Chapter 15: Study skills:
Unit 1: Preparing for success: Strategies to succeed in the Grade 12 exam:
Study skills:
Ask yourself:
Is my study method working for me? Do I remember what I learn?
Can I now answer questions that I couldn’t answer before?
Am I focused on the exams that are so near, or are my priorities elsewhere?
Study timetable:
Make sure you have developed a study timetable for your exams.
Indicate in your study timetable when you will have breaks for relaxation and physical activity. Also
indicate how many hours sleep you will have per night.
Indicate when you will meet your study group and teachers for extra support.
Remember you need to take regular study breaks. For every 30 minutes you study, take a five-minute
break. It this time, stretch, bounce a ball, listen to music or walk around the house.
Time management:
Make a commitment that for September, October and November you will cut out all social media, parties,
romance and other distractions.
Mock exams:
Collect previous years’ examination question papers for all your subjects.
Set a time where you can work uninterruptedly, under exam conditions, and answer the papers as you
would in an examination.
Then mark your own work.
Revise the questions you got wrong, and write down the correct answers.
Ask your teachers for help if you cant find the correct answers.
If you have a memorandum where all the answers are given, use this to help mark your work.
Imagine that you are an examiner. Set an exam for each subject. Then answer all the questions and check
your work.
Summaries:
Make summaries by writing paragraphs or numbered or bulleted notes. Create mind maps, flowcharts, tables
and lists.
Go over these summaries regularly.
Go over each summary every three days, before you forget the content.
Put your summaries in places where you can see them.
Recite your summaries aloud.
Revision:
Go over each chapter in each textbook, do the exam practice and test activities, and mark your work.
Revise the aspects you don’t know.
If there are parts that you don’t understand, ask your teachers to help you.
Active learning:
Make sure you learn actively, this means you talk, ask, answer write, draw, link, think and do while you study.
Any study method you use should allow you to:
Read actively by making notes, underlining, highlighting, circling and thinking.
Ask and answer questions.
Practice answering exam-type questions.
Repeat what you learned.
Revise regularly what you learn.
Unit 1: Preparing for success: Strategies to succeed in the Grade 12 exam:
Study skills:
Ask yourself:
Is my study method working for me? Do I remember what I learn?
Can I now answer questions that I couldn’t answer before?
Am I focused on the exams that are so near, or are my priorities elsewhere?
Study timetable:
Make sure you have developed a study timetable for your exams.
Indicate in your study timetable when you will have breaks for relaxation and physical activity. Also
indicate how many hours sleep you will have per night.
Indicate when you will meet your study group and teachers for extra support.
Remember you need to take regular study breaks. For every 30 minutes you study, take a five-minute
break. It this time, stretch, bounce a ball, listen to music or walk around the house.
Time management:
Make a commitment that for September, October and November you will cut out all social media, parties,
romance and other distractions.
Mock exams:
Collect previous years’ examination question papers for all your subjects.
Set a time where you can work uninterruptedly, under exam conditions, and answer the papers as you
would in an examination.
Then mark your own work.
Revise the questions you got wrong, and write down the correct answers.
Ask your teachers for help if you cant find the correct answers.
If you have a memorandum where all the answers are given, use this to help mark your work.
Imagine that you are an examiner. Set an exam for each subject. Then answer all the questions and check
your work.
Summaries:
Make summaries by writing paragraphs or numbered or bulleted notes. Create mind maps, flowcharts, tables
and lists.
Go over these summaries regularly.
Go over each summary every three days, before you forget the content.
Put your summaries in places where you can see them.
Recite your summaries aloud.
Revision:
Go over each chapter in each textbook, do the exam practice and test activities, and mark your work.
Revise the aspects you don’t know.
If there are parts that you don’t understand, ask your teachers to help you.
Active learning:
Make sure you learn actively, this means you talk, ask, answer write, draw, link, think and do while you study.
Any study method you use should allow you to:
Read actively by making notes, underlining, highlighting, circling and thinking.
Ask and answer questions.
Practice answering exam-type questions.
Repeat what you learned.
Revise regularly what you learn.
