Tutors Are Necessary! by Ivy

Tutors Are Necessary! by Ivy - May 2016 Scholarship Essay

It's the general consensus of most High School students that the best method to study for a final exam scheduled for the very next morning is to drink a pound of coffee, top it with a dozen energy drinks, and to stare blankly at their textbooks until class the next morning. After all.. It works in the movies, right?

In reality, this method proves to be more of a hindrance than a help; Contrary to the claims on the big screen. Here's why; The human brain retrieves memories best when in a similar state to when they were initially remembered. Hence why it's so easy to think of happy memories when you're in a pleasant mood, or depressing ones when you're feeling a bit blue. In this particular case, this trait in the brain means that everything that your over caffeinated brain memorized over the past few hours is completely unavailable to your now sleep depraved brain, as the two are in noticeably different states.

What's the alternative, you ask? Well, pretty much anything else.

Over my high school career, I've picked up a few tricks of the trade as far as passing final exams go; And, anti-climatically, they're exactly the same tricks that most elementary students learn before they start any state test. This is, of course, because these tactics have been time tested to noticeably increase any score they're applied to.

My first piece of advice is to always ensure that, as a student, you're always keeping up with the class. This way students have more time to learn the content, as well as to commit various keywords, concepts and theories to long term memory (Which is, spoiler alert, where you really, really want information to go). If, for any reason, you notice that you're not understanding the content of the class, don't assume staying up all night staring at the textbook will solve all your problems and grant you a good grade on the final. This simply isn't going to happen. Instead, take the time to ask for help from the teacher, fellow students, or even a tutor. It's just easier to memorize something you understand than an odd keyword that you can parrot back if given the right prompt, so a tutor is well worth the money.

Secondly, before taking the final exam ensure that you've had enough sleep. It's far harder for a sleep deprived brain to access specific memories or to process clear thought when it's running on less than the suggested amount of sleep for your age (For high school students it's about 8 1/2 hours). A healthy, home cooked breakfast often helps improve the ability of clear thinking and information recall as well.

Thirdly, while the stereotypical 'All nighter' is complete nonsense, it's important to spend about an hour or two the night before the test to briefly review the content and understand previously missed concepts. It's a good idea to lay out the supplies needed for the test the night before hand, as well, so there's no panic when you realize that you've forgotten your lucky pencil, etc, etc.

Finally, it's incredibly crucial that students develop memory cues as they learn the course content. Memory cues are little hints that provoke a memory, such as why skimming a multiple choice question will remind a student just what that property was called in Algebra, and so on, and so forth. While multiple choice based tests provide ample cue content, it's best practice for students to make their own personal cues for fill in the blank or essay cases. Such cues can be basic wordplay, such as in the classic rhyme commonly known as 'You owe me five farthings say the bells of St. Martin's.' that was originally developed to memorize nearby churches.

Other cues can be based on one's own creativity or train of thought. For instance, when I was studying for the knowledge portion of my driver's license test; The method in which I remembered that roundabouts were designed for 20 to 25 mph speeds was the fact that the word roundabout contained ten letters, which, when doubled equaled twenty. Cues can be anything that activate a certain memory, and thus trigger the retrieval of information, whether it makes sense written down or not.

Stated simply, the students who tend to pass their finals exams are the same students who have studied the course for longer than just skimming the book the night before the exam. Apply yourself throughout the year, and your final exam grades will reflect your hard work.