How to choose the right study aid

As we mentioned previously, this time of year is when Year 12 students start to really feel the pressure of their upcoming exams. This can not only place a lot of stress on students, but their teachers as well – spending more time helping them to study and revise further constrains their time, which is why study aids are an invaluable tool during this critical period. Finding the right one can strengthen students’ understanding of their subject, while cutting back on the time that teachers spend attending to them.

In order to help you find the best study aid to suit your needs (and those of your students), we’ve compiled a quick checklist of what to look for:

• Number of past exam questions: The most important aspect of a study aid is the number of questions available to students – the more the merrier as they say. The very best aids pull questions or even entire exams from multiple sources but make sure the exams and questions are relevant. Your best bet is to go with curriculum approved (such as VCAA, BOSTES, QCAA) material.
• Questions are split by topic: This point is particularly useful for when a student is struggling with certain concept(s) only. A study aid that splits questions based on a topic level can really help to target problem areas and saves everyone’s time when you don’t have to go hunting for good examples.
• Immediate visibility: Another time-consuming aspect of helping students during this term is marking their work (for study and/or revision) and then keeping track of their progress. An excellent study aid should do a lot of this work for you by allowing instant access to your students’ answers. Bonus points if it allows you to see how your students are doing on an individual concept level as well as holistically.
• Auto-assign capabilities: Assigning work to students will be quicker and easier if your study aid has auto-assign capabilities. While this feature is not necessary, it will certainly make the whole process a lot smoother and helps you set a schedule for your students.
• Flexibility: As with all educational tools and resources, flexibility is an important factor to consider. Students are used to different environments and will excel based on how the work is assigned to them. For example, some students prefer all things digital whereas others may still like to work with pen and paper. Having a study aid that can be used both online and offline will simply mean that students can use it at their leisure in whatever format suits them best. This also prevents any panic that is caused when they can’t access an online resource.

Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments below which study aids you’ve used and how successful they’ve been.