Study Skills

There’s a big test approaching. Anxious thoughts of taking pen to paper, divulging all the random facts your student should know, looms over his shoulders as the big day draws near. How does he prepare? Does he stay up the night before going over as much of the subject as his mind can handle? Is he calm or a nervous wreck?

Studying effectively takes strategy--a planned approach toward tackling what needs to be accomplished. Here are some great, simple studying tips that will make your student’s next test a little easier.

Space Your Study Sessions

While most students find themselves trying to study as much as they can in a night or two, research shows that pacing study sessions over a long period of time allows a student to remember more information. It promotes long-term memory.

“Researchers aren’t exactly sure why spacing is so effective. However, one possible cause is that, over time, people forget what they learned in their initial study session. Then, when they come back to the material later, the new study session jogs their memory and they recall what they learned the first time around. That process — forgetting and retrieval — helps cement the new knowledge in place.”

Students should begin studying for a test at least 2 weeks in advance. Spending an hour or two each day studying before test day will help solidify the information needed.

Interweave Your Subjects

Perhaps a new concept to many, interweaving subjects or different parts of a lesson is a great study strategy. Instead of spending hours on one particular subject or lesson, students can rotate between 2-3 subjects within a study session. This will help the student compare similarities and differences between topics, which will further help integrate the information.

As an example, if a student has an English test which includes literature and vocabulary, he would benefit from spending 20 minutes on literature, 20 minutes on vocabulary, and then rotating back to literature. The same would go if there were 3-5 different subjects the student had to study.

Test Yourself

Tried and true, when students test themselves while studying they are able to assess how much information they know, and what they need to continue to focus on. It’s a good idea for students, during the entire school year, to spend some time daily testing themselves on what they just learned. This will make studying easier as they will begin to just refer to information they already went over.

What are some ways that you or your student studies?

http://www.apa.org/gradpsych/2011/11/study-smart.aspx

About LearningRx

LearningRx Millburn/Short Hills is a locally owned brain training center specializing in treating the cause ––not the symptoms––of learning struggles. The programs’ game like exercises and one-on-one trainer-to-student ratios provide guaranteed dramatic improvement in as little as 12 to 32 weeks. The Center is one of more than 80 centers across the country, that can help anyone––from 5 to 85––increase the speed, power or function of their brain. See more here: www.learningrx.com/short-hills.