Getting Exam-Ready: Free Subject Map Template
A free template for your teen to start their exam study the right way.
Your teen’s exams are soon. Cue the panic and fear.
Two of the biggest paralysing thoughts for many teens are, how am I going to get through everything and where do I start?!
Today I am dishing out a brand new free printable to help combat these fears, and help your teen stay on track during their exam study.
An exam prep life-saver
Before I launched into exam study each year I would dedicate about 15-30 minutes to making a really simple document that saved me a TONNE of time and stress over the subsequent weeks — a document I like to call a Subject Map.
A Subject Map is insanely simple, but the benefits are massive.
It’s really just a glorified list of all of the topics and sub-topics your teen needs to get through before exam day.
Oh the benefits
But the breakdown of a subject into manageable chunks like this has amazing benefits:
It provides a roadmap for your teen during their exam study — a document they can follow to make sure they are covering the important topics without getting lost in the weeds.
It removes entirely the motivation-destroying thought of what am I going to study next?
It provides immense reassurance. Keeping all of your study ‘to-do’ list just in your head is a recipe for stress — trying to keep tabs on everything you need to study, what you have studied, what you haven’t covered yet, wondering what you’ve forgotten… It’s a huge relief to get it all down on paper and simply tick topics off as you go.
(This previous post gives a more detailed overview of Subject Maps — worth a read if you are new to the concept.)
Template for your teen
Even though it’s a simple document, making their own from scratch might be something your teen is not all that inclined to do on their own volition (particularly if they are struggling with motivation etc), so I have put together a simple template for them.
» Click here to download your PDF copy now (via cramlab.org)
The first page of the document sets out the basic instructions your teen will need to start making their own, but basically, I suggest that your teen makes a Subject Map for every main topic for every subject they have an upcoming exam in.
By main topic I mean, for instance, let’s say your teen has an exam for Biology, then one of the main topics might be cell biology, and the sub-topics might be photosynthesis, respiration and cell structure.
Fringe benefits
Once made, Subject Maps become omni-useful. Not only do they provide the aforementioned roadmap, your teen can use them to make their Exam Study Timetable (by making sure they are designating time to study each sub-topic in their Subject Maps), and their study notes.
Your teen should also find it very satisfying and motivating to literally tick off each sub-topic as they finish making their notes on that topic.
Good study is simple study
Subject Maps are one of the many study techniques I want to share with your teen that are really incredibly simple.
Getting good grades, or at least the grades you are capable of getting, does not require knowledge of obscure study skills that only Harvard grads possess.
I truly believe that so many high school teens don’t get the grades they are capable of, not because they’re not smart, but because they don’t have the study skills they need to systematically work their way through the mountain of content they need to absorb, process and retain.
Enter the humble Subject Map.
Thanks so much for reading, and please feel free to share the link to the template with anyone and everyone you know who might need a copy.
Clare