IHETC School
Learning how to learn is a subject
Four habits serve in every subject and at every level: learning a lesson, organising the week, preparing for a test, reading a question. They can be taught, and they outlast school by a long way.
What these four habits share
They are learned once and serve in every subject, which makes them the best return available across a school year. They also have a rare property: they make the work shorter. A pupil who learns by recall revises for less time, a pupil who writes their week stops when it is done, a pupil who reads the question starts straight away. It is that time saved, ahead of any other argument, that persuades the pupil to keep them.
- They serve in every subject, from primary to the baccalauréat
- They shorten working time rather than extending it
- They can be measured: tracking shows their effect on stages cleared
- They belong to the pupil, and stay usable after school
What this section represents
- study habits detailed
- 4
- subjects where they apply
- 13
- stages to validate one concept
- 4
One page each, with its four steps.
From primary to upper secondary, without exception.
These habits speed the crossing.
How a habit gets installed
- 01
The tutor shows
A demonstration in session, on that day's lesson. The habit is understood by seeing it applied.
- 02
The pupil tries, accompanied
Same habit, different content, the tutor alongside. It asks the question in the pupil's place, one last time.
- 03
The pupil runs it alone
The tutor stays silent and checks at the end. That is when the habit becomes theirs.
- 04
The habit comes back later
Re-offered a few weeks on, unannounced. A habit that survives a delay is genuinely acquired.
Explore in detail
- Learning a lessonLearning means asking yourself the question, attempting the answer without looking, then checking. Rereading creates a feeling of mastery because the text becomes familiar; recall produces durable memory. For identical working time, the gap between the two methods is considerable.
- Organising the weekOrganising the week means giving each piece of work a time and a duration, written in advance. What sits in a slot gets done; what stays an intention moves to tomorrow, then to the day after. The habit takes ten minutes on Sunday evening, and it changes the whole week.
- Preparing for a testA test is prepared from what it asks for: the type of questions, the weight of written reasoning, the duration. A pupil who knows the format revises the format; a pupil who does not revises the whole course and discovers the expectations on the paper. Two identical hours, two different outcomes.
- Reading a questionReading a question means answering three things in order: what is given, what is asked, in what form. A great many marks hinge on that, in every subject and at every level: a pupil who answers the question next to the one set loses marks without making any reasoning error.