Organisation

Plan your time effectively. Use your own diary or an electronic device. Put in deadlines for school work, exam dates, work commitments and social events and tick off the things you have done. Make sure your timetable is in your diary so you always know where you should be.

Stock up on folders, dividers, paper and an assortment of pens. Try to keep things organised from the beginning. Putting your class notes in order as you go along will help and is worth the effort at the end of each lesson.

Get to know your resources. Where are the computer rooms? Where is the library? When can you go to DT? Art? Are your study periods at a good time?

Taking notes

Don´t worry about making them neat, as you can write them up properly afterwards. Don´t take down every word teachers say, instead write down names, dates and key words, and listen to them. You can fill in the gaps afterwards, but only if you get the vital bits down.

Write them up

You´ll be glad you bothered to write up your notes when revision time comes around. Use your own words when writing notes and keep them brief, it will be easier to understand when you read them through again later. Set out your notes in a way that is easy to relate to the syllabus. Use key words – that way you won´t spend time searching for one fact among a mountain of pages.

Cornell Notes

You might want to consider using this system to improve your note taking. 

Here´s how it´s done: www.youtube.com/watch?v+WtW9IyE04OQ

Lessons

It is important to go to your lessons as they will help facilitate your understanding of the topics and prepare you for writing your essays and other work set.

Finding study time

For the first time you will have free periods in school during the week. It can be easy to fill this free time doing very little, but if you want to stay ahead and have an active social life, set aside some time each week to study. You can use this time to rewrite notes, research essays and catch up on your reading. Find somewhere that you won´t be interrupted, like your allocated study room, the library or the study centre.

Active study

Rather than reading pages and taking nothing in, try taking the odd note as you go along to keep you focused.

Finally

Don´t spend all your time studying; Sixth Form life has much more to offer. The idea of good study technique is to free you from stress and cramming so you can go and enjoy this very important part of your academic life.