1. Create a plan of attack from now (yes, this week) until the day of the examination. Break your study up into manageable daily chunks. Keep spending a little time regularly practising and studying. This could be as simple as updating vocabulary lists, or re-doing a question you couldn’t do in class. Study one subject at a designated time.

2. Spend some time going through old assessment to identify your strengths and weaknesses. If possible, make an appointment with every teacher to do this and get their input on both your strengths and weaknesses and suggested strategies to tackle these. Be sure to thank them for their time! Chocolate is always appreciated, as are vouchers to coffee shops.

3. Find an outstanding home educator who can help strengthen your areas of weakness. That’s what Full Spectrum Education is all about!

4. Use online Applications such as Vocabulary.com and Kahoot! to create study lists of terms and questions. Get your Study team to create some, too, and challenge one another. Don’t have a study team?! See next tip.

5. Create a Study team and meet for coffee and study at least once per week after school or on weekends. Your group should have a mix of skill sets.  Break all study sessions into 15-minutes of intensive study and then take a brain break! Brain Breaks need movement to re-energise you. 

6. Study by doing something! Rewrite your notes in a different way. Create mind maps instead of dot points. Create paragraphs. Create flash or quiz cards to use in your study groups. Create Vocabulary.com and Kahoot! Lists and quizzes and share them with your study group.

7. Take a run or a walk after a study session and let your brain move information from short term to long term storage. Don’t talk to anyone and don’t play music give your brain some quiet reflection time!

8. Develop a good evening chill down and sleep pattern from now until the examinations. Aim for 8 hours sleep every night. Start your chill routine at the same time every night and go to bed and get up at the same time, too. Good chill routines include, a walk in the dark (even around the backyard) to remind your brain it is night. Good herbal teas (See https://www.tealife.com.au/pages/search-results-page?q=sleep ) with a good print book or magazine and chill music will create a pleasurable routine. Phones need to be off until tomorrow morning! Remember, no electronic screens for at least 2 hours before bed are essential.

9. Eat healthy food in your brain breaks, Apples are effective in reviving energy and mental stimulation. Sugar from chocolate is a short-term fix, they are not worth the sugar crash. Vegetable sticks and hummus, a few cubes of different cheese and water crackers,  and/or a fruit salad are better snacks. 

10. See if you can find old papers online (even papers from a different country or State will be useful practise!