Homework and study

Homework reinforces work done in class and helps develop independence. As well as regular weekly homework, your child may have assessments such as assignments or projects with due dates.

A key to success is being organised. To avoid night-before meltdowns about incomplete homework, read our homework tips.

Homework tips

These tips are relevant for all students Kindergarten to Year 12.

• Ask your child about their homework, find out what they are learning about and when assignments are due.

• Use our term assessment planner (DOCX 46 KB) to record when assessments and exams are scheduled so you can help your child prepare in advance. Make ‘to-do’ lists to spread out the workload.

• Get into a routine of doing homework at a set time, ideally a little each day.

• Have a set place where the students can do their homework, with the equipment they’ll need – pens and pencils, highlighters, scissors, glue, scrap paper, ruler, calculator, printing paper, computer and internet access, a printer.

• Turn mobiles on ‘aeroplane mode’ or off so there are no disruptions.

• If there’s no set homework, encourage your child to do some reading. For younger children, it’s great for them to read aloud to you. For those older, ask them to tell you about what they have been reading.

• Don’t jump in and give answers, homework is about helping students become independent learners.

• Encourage your child to start assignments as soon as they receive them – this will reduce any night-before stress.

• Your child needs to do their own projects and assignments. There’s no point submitting work done by anyone other than the student. Teachers need to know what students can do independently.

• If your child is having difficulty with their homework, contact their class teacher for help.

Studying

Once your child is in high school, regular study also becomes important. Study time is completely different to doing set homework.

Students in high school should regularly review work covered in class, summarise key ideas and do additional reading and research on topics, as well as practise tasks such as essays and maths problems. There is no one ‘best’ way to study. Students often find different methods and times to study to suit themselves. The key is regular study, not cramming before a test or exam.

Some suggestions for effective study time include:

• no mobile device use – no social media, messaging or calls during study time

• finish any homework for the day before starting study – remember they are separate

• focus on one topic at a time

• highlight class notes or handouts

• prepare summaries in your own words to revise concepts and skills learnt in class

• draw diagrams, mind maps or brainstorms to show the main ideas and links between them

• explain a topic or key concept to someone else

• prepare glossaries of technical language for the topic or course, include examples of appropriate use

• memorise short quotes

• read summaries aloud – you can record yourself and play them back while travelling

• write key concepts on flash cards with an explanation on the back to use for quick recall testing

• read widely about topics being studied – add any new information or quotes to your summary (remember, when you use words or passages from a source such as a book, article or website you must reference them and use quotation marks).

The best study is active study – not just reading pages and pages of notes but creating summaries and lists, drawing mind maps, practising answering questions, teaching someone else about a topic and so on. Active study helps move content from short-term to long-term memory. When reading over notes, try to read them aloud.

Barriers to studying

Hopefully the suggestions above will help your child settle into a good study routine. However, there are three common problems to watch out for:

1. Distractions – mobile devices and internet access are the biggest distractions to study. Make the study area a mobile, TV, gaming and internet free zone (unless during that session they are doing research which requires internet access). Consider downloading a social media lock out app or switching on aeroplane mode during study time to prevent interruptions. Also make sure friends and other family members know not to disturb study time.
2. Procrastination – students often try to avoid subjects they find difficult, irrelevant or bore them. To help your child, first find out why they are procrastinating. Some tips to deal with procrastination include:
   1. ensure they have a set study area with all equipment needed but no mobile devices
   2. break the task down into smaller chunks such as identifying the headings for a summary first through a brainstorm, listing the headings then summarising information for one heading at a time
   3. make a to-do list of tasks they can check off as they finish
   4. monitor their progress and reward each step.
3. Disorganisation – have a set place for study with all the equipment they’ll need and encourage using calendars, to-do lists and a study timetable.

Summaries

Useful summaries are essential for effective study. When summarising, you pick out the most important information and write it in the shortest way possible, using your own words. Summaries are not sentences and paragraphs or just re-writing class notes or chapters from textbooks. The goal is to briefly outline the key facts or important ideas from notes, an article, website, chapter or other learning material.

Summaries are often best handwritten and short. They may include:

• dot points

• headings and sub-headings

• abbreviations and symbols

• diagrams, mind maps or brainstorms

• quotes

• highlighting and annotations

• colour coding – colour can stimulate memory

• using a student’s own version of shorthand.

Because summaries only include the most relevant and important information, they are helpful when studying for assessment tasks and tests.

Exam preparation

When a test or exam is approaching, students who do regular study aren’t as stressed as those who cram at the last minute. Regular study activities may change as an exam approaches. To prepare:

• make summaries of the topics to be assessed

• learn the meaning of keywords used in exam questions

• practise the types of questions that will be in the test or exam

• complete sample tests under examination conditions.

Contact the year adviser if your teen is having trouble with time management or getting organised. Some things that may help are a study timetable or, for more independent and motivated students, a study bank.

• For more tips, visit Tests, exams and essays.

• For past HSC papers, see past HSC exam papers.

For sample past NAPLAN tests, see NAPLAN 2008–2011 test papers.

For more tips and resources to help your child at home, visit Learning potential.