Procrastinating after working for only 5 minutes? 

Difficulty in trying & implementing new study strategies?

These are all very common issues and complaints occur for all of us from one time or another. Learning about how the brain works will give you a greater understanding into your current study habits and why they are the way they are.  It is a well-known fact that the brain is the control centre for your behaviour however a lot of people know very little about it and how it actually operates.

THE BRAIN IS A CONNECTION MACHINE 

• The function of the brain is to find associations and connections between information, creating neural “maps”.
• When we process new ideas we are creating a new map. Creating new maps take up a lot of energy!
• New maps increase motivation. This is why when you learn a new skill, such as driving a car, you feel motivated and excited. 

1. Seek to create new maps of knowledge using techniques such as Mind Maps.
2. Identify when you are struggling with a problem and strive to challenge yourself to find a solution yourself. Notice your feelings after this moment and use it as inspiration in your next problem.

NO TWO BRAINS ARE THE SAME

• There are unlimited ways that a brain may process and store information. This is why people look at things and process information differently.
• For Example, have you ever noticed that you and a friend will approach a problem or question in completely different ways. Or have you noticed that study strategies that work for your friend do not work for you at all? This is because no two brains are the same.

1. Understand the importance of making your own connections and seeking out ways of processing problems and concepts which work for you.
2. Always try to remember what strategies have worked for you in the past and utilise this in your next problem.
3. The Coaching team are constantly working with you to support you generate your own insights and not just ‘tell you’ what worked for us or how we would approach it. 

YOUR BRAIN HARDWIRES EVERYTHING

• The brain hardwires attitudes, processes and behaviours making it easier for the brain to respond to situations. E.g when you first learn to drive you are concentrating hard. In no time at all your brain has hardwired the actions of getting in the car, indicating, checking mirrors, switching gears without much thought at all!
• Hardwiring frees up the brain to think. 

1. It is crucial that you hardwire the behavior of essay writing and exam performance so that when you are in the examination room, you automatically move into exam mode.
2. If you have not hardwired the habit of completing an exam or writing an essay, your brain will be focusing on that and you will have no ‘free space’ for the brain to think creatively about the question/s you are being asked. 

YOUR BRAIN’S WIRING AFFECTS YOUR PERCEPTION 

• Perceptions are driven by our habits.
• Everyone has a unique perception of the world.
• Acknowledging this will help you to understand possible roadblocks in your study technique. 

1. You may have a hardwired belief that you cannot do a certain Math’s topic or you just don’t understand the Discovery unit and never will. This will then create a false reality and will become an underlying belief of yours.

• So how do you change these hardwired connections? Unfortunately, you can’t.
• But its not all doom & gloom! You CAN create new ‘positive’ wiring which over time will replace the old ‘negative’ wiring. 

1. Whenever you are stuck on a problem do not dwell on it, rather think of new possible ways you could approach it.
2. This may include using new and better techniques and methods such as structuring your essay a different way or applying new techniques to an equation you are trying to solve. 

IT IS EASY TO CREATE NEW WIRING 

• Every day our brain creates enormous amounts of new neural maps or connections
• However, there is a difference between a map that is held in our working memory (a thought) and a map that is hardwired in the deeper parts of our brain (a habit)
• In order to hardwire a new behaviour, you need to give it enough attention over a period of time so that a habit is formed.
• The less effective paths or habits you are not using will slowly become less connected over time. 

1. Reattempt & Resubmit! The more you submit your work for similar style questions throughout the year, the more likely you are to hard wire the information.
2. Make effective study techniques a habit and do them more than the ineffective study techniques – attempting exam style tasks, submitting a practice essay, completing multiple choice. 

Find our more about how HSC CoWorks can support your child with Exam Performance and Essay Writing. Click here.

The post Your Brain’s Influence On Study Habits and Exam Performance appeared first on HSC CoWorks.

1. Syllabus Flashcards — remembering (and understanding) the entirety of the Business Studies syllabus is of vital importance to each student’s success in this subject. For example, if a question asks a student to “Evaluate the responses to operations management to external influences,” the student will be unable to answer the question unless they know both the strategies and influences section of the Operations syllabus by heart.

Flashcards are a good way of memorising these syllabuses because they are easy to make and use. A student may quickly go over their finance syllabus on the bus ride home or in the morning before an assessment.

Other great ways of memorising the Business Studies syllabus is through syllabus mind maps as well as mnemonics e.g. Marketing Processes –> SMEIDI
Situational analysis
Market Research
Establish marketing objectives
Identifying target market(s)
Developing marketing strategies
Implement, monitor and control

2. Exemplar Section 4 Essays for each core section of the syllabus i.e. Processes, Strategies and Influences for all four topics — Section 4 of the business studies exam requires students to write a business report on a case study business. Since there is quite a lot of content to learn for this section but quite a limited scope of questions, I would recommend the student to work on 3 key exemplar essays for each topic (processes, strategies and influences) covering all aspects of the syllabus. The questions in this section tend to focus on just one section of the syllabus e.g. marketing processes or financial management strategies. As such, a student’s exemplar reports can be adapted and moulded to fit the changing nature of some of the questions. For example, in the given example; “Evaluate the responses to operations management to external influences” (HSC 2016) , the student could combine their strategies and influences case study essays to gain maximum marks in this area.

3. Content mind maps with case study examples — In this subject, it is essential that students have case study examples for each element of the syllabus. This is useful for; questions that explicitly ask for a real life example, the section 4 business report, and improving the quality of short answer questions that do not explicitly ask for these case studies. As such, creating these mind maps will help the student to visualise these examples and as such, will be more likely to remember them during an exam or assessment! Be sure to put these up in your bedroom or somewhere you will see them daily as this will allow for maximum benefit from this task.

4. Definitions flashcards — Much of the Business Studies course is littered with key terms and definitions that a student should attempt to memorise. Having a specific, clear definition for each of the key syllabus terms will allow the student to quickly and easily demonstrate their understanding and knowledge to a marker during the SAQs and Business Report sections of the exam. This is especially important for “explain” questions such as “Explain a potential conflict between a short-term and a long-term financial” (HSC 2016) which require the student to link cause (definitions) with effect (outcomes.) Having a set of definitions flashcards may really help students to memorise these definitions to use when answering these types of questions during the exam.

5. Consistently doing practise HSC questions or past papers — The only way for a student to understand how to attack an HSC exam is to regularly do HSC style practise questions as well as exam style tasks. Doing these tasks under exam conditions i.e. closed book and timed, will allow the student to be comfortable with the style and types of questions that will be asked of them during the exam, as well as the experience of sitting a high pressure exam such as trials and the HSC. Whilst these types of tasks are important for all of the core topics, it is especially useful for the Finance topic! This is because without real life examples of types of questions, students often have difficulty putting the concepts like financial ratios and statements into practise. In general, the more practise questions you can do the better!

6.  Google alert for case study business — Putting google alerts on for a student’s case study business will allow them to keep up with the developments of the business as they come to light. The student can then use this information in a business report will really enhance the quality of the students business report come the final exam, and show the marker the breadth of the students knowledge.

The post The Most Effective Study Strategies for Business Studies appeared first on HSC CoWorks.