Study Skills

1. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Study Skills Go here Go here Go here Go here

2. PLANNING TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Planning Reading Memory Exam Skills Planning for Effective Study Get Yourself Organised! Study Plans Learning Styles

3. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Planning for Effective Study Planning Reading Memory Exam Skills

4. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Get yourself organised! Planning Reading Memory Exam Skills OPENING HOURS All of the libraries shown on the map are within a couple of miles of Tynecastle • Find a quiet place to study • Organise your study space • Keep it tidy! • Make sure you have all of the • equipment you require close at hand: • pens highlighters sticky • pencils notes paper • File your notes • Allocate a box, file, folder or drawer to each of your subjects. Check out your local supermarket! • Group your notes by topic. Keep them organised. Maths PE Music only £6.97 French

5. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Study Plans Planning Reading Memory Exam Skills A study plan is vital to ensure you don’t become overwhelmed with all of the work you need to do for each subject… or leave everything to the last minute! • Use this guide to help you • develop your own study plan: • Prioritise your subjects. • Work out how much time you will be able to spend studying each week. • Use the study planner template to produce your study plan. • Print it off, share it, display it! Find these templates on the webpage. If you have an iPod or iPhone you may wish to use MySQA Study Plan available free from the AppStore. These templates use Microsoft Excel. If you do not have this software at home use the computers in school, or print off the pdf file and complete it by hand.

6. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Learning Styles Planning Reading Memory Exam Skills Try this online quiz to determine your preferred learning style. After the quiz look at the study tips for your preferred learning style. Alternatively, if you already know your preferred learning style click on the icon to take you directly to the study tips for your preferred leaning style.

7. READING FOR INFORMATION TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Memory Exam Skills Planning Reading General Reading Tips Reading Strategies Skimming Scanning SQ4R Reciprocal Reading

8. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS General Reading Tips Memory Exam Skills Planning Reading Lots of the knowledge you require to pass exams comes from books, online texts or your own class notes. Therefore reading skills are vital to successful exam preparation and revision. Use the tips below to help you when revising and also when reading exam questions!

9. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Reading Strategies Memory Exam Skills Planning Reading Successful students use a range of reading strategies. For example if you are looking for a piece of information then it is not necessary to read a book in detail from cover to cover –scanning would be a more appropriate strategy. Read the descriptions of the reading strategies below. The last three are VERY useful for studying and revision.

10. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Skimming Planning Memory Exam Skills Reading ENERGY Everything that happens involves a transfer of energy. The sun has provided most of the energy which is useful to us. Forms of energy transfer There are many forms of energy transfer. These pictures show examples of the types: Energy can be stored in the forms of chemical, nuclear of potential energy: it is harder to store other forms. Energy transfer One form of energy transfer can lead to another. If you clap your hands, chemical energy stored in your muscles is converted to movement then sound. When you travel on a bike or in a car and the brakes are applied, movement is converted to heat in the brakes. What energy transfers take place when some paper is burned? Machines can control the rate of transfer of energy and how much useful work it does. A human is an example of a machine in which energy transfers take place. When you skim a page you get an idea of what it’s about. You only need to read: The title and sub-headings The first sentence from each paragraph The last sentence of the passage If the chapter you are reading contains a summary then read that first You should also pay close attention to any diagrams, graphs and charts. Your turn: Skim the passage opposite then try answering the questions below. What is the passage about? How many forms of energy are there? Complete the sentence: Machines are devices which ________ Nuclear kinetic Chemical Electrical Potential Light Sound Heat

11. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Scanning Planning Memory Exam Skills Reading When you scan text you are looking for a specific piece of information. You do not read every word but instead you should run your eye down the page fairly quickly. Task 1 Scan the Periodic Table of elements to see if you can find gold (Au). Task 2 Scan the passage ‘The Lady with the Lamp’ so you can fill in the missing words in the sentences below. Read the sentences first. Florence Nightingale was named after _______ . Florence’s parents expected her to _______ yet in 1851 she went to _______ for nursing training. Florence’s nursing team in Scutari, Turkey improved the_______ and reduced the _______ . The Lady with the Lamp Florence Nightingale was born on 12 May 1820, and named after the Italian city of her birth. Her wealthy parents were in Florence as part of a tour of Europe. In 1837, Nightingale felt that God was calling her to do some work but wasn't sure what that work should be. She began to develop an interest in nursing, but her parents considered it to be a profession inappropriate to a woman of her class and background, and would not allow her to train as a nurse. They expected her to make a good marriage and live a conventional upper class woman's life. Nightingale's parents eventually relented and in 1851, she went to Kaiserwerth in Germany for three months nursing training. This enabled her to become superintendent of a hospital for gentlewomen in Harley Street, in 1853. The following year, the Crimean War began and soon reports in the newspapers were describing the desperate lack of proper medical facilities for wounded British soldiers at the front. Sidney Herbert, the war minister, already knew Nightingale, and asked her to oversee a team of nurses in the military hospitals in Turkey. In November 1854, she arrived in Scutari in Turkey. With her nurses, she greatly improved the conditions and substantially reduced the mortality rate. Extract from BBC History Florence Nightingale.

12. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS SQ4R Planning Memory Exam Skills Reading SQ4R is a well known reading strategy. It is a great method that helps you read and remember the information contained within a text – perfect for studying and revision! SQ4R has six steps: Watch this short video: urvey (or skim) uestion ead espond ecord (or write) eview S Q R R R R

13. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS SQ4R Planning Memory Exam Skills Reading

14. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS SQ4R Planning Memory Exam Skills Reading Task Use the SQ4R strategy to learn about the principles of Greek Architecture. THE PRINCIPLES OF GREEK ARCHITECTURE History of Greek Architecture The history of art and architecture in Ancient Greece is divided into three basic eras: the Archaic Period, the Classical Period and the Hellenistic Period. About 600 BCE, inspired by the theory and practice of earlier Egyptian The Parthenon, on the Acropolis. stone masons and builders, the Greeks set about replacing the wooden structures of their public buildings with stone structures - a process known as 'petrification'. Limestone and marble was employed for columns and walls, while terracotta was used for roof tiles and ornaments. Decoration was done in bronze. Greek Building Design The typical rectangular building design was often surrounded by a columns on all four sides (eg. the Parthenon) or more rarely at the front and rear only. Roofs were laid with timber beams covered by terracotta tiles, and were not domed. Pediments (the flattened triangular shape at each gable end of the building) were usually filled with sculptural  decoration or friezes, as was the row of lintels along the top of each side wall, between the roof and the tops of the columns. In the late 4th and 5th centuries BCE, Greek architects began to depart from the strictly rectangular plan of traditional temples in favour of a circular structure (the tholos), embellished with black marble to highlight certain architectural elements and provide rich colour contrasts. These buildings were famously adorned with a huge range of Greek sculpture - pedimental works, friezes, reliefs and various types of free-standing statue - of a figurative nature, depicting mythological heroes and events in Greek history and culture. Classical Orders The theory of Greek architecture was based on a system of 'Classical Orders' - rules for building design based on proportions of and between the individual parts. This resulted in an aesthetically pleasing consistency of appearance regardless of size or materials used. There were three orders in early Greek Classical Orders Corinthian Ionic Doric architecture: the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian. The Doric style was common in mainland Greece and later spread to the Greek colonies in Italy. The Ionic style was employed in the cities of Ionia along the west coast of Turkey. Where the Doric style was formal and austere, the Ionic was less restrained and more decorative. The third style, Corinthian, came later and represented a more ornate development of the Ionic order. The differences between these styles is most plainly visible in the ratio between the base diameter and height of their columns. Doric architecture (exemplified by most surviving Greek structures, like the Parthenon and the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens) was more popular during the Classical age, while the Ionic style gained the upper hand during the more relaxed Hellenistic period.

15. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Reciprocal Reading Planning Memory Exam Skills Reading Use Reciprocal Reading to help obtain information from text . Follow these four stages when reading to help develop your comprehension skills!

16. MEMORY TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Exam Skills Planning Memory Reading Improve your memory! Mnemonics Flash Cards Visual Memory Revision Notes Mind Mapping

17. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Improve your memory! Planning Reading Exam Skills Memory Memory is the process by which information is encoded, stored and retrieved. Cognitive function and brain efficiency can be improved through simple lifestyle changes such as incorporating memory exercises, healthy eating, increased physical fitness and stress reduction. Stress Management Meditation has been shown to increase the control over brain resource distribution, improving attention, concentration and self-regulation. …so set aside some time in your study plan to get active! Exercise has been shown to improve cognitive performance These foods can improve your memory! onions leeks broccoli parsleycelery citrus fruit tomatoesgreen tea blueberries cocoa grapes Memory Exercises To improve recollection you should group the items to be remembered in threes and then concentrate upon the central member of each group.

18. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Mnemonics Planning Reading Exam Skills Memory A mnemonic can be used to help you remember a single thing like a rule, equation or a short list. • Try making up your own mnemonics to remember information for your subjects: • Use the first letter of a series of words to create another word or short sentence. • If you make it silly, rude and downright distasteful you will remember it!!! • It may also help to link the letters to things you know e.g. people, places, addresses.

19. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Flash Cards Planning Reading Exam Skills Memory Using flash cards and sticky notes helps with information recall. logb(mn) On one side of your flash card write a question or statement. Maths n · logb(m) Available from You can also use flash cards and sticky notes to learn important vocabulary. Aspects of fitness PE • Write the vocabulary you need to learn on sticky notes. • If possible stick them to the corresponding objects in your house. • Otherwise display them in a prominent place so that your brain frequently processes the information. • Use different colours and shapes of sticky notes for different topics – this will help group your thoughts together. Physical Skill related Mental la botte On the other side write the answer or accompanying information. Beveridge's Five Giants History Squalor, Disease, Want, Idleness, Ignorance

20. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Visual Memory Planning Reading Exam Skills Memory A picture speaks a thousand words… Both sources below show notes a pupil has made on Coastal Scenery. Do not be restrained to writing, using pictures and labelled diagrams is often a much more effective way to learn! COASTAL SCENERY ON CHALK HEADLAND Weathering and erosion can create caves, arches, stacks and stumps along a headland. Caves occur when waves force their way into cracks in the cliff face. The water contains sand and other materials that grind away at the rock until the cracks become a cave. Hydraulic action is the predominant process. If the cave is formed in a headland, it may eventually break through to the other side forming an arch. The arch will gradually become bigger until it can no longer support the top of the arch. When the arch collapses, it leaves the headland on one side and a stack (a tall column of rock) on the other. The stack will be attacked at the base in the same way that a wave-cut notch is formed. This weakens the structure and it will eventually collapse to form a stump.

21. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Making your own revision notes Planning Reading Exam Skills Memory Why make notes? Making notes makes you concentrate on what you are learning. Notes help you understand because you put ideas into your own words and diagrams. Notes link new knowledge with what you already know. Notes are vital for revision. You remember things getter when you have noted them down.

22. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Making your own revision notes Planning Reading Exam Skills Memory

23. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Make your own revision notes Planning Reading Exam Skills Memory When you are making up your own revision notes don’t just copy from a textbook, class notes or online material – it will not help you to understand or remember the material! Who said your notes have to be written? Try using you phone to record your notes then listen back to check. You can listen again on the bus, at the gym or on your way to school.

24. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Mind Mapping Planning Reading Exam Skills Memory • A mind map is like a spider diagram but with much more detail. • A good mind map shows: • Clear links between related information • Pictures and diagrams • 5 or 6 key facts branching from a central topic • Different coloured branches • Words on a line same length as the word • You can fit a whole topic on an A3 page • It will look different for each person • – it’s how you link information together! • The mind map below was made in two minutes using the Wise Mapping website. • Sign up here for free!

25. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Tools of the Trade Planning Reading Exam Skills Memory And you can buy them here: (in-store or online via the links below) These items of stationary could prove really useful for note making purposes!

26. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS EXAM SKILLS Memory Reading Exam Skills Planning The Year Before The Night Before The Big Day

27. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS The Year Before Planning Memory Exam Skills Reading Past Papers Look at past exam papers to familiarise yourself with the type of questions you will be asked and the structure of the exam. You can access past papers and marking instructions on the SQA website. Key Question Words Make sure you understand the meaning of key question words. Check the table to find any you are unsure of. Equipment and Timing What are you allowed to take into the exam with you? Exactly how long is the exam? Take note of the number of marks for each section and then calculate how much time you have for each question. Practice past papers under timed conditions. Prelims Prelims help you to discover the weaknesses in your subject knowledge, how effective your study skills are and identify your strengths and weaknesses under pressure.

28. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS The Night Before Planning Memory Exam Skills Reading Swot Up Some students prefer to take a complete break the night before but most people do some last minute revising. By briefly reviewing the main points in your notes you can prepare yourself mentally. Get a good sleep! Don’t stay out late with friends or stay up to watch a movie. It not any better staying up all night trying to cram in lots of last minute studying – you need a good sleep to provide you with energy to be focussed and alert during the exam! Even if the exam is in the afternoon a disrupted sleep pattern the night before won’t improve our performance. • Get Organised • Sort out everything you need so as to avoid a rush in the morning. • SCN card • Pens and pencils • Spare pens and pencils • Sharpener and eraser • Correction fluid • Highlighter • Ruler • Calculator • Protractor and compass • Dictionary • Watch • Double check the date, time, location and level of the exam(s) you will be sitting the next day.

29. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS The Big Day Planning Memory Exam Skills Reading DURING THE EXAM Highlight key words in the questions to focus your attention on what you are being asked. Plan how you are going to answer. Re-read difficult questions or come back to them later. If you get stuck, go on to the next question and come back to the unfinished one later. Stay until the end of the exam and check your answers. PRESENTATION Write legibly, keep your work neat. Show all working and underline final answers. Score through anything you do not want to be marked. Ensure all graphs and diagrams are accurate and clearly labelled. THE EXAM DAY Get up the first time your alarm goes off. Don’t hit the snooze button! Eat a healthy breakfast. Dress comfortably. Layers are useful as exam halls tend to switch from roasting to freezing quickly! Get to school early. Ignore other people’s fears and worries. Remind yourself of all the great studying and revision work you have done!  Visualise the end of your exams if you feel nervous. BEFORE THE EXAM Check the paper for the correct subject and level. Fill in all personal details. Read all instructions carefully, highlight important instructions. Note the start time of the exam and work out when you are due to finish. THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES Read through all questions. If there is a choice of questions circle the ones you intend doing. Decide how long you will need for each question.

30. TYNECASTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY SKILLS Study Skills Go here Go here Go here Go here