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A study tool for all

My Amazing Study Notes is your solution to providing students with a structured, yet flexible, studying system. MASN has been designed to help students of all ages, from the time exams start in the early grades all the way through to post-tertiary education, to simply ENJOY learning by taking dis-organisation and confusion away from studying. Coupled with our ongoing support programs, students never need to feel alone or demotivated.

It is a supplementary study tool in the form of a workbook and is designed to work alongside the different school curricula. It is most certainly not an ‘instead of the school curriculum’ system. As the system is structured yet flexible, it also allows for various methods of studying to be accommodated.

Students are encouraged to summarize/make notes of the classwork that is done per subject per day in the workbook. Each subject has its own division within the workbook.

The system has scientific reasoning behind it and is endorsed by Johannesburg based educational psychologist, Ronlynn Lotriet and her husband, Dirk Lotriet who has his Masters in Human Resources Management and specialises in training and adult learning.

My Amazing Study Notes has four main ‘benefits’, namely the reward benefit, the people benefit, the soft skills benefit and the scientific benefit.

The Reward Benefit

As with any system, there needs to be a reward for the end user. Otherwise why would anyone use the system? Some benefits for our students include:

Understanding over knowing. MASN is a daily summarizing/note taking system where students need to understand what they are reading in order to summarize accurately. This means that understanding becomes crucial as opposed to just knowing.
The forgetting curve is lessened because students summarize (take notes) on work covered daily, and in so doing, cramming is minimized. It is only revision and self-testing that needs to be done before a test or exam.
Less cramming results in less exam stress, and students who are less stressed are able to cope better with the whole exam process. For many students, this will set up a stress free and happy exam relationship for years to come.
Students that understand and remember their work will become more confident in both themselves and their academics.
As mentioned before, summarizing allows students to minimize the forgetting curve, resulting in better memory retention. Plus, it is easier to increase memory retention when understanding is present.
And finally, the prize… better marks!

The People Benefit

Not only do students benefit from the use of the My Amazing Study Notes system, but various other ‘stakeholders’ benefit as well, for example:

Parents are now able to have a ‘bird’s eye view’ of their children’s work and in turn assess if there is an understanding of work being done.
The notes that are made can be used to identify any learning gaps as teachers and tutors are now able to look at the summary notes and effectively assess the student’s understanding, creating an ‘early warning’ system.
This ‘early warning’ system can be used as a communication conduit between teachers, tutors, parents and students, before tests and exams, and ultimately bad marks.
MASN allows educators to boost student ownership by encouraging students to find their own learning gaps and proactively seek assistance.
Increased understanding in studying material reduces subject-hate for students.
Better marks result in more confidence. More confidence could ultimately provide the freedom for students to go after careers they never thought possible.

The Life Skills Benefit

The MASN system has been put together in such a way that not only do the students benefit from studying more effectively and in a structured manner, but they also develop important life / soft skills, vital for successful adult living. These include:

Responsibility. This is particularly highlighted in the pledge at the beginning of the book. Each student needs to read through and sign the pledge on a termly basis..
Time management is encouraged through the use of the calendar months that are in the book. The students need to learn to manage their time to ensure that there is enough time to not only study, but live life too!
Goal setting is another key aspect to the system as students need to set goals to improve their marks, term by term. Each time a test or exam is written, the marks are recorded and evaluated by the student themselves.
Critical thinking is a vital skill that people often fall short of mastering. This skill muscle is flexed through the students looking at their school work and evaluating what is necessary and unnecessary. By thinking about what has been taught, they are able to grasp concepts sooner, rather than trying to figure out what was taught, the night before a test or exam.
Self motivation follows when the student has learnt to take responsibility for their studies and has set goals for themselves. This self motivation is further enhanced once the student starts seeing improved results in their academic marks.
And finally, organisation. As this system is structured and organised, operating in an organised way becomes the norm.

The Scientific Benefit

My Amazing Study Notes is backed by science and psychology:

Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve states that there is a natural decline in memory retention over time, but this decline can be reduced if there is an attempt to review the information using spaced learning i.e. reviewing the information within certain time frames.
Note taking and critical thinking are vital to the studying process. As a student makes notes on the day’s lessons, they are reviewing the information, and by using critical thinking they are ‘forcing’ themselves to understand the information. Critical thinking allows them to differentiate between critical information and non-critical information.
Simply put, neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. In terms of learning, students need to understand that their brains are not hardwired. Through repetition and mindfulness they are able to create new neural pathways and strengthen memory.
The mindset theory has to do with attitude and belief. A fixed mindset ‘tells’ students to believe that nothing they do can help their intellectual ability. A growth mindset is when students believe they can get smarter and they understand that effort makes them stronger. Therefore they put in extra time and effort, and that leads to higher achievement. My Amazing Study Notes works off the growth mindset principle.
There is a scientifically proven link between writing and memory. Paper note-takers’ brains are working to digest, summarize, and capture the heart of the information. This, in turn, promotes understanding and retention.
The Drawing Effect theorizes that drawing or doodling can help boost memories by engaging more of the visual and motor parts of our brains, which helps create a richer context and experience to help us absorb concepts and retain them better.