WELCOME BACK!
It’s Week 1, Term 1. You’ve got a fresh start and a full year ahead of you. We at S-press expect you to achieve extraordinary greatness and frankly anything less will be a grave disappointment to us. Oh relax – we’re just kidding! But we do want to help you make the most of it. Whether you’re a Year 12 about to complete the biggest challenge of your high school life or a fresh- faced Year 7 who’s never taken an exam before, this school year is guaranteed to present a new set of challenges.
In order to help you cope we¹ve compiled the School Survivor’s guide, which is designed to help you pass with flying colours. We’ve got loads of tips and helpful hints on how, what, when and where to study and how to beat exam stress.
GETTING ALONG WITH TEACHERS
Life at school is 100 per cent easier when you get along with your teachers. Here’s a simple guide to achieving heavenly teacher-student harmony.
Don’t use fancy presentation to disguise sloppy work
It won’t work and it will make your teacher reeeeally antsy. Teachers know sloppy work when they see it. They can always tell when you’re trying to Photoshop your way out of the D you deserve. If you’re having trouble with an assignment, ask for help and then give it an honest crack.
Listen in class
Okay, you’ve probably heard this one before and sometimes it is a lot easier said than done. (Not everyone finds the layers of the earth’s crust as fascinating as your geology teacher.) But one thing that makes teachers go completely beserko is when you chat to your friends and doodle pictures of unicorns while they’re talking and then later ask questions about stuff they’ve already covered.
Say ‘please’.
Teachers love that shiz. Seriously.
Don’t suck up.
Because it will make your teacher want to spew. Try to be friendly, pleasant and natural. Try not to be like a slimey con-artist. Insincerity is always obvious, plus your classmates will hate you!
Use spell check
It won’t solve all your spelling problems, but it will help you to correct a good proportion of your mistakes and typos before you hand in your assignment. The fewer mistakes in your assignment, the better your teacher’s frame of mind when he/she goes to mark it.
Don’t bombard your teacher with emails after class
If you are having difficulty with something, chat with your teacher directly after class or make an appointment to see them, rather than clogging up their inbox with loads of queries.
Be organised and prepared for class
Try not to lose your hand outs and make sure you come to class with everything you need. When you ask your teacher to supply a handout you’ve lost for the billionth time or start whining about how you’ve forgotten your text book again – it kind of makes your teacher want to slam you over the head with something heavy.
Be nice
This may surprise you, but teachers are more inclined to help out polite and friendly students than those who make insulting comments or do monkey impressions while they’re trying to teach. Insulting comments are never OK at school – whether directed at teachers or classmates. Perfecting your monkey impression is a worthy extra-curricular goal, but not something you should practice during class time.
Good luck for the weeks and months ahead,
The S-press Team!
