Study Strategies

 Have you ever spent an entire weekend studying for  an exam, until your head was about to explode, and then when you took the exam, you had over studied, or not studied enough. I’m sure this has occurred to most students throughout the course of their education. I have some simple techniques that could possibly help you to avoid this all together.

first off when you begin a class, you need to find a way of studying that works for you! for example you wouldn’t study for a history class the same way you would for a math class, or biology class. so try out different techniques. some techniques you can try are:

-Rewriting your notes, this allows you to organize the data in your own way, so it is easier for you to simplify and absorb.

-Flashcards, this is a great way to memorize alot of nitty gritty information in a short time period. its great for classes like biology where you have many definitions, that you will need to understand.

-pair share- get together with a fellow class mate, and take turns discussing, and teaching difficult material to each other, this is great when you have alot of difficult complex ideas, that you cannot really memorize.

-make a practice exam for a friend. by making each other a practice exam, your forced to think like the teacher, so you have to dig through the material, and find the most important information in the material. plus you learn the info as you build the test. it can be very beneficial, when you have alot of info to cover, and your having trouble narrowing down the hot points!

-make a matrix! this can help you group and organize important data into a chart, so you can see the information connect with one another! it can be very helpful, when you are memorizing alot of classifications, or in biology when you learn different tissue types.

-make yourself a worksheet- or study guide. begin these early, so that you have plenty of time to fill it out and absorb the information. if your finishing your study guide a night before the exam, it will be pretty useless to you, but if you can study off it for a few days to a week, it can become a very valuable tool.

these are some easy study techniques, also remember to study in quiet, don’t study while watching television, or blaring music. you really should try and focus on the subject and that alone. also take breaks! it will help keep you on task and keep you from getting overwhelmed!

hope this is helpful! and you all succeed in getting the grades you work so hard to attain!