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How to help your child remember what was studied

Often, I find my tuition students constantly forgetting what they had just learned in school. Too many of them give up too early and too easily in their attempts to score, and losing confidence in their ability to score.

It isnt the fault of the students; its actually human nature to forget the things we just learned.

In 1885, Hermann Ebbinghausin researched and came up with the Forgetting Curve.

The curve shows that the memory of what has just been learned decreases as the number of days increases.

In fact, humans quickly forget what they have learned in a matter of days Unless the information is being repeated or reinforced. This is why the emphasis on revisions after revisions.

Students, being constantly exposed to information from the different subjects, can only retain so much information at any time. The brain retains whatever it can, and dumps the remaining information.

What can be done to retain information so that your child can score for exams?

Answer: Consistent repetition

In other words, it is advised for students to

re-read textbooks and notes
re-do your worksheets
relook at corrections of mistakes
look for teachers for extra consultations
go for tuition classes

The goal is to make sure your child is constantly repeating/revising the subject information, concepts and questions. It is an age old wisdom that sounds cliche, but it works.

The result is best summarised with the graph below:

Each time the student revises or relearns, the amount of information retained increases. The more the concepts are repeated, the more the amount of information retained.

Over time, the brain will be able to retain a substantial amount of information, and thats when the student is able to attempt each question in exam in a logical manner.

Its hard work, and it takes a long time, but it is the best way to ensure consistently good results in the exams.

One of the strategies that tutors at Eton Tuition practice is consistent repetition. Students are guided through the different questions repeatedly until they attained mastery. Most of our students see an increase in grades between 10-40% within 3-6 months.

If you want your child to see similar or better results for PSLE, O level or A level, fill in your details at the contact us page and we will get back to you as soon as possible.