If you’re in New Zealand you may have heard that our national NCEA qualification is getting a bit of a makeover. But what exactly is changing? And what do you and your teen need to be aware of?

Key Takeaways:

• I don’t expect the changes will drastically change the way your teen experiences school or NCEA, but there are a few things it’s probably good to be aware of.

• I think the most important thing to be aware of is that from now on your teen HAS to attain what NZQA is calling 20 “co-requisite” credits, comprised of 10 Literacy credits, AND 10 Numeracy credits, before they leave school. Without these 20 credits, the NCEA Level they would otherwise have left school with won’t be awarded.

• Your teen can achieve these 20 co-requisite credits at any time during Years 11-13, so if they attain all 20 credits in Year 11, that’s it, they don’t have to worry about them again.

• This means there is a scenario where a student is about to finish high school — they have attained the 60 credits they need from Levels 1, 2, and 3 — but if they haven’t also attained their 20 co-requisite credits, they won’t be awarded any of their NCEA qualifications until they bank those 20 co-requisite credits.

• The Level 1 Achievement Standards have been revised and those new Standards were effective from January 2024, while new Achievement Standards will be introduced for Levels 2 and 3 in 2028 and 2029, respectively.

• Any credits your teen already has are safe and will carry over.

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More Detail

• By way of background, these changes are being made as a result of the NCEA Change Programme, which was set in motion by the previous Labour Government. According to NCEA Education the changes “will be the most significant reform of NCEA since the qualification was introduced in 2002”.

• The changes are significant, because of the mandatory requirement to attain the 20 “co-requisite” credits, and because all of the Achievement Standards (i.e. topics your teen is taught) across Levels 1 - 3 are going to be revised.

• The ‘new’ Level 1 is already in place, effective from January 2024 (but it’s being revised; it appears the rollout wasn’t as slick as it could/should have been). The new Level 2 will be fully implemented by 2028, and the new Level 3 by 2029 (the roll-out of new Levels 2 and 3 has recently been pushed back by two years by the new coalition government).

• All Levels (1, 2 and 3) will become 60-credit qualifications (Level 1 used to require 80 credits, and at Levels 2 and 3 students could ‘carry over’ 20 credits from the level below; that leniency has now ended).

• Importantly, the 20 co-requisite credits for numeracy and literacy sit outside of the 60 credits required at each Level.

So exactly how many credits does your teen need?

• In 2024 and 2025, every Level requires 60 credits, but students also need those 20 “co-requisite” numeracy and literacy credits before they leave school, regardless of when they leave.

• So if your teen is going to leave school at the end of Year 11 or 12 (i.e. with Level 1 or 2, respectively), they’ll need those 20 numeracy and literacy credits before they leave, otherwise they’ll leave with nothing.

If you’re more of a visual learner (like me), hopefully this wee diagram helps:

Other changes over the next few years:

• All NCEA subjects are being “re-developed” so that every subject will be comprised of four achievement standards — two internals and two externals — and 20 credits in total (presumably 5 credits for each Achievement Standard but I’m not sure on that yet).

• This means that when your teen has exams at the end of the year, they will only need to study for two Achievement Standards.

• The NZQA has also warned that while there will still be exams at the end of the year, some external assessments might be completed during the year.

• The Authority has also warned (my choice of word) that more external assessments will be done online or uploaded to NZQA via its website. We’ll watch that space carefully…

My thoughts on all this

As the Herald reported on, the goal of the NCEA Change Programme was to make the NCEA qualification “more accessible, with a simpler structure, stronger literacy and numeracy requirements, and to provide clearer pathways to further education or work”.

My take is that yes that all sounds great; I just hope the politicians and the MoE get it right, because schools, teachers, and most importantly students are relying on them to not make a pigs ear of it, and to provide a curriculum and testing (examination) infrastructure that is academically rigorous while also being manageable and achievable.

I was only the second cohort to go through NCEA and it was pretty mental. Not that I can compare it to anything else personally, but they shoved a lot in. For most subjects we didn’t just have internals throughout the year, we had to blitz through up to FIVE achievement standards in the external exam.

If the term Achievement Standards means nothing to you, I just mean we had to write a shit-tonne in exams. I think it put a lot of pressure on a lot of students, and resulted in an unfair portion of students not getting the results they otherwise deserved.

So I’m glad that the external exams no longer have five achievement standards shoved into them. In my view it is (or should be) achievable for the vast majority of students to get through two Achievement Standards in an external exam setting.

However, I am a little concerned that we might see a continued lowering of expectations of student achievement. Students will only meet the expectations set of them and nothing more, and I expect there is / will be a portion of students who can pretty much ‘cruise’ through NCEA, at least until Year 13.

I’m basing this on the changes to NCEA over the years and what I hear from teacher friends. I’m not sure that NCEA satisfactorily prepares students for university or the workforce where deadlines are actually deadlines and there’s usually no one around to hold your hand. But that’s just my own speculation…

Overall, the changes do sound like they will make the structure of NCEA simpler which is great. And in theory I am all for students having to reach a certain level of Numeracy and Literacy before they leave school, given their primal importance in being a functioning adult.

But the question then of course becomes, how.

As the Herald reported on, Papatoetoe High School Principal Vaughan Couillault said the challenge of the 20 co-requisite credits is:

“… how we can make sure students reach the required standard through whatever pathway they’re using, whether actually the common assessment task — the exam for want of a better phrase — or the standards pathway, the alternate route … That’s cause for concern in many communities.”

I guess for now, we will just have to wait and see.

For more info on the NCEA Change Programme all of the details are set out here: https://ncea.education.govt.nz/literacy-and-numeracy-resources

Thanks and happy Friday,

Clare

Sources:

Sources: NCEA Education: https://ncea.education.govt.nz/understanding-how-ncea-requirements-are-changing

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/government-rephase-ncea-change-programme

https://www2.nzqa.govt.nz/ncea/about-ncea/ncea-changes-for-2024-and-2025/

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/ncea-change-programme-education-minister-erica-stanford-announces-delay-to-qualification-reforms/B4TCQTSQDVCQ3JAVP5MJMM5KGU/

https://ncea.education.govt.nz/what-ncea-change-programme

I just wanted to share my thoughts on the future of Cram Lab’s Substack, and get your thoughts on what would be most helpful for you and your teen.

Here’s my thoughts where my Substack is at:

• I have written about every aspect of studying for over 10 years, and I feel that continuing to write about mostly study ‘tips’ is actually not all that helpful. You can already search through the Archive and find my advice on any aspect of high school study and exams.

• You are a busy parent and not the one that needs study advice; your teen does. I imagine that reading about Maths study is not what you most desire to do on a Sunday night.

• There clearly is a need to support parents support their teens through high school and the turmoil of studying and exams, but I don’t think me endlessly pouring out study tips is the most useful thing. I can only write about how to write a good essay so many times.

So… time for a new direction?

• In light of the points above, I’m thinking it’s time for this Substack to change direction. Cramlab.org will still be there to provide study help for your teen (particularly my Exam Study Survival Kit course and tutoring service), but I no longer think Substack is the place for repetitive study advice.

• People come to Substack for valuable information that isn’t readily available elsewhere on the net, and I think you would be better served with current information about school and exams; sort of a link between the chaos of what’s happening in our education system and how it affects your teen.

• For instance, the changes to NCEA this year — do you know what they are and what they mean for your kid? Or the phone ban that’s kicking in this Term — what’s the deal and what’s the best way for your family to navigate it? Also online exams — some schools have started trialing them and it’s probably a matter of time before every school holds some exams online — what does that mean for your teen?

These are the types of topics I’m keen to explore. I want to know — how does that sound to you? More helpful? Less helpful?

I’m telling you and asking you this because my Substack is small, which makes it hard to get a lot of feedback. In saying that, I know that there are thousands of struggling high school students and parents out there, so I’m determined to figure out how I can be of most help.

I really appreciate you taking the time to read, and thanks so much for subscribing. I’ll look forward to hearing what you think in the comments, or you can email me clare@cramlab.org

Thank you,

Clare x

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P.S. I took the kids to Dunedin last weekend to visit my Auntie and she took us to Orokonui Eco-sanctuary; saw Kākā, Takahe and a South Island Robin; amazing.

Somehow it’s March already, and that means it’s Maths Month at Cram Lab. The goal this month is to help your teen get a system in place to make Maths a lot less awful for them (assuming that is the case currently).

Maths gets such a bad wrap at high school, but is this deserved? Why is detested by so many?

I have two theories.

The first being, it’s hard for teenagers to see the point in Maths, particularly once they hit the senior levels. I think there’s a fair argument that senior Maths is not necessary for every student. Unless you want to study Engineering, Physics or Mathematics at uni, complex algebra does not make much of an appearance in the workplace for the rest of us.

In saying that, a strong foundation in Maths is — IMHO — essential for passing on what is really an essential part of understanding the world around us. We probably take for granted how much we rely on numbers to understand and measure literally everything.

But anywho, it’s the second theory that is important for the purposes of this post.

A ‘Build-On’ Subject

I think the second reason why so many high school students struggle with Maths, is because it’s what I call a ‘build-on’ subject.

Maths is a subject that builds upon itself as each topic progresses.

The beginning of the school year starts off okay. Simple equations. Nothing too scary.

And then before you know it, if you haven’t kept up, the teacher is writing what looks like an alien language on the board. WHAT DO THOSE SYMBOLS EVEN MEAN?!!!

If your teen falls behind in Maths, they’re not going to have a clue what’s going on as the problems get harder. If they don’t get the first step, they’re definitely not going to get the second step.

And if that trend carries on, by the time exams roll around, they will have to teach themselves the content before they can even get stuck in to actually studying. That’s a nightmare situation for a teenager facing exams.

This is the conundrum many students find themselves in when they haven’t kept up in class.

Keeping up in class

And that is the key. Keeping up with with the teacher, and following along with the rest of the class.

It sounds so mundane to say — that all your teen needs to do is ‘keep up’. But a lot of teens don’t, so it’s really important that we spell it out for them.

I totally get the temptation for teenagers to check out during Maths class. I’m never going to need this this is dumb what’s the point.

And we could debate the utility of high school Maths for hours, but my job is to make studying easier for your teen. And the thing that’s going to make Maths easier for them, is keeping up with what’s going on in class as best they can.

This is going to make studying so much easier for future them.

How much study does your teen need to do?

I also have some good news.

A little bit of consistency goes an extremely long way. So unless your teen has some major issues with Maths, I wouldn’t expect them to do more than 15-30 minutes of practice questions after school.

If they get stuck, they should talk to their teacher about it at school the next day, and / or turn to Khan Academy or other Maths resource for help and practice.

This is the best way to stay on top of things while avoiding nervous / stress breakdowns.

I have seen soooo many teenagers struggle through Maths unnecessarily (including one who didn’t know their 2x table *crying*).

But I am actually a fan of Maths, because I love how objective it is. The answer is either right or wrong. There’s no guessing. You either know how to solve the problem or you don’t.

I think this is a massive plus for your teen, because it removes any guess work about how to get good results. The only way to turn up to the exam feeling confident is to have banked a lot of practice questions.

Even if your teen is in the I hate Maths camp, I absolutely believe they can at least pass (and go further if they put in the effort) if they show up to class with their brain turned on, and do little bits of study frequently.

They don’t need to be an Einstein; they don’t need to study for hours on end.

They just need to build some better habits, and they’ll soon start to see that Maths doesn’t need to be the hated subject that it so often is.

As always thanks for reading, and here’s to better studying.

Clare x

Does this resonate? Is your teen struggling with Maths? Are they getting lost and falling behind? Let’s talk it out in the comments.

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P.S. If your teen needs more help with Maths, all of Cram Lab’s Maths-related posts are conveniently located all in one place here:

If your teen is suffering from a serious or even complete lack of motivation, I’m here to help them find some.

Having a source of motivation from within is essential for being able to stay on top of school work, start assignments and exam study on time, and for having the stamina to get through exams.

So the goal this month — Motivation Month here at Cram Lab — is to help your teen find their source of motivation. What’s going to get their coal fires burning? What’s going to push them along through what might feel like an endless sea of study and exams?

But let’s hold our horses, because firstly, we need to stop and ask — WHY is your teen unmotivated?

Because in order to find lasting motivation, we have to treat the cause of your teen’s motivation-itis; not just the symptoms.

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What are the most common symptoms of teenage motivation-itis?

Here are the common culprits of teenage motivation-itis:

• No post high school plan: They don’t know what they want to do when they leave school — ergo — what’s the point?

• They don’t know where to start — this can lead to feeling overwhelmed which is almost always lethal to motivation.

• Don’t know how to study: They don’t know how to study in a way that will actually get good results — this means they don’t have any certainty that the study they do will work.

Oftentimes teenagers suffer from all three of these causal factors at the same time!

It’s really important that you and your teen put aside some time to think about what the cause(s) of their motivation-itis is.

And now comes the good news; once you know WHY your teen doesn’t have the motivation they so desperately need, we can do something about it.

Fixing motivation-itis

Let’s go through the common causes of motivation-itis highlighted above and what you can do about them.

• No post high school plan: If this describes your teen, I would work on helping them think about their future. Whether it’s uni, work, a trade, or a gap year, getting decent results is going to help them, but they are the ones who have to realise this.

• They don’t know where to start: If your teen doesn’t know where to start, you can help them make a plan. I would start by making a plan for an ordinary school week. Set aside some time (it doesn’t need to be hours and hours) to complete homework, keep on top of assignments, and do a bit of study here and there to make sure they’re keeping on top of what’s happening in class (this is going to make exam study a million times easier).

• Don’t know how to study: If your teen doesn’t know how to study effectively for their exams, now’s the time to learn. You can start by going through my free Study System Starter Kit Printouts which you can download from this page over at cramlab.org.

  

• You can also share my free Learning Styles Quiz with them so they can find out what study techniques are more likely to work for them. If your teen does those two things, in less than an hour they will be well on their way to figuring out how to study in a way that works for them.

I’ve never met a teen that can’t be motivated to study or at least try harder and do better at school once they better understand what’s holding them back, and once they have some kind of study plan in place.

Being a motivated student shouldn’t be the sole domain of ‘top’ students. There are many different reasons to be motivated about doing well at school. The trick is, your teen needs to find their own reasons, not yours and not someone else’s.

So, how is your teen going in the motivation department? Are they struggling to study consistently? Do they know what’s holding them back? What’s going to get their coal fires burning? Let’s talk it out in the comments.

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Thanks so much for reading,

Clare x

I have already written quite a lot about motivation — you can have a squiz at all of my previous posts on motivation & organisation here.

But because soooooo many teens struggle with motivation, this month I want to give your teen the practical tools they need to find their study motivation, and hang on to it for dear life.

The good news is, motivation isn’t actually something you either have or don’t have. There are tools and habits your teen can use and develop that will help drive them towards the results they’re actually capable of getting.

To that end, in this post I’ll explain what kind of motivation your teen needs, and how you can help them find it.

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Your teen needs two types of driving motivational forces:

1. Short term drivers

2. Long term drivers

Short Term Drivers

There’s always going to be something else your teen would rather be doing than study. That’s just a fact. It’s something we can all relate to, right?

So in order to overcome the desire to do something else, your teen needs to start developing the habit of re-framing how they feel about studying.

For instance… I don’t feel like studying right now, needs to become…

If I study for an hour now then I can do [whatever else] without the burden of knowing I need to do some study.

If I get through my study timetable for the week then I’ll get to go out with my friends this weekend.

If I smash out this hour of homework then I can do [whatever else] afterwards.

If I get through this homework now then I won’t have to do it later.

If I finish this essay now then I won’t be stressed later.

You get the idea.

I am a big fan of using this little short-term motivational driver all the time, and I used to use it when I was studying.

It’s a really easy way of flipping any negative feelings your teen has about studying into a positive.

Long Term Drivers

The other side of study motivation, is to have at least one long term driver pushing your teen along.

Your teen will find it a LOT easier to find motivation and hang on to it, if they have a why motivator in the background.

I do a good dive into this in my post The Two Biggest Reasons Why Teens Fail At High School.

So the questions I want you and your teen to ponder this month are:

• Why do they want to do well at school?

• What do they want to do when they leave school?

• Even if they don’t want to go to uni, how will getting decent results help them? (i.e. they will still benefit from good results in a job or trade)

This exercise will help put the importance of school into perspective.

It can be hard for teens to see the benefit of knowing what ‘x’ equals in Maths when they’re sitting in class, so it’s important to zoom out and help your teen think about the big picture. And more specifically, their big picture.

This is not to say that your teen will leap off the couch with new found enthusiasm for thinking about their future — I get it — easier said than done in a lot of cases.

But that doesn’t mean there is no point in trying to have these conversations. You never know what little seed might be planted.

How are your teen’s motivational levels? Is it something they’re struggling with at the moment? Have you found anything that helps? Let’s talk it out in the comments.

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Thanks so much for reading,

Clare x

Instagram and other social media platforms love a beautiful desk setup.

Pastel highlighters, plants, floating shelves. But is this what organisation has to look like?

Really. Not.

Organisation does not equal aesthetic.

Being organised is about having systems in place.

And the systems your teen needs to put in place in order to get themselves organised and stay organised throughout the year, are really quite simple.

For Organisation Month here at Cram Lab, I have set out my favourite organisation hacks and techniques the last few weeks, but I also want to try and provide some comfort to you and your teen that students who get good results are NOT doing anything particularly special, and getting organised does NOT need to feel as daunting as it might.

To make things really simple for your teen, we can put organisation into two categories: Place Management and Time Management.

Let’s take a look at each one.

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Place Management

Your teen’s desk and study space does not need to be instagram-worthy, but there will be a point at which acceptable messiness tips into disorganisation.

And the problem with a disorganised study space is that it hinders productivity.

Studying is hard enough on teenagers without them having to battle against their own physical space.

Where’s my class notes? Where’s my computer cable? Where’s the assignment instructions?

That’s a recipe for being demoralised and put off before they’ve even started actually studying.

So keeping on top of the bedroom / study space mess isn’t important for aesthetics; it’s important so that your teen can get on with the job of actually keeping on top of school work and, when the time comes, studying for exams.

But the good news is, your teen does not need to do anything complex or time consuming to get and stay organised. The tips I’ve talked about this month — having a place for everything — using one exercise book per subject etc — is truly all they need to do.

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Time Management

A lot of teens think of the study they have to get through like a never ending dark cloud — one without holes to let the sun shine through.

But effective and efficient studying does NOT require your teen to study 24/7, even when exams are close.

The difference between a student who does get good results and one who, unfortunately, doesn’t reach their academic potential, is that the former actively manages their time.

Studying is not something they do just when they ‘feel’ like it, and it’s not something they leave until the last minute the week before the exams.

The ‘good’ student knows they’re playing a long term game, and one which requires small but regular time investments.

Studying time is allocated in advance. It’s baked into their normal schedule, and ramped up come exam time.

This is why I recommend that all teens make two timetables:

• 1 regular timetable for their normal school week — one that has all of their other commitments and activities, but also makes time (maybe a few one hour slots, it doesn’t need to be heaps) for homework and a bit of study to keep up with what’s going on in class (more details on how and why to make this timetable in this post)

• An Exam Study Timetable before they start their exam study (more details on how and why in this post)

There is huge power in a good ol’ timetable. There’s something about planning out your time in advance that makes us a zillion times more likely to get the things done that we need to.

A timetable will help keep your teen accountable.

It also has the fantastic side benefit of helping to keep stress levels down.

I used to find it so reassuring to actually see my plan mapped out. It was such a relief to have a plan in place, and know that if I stuck to it then I’d make it to the finish line.

So again — just as for Place Management — the keys to successful Time Management, are not complex.

Simple time management techniques are all your teen needs for study success.

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How’s your teen going at the moment? Are they ready to head back to school? If they have gone back, how are they going? What are they looking forward to / not looking forward to this year, as far as school goes?

Let’s talk it out in the comments.

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Thanks so much for reading.

Clare x

In case you missed last week’s post, January is Organisation Month at Cram Lab.

We’re starting the year on a more organised foot to make school and studying that much easier for your teen.

That’s what Cram Lab is all about. Taking the sting out of studying. Helping your teen realise that it doesn’t need to be so hard and stressful.

And it really doesn’t. One thing that I have realised over the years is that none of my study tips are particularly difficult or complex. They are simple, practical and achievable techniques that any student can adopt for themselves.

So here is a quick list of some of my most favourite organisation hacks that helped me get consistently good results which you can share with your teen.

TL;DR: Here’s the very quick list:

1. 1 folder or exercise book for each subject

2. Keep on top of school work

3. Just a little bit of study a few times a week

4. Don’t just put stuff down, put it away

5. If it takes less than 2 minutes just do it

6. Start with worst task and get it out of the way

Here’s the fuller run-down..

One folder or exercise book for each subject

Despite being in the digital hellscape age of Tik Tok, I — as I’m sure you are too — am still a huge fan of actually writing stuff.

Class notes, study notes, diagrams — there is something so effective about putting pen to paper to help us understand and remember stuff that typing simply cannot replicate.

Plus your teen presumably sometimes gets given bits of paper they need to keep hold of.

They will make life much easier for themselves if they keep all of their notes and printouts for each subject in one exercise book. No more hunting for lost pits of paper. No more random notes in different places. Everything safely in once place.

Keep on top of school work

When the time for exam study arrives, it’s time to for your teen to develop a comprehensive understanding of what they’ve learnt at school.

It is NOT the time to be teaching themselves what they should know already.

During the year, too many teens make the mistake of thinking they don’t need to pay too much attention to what’s going on in class because they will have time to ‘catch up’ later on. Unfortunately not.

The best thing they can do for their understanding, their results, and their stress levels, is to do little bits of study consistently throughout the year.

It could be that all your teen does is keep on top of their homework. That’s a million times better than nothing. This will allow them to keep up with what’s going on class, stop them from falling behind, and allow them to put their exam study time to productive use.

Just a little bit of study a few times a week

Following on from the previous point, if your teen wants to arrive at their exam study on the front foot, setting aside just a little bit of time each week to going over their class notes and doing a few practice problems will pay HUGE dividends when exams come around.

During term time, a small amount of study goes a very long way. Even 30 minutes once or twice a week can help your teen make huge strides.

Those small study sessions will compound over the course of year, and your teen will arrive at their exam study already well-prepared.

Don’t just put stuff down, put it away

This is one of my absolute favourites, not just for studying but for life in general.

Now that I have three kids it is a constant battle to keep on top of mess. You know how it is. So I do my best not to add to it, by putting things away when I am done with them.

Bills, school newsletters, keys, hairbrush, cards — the temptation to dump stuff on the kitchen bench is strong, but if I do that I’ll lose stuff. Not know where important bits of paper are when I need them.

So I tell myself, just put it away now and then it’s done.

I strongly recommend your teen does the same with their stuff, particularly their study stuff. It makes such a difference for keeping your space tidy and organised, and that organised physical space makes your mental space feel way better too.

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If it takes less than 2 minutes just do it

If you have an annoying / boring task that just needs to be done, like tidying something up, cleaning an annoying frying pan, organising your notes for the day, reading the terms of reference of an assignment, then the rule is this:

If it’s going to take you less than 2 minutes, just do it now.

There’s no excuse for not doing a task that will take you less than 2 minutes, and it feels SO GOOD once it’s done. You make mental space for getting on with the rest of your day, without the weight of an annoying task hanging over you. Highly recommend.

Start with worst task and get it out of the way

Okay so these all kind of have a theme — get annoying stuff out of the way and then you can move on guilt free.

This is so true when it comes to studying. It’s awful knowing you have a tough task ahead of you. Maybe it’s maths. Maybe it’s starting an assignment. Maybe it’s starting exam study. Maybe it’s writing an essay.

Whatever the worst thing on your to-do list is, just get it over and done with.

I was a big fan of this when I was in the depths of exam study. A full day of study is a daunting enough thought, but having a horrid task looming over you makes it even worse.

The best thing to do is to get the horrid task out of the way first. It feels so good to get it done, and now you get on with the tasks that you find more enjoyable.

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And that’s it folks. Once again you can see that the techniques that I used to get consistently good results at high school, uni and law school, were not particularly mysterious or complex!

These are simple, practical techniques that any student can utilise. It just takes a bit of practice and discipline until it all becomes second nature.

Can you recall any organisation hacks that helped you at school or uni? Is organisation something your teen is struggling with? Let’s talk it out in the comments.

Thanks so much for reading,

Clare x

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With NCEA exam results starting to come out today in New Zealand, I thought it was timely to send this reminder that no student gets or needs perfect results.

If your teen has received some disappointing results, I’m really sorry. That really sucks. Especially if they did actually study and try hard.

But I’m here to remind them that it’s okay.

No one gets perfect results. Even doctors (I should know I’m married to one) and lawyers (I should know I am one) don’t get perfect results all the time. It’s a myth.

So here is a post I first wrote about in The Study Gurus days about how to help your teen deal with disappointing exam results, and it’s still very relevant today. Maybe even more with all of the pressure that students seem to be under.

As with every cloud, there is a silver lining. You can read it here:

Sending your teen lots of love — here’s to them and their bright future.

Thanks so much for reading,

Clare x

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Hey everyone,

I’m going to try something new this year and focus on a different key element of studying each month.

This way, we can develop your teen’s Study System over the course of the year, and have them as ready as possible for their exams later on.

First up is Organisation.

Getting organised seems like a logical place to start in January. Getting organised makes the rest of studying so much more efficient and less stressful.

To kick things off here are 5 tips, resources and previous posts you can share with your teen to help them get super duper organised this year.

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1. Help Your Teen Make a Weekly Timetable

If studying / homework isn’t planned in advance, it’s much less likely to happen.

If your teen is struggling to get motivated, to get started, and generally feels overwhelmed by doing homework and making a start on studying, I cannot overstate the benefits of a simple weekly timetable.

All it needs to do is allocate a few hours a week to completing homework, assignments, and enough study to keep on top of what’s going on at school.

I think a lot of teens feel like they need to study for hours and hours to get good results, which feels overwhelming so they don’t even try.

But that’s not the case.

Studying is like that Atomic Habits concept — small amounts of effort over the course of the year compound to achieve great results.

And when studying is planned for in advance, it makes your teen more accountable, and therefore more likely to actually do it.

2. Make sure they have a system for taking notes in class

Keeping on top of what’s going on in class is KEY for making studying for exams a million times easier.

Whereas if your teen starts their exam study later on in the year on the back foot, they have to spend time teaching themselves everything before they can even start getting stuck in to proper exam study. That is a nightmare situation.

My favourite options for taking notes in class are:

• A good ol’ exercise book and a pen. There’s something so powerful about the kinaesthetic process of writing that seems to help form stronger connections about what we’re learning than typing on a laptop or tablet. Plus writing notes in an exercise book keeps everything nice and safe in once place.

• For PC users, OneNote makes it very easy to keep well organised notes. I used it all through law school. Evernote is great for Mac and PC users. Whatever note-taking software your teen ends up using, the key is that they organise their notes within the program in such a way that makes them easy to navigate once exam study rolls around.

• Sometimes, not taking many notes at all. If your teen is trying to write down everything their teachers say verbatim, they’re probably not listening and not trying to actually understand what’s being taught. It can be better to just sit and listen, and take a few notes to summarise the lesson that can be referred to later when your teen goes over what happened in class.

3. Mark important dates in the calendar now

Exams have a nasty habit of sneaking up on a lot of teens. Planning is a skill that most of us don’t get sorted until adulthood, and yet we’re surprised and frustrated when teenagers don’t stick to a schedule.

But you can help your teen by gently reminding them when their mock exams and real exams are. When your teen should start studying for exams depends on how prepared (or not) they are, but as a rule of thumb teens should be at least thinking about studying about six weeks out from exams, especially for senior exams.

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4. Have a look at my previous posts about organisation

Click on the box below for for all of my previous posts about organisation in one place. There is an absolute GOLD MINE of info in there, so I strongly recommend you take a moment to have a look at the ones that are most relevant to your teen’s organisation woes.

5. Wield the power of incentives

Incentives can be a very powerful organisation tool and motivator.

Some teens benefit from having something to look forward to at the weekend as a reward for putting in the effort during the week. It could be going to a movie, making a dessert of their choosing on Saturday night, or just chilling out and doing nothing for a bit.

Long-term incentives are important too. What’s the big picture for your teen? What are they looking forward to after high school? Not necessarily easily answered but important to think about all the same…

Whatever it is, the important thing about incentives is making sure they are based on the effort put in, rather than a result. Your teen cannot fully control what grades and results they get, but they can control whether or not they stick to their weekly study schedule.

So, to chew over with your teen this week — what type of incentives would help them stay organised and motivated?

Is organisation one of your teen’s study downfalls? What in particular do they struggle with? Let’s talk it out in the comments.

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Thanks so much for reading.

Clare x

TL;DR — To make sure your teen gets the results they’re actually capable of this year I’ve got a brand new Printout for your teen’s bedroom wall.

It’s going to guide them through the 3 fundamental phases of exam study, and keep them on track when they’re feeling stuck or overwhelmed.

Click the button below to download this Printout and share it with your teen

Download Printout

The button will take you to cramlab.org/free-downloads — it’s the first one on the page.

Even if your teen doesn’t have exams for ages, you can help them start 2024 on the right foot. It’s never too early to have a plan for how your teen is going to get the results they’re actually capable of this year.

Any teen can learn my Study System

What I’ve realised over the 20+ years since I started to develop my own Study System, is that it is just that — a system.

It’s a system with clear methods, benchmarks and goals, which means any student can replicate it.

This of course doesn’t mean that every student who applies the system is going to get straight A’s (or whatever benchmark your country goes by!), but it does mean that every student can approach their exam study with a plan that will provide structure, direction, and focus, and therefore — better results.

I mean that’s why I started Cram Lab (and The Study Gurus in 2011`) — because I couldn’t just sit back and watch as thousands of students fell short of their academic potential not because they were dumb, but because they didn’t have the right study tools.

All that potential wasted. All those opportunities gone.

That’s just too f***’n tragic.

But I do have a study system that I have honed over 3 years of high school exams, 3 years of a science undergrad, 1 year postgrad and 3 years at one of Australia’s top law schools.

So now I consider it my duty to share that system, so any teen can get through their exams without the usual stress, anxiety and disappointment.

I’ve thought about what made my own exam study process so effective at getting consistently good results, and the thing that stands out to me is that it’s incredibly simple.

My 3 Phase Study System

The essential parts of exam study can be boiled down into three steps:

1. Planning

2. Execution

3. Strategising

My brand new Printout is a friendly memory jogger for your teen to remind them of how simple the exam study process is. When they’re feeling stuck or overwhelmed by exams, I want them to remember these three phases, and just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Here’s the link gain to download the Printout for your teen: https://www.cramlab.org/free-downloads

How Does the System Work?

If you want a fuller run down of the three phases, here it is.

1. Planning

It is impossible for any teen to get the results they’re actually capable of unless they have some kind of study plan. Without one, there’s no direction, no focus, no milestones, no results.

In the Planning Phase your teen needs to understand what they need to study. The more specific the plan is the easier it will be to follow and the better prepared your teen will be.

My favourite planning method is to make an Exam Study Timetable.

Your teen can simply follow the instructions and fill in my free template — download the PDF from cramlab.org/free-downloads. And this post takes a more detailed look at all of the amazing benefits of using an Exam Study Timetable.

The other thing I like to do in the Planning Phase is make Subject Maps. These bad boys pay huge dividends on a little time investment up front. Again, you can grab a free template for your teen over at cramlab.org/free-downloads.

2. Execute the Plan

Then it’s time to execute the plan.

This is the part where your teen needs to do the showing up. The Study System is simple, but there are no short-cuts for the fact that the more study your teen does, the better their results will be.

The execution phase of exam study should take up the bulk of your teen’s study time, because it’s during this phase that your teen needs to absorb, process, and retain all of the information they need to stuff into their brain.

Your teen needs to wrap their heads around everything they need to know for their exams, particularly the key topics.

The types of study techniques your teen might put to use could include some or all of the following:

• Making study notes

• Looking at past exams

• Answering practice questions

• Using online tools like Khan Academy and Quizlet

• Writing practice essays

3. Strategising

Sitting an exam well is a game, and playing a game well requires a strategy.

The thing that makes sitting an exam a game is time-pressure. Your teen has only a brief amount of time to answer a lot of questions. This means they have to use their precious time as wisely as possible.

My favourite study technique for making sure I used my exam time as efficiently as possible was to make an Exam Strategy.

It only took a couple of minutes to make but became an integral part of how I achieved consistently strong results.

Even better, an Exam Strategy is inanely simple.

All your teen needs to do is think about (and even better, write down) how much time will they spend on each question / section to ensure they finish the exam and scoop up as many marks as possible (e.g. 2 minutes per question? 30 minutes per section? It depends on the exam).

Using precious exam time wisely also requires a targeted approach to studying, especially in the week leading up to an exam. The majority of marks are going to come from what I call high yield topics — the big juicy topics your teen has spent the most time on at school.

It’s better to understand and be able to demonstrate they know those topics really well, rather than have a half-baked understanding of everything.

If the exam is fast approaching and your teen is running out of time, it’s too late to know absolutely everything, and they don’t need to know everything to get a good result. Remember, sitting exams is a game.

Once again, to download this brand new Printout for your teen head to https://www.cramlab.org/free-downloads — it’s the first one on the page .

Does your teen have exams coming up in the next few months? What are they most worried about? What’s likely to be their biggest study hurdle? Let’s talk it out in the comments.

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Thanks for being here,

Clare x

P.S. If you know any other parents who would like to give this resource to their teen, then please share this post far and wide:

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P.P.S. My online Exam Study Survival Kit course is the fleshed out version of these 3 steps, so if you want to give your teen the detailed version of my exam study process, they can follow along with me and learn all of my study strategies for themselves. Find out more at www.cramlab.org/exam-study-survival-kit-1

Before I get into my ‘state of the union’, can I please say… thank you.

Thank you so much for subscribing to Cram Lab. I truly appreciate the space you make for me in your Inbox.

It’s been a joy and a privilege to help families and teens all over the world this year.

This has been Cram Lab’s first full year, and it’s pumped out 33 new Substack posts, 1 new online course, launched 1:1 Help via an online booking system, and has readers from New Zealand, the United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, South Africa, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Indonesia and Japan!

I have all the feels.

So I’m raising my glass to all of you amazing parents who are doing whatever you need to do to help your teen get the results they’re capable of.

The Social Media Crisis

I’m afraid I’m not sticking with the high fives all round vibe for long…

With the sun of 2024 peaking over the horizon, I’m thinking about what the future holds for the teenagers of 2024.

And I gotta say, I’m finding it hard not to be scared for them.

The hold that devices and social media have over the attention of teenagers — and I know I don’t need to tell you this — is gargantuan.

Different polls and studies come out with different numbers, but on average, apparently tweens and teens spend between 3 and 9 (?!!!) hours per DAY on media apps.

I mean, that makes my jaw drop like a Looney Tunes character.

There’s no doubt about it, we are in the midst of a crisis. Teenagers today are the unfortunate guinea pigs of the unintended and un-thought-through social media experiment.

So more than ever before, it is essential that teenagers have study systems in place to help combat against all of the forces conspiring to keep them distracted and off-task.

The Solution

The answer to study stress, study disorganisation, study woes, and could-definitely-be-better results, is to approach studying in a systematic fashion.

The key to getting consistently good (or at least better) results, is to implement systems for getting organised, staying motivated, and making sure you’re studying all of the key topics of a subject in a way that enables you to absorb, process, retain and recall everything you need to know.

That is what good students do.

And they apply that overall system — or Study System as I call it — every time they have to study and prepare for exams.

In other words, getting the results you’re actually capable of doesn’t happen by chance. It happens because good students approach studying in a purposeful and systematic manner.

The good news is, effective and systematic studying is not complex. I can say this because I have sat a bazillion exams and I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary.

I followed a simple process each time I had exams. The hard part was turning up each day. Exam study is grind, no two ways about it.

But it’s not complicated and good results should be a possibility for everyone. They just need the study know-how to get there.

So in 2024 it will be my mission to help your teen get THEIR Study System in order.

Keep your eyes peeled for a lot more help and resources in 2024.

It’s gonna be a big year and I am ready for it.

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Before You Go — I Need Your Help

Thank you again for joining me this year, I sincerely appreciate it and can’t wait to help your teen get the results they’re capable of in 2024.

But before we wrap up 2023 — I need 1 minute of your time. I want to provide the help you actually need / want, so I would really appreciate hearing what kind of help you want to get more of in 2024. It could be:

• More written posts with practical study tips?

• More videos? These seem to be popular…

• More podcasts / audio recordings?

• More resources like printouts to share with your teen?

• More help on particular aspects of studying? Like stress? Essay writing? Exam prep? How to focus? How to get motivated? Organised?

Let me know in the comments! Or you can email me clare@cramlab.org, or message me on Instagram or Messenger.

Meri Kirihimete, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays. See you in 2024.

With love,

Clare x

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Post Preface: While this post is prompted by NZ’s recent election, it’s relevant to any parent whose teen appears to be surgically attached to their phone.

New Zealand is likely to follow a host of other jurisdictions, including the UK, Spain, Belgium, Ontario, France, Italy, Finland and the Netherlands, and ban phones in schools.

The details of any policy are not yet known, with the government only officially forming a coalition 11 days ago, but I’d say Kiwi teens and parents — and many families the world over — need to mentally prepare for some kind of big change when it comes to taking phones to school.

Whether you’re for or against the policy, I want to get away from the political noise around the issue, and bring it back to what matters, our kids.

How can we support them through the change of having no or limited access to their phone at school?

The Benefits

Assuming some kind of change is inevitable, I think we may as well view any ban or limitation on the use of smartphones in schools as a positive thing.

One of the most common themes in questions I am asked by parents is, how do I help my teen focus?!

And let’s be real, the phone is public enemy number 1 when it comes to distracting teens from what they should be focusing on in class.

The anecdotes from my teacher friends are, not to sound alarmist but… alarming.

Kids not putting their phones away even when asked multiple times, using their phone (and device) to access ChatGPT to write something they should be writing themselves, and unbelievably, all of the pushback from (some) parents when phones are confiscated.

And the smartphone is not like the distractions of our own youth — a smartphone is a casino pokie machine in your teen’s hand — every aspect of the social media apps on it are designed to steal away attention and focus for as long as possible.

But don’t take my second hand anecdotes’ word for it. In October this year the United Nations, yes THE UN, confirmed what we essentially already know — that unrestricted smartphone use in the classroom sucks for everyone.

Get ready to be shocked in absolutely no way shape or form — one of the Key Findings of the 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report by UNESCO (the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is that (from page 3):

[E]education technology… can have detrimental impact if inappropriate or excessive”, and that “[m]ere proximity to a mobile device was found to distract students and to have a negative impact on learning.

In summarising an enormous volume of research conducted across numerous countries and thousands of students, one of the Report’s warnings is that used in excess, smartphones (and computers) in education negate the benefits they could otherwise bring, particularly when used without the guidance of a teacher [pages 83-84].

Wow. What a *shocking* plot twist…

I’m not having a go at the Report. It’s incredibly important to understand what the research and facts actually tell us about how technology is impacting our kids and their learning, but also, we all knew this, right??

Everyone, including educators and students themselves have been telling us: phones are a massive problem.

The Report also discusses [on page 5] how the digital environment “increases exposure to key risks:

cybersecurity and violation of privacy through data misuse; the mental and physical health implications of issues including lengthy screen time and cyberbullying; and harmful content, with the potential long-term impact on addictive behaviour, violence and sexual exploitation.

Jeez. Sobering reading.

The Report actually provides a fascinating and detailed snapshot of the state of education across the globe and the impact technology is having, as much as it is possible to measure that impact, and it’s more nuanced than just saying phones are bad.

The Report articulates elegantly that technology does have a place in learning, but for me the Report’s key takeaway is that right now, there is probably an excessive use of phones and devices in the classroom and we haven’t yet figured out what the right balance of digital and analogue learning is.

The Reports findings have led UNESCO to call for smartphones to only be used in school when they clearly support learning.

So basically, except when a device is being used under proper supervision and for a specific and evidence-based pedagogical purpose, phones in the classroom suck.

I don’t think this is a surprise to anyone paying attention.

Your teen playing games on their phone or snapchatting their friend 3 seats away — shockingly — is not going to help their academic achievement.

I’m not saying that the issue is completely black and white — I absolutely appreciate some teachers’ concerns about the difficulty that will ensue when they try to actually enforce any ban rules, and I get that technology does have a place in the classroom, but it needs to be used in a much more structured, intentional way than it currently is.

How You Can Help Your Teen

My thoughts on this are less evidence-based on more, well, thoughts.

But IMHO — I think that teens are actually a lot more resilient and capable of adaptation than we give them credit for, especially when they are provided with the support they need.

So to that end, I think we need to approach the change to phone rules with empathy.

I know it will be hard and feel weird not having access to your phone all the time at school — but I think after a wee while we will all get used to it.

I really do think we will all get used to it.

There will be uproar and many more news articles written about it, but after a few months we will adjust and move on. Humans are actually really good at adapting to change.

And it doesn’t hurt to remember that smartphones have only been part of our lives for the last 10-15 out of 40,000 years.

As part of helping YOUR teen prepare for the change to rules around phone use at school, here are my practical suggestions:

1. Get on the same page as a family

2. Together, come up with a plan for how your teen will manage the new rules

3. For instance, you can discuss strategies for how you might communicate differently during school hours knowing you can’t contact each other during class time

4. You can provide comfort that all of their friends will be in the same boat so they’re not ‘missing out’

5. Even if you’re not thinking it, you can frame it as a positive thing that will make your teen’s life easier — for instance, concentrating more in class at the time of the lesson means future them won’t have as much work to do trying to catch up!

6. And finally, your family can use this as an opportunity to reinstate some important boundaries surrounding phone use in the house. Parents too. We’re all guilty of using our phones too much.

So. Tricky times for teens. Phones, social media, it’s all a bit of a nightmare and through no fault of their own, teens are basically society’s gineau pigs for the experiment that is the Internet.

But let’s be the adults in the room and keep a cool head about us. Banning phones in schools won’t be the last obstacle teens have to overcome when it comes to technology and their learning, so it’s up to us to help them through it as best we can.

But enough from me. What are your thoughts on phones in schools? Is your teen for or against? What’s happening in your country? Let’s talk it out in the comments.

See you there,

Clare x

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P.S. Here is a link to the online version of the UNESCO 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report if you’d like to take a look yourself.

If your teen would rather sit through a sex-ed lecture run by their grandparents than take study advice from you, then may I present the wonder of video.

Share this video link with your teen so they can soak up 10 of my personal favourite exam-study techniques.

This video covers:

1. How to study for different subjects — Maths, English, History, Science — what’s the deal?

2. How to make effective Study Notes

3. Making an Exam Study Timetable

4. Making sure exam study is targeted

5. Using Past Exams — an absolute must

6. Studying productively, i.e. NOT all the time

7. Having a study buddy for getting ‘exam ready’

8. Exam Strategy — flicking through the exam paper before starting

9. What order to answer exam questions

10. Studying in a way that works for YOU

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If you’d like to help and support your teen with the tips, all of the details are set out in the post below. Some of these tips I covered in a post a few weeks ago, but there are new ones too :)

1. Study in accordance with what the subject requires

Maths, Science, English, History — whatever subjects your teen is taking — they each require a different approach to studying.

For Maths, it all boils down to completing as many practice questions as it takes for each type of question becomes easy. Your teen doesn’t have time to sit and ponder how to do something in the exam; they need to recognise the type of problem and crack on with it.

For English and History and other essay-heavy subjects, practice essays are in order. Your teen needs to get comfortable writing essays that actually answer the essay questions and have structure.

The other thing your teen can practice for essay-based subjects is moulding what they know to answer different essay questions.

Science subjects generally require a mixture of exam-study techniques. Practice questions for the maths-like topics (e.g. balancing chemical equations, physics questions), and study notes for wrapping your head around the conceptual parts (e.g. what’s the difference between meiosis and mitosis?).

2. Speaking of study notes, what’s the deal? How do you make good notes?!

In spite of the fact that making study notes is usually the backbone of exam study, I don’t actually have many rules for how your teen should go about making them, because they need to make study notes in a way that works for THEM.

But how can you tell whether your study notes are working for you or not?

In saying that I have no rules, if your teen has so far only been making study notes and studying online, I still think there’s nothing more effective than writing study notes out manually, in your own words, in an exercise book with a pen.

There’s something about the tactile process of putting pen to paper that is so effective for helping students to absorb, process and retain everything they’re trying to stuff into their brain.

3. Make an Exam Study Timetable for the rest of your exam study

It doesn’t matter whether exams are two months away or two days away, it’s never too late to take a moment to think about how you’re going to spend the rest of your study time.

Doing well in exams is, to an extent, a game, and getting good at games requires strategic thinking. Your teen needs to use their time wisely.

This ensures that all of the important topics are covered off.

Extra-curricular activities and breaks should also be scheduled, as well as time to complete at least a couple of past exams.

Scheduling time in this way has the enormous benefit of being an absolute life saver for keeping stress levels down, because a timetable provides the comfort that you do actually have time to get through everything, you just need to stick to it.

4.  For the love of all things sacred, don’t study everything

A targeted approach to exam study is what your teen should aim for.

Whatever that thing their teacher said once a couple of months ago, I don’t care about that.

What I do care about are all of the big meaty juicy topics they have been spending days if not weeks on in class throughout the year. Think photosynthesis, mitosis v meiosis, electrolysis, forces, algebraic equations, balancing chemical equations, the events leading up to WW1 etc.

These are the topics that are very likely to come up in their exams, and be worth the most marks.

5. Please please please look at some past exams

If I was to travel back in time to high school again (I’m good), one of the things I would change about my approach to study would be to do more past exams.

They are just the best. The next best thing after a crystal ball for telling your teen what the exam is likely to be like — what types of questions are likely to come up, how long the exam will probably be, how hard the questions might be.

Even if your teen is behind, IMHO they will be better off carving out time to attempt a couple of past exams in the week before an exam, rather than continuing to stuff information blindly into their brain.

I don’t want your teen to practice answering exam questions for the first time in the exam itself.

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6. Don’t study all the time

Seriously, no one needs to do that. Even straight A students — if they even exist — don’t study all the time.

Your teen should keep going with dance practice, music practice, sports practice, and whatever else they usually have going on.

7. Get a study buddy

This isn’t the generic ‘study with a friend’ advice — this is a specific study technique, and one that I swear by for recall in the exam.

Once your teen thinks they have come to grips with a topic, I highly recommend they have a chat with a friend / classmate also taking that exam, and have a chat about those meaty juicy topics together.

This is incredibly helpful for two things:

1. Making you realise that you don’t actually understand something well enough yet. Best to find this out before the exam.

2. Creating a memory of the two of you discussing how something works that you can recall when you’re in the exam.

I used to do this with my study buddy at uni (now actually my husband, we met in BioSci101 lol), and I distinctly remember being in the exam the next day going omg I know this, we talked about it last night!

Now a couple of tips for when your teen is in the actual exam…

8. Flick through the exam paper FIRST

I said above that exam study is about strategy. Well, so is the exam itself. Big time.

Your teen has a limited time, maybe 2-3 hours, to answer a tonne of questions, and answer them well.

That kind of time pressure requires a strategy to make sure your teen uses that precious time as wisely as possible.

To that end, it’s often a very good idea to flick through (or scroll through as the digital age may determine) the exam paper before answering any questions.

Your teen does not want to be that student who misses the last page of questions (there will be someone). And they don’t want to be surprised by a harder than expected question or surprise essay half way through.

This is a case of forewarned is forearmed.

9. Don’t necessarily answer the questions in the order they appear

That same time pressure in an exam means that your teen does not have time to dwell on hard questions for minutes on end.

Therefore, I strongly suggest that your teen starts to develop the habit in exams of answering the easier questions first and moving on if they get stuck on a hard question.

The achieves two things:

1. It makes sure your teen secures all of the easier marks. Worst case scenario in an exam is running out of time and not even getting to attempt questions that you would have answered easily.

2. It gives your teen’s brain time to ‘warm up’. Sitting an exam is like going for a run — you can feel sludgy at first, but once you push through the adrenaline kicks in and you get into a groove. In an exam, this is called the ‘exam zone’, and once your teen is in that zone they should find they can come back to the harder questions after they’ve answered the easier ones, and give them a good crack.

10. Study in a way that works for YOU

I hate generic study advice, because it assumes that we should all study in the same way.

Well, we don’t! The study techniques that were my favourites might not necessarily work as well for your teen. And they might have tips that I haven’t even heard of, and that’s good!

What I want your teen to focus on in terms of big picture study goals is to figure out how to study in a way that works for THEM.

And that process — that method of studying for exams that is tried and tested to work for your teen — is what I call your Study System.

Developing their Study System will be a case of your teen figuring out what study techniques work for them, and which ones don’t seem to be effective.

These are some of my favourite exam-study techniques, but there’s plenty more out there — what’s been working for your teen? What are they struggling with? What’s the study obstacle holding them back? Let’s talk it in the comments.

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Thanks so much for reading.

Clare

As a parent myself, I know how crazy the juggle is. If only we didn’t need sleep eh?!

On top of working, you’re looking after your family, sorting out dinner, checking emails, and approximately 8 other tasks all at the same time.

But of course you want to do everything you can for your teen. So how can you help them, like really help them, with their school work and exams in a meaningful way and on top of everything else? Particularly when you haven’t answered maths questions for over 25 years…

Well, the good news is, smart and effective study — I swear — is not actually complicated, and there are simple and practical things you can do to help your teen make studying all a little less daunting and painful.

What are your teen’s specific study pain points?

Sometimes teens are unmotivated and / or frustrated about studying because there’s an obstacle in the way, but they don’t actually know what it is.

It could be a particular topic they’re struggling with.

It could be that they don’t know where to start with studying (in which case, I point you towards the Study System page over at cramlab.org).

Maybe they need a little bit of tutoring to get on top of a subject?

It could be that they’re not sure where it’s all leading to and therefore what’s the point — what’s their post high school plan? They don’t necessarily need a plan, even just thinking about what they might do could be enough to shine a light at the end of the study tunnel.

We can’t expect teenagers to have all the answers about where they’re going wrong and what’s holding them back.

They still need support and guidance. Heck — don’t we all still need help and support to work through problems?!

It could be just one conversation that digs a little deeper into what your teen is finding challenging that makes all the difference.

Be that reassuring voice of wisdom

Of course I think that school is important, but I think it’s counterproductive when teens get so worried and stressed about exams and grades that they fall into a very early existential crisis.

You can reassure your teen that while yes, exams are important:

• they don’t need to get perfect grades to do well. Seriously, I never got perfect grades. No one does. We’re aiming for consistency and progress.

• cliché alert but it’s true — things have a way of working themselves out — high school is a very short period of life, and a few less-than-ideal grades along the way, in the grand scheme of things, is not going to affect your teen’s life.

All your teen can do is put their best foot forward. They can’t control the exact grades they end up getting. Perspective can be a very helpful and leveling thing.

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Point them in the direction of useful resources

This is a really great one if your teen is keeping you at arm’s length re schoolwork and exams, and considers anything more than “how are you going?” to constitute nagging.

But by simply referring them to useful resources, not only are you doing something really helpful, you can hardly be accused of nagging in that instance.

To get you started, here are a few of my favourite external study tools and resources:

• Khan Academy: I used to use this many moons ago when I was tutoring Maths, and it’s only gone from strength to strength over the last 10+ years. Absolutely fantastic resource, particularly for Maths and Science, but other subjects too. It is US-centered, but only in that it has sections on SAT prep. Anyone in the world can find the lessons useful.

• GCSE Bitesize: UK-focused but doesn’t matter — great resources for any high school student.

• Quizlet: A really cool ed tech platform that can do lots of cool stuff like help your teen create flash cards, enhance study notes and make practice questions. They have a crazy number of users and it’s clearly a very popular platform for Gen Z’s.

• StudyTimeNZ: NZ-focused but really good study advice from more of a student perspective — very teen friendly but still substantial advice.

Support them to pursue what they’re interested in post high school

The thing that separates almost every teen who is motivated about school and those who, well, aren’t… is having at least some idea of what they’re going to do after school.

It doesn’t need to be a 20 year plan, or even a 5 year plan, but just… something.

Because it doesn’t matter whether it’s going to uni, college, working or taking up a trade, these are all fantastic options, and realistically all require at least some level of high school achievement.

I once tutored a plumber who was at least 10 years older than me because he was struggling with his theory exams. I’m afraid Maths escapes no one!

Help them get organised for productive study

Making study timetables, Subject Maps, knowing when assignments are due and exams start. These are the types of organisational tasks that a lot of teens struggle with and where you can provide invaluable support.

For most of us, organisation is a learnt skill, and it’s not realistic for us to expect teenagers to run their study plan like a military operation.

I hope these practical pointers will help you help your teen. Of course there’s nothing ‘easy’ about motivating an unmotivated teen, but I hope it’s reassuring that the things you can do to help are not themselves complex.

And that’s partly because effective study does not need to be complex.

Effective study is 90% about having systems in place, a study routine, and just turning up.

I started Cram Lab (and its predecessor over 10 years ago, The Study Gurus) because…

I didn’t want any teen to miss out on the grades they were capable of simply because they didn’t know how to study.

It was so glaringly obvious to me — I was lucky and just kind of naturally ‘got’ how to study, but others, not so lucky…

Sure, school is not everyone’s forte, and going to uni isn’t for everyone, but what about that teen who does want to get better grades, who does want to do well, but is struggling to get any traction at school because they don’t have the study tools they need??

Those are the teens that keep me up at night.

Well, over the past six + months I have been distilling my entire exam study process into 3 simple steps, so that any teen who doesn’t know how to study for exams can follow my top-grade-achieving exam-study process, and learn how to study in a way that is effective for them.

The result is the Exam Study Survival Kit.

It’s an online course made up of 8 teen-friendly easy-to-follow lessons covering the entire exam study process in 3 simple steps:

• Part 1 - Getting Started (finding motivation and getting organised)

• Part 2 - Getting Stuck-In (how to make amazing study notes and get the most out of past exams)

• Part 3 - Final Preparations (all of the things to do (and avoid doing) in the last week before an exam)

For more details about what’s inside and what exactly your teen can learn in the ESSK, head over to cramlab.org/exam-study-survival-kit-1

Go to the ESSK

My Promise

Now, I have zero interest in writing smarmy sales copy. Not my jam.

So instead, I’m just going to say it straight.

I have poured my heart and soul into the Exam Study Survival Kit, and if your teen is struggling to get the grades you know they’re capable of, I genuinely believe that the ESSK could be the answer to their study woes.

And not only will your teen be able to learn my entire exam study process, you will both have access to my study brain 24/7.

If your teen ever gets stuck, confused, has a question, wants to chat through a study issue, all they have to do is send me a message and we’ll sort it out together.

The last thing I want is for you to purchase the ESSK for your teen, only for it to gather digital dust because they don’t know what to do next.

Think of me as your teen’s study helpdesk, available 24/7 :)

If you haven’t watched it yet, here’s my li’l promo video.

Go to the ESSK

If you have any questions about the ESSK, just sing out :)

Thank you for your subscription, it really means a lot.

Clare

P.S. For fellow Kiwis, with NCEA starting this week I know stress levels and anxiety will be high. I hope your teen is going okay. Just sing out if I can help.

P.P.S. My social media pages need some love — you and your teen can follow me on Facebook and Instagram. Your teen may as well soak up some study wisdom while they’re scrolling!

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If you’re down in NZ with me, hopefully you’re all very aware that NCEA starts next week. (Here is a link to the NZQA page with the exam timetable if you need.)

If you’re elsewhere in the world, chances are your teen has exams in the next couple of months as well.

So there’s no escape from exams really, but just a reminder that I am live on Facebook at 8pm NZT each Sunday night to help your teen through the exam hellscape.

Here is the Facebook Event for this coming Sunday.

If you’re in NZ especially, this will be a good opportunity for you and/or your teen to tune in and ask me any questions they have about their exam study and exams, and to hear about my most favourite exam tips.

If you know one or two other parents whose teens also have exams I’d really appreicate you sharing the FB Live Event with them via the button below. Make sure you’re also following Cram Lab on Facebook.

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Exam Study Survival Kit launches Sunday

In other news, for the past 6+ months I have been creating my first study programme.

And now, after more hours than I care to total, I am very excited to be launching the Exam Study Survival Kit this coming Sunday at midday NZT.

As much as I’d love to be able to help every teen on Earth who needs help learning how to study in person, the Internet does have a few upsides…

What is it?

The Exam Study Survival Kit is an online course for teens to learn how to study for exams and get the grades they’re capable of in 3 simple steps:

1. Getting Prepared (finding motivation and getting organised)

2. Getting Stuck-In (how to make amazing study notes and get the most out of past exams)

3. Final Preparations (all of the things to do (and avoid doing) in the last week before an exam)

Spread across 8 teen-friendly lessons, I have distilled my top-grade-achieving exam-study process so any teen who is currently struggling with exam study can follow along with me, while learning how to refine their OWN exam Study System.

Every lesson consists of an easy-to-follow video in which I discuss what are, IMHO, the crucial elements of exam study.

You can also download each lesson as a PDF so your family can share them across your devices and look through them at your own pace, and your teen can go through the lessons at their own pace via a private online link.

More details to come on Sunday. For now I’ll leave you with this short video.

Clare

I mean, what else is there to say. Let’s get straight into it.

1. Make an Exam Study Timetable for the rest of your exam study

It doesn’t matter whether exams are two months away or two days away, it’s never too late to take a moment to think about how you’re going to spend the rest of your study time.

I highly recommend that your teen makes an Exam Study Timetable to schedule out their time in the lead up to exams.

Doing well in exams is, to an extent, a game, and getting good at games requires strategic thinking.

Your teen needs to use their study time wisely. Making an Exam Study Timetable is the way to achieve that.

2. Study in accordance with what the subject requires

Maths, Science, English, History — they each require a different approach to studying.

For Maths, teens need to smash out as many practice questions as it takes for each type of question becomes easy.

For English and History, practice essays are in order, and thinking about how the same points can be moulded to answer different essay questions.

For Science subjects, a mixture of study notes and practice questions.

For my complete guide on how to study for different subjects, check out this free study guide for your teen. I don’t mean to brag, but I will. It’s very good.

3. For the love of god don’t study everything

A targeted approach to exam study is what teens should aim for, not a shotgun.

Ya know that thing their teacher said once a couple of months ago? Yeah, I don’t care about that.

What I do care about are all of the big meaty juicy topics your teen has been spending days if not weeks on in class. Think photosynthesis, mitosis v meiosis, electrolysis, forces, algebraic equations, balancing chemical equations, the events leading up to WW1 etc. These are the topics that are very likely to come up in their exams, and be worth the most marks.

Remember, it’s all about strategy. Your teen needs to spend the vast majority of their time engaged in high yield study. This means key topics, not peripheral topics.

4. Take the time to properly understand something tricky

When you try and fudge your way through an answer in an exam, the examiner can tell.

They understand the topic a lot better than you do, and they can see right through when a student is grasping at straws.

So when your teen is studying, and they hit a bit of a road block — as tempting as it is to be like oh yup I get that, sorta — it’s well worth the time to hit pause, go back and make sure they actually understand the fundamentals.

This will also significantly improve their ability to recall the topic in the exam. When we actually understand a topic well, it’s a million times easier to write about it clearly, particularly when you’re under pressure, which you obviously are in an exam.

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5. Please please please look at some past exams

If I was to travel back in time to high school again (I’m good), one of the things I would change about my approach to study would be to do more past exams.

They are just the best. The next best thing after a crystal ball for telling you what the exam is likely to be like — what types of questions are likely to come up, how long the exam will probably be, how hard the questions might be.

Even if your teen is behind, they will be much better off attempting a couple of past exams rather than continuing to stuff information blindly into their brain.

This is because, not only do past exams provide a window to the future, they give teens an opportunity to practice applying what they know to exam questions, which is actually a completely different skill to just knowing stuff.

I don’t want your teen to practice answering exam questions for the first time in the exam itself.

6. Forget about grades

Your teen can’t actually control what grades they end up getting.

Even a student who does everything right, studies really hard, is gunning for top marks, could end up really disappointed because they didn’t get the grade they were hoping for.

The exam could have been harder than they were expecting. They might have had an ‘off’ day'. It could be a somewhat subjective subject and they were marked harshly.

The only thing your teen can control is how much effort they put in. And 9 times out of 10, when students actually put in the hard yards, they are rewarded.

So for now, let’s not worry about specific grades. Let’s just focus on getting the work done, and the rest will follow.

7. Get a study buddy

Now, crappy study advice says generic stuff like “study with a friend!”.

Okay, but why?

It’s more nuanced than just “study with a friend to help each other”.

Here’s what you do.

Talking over those meaty juicy topics together can be incredibly helpful for two things:

1. Making you realise that you don’t actually understand something well enough…

2. Creating a memory of the two of you discussing how something works that you can recall when you’re in the exam!

I used to do this with my study buddy at uni (now actually my husband, we met in BioSci101 lol), and I distinctly remember being in the exam the next day going omg I know this we talked about it last night!

8. Don’t study all the time

Seriously, no one needs to do that.

Your teen should keep going with dance practice, music practice and whatever else they usually have going on.

Being the dork that I was, I still had music, band and sport practice during exam periods, and they were a very welcome break from my desk.

Having a break from studying is actually good for your study. It frees up space in your brain to shove more information in. And, when you come back to those tricky topics, you’re better able to give them another crack.

9. Hit the heart sink topics first

When your teen sits down to study, I highly recommend that they get into the habit of tackling the subjects / topics that make their heart sink FIRST.

We all know that horrible feeling of dread that hangs over us when we know we have to do something we don’t want to do.

Well when you’re studying, this becomes counterproductive, because it robs us of motivation. And when your teen is studying, they need all the motivation they can get!

Rip off the band-aid and get it done. The momentum you get from the relief of getting it over and done with is fantastic study fuel.

10. Study in a way that works for YOU

I hate generic study advice, because it assumes that we should all study in the same way.

That type of advice is so unhelpful, because actually, your teen’s goal over the course of high school, should be to figure out how to study in a way that works for THEM.

And that process — that method of studying for exams that is tried and tested to work for your teen — is what I call their Study System.

I mean, this gets to the crux of one of the reasons why so many teens bomb out at high school — they’re all treated exactly the same. Read this practice that and then sit this exam even though we’re not going to teach you how to study, and sorry you’re shit out of luck if the traditional school environment doesn’t work for you.

I could rant about this all day, but for the purpose of this post, I’ll keep it simple.

The way that I study might not work the same way for your teen, and there might be study techniques that work for them that don’t for me.

So as is the case for all of my study advice, ultimately it’s a guide for your teen to yes follow, but also to shape, adapt and mould in whatever way works for them.

I want your teen to figure out their Study System, not someone elses.

Your teen doesn’t have to suffer in silence.

If your teen is struggling with any part of studying, I’m only a message away. They can hit me up on Facebook, Instagram, or email (clare@cramlab.org).

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Kia ora Everyone,

I’m getting this out a little later than I had hoped having just peeled myself away from the rugby (!!!) — but hopefully you don’t have plans this evening so you can join me live on Facebook 8pm NZT (GMT+13; Sunday 8am UK time; 6pm AEDT), and every Sunday evening for the next couple of months.

RSVP on Facebook

With exams imminent, you and / or your teen can join me for an indepth discussion about all things exam study.

I don’t want your teen to be sitting at their desk over the coming weeks and months stressing that they don’t know what to do or how to cope — let’s get ahead of our collective exam stress and sort out any study problems right now.

NOW is the time to be sorting out study problems, not in 1-2 months’ time when exams are a week away.

The topics I expect to cover include:

• Answering any questions your teen has about studying and exam prep

• NCEA — what’s the best way to prepare (but this will be helpful to any student anywhere)

• My approach to exam study

• How to make exam study effective

• How to stay motivated

• How to organise your time

• How to approach studying if you’re behind

Here’s the Facebook event link — share it with your teen now if you’d like them to join as well.

It might just be a small thing that can take your teen’s study to the next level, so whatever their study issue might be, I can’t wait for you to join me and help get your teen’s exam study on track.

Your teen is BURSTING with potential, and I want to make sure they have the study skills they need to get the grades they’re actually capable of.

You’re welcome to submit any questions in advance as well.

Hit me up on Messenger, Instagram, or email me clare@cramlab.org.

Okie dokie, see you tonight at 8pm NZT.

Clare

First, an apology. I’m sorry! I have been remiss and way off my weekly-post game the last couple of months.

The reason is because I have been working on my first downloadable study guide, the Exam Study Survival Kit.

I am putting on the finishing touches, and hope to have it all ready by next week.

Thank you for sticking by me without my usual regular posting — I hate not being able to post every week but with three young kids and other work, I’m working on the Exam Study Survival Kit in the evenings and weekends.

I will be sharing more details about the Exam Study Survival Kit very soon (like, later this week), but in the meantime, let’s talk about exams and my offer of recompense.

Exams are…. close

If you’re down in Aotearoa New Zealand with me, NCEA exams start four weeks today. I know. That’s crazy. You can access the official exam timetable here (snippet below). Hopefully your teen has at least started to think about starting their exam study…

And if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, end of year exams aren’t far away either.

Free help on demand

I want to offer up as much help as I can, so for the rest of this year, I’m offering 1 on 1 help free of charge.

It’s the least I can do to say thank you for being one of my earliest subscribers!

It might just be a quick question you have, or you might want to jump on Zoom to nut it out, but whatever it is, from organisation to essay writing, maths, science and exam prep, I have been tutoring and helping teens with their study since 2010, and working 1 on 1 is my favourite part of this hobby, so if your teen is struggling with something, reach out. I’m here to help.

You can contact me anytime — email me clare@cramlab.org, message me on Facebook Messenger, DM me on Instagram, or text me on WhatsApp — +64212256833.

Follow me :)

I have very mixed feelings about social media, but one benefit is that it can make it easier to communicate with you (yay!), so if you haven’t already you can keep up with study tips for your teen on Facebook and Instagram. At the very least it’s a really easy way for me to dripfeed study tips into your teen’s brain!

Getting exam ready

I will be covering exam prep a lot over the next few months as your teens get stuck into their exam study, but to kick off, there are two documents I highly recommend you share with your teen (and help them fill out if they want) if you haven’t already.

#1 - My Subject Map Template

Here’s a previous post on why Subject Maps are such a life-saving exam study tool.

#2 - My Exam Study Timetable Template

Here’s a previous post on the magical powers of using an Exam Study Timetable.

Both are totally free, and you can download both right now over at cramlab.org/free-downloads.

These documents will provide the map and compass your teen needs to guide them through their exam study. They were two of my all time favourite exam study tools.

Thank you

And finally, I want to thank you very much for subscribing — it means so much that you have taken the time to subscribe and let me pop into your Inbox each week (usually!). I know how choosy I am these days about what I subscribe to (Inbox anxiety!!!), so thank you so much.

I hope in return I can help your teen unlock their academic potential and get the grades they’re actually capable of.

Thank you.

Clare

Hi Parents,

This is an audio recording of the blog post, It's Not Too Late: How Your Teen Can Nail Their Exams This Year (link to original blog below).

With end of year exams only 2-3 months away, I wanted to share some really practical study tips that you can do with your teen over the next few months to help them get their study on track.

As always, you can reach me in the comments on Substack, Message me on Facebook, or email me directly at clare@cramlab.org.

Can’t wait to help your teen unlock their potential.

Clare