How to stop stressing about surprise tests

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Sometimes, young people will be set ‘surprise’ tests, only being given 24 or 48 hours notice that they’re going to happen. For the most conscientious students this can be a really stressful experience, and that stress will often be transferred onto their parents. In this article, I’m going to help you to feel less stressed […]

5 Common Mistakes Students Make When Studying A-Level Biology

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Is studying for your A-Level biology getting you down? There is so much content to learn, and even if you know your stuff it can often be tricky to get the marks in practice exam questions because the language the examiner is looking for is so specific. In this article, you’ll find a summary of […]

How to make the best of learning at home – when you haven’t got online lessons

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With the announcement that all schools are closing for X weeks, many secondary school students will be learning at home through online lessons. However, some schools still don’t provide online lessons at all, and some only provide them part of the time. Many students struggle with working through worksheets and work set without any interaction […]

How to make the most of online learning

For most secondary school students, the first two weeks of 2021 will be spent on online learning. We all have experience of this from the first coronavirus lockdown and subsequent isolations and many are dreading going back to it. In this post, I’m going to share some tips to help you get the most out […]

How to help when your teen is overwhelmed by their studies

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Is your child overwhelmed by their studies? Do they have a stack of homework to do, coursework tasks to complete and also feel like they should be revising? In year 13, on top of all that, students often also have their UCAS personal statement to write, and possibly university admissions tests and interviews as well. […]

How to balance the competing demands of homework and revision

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Through the autumn and spring term every year, many students and parents ask me how to balance homework and revision. Students in years 11 and 13 find the competing demands of homework and revision particularly difficult to cope with in the build-up to mock exams. In this blog post, I’m going to explain how you […]

Why everyone should blag their exams and how to do it effectively

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The word ‘blag’ has lots of negative connotations. It brings up images of people getting something they don’t deserve through deception or guile. However, the best students are the ones who are confident in blagging their exams. This is probably a huge surprise to all the perfectionists out there, and maybe even more of a […]

7 things GCSE and A Level students get wrong about revision

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Most GCSE and A-Level students are really bad at revising. They get multiple things wrong about how to revise successfully which leads them to get bored and frustrated, either giving up or getting marks that they’re not proud of. In this post, I’m going to talk about seven things GCSE and A-Level students get wrong […]

Why you shouldn’t use highlighting as a revision technique (and how you can use highlighters instead)

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Highlighters are one of those stereotypical revision tools that always get added to the shopping basket when people are buying their revision stationery. However, highlighting is one of the very worst revision techniques you can use. In this blog post and podcast episode, I’m going to explain why highlighters shouldn’t be used as a revision […]

How to get good at something and persevere

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None of us is born knowing how to do anything, let alone being good at anything. Yes, some people pick some things up faster than others – one person might learn to read rapidly when another learns to skillfully wield a tennis racket much faster. But, we’re all initially blank slates. Ultimately, we all have […]