Victus Study Skills System -- my REVIEW

Are you good at studying? Have you worked with your students to improve their study skills? I think that somehow I innately knew how to study effectively and was surprised when my kids did not prepare or learn in the same way that I did, so over the years I have given lots of studying  and test-taking "tips" from my own personal experiences.  This past month, we have had the opportunity to try out (and review) a 30-year old study skills program called the Victus Study Skills System . This program has several levels, from primary grades all the way up through the college aged learners.  We used the student workbook for grades 5/6-10/11, which is Level 3.

This study skill system encompasses a pool at this middle/high school  level. It begins by motivating students to learn and utilize study skills by having them create a mission statement for their life, as well as envisioning where they want to be in the future.

They go through exercises that help them identify priorities and see how they are concretely fitting in with their stated priorities.   Along with this is a semester goal setting chart, sections where they can write out goals, objectives,  and an action plan for fulfilling those objectives.

Another section allows the student to evaluate their preferred learning style.   Through answering a series of statements,  the student discovers if they are a more visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner.  Once they have identified their best style, tips are given as to how to maximize study accordingly. 

Time management is another area of learning,  with weekly/monthly/semester plots/schedules for the student to use (hopefully to reduce cramming!) as well as tips for how to stay organized and the necessity of a study environment that will enhance learning.  

A system with the mnemonic PQRST teaches students how to get much more out of their reading and tips for enhanced listening/interaction are given. 

There is a section that teaches note-taking efficiency and effectiveness.  Students realize the disparity between the number of words spoken in a minute and the number of words that can be written in a minute! Good hints, such as abbreviating, formatting,  and revising are shared. 

The study wraps up with test-taking skills--how to successfully prepare for a test, how to mentally prepare for a test, and then some concrete test-taking tips--things such as "read directions carefully " and "There are usually more true answers than false answers, so if you must guess, guess true."

The way the lessons are delivered is a discussion type lesson, with the teacher's parts clearly laid out in the teacher edition.  It is easy to go through and talk about topics and then the student has a page of fill in the blanks to cover that section.  The student workbook is nicely laid out, spiral bound, lays flat and is easy to write in. 

So--how did we like this System? For the most part, we liked it.  It covers a lot of important topics and it is just ten shortish lessons. It is easy to administer/facilitate and easy for the student to follow along. It IS a very short program, hopefully long enough to be impactful to the student.  We especially liked the learning about the student's  best mechanisms for learning  (my older daughter who is home from college wanted to give it a try too!)  as well as the test-taking tips. I kind of think that this falls into the category of how sometimes things that you have already taught your child are more impactful when the same information comes from someone else :)

If you would like to read others' thoughts on this system, please click on the link below!