Your teenager is studying. But they are not getting the results. This is hard for a parent to see.
Why this happens
Most students were never actually taught how to study. They read their notes over and over, highlight information, and hope they remember it for the test. It feels productive. But there's a big difference between feeling familiar with something and actually being able to use it in a test.
This is what they should do instead
Think of it in three steps. First, your teenager needs to pay attention to the content they're learning. Second, they need to connect the information to things they already know, so it actually makes more sense. Third, and this is the part students are almost never taught, and that is, they need to practice pulling that information back out of their head, not just looking at it again and again.
Reading notes over and over only really covers that first step (Attention). That's why your teenager can feel confident the night before a test, and then blank out or have difficulty remembering information quickly under pressure. They've gotten very good at recognising the information (Attention). But they may have failed to properly connect that information to what they already know with a system (Connect). And they haven't practiced pulling that information out of their head under pressure (Recall).
The QUEST framework, a step-by-step system
This is exactly what the QUEST Study Skills framework helps with, step by step.
Q - Question
Before studying, get clear on what you're actually supposed to learn.
U - Understand
Bring everything together with a system, such as notes, handouts, and homework, so it makes sense, and ensure it is ‘connected’.
E - Establish your strategy
Choose how you're going to study, based on your brain, your subject and your goal, instead of just doing what you’ve seen others do.
S - Study it
This is where reading turns into testing. Instead of just looking at notes again, you study actively. There are many methods for active study.
T - Test and evaluate
Check what you can actually remember without looking at the notes, before a real test. Then finally evaluate your method to improve for the next time.
Ready to help your teenager practice remembering, and not just reviewing? 👉 Enrol them into the ✨QUEST Study Skills System - Level 1 Course✨
Understanding how studying actually works
Duration: 5-6 hours, at your own pace
Format: Online, self-directed, video lessons, reflection prompts, quizzes
Access: Lifetime, review as often as you need
Suitable for: Students in high-school and/or early university
What you need: A computer or phone device to access lessons
Fee: $56 ✨ SPECIAL OFFER $28✨ LIMITED TIME
Course Details
What they will learn in this course
QUEST Study Skills System - Level 1 helps students understand the principles of effective studying before they waste time on tactics that don't work. They'll learn the what and the why of the five-step QUEST framework across five modules.
Q - Question what needs to be learned
In this module, students learn:
- Why questioning comes before studying
- What questions effective students ask early
- How to turn tasks and topics into clear study questions
They will understand: Why clarity at the start saves hours of wasted effort later.
U - Understand information
In this module, students learn:
- The difference between memorising and understanding
- What a topic map is and how it helps
- How to deal with the scattered notes problem
They will understand: Why understanding comes before memorising, and how to tell the difference.
E - Establish your study strategy
In this module, students learn:
- Why copying others' methods often fails
- What learning preferences are and how they work
- What it means to choose a starting strategy
They will understand: How to make deliberate strategy choices instead of random guesses.
S - Study it
In this module, students learn:
- The difference between passive and active study
- Why active study feels harder but works better
- How your strategy guides how they study
They will understand: What effective studying actually looks like, and why effort alone isn't enough.
T - Test and Evaluate
In this module, students learn:
- Why testing themselves improves learning
- What testing actually means (not just formal exams)
- How to evaluate their approach and keep improving
They will understand: How testing completes the QUEST cycle, so they can repeat it.
Who this course is for?
- Students feeling stuck with their current study approach
- Anyone preparing for senior high-school years or early university
- Students who've tried "study tips" before and been disappointed
- Students who feel overwhelmed by information
- Parents wanting to help their teenager study effectively
After completing Level 1, students have:
- A simple five step system they can remember and apply
- Clear understanding of why some study methods fail
- A reusable framework they can apply to any subject
- Confidence in how they study with a proper study strategy
- A new way of thinking about learning they can apply to the rest of their learning years
- A proven system, grounded in well-established learning science
What students have said
Angela, Year 10
"I learned new techniques that I may apply within my school work and assignments. The most helpful part was probably the part where we learnt about how we should tackle certain problems and the tips we could use."
Andy, Year 11
"It's great! I've learned a lot and now I finally know how to manage myself properly... Quest Study Skills did help me a lot, especially in the part where we should manage our time well."
Jasmine, Year 10
"I usually get bad grades but after doing the study skills I have noticed that my grades have changed from C-D to A-B. I manage my time and I don't need to stress over not finishing my assignments on time."
Nicole, Year 10
"I find this course very useful. Personally, I think it will improve my study skills and also my time management. Denise has made this class / course enjoyable and fun than I expected. I have gained a lot of knowledge from these lessons."
Who created QUEST Study Skills?
QUEST Study Skills was created by Denise Qvist, a study coach, educator, illustrator, and tech innovator who has been supporting students since 2011.
Studying was not always easy for Denise, and that's a big part of why she does this work. She knows what it feels like when studying feels overwhelming, and when nothing seems to work. That experience shaped her approach, and is why she cares so much about helping students find a calmer, more confident way to study.
Denise's first study skills class was a small group of sixteen students. Over many years, working with students from different backgrounds, the course has evolved into the personalised online system QUEST Study Skills is today. Her focus has always been on how learning is designed, not just what's delivered. She uses visual learning, simple explanations, and hand-drawn infographics to make study strategies easier to understand and apply, helping students build confidence and gain habits they can actually rely on.
That focus on how learning works runs through Denise's whole career. She began teaching after completing her TESOL qualification through Trinity College London, following earlier studies in Business at Bentley University and International Business at Griffith University. She spent years teaching English to speakers of other languages, including exam preparation for IELTS, and designed curriculum both for her own classroom and for the language school as a whole. She also tutored secondary students one-on-one in essay writing, and later designed online English learning programs, and QUEST Study Skills. From there, her interest in program design led her into postgraduate education, partnering with faculty at universities across Australia, including RMIT, UNSW, UTS, JCU and SCU, through her work with Keypath Education, to help shape programs that met both academic learning objectives and the learning experiences of online students. She is now studying the emerging field of educational neuroscience with Central Queensland University as a post grad. This background, spanning the classroom, curriculum design, and higher education, has shaped how she designs lessons, using science-informed research as the foundation for the clear, student-friendly style QUEST Study Skills is known for.
For more than a decade, Denise has been exploring the science behind learning and productivity, with one goal and that is showing students how to learn. She believes that when young people build capability and confidence early, they carry those skills into the rest of their lives. Many students who use the QUEST Study Skills system feel more organised and more in control of their study. Parents also notice their child becoming more confident and settled.
