my study methods + how I stay organised during exams

In week five I have an OVERLOAD of tests and assignments, and many of you will have something similar. Luckily for me, they cancelled year nines half-yearlys (woo!!), but I still have heaps of
"significant tests" to study for. 

Right at the start of The Blank Diary I did a study tips post, which you should check out here. That was more on studying in general, for example time management etc. This post I thought I would share my methods for studying for a specific subject, and also how I stay organised and on top of things during exams! 

HOW I STUDY: 

FRENCH / LANGUAGES-

I do French and last year I created a "unit vocabulary list". As seen in the photo below, I make one of these per unit, and include all the vocal + verbs + expressions I need to know, with a box to tick next to it when I complete it. I include ALL of the vocab, even if I know it. I print it off, then I go through and tick all the ones that I am really confident on. Then I will go back to it every now and then, going through and covering the english translation and testing myself, or I ask my dad to test me. When I get a word and I am sure that I know it then I can tick it off! I find this list really helpful so feel free to make a similar one, or if you want I could even make a little printable for you all?

The other thing I do is use Language Perfect, which is a program we use at school where it tests you on all of the vocab. You probably have something similar at your school as well. I also write all my verbs out on palm cards. If you do another language then you might not have to make them for verbs but in French they are really important to remember and I find this way very useful.

MUSIC / GEOGRAPHY / HISTORY / SCIENCE ETC-

For other subjects like these where you need to remember certain points, definitions etc I write notes in dot point form. I make them summarised- otherwise you're just rewriting your notes! I will split my notes up into topics so I can easily skim through them when studying.

In addition to these notes I create palm cards (palm cards are my best friends tbh), and I will write questions on one side of them and the answers on the other. I go through all of my notes that I had written either before or in class and write heaps of questions. You can turn any note into a question e.g. "The definition of blah is blah blah" can become "What is the definition of blah" or even "Blah blah is the definition of what?"

I also include some diagrams, where I just put "x" and I have to think about what the label "x" is. Of course this varies from subject to subject.

MATH-

Math is super hard to write notes for, so when a test is coming up I write heaps of palm cards with formulas etc on them. But, in maths practice is key- so I print of a load of revision sheets and work my way through them.

ENGLISH-

English is really difficult to study for. I rarely have tests for English, unless it is the yearly exam. And if you do have a test it really depends on the task. My English tests usually consist of questions based on a text that we've been reading in class and a writing task at the end. If it is based on a book or movie that we have been studying in class then I aim to familiarise myself as much as I can with the text. The more you understand it the better you will be able to understand the question.

I also always revise language techniques, which is a super common question in English tests. I will use any of the methods I have mentioned above, whether its just writing dot point notes or palm cards using questions or definitions.

HOW I STAY ORGANISED:
MY FOLDER-
I have come up with a way to store all of my test outlines, notifications, notes and results in one place. Often you'll just stuff them in your book or in the back of your diary, so this is how I organise this stuff.
For each semester I have a plastic sleeve folder. As soon as I get an exam notification I print it out and put it in my folder. I store all of them in chronological order, meaning in order of due dates. They each have their own plastic sleeve (they aren't back to back), which means that I can put all of my notes, palm cards etc etc on the other side of the outline. When I get my assignment or test back I put it on the opposite side of the outline (where all my notes + stuff are).
Not only does this keep me organised, but having it in chronological order allows me to prioritise and work through them in an order. I find this way so useful and I definitely recommend working on something similar.

MY DIARY-
My school diary is OCD organised. My method works so well for me and helps me stay super duper organised. For each day I write out the subjects I have, with a line space in between. If I get homework in that class then I write it next to the subject and mark a dot next to the class name when it's due. I write my whole week out when I have some spare time (aka science) and possibly the next week too (especially when I get closer to the end of the week and homework etc is due the week after). For example, if in period one I have maths and I had homework due from the lesson before it will have a dot next to it. Then if I get homework that lesson I'll write it down and do a dot next to whenever its due. I don't really know if this makes sense hahaha but it works really well for me and keeps me on top of everything homework wise.

PRIORITISING-
I have many ways of prioritising my work when I get home. One is using my Kikki.K notepad Daily Planner where I write everything I have to do that night (school related or not) and then number them in priority. Homework first, then assignments/test in due date order, then extra stuff like blog posts etc.
I also have a black board in my study where I've started writing all my tests and assignments just so I can see what's coming up and what I should prioritise. It helps to just keep things in one place instead of flicking through my diary trying to find dates.
Another thing I do if I'm feeling overwhelmed at school and have one of those "oh my god I just need to go home and study" (I feel like I'm the only one who has those thoughts?) I will write a plan on my iPad. I don't bring my Kikki.K pad to school so instead I write it on my iPad then transfer it. This actually makes me stress less knowing I have a plan in place instead of just having all this stuff to do floating around in my head (again, I feel like I'm the only one...)

So I hope that this (super long) post really helped you and gave you a few ideas and tips. Of course everyones different and some of you may hate the idea of writing palm cards but this is what works for me so I thought I'd share that! Good luck and remember to message me if you need any more advice or tips! X
Taila