Testing 1-2-3 by Grace

Testing 1-2-3 by Grace - May 2016 Scholarship Essay

Final exams. The phrase is so frightening and… final. So what’s the easy study trick to exam success? Seriously? If there was a simple answer, then thousands of pencil-biting, Starbucks-laden, sleep-deprived teens would have already filled that prescription.
As I struggle through my final round of high school exams – the biggies, Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate testing for college credit, dual credit courses, and final subject tests hoping to score high enough to be exempt from yet more final exams… I do have a “how to” for study methods but it may not meet your need to pass next week’s exams.
First, studying for a test is not a single event. As a student, learn your weaknesses and when to study alone and when to study in groups to fill the gaps. Do you procrastinate when it comes to math homework? Do you keep putting off reading the book that no one is monitoring but there will be a test eventually…? You have to find the process that fits the subject area and one that keeps you on schedule the entire semester and keeps your grades high.
Reading English novels and history texts? The first week of the semester, I get out the syllabus and decorate my books with those nifty Post-it tabs to break the daunting reading assignments into chapters and chunks and write the due date on each tab. Haven’t bought the novel yet? Why are you waiting?
Having all of the pieces of the puzzle is the only way you are going to finish it. Make sure your due dates are earlier than the teachers, because stuff happens and you will need to adjust the Post-its from time to time. Next, know your friends - not the go to the movies or hang together ones, the other kind – the ones you can study with. They are either a bit ahead or a bit behind you in grades and you can work on poetry charts and historical timelines together, review for tests and edit essays for each other. They like hanging at a local 24 hour coffee shop or maybe in the town library, or maybe in your dining room that has turned into a study fort. You keep each other on track, and my personal favorite benny – they keep you from falling asleep. If you don’t have those kinds of friends, start texting those classmates. You need each other. I promise. Because at final exam time, you will have worked through World War I and II together and it becomes a simple review, not the beginning of a mountain of work and a frustrating study adventure.
Math and science challenges? I learned the hard way that math is not a “do homework – take a test” subject area. If math, science and technology do not come naturally and makes you circle your room and decide that you are more productive watching endless episodes of Dr. Who while you stare at the chemistry problems, if you do not do the dreaded “extra” problems to check your understanding… and horrors, if you truly have never really ‘read’ (you know, the take notes, follow the examples, check web sites to fill in the knowledge gaps kind of reading) then it’s time for tutoring. Tutoring is not for dummies, it keeps smart kids on track. It makes a B student an A student and all of that other propaganda… but it really does work. A good tutor works through a current review of the material, helps you with the homework, AND introduces what’s coming next so you are ahead of the curve. Tutors can’t
cram knowledge in your brain at the last minute and rescue your grade, but they build better study habits and renew confidence …and they prevent procrastination because they show up expecting you to have done the prep work (ugh!). Find the right tutor. I used to send my tutor a text of a completely confounding geometry problem on non-tutoring days. My tutor would send clues and hints, or sometimes just call me at 10pm (making my mom crazy that I was talking on the phone that late) and get me turned back in the right direction. Tutors can be paid, they can be older brothers, or friends that already took the class… but set up a regular time and a meaningful routine. Soon, you will actually be tutoring others and there is no better way to reinforce those theorems, than to teach it to somebody
else.
So make lists, mark books, find a study group, and engage tutors for your challenge classes. But wait, you must be disappointed. I didn’t give you a study method to help you through final exams. So, short term? Take out a piece a paper and make a schedule from right now to the very last exam. Block out exactly what you are planning to do in each morning, evening and afternoon time block. Be realistic and add family events and sleep to the schedule. And here’s the key, mark the study locations for each block - school library, Starbucks, algebra teacher's classroom. Now, follow it. Reread my essay before the next semester and add in a few study friends and methods. I promise, your schedule and methods will not look like mine, but they will work and you may actually get a bit more sleep before the exam.