News
As part of Study Skills Week at Mill Hill, Remove and Lower Sixth pupils have been learning about the key skills and habits required to learn effectively.
We welcomed back Elevate Education, to speak to Lower Sixth pupils about how to ace their exams. Pupils learnt how to prepare better for their exams and the importance of fixing mistakes to ensure constant improvement. Pupils commented that they found it useful to have a young speaker talking to them as it was more relatable. They also felt that the tips provided were easy to implement and would have instant results. Some of the most important takeaway points from the workshop included being aware of the need to plan for revision and the importance of routines and managing time in exams.
Remove pupils were fortunate enough to participate in two Elevate workshops earlier in the year. These were the ‘Study Sensei’ and ‘Time Management’ courses. Our pupils said that these sessions were very useful, and a great opportunity to re-evaluate their existing study habits and organisation skills.
During the week, pupils heard from Mr Huddleston (Deputy Head (Academic) and myself about the importance of revising and remembering in the learning process. In the assembly, pupils were given a crash course in how their brain works and how they can beat the forgetting curve by frequent reviewing of their notes.
Pupils were surprised to learn that our short-term memory can only hold five to nine items, whereas our long-term memory has a much greater capacity but not everything we see, hear or read ends up there. It is vital, therefore, that the recall activities used during revision are those that embed things in our long-term memory. This is why last-minute cramming, late-night revision sessions and rereading of notes do not help pupils prepare successfully for examinations. As well as learning about what techniques do not work, pupils were guided through scientifically proven revision techniques that they could implement into their own study habits.
These effective revision techniques were also demonstrated to pupils across lesson tasks and prep assignments in subjects throughout the week, with pupils being exposed to methods such as the ‘Cornell Notes’ approach and the power of mnemonics and acronyms in helping to memorise key learning.
In Business lessons, pupils were asked to have a go at dual coding the topic of lean production. This involves combining words and visuals such as pictures and diagrams. The idea is to provide two different representations of the information, both visual and verbal, to help students understand the information better.
During Geography lessons, pupils explored the use of knowledge organisers, brain dumps and the Cornell method as a way of noting key questions and summarising the main points of the lesson.
Mrs Clarke
Assistant Head of Teaching and Learning
