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Post by Marnie Winters on May 22, 2017 15:02:38 GMT
This is a place for students to ask for advice and questions about study skills.
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Post by Marnie Winters on May 22, 2017 19:17:36 GMT
Good study skills make all the difference between poor grades, average grades, and great grades. It can also help you save a tremendous amount of time, too. It will be important for you to learn study shortcuts, learn how to ask for help when needed, learn to take good class notes, and learn to determine how much time you need to study and then be disciplined enough to follow a study schedule and set goals for each study period.
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Post by Marnie Winters on May 24, 2017 11:33:46 GMT
Class note taking skills:
1. Have a separate notebook for each class; buy single subject notebooks in different colors and assign a color to a class-for example: red = math, blue = college writing, green = science; buy 2 pocket folders in different colors and pair them up with the notebooks-for example, the red folder belongs to math, the blue folder belongs to college writing, and the green folder belongs to science; this makes it easier to pack your backpack because you will be able to easily identify the notebook and folder you need based on the color.
2. At the beginning of every class, turn to a new page and begin the class notes for that day; write the date in the top margin of every single page; this will make it easy to identify when you took your notes; sometimes, the instructor may say..."we covered that topic on (whatever date he/she talked about it)" and you can quickly turn to that date for reference. Also, many times a test will only cover the information that you have discussed in class since the last time you took a test-meaning, the test is not comprehensive and isn't covering everything since the beginning of class. So, if your test is covering material from the last 4 weeks, for example, you can quickly go back to the exact date and not be fumbling through an entire notebook to figure out where you need to start.
3. When taking notes, write down anything that the instructor write on a blackboard; if he/she is taking the time to write it down, you will likely see that info again.
4. If the instructor has slides he/she is showing in class, write down the information on the slides. He/she didn't spend time creating those slides if you didn't need to know the information
5. Listen for key phrases; if the instructor is talking and begins a topic with any of the following phrases, you will need to know the information:
a. This is important because
b. This led to
c. This will be on the test
d. An important date
e. You will see this later
f. This event led to these outcomes
6. When an instructor starts speaking slowly, it is because they are giving you a chance to write down whatever it is they are saying
7. When the same sentence is repeated more than once, it is because they want you to write it down
8. Before leaving class, review your notes and ask the instructor to clarify anything that seems confusing; don't be afraid to ask because if you have the question, odds are someone else does, too
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Post by Marnie Winters on Jun 6, 2017 11:50:46 GMT
Here is a test study trick, tip, strategy, whatever word you prefer  When I would study for a test, I would take loose leaf paper and make a study guide. It was a combination of class notes, notes from the textbook, notes from handouts, whatever info I had gotten from the class. If the teacher gave a test review, I always used that to create the study guide, so it only contained the specific info that would be on the test. The benefit to doing a study guide like this is to reduce all the other "noise", so to speak. If something isn't going to be on a test, don't look at it. Only focus specifically what will be on the test and that is the info on your study guide. Also, it is a time saver to have all the info in one spot, so you aren't spending time looking things up. I would take the study guide with me everywhere in the days leading up to the test and read it. I would give the study guide to my parents, my sister, my husband, or my friends, and make them verbally quiz me. Reading the test study guide is a great way to study because it makes use of your sense of sight. If you read something over and over, it helps you remember it. Having someone verbally quiz you makes use of your sense of hearing. If you take a test and come across a topic on your study guide, you may remember the conversation you had when someone was quizzing you and it may help you get the right answer. Still having trouble memorizing a list or vocabulary word, or a topic on the study guide? Get some blank paper and a pen and sit down and write it over and over and over again. Keep writing it until you have writers cramp. Writing the information will force your brain into remembering the information. Don't think that writing the study guide is a distraction from studying because writing the study guide IS studying. You are engaging part of your brain that is not engaged when reading or listening to someone quiz you. Effective test studying means engaging many different parts of your brain in order to remember info for a test and that is exactly what these different methods are doing. I'd love to hear your feedback! What test study tricks do you have up your sleeve? What helps you the best when studying for a test? How do you remember information most effectively? |
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Post by Marnie Winters on Jun 10, 2017 9:00:05 GMT
Test study tips:
Even the worst test takers can do well on a test with proper preparation. Here are test preparation and test taking strategies:
Test review: if the instructor gives a test review, make sure to take very good notes. Ask questions, if needed. Ask the instructor to repeat information, if needed (if you need it repeated, odds are someone else needs it repeated, too, so don't be afraid to ask). Make sure to use this information to prepare for a test.
Create a test study guide: use the instructor review to create a test study guide. Make sure to use your notes, books, and all resources to get the answers. If the instructor said it will be on the test, then make sure to find the answer. If you can't find the answer, ask the instructor or a classmate for the answer, so you can prepare an effective guide. If the instructor did not give a review, then do your best to create a study guide. And, yes, still create a test study guide even if the instructor did not give a review for the test. Use your class notes, handouts, books, and all resources to create the guide. Include vocabulary words (terminology), lists, events, important dates, and concepts. The test study guide is important because when you study for the test, you will have all the information right in front of you and will not have to spend a lot of time looking information up constantly--that will be a time waster to study like that. Use highlighters to highlight each new vocabulary word, list, event, or concept.
Using the test study guide: Use it to quiz yourself. Use blank paper to assist you. While leaving the vocabulary word, event, or name of the list uncovered, use the extra paper to cover the answers. Look at each word, event, or list and say the answer-either in your head or out loud-and then uncover the answer to see if you were right. Give the study guide to other people and have them quiz you. For the ones you have difficulty remembering, get blank paper and write it over and over again. You'll eventually start to remember it if you keep writing it.
Flash cards: Use the test study guide to create flash cards by using 3 X 5 note cards. Use a rubber band to hold the cards together and carry them with you all the time. You never know when you will have a few moments to quiz yourself. You can also have others quiz you by giving them the flash cards.
Reading: Read the chapters from your book you will be tested on. Then, reread the chapters and take notes. In the notes, include vocabulary words, events, lists, concepts, important dates. Use the notes when creating the study guide.
If you are a good test taker, what study strategies do you have? What works best for you? What test preparation strategies have not worked well?
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Post by Marnie Winters on Jun 17, 2017 15:06:41 GMT
Here are some study tricks that have made my life easier and will likely help you, too:
Study almost every day of the week. Don't try and save everything for one day. If you have multiple classes, it'll be impossible to get everything done in one day and it will leave you feeling tired and burned out, not to mention stressed. It is fine to take one or two days off a week, but you should really try and commit to studying the rest of the days of the week, even if you only study for a short amount of time on a couple of those days.
Take a break about every 60 minutes or so. Get up, walk around, get a snack or something to drink, use the restroom, or whatever you are so inclined to do. Don't make it a long break. A long break turns into a longer break, which then gets longer, and pretty soon it just turns into procrastination. Keep the breaks in between 5-10 minutes and then hit the books for another hour.
At the beginning of every week, sit down and review your upcoming week. Make a list of all readings, homework assignments, papers, tests, team meetings, and everything you need to do for each class. Review your work schedule, class schedule, and other commitments. Figure out how much time it will take you to complete all your class assignments and papers, to study for tests, to complete your readings, and to do anything else you need to do for class and then figure out how much time will be required to complete everything. Then, decide how much time you plan to study each day of the week and list the assignments you will complete on each day. Be realistic and make sure to allot enough time to complete your assignments. You don't want to sell yourself short on time and not be able to complete everything. Use a student planner to help you keep track of when you will complete everything, in addition to assignments, due dates, and test dates.
At the beginning of each study period, set study goals. What do you need to accomplish? How long will it take you? Keep the list on your desk where you can easily see it. As you complete each item, happily cross it off your list.
Reward yourself at the end of every study period, provided you accomplished everything you set out to do. It can be simple. Buy yourself an ice cream cone. Buy yourself a hamburger from your favorite fast food restaurant. Ride your bicycle. Watch your favorite TV show. Play a video game. Play with the dog. Whatever gives you happiness and is fun and stress relieving.
Study in silence. No music, no TV, no friends, no children, and no distractions whatsoever. It is rarely true that people study better with background noise. You lose your focus, even if you don't realize it. You stop for few minutes to watch a commercial or your favorite part of a movie. You start singing the lyrics of your favorite song. Or, you answer 1,001questions for your children, or stop to listen for them to make sure everything is okay in the other room. Silence is better for your study time.
Don't jump around on assignments when you are doing your homework. When you start an activity, stick with it until completion. Finish the homework assignment. If studying for a test, study for the amount of time you committed to when you set your homework goals. If completing a lengthy assignment that will take more than one study session to complete, then continue working on that assignment until you have studied for the amount of time you committed to when setting your homework goals.
Begin studying for tests early. Don't wait until the day before the test to begin studying for a test. Start preparing at least a week in advance and then study a little every day until the day of the test. You will likely get a much higher grade if you don't cram.
What strategies have you used that have worked well for you? What didn't work well?
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Post by Marnie Winters on Jun 24, 2017 13:33:40 GMT
Set Study Goals:
You will study much more effectively if you set study goals for yourself. Setting study goals for yourself means you will know exactly what you need to do each time you sit down to study, it will help you make sure you get all your homework assignments turned in, and it will help you do better on tests. Overall, you can get a better grade in the class.
At the beginning of each week-on Saturdays or Sundays-sit down with your student planner and syllabi for the classes and go through all the assignments you have for the upcoming week--homework assignments, team projects, tests, and everything you need to do for the class--and make a list of what is due this week, what needs worked on this week, and what studying you need to do this week. Estimate how much time it will take you to complete each specific item. Then, decide when you will do it. If you have multiple classes going on at once, it may be really difficult to get everything done in one day. You will likely need to plan to spend multiple days getting everything done. If you are enrolled full-time, you may need to plan to study for at least 5-6 days to get everything completed. Anyway, map out each day and what you will be working on those days.
Each day you study, set specific goals for that time period. What class are you working on? What is the assignment? What problems in the book do you need to do? When are the due dates? If you are completing multiple assignments, rank them in the order that you need to complete them. How do you decide the order? Start with the assignments that are due first. Those are the most pressing. If some assignments are due on the same day, then start with the assignments you can complete the fastest. Get them done and get them out of the way. Then, you can quickly work your way down to just a couple lengthy assignments.
Don't spend a lot of time on study goals. This isn't a lengthy process. On Saturdays or Sundays, you should be able to have the weekly planning done in about 30 minutes or less. Don't obsess on when you will be doing things-just make a quick decision.
For the daily goals, your planning should be five minutes or less. After all, you already know what you need to complete; you now just need to decide on the order. Organize by due date and the amount of time it will take you to finish the assignments (complete the shortest assignments first and the longer assignments last, so you can get as many assignments done as possible during that study time).
Be realistic when setting your goals. When deciding how much time it will take you to complete an assignments, set an appropriate amount of time. Remember, you are setting these goals for yourself, not someone else. If you don't plan for enough time to complete the assignments, you are only shortchanging yourself.
Have you ever set study goals for yourself in the past? If so, how has it gone? What worked well? What didn't work at all? What changes did you make?
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Post by Marnie Winters on Jul 5, 2017 8:10:08 GMT
For every one hour you spend in class, plan to spend two hours studying. So, if you have a class that meets for one hour a day, five days per week, then you spend five hours per week in class. This means you need to study for 10 hours per week. Spread these 10 hours out over several days. You should plan to spend a minimum of five days a week studying; six days of study time is preferable and recommended. You can spread the ten hours out however you like. Even if you don't think you need the full 10 hours, do it anyway. Reread a chapter, take notes from the info presented in the book, make flash cards from the vocabulary words in the assigned chapters, reread your notes from class. Basically, find something to do. Your grades will reflect it later, because these study habits are ones that lead to very good grades.
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Post by Marnie Winters on Jul 11, 2017 8:45:55 GMT
All studying aside, what can you do on the day of the test to make the test taking easier on you? First, sleep well the night before. Most adults need 7-9 hours of sleep to feel rested and be effective during the day. Don't stay up all night cramming the night before for the test. Plan in advance and have all your studying done at a reasonable hour the day prior to the test, then go to bed at a sensible time. If you can, get up a little early the morning before (only after having slept for those 7-9 hours) and review any areas where you had difficulty. This way, the hard areas will still be fresh in your head for test time. If you can, arrive to your class about 20 minutes ahead of time or so and sit and review your difficult concepts one last time. This time should be for the items you really have trouble remembering, for equations, functions, formulas, concepts, processes, or whatever makes you struggle the most. Second, when you go in to take the test, the first thing you should do is write your name on the test. If it is a multi-page test that is stapled together, I recommend writing your name on each page, in case it becomes unattached on accident later. Make sure this is the absolute first thing you do. Once you get going on the test, writing your name on it may completely slip your mind and you don't want to turn the test in without your name. It can be difficult to try and fix that later, and you may risk getting a grade of 0 on the test (some teachers can be mean and will automatically give a grade of 0 for tests without a name). Third, do a "brain dump". Turn your test over and write down any difficult concepts, math equations, formulas, important events, dates, people, terminology, or whatever it is that gives you trouble. While it is still fresh in your head (from your early morning review, remember?  ) you want to get it out on paper, so you can refer back to it later. Once you start taking the test, other information is going to start running around in your head and the info you reviewed earlier may be pushed right out, so it is best to write it down before you forget what you just read. Fourth, prior to taking the test, make sure to eat something. If you are hungry, you won't do as well as if you are full. Now, I am not suggesting you eat yourself into a food coma. That is just as bad as being hungry. But, eat something to avoid having hunger pangs, to avoid having your stomach growl, and to avoid thinking about what you will eat next and where your next meal will come from. Fifth, when you go to take the test, make sure you have what you need. If it is a math test, take your calculator. Some teachers will let you make "cheat cards" for the test, where you can write down notes of difficult concepts on a 3 X 5 index card and take it to the test with you; write those note cards and stick them in your backpack. Always take #2 pencils and an eraser. Most pencils have erasers on the end, but I always liked those big pink erasers, especially when I had to write an essay. I'd get partway through it, change my mind, and then do a lot of erasing in order to correct what I'd written. Those erasers never fail me. Anyway, decide what other items you need to specifically get through the test and make sure you have them. Put them in your backpack the night before and leave your backpack by the front door. Double check your backpack in the morning before you leave the house. It is really important to have everything you need because if you show up to a test without having all the items you need, it could leave you in complete trouble for the test. |
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Post by Marnie Winters on Jul 15, 2017 14:19:51 GMT
Class organization and preparation strategies:
When purchasing school supplies, buy single subject notebooks, not the multi-subject notebooks. Purchase each notebook in a different color. Purchase a two pocket folder for each class and also purchase these in different colors. Make the colors of the folders and notebooks match. So, for instance, if you have four classes, then purchase a red notebook and folder, a blue notebook and folder, a green notebook and folder, and a yellow notebook and folder. Pair the notebooks and folders up based on color and assign a color to each class. Red can equal math, blue can equal freshman composition, green can equal science, and yellow can equal psychology. Doing this will enable you to make a visual connection. Every time you see the red notebook and folder, you will know it belongs to math. I do recommend writing the course number and name on the outside of the notebook and folder for identification purposes, but the color just helps give you a visual confirmation. This will help you make sure you get the right materials when it is time to study. It will help you pack your backpack correctly. You can make sure you pack the right notebook and folder.
Some people like the multi-subject notebooks, but I discourage them for a few reasons. First, the multi-subject notebooks are heavier than the single subject notebooks. You'll weigh your backpack down by carrying around notes you may not need for that particular day. Second, the multi-subject notebooks are heavier and take up more room in your backpack. If you will have a busy day and need to take a lot of supplies with you that day, the notebook will be taking up valuable room in your backpack. Third, if something happens and you lose a notebook, you will have lost your notebook for multiple classes, not just one. Fourth, it is cheaper to buy single subject notebooks than a multi-subject notebook, even when buying multiple single subject notebooks.
Every night before you go to bed, pack your backpack. Figure out what you need to take the next day and put it in your backpack. Leave it by the front door, so it will be ready and waiting for you the next day. Planning the night before gives you a chance to think about what you need and to pack accordingly. Many times, people end up rushed in the morning. It is bad to try and pack a backpack when you are rushed. You may end up forgetting something important.
Keep certain supplies in your backpack all the time. Fill a pencil pouch with things you know you will need. This includes items such as pens, pencils, erasers, a mini-stapler, a few paperclips, and a few post-its. Take whatever you use on a consistent basis. If you leave the supplies in the backpack constantly, it will reduce the chances that you leave the house without them. If you know you will always need and use these supplies, there is no reason to empty them out of your backpack each time. You should have back-ups at home or in your dorm, so you have something to use when studying, so you aren't in a position where you have to remove the items in your backpack. The items you put in your backpack should specifically be dedicated to your backpack. If you take them out when at home or in your dorm, there is a chance you may forget to put them back in when you are finished studying.
What strategies have you used in the past that have been useful? You can comment in this forum; I would really like to hear about it.
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Post by Marnie Winters on Jul 22, 2017 13:47:30 GMT
At the beginning of every term, gather all the syllabi for your classes and write down the reading assignments and due dates on a 3 X 5 index card. Place the index card in your textbook once you have finished writing all the reading assignments on it. Use the card as a bookmark. When you go to read the required textbook readings, you will already know what you need to read, based on what is written on the card. Once you have read a required reading, take a highlighter and highlight the required reading you just completed. The reason to use a highlighter is because you will still be able to read what you have written. Highlighted means it is done, and since you can read it, you'll know exactly what it is you just read. It can be a struggle to try and figure out what you did later, if you used a black pen to cross the item off the list. Don't make it hard on yourself. Trust me, there will be times down the road when an instructor is discussing a certain chapter and you find yourself wondering...did I read that?...and the index card will be a quick way to confirm whether or not you read it. Plus, it makes an extremely handy bookmark.
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Post by Marnie Winters on Aug 1, 2017 23:55:46 GMT
My name is Marnie Winters and I am the administrator for this particular forum. I would love to field your questions. If you have a question, please feel free to ask. If there is a topic you would like to see discussed, please post it. If you want to remain anonymous or don't want to register with the forum to ask a question or request a topic, please e-mail me at FindingMyPath@hotmail.com. I check this e-mail frequently and would be more than happy to address the question or topic for you. I really am receptive to hearing from you and hope to hear from you soon.
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) you want to get it out on paper, so you can refer back to it later. Once you start taking the test, other information is going to start running around in your head and the info you reviewed earlier may be pushed right out, so it is best to write it down before you forget what you just read.