (sometimes they'll remind you to bring something from a previous lesson if you're going over it again). 

Then at the end of the lesson I put everything into the wallet and when I got home I'd sort things out into my huge folders, making sure that everything was arranged by topic. 

As long as you do this at the end of each day and don't let the work build up in plastic wallets in your bag, it can be quite useful if you also have loads of textbooks to bring each day.

Dougie Owner

Outside lessons, I usually just spent a bit of time reviewing material from that week's lessons to check I understood it, as well as doing homework.

I didn't spend that much time reviewing the material, maybe an hour or two at the weekends. I took my time when doing homework though.

Leviathan 1741

If you continuously revise the stuff you're learning now, it should remain pretty firm in your mind. You won't have to panic when it comes to May and you can't remember any of the first few things you learnt in your lessons.

Inexorably

You don't need to be going crazy just yet, or you will burn out, make sure you keep decent and well-organised notes and do homework during your frees. It will leave your evenings free, but if you don't have loads of work don't create extra for the sake of it.

doodle-333

One thing I wished I'd done was take more advantage of the subject workshops available. The only workshops I attended were in geography (the subject I found hardest), near the end of year 13, and they were very helpful – I regret not starting attending them sooner! I'd highly recommend attending workshops if you're struggling with anything.

Leviathan 1741