How Do You Get a Teenager to Study?

Posted by: GraemeH on 02 February 2013

Forthcoming exams are "aaages away"..........no they are not!

 

Any hints and tips from those of you who have been down this road?.

 

Thanks. G

 

Posted on: 02 February 2013 by Steve J

Gentle coercion or bribery? 

Posted on: 02 February 2013 by joerand

Sounds like a boy.  Never a problem with my daughter.  Take away the cell phone for awhile.

Posted on: 02 February 2013 by Cbr600

Definitely by sitting down with them and creating a study plan.

Prepare bite size pieces of study, so it's not so scary, and show them how to make notes, so the study is condensed down to a Few pages.

 

That can also be checked to see working to plan.

 

Also useful to have chunks of study that can be done for different time slots. So if they have an hour, this amount of work, if they only have 20 mins, then they can do a Different study piece

Posted on: 02 February 2013 by MDS

Tried both coercion and bribery with all three of mine.  Didn't work. Some kids are natural self-starters. If you've got one of them you're fortunate. Next best thing is if your kid had a friend or two who are and you can encourage a bit of peer pressure.  Competitive spirit can work. At exam age I think many kids crave respect from their peers more than their parents. 

MDS

Posted on: 02 February 2013 by GraemeH

Thanks.  Yes - a boy!.....the study plan talk is set for tomorrow.  It's an uphill battle! G

Posted on: 03 February 2013 by Richard S

If it is GCSE then I wholeheartedly recommend the BBC Bitesize website. There are useful summaries of topics together with self assessment material. As previously suggested, the idea is to chunk everything so nothing feels too overwhelming. 

Posted on: 03 February 2013 by GraemeH
Originally Posted by Richard S:

If it is GCSE then I wholeheartedly recommend the BBC Bitesize website. There are useful summaries of topics together with self assessment material. As previously suggested, the idea is to chunk everything so nothing feels too overwhelming. 

I'm on it, thanks!

Posted on: 03 February 2013 by Steve J

I think you are either lucky or unlucky when it comes to kids and their levels of self discipline with regard to studying. I've been lucky in that my son has always had it in spades and, although in her younger years my daughter felt she couldn't 'compete' with her brainy brother, she really came good at GCSE and A level and is now studying Philosophy at Kings. I'm very proud of both of them. I've never had to really push them to work but just given some gentle direction. I've always impressed on both of them that all I ask is that they do their best and, if they have done their best, they should be proud of their results whatever they achieve. At the beginning of every school year I would sit down and set 'targets' for the coming year with them, sometimes emphasising the importance of certain years. This was not in a prescriptive domineering way but just by way of discussing what was needed to achieve what they wanted to do in the future. I never resorted to 'bribery' like a lot of parents do but I always rewarded their achievements and always showed an interest in what they were/are doing. 

 

It worked for us but won't work as a last minute solution.

 

Steve

Posted on: 03 February 2013 by GraemeH

We have done a great deal to support our kids learning and he's doing fine, but there is a certain complacency particular to teenage boys I think - its a maturity issue.

 

Have just prepared a weekly study plan with him which he's buying in to, so fingers crossed.  G

Posted on: 04 February 2013 by Eloise

Just remember...

 

"You can lead a teenager to the desk... but you can't make them read"

Posted on: 04 February 2013 by Redmires

I have a daughter doing GCSE's this year and we have found past papers to be excellent study guides. It helps to prepare them with the layout of the exams, the way the questions are worded and timing (papers say how long the exam will be). It shows what they already know and forces them to dig into their books if they don't know. The marking schemes are there as well so you can go through the tests with them. This link is for edexcel but a quick google will find AQA or similar. Note: these are from the official site and not cheat sheets etc.

 

http://www.edexcel.com/i-am-a/...ages/pastpapers.aspx

 

Hope this helps.

Posted on: 04 February 2013 by GraemeH

Thanks - we are in Scotland and SQA has similar I've found.  G

Posted on: 04 February 2013 by popeye34

Take em for a trip down the local jobcentre...

Posted on: 04 February 2013 by GraemeH
Originally Posted by popeye34:

Take em for a trip down the local jobcentre...

We have enough ne'er do wells round our City.  Funny - my mother used to try frightening me with 'The Tomato Factory' as my lot in life if I didn't stick-in.

 

Said factory was a Heinz cannery with, apparently, a huge tomato on the roof. It wasn't even in Scotland where I grew up, but the image of it haunted me as a kid.....I wonder if it still exists?! G

Posted on: 04 February 2013 by GerryMcg

Hi Graeme,

 

I had this problem last year in the GCSE year, my son had switched off at school, spent all lessons daydreaming and did minimal homework. we tried every encouragement but to little avail. Eventually when the lessons at school finished he had 6 weeks at home to study and finally it sank in work place beckoned. I was in a position to help him through these 6 weeks and we worked 9-5 every day apart from Saturday.

 

He ended up with 12 GCSE's with 2 A*'s, 4 A grades 2 B's and 2  C's. Oh, and my daughter is a teacher of English and she spent 4 hours a week with him. 

 

I did guide my son in terms of what to study and when and also was able to answer most of his questions. In truth apart from Maths quite difficult and English The other subjects were not that demanding.

 

If short on time the key is to understand what you need to know, look at past papers to identify what you need to revise as many subjects are quite repetitive in terms of questions. The other key thing was that he studied short revision books rather than the full text books. this was enough for GCSE's.

 

By the way, this year, he is a different person, and studies very hard for his AS's. I think in part the fact that he did much better than expected in his GCSE's has boosted his confidence and appetite for learning. 

 

Gerry

 

Posted on: 04 February 2013 by GraemeH

Thanks Gerry, most encouraging.  G

Posted on: 04 February 2013 by GerryMcg

Incidentally the AS exams are a total different kettle of fish, They require extensive work and revision. Friends of my son are dropping subjects frequently. 

 

Cheers

 

Gerry