The Biggest Exam-Study Mistake Your Teen Can Make

If I had to pick one thing that prevents teens from getting the grades they're capable of, it would be this.Well, maybe it's second to not actually studying...Whatever - this is really important.If your teen is putting in the effort but their grades don’t reflect it, it's probably because they're studying everything, without studying what's really important.

Let's do a little math…

The school year runs for 40 weeks, give or take depending on where you are in the world.Forty multiplied by 5 equals 200 days in the school year, minus a few days off for public holidays, etc.200 multiplied by, let's say 5 hours of actual class time each day, equals 1000 hours of learning every year.That’s a lot of hours.School exams are usually 3 hours long.Do you get where I'm heading with this?1000 hours of learning time squished into 3 hours of exam time...This is why students who give equal weight to everything they've learned that year when they study don't get the grades their effort deserves.

Straight A students know that effective exam study requires tactics.

It requires sussing out before you get stuck into exam study what the really essential must-understand topics are, and making sure you understand those with your eyes shut and your hands behind your back like the back of your hand.Once your teen has that sorted, then they can move on to studying some of the more peripheral topics, and scrub up on the things that are going to secure that A grade, such as memorizing facts, quotes, etc – whatever it is that's going to make their exam paper stand out from the rest.I cannot stress this idea enough!Hands on hearts, Chris and I will attest 1000 times over that sticking to this study ‘method’ is one of the biggest reasons why we get good grades.I really don’t want your teen to fall into the trap of studying hard and not getting the grades they deserve, so please have a chat with them about this, and make sure they understand that effective study does NOT mean studying everything.It means studying smart.If you want your teen to learn more about the mastery of straight-A study, check out how our Exam Survival Package now. It’s crammed full of everything we know about straight-A study.