Ep. 156

→ Get the Free Parent Guide: 3 Huge Mistakes (Even Smart!) Students Make in Exams and Assignments - and how to fix them immediately so your teen confidently achieves their best ever grades.
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A student was told they need to be filling 5 - 6 pages in order to hit top marks in their Commerce exam essay Q.
Is that good advice?

In this episode I explain:

- Why it’s not about the word count or page count, and why it also IS about the word count or page count. 

- Why it’s quality over quantity and why quality is - in some ways, sometimes determined by quantity or creates a particular quantity.

AND 

- How your teen can nail this golden combo of top quality content, in the exact right quantity.

FEATURED ON THE SHOW: 

• Resources page: https://www.rocksolidstudy.com/156
• Updated and upgraded: The NEW! 10 Week Grade Transformation Program
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Ep. 155

→ Get the Free Parent Guide: 3 Huge Mistakes (Even Smart!) Students Make in Exams and Assignments - and how to fix them immediately so your teen confidently achieves their best ever grades.
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Going over the word limit in essays, assignments and reports is a common issue I see in knowledgeable, hardworking students.

The biggest problem is the amount of extra work it means they are doing when this happens: Extra writing in the first place, and extra time trying to cut it down before submission.

In this episode I explain the reasons for why this keeps happening for some students (no matter how much they try not to) so we can solve for the root causes.

AND I provide four actionable ways to prevent it in future, so your teen only spends the time and effort that's necessary for any extended task.

FEATURED ON THE SHOW: 

• Related episode: Ep. 131 - Plan EVERY Extended Response
• Related episode: Ep. 151 - Why Students Resist Planning
• Resources page: https://www.rocksolidstudy.com/155
• Updated and upgraded: The NEW! 10 Week Grade Transformation Program
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Ep. 154

→ Get the Free Parent Guide: 3 Huge Mistakes (Even Smart!) Students Make in Exams and Assignments - and how to fix them immediately so your teen confidently achieves their best ever grades.
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Listen in for the top 10 ways that I've found to be the most effective in catapulting students' results AND confidence in a fast yet sustainable way.

FEATURED ON THE SHOW: 

• Updated and upgraded! Check out the 10 Week Grade Transformation Program
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Ep. 153

→ Get the Free Parent Guide: 3 Huge Mistakes (Even Smart!) Students Make in Exams and Assignments - and how to fix them immediately so your teen confidently achieves their best ever grades.
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There's a significant difference between an 'inquiry' research task and a research 'project'.
Treating an inquiry, report or any kind of research task in the upper years of high school like a 'project' will keep your teen stuck at a mark or grade that doesn’t reflect their effort or ability in the topic they're researching.
In this episode I’ll explain:

•  what the research project trap is, 
•  the two reasons why so many students fall into it,
  and
• how to have your teen avoid it. 

FEATURED ON THE SHOW: 

• Purchase the Workshop: How to Hit the Top Criteria in Essays, Assignments and Extended Responses
• Resources page: https://www.rocksolidstudy.com/153
• Related episode: Ep.61 - What Makes a High Quality Research Q
• Updated and upgraded! Check out the NEW! 10 Week Grade Transformation Program
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Ep. 152

→ Get the Free Parent Guide: 3 Huge Mistakes (Even Smart!) Students Make in Exams and Assignments - and how to fix them immediately so your teen confidently achieves their best ever grades.
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I'm a big fan of making the biggest difference to results and confidence,
in the simplest, most efficient and effective ways.

This example of how to make essays 'more sophisticated' is a great example of this:
> One strategy that demonstrates multiple capabilities means your teen can significantly elevate their response to help meet top level descriptors, such as

- an EXTENSIVE knowledge to support an argument

- a DEEP understanding of subject knowledge

and
- a SOPHISTICATED, sustained argument that answers the Q

... all with their existing subject knowledge,
and without any fancy writing or re-writing of the essay content. 

FEATURED ON THE SHOW: 

• Purchase the Workshop: How to Hit the Top Criteria in Essays, Assignments and Extended Responses
• Resources page: https://www.rocksolidstudy.com/152
• Updated and upgraded! Check out the NEW! 10 Week Grade Transformation Program
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Ep. 151 - 

→ Get the Free Parent Guide: 3 Huge Mistakes (Even Smart!) Students Make in Exams and Assignments - and how to fix them immediately so your teen confidently achieves their best ever grades.
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I was initially surprised by this student's reaction to finding out exactly why he 'only' (in his words) got a C grade on a section of his Business assignment. 

I expected him to be frustrated at the situation or annoyed at me for showing all the things he hadn't  done (and how obvious it looked after). 

But that's not what happened at all.

It's good to be reminded of just what a difference discovering the real reasons they're not getting results that match their ability and effort can make to students. It's the very first step in changing that and it's an exciting one!

FEATURED ON THE SHOW: 

• Web page: https://www.rocksolidstudy.com/151
• Episode 4: Essays That Actually Answer The Question
• Episode 9: Just Do Your Best' - And Other Things They Don't Wanna Hear
• Updated and upgraded! Check out the NEW! 10 Week Grade Transformation Program
• Follow Rock Solid Study on Facebook
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Ep. 150

→ Get the Free Parent Guide: 3 Huge Mistakes (Even Smart!) Students Make in Exams and Assignments - and how to fix them immediately so your teen confidently achieves their best ever grades.
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I spend a LOT of time hammering students about making a plan before they start writing any kind of extended response, report analysis, essay, or discussion piece. 

There are a lot of instincts we have to override in order to spend time and energy on a plan.

Especially for a timed task, a task we already feel confident in, or at the other end, a task we really don't want to do.

Those instincts tell us it'll take too much time, too much effort to write out a detailed plan. Time and effort that could be spent actually writing the thing. Or they tell us 'we know what we're doing, so we don't need to'. 

But those instincts are misguided. 

Listen in for the reality of the situation - and the benefits that far outweigh the time and effort cost.

FEATURED ON THE SHOW: 

• Resources page: https://www.rocksolidstudy.com/150
• Updated and upgraded! Check out the NEW! 10 Week Grade Transformation Program
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Ep. 149

→ Get the Free Parent Guide: 3 Huge Mistakes (Even Smart!) Students Make in Exams and Assignments - and how to fix them immediately so your teen confidently achieves their best ever grades.
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What does baking have to do with your teen's study?

These words, are what:

“I’m calm. I’m in the zone. I know how to do this.”

How can we make those the words in your teen's mind when they're queuing up outside the exam hall, given a new analytical essay, or faced with a 2000 word open assignment task?

By installing these 3 key systems in their brain and study toolkit:

- Exam Technique

- Essays and Extended Responses

- Strategic Study Systems

and building them in the order that makes most sense for each student personally given where they're at, what they're going to be working on next and their longer term goals. 

FEATURED ON THE SHOW: 

• Ep 24: 'The Skill Web'
• Updated and upgraded! Check out the 10 Week Grade Transformation Program
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Ep. 148 

→ Get the Free Parent Guide: 3 Huge Mistakes (Even Smart!) Students Make in Exams and Assignments - and how to fix them immediately so your teen confidently achieves their best ever grades.
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I often have parents and students feed back to me that the skills they pick up from my trainings and programs are also super-helpful in uni, but not having teaching experience at that level, I tend to avoid getting too much into any university study advice!

But... I also know that a lot of hardworking students go on to university study.

So, when Dr Hilary Coleman emailed me, a former school teacher turned senior uni lecturer who now helps students and their parents successfully navigate the transition to university, I figured that having her perspective could be really valuable to link these things together. 

So, if your teen has recently started uni, or is planning on or considering uni after high school or college, and you’d love to make the transition as smooth as possible and set your teen up for their best possible academic success at uni, then this episode is for you.

PLUS! Hilary has kindly offered FREE access to her 'The Ultimate University Intro' course for podcast listeners: 

Join here: https://www.udemy.com/course/the-ultimate-university-intro-prepare-for-uni/?couponCode=PARENTPOD

 And use coupon code: PARENTPOD

FEATURED ON THE SHOW: 

• Free course for pod listeners: 'The Ultimate University Intro' (use coupon code: PARENTPOD for FREE access.)
• Hilary's Unilateral website: www.unilateral.com.au   and YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Unilateral-everythingyouneed
• Resources page: https://www.rocksolidstudy.com/148
• Updated and upgraded! Check out the 10 Week Grade Transformation Program
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Ep. 147

→ Get the Free Parent Guide: 3 Huge Mistakes (Even Smart!) Students Make in Exams and Assignments - and how to fix them immediately so your teen confidently achieves their best ever grades.
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Most students don’t lose marks because they lack knowledge.
They lose marks because they don’t show enough depth.

They’re told to “add more detail”…
 So they write more. Repeat more. Ramble more.

And still miss the top marks.

This episode shares why that's happening and what to do about it, so your teen can figure out not just WHAT detail to add but HOW to add the RIGHT detail, in the right way.

FEATURED ON THE SHOW: 

• Enrol your teen into the 'Add the RIGHT Detail' Workshop at: https://www.rocksolidstudy.com/detail
• Resources page: https://www.rocksolidstudy.com/147
• Updated and upgraded! Check out the 10 Week Grade Transformation Program
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