Chancellor’s students are aware that in order to be a successful at A level, they need to be prepared to invest considerable effort in their studies. Students must commit themselves to engaging in proactive independent study (work completed in addition to homework set by their subject teachers) for a significant amount of time beyond their scheduled lessons. We have provided the checklists below to help students engage with meaningful independent tasks.

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Crucial Study Skills

Your subject teachers can lead you in the right direction as how to best and most effectively use your study periods as they are the people best placed to give you advice. 

Below are some of the most effective general strategies: 

• Uphold a well organised, logical subject folder for each of your subjects. Even practical subjects need to have a folder as you will need to take down tutorial notes for example 
• Go over your lesson notes, organising them and where possible building upon them through further research around topic areas
• Get ahead of yourself (particularly with regards to coursework) and starting to complete work set that day
• Do extension work, (extra exercises or questions) in the areas you find most difficult. 
• Read through teacher’s comments on marked work and writing detailed student responses which will benefit your future progress
• Carry out additional reading (journals, newspapers, case studies, the internet) around your academic subjects 
• Complete past papers
• Write essay plan
• Complete project work
• Work on practical work which we appreciate is time consuming. We do encourage you to stay on site beyond the ‘normal’ school day to make the most of the sixth form study facilities 

Tips for effective studying

• Turn your notifications off on your mobile
• Only you know if listening to music whilst you study is helpful or a distraction. If you make the decision to listen to music, ensure that you are wearing headphones as not everyone will share your taste in music or want to be disturbed. Please consider the volume of headphones too
• Make sure that you have all the equipment and resources you need 
• Be brave in telling your friends and people around you that you are studying and need to concentrate. Remember, everyone has different aspirations and different ways of working to achieve their full potential
• Have water and constantly hydrate the brain. Do not rely on energy drinks 
• Plan your study time across all of your subjects and prioritise deadlines 
• Take breaks where you can get fresh air and natural light 
• If studying for a long period, plan a walk half way to give your brain a rest
• Consider whether you need a ’study buddy’ as sometimes you can save time and be more efficient
• Be realistic with your study sessions—don’t over plan what you want to cover
• If you are feeling overwhelmed or worried about something, speak to someone. It may feel like the hardest thing to do but it is often the quickest and most effective way of reducing the stress or anxiety it is causing