Why I really don't care what your teen's study notes look like
What actually matters when it comes to making effective study notes and what doesn't.
Beware the social media
We all know social media can be a misleading place at times. But it’s not just the neutral tones of influencers’ living rooms we have to remind ourselves aren’t real.
During my brief foray into Instagram a couple of years ago I discovered that even studying wasn’t safe from the curated world of social media.
Perfectly arranged desks with calligraphy-styled study notes, pastel palate sticky notes and of course, indoor plants.
I was shocked! Pretty study notes? A tidy desk? What was this place?!
Having grown up in the analogue age, the only person who ever saw my study desk and study notes was me, and I tell ya, they weren’t Instagram-worthy.
My concern is that teens will see these curated images and think, my study notes need to look like that.
I want to reassure your teen that their study notes do not have to be beautiful to be effective.
Embrace the mess
For some teens, a tidy desk and beautifully presented study notes might help the effectiveness of their study, but that is because the tidy setup provides a physical environment that helps them focus.
Some teens might be perfectly capable of studying in a complete mess!
I was somewhere in between.
I don’t have any pictures of my high school study notes to share with you because at the end of each year I would undertake a ceremonial dumping of all of my notes in the bin.
But there’s really no loss there because this is what my study notes looked like: Screeds of paper and notebooks filled with just legible paragraphs, occasionally interspersed with my own simple diagrams.
Because that is what worked for me.
The process of putting pen to paper and writing notes in my own words is what let the information I needed to know make its way into my brain and set up camp.
Your job, and your teen’s job, is to figure out what works for THEM.
Honing the Study System
In my book there are no strong do’s and don’ts when it comes to study notes. The only ‘do’ is to do what works for you.
We all study most effectively in our own unique way, and it’s every student’s job to figure out what study techniques and methods work for them.
This is why I don’t like cookie cutter study advice.
Of course ideas and suggestions can be helpful, but I can’t sit here and type out a step by step of everything your teen should do when they’re studying and preparing for exams.
I can (and do) give them a starting point for developing their Study System, but only they can figure out the nitty gritty of what works for them when they sit down to study.
So if aesthetics don’t really matter when it comes to study notes, what does matter?
Let’s remind ourselves of what does matter when it comes to studying.
What should we care about
Studying effectively is about using study techniques that help you to absorb, process and retain information.
This is what your teen’s study notes need to achieve.
I care about what your teen’s study notes achieve, not what they look like.
Your teen might like writing in bullet points, maybe full sentences, maybe a combination.
They might type some of their notes and hand write other bits. They might draw colourful diagrams to create a memorable visualisation of whatever it is they need to know.
They might use sticky notes and different coloured pens, they might use nothing but a ball point pen.
Their notes might be neat and colour-coordinated, they might be an indecipherable mess.
Either way and everything in between I really do not care. I just want your teen to do what works for them.
Does your teen have upcoming exams? Are they making study notes? Are they making progress or do they feel overwhelmed in not knowing where to start? Let’s talk it out in the comments.
Wishing your teen all the best with their study, especially if they have upcoming exams,
Clare
P.S. Here are a couple of previous posts about making study notes that really work:
P.P.S. If you haven’t already, the place to start with your struggling teen is my Study System page at cramlab.org/study-system. It has 8 free teen-friendly printouts with information about how to start building their Study System. You can download all of them right now.
