Study Advice for The October Mid-Term Break for Leaving Cert and Junior Cert students
Every year when it comes to the October Mid term break students struggle between using it as a time to study ahead for the upcoming exams or instead using it to recharge hoping the energy they will gain will give them the motivation needed to power through the rest of the year and refresh their brain. Whatever you decided is up to you however let us give you some advice we think will solve this dilemma for you at least to some degree.
Assuming you’ve been doing your homework and paying reasonable attention in class, there’s no reason you can’t rest up and relax, once you take the time to identify and fill in any gaps in your learning since September 1st.
In short, once you’ve been keeping up, yet you really want to power on towards Christmas, the best way to spend this week would be to assign each day a subject – 1-2 subjects per day if you’re a Junior Cert student – and spend the study time you have each day reviewing your learning since September in that subject.
The way to approach your review is to sit down with your textbook(s), exam papers, study guide, notes, etc. and identify the topics you’ve already covered. Ask yourself the following:
1) Did I miss anything through absence? If so, what did I miss and how can I catch up?
2) For all of the topics I did cover, what are my weakest, and how can I develop these into strengths – e.g. source extra notes, complete exam questions, study with a friend, get a grind, etc.?
After reflecting, plan your catch-up. Because of your review, you probably won’t have enough time to catch up completely on every subject, but you can do this as you go along once November comes and you’re back at school; you just need a schedule to follow – perhaps something similar to that of your October mid-term break.
You can apply this method by taking half of your mid term for study/planning and half of it for rest time so for example you can take every second day completely off, take half days or simply first half of the week for study/planning and second half for rest, that way you wont become overwhelmed and will feel in control of your study while at the same time taking some much deserved time off for yourself because from this point on you will most likely be snowed in with work especially Leaving Certs students.
Hopefully this advice will be useful for you and will reap benefits when exam time comes.
Have a great Halloween!
