ROE = Return on EFFORT.
I see so many students with a depressingly low return on effort and over time, I’ve identified the two main reasons this is happening.
I share them in this week’s video with the solution to doing something about it and the strategies to maximise your teen’s ROE!
A lot of students find it daunting when they are faced with an essay title, particularly if it appears quite general or broad to start with.
In fact, often it is the shortest titles or those that appear to be the most open-ended that are the most challenging (or anything that simply ends with the word “Discuss” – right?!)
So, as someone who loves structure and steps, I’ve developed a system to help students deal with ANY essay title in a clear and structured way that also ensures they access the highest success criteria and marks.
It’s a two-step system and I explain it all in this week’s video.
What’s one of the most important elements of an extended response or essay?
The introduction?
The thesis statement?
The body paragraphs?
Nope, none of those.
Not even the conclusion.
It feels like a quick win to gain back 5 or 10 minutes of time by skimping on this part of the process of writing and crafting an extended response.
BUT, this will almost always lead to:
Check out this week’s video to find out what I’m talking about and why it’s so important!
I’ve been observing this for a while now.
I’ve realised that when students understand the exact reasons why they lost out on marks or grades in an exam or essay, every reaction really comes down to one of two categories.
In this week’s video I reveal what those two categories are,
the name for one of them (answers on a postcard for suggestions for the second one!) 😉
and which one you should encourage for your teen.
Overwhelm is a constant challenge for students, especially in the senior years. That feeling of too much to do and not enough time.
Or not knowing precisely how to tackle or approach certain tasks. The feeling that everything is getting on top of them.
And although students can’t always do anything about the number of tasks they need to do or the deadlines for them, there definitely ARE things they can do to minimise the feelings of overwhelm.
Enter… ‘The One Window Rule’
When I run workshops or take classes, I LOVE to put students in the role of the examiner.
It makes them think about marking criteria and what a question commands and demands so that they can pretty accurately ‘predict the mark scheme’ for any question they are faced with when they are sat in the exam hall. And of course, being able to do THAT means they can write a clear and succinct answer, without waffle or wasted time.
#saynotowaffle!
Here’s ONE way your teen can put themselves in the role of the examiner at revision time and in preparation for exams. Watch the video to discover how 🙂
P.S. If you’d love for your teen to be expertly guided through this process, I’m going to do exactly this with a step-by-step interactive exercise in my Exam Mastery Workshop. There are only 6 spaces left (I limit numbers to ensure the level of interaction and feedback is high for every student) so CLICK HERE NOW to reserve your teen’s spot to get them exam-savvy with less stress in time for end of year exams.
I’ve discussed before how scheduled mini-breaks during study, homework and revision are important to keep brain power and retention at an optimum.
But, what should students do in those breaks?…
Watch the video to discover a great way to address (and have fun!) with this 🙂
P.S. This is an opportunity for parents to get involved in the fun part 🙂
You hopefully heard me talk last week about ‘the power of unpacking’ and two brilliant questions students should ask themselves or their teachers about their marked assessment tasks.
I had a couple of email requests for a bit more info on this and in particular about the ‘What can I learn from this?’ question.
In other words
So here are my key suggestions…
We all have loooong to-do lists these days.
This means that we are often so consumed with thinking about ‘what’s next’ that we rarely stop to UNPACK – to reflect on or dissect what we have already completed and the results we got from it.
And when we don’t do this, we can be missing out on so much ‘gold’ in terms of feedback that can really help us ‘nail’ a lot of the upcoming items on our to-do lists!
Watch this week’s video to help your teen grab their nuggets of gold, by asking themselves 2 critical questions to quickly get useful information about how to create success for themselves.
I’d love to share a fantastic conversation I had this week with a Year 12 student – Jake, because he phrased a sentence in a way that I couldn’t say better myself.
Check out this week’s blog video to find out what he said!
P.S. I mention a special ‘early-bird’ offer for my upcoming exam mastery workshop – Just CLICK HERE to check it out 🙂 (Don’t put it off if you are keen – Early bird offer expires in one week!)
