People usually say that classical music can improve concentration, while other types of music can hinder concentration.

As I’ve said before, I think it all depends on your teen. I find that classical music does help me concentrate when I study, and that lyrical music can be a bit distracting. Chris on the other hand only (and has to) listens to rock music when he studies.

But the point of this post is to tell you that there is evidence of classical music’s ability to improve concentration and and to increase information intake and retention.

Very cool!

Washington University in St Louis has helpfully put together a Spotify playlist of 8 classical tracks that have been found to possibly enhance the brain’s ability to focus and record information learned. You can check it out here.

Unless your teen plays in their school orchestra, I’m guessing they haven’t been exposed to a whole lot of classical music before, apart from the arrangements in the soundtracks of blockbuster films.

When teen’s say they don’t like classical music, 9 times out of 10 that means they haven’t listened to any before. So if you think this is something your teen might say, get them to try listening to this playlist (or another) for a week and see how they find it.

It might be just what their Study Formula needs to help them get the straight A’s you know they’re capable of!

Thanks to Washington University School of Law for providing this information.

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There are so many pieces to the puzzle.

Different subjects, essays to write, facts to memorise, formulas to figure out, study notes to write, slides to look over, websites to check out, books to read —your teen has to juggle all of these things at once during the school year.

It is no wonder that so many teens have no idea where to start when it comes to school and studying, and no idea how they’re supposed to wade through so many different bits and pieces.

There is good news though!

There IS a way for your teen to make everything simpler.

This method streamlines your teen’s study.

It helps them focus on what’s really important.

It’s something good studiers utilise all the time.

To have the best chance of getting good grades this year, your teen needs to develop a Study Formula.

For those of you who have completed our Straight A’s email course, you will already have heard me harp on about the importance of your teen developing their Study Formula.

Because it’s something so central to the mastery of good studying, I want to reiterate the main points of Study Formulas here.

We could all use a refresher.

What is a Study Formula?

Students who get good grades follow a process when they study.

They follow certain steps. They have a pattern.

It’s this collection of results-proven practices that make up what we call a Study Formula.

Students who get good grades apply this Study Formula EVERY TIME they study for exams.

What study techniques should your teen have in their Study Formula?

A really important point to make is that every student’s Study Formula is their own. The combination of practices and study techniques that make up their Study Formula will be unique to them.

However, here’s a list of study techniques and processes that would commonly be in a straight-A-student’s Study Formula:

(By the way – they’re in a somewhat chronological order, meaning the things nearer the top of the list your teen would do earlier in their exam preparation, while the things towards the end of the list your teen would do closer to the actual exam.)

• Making a list of all the topics that you need to study
• Looking at past exams to get an idea of the exam format
• Writing study notes (or typing study notes if you prefer)
• Researching topics you don’t understand well enough
• Making diagrams and flow-charts of relevant processes
• Consolidating study notes
• Attempting practice exams
• Using flash cards to consolidate facts
• Thinking about how you’re going to allocate your time in the exam

This is not a conclusive list of course. Your teen might have some amazing study techniques that I’ve never thought of!

What your teen should do this weekend

Your teen’s task for this weekend (with your help) is to have a think about what study techniques they already find effective, and then make a conscious effort to think about where these techniques might fit into their Study Formula.

Your teen might already know what study techniques they find effective, but I want them to consciously think about where in their study process they fit. What I’m saying is that your teen might sort of have a Study Formula already but not realise it.

I want your teen to know what their Study Formula is.

If your teen has no idea what study techniques and processes they find effective, either because they’re going to be sitting exams for the first time this year, or because they’ve never given study a good effort before, that’s no problem.

It just means that from now on, every time they sit down to study, they should make a mental note (or even better a physical one) of what study techniques seem to work for them, and which ones don’t.

After your teen has sat one set of exams they should have at least some idea of what steps they might like to follow, but it’s totally fine if it takes them a few goes to be really happy with their Study Formula.

I’m at my sixth year of university and I’m still refining my Study Formula! There is always room for improvement!

Having a Study Formula that’s been refined by trial and error lies at the heart of a good student’s exam success.

If you think your teen might need assistance implementing their Study Formula, that is, actually putting different study techniques into practice, then check out our Exam Survival Package. It’s our A-Z of exam preparation. The videos and documents that comprise it hold EVERYTHING we know about straight-A exam study. You can give it to your teen today!

No matter where you are in the world, it’s math.

Chances are your teen hates math. It’s their most hated subject. They don’t like their teacher. They don’t see the point in doing it.

I have a theory that might be able to help…

What is the point in math?

I can only speak for my own experience, but at my high school, the answer to this question was never broached.

Math was just this thing that we had done since elementary school, but no student could tell you why we were doing it.

The problem with this is that without knowing any reasons for why math is important, teens don’t think it is!

The point in math to them remains a mystery.

And fair enough, no one has told them otherwise.

Why math is math so important to your teen

The first question you can discuss with your teen is, what is math?

Not an easy question to answer.

Perhaps what can it do is a better question.

Thanks to math, we (and by we I mean mathematicians…) are able to create formulae that allow us to calculate, count, and measure.

Eloquently put, math gives us the tools we need to figure things out.

Without math, engineers wouldn’t be able to figure out where support beams should be put.

Doctors wouldn’t be able to figure out what dosages of drugs to give their patients.

Scientists wouldn’t be able to analyse their results.

Builders wouldn’t be able to figure out the angle a new roof should be built at.

Without math, we’d be screwed.

If your teen is considering going to College once they finish high school, then they should seriously consider the role math might play in their future.

At the risk of speaking too broadly, almost anyone who pursues tertiary education with find math useful. This is certainly the case if you are undergoing any kind of research, because then having at least some understanding of statistics becomes crucial.

As you can see from the list of professions mentioned above, math is crucial to a myriad of roles.

So what can you do?

You can relay all of this to your teen.

Hopefully you can help your teen realize that math is very likely to be something they need to have a solid grasp of once they leave school.

Even if they don’t like math – even if they continue to loathe it – your teen is going to be much more likely to put in some effort if they understand why math is so important and how it will benefit them in the future.

Does your teen really struggle with math? Do they know how to study for math? If your answer is yes to these questions, you can find out more about our Mathematics Video Package here. Find out how you can help your teen get their math grades up with help from people who know what it takes to get good grades in math.

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One of the main reasons students don’t get the grades they’re capable of getting is because they were disorganised during the school year.

Sometimes it’s the really little things that make students disorganised – books not in order, losing bits of paper, forgetting to hand in a piece of homework…

Does this all sound too familiar??

Today I want to try and help you help your teen get their school life in order.

This will be an enormous help to your teen in staying on top of things so they can focus on what really matters – getting good grades.

How to organise school stuff with home stuff

By the looks of the emails from students that come my way (and from personal experience), one of the most difficult things about being organised is having some sort of system that keeps your school work organised yet integrated with your work from home.

Things can get messy.

You have one book for your school subjects, but then your teacher also gives you handouts and assignments that you need to look after as well. On top of that you work on the same subject at home – homework, assignments, etc. And on top of THAT, your teen might use a computer at home (or at school) sometimes, which adds another layer of work to the pile.

How the heck are you supposed to integrate all of this stuff so that you know exactly where everything is and can access it quickly and easily?

I’ve got three simple rules for your teen to follow that will keep all of their school stuff organised. No stress.

1. Get two exercise books per subject.

One book is for your teen to use at school. They can write notes in it, complete tasks in class in it – whatever is required.

The other is a homework book. There are two reasons for keeping the two books separate.

School notes and homework and very different things, and therefore deserve to have an exercise book all to their own. It just makes sense this way.

The second reason is that your teen will probably often need the school book to complete homework, and it’s REALLY annoying having to flick back and forth through the book you’re trying to write in.

Having two separate books mean your teen can flick through their school book to find the information they need as they complete their homework.

2. Keep a clear file folder for loose bits of paper

Loose bits of paper can become the bane of a student’s existence. They fall out books, out of bags, and out of our lives.

There’s nothing worse than frantically searching for a piece of paper you need that you know you had a week ago but haven’t seen since. Hideously frustrating.

The solution is simple. As soon as your teen comes home from school they need to file any loose bits of paper they’ve been given that day – handouts, assignments – into a clear file folder. Having one folder per subject is probably a good idea so things are even easier to find.

3. Make use of digital folders

There is nothing that frightens me more than seeing hundreds of documents scattered randomly on someone’s computer desktop.

I feel that given the increasing use of computers in schools, I need to make this point about keeping your computer just as tidy as your books.

Again, the solution is simple.

Make sure your teen has a folder for each subject on their computer.

They might even like to put these folders inside one called ‘School’. Within each subject folder, they should have other folders. These might be ‘Assignments’, ‘Homework’, ‘Research’, ‘Important Dates’, ‘Miscellaneous’.

You get the idea.

This might sound stupidly simple, but I know a lot of students aren’t in the habit of utilising basic systems such as the ones I’ve described.

Help your teen save tonnes of time and oodles of stress by following these three basic rules.

They might need your help to get in the habit of using these systems on a daily basis. Getting in the habit of using them will be the key.

When the time comes to start preparing for exams everything will already be in order, and your teen can focus on the most important thing – studying.

Image Credit: Phillie Casablanca on Flickr

Most people when they start out make it way more complicated than it needs to be, and produce something that looks pretty spazy.

The pros do it smoothly and easily. It’s uncomplicated and easy to follow.

You know what I mean?

Well if that doesn’t make any sense, what I’m saying is that good essays are simple.

Everything about their structure is simple – the structure as a whole and also paragraph and sentence structure.

Examiners hate seeing long convoluted sentences and they hate reading essays that have no flow.

The way to avoid falling into these traps is simplicity – one main point per paragraph, and one minor point per sentence.

Think about what sort of books you enjoy reading. Is it enjoyable when you have to re-read sentences because you didn’t really get what you just read? Errrr, no.

You enjoy reading books that flow effortlessly. They don’t feel like a chore to read.

Examiners feel the same way about reading your teen’s essays! They really don’t like having to stop after every couple of sentences to try and figure out what the writer is trying to say.

How can you help?

You can help your teen make their writing simpler and more like a straight-A student’s by helping them plan their essays.

It is absolutely impossible to write a top grade essay without having planned it out first.

Your teen might feel like planning their essays is an annoying addition to their workload, but in fact if they get in the habit of making essay plans, they’ll save a huge amount of time (and stress) overall. I can’t stress this enough!

Send me your stuff!

It’s a bit difficult for me to get more specific when just writing about essays generally.

So if your teen is struggling with a particular essay at the moment – send it my way!

I’d be more than happy to give it a read and offer my thoughts if I see something your teen could work on.

Email me at clare@thestudygurus.com and I’ll read it and send my edit back to you.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

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Helping your teen get the grades you know they’re capable of achieving is unlikely to be a stress-free journey. As I’m sure you’re all too well aware…

There are going to be highs and lows along the way.

Dealing with the highs is easy. Jump up and down in celebration of your teen’s achievement. Go the movies. Go to Pizza Hut with your family and stuff yourself with as much cheese as is physically possible.

But how are you supposed to deal with the lows?

Do you go with tough love or do you give them a gold star for effort?

Do you take away all privileges? Tell your teen they’re not getting their cell phone back until their grades improve? Lock them in their room?

This is approach some would have you adopt.

To me, such measures are draconian and serve to do more harm than good.

Let’s look at things from your teen’s point of view for a second.

If your teen’s grades aren’t where they should be and they’re not motivated about or enjoying school, then they’re probably already not having a super fun time.

Knowing that you’re mad and frustrated as hell isn’t going to make them feel better any better. And it’s sure as heck not going to turn them into a straight-A student.

Why don’t traditional punishments work?

If your teen is lacking motivation about school, it is because they don’t see the connection between doing well at school and success later on.

You understand it perfectly. You know that getting good grades at high school is the best thing your teen can do to set them up for the future.

But teenagers’ brains work differently. The consequences of not doing well at school don’t flash up brightly in their minds, like they do yours and mine.

Well, actually motivated teens do understand why they want to try hard at school, and that’s the difference.

What I don’t understand is how traditional punishments — taking away all privileges, locking teens in their rooms, stopping them from going out — is supposed to help matters. In all likelihood this would only make your teen incredibly angry at you.

Your teen has got to have a reason to want to do well at school. Otherwise, they see no point, and it’s game over.

Therefore what is punishing your teen for not having figured out their reason(s) supposed to achieve? I’m at a loss.

If not punishments, then what?

Your teen is a teenager (duh, I know, but hear me out). They’re not five years old anymore. They have thoughts, ideas and opinions. They no longer respond to threats and bribes.

If you want them to do something, they have to want to do it. You can lock them away in their room and take away their cell phone, but you’ll be waiting a loooooong time before you see an A+ come from it.

I propose you treat your teen like the young adult that they are, and talk to them.

What do they like doing? What subjects do they like? Or what subjects do they hate less than others…? What can they see themselves doing when they leave school?

The key is to help your teen make the link between trying hard at school now, and good things happening later. (We talk about this stuff in a lot more detail in our Motivation Video Package)

This connection probably won’t be made overnight. But in order for it to happen at all, it’s really important that your teen knows you are on their side.

They need to know that you’ll be proud of them not matter what, as long as they tried their best.

You getting angry at your teen and them getting angry at you in return is not conducive with getting good grades. Being in a positive, supportive and encouraging environment is.

Punishments are so last century. Let’s leave them in the history books.

Image Credit: Svadilfari on Flickr

I have mentioned this tip several times in previous articles, but it really deserves a whole article all to itself.

This morning Chris and I were talking about studying (Chris heads back to uni on Monday), and we decided on the one thing that has been most important to our study success.

And here it is.

In order for your teen to get good grades, it is essential that they figure out what they are most likely to be examined on, and pay much less attention to everything else.

This may sound simple, and it is. Yet for some reason, so many students study by blazing over everything like a headless chicken, without taking the time to really think about what topics are 95% likely to come up in the exam, and what topics have a 5% chance of making an appearance.

I really believe that this is the distinguishing feature between students who get A+’s, and those that don’t reach their academic potential.

This method gives your teen focus.

Your teen has a heck of a lot of material to go over during their study break.

Realistically, there is not going to be enough time to study and memorize every single thing their teachers have said over the past year. Trying to do so is not making good use of the precious time your teen has to study.

Trying to learn EVERYTHING is a fruitless – actually detrimental – exercise. It will make your teen stressed, make them loose confidence in themselves, and worst of all, will stop them from properly learning and absorbing what really matters.

But won’t my teen miss something?

Exams are not designed to trick your teen, and examiners are not expecting them to know everything there is to know.

Your teen will be examined on the topics that come up repeatedly in class – the ones that they have spent multiple lessons going over.

Your teen’s biology teacher might have mentioned some interesting/completely left field fact about whale sharks last August. Is this going to be in the exam? Heck no. But your teen better understand the difference between meiosis and mitosis, otherwise there’s no point in turning up to the exam.

So in a nutshell…

I guess what I’m saying is that your teen needs to learn how to filter.

What is important to know, and what is not. Study the stuff that goes in the important-to-know file.

This is honestly the best exam study tip I have. (I have others too in the Exam Survival Package)

If you want your teen to really nail their exam study, help them make an important/not important list.

Get a piece of paper, and make a list of what your teen would be foolish not to study.

Now your teen has a table of contents. Something to help guide their study to help them stay on track.

So simple, yet soooooooo effective.

Image Credit: Valerie Everett on Flickr

1) Learn and revise your subject – the basics

Don’t study late into the early hours on coffee or the latest stimulant. Studies have shown that you will remember things more clearly and effectively if you revise when you are fresh. Practise bursts of revision. This can mean as little as ten to forty minutes revising. Time yourself and have a ten minute break. It’s not always about quantity of revision, but also quality.

Don’t drown yourself in a subject, but take it one step at a time. Think about what type of questions the exam paper is likely to ask. Practise with past papers and make sure that you know how wide an area the scope of a subject an exam will cover. Posters, post-sticks and flash cards can also play a vital role in revising.

2) Discussing and revising with other students

If it is the case of making a point, argument or giving proof of why you think something, then think an answer out loud to a friend to improve your recall and train of thought. At this stage, it’s a simple way of testing how much you know and to see if you can string a logical answer together. It doesn’t matter how bluntly you put it.

Let your friends or fellow students prompt you if you get stuck and prompt them on theirs, if they get stuck. Try not to use the textbooks unless the exam says to use them. If you both get stuck on the same part, then you will have identified a particular area where you both need to be stronger in and you can help each other revise.

Using your flash-cards with a fellow student is another great way to test yourself. If you don’t have good self-control, you can find yourself continually turning over the card for the answer rather than trying to do it more infrequently and learning it. Again, a friend might be able to prompt you or help set a trigger in your mind, so when you think of a question you can more readily associate it with the right answer.

3) How to look forward to the challenge

Gain more confidence. No, it’s not a stubborn confidence you want here. Each time you get something right, you should feel good about yourself and more sure about the individual answer. Your confidence should reinforce this and make the task more enjoyable. If you have pitted yourself against possible exam questions, fellow students and revised your best, then you should look forward to the day when everything you have worked so hard for should come to fruition.

4) Techniques for remaining calm on the day itself

Go to your exams early. Usually, teachers or exam officers advise you to be there ten or fifteen minutes before. Arrive with the right essentials. Your teacher or lecturer should tell you what’s necessary beforehand.

Don’t chat to every person you know who is also taking the exam. Exam nerves can be catching and you can feel more nervous beside someone else who is feeling anxious. If you are waiting before going into the exam room, take out a good book to read for a few minutes and just ease the stress away.

You could try a few of your flash-cards, but don’t get yourself flustered. Nerves can make it more difficult to recall. Try a few gentle breathing techniques if you find your breathing starts to get out of control.

Don’t be distracted by anyone else inside the exam room. This is your exam and at the end of the day it’s going to be your results that matter to you. Put your hand up and inform an officer if anyone is being particularly distracting. Relax and answer as many questions as you can. If you have time left at the end, go over them and check spelling or punctuation.

Try not to give into the temptation to discuss what you wrote with your friends or fellow students afterwards. If there is something you missed, it will only nag you and make you feel less confident in your abilities for future exams. Smile, you made it through.

This blog post is written on behalf of UKEssays.com who offer custom model answers, proofreading and thesis writing in all subject areas.

Like any next big step, heading off to college is often accompanied by stress and many recurring long dinner conversations with family members about what you’re going to study and how it’s going to fit into your life plan and make you amazingly successful.

Having been through the college process myself, today I’m going to try and take the stress out of the heading-off-to-college experience for both you and your teen.

I want you to know what aspects of the college experience are worth worrying about, and what things your teen will only waste valuable brain cells and hours of sleep over.

Let’s try and save the stress-induced psychosis for a later date.

Does your teen need to know exactly what they’re going to study in their degree?

Really, really not.

If your teen is planning on doing a general degree — BA, BSc, etc — there is absolutely no point in them stressing about the exact subjects they’re going to take.

Obviously they’re going to need to enroll in something for their first year, but if they’re not sure what they want to major in yet or what direction they want the degree to take them, don’t worry about it.

They really don’t need to decide right now. I went through college with a lot of friends who decided what courses they’d take as they went along. Some changed majors completely, some changed degrees completely!

Very few teens know when they leave school exactly what they want to do.

College is a great step towards a great future, but your teen does not need to have a 10-point plan sorted by their first day.

I sure as heck didn’t.

Is your teen’s future destroyed if they don’t get straight A’s in their first semester?

A lot of teens go through a bit of a learning curve during their first semester of college.

Most universities run to a 12-week semester structure. This means most students get through eight subjects in only 24 contact weeks each year.

That is a crammed timetable.

This can take a bit of getting used to. Your teen might ease into the college lifestyle and expectations easily, but for some it takes a bit of getting used to.

If your teen finds college a bit of a shock to the system, and they don’t get the grades they were hoping for in their first semester – let me assure you – it’s NOT something to shed too many tears over. Really.

There is plenty of time for your teen to get used to the expectations of college. Plenty of time to sharpen those study skills. Plenty of time to figure out their groove.

In fact, a lot of college students find their grades steadily increase throughout their degree!

This is because they’ve sussed out the most effective way to study, and they enjoy what they’re studying more and more each semester as their subjects get more specific and relevant to what they really want to study.

Does your teen need to give up every other aspect of life to get good grades at college?

As I’ve said, college can be a bit of a jump up from high school. The content is harder and it’s taught more intensively.

Chances are, your teen will have to study quite a bit harder.

But — and this is a very important but — I really don’t think it is necessary (or wise) for your teen to give up their extracurricular activities in order to get good grades.

Burn out is a real thing.

All work and no play makes Jack an unhappy college student.

If your teen can, encourage them to keep up the sport, the music, whatever it is that keeps them sane.

The pursuit of straight A’s is NOT worth your teen losing their marbles for.

But more than that, it absolutely is possible to get fantastic grades, and have a life at the same time.

A final word on college life

Let me just finish up by saying that going to college is a unique journey (ugh, sorry for the cheese, but it’s true…) for every student.

There are going to be good days, great days, and really crap days. But things have a way of working themselves out.

The best thing your teen can do is to work hard and play hard, and remember that whatever happens, things will work out for the best.

Image Credit: foshie on Flickr

What does getting good grades boil down to?

a. Being the smartest kid in the class?
b. Going to the best school?
c. Studying 20 hours a week?
d. None of these.

Of course, the answer is ‘d’.

Getting good grades really boils down to being strategic.

To get good grades, your teen needs to employ strategy.

You would not want to head into battle without a well thought out strategy, and you sure as heck don’t want your teen to head into study-time without one either.

A CRUCIAL part of a straight-A-exam-strategy is knowing what you’re going to ace without too much trouble, and what part of the curriculum usually pulls your GPA down the gurgler.

I mean, knowing your strengths and weaknesses.

This is where you come in.

Your teen is probably going to need some help identifying what parts of their subjects they have a good grip on, and which parts they avoid studying because they know they’re going to be harder.

If your teen knows what parts of their subjects they’re good at and which parts they struggle with, it makes exam study a much smoother operation.

It will enable your teen to plan their time more efficiently. They can identify the tricky bits, and allocate a bit more time to those problem areas.

Because what brings a LOT of teens’ grades down, is that they don’t answer their exam papers evenly. They might answer a few questions here and there really well, but then leave other questions totally blank because they always struggle with that bit and it was just too darn hard to study for.

It’s such a shame to see this, because you know that if that teen had spent just a bit of time brushing up on their ‘weak’ points, the exam would be of a much higher standard overall.

Don’t let your teen ignore the parts of their subjects they find hard.

Because these are the bits they should be spending most of their time studying.

For the stuff they find easier – of course your teen should spend a bit of time polishing what they know to make for an A+++ answer, but it shouldn’t be the main focus of their attention.

Your teen will come out with much better results overall if they identify what they struggle with and spent some quality time sorting it out.

Help your teen utilise their strengths to boost up their weaknesses.

Doing this successfully is a MUCH better guarantee of exam success than studying ‘blind’ (without a strategy) for 20 hours a week.

I’m a big believer in making study time about quality, not quantity. It’s about how your teen uses their time, not how much time they spend studying.

It might take a bit of time and effort for your teen to figure out what parts of the curriculum they really need to sort out, but with your help it will pay off BIG TIME come exam time.

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