The Marlborough Mindset by Marlborough College

1 The Marlborough Mindset Theories and practical tips on how to develop the best habits, knowledge and skills to learn and study. MARLBOROUGH COLLEGE

Ambitious Be determined to achieve your potential Conscientious Be thorough and diligent Creative Be original, imaginative and productive Responsible Be resilient, independent and organised Curious Be keen to learn, explore, and discover Collaborative Be eager to learn from and with others

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Our

Developing the Marlborough Mindset will help you be a more effective learner. It will help you engage with your learning. It will also help you avoid feeling confused or overwhelmed by your work. Times have changed: as well as having the right subject knowledge and skills, successful pupils understand how they learn best. The Marlborough Mindset will help you with this. You will learn more about the strategies contained in this booklet during lessons, training, via pupil-led videos, in House and Year assemblies, and in this section of Welearning-1http://firefly.marlboroughcollege.org/studying-and-Firefly:wishyouwellonyourlearningjourney.

Mrs Nightingale Assistant Head (Teaching and Learning) Mr Clark Deputy Head (Academic)

The Marlborough Mindset

1 The

We want to support you in being the very best that you can be: we want you to aim high, be happy and enjoy your learning.

The Marlborough Mindset is a set of values we want you to develop during your time at the College. If you adopt these, you are likely to achieve and feel good about yourself. These values are fundamental to your sense of achievement and fulfilment at school (and beyond). If you strive to be curious, ambitious, conscientious, creative, responsible and collaborative, then you are likely to be successful and feel happy. To adopt the mindset, you need to form good habits, and develop knowledge and skills –these are known as ‘HaKS’. In this booklet, you will find information and strategies about the HaKS we want you to adopt to achieve the mindset. All of the ideas are evidence based. They come under the following headings: Science of Learning Healthy Body, Happy Mind Be Organised! Read Effectively Revise Effectively 6 Manage Setbacks approach to study skills is holistic: it is characterised by the belief that the elements are interconnected. For example, you can’t be fully effective in your learning without knowing how your brain works, or how to exercise your memory, or how much sleep you need. Your body and brain must work together.

• If you struggle with revising, then look through the ideas in ‘Revise Effectively’ on pages 49 to 64.

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Further Help If you want to know more about the way you can improve as a learner, then talk to any of the

If your room and brain always seem disordered, then you should read ‘Create a Positive Working Environment’ on page 28. If your folders and notes are always higgledy-piggledy, then try looking at ideas in ‘Keep Your Notes and Files Organised’ and ‘Effective Note-Taking’ on pages 29 to 30. If you struggle to retain information, then you should read ‘Make Your Memory Marvellous’ on page 10. If you can’t meet deadlines and always procrastinate, then try reading ‘Be Tactical With Time’ on page 25. If you often forget to do things, then try out ‘The Marvel of Checklists’ on page 34. If you get anxious and overwhelmed, then look at ‘Manage Stress and Anxiety’ on page 18. If you often feel tired, then have a look at ‘Sleep, Glorious Sleep!’ on page 20.

• If you can’t put your mobile down, then check out the truth behind mobile phone use in ‘Manage Your Mobile’ on page 21.

following people: • A Marlborough Mindset Ambassador • Your HM • Your Tutor • Peers • Mrs Nightingale, Assistant Head (Teaching and Learning) • Mr Clark, Deputy Head (Academic) • Beaks (the beaks below have been involved in the creation of the Marlborough Mindset so they would be a good starting point) Mr Armitage Mr Burke Mr Burton Mr De Rosa Mr Gibbs Mr MissMrMrMrsMissMrDrMrsMissMrsHawthornHawthornHoltJersticeJusticeKiggellMarksMeehan-StainesRobertsWheatlandWoods

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• If you are always being told to read but you just don’t have any desire to pick up a book, then try ‘Find the Joy in Reading’ on page 19.

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• If you find going through pages of books that you have been asked to read challenging, then try the ideas in ‘Read Effectively’ on pages 37 to 46.

04 THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET Best Ways to Use This Booklet 1. Read it to get a better understanding of the way your brain works and the strategies you can use to help you learn and achieve well. 2. You should dip in and out of it when you are: • Revising for assessments or exams • Struggling with a ‘scrambled brain’ • Feeling disengaged or demotivated • Wanting to achieve higher • Being asked to use a learning strategy or technique you aren’t familiar with • Keen to know more about how you learn. Reading Recommendations •

• If you go into ‘I may as well not bother then’ mode when you receive a low mark back, then consider ‘Build Resilience’ on page 66.

• If you want a more positive outlook on what you can achieve, then read about the benefits of ‘a growth mindset’ on page 67.

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05 THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET 1.The Science of Learning 07 Brilliant Brain: how understanding your brain helps you learn better 08 Make Your Memory Marvellous: tips and tricks for strengthening your memory 10 Take Control of How You Learn! Metacognition: the power of thinking about thinking 13 2.Healthy Body, Happy Mind 15 20191816-Feed Your Brain -Manage Stress and Anxiety -Find the Joy in Reading -Sleep, Glorious Sleep! Manage Your Mobile 21 3.Be Organised! 23 -Work Effectively 24 -Be Tactical With Time 25 -Create a Positive Working Environment 28 -Keep Your Notes and Files Organised 29 -Effective Note-Taking 30 -The Marvel of Checklists 34 4.Read Effectively 37 -Fact-Checking 38 -Being an Active Reader 39 -Summarising Strategies 40 -Categorising 42 -Colour Coding 44 -AI Word-Clouds 46 5.Revise Effectively 49 -Retrieval Practice 50 -Interleaving 51 -Dual Coding 52 -Spacing 54 -Deliberate Practice 55 -Mind Maps 56 -Bug the Question 58 -Fantastic Flash Cards 60 -Mnemonics to Win! 61 -Creating a Revision Timetable 62 -Top Tips for Revision 63 -Top Tips for Exams 64 6.Manage Setbacks 65 -Build Resilience 66 -Adopt a Growth Mindset 67 Effective Study Groups and Peer Mentoring 68 Contents

THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET / 1 The Science of Learning ‘Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.’ Benjamin Franklin In this section, you will find information about: • Brilliant Brain: how understanding your brain helps you learn better • Make Your Memory Marvellous: tips and tricks for strengthening your memory • Take Control of How You Learn! Metacogntion: the power of thinking about thinking Section 1 07

The more you practice, the stronger these connections become so keep plugging away at things. As your connections strengthen, the messages (nerve impulses) are transmitted increasingly faster, making them more efficient. That is how you become better at anything you learn whether it is playing football, reading or drawing.

To maximise the use of your brain for studying and learning you should activate your neurons and space the activation of neurons.

Repeatedly activate your neurons

The electrical signals that are communicated from one neuron to another are therefore what allows you to do everything you do. Each neuron can be connected with up to 10,000 other neurons, leading to a large number of connections in your brain.

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What happens in my brain when I am learning?

Practising a lot and trying to retrieve information from your memory, for example, by explaining a concept to a friend or answering quiz questions, is essential for you to maximise your brain’s power.

• If this is hard then that is positive. Scientists think that this ‘struggle’ improves learning because the challenge is an indication that you are building new connections.

• When you do try to recall what you have learned and make a mistake, it can help you identify gaps in your learning and give you an indication of which trail still needs to be worked on.

Brilliant Brain

Remember, learning something new is like hiking in a bush with no designated trail; you will probably walk slowly at first, but if you keep hiking, trails will start forming and eventually you will be walking on well-beaten tracks.

When you are learning, important changes take place in your brain, including the creation of new connections between your neurons. This is neuroplasticity.

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Your brain is composed of about 85 billion neurons, which is more than the number of stars you can see with the naked eye in the night sky. A neuron is a cell which acts as a messenger, sending information in the form of nerve impulses to other neurons.

• When you take a quick break from practicing, even for 20 minutes, you allow for the maintenance or replacement of the receptors on the surface of the neurons. Taking a break helps them work better: your neurons can thus transmit their nerve impulses more easily to other neurons.

Spacing the activation of neurons

• When you get a night of sleep between practice sessions, you actually benefit from a free retrieval practice session because while you sleep, your brain reactivates the connections between the neurons that you activated during the day. You could also get similar benefits from a nap.

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Practising more often but for a shorter period is productive. For example, instead of studying for two hours in a row, studying four periods of 30 minutes over a few days allows your brain to take breaks and sleep which helps you remember better in the long run.

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• Scientists who study the learning brain observed that breaks and sleep between learning periods enhance learning and minimise forgetting. It is better to retrieve often within spaced practice sessions, as opposed to a massed practice (practicing a task continuously without rest). For instance, instead of studying or doing homework for three hours, after which you would probably feel exhausted anyway, you could separate this learning period into three one-hour periods or even into six half-an-hour periods.

Make Your Memory Marvellous

Imagine the mind like a big field full of corn, six feet high. When you learn something, it’s a bit like placing a book in the field. It’s in there. The difficulty comes when recalling that information. The more you walk back and forth to the clearing where the book is, the stronger and more ingrained the path is. This is what your brain is doing. The more you keep going back over information the more your brain will think it’s important. The actual physical structure of your brain changes and just like the path in the field becoming more well-trodden, the more your brain will lay synaptic pathways. Eventually, over time, that faint path can become a motorway. However, if you stop walking the path, it gradually becomes more overgrown and harder to find and follow.

Likewise, if you rip those pages out of the book and scatter them all over the field, the harder it is to have all the information linked in your mind. You’re walking all over the field to try to piece together what you know. Structure and organize what you are learning so it is together in one area. If you see the bigger picture and have your knowledge well organised, then what you need is all in the same clearing in the field, making it much easier to find. Strengthen your memory!

Try to understand the information first. Information that is organised and makes sense to you is easier to memorise. Link it. Connect the information you are trying to memorise to something that you already know. For example, say you are trying to memorise the fact that water at sea level boils at 212

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For those that think they have a bad memory – do you know all the words to your favourite song? Can you sing every word? So, there is nothing wrong with your memory itself. But why are you able to recall song lyrics? The answer: interest, engagement, enjoyment, repetition.

11 THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET / 1 degrees Fahrenheit, and 212 happens to be the first three digits of your best friend’s phone number. Link these two by imagining throwing your phone into a boiling ocean. Sleep on it. Your brain processes and stores information while you sleep. Try to review information just before you go to sleep. Self-test.

Quiz yourself every so often by actively recalling the information you are trying to study. Make sure to actively quiz yourself do not simply reread notes or a textbook. Instead, ask yourself questions and force yourself to remember it without looking at the answer or material. Use distributed practice. For a concept to move from your temporary working memory to your long-term memory, two things need to happen: the concept should be memorable and it should be repeated. Use repetition to firmly lodge information in your memory. Repetition techniques can involve things like flash cards and self-testing. Space out your studying and repetition over several days, and start to increase the time in between each study session. Write it out. Writing appears to help us more deeply encode information that we’re trying to learn because there is a direct connection between our hand and our brain. Create meaningful groups that simplify the material. For example, let’s say you wanted to remember the names of four plants – garlic, rose, hawthorn and mustard. The first letters abbreviate to GRHM, so you can connect that with the image of a GRAHAM cracker. Now all you need to do is remember to picture a graham cracker, and the names of the plants will be easier to recall. Use mnemonics. Mnemonics are systems and tricks that make information more memorable. (See Section 5, Revise Effectively).

Talk to yourself. It can be an effective memory tool. Try speaking aloud instead of simply highlighting or rereading information. Exercise! Studies show that exercise can improve our memory and learning capabilities because it helps create neurons in areas that relate to memory. Practice interleaving. Interleaving is the idea of mixing or alternating skills or concepts that you want to memorise. For example, spend some time memorising vocabulary words for your Science class and then immediately switch to studying historical dates and names for your History class. Follow that up with practising a few Maths problems, and then jump back to the Science definitions. This method may seem confusing at first, but yields better results in the end than simply spending long periods of time on the same concept.

The next time you have a key item you need to remember, try making a memorable visual image to represent that item. Rather than just visualising an image, try to smell, feel and hear the image as well. For example, if you are trying to remember that the capital of Louisiana is Baton Rouge, draw up an image of a girl named Louise carrying a red baton.

Songs and jingles. These use your brain’s right hemisphere and can help you remember tricky things like equations and lists. There are already plenty of songs out there for things like the quadratic formula – try Googling what you are trying to remember to see if someone has already created a tune. If not, try making your own. The five senses.

Trick your memory into remembering!

The memory palace technique.

This technique involves visualising a familiar place like the layout of your house or dorm room – and using it as a visual space where you can deposit concept-images that you want to remember. To use the memory palace technique, visualise your place (house or dorm room) and then imagine items you need to remember in different areas around the place.

Visual and spatial techniques are memory tricks that involve your five senses. They utilise images, songs, feelings and our bodies to help information stick.

Memorable visual images.

Using as many of the five senses as possible when studying helps you use more parts of your brain and retain information better. For example, if studying for an anatomy exam, pick up the anatomy models, feel each part, and say the names of them out loud. Lively visual metaphors or analogies. This can help you to not only remember but understand concepts, especially in Maths and Science. A metaphor is a way of realising that one thing is somehow similar to another. For example, think about the country of Syria as shaped like a bowl of cereal and the country Jordan as a Nike Air Jordan trainer.

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5. Be clear on the why. Give a reason why your goal is important.

5. Monitor your performance don’t wait until the end to see how you are doing.

Setting and reviewing goals is one of the most significant ways that you can make and monitor progress. This can be done by setting both shortand long-term goals, ensuring that they are both challenging and realistic, as well as placing a strong emphasis on skill development and on outcome.

• Knowing that you’ll have to review certain information in order to retain it.

8. Share your goals with your tutor if other people know about them then they can help you.

1. Know you don’t know it all and focus on what you don’t know.

There are three stages of metacognition:

Metacognition is being aware of your behaviour and thoughts so that you can control your thinking process. By being aware of how you think and act, you can understand what success will look like and identify strategies to reach a specific learning of metacognition:

• What am I being asked to do? strategies will I find useful?

6. Seek out feedback.

• Understanding that you might have difficulty remembering certain concepts and ideas.

10 ways to improve your goal setting

1. Have a long-term goal this motivates you.

• How have I attempted similar tasks in the past?

3. Make goals challenging but realistic: aim high.

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10. Monitor progress to stay on track.

2. Have a short-term goal this makes you focus on achieving the long-term goal.

Take Control of How You Learn!

9. Be aware of potential obstacles and have a plan for combatting them.

The monitoring stage of metacognition is important for you to put what you have learnt in place, track your progress, and identify how close you are to reaching your goal. After reaching a goal, it can be just as important to evaluate and reflect upon the whole process. By doing this, you will be confident in knowing which learning strategies work well for you, and which learning strategies you may want to avoid in the future.

4. React better to the feedback you get.

3. Prepare properly.

• Realising that there could be something wrong with your solution to a problem.

6. Focus on skills not just the end outcome.

7 ways to develop metacognitive skills

Examplesobjective.

Metacognition and goal setting

7. Keep a diary of how you are working as this improves self-awareness.

In the planning stage of metacognition, you should ask yourself:

4. Make your goals specific as this makes it easier to monitor progress.

7. Be flexible if the situation changes then tweak your goals.

EvaluationMonitoringPlanning

2. Set yourself great goals.

• What

THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET / 2 Healthy Body, Happy Mind ‘Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.’ Mahatma Gandhi It is essential that you have a healthy body and a happy mind if you are to learn effectively. Without these fundamentals in place, the rest can’t really work. In this section, you will get quick tips on how to: • Feed Your Brain • Manage Stress and Anxiety • Find the Joy in Reading • Sleep, Glorious Sleep! • Manage Your Mobile Section 2 15

• Research has shown that people who regularly consume lots of added sugar may have poorer memories and lower brain volumes than those who consume less sugar.

• Dairy or dairy alternatives (such as soya drinks).

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• Potatoes, bread, rice or pasta.

• Unsaturated oils and spreads.

• Five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables.

• Beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other protein.

• Six to eight glasses of water a day.

Feed Your Brain

The most important strategy for feeding the brain is to follow a healthy dietary pattern that includes a lot of fruits, vegetables, pulses and whole grains. Try to get protein from plant sources and fish, and choose healthy fats, such as olive oil. The table below contains information about the sorts of food research has shown to have a positive impact on the brain. Foods to avoid

• Like added sugar, refined carbohydrates lead to a spike in blood sugar levels, which can damage your brain over time. Diets high in refined carbs have been associated with cognitive decline and reduced brain function.

Brain food

It’s important to eat a healthy, balanced diet to feel happy and be healthy; after all, these are two fundamentals to learning well. To have a healthy, balanced diet, you should try to avoid piling your plate high with plain pasta at Norwood, but take a more sensible approach, ensuring you include the following on your plate in any given day:

Dark chocolate and cocoa powder They are packed with a few brain-boosting compounds including flavonoids and antioxidants. The flavonoids in chocolate gather in the areas of the brain that deal with learning and memory.

Nuts Walnuts have been known to improve cognitive test scores because they are high in a type of omega-3 fatty acid called alpha-linolenic acid (ALA).

Green, leafy vegetables such as kale, spinach and broccoli

Oranges High in vitamin C, oranges can help defend your brain against damage from free radicals. According to one study, having higher levels of vitamin C in the blood is associated with improvements in tasks involving focus, memory, attention and decision speed. You can also get high amounts of vitamin C from other foods like bell peppers, guava, kiwi, tomatoes and strawberries.

Eggs Good source of several nutrients tied to brain health, including vitamins B6 and B12, folate and choline. Choline is an important micronutrient that the body uses to create acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that helps regulate mood and memory and has been linked to improving both.

Tumeric and curcumin Linked to strengthening memory and helping new brain cells grow.

Green tea Its antioxidants protect the brain.

Fatty fish Sources of omega-3 fatty acids have been linked to brain functioning.

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Pumpkin seeds Rich in many micronutrients that are important for brain functioning, including copper, iron, magnesium and zinc.

Berries Flavonoids, the natural plant pigments that give berries their brilliant hues, also help improve memory.

Brain food Reasons

Rich in brain-healthy nutrients like vitamin K, lutein, folate and beta carotene.

Welcome humour A good laugh goes a long way.

Exercise daily to help you feel good and maintain your health 20 minutes of any kind of exercise will work.

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Take time out Practice yoga, listen to music, read, meditate or learn relaxation techniques.

Breathe Take deep breaths. Inhale and exhale slowly. Count to 10 slowly. Repeat, and count to 20 if necessary.

Maintain a positive attitude

Learn what triggers your stress and anxiety Is it work, family, wider school commitments, or something else you can identify? Write in a journal when you’re feeling stressed or anxious, and look for a pattern.

Tell a responsible adult, trusted friend or family member about how you are feeling. No concern is ever too small to speak up.

Do your best Instead of aiming for perfection, which isn’t possible, be proud of however close you get.

Both stress and anxiety involve mostly identical symptoms, including: trouble sleeping, digestive issues, headaches, increased heart rate, difficulty concentrating, muscle tension, irritability or anger, increased sweating, feelings of being overwhelmed, restlessness and changes in appetite, a feeling of impending doom, tingling or numbness and brain fog. Here are some general tips to avoid and manage stress and anxiety.

Talk to someone

Manage Stress and Anxiety

Make an effort to replace negative thoughts with positive ones.

Get enough sleep When stressed, your body needs additional sleep and rest.

19 THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET / 2 Find the Joy in Reading Read for just 15 minutes before bedtime and experience the benefits. Reading for pleasure: • Increases a person’s understanding of their own identity • Improves empathy and gives them an insight into the world view of others • Improves relationships • Reduces symptoms of depression • Improves wellbeing throughout life (The Reading Agency, 2015) Reading before bed is good for you because it: • Reduces stress by taking your mind off your current situation and puts you in the right headspace for a good night’s sleep • Boosts your brain power • Improves creativity • Allows you to be still and not exposing yourself to blue LED light helps you to doze off Becoming engaged in reading • Read books that have been recommended to you • Read books based on computer games or movies • Choose a book you feel you will be able to finish and not be put off by the number of pages • Connect to your interests – the biography of your favourite sports person, fashion, cooking, travel, etc. • Read magazines or news articles • If you have lost interest in reading, try audiobooks to re-ignite your imagination which may encourage you to pick up a book again Library Mr Burton does an amazing job of promoting different books and constantly adds new and stimulating books to the shelves. He would be happy to offer you advice and help you find the right book for you. Check out Twitter @MCol_Library The Everest Challenge The Everest Challenge involves reading a set number of books in one academic year. It is divided into four groups: • Base Camp Lower School (fiction) • The Summit – Upper School (fiction) • North Face Modern Language students • The Expedition – Maths and Science students Reading the required number of books will earn you a trip to Pizza Hut and Cineworld in Lower School.

20 THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET / 2 Sleep, Glorious Sleep! We spend about a third of our lives asleep. Sleep is essential – it is as important to our bodies as eating, drinking and breathing, and is vital for maintaining good mental and physical health. Sleeping helps us to recover from mental as well as physical exertion. In teenagers, good quality sleep is especially important for physical health, emotional and mental development, and school performance. During the teenage years, sleep benefits brain development and function, which enhances attention span and improves memory and cognitive abilities. Adequate sleep also supports the physiological growth spurt during the teen years. Sleep deprivation, on the other hand, leads to drowsiness and lack of attention, and affects academic performance. Inadequate sleep in teenagers has been linked to increased risk of depression and behavioural problems as well as an increased risk of developing diabetes and hypertension. It is also shown to have a negative impact on athletic performance. Tips for good sleep hygiene 1. Ban electronics from the bedroom 2. Read before bed 3. Have a bedtime routine 4. Avoid afternoon naps 5. Limit caffeine 6. Don’t let work creep in

5. Tell your friends when you will be back online. This strategy can even get you to work together to reduce your phone use by agreeing not to contact each other for set periods of time. You can all focus on your work without receiving lots of notifications or having your friends worry about your lack of response.

Whilst your mobile phone is likely your most used device, it is your worst enemy when it comes to studying and learning. The solution is to be disciplined in your use of it. Inner Drive (www.innerdrive.co.uk) have provided helpful advice for you to follow.

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2. Put your phone away. Sometimes, it can be as easy as keeping your phone out of sight when you need to focus. You could do this by giving it to a trusted adult who will look after it for a determined period time or until you have completed a specific task.

1. Set aside phone-free time each day. Have a pre-determined period of time, every day, where you agree not to use your phone.

3. It increases FOMO (fear of missing out), leading to worse moods and anxiety.

5. It warps your view of reality. Nobody is as happy as they seem on Facebook or as wise as they appear on Twitter.

4. It increases stress and anxiety.

2. It reduces memory. Instant messages are distracting which often leads to forgetfulness.

5 ways to manage your mobile

4. Turn down the backlight or don’t look at the phone at all before bed. The light that phones emit stops you from feeling sleepy when the time to go to bed comes. Melatonin, the hormone that helps someone feel sleepy, gets released around 9pm. However, the bright, blue light from screens can interrupt its production. Research has shown that pupils who use their phone in the hour before bed are almost three times more likely to get less than five hours of sleep.

1. It lowers concentration. Having your phone out while doing homework or revision has been shown to reduce performance by 20%.

6 reasons to put your mobile

phone away

Manage Your Mobile

Limit Changingnotifications.settingsto choose what you are notified of and when is a great way for you to be less tempted to check your phone. This way, you can avoid being distracted by Twitter or Instagram notifications, without fearing you might miss an urgent call. Using this strategy is beneficial in the long term too, as this can help you get into the mindset that not all messages require immediate attention – if any at all.

phone use

6. It makes your sleep worse. Prolonged use of mobile phones leads to poor sleep quality and duration. The backlight on your phone delays the release of melatonin, which is a hormone important for sleep.

THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET / 3 Be Organised! ‘I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.’ Pablo Picasso In this section, you will get quick tips on the • Be• Workfollowing:EffectivelyTacticalWith Time • Create a Positive Working Environment • Keep Your Notes and Files Organised • Effective Note-Taking • The Marvel of Checklists Section 3 23

Study schedule List each subject and decide how much time you need to study each one to achieve your goals. When you have done this, work out how much time you have each week to dedicate to study time. Be realistic on this one and always allow yourself a bit of extra time on top of what you think you will need.

Use a range of sources From a traditional library to reading a textbook on your Kindle and studying online, the opportunities are limitless. Another good way to study is by listening to audio podcasts.

Ways of working Find out what helps you learn better and what keeps you motivated. If you learn best in a group, organise a study session at the Library with other students. If you work better alone without distractions, then think about setting up a study corner in your room or find a quiet spot in the Library.

Attitude

Goals Goals provide motivation and structure to your studies. A good way to identify your goals is by planning backwards. If your ultimate goal is to work towards a G9 in English, for example, try to work out what steps you need to take to get there.

Your environment has a powerful effect on the way you work and what you can achieve. Find a quiet space where you can study and learn.

Take a break

Prioritise

Take regular breaks; endless studying or working is the quickest way to burnout.

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Review your work based on importance and time constraints. If you are weaker at Maths than Science then make Maths a priority. Another thing to remember here is time; if your English exam is in two weeks but Mathematics is in three, then make English a priority right now. You will need to continually review your priorities for maximum impact.

When you have received a piece of work back, look carefully at your feedback and act on it. Then, resubmit your work to your beak with improvements. See if the grade has improved. Don’t start a new assignment/past paper until you have seen how to improve your grades.

Work Effectively

Nurture a positive and ‘can-do’ attitude. This way of thinking will make the next steps, and ultimately your studies, easier.

Environment

Reflect on your learning and act on your feedback!

If you’ve got a task that has been on your mind consistently but you never seem to be able to get started, try James Clear’s ‘5-minute rule’.

Temptation bundling

Create accountability Often procrastination arises when we don’t see any immediate reward for doing a task, or any consequences for not completing a task. Bring some in. For instance, academically, if you are finding it hard to stop being distracted on your phone while you work, arranging to work with a friend or sitting in the Library could help create accountability and motivate you to stay on task. You could also hand in your phone!

Procrastination occurs when our brains prioritise short-term satisfaction over longer-term benefits. This is because we often don’t receive instant gratification for tasks that have longer-term time frames. For instance, the dopamine rush of checking Instagram provides more pleasure for our brains than doing a focused 15 minutes of homework. Even though we know that the healthier or harder option will pay off in the long term, our brains often prefer to choose the easier, tastier, quicker or most immediate option.

Our brains love to be rewarded for hard work, so often procrastination arises when we don’t see a reward or any immediate benefit for the task ahead. Temptation bundling is a strategy whereby you bundle a behaviour that is good for you (or a task you have been putting off) with a behaviour that you enjoy (or feels more engaging in the short run).

Combat procrastination

Strategies to combat procrastination

Be Tactical With Time

The 5-minute rule is a technique to combat procrastination by setting a goal to start whatever it is you have been avoiding, but only for five minutes. After five minutes, if it is so horrible that you simply cannot continue, you are free to stop and come back to it another Theday. magic of this strategy is that most people find the hardest part of a task to be setting the intention and getting started. Once you have picked up your pen/opened the document/ started reading the book for five minutes, you are much more likely to continue until the task is complete. Break it up Another way to make a task more achievable is by breaking it up into smaller, more achievable sub-tasks. For instance, when writing an essay, you could break up your checklist into: 1. Making a plan 2. Writing the introduction 3. Writing a body paragraph 4. Writing a Instead5. Proofreadingconclusionandeditingofsittingdownandnot knowing where to start, seeing a bigger task as a series of smaller actions immediately appears more manageable.

5-minute rule

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• Choose one task to focus on. Put away all distractions and sit somewhere quiet, where you can focus.

• Set a timer for 25 minutes and work until the timer goes off (this is one Pomodoro).

5. Set yourself short deadlines.

The basic format is: only do (THE THING YOU LOVE TO DO) whilst doing (THE TASK YOU PROCRASTINATE ON).

Track time

7 quick ways to overcome procrastination

2. Do the hard tasks first. If you do this while your brain is still fresh then you are less likely to give up.

1. Do the task for a few minutes.

4. Manage your environment – control it and don’t let it control you.

• Repeat this cycle until you have done a set of 4 x 25 minutes of work (four Pomodoros), and then enjoy a longer 10–20-minute break.

For example:

6. Model success – who do you know has done this task well? Copy them.

• After 25 minutes of focused work, take a five-minute break. You can use this time to leave your workspace and have a snack, stretch your legs, rehydrate or go outside. Give your mind a break!

• Only watching your favourite TV show whilst cleaning your room.

7. Make the task harder – this will make it more interesting.

• Only eating your favourite snack when you are learning your Spanish vocabulary. Ideally, successful temptation bundling helps your brain to start to associate enjoyable things with the tasks that you have previously put off or not enjoyed as much, creating positive reinforcement and more productive focus.

The Pomodoro technique was designed in the 1980s by a man called Francesco Cirillo as a time management tool to help you stay on track for short bursts of time. It is fantastic for helping you stay focused on one task at a time and ensuring that you have regular breaks throughout your working time. How does it work?

Pomodoro can be timed with a simple phone or desk timer, but some people prefer using Pomodoro timer apps on their laptop or phone, many of which are free on the App Store.

3. Believe in your ability – self-regulate with metacognition.

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Digital decluttering

Jerry Seinfeld, a famous comedian and businessman, used to hang a giant wall calendar up with a whole year on one page. Every day that he successfully wrote for his comedy shows, he would put a big red ‘X’ over that day on the calendar. ‘After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job is to not break the chain’.

• Reading your set texts for a subject.

• Learning/revising vocabulary for a language.

• Digital decluttering and the removal of distracting apps on your phone stops you mindlessly scrolling on social media or watching Netflix when you should be working.

• Put your guitar out in your room rather than in the cupboard as this will help remind you to practice, increasing the chance of it being picked up.

Having multiple tabs or windows open as you try to work means that distracting content is constantly in the background.

Create a Positive Working Environment

Physical decluttering

• Keep a glass or bottle of water on your desk as this will encourage you to stay hydrated.

Design your environment to help you achieve better productivity and avoid distraction.

• Setting time limits, turning off notifications for certain apps, putting your phone on Silent or Do Not Disturb or putting it to charge in another room can all help.

• Have a book next to your bed instead of your phone. This will encourage you to pick it up when you wake up, instead of mindlessly scrolling on your phone.

• Practising a sport or an instrument more consistently. As soon as you start to create a chain, it is only natural that you will miss a day or two. Starting where you left off, and attempting to build the longest chain possible will help keep you motivated and get you back on track.

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• Keep your workspace clear and well organised with labels.

The ‘Seinfeld’ chain strategy

Visual cues James Clear also highlights the value of a visual cue or trigger that can help motivate you to perform a habit more consistently.

It doesn’t matter if you feel motivated, or if the task you do is done brilliantly, but after a few days of building a chain, the simple motivation of keeping the chain going provides a great psychological boost to be consistent and continue working towards the goal. You could try this method with any habit you want to do more consistently:

• Ensure your laptop or browser is clutter-free.

Physical decluttering can also have a huge impact on your behaviour and ‘hack’ your brain into practicing healthier/more productive habits.

•

Consolidate your work regularly by writing summary notes per sub-topic and making it clear what you need to know for your exam board or syllabus. Note the date and title at the top of each new piece of work to keep track of your work as you go. Use sticky notes, sticky tabs or highlighters to help use colour to distinguish different topics and important pages. Ensure you keep your work neat and legible so that you can make the most of your notes later on. all necessary bits of paper in.

• Most of your teachers will have set up some kind of digital platform or class notebook for your digital work to be stored centrally for example, OneNote. If so, this is a perfect place to store all of your digital notes, essays and revision material.

•

29 THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET / 3 Keep Your Notes and Files Organised Folders •

•

Organising your notes and work digitally

• Just like your physical folders, make sure you have a regular time set aside to declutter your digital folders! Delete anything you don’t need, categorise work into subject folders, and label documents accordingly.

Within your folder, use dividers to categorise notes by topic or unit. Make sure you write the date at the top of each sheet to keep things in order and make things easier to find later on. Update your folders often. Find a set time each day (the start of Prep, for example), or each week (for example, Friday night), to declutter your bag, sort through any loose paper and file things away. Remove unnecessary clutter. Be specific about what you need and don’t need.

Exercise books •

• If your work is going to be handed to your teacher digitally, make sure you save your name in the title and check how your teacher would like you to format it.

• Stick

• Have one folder per class and per teacher, which you can further divide by topic.

• If you don’t have a specific place for each class, make sure you have a central folder system on your laptop where you can find everything.

• Be consistent in how you name your documents in each folder. Consider using the topic title, date or your name to help keep things organised. For example, using the date, the topic name and the title of the work: ‘12.04.22 – Cold War History – Revision Notes’.

•

Acronyms Some abbreviations are so well known and widely used that they have become acronyms – abbreviations pronounced as words. For example, laser = Light Amplification by Stimulation Emission of Radiation

Use headings to indicate topic areas or to include bibliographic details of the sources of information. Use outline form and/or a numbering system and indenting to help you distinguish major from minor points. Code your notes Use colour and symbols to mark structure and emphasis. Use colour to highlight major sections, main points and diagrams. You can also use different colours to classify and link concepts or information by topic. Underline, circle, star, etc., to identify key information, examples, definitions or other important materials. Devise your own marking code to indicate each type.

Effective Note-Taking

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Structure your notes with headings, sub-headings and numbered lists.

In Chemistry, for example, Au is gold and Mg is magnesium.

Personal Develop your own set so that you don’t have to write every word in full. You can shorten any word that is commonly used in your lessons.

Paraphrase what you hear so it makes sense to you – it helps you to understand and remember what you hear. Try to paraphrase everything except where information needs to be noted exactly.

Write phrases, not full sentences. Only record the key words that you need to get the idea of the point. Skip words like ‘the’ and ‘a’ that don’t add additional meaning to the content.

Use abbreviations and acronyms for note-taking Common etc. (etcetera) = and the rest e.g. = for example info = information i.e. = that is n.b. =note well, important p = page (pp = pages) para = C19diffno.ch.paragraph=chapter=number=different=nineteenth century specificDiscipline- These should be whatever is frequently used in your field of study.

When taking notes in lessons or during revision, it is impossible and inefficient to write every word down. Try these techniques and tips suggested by the University of NSW Australia.

Leave a space on the page for your own notes and comments.

Retain key technical or discipline-specific terms. Take notes in your own words.

• gov = government • nec = necessary Work out a system you’ll remember and use it consistently. Introduce a few symbols and abbreviations at a time to help you remember them.

In the case of quantities and concepts, these are represented by Greek letters in many fields: A or a (alpha), B or b (beta)

31 THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET / 3 Also, use these symbols for note-taking = equals/is equal to/is the same as ≠ is not equal to/is not the same as ≣ is equivalent to ∴ therefore, thus, so ∵ because + and, more, plus > more than, greater than < less than less, minus → gives, causes, produces, leads to, results in, is given by, is produced by, results from, comes from ↗ rises, increases by ↘ falls, decreases by α proportional to α not proportional to

• Begin

• Colour

32 THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET / 3 Use concept maps and diagrams

Information can also be recorded using a concept map or diagram. Try drawing diagrams or pictures for concepts that are hard to note quickly. For instance, draw a pie chart to roughly indicate the relative strength of political parties in an election instead of writing these details out. Information can be added to the concept map later. Concept maps can easily become cluttered. Use both facing pages of an open A4 notebook to set out your concept map and allow plenty of space for adding ideas and symbols. in the middle of the page and add ideas on branches that radiate from the central idea or from previous branches. and words can be used to show links between parts of the concept map. and symbols are important parts of concept maps, helping illustrate ideas and triggering your own thoughts.

Example Underwater Cameras Regular InAmphibiousNikonosLensesair+water Only under water Needs special housing Snapshot

• Arrows

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• Become familiar with keyboard shortcuts so that you can easily add formatting and ‘save’ while you take notes.

Typing vs writing notes: which is better?

Combine handwritten notes with electronic note-taking Interacting with your notes is the best way to process information, which is after all the goal of note-taking.

While many students prefer typing notes to handwriting them, research indicates that taking ‘pen and paper’ notes increases your focus and improves your comprehension and retention of lesson materials, more so than typing. On the other hand, note-taking on a laptop or device can make notes easier to format, save, edit, share, and reread (with no worries about messy handwriting).

It can be easy to fall into transcription mode on a laptop, and simply record everything that is said, instead of actively deciding what is most important to write down. Transcribing can seem like a good strategy, but the memory and cognition benefits of note-taking are lost unless you review and re-engage with your notes several times. If you type your notes, be sure to review them at least once within 24 hours after the lecture.

• Organise all documents and other lesson materials into a folder labelled with the subject.

• Try a note-taking app like Evernote, Microsoft OneNote or Google Keep.

• Save notes from each lesson as a separate document labelled with subject name, topic and date.

• If notes or summaries are in Word, use the ‘track changes’ function to add annotations and comments.

Minimise distractions If you use a laptop, make sure other programs are closed. Get a website or app blocker such as Self Control that can block distractions.

• Choose the notebook layout for your note documents.

Tips for note-taking with electronic devices

• Save lesson slides as PDF files and annotate them. There are various applications that allow annotation of PDFs, such as Notability, iAnnotate, PDF Pen, Evernote or Adobe Acrobat Pro.

• They help avoid distractions by forcing you to only do the tasks that are on the checklist.

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The Marvel of Checklists

Start with subjects or assignment types or processes (for example, revision) that you are not strong at.

• Test the checklist to make sure it delivers the required outcomes. It is very likely that you will miss out steps when you first create the checklist. If appropriate, have someone else use the checklist and confirm that they can use it successfully to complete the activity.

Creating checklists

Checklists ensure that the essential tasks get done

• Checklists can save time. Having the steps written simply and in order makes them easy to follow and is likely to result in less errors, therefore avoiding time wasted needing to fix issues. They also help avoid the time-wasting ‘what-should-I-do-next’ indecision as the checklist tells you what to do next.

• Each item on the checklist should be nonnegotiable and be your single focus of attention, having only a yes/no or go/no-go style that prevents you moving forward in the list until you have checked off the item. This is how the checklists used by pilots work, ensuring that each item checked is air-worthy before continuing through the list.

• The use of checklists can help when things go wrong by providing evidence of whether a particular step was completed.

• Checklists can improve productivity – there is something that humans find satisfying about ticking items off a list and research has shown that using checklists make us more likely to complete tasks.

Keep it simple – use short, precise, easy to understand descriptions of the tasks.

Some advice for creating checklists

•

• Make sure the checklist focuses on the most important things that need to be done for the task to be successful. You will want to include the mark criteria if necessary.

• Checklists free the mind from having to remember the steps that need to be completed and worrying about the possibility of forgetting to do something.

Instructions for how to use them

Keep it short – keep the list to one page if Makepossible.iteasy to use – include a checkbox or leave a space to mark items complete.

Review it regularly – look to edit and simplify the tasks involved.

There are two types of checklists, according to Daniel Boorman of Boeing. Read Do You read each step of the task, and then perform them in order, checking them off as you go. Do Confirm You perform a number of steps of the task from memory until you reach a defined pause point, when you go through the checklist and confirm that each step has been completed.

35 THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET / 3 Where to build your checklists • Use a word processing program or a create a spreadsheet. This is ideal if you want to be able to print out the checklists you create. • Use Google Tasks, ToDo or similar task management applications on your laptop or smartphone. These options provide a useful digital alternative to paper checklists. Some things you could create a checklist for: • Keeping your working environment tidy. • Creating a revision plan. • Completing a lengthy assignment. • Ensuring you have included the mark criteria in an essay.

MARLBOROUGH MINDSET Read Effectively ‘Learn as if you were not reaching your goal and as though you were scared of missing it.’ Confucius Being an effective reader is an essential part of the learning process. In this section, you will find tips • Being• Fact-Checkingon:anActive Reader • Summarising Strategies • AI• Colour• CategorisingCodingWord-Clouds Section 4 THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET / 4 37

•

Fact-Checking

Instructions for how to use it

• Deepen your understanding of a topic, by reading multiple sources of information before coming to conclusions.

When asked to find information on a topic, many pupils will instinctively go to Google. This is not a terrible starting point, but remember, it is a starting point, not a definitive answer. Use multiple sources to verify your information. The Library has an extensive collection of good-quality research resources available through their Firefly page; use these resources in collaboration with Google searching and the physical library when you are fact-checking information. Ensure the information you have is being corroborated (backed-up) by the other information sources. This level of thoroughness ensures that your work will be based on factually accurate information, and you will be all the better informed for having fact-checked your research.

By checking multiple sources and not just assuming that the first piece of information you read on a subject is accurate, you are fact-checking your research and making sure that your developing understandings are based on verified, factually accurate information.

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When approaching learning, fact-checking can help you: Ensure the information you are reading is factually accurate. Discover inconsistencies across multiple sources.

•

Guide your reading Set yourself specific questions to start off your reading. Write them down. Adapt the questions as you work through the text, to allow your questions to become more focussed. The better you understand what you are trying to discover, the easier it will be to find it in the text.

Being an Active Reader

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When approaching learning, active reading strategies can help you to understand what you are reading, and aid recall and concentration. Instructions for how to use them:

Start with something general Reading is easier if you have a sense of the context and a general overview of the material. Read simpler, introductory texts first, to familiarise yourself with the key issues and terms. Monitor your comprehension Read a few sentences, then stop. Without looking back at the text, sum up what you have read in just a few words. Say these aloud or jot them down. If you cannot do this, read back over what you have read, using an additional strategy from below.

Setting the right reading environment Reading comprehension is improved by ensuring that your environment is relaxing. Make sure your lighting is appropriate, that you have silence or background music, and that you stay hydrated.

• Identify the key ideas that need to be summarised from your reading: 2–4 would be ideal.

Summarising Strategies

Text transformations can help you engage creatively and critically with what you have been reading. You will need to identify the key message and/or points in order to produce this piece of work.

•

• Be precise but also detailed.

• Test your understanding and reduce your learning to the main ideas.

•

Each word is worth 10p and students must make up exactly £20 with their summary (the amount can be increased or reduced as necessary), i.e., 200 words.

Instructions for how to use it:

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•

• Be selective about the words you use in your writing.

When approaching learning, the £20 summary challenge can help you:

• For each idea, allot a certain amount of ‘money’. A reading task with 4 x key ideas and a £20 total would mean about 50 words per section.

Text transformations At the end of a unit, module, chapter or lesson, you turn your learning into a different format, i.e., a letter, newspaper article, diary entry, comic/film strip, advertisement, poem, flash fiction, an instruction manual, a rap/song, etc.

• Start with the key words or terminology for the reading to be summarised. For example, if you are summarising a poem, you might want to include ‘metaphor’, ‘simile’, ‘voice’, ‘alliteration’, etc. You should add up your total at this point so you know how many ‘pennies’ you have left to play with!

A letter from one historical figure to another, or from one historical period to another. A film strip based on a poem. A rap in a target language based on a topic. A poem about trigonometry. A newspaper article about atoms.

Instructions for how to use it:

41 THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET / 4 Square–Triangle–Circle At the end of a reading task in a lesson or for prep, you should answer the following questions, either verbally or in your books: • What four things have ‘squared’ with my thinking? What do I understand/know now? • What three angles do I either not understand, disagree with or need more information on? • What big question is now circling in my head? This will help you not only absorb and understand the material you read, but also to engage with it in a more critical, active way. It will also draw attention to any gaps in your understanding. When approaching learning, square–triangle–circle can help you: • Identify the strengths and weaknesses of your knowledge/understanding. • Be more critical and curious in your reading, especially when identifying what you either disagree with or want to know more about. • Connect your learning.

When approaching learning, organising competing ideas into tables can help you:

• Quickly discern whether your reading has been one-sided or lacks information from a specific viewpoint.

Instructions for how to use it:

Deduction is the skill of making inferences from multiple sources and reaching conclusions based on these viewpoints. When researching a topic, you will encounter a range of discussions and opinions; it can be helpful to categorise these opinions. One way to do this would be to categorise resources into groups such as supporting, contradicting and neutral, or for, against and neutral.

• Once you have performed this analytical work, you can reach your own conclusion in an informed manner, ensuring you have thoroughly looked at all the supporting evidence before drawing a conclusion.

• Your analysis may also be broadened beyond a single text, to bring in the opinions of others. In this instance, you would read books, web-pages and articles on the topic, and categorise your findings in the same way.

Examples The following two tables are a practical example of this strategy at work – using the question illustrated above (does Romeo really love Juliet?), we can create a number of different tables, presenting competing evidence in a straightforward and easy to read manner.

• Situate specific ideas encountered in your research into the broader context of discussion around your chosen topic.

• Once you have chosen/been given a topic, you need to seek out evidence to draw your own conclusions. This could require the close-reading of a single text, for example, a question like: ‘Does Romeo really love Juliet?’ will require you to look closely at evidence from the play, and categorise his actions and statements into several categories –those supporting the idea that he does love Juliet, those contradicting the idea and those actions which seem to give no clear indication (but still may be relevant to the discussion).

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• Synthesise key thinkers and their ideas into quick and easy to access chunks.

Categorising

• Reach a conclusion that takes into account the full range of the viewpoints you have encountered in your reading.

For Against Neutral

Mercutio underminescontinuallyRomeo’s love by making jokes at his expense: ‘This drivelling love is like a great natural that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole.’

The duel between Tybalt and Mercutio, and Romeo’s reaction to Mercutio’s death. The eventual death of Tybalt and the prioritisation of honour and vengeance over love.

Table 1: Evidence from the text

Table 2: Evidence from wider sources Evidence For/Against/Neutral Source/Author ‘There is the element of personal responsibility upon which most mature tragedy rests when Romeo chooses to avenge the death of Mercutio by killing Tybalt, knowing that this deed will undo the soft graces of forbearance that Juliet has taught him. Romeo succumbs to the macho peer pressure of his male companions, and tragedy results in part from this choice.’

Neutral Britannica Schools: William Shakespeare article ‘Now when Romeo says ‘Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love’, he is of course referring to the fact that Rosaline is Capulet’s niece… Such an affected way of speaking shows the state of Romeo’s mind; his love is rather selfgenerated than inspired by any person. As compared with his style of speech after meeting Juliet, it serves to mark the difference between being love-sick and being in love.’

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For Romeo, Rosaline, and Juliet article by H.D. Gray available on JSTOR (Modern Language Notes, Vol. 29, No.7)

Both tables achieve the same aim, which is to gather evidence for competing arguments, allowing you as the reader/essay writer to have a focussed bank of evidence to support your eventual answer to a question –this is deduction at work.

Romeo’s apparent love for Roseline in the opening scenes of the play: ‘Out of her favor, where I am in love.’

Romeo’s initial reactions upon meeting Juliet: ‘If I profane with my unworthiest hand, this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this: my lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.’

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•

• By being an aid to memory when revising a piece of information.

• By gaining an understanding of what bits of information may be missing from your reading and how you may need to expand your research.

When approaching learning, colour coding can help you:

• Colour code each topic heading with a unique colour.

• Read through the document that you are interpreting and each time that you encounter a piece of text that is linked to one of your key themes, highlight it in the appropriate colour.

• Come up with topic headings for these key themes – aiming for no more than 5–6 key themes.

• Step one is to have a document or group of documents that require interpretation. These could be essays, novels, reports (any piece of information that isn’t easily sum-up-able with graphs or tables).

Colour Coding

•

Mind map the key themes related to the area of research/work.

Colour coding of information can be very helpful when it comes to interpreting and understanding large chunks of text. Planned colour coding goes beyond simply highlighting important words/ sentences and adds a level of organisation and categorisation to the process.

By providing a method of categorising and organising information within a longer document, information that would otherwise potentially be hard to distinguish.

Instructions for how to use it:

•

11 for note making from text books I prefer to highlight and write on the book if it was my own copy, but if there was an online version, it would mean I could take it anywhere and it would be so useful if I forgot it. Highlighting and E-booksnote-making=convenient

Perceived benefits and disadvantages of print books Relation to the physical object Impact on learning (print) Perceived benefits and disadvantages of e-books Impact on learning (digital) No preference in medium

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2 I like the feeling of paper on my fingers and the satisfaction of turning the pages. Tactile Feels cosier and less stressful. Plus I feel my eyes look at the screen long enough during the day so it’s good to rest the eyes with the physical book

•

9 Find it almost impossible to read off a screen for long periods and enjoy making progress through a book, knowing how far you have read or how long left is satisfying. Eye strain/screen use, rewarding

•

EyeTactilestrain

•

These themes were then colour coded thusly:

Survey analysis – Question 5: Do you prefer to read a paper book or using an e-reader/laptop? Please briefly explain why.

The colour coding was then applied to all answers from the survey, making them look like this:

7 Find them easier to use, especially when researching (can flick between different pages) Navigation of print

However for convenience, for example when travelling, then e-books are useful, but not preferable E-books = convenient

8 Feels nicer in the hand and has sentimental value SentimentalityTactile

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•

Example

10 More traditional, and more comfortable, however I do not think e-books are bad at all and I like the diversity available TactileSentimentality

6 It is easier to skip back and forth from pages. With a Kindle, it is always hard to know what page you are on. Navigation of print

The Library conducted a survey asking pupils to state preferences regarding reading physical or digital books. The survey received over 135 responses, many of which had long and detailed answers. In order to interpret this data, a level of codifying was required. The key themes identified included:

5 E-books are useful, as they are obviously lighter and easier to carry around, but they’re not as satisfying – Finishing a physical book is so much more rewarding, and it is easier to look back on pages with information you may have forgotten. Reading off a device hurts my eyes and I find they often break. A book will never freeze or break, and you will never delete it by accicent. E-books = convenient, rewarding, eye strain, technical issues with e-books

The smell, the physical touch and I find I remember the story better RetentionTactile of details

It is now possible, looking at this information at a glance, to be able to interpret which themes appear more frequently, where the evidence for discussions around each theme is present, and where evidence for a theme may be missing. Here is a practical example of this strategy at work – using a survey undertaken at the College around reading preferences.

When analysing a piece of text for meaning, one way to highlight recurring and key terms is to utilise artificial intelligence to scan the document for word frequency. This can be a quick way to find out whether a document is useful to you, without having to read the document in its entirety. Online tools can then transform the document into a word-cloud.

• Find a web-page, PDF or online document related to your area of study.

• Highlight terminology you may be less familiar with, allowing you to define key terms before you read the document in its entirety.

• It will pick out frequent terms from a document; this can help you to organise your further reading around a number of key topics.

AI Word-Clouds

• Organise your further reading and research around these themes.

Instructions for how to use them:

• Copy the text you are interested in analysing.

• Paste the text into an online word-cloud tool such as Monkey Learn and(https://monkeylearn.com/word-cloud/)generateaword-cloud.

• Which terms are the largest (indicating frequent reoccurrence)?

Word-clouds are useful because:

• Does this document look like it is relevant to your research?

• Present large amounts of information in quick and readable bites, allowing you to analyse its relevance to your research at a glance.

When approaching learning, AI word-clouds can help you:

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• Could some of the highlighted terms form sub-headings for your note-taking?

• Analyse the word cloud:

• They reduce a long-form document into a short, visually striking read, highlighting the main terms and focus points.

• Are there terms that you are unfamiliar with? (It may be worth getting definitions before you read the whole document)

• They allow you to analyse at a glance whether a document will be of use, or whether it is less likely to detail the points in which you are interested.

• Discover key terms, events and characters mentioned within a document.

47 THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET / 4 bourgeoisie council of ancient festival of federation county of nice society of thought royal family feudal regime general cause called revolution next day executive power reign of terror standard of living bourgeois republic political power american revolution 18thparisiancentury crowd great fear fear of july revolutionary expansionnew constitution french revolutionfrench army clergy peasant directory third estate great britain war year ii national convention bonaparte national constituents assembly france ruler of europe privileged class prosperous economic situationgathering of revolutiontroopskingofgreatemperorleaopold ii burdensome feudal system pope pius vipredictable inflationary effects brink of bankruptcy abolition of feudalism appeal of jacobin louis xvi aristocratic upper clergy This tool has highlighted the most frequent terms, analysing whether this will be a useful resource for your research and giving you a number of focal points for further research, in under a minute.

THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET / 5 Section 5 49 Revise Effectively ‘I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.’ Louisa May Alcott In this section, you will find more information about: • Retrieval • Top• Top• Creating• Mnemonics• Fantastic• BUG• Mind• Deliberate• Spacing• Dual• InterleavingPracticeCodingPracticeMapstheQuestionFlashCardstoWin!aRevisionTimetableTipsforRevisionTipsforExams

Testing yourself with flash cards You know what you need to be tested on the most, so you can tailor the questions to your weak spots while using retrieval practice.

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• Consistent practice and revisiting previous material strengthens memory and boosts learning.

By doing past papers you can use retrieval practice with content that is directly relevant to your studies and exams and apply knowledge and skills.

Completing past paper questions or practice answers

Recalling information from memory is simple and powerful. Retrieval practice is a learning strategy which makes you think hard and brings information to mind. It is the action of actively retrieving knowledge that boosts learning and strengthens memory. It means trying to remember previously learned information as opposed to simply rereading it. Research has shown that the more you do with information, the more likely you are to recall it.

• Information, if not revisited, is ‘lost’ from our memory.

• Our working memory is finite and limited and so overloading this or cramming for revision doesn’t work.

Essay answers These are a useful method of retrieval practice because they require you to synthesise multiple pieces of information into fluent prose and likely perform some analysis, which will improve retention more than merely recalling isolated facts.

Answering a spoken question is a useful form of retrieval practice as replying aloud makes you think about the information differently and make quick connections under pressure. Other research has found that reading things aloud is more beneficial than in silence, as it prompts a range of senses and actions.

Inner Drive (http.innerdrive.co.uk) have made these suggestions below. Why not try them out?

Having someone ask you questions This approach combines teaching others with answering questions, so is doubly effective for helping you learn. It also allows you to involve others in your learning, which is useful as having a supportive group around you is important for doing well at school. Answering questions from someone lets you discover how well you understand the material, as you’ll need to explain it to them and they can ask follow-up questions to test your knowledge even further.

Answering a question aloud

Multiple choice tests Creating and answering these will help you recall information in a fun way.

Retrieval Practice

Innerdrive.co.uk Topic 1 Topic 3Topic 2 Topic 4 1Topic 1Topic 1Topic 1Topic2Topic 2Topic 2Topic 2Topic3Topic 3Topic 3Topic 3Topic4Topic 4Topic 4Topic 4Topic BlockingInterleaving

51 THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET / 5 Interleaving

• Focus on quality and not quantity – short, targeted bursts are more effective.

• Break units down into small chunks and split these over a few days rather than revising one whole topic all at once.

• It improves memory – interleaving encourages students to make connections between topics and it can help strengthen their memory associations. As a result, students can consolidate and retain the information for a longer period of time.

• Decide on the key topics you need to learn for each subject.

Interleaving involves mixing up topics within the same subject when studying. This is the opposite of blocking, which is fully covering one topic before moving on to the next. This graphic gives an example of the difference between the two:

• Do little and often, and mix it up every day!

When approaching revision, interleaving can help you because: • It is known to improve academic performance –in a recent study, students who used interleaving performed significantly better than those who revised using blocking.

Applying interleaving

• As interleaving encourages students to compare and contrast between different strategies, it can help them think about the process in more detail. Therefore, when they are solving a new question, they are more likely to find out which strategy is the most effective to use.

• Create a revision timetable to organise your time and space your learning.

Diagrams Diagrams are perfect for learning and revising complex concepts or processes that need breaking down to understand. They can represent a lot of information within a relatively small space, compared to writing it all out in one long passage, making difficult concepts easier to read and get to grips with. Here are several ways you can make your diagram dual coding more effective:

Dual Coding

Graphic organisers A graphic organiser is a way to organise information (both words and pictures) according to the relationships between different concepts.

Many students will be quick to dismiss this strategy because they ‘can’t draw’. The fact is, there’s no need to be an artist – the most important thing is that your drawings have meaning. As long as they represent the information you need to remember, even if this is only meaningful to you, drawings are a great way to boost student learning.

There are loads of different types of graphic organisers, all corresponding to different ways of thinking: mind maps and tree diagrams organise information by ‘chunking’ it into related groups; Venn diagrams organise information through comparing its similarities and differences; flowcharts organise information as it occurs within a sequence; other graphic organisers show information with cause-and-effect relationships.

Drawing Research suggests that creating a drawing from a piece of information requires you to elaborate on its meaning. You have to really consider the information to decipher how best to represent it, create the necessary motor movements with a pencil, and use pictorial processing to inspect your drawing once it’s finished. This deeper processing helps to cement the information into long-term memory.

• Make use of signalling. This means drawing attention to the most important aspects of the diagram, such as key words. You could do so by highlighting, underlining, putting writing in bold, using arrows, circling… To maximise the impact of these techniques, use them sparingly.

When reviewing something you have learnt, combining words and pictures can be powerful.

• Place text within diagrams rather than around the outside. For example, if your diagram is simply an annotated picture, have the labels within the picture rather than around it or in a key. It’s much easier to process the words and pictures when they’re right next to each other, than if you have to keep switching your attention back and forth. This is called the spatial contiguity principle.

• Leave diagram labels blank. You can then re-visit your diagram at a later date to test yourself on filling in the labels. This combines dual coding with two other extremely effective revision strategies that you should know about, retrieval practice and spacing.

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Inner Drive have provided five ways to use dual coding to benefit revision.

Dual coding expert Oliver Caviglioli suggests four key principles for using dual coding.

• Use hierarchy – Be sure to include titles and sub-titles, and to emphasise these with larger writing or writing in bold. This not only makes the poster easier to read, but also gives the information an element of order to help you understand it better.

• Use contrast – Writing large chunks of text in one colour or highlighting everything on your poster doesn’t make anything stand out. Instead, use one or two key colours to create contrast and allow key information to stand out. The more sparsely you use colour, the more effective it will be in helping you to remember the key bits of information. It’s all about that fourth principle: restraint.

• Be consistent – Consistency of organisation, colour coding, fonts and other styling aspects will all help to make your poster more readable.

Posters Posters are great for combining writing, pictures and diagrams all within one page of information. They can be used to present all the most important information you know on a specific topic, for example. To ensure you can easily learn and revise from your poster, here are some key tips:

For any information that happens in a particular order or sequence, timelines should be a go-to. And the same rules apply: collect the information you need to know, cut irrelevant information, chunk information into different sections of time, and put these into an organised sequence, all the time using restraint with colours and text and in general not trying to be too ‘arty’. As always, less is more.

Timelines

• Restrain Avoid ‘overdoing’ it. In other words, don’t go crazy with different colours and fonts.

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These are:

• Align Make sure that words and pictures are neatly ordered, making them easier to read.

• Cut – Reduce the amount of content, be selective and only use the most important information. It’s all too easy to just copy down everything about a topic, with a couple of added pictures, in an attempt to make an exhaustive resource. However, this just causes an overload of information which is difficult to read and remember.

• Chunk Divide the content into groups of related information.

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Spacing Spacing consists of spreading out your revision over a period of time instead of cramming your learning into a single revision session. Essentially, doing a little but often instead of a lot at once. In some studies, using spacing instead of cramming has resulted in a 10% to 30% difference in final test results. The reason this technique is so effective is because it provides an opportunity for students to forget the material and relearn it, strengthening connections in their long-term memory.

55 THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET / 5 Deliberate Practice

This follows a simple process to support your revision. Start by spending time reviewing a topic/ unit before quizzing/testing yourself with no notes and from your memory (this is vital for revision). Once you have finished, check your answers. This will support you in showing where your ‘knowledge gaps’ are and where focus needs to be in your future revision. Revision shouldn’t keep you in your comfort zone; you need to be thinking hard and identifying your own areas for development. Avoid simply revising topics you enjoy. A technique to support deliberate practice is the Pomodoro technique.

Mind maps use words and images to create strong associations that help you remember what you're studying and organise the ideas and knowledge you have learnt so you can apply it to an assignment.

• Write your map subject in the middle of your page. Your content will link to your subject and spread out from the main heading. Your subject could be a topic or idea, or information from a text.

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• Identify relationships between different topics.

• Develop your subject understanding.

• Use key words or images to represent each piece of information.

• Change the style, size or colour of items to represent important content.

• Decide what to include or exclude in projects, including contextual information.

• Link new content to your current map – ideas should always be connected to something else in the mind map. Adding new information to your current map layout encourages you to engage with the content so you can decide if it needs to be included and where it fits in your structure.

When approaching learning, mind maps can help you:

• Use colours to identify themes and relationships. Some information in your map may fit more than one map 'branch'. Colour coding and extra connecting lines will help you keep track of this.

How to use mind maps

• Improve your memory with visual cues, words and images.

• Organise your thoughts to plan and structure assignments.

• Introduce new ideas and resources to a topic as you learn more about it.

• Connect your ideas and experiences to the literature you study.

• Explore subjects broadly and in depth.

• Add key ideas to your map by writing their headings on the page and drawing a connecting line between them and your main heading. Continue breaking each section down and adding links between subjects to create smaller, specific mind maps on the page. This is a great chance to explore specific topics more deeply.

57 THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET / 5 Fig. 2 Fig. 1 differencessimilarities bringhavepatternstogethertothink! messysynthesisengagefast=fine! books lecturesetc note-making bring memorytogethertriggers summerisesynthesisactiveimages revising Uses of mapsmind'ideas storming'reflecting connectopen practiceselftheory assignmentsthoughts addinitialanyanyorderanytimeideassources info change as you go abundancesstellar Symbiotic stars Barium stars Planetary nebulae CataclysmicFormationvariables Mass-ratio distribution InferferometryBinary stars Brown dwarfs Stellar wind Mass transferSpiral shocks Blue Straggler Stars Blue Straggler Stars ONCClusters Globular clusters Young stellar clusters LithiumExoplanetsinstarsTransmissionspectroscopy

I often lose 'silly' marks for not answering the question I hate having to answer questions under time pressure I panic if I don't know how to answer the question 58 THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET / 5 Bug the Question When approaching revision, knowing how to ‘BUG the question’ can help you: • Develop your subject understanding through knowledge application. • Organise your thoughts to plan extended exam responses. • Improve your memory by retrieving the most appropriate material. • Identify new ideas and synoptic content. • Gain awareness of what you know (and still need to revise). • Have confidence in examination technique. • Avoid misinterpreting the question as it is proven that pupils who ‘BUG the question’ outperform those who don’t.

Breaking down the question using the BUG process: B = Box the command word U = Underline the focus of the question G = Glance over the question twice

In the example you would underline the following:

2. Underline: Underline the key information. This could include any of the following themes/context (how it relates to the specification) or focus (evidence required from own knowledge or a source/comparisons or similarities/number of examples needed/key words from the question to use).

• Focus: Impacts/international migration/ Figure 6/your case study • Theme/Context: Growth and character of cities/UK 3. Glance: Glance back over the question to make sure you have included everything! This stage is really important to ensure that we have not initially misread the question and that our answers are relevant.

1. BUG the question. This will stop you making mistakes and misinterpreting the questions.

In the example (Fig.1) below:

• The number of marks is 9. This means we need to write 3 x PEE paragraphs.

Top tips: before even attempting to hit full marks on a question, it is important to follow the key points below:

2. Use the words of the question in your responses, especially when explaining/ assessing and so on – this will link your ideas back to the question and keep you on track. 3. Study any sources/examples referred to in the question.

• The command word is ‘Assess’, which means to weigh something up.

Fig.1 Assess the impacts of international migration on the growth and character of cities in the UK . Use Figure 6 and your case study of a major city in the UK. (9)

1. Box: Put a box around the command word and the number of marks. A command word is the instruction word – this gives you an indication into how to structure your essay.

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Write only one question per card. Or you are in danger of illusions of competence. Mix pictures and words. Adding pictures to your cards can make them a lot more memorable.

Useful flash card apps:

• Drill relationships – between two pieces of information. This is good for learning definitions and vocabulary.

• Use active recall – instead of just reviewing your notes or watching a YouTube video on the subject, you have to guess or recall the right answer.

Shuffle the flash cards each time you use them to ensure they are sorted in a different order each time. As you test yourself, sort the cards into ‘I know’ and ‘I don't know’ piles. This will help you identify which concepts you need to put more attention to. Review the cards you don’t know more than once. Repetition is key. Say your answers out loud when studying as this helps you retain the information. Review them from both sides. By doing this, you’re going to build strong neural pathways that can be traced easily in both directions.

When approaching learning, flash cards can help you:

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AnkiQuizletBrainscap Example of a flash card Tips for using flash cards to revise:

Fantastic Flash Cards

4. If you can recall the information then move it to compartment 2. If not, put it back in compartment 1.

1. Split a box into five different compartments and label them 1–5.

Study often – as the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Use mnemonic devices in your flash cards to create mental connections.

• Develop metacognition – have an awareness of your own thoughts and processes. Instructions for how to use flash cards: Make your own flash cards rather than using pre-made ones as this helps with the learning process and gives you the ability to customise them.

6. Eventually, all flash cards should be in box 5 which means they are in your long-term memory. How tall is Mount Everest? Front 8,848 metres above sea level Back

5. Continue to test yourself. Flash cards in compartment 1 should be tested every day but flash cards in compartment 2 should be every other day, and in compartment 3, every third day.

3. Test yourself on a flash card.

2. Place all the flash cards in compartment 1.

2. Choose a journey you know well and pick your landmarks. Pick as many landmarks as the number of key points for the topic. Jot them down.

1. Create a list of facts or information that you need to remember.

5. Practise walking the journey in your mind, learning the information as you go.

Mnemonics to Win!

“My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos.”

Visualisation mnemonic: also known as the ‘loci method’. This is a more complex type of mnemonic device that is useful for organising and holding larger volumes of information. This is a way of linking information with an imagined space, for example, a familiar journey or your home. How will it help you with revising effectively?

Mnemonic devices are tools and techniques you can use to help your ability to remember, retain or retrieve information. The basis for their use is that the human mind can quickly recall relatable information, while it is challenging to remember abstract, impersonal bits of information. When approaching learning, mnemonics can help you store information in your memory so that it is easier to retrieve as needed.

1. Write down the key points you need to learn.

4. Then, make links between them. This is the fun part! Use your imagination the wackier the link, the more memorable it is.

There are two mnemonic strategies:

Examples: The names of the planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

Acrostic mnemonic

Order of operations in algebra: Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction

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The word ‘mnemonic’ is from the Greek word for memory. Mnemonics devices are mental tools that can take many forms but generally are used to help hold a large volume of new material in memory, cued for recall.

3. Assign the key points to the landmarks in order.

Acrostic mnemonic: a way of remembering a simple list of facts or information in a certain order.

Instructions for how to use them:

2. The first letters of the words you need to know become the first letters of a sentence, song or rhyme.

“Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.”

Visualisation mnemonic Creating a ‘memory journey’:

3. A mnemonic can be anything, as long as it makes sense to you. However, funny or rude mnemonics tend to be easier to remember!

4. Allocate time for breaks, dinner and unexpected events.

Before you draw up your timetable, you should consider these guiding principles: How much time have you got to revise? Be realistic! Are you revising in school for a wholeyear assessment or over a holiday for mock/end-ofyear exams? Will you be able to revise every day or only on weekdays/in the morning?

When do you work best? What time do you want to start/finish and when will you fit in breaks/activities? You might prefer revising in 20-minute chunks or 40-minute chunks. It is always worthwhile remembering that exams usually start at 8.45am/1.45pm so revising late at night is not very compatible. How should you prioritise? How much content is there for each subject? Which subjects do you find the most challenging? Are there topics you studied a long time ago?

Remember, everyone learns differently. What works for you might not suit someone else and we can get stuck comparing ourselves.

1. Buy a diary, calendar or get a large piece of paper to create a poster.

3. Enter your other regular commitments such as social events, sports and work.

Creating a Revision Timetable

7. Fill in the rest of your timetable with your subjects and try to plan the subjects reasonably – for example, mix hard and easy subjects, and keep sciences or languages together.

8. Start revising and try to stick to your plan as much as possible.

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SENECA’s tips

2. Fill in your regular school timetable as well as your exam timetable.

Flexibility is key. Don’t get frustrated if plans change and you cannot stick to your plan! Tweak the following day/week and embrace the changes.

Make your timetable one week in advance. As you revise, you’ll find out more about what works for you and knowing these things will help you improve your plan.

6. Calculate how much time you have available and divide the time among your subjects.

Chunking

5. Decide what subject you need to spend the most time on and which ones the least.

For interleaving to work successfully, you have to break your revision down into ‘chunks’. It is much better to set aside specific time for each theme, rather than expecting to spend one hour on ‘Biology’. How do you make sure to avoid procrastination and the inevitable cramming which follows?

• Not enough silent work or attention to a given task. Attempting to revise while multitasking and doing other things.

• Simply writing out notes or copying from a textbook/exercise book.

Start small and build up. Reduce distractions where and when you revise and get your family to encourage the creation of a revision timetable and place it somewhere visible in your house. Ensure someone else is knowledgeable of this timetable to enable accountability and aid support. Make it attractive.

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Within your revision, it is vitally important to establish goals and have a strong routine. Having goals is good for setting a direction. What do you want to achieve in this revision session?

4. Identify gaps in your knowledge – what do you need to study more? What can you move on from?

Avoid ineffective revision strategies such as:

Top Tips for Revision

• Highlighting information for the sake of it.

5-Step Study Plan Follow the 5-step Study Plan suggested by Kate Jones from Inner Drive.

In order to support the forming of good revision habits, there are a number of areas to consider:

2. Timetable a spaced schedule – study each topic little but often and leave yourself enough time.

Establish habits and routines

• Comfort zone revision of easy material that pupils have already mastered because it makes you ‘feel good’.

Collaborative focused revision is beneficial (alongside attending interventions or revision sessions) but you could also ensure there is a ‘reward’ at the end of a revision session. If I complete this, I can do this. Make it satisfying. Challenge yourself, track your own revision progress and ensure you stick to your revision timetable. Small steps build success and motivation. Use checklists to support. Make it obvious. Revise in one area, leave your materials out ready to support organisation and ensure routines are stuck to. Ensure your environment is clear, uncluttered and comfortable.

1. Make a list – what do you need to know?

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you are comfortable.

3. Use effective study strategies – test yourself and keep the rereading and highlighting to a minimum.

• Reading and doing nothing with the information. Trying to focus on ‘too much information’ on a single page and cramming revision.

Top Tips for Exams ✓ Space out your learning. ✓ Use retrieval practice. ✓ Take time out for yourself. ✓ Get enough sleep. ✓ Don’t skip breakfast. ✓ Skipping supper. ✓ Cramming information in. ✓ Rereading notes. ✓ Too much caffeine. ✓ Staying up late revising. ✓ Space out your learning. ✓ Test yourself. ✓ Schedule in time for yourself. ✓ Exercise. ✓ Ask beaks for help. ✓ Avoid looking at your phone. ✓ Surround yourself with positive people. ✓ Use positive self-talk. ✓ Get enough sleep. ✓ Visualise yourself in the exam hall. 64 THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET / 5 5 ways to do well in exams 5 mistakesto avoid thenight beforean10examtips preparetoforyourfirstexam

THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET/ 6 Manage Setbacks ‘To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future.’ Plutarch In this section, you will find more information • Buildingabout: • AdoptingResiliencea‘Growth Mindset’ • Effective Study Groups and Peer Mentoring. Section 6 65

SAVES

E is for Emotions

6. Flexibility and adaptation – be flexible and adaptable so that you can respond well in challenging situations.

Build Resilience

Resilience is something that you can build – to help improve your resilience and your ability to manage setbacks remember to try to engage with the following strategies.

V is for Values

It is important not to take yourself too seriously.

Resilience

Personalisation – When you get something wrong, consider broader context, i.e., have you been able to revise as effectively as you would have liked? Was the test particularly challenging, were you suitably prepared? Considering different variables will enable you to personalise the problem at hand.

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2. The right people – surround yourself by people who make you feel good and further your development.

3. Believe in your ability to overcome hardships and guide your own destiny.

5. Welcome some stress – a little stress can be helpful.

7. Perspective – maintain a measured outlook and keep an eye on the bigger picture.

Try to do something for others as this releases dopamine. You should also try surrounding yourself with other resilient individuals and people you can rely on. A is for Attitude You are able to alter life by altering attitude. Below are two attitudes to consider:

S is for Social connection

When studying, revising or preparing for an assessment, it is important to manage your Practiceemotions.resilience by having a ‘creative hopelessness’, i.e., consider why you are feeling the way you are. Don’t try to banish feelings of doubt/negativity, try to rationalise instead.

Resilience is the ability to be happy and successful again after something difficult or bad has happened. It is cultivated through dealing with setbacks. In order to improve as learners, you need to continually make mistakes, not avoid making them!

It is important that you pursue what matters to you but remember that hard work is the key ingredient to success.

7 ways to improve resilience

S is for Silliness

1. Active choices – view decisions as active choices and not as sacrifices.

4. Fail better – take time to reflect on setbacks.

Permanence – Remember bad things aren’t permanent – circumstances can and do change.

5 ways to develop a growth mindset

4. Fail better. Ask for feedback on what you could have done better and act on that feedback.

5. Try new things. Having a sense of curiosity and courage can be really helpful. Learning new things can make you realise how much you are capable of doing.

2. The power of ‘yet’. This simple word can have a big impact. There is a huge difference between saying ‘I am not good at this’ and ‘I am not good at this yet’. The ‘yet’ suggests you may get there with hard work and resilience.

Adopt a Growth Mindset

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Growth mindset refers to a learning theory developed by Dr Carol Dweck. It revolves around the belief that you can improve intelligence, ability and performance. The opposite, a fixed mindset, refers to the belief that a person’s talents are set in stone. Years of research have shown that mindset is malleable. This means that if you develop a growth mindset, your learning will be more effective and efficient. Take control!

3. Ask yourself: ‘What would I do differently next time?’ This stops you fixating on what you haven’t done and gets you to focus on what you need to do to improve in the future.

1. Don’t rush to ‘I can’t’. With a bit of effort, you might surprise yourself by how well you can do a task.

• Altruism

Effective study groups and peer mentoring will enable you to engage in revision as an active process with your friends, support those who are struggling and ‘share the load’ of learning.

Could effective study groups and peer mentoring be for me?

Share your top revision sources.

Becomemethod? the teacher. Create presentations on your allocated specification area and teach your friends; why not create your own Kahoot or Quizlet to make it more entertaining? Create your own revision video: voice over a PPT, etc! Keep each other in check. Ask your group how they are doing – maybe set up a WhatsApp group.

Set Makedeadlines.sureyour group have mini deadlines of when you want to ‘check-off’ each specification point.

Teaching somebody else is a sure-fire way to improve your academic success. But it is not just about exam success, when working in an effective group with your peers, it also helps to improve your:

Create a group of like-minded learners. They don’t have to be your friends, but just supportive peers. Allocate topics and share ideas.

Effective Study Groups and Peer Mentoring

What does an effective study group look like?

• Empathy

When revising, are you able effectively share your wisdom and knowledge with others? Are you able to help your peers improve in their subject knowledge?

• Trust • Sense of belonging

If you have had a setback with your work or you feel working alone is not helping, why not try and harness the support of others with effective study groups?

Do you follow revision experts on Youtube/ IG, etc? Are you amazing at creating Quizlets?

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Split up your subject specifications between yourselves and share your notes/Quizlets with each other. Have a plan. Create a plan of what you want to cover each week, so that your group knows what they have to prepare in advance.

Could you teach people how to use the Anki

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70 THE MARLBOROUGH MINDSET Notes

The ideas and concepts in this workbook have been drawn from a variety of published educational sources. We have tried to reference those sources where we can. This workbook is intended purely for our pupils and staff and is not for external or commercial distribution.

Marlborough College, Marlborough, Wiltshire SN8 1PA Telephone: +44 (0)1672 892200 email: BN@marlboroughcollege.org Registered Charity number: 309486

The Marlborough Mindset

Articles inside

3. Be Organised

6. Manage Setbacks

1. The Science of Learning

2. Healthy Body, Happy Mind