Starting Strong: Our Top Three Tips for Staying on Track This School Year

BACK TO SCHOOL SERIES: Issue 4

Every September starts with the best of intentions. Most pupils are keen to reset and do their best with the start of a new school year, but it doesn’t take much to fall into old patterns. A mistake that can be all too costly to those in their GCSE or A-Level years.

With that in mind, we’ve taken a good look at what research says are the best ways to start strong and stay on track throughout the school year: 

1. Decide the When and Where, Not Just the What

Motivation feels like the most important part of doing well, but on its own it’s surprisingly weak. A 2002 study by Milne et al. found that people who made a specific plan (e.g. this day, this time, this place) followed through a whopping 91% of the time. The group given purely information to motivate them only managed to follow through 35% of the time. Translated into schoolwork this means you’re much more likely to follow through on your intentions if you make a study or homework plan detailing when, where and what you’re going to study. If specific study plans are too prescriptive for you, try simply scheduling blocks of time in your day to look at schoolwork eg. Homework at the kitchen table, 5pm, before the TV goes on. You’ll be amazed how much more you get done!

2. Close the Book and Try to Remember It

When studying for a test, highlighting text or re-reading chapters might feel productive, but it's retrieval that really helps you to learn. Recent studies by Dunlosky et al. (2013) and the Education Endowment Foundation’s 2019 report back this finding up. Retrieval practice – closing the book and trying to recall everything you have read in it – is one of the most effective techniques available to learners. The mental effort of retrieving information (and writing it down) is what helps embed the information in your memory. Remember to check back on the book you were studying from to note what you missed – with repetition of the technique, you should find that you recall much more.

3. Little and Often Beats One Long Session

We all know those students who leave everything to the last minute. The ones that spend every waking hour before a test cramming the entire syllabus into their heads in the hope that it will stick. Well, research shows this isn’t just bad for your stress levels, it’s actually less effective as a study strategy. Cepeda et al’s 2008 study into spacing effects in learning found that spreading study sessions out over time produces far better long-term retention than the same total time in one sitting. Spacing study sessions out gives the brain time to partially forget before re-strengthening the memory – precisely the mechanism which helps information to stick better.

So that’s it! Three of the most effective study techniques you can use to stay strong this school year – backed by research. None of these need an app, a subscription, or a colour-coded timetable. All you need is a book, a pen, and a decision about when you’re going to study.

Stock up on all the notebooks and paper you’ll need at RHINO Stationery.