The Red Pen Study Method

The Red Pen Study Method is the recommended approach we've developed at JTC Education for studying effectively then you're no in a lesson with your tutor. It applies particularly well to maths and the sciences, but can be adapted to almost any academic subject. In hindsight the principles are simple, and yet unbelievably powerful.

We've refined this method across years of one-to-one teaching and trial and error, and many of us use something similar while completing our own exams.

1a) Mark yourself

Always mark your own work, and always do it in red pen.

Important: Do not assume you got the easy questions right without checking. By definition, a careless error is one you did not realise you had made, hence it is crucial that you check all your work, even if you thought the question was easy.

1b) Notes-to-self

Marking your own work isn't just a question of ticks and crosses. Ticks and crosses alone aren't helpful for later revision.

The goal is to turn maths and science exercise books into something genuinely useful and personal to you when it comes to revising. That requires you to write what we call "notes-to-self."

A few principles of a good note-to-self:

• Write it in red pen, or any pen colour clearly different from the one you worked in.
• Add one every time you make a mistake — no matter how careless it seemed at the time (even if you just misread a number).
• Do not rub the error out. Circle it, highlight it, draw a box around it. Make sure to leave it visible so you can remind yourself about this pitfall later. This is what makes you less likely to repeat it, even under exam pressure.
• A note-to-self should be comprehensive enough that, when you read it back during revision, you do not need to return to the textbook to remember what the original question was about.

Example of a note-to-self

Below is an example of a question and a solution containing an error. Only the right-hand version has a note-to-self added.

As as result, the right-hand student now has an infinitely more useful exercise book than the left-hand one.

2) "Tricky Questions" sheets

A simple idea — and one most students do not do. On a single sheet of paper, note down every question you could not answer on your first attempt (page number and question number is sufficient provided it means you can relocate the question). Keep adding to this log throughout the year.

Revisit this log of questions monthly. If certain questions no longer belong, you can 'highlight' them out; however, don't cross them out as they may still serve as a useful record later!

Your future self will be enormously grateful for this in the weeks before the exam. While other students are thumbing their way back through textbooks, hoping to stumble on a question they remember struggling with six months ago, you will already have your own personalised list of questions that you find hard. Focussing on those questions only in the run-up to exam time is invaluable.

3) Careless-error sheets

Nobody is completely immune to careless errors. However, there is a way to improve your thoroughness and reduce your careless error rate as much as possible, and that's to keep a "careless-error sheet."

Every time you make a careless error, write it down on that sheet, and store that sheet carefully. Add to it consistently throughout the year.

4) JTC Education's in-house trackers

JTC Education's progress trackers are designed to be perfectly aligned with the approach of the Red Pen Study Method. You or your tutor can set yourself worksheets and past papers in the trackers, upload scans of self-marked answers, and keep an ongoing log of your tricky questions. By the time exam season arrives, you have a curated list of exactly what you need to revisit, rather than starting from scratch.