03 Jun 2019
Year 12 is one of the most important years of schooling and it’s without surprise that there is an enormous amount of pressure on Year 12 students coming from parents, teachers, schools and the students themselves. This pressure is beginning to mount with the HSC Trial Examinations scheduled for Weeks 9 and 10 of Term 2.
There are a number of ways you can support your son/daughter as he/she works through their final year of School.
Routine
Parents can do lots of things to help teenagers develop smart study habits. These skills do not develop automatically, and parents will need to be patient while these new habits develop and the old, unhelpful ones are discarded.
Start by planning study in two 50-minute blocks with a 15-minute break. One 50-minute slab of study is better than several hours full of distractions and interruptions. Give your son/daughter positive feedback whenever he/she completes a study block and ask them to talk to you for a few minutes about what he/she has been studying that afternoon/evening. This allows him/her to revisit their learnings and consolidate memory.
One of the most important aspects is healthy and regular eating throughout the day. You’re aiming for consistent blood sugar levels; not sugar highs and energy slumps.
A study-friendly environment
Your teenager needs an environment that encourages him/her to think and focus on their studies. The environment plays a significant role in concentration.
Distractions include being able to hear a television (even if it’s in another room), talking, noisy younger children, a mobile phone constantly demanding attention when messages come in, or cluttered work areas.
Show how important schoolwork is in your home by keeping the TV off during study time and mobiles out of reach.
There is debate in the literature about whether listening to music while studying is helpful and I get asked about this by parents quite a bit.
Music may impair cognitive abilities when trying to memorise things in order, because a student may get thrown off by the changing words and notes in the song. Some research indicates listening to background music before a task/an exam can increase cognitive processes, such as attention and memory, through the mechanism of increasing arousal and positive mood.
Your son/daughter needs to reflect on why they want to listen to music when they are studying; is it because it makes the work more enjoyable and the time seems to go more quickly, or does it genuinely help him/her to ‘zone in’? Is his/her memory recall as good when he/she studies with music as without? The short-term pleasures of the music may not pay off in terms of his/her longer-term HSC goals. However, each person responds uniquely to music so some discussion and possibly experimentation may be required.
Provide physical conditions that help concentration, such as good lighting, cool temperatures and a table or desk with a supportive chair. Studying while lying down interferes with concentration. The work area should be neat, have enough space for writing and reading, and should be kept clear of any clutter.
Balance
Try to make sure that your son/daughter spends time with family, and his/her friends. Sport and other enjoyable physical activities (including playing with pets) are a must and can assist with healthy sleep patterns. In Year 12, eight to nine hours of sleep per night is the goal and the importance of quality sleep cannot be under-estimated.
Tim Lloyd, Principal