| By following these twelve tips, you will be guaranteed | | | | going to geta drink or snack or listen to a specific song |
| to get straight AAAAA's. Read each tip carefully. | | | | after you finishre-copying your notes for science. |
| 1. Find a quiet area in your house in which you | | | | Make the breaks short, |
| arecomfortable and can isolate yourself from | | | | 3-6 minutes or so, so you won't get side-tracked or |
| distractions. Besure that this space includes a chair, | | | | losefocus for the day. |
| table or desk, andsufficient lighting. Ask others not to | | | | 8. Don't just re-read notes or the text. Ask questions. |
| disturb you while youare in this special location and turn | | | | Createflash-cards. Redo assignments. Create |
| off all phones, beepers,televisions, videos, music, or | | | | time-lines. Playgames. Re-write your notes. Get |
| anything else that your mindwill wander to instead of | | | | someone to quiz you. |
| focusing on the schoolwork. | | | | Find websites online that review the same material. |
| 2. Find the best time to study. Some students tend to | | | | Makeup questions that you think will be on the test. |
| dotheir best work as soon as they get home from | | | | Create newoutlines of the material by writing some |
| schoolwhile they are still in the school mode. Others | | | | specific topics andfilling in the details from memory. |
| need abreak and don't settle down to study until after | | | | Studying should be anactive process, not just time |
| practice,playtime, a nap, dinner and/or family time. Just | | | | spent re-reading something. |
| be sure toallow yourself enough time to get everything | | | | 9. When you need to remember a group of terms use |
| done and stillget enough sleep each night. | | | | the firstletter of each to create a word (acronym) or a |
| 3. Organize your day, week, month, etc. Set aside a | | | | sentence |
| specifictime each day to do your homework and | | | | (acrostic). For instance, an easy way to remember the |
| study. Decide ona reasonable minimum amount of time | | | | five |
| that you will spendin this quiet place each day. For | | | | Great Lakes is the word "HOMES". By just |
| instance, lets say youdecide on 45 minutes as a | | | | rememberingthe word "homes" you can easily |
| reasonable amount of time todedicate to schoolwork | | | | remember the names ofthe five Great Lakes . H |
| each day. This means that even ifhomework is | | | | stands for Huron, O for Ontario , Mfor Michigan , and |
| completed in the first 35 minutes that you willstill stay in | | | | so on. You can also create sillysentences to help you |
| this area and study or review notes for thenext 10 | | | | remember long lists of terms. Forinstance, |
| minutes until the 45 is up. | | | | remembering the sentence "Martha Visits Every |
| 4. Reward yourself for sticking to your schedule and | | | | Monday, Just Stays Until Noon, Period", will help |
| beingproductive. Decide on an activity to do once your | | | | youremember the planets in the order they are found. |
| studytime is completed. Plan on watching a television | | | | M for |
| show laterin the evening. Tell yourself that you will play | | | | Mercury, V for visits, E for Earth, etc. |
| five minutesof a video game for every fifteen minutes | | | | 10. Become a teacher. Find someone who is willing to |
| that you study. | | | | listen toyou -, a classmate (this would be a great |
| Create goals and their rewards before you start | | | | review for them), |
| studyingand work hard to reach them each and every | | | | Mom or Dad, a sibling, the family dog - and explain |
| day. | | | | yournotes to them. Have them (except the dog) ask |
| 5. Variety is important. Vary the topics that you are | | | | questionsabout the material that they themselves don't |
| spendingtime studying. Get the mandatory homework | | | | understand. |
| out of theway first and then go back and spend the | | | | It's amazing how much you can retain when you have |
| additional timereviewing material from different courses | | | | toactually teach material to someone. |
| each day. If youspent extra time reviewing history | | | | 11. Repetition, repetition, repetition. The material |
| yesterday, spend theadditional time on science tonight. | | | | shouldbecome second nature to you by the time test |
| Some subject areasmay require more time than | | | | day arrives. |
| others. You should get a feelfor this a month or so into | | | | If it is not, then you need to devote more time to |
| the school year. | | | | preparingfor the test. |
| 6. Study the difficult subjects first and get them out of | | | | 12. Exercise often and before you sit down to study. |
| theway. You will be able to absorb material quicker | | | | Researchshows that students retain more after being |
| and makemore connections when you are mentally | | | | physicallyactive. Go to soccer practice, take a jog, |
| fresh. | | | | rough-housewith your dog, break a sweat first, then |
| 7. Take regular study breaks. This can also serve as a | | | | settle down andfocus on your school work. |
| mini-reward. For instance, tell yourself that you are | | | | |