Reassurance in an Uncertain Year – Create a Study Plan That Works

Justin Craig has been providing successful revision and tuition for 40 years, supporting parents and students, which has been particularly needed during the last two very difficult years. The team at Justin Craig would like to offer some expert help and advice for student exams – providing support in an uncertain year. Summer exams may still seem a long time away and in addition, waiting on confirmation of those GCSE and A Level exams going ahead as ‘normal’, getting into a good study routine early on is more important than ever.

So, what does a “good study routine” entail? Here are our top tips for Year 10-13 students and their parents:

Start early and study through the year

• Try to allocate some time during weekends and school holidays. Revisit information and complete notes to build and embed understanding throughout the year rather than just in the run up to exams.
• Revision courses early on in the year can be really effective for students struggling with independent study or just needing a little extra help. Whilst year 10 and 12 students may not have covered that much material in the first term, October, Christmas or February courses can be extremely valuable to keep students on track, as it can be difficult to turn round performance once students start falling behind or losing confidence.
• Maximise memory recall by learning in short bursts, spaced out over a period of time, with regular self-testing e.g. by using online quizzes or past paper questions.

Get organised

• Use a planner to get into a good study routine and keep track of deadlines.
• Complete/organise notes as you go to make revision and homework easier.
• Draw up a realistic timetable for school holiday study. Historically, the Easter holidays have been the main time for revision. Particularly now, teachers recommend that students allocate time every holiday to catch up and consolidate learning. This helps ensure they are well placed to move onto new topics in the next term.
• Review progress and milestones regularly to ensure you know what topics will need extra time to revise prior to mocks or the actual exams. For Year 12s, there may be no external exams but it’s still important to achieve good exam results as they can impact A Level predictions and University choices.

Be proactive

• Don’t wait until just before the exams to get help, approach teachers to get feedback on essays, topic tests as well as mock exams.
• Allocate some time to consider feedback and learn from class tests/ mocks e.g. if you ran out of time, what could you do differently next time? How can you reduce the risk of mis-reading questions?
• Start trying out different learning/memory aids early on so you can discover what works best for you. Popular ones include spider diagrams, note cards and working with a study buddy.

How can Justin Craig help?

At Justin Craig, we have courses throughout the year so that students can focus on different subjects at different points in the year rather than trying to cram everything into the Easter holidays. We now allow greater flexibility with a new portfolio of revision and tuition options to cater for all students, with One to One Tuition and Online Courses offered in addition to our excellent classroom-based Revision Courses.

October, Christmas and February holiday courses are a great opportunity to give all students a revision boost. whatever ability or needs, they can also be a really effective way of kick starting a good study routine.

In addition to addressing knowledge gaps and/or weaknesses in key subject skills, students really value the opportunity to share information and revision strategies with their peers. Access to expert tutors also provides students with invaluable insights and tips, as well as helping them sharpen up their approach to revising and tackling exam papers prior to any mocks. As our courses are structured around individual student needs, students finish our courses feeling satisfied and feedback on our courses is excellent.

Our courses are proving more popular than ever this year so please do enquire early if you are interested, either by phone 01727 744340 or email enquiries@justincraig.ac.uk.