How to Study for an Approaching Exam, Part 2

Tips: • It is sometimes assumed you just know how to study, but it's a learned skill. Unfortunately, some schools do not specifically teach these skills, and just leave you to figure it out on your own. Ask your teacher, guidance counselor, and parents for these services if you think you may need extra help. If you feel lost about it, remember that you are not the only one. • Some study guides the teacher gives you will not give you questions that will be in the test, but rather aspects that will be in the test, which you should have notes on. If you don't have notes on something, ask the teacher! Don't wait around wondering. • Ensure you're prepared. To achieve a high score on an exam, develop effective study habits throughout the semester or term. Spending dedicated time each day learning the materials and creating study sheets in the process is highly beneficial in improving or maintaining high performance. • You mustn't procrastinate. You will not do your best on the exam if you do, and procrastination is a serious problem for some. • In severe cases, some students with chronic organizational issues may have an underlying learning disability which is not recognized. This does not mean you're stupid, only that you may need to go about learning using a slightly different way. • Study in a neat, tidy area, not a cluttered, papers-flying-around place. Have everything in order. Sharpen your pencils, get your erasers, etc. • Keep in mind that it's better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. • Should you have no option but to cram, one helpful method is to use a scent such as a scented candle or a spray. Spray it on your notes, books, whatever you have that you're studying on. Spray it on your binder, especially. Then, spray your pillow with the same scent, enough to smell it. Spray some on your hand the next day as this will bring back memories of studying. • If you were absent a day, and missed notes, diagrams, maps, etc., don't wait until the day before or even the test day to get these. Get the information in the time you have! • Friends are not always a reliable source for notes. Get the notes from the teacher instead. The point of notes are to take down what you think will be important. Your friend and you may have a very different idea of what is important from the information. • If the teacher writes certain points on the board, this is usually an important indicator of what will be tested, and you should write it down as well. Warnings: • Never cheat on a test no matter how desperate you are. Listen to your conscience. It can be worse to be caught cheating on a test than failing a class. You won't feel as good as you should if you pass the test. Aim to walk out of that classroom with pride, knowing you did your best. This is far better than false pride, and having to shove aside the thought that you cheated. • Commercial notes like "Cliff Notes" may be appropriate study aids, but realize they're not substitutes for your own notes. • Avoid cramming; it's not a good study habit. Next time, study consistently over the school year. • Not everyone is good at cramming. If you're one of these people, make sure that you cover only what will be on the test, and to be on the safe side, a little bit of the next unit, should the teacher include a question like that. • Don't stay up too late studying. When faced with lack of time, study the main details only that sum up the information. If you stayed up all night and learned the material, you can still do poorly as a result of lack of sleep. • Don't study so hard that by the time you see the answers your mind blanks out because you studied too hard and you're too stressed out to function. "Studying hard" doesn't mean studying to the point of utter exhaustion. • Study groups can turn into a social event rather than academic discipline. It can help to have an adult monitor your studying, even if it's a helpful parent. • In some cases, friends may not always be the best with studying. If you miss questions on an assignment which you can use to study for the test, your best bet is to ask a teacher about the question you missed. Studying the wrong answer is one of the worst things you can do to study for the test. • As for procrastination, do not use the "I'm going to study after..." because this is simply procrastination in poor disguise. Things You'll Need: • Materials to study with, • A good study area. originated by: Abercrombiefan, Sondra C, VermontGal, Thing1 Source: www.wikihow.com