Home » MASN explained
As you may have noticed, My Amazing Study Notes, MASN for short, is a study system. Actually, it’s a study tool. And a support system (but more about that later). One that is used on a daily basis, after school, varsity or whatever course you might be doing.
This workbook is made up of various sections, and what makes MASN so different is that it contains all the necessary elements to make notes of the work done for the day, on a daily basis, in one place.
Just the new work done for the day needs to be noted in the workbook. No need to make notes on (or summarise) work that has already been done.
A simple study tool that is super effective. And it’s easy to use too.
Because life is too short to stress about studying!
The MASN workbook is made up of various sections, including the following:
This page is a single page covering a pledge that students sign confirming that they take responsibility for their studies, amongst other ‘pledgeable’ statements.
To succeed in their studies, students need to take responsibility for their studies. They need to realise that studying is up to them, no one else. Parents and teachers may remind them or even nag them to study, but at the end of the day, it’s not their job to sit down and do the work; it’s the student’s job. It’s ultimately for their future. This page is a reminder of exactly that.
In each workbook there are calendar pages. For students at school, there are four months. This makes allowance for both three term and four term schools. For tertiary students, there are six months as the tertiary workbooks run per course or textbook.
Organised time alleviates the worry of not getting everything done and succumbing to the mad rush of studying at the last minute. It also helps students to prepare with sufficient time for tests and exams, as well as making sure that life is balanced and that there is time for the fun stuff too!
This page was included to record academic goals for the upcoming term or semester. These goals are based on the previous term’s marks.
How can you aim for something if you don’t have anything to aim for? We all know the importance of setting goals, right? But how many of us actually set goals? Not many of us that’s for sure! This page is that goal setting tool for students studies. It gives them an opportunity to challenge themselves, monitor their progress and figure out what needs improving, or maintaining. The target is set at the beginning of the term or semester. These can be decided either by looking at previous marks and choosing how much to improve by, or by just choosing a desired percentage mark outright. Each test or exam (or even project) is then recorded against the goal and a comment is made accordingly. This gives them the opportunity to critically assess where they either went wrong, but hopefully, where they went right.
This page is at the beginning of each subject section and is used to capture the term’s work to be covered. This can be done in the form of a mind-map, or a list or blocks. Basically any format that makes sense to the student.
The outline page is the place for a bird’s eye view of the topics that are to be studied in the subject for the term. Having a complete summary of the subject gives the student an overview and a mental checklist of what work is be done during the term and it is also a really handy tool to be able to assess what needs to be focused on for tests and exams. This helps with exam time management as the student is more conscious of which segments need more attention.
The terms and definitions pages come after the overview page. It’s a super handy tool for students to keep all new terms and definitions learnt in one place.
When students learn new things there are usually terms that they are unfamiliar with, especially when it’s a new topic. Having these new terms and definitions in one place will help students consolidate this new information and feel more confident in grasping new concepts. So often new terms get lost within the work, and when students come across them again, they can battle to find where the explanations were presented initially. Having them in one place makes them easier to look up, as well as time saving to learn.
These pages are the bulk of the MASN workbook. There are between 10 and 14 pages per subject (depending on the book). There are both lined and blank pages, and this is where students will make their daily notes at home.
The reason for summarising is to help students reduce the amount of information they need to take in in one go, particularly before a test or exam. It also gives students (and/or their parents) a means to assess whether or not the concepts and information that has been taught has been fully understood through self-evaluation. In order to summarise the information, students have to find the essence of that which is being taught, and pull the ‘diamonds’ out from the ‘fluff’. These summary pages are exactly that, for summarising. Not regurgitating the entire syllabus. The blank pages are for mind mapping, doodling and drawing diagrams. The lined pages are for bullet points, lists and notes.
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