Find below a list of study tips that
will help your student succeed in school
1. Listen attentively in class.
2. Take thorough and accurate notes.
3. Schedule a time to study each day.
4. Select a specific place to study each day.
5. Set academic goals for your week, grading period, and year.
6. Ask relevant questions.
7. Organize your time wisely.
8. Review class notes each day and study all class notes prior to a test.
Detailed Study Tip Information
Tips for Remembering
Remembering is a tricky business. We can remember some things easily yet cannot seem to remember other things. We remember some things throughout our lives, while others things seem to come in one door in our mind and go out the other.
There is no "magic pill" for remembering. But here are some tips that can help.
- Try to understand the information you must remember. Understanding the information will allow you to relate the information you must remember to what you already know.
- Try to form an association between the information you must remember and a person, place, object, situation, or emotion.
- Frequently recite the information you must remember or write it several times.
- If you must remember a large body of information, try to break the information into smaller, more manageable categories. Then work on remembering the information in each category separately.
- Create a graphic organizer for the information you must remember. It is easier to remember information that is organized than to remember information that seems to be all over the place.
- Try to bring a personal touch to the information you must remember. Relating the information to something about you will make it easier to remember.
- Try to form a picture in your mind of the information you must remember. Visual imagery is a powerful tool for remembering.
- Try to apply what you must remember. For example, if you are trying to remember the meanings of some new vocabulary words, use the words in your speaking and writing.
- Test yourself. A good way to do this is to write a question about the information you must remember on the front side of an index card and the answer to the question on the back. Use as many cards as you need. Look at the questions, try to answer them, and then check to see how you did.
- Try to make remembering a fun activity by creating games using the information you must remember.
Remembering is not just something you must do in school. It is something you must do in all aspects of your life.
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Using Acronyms to Remember Information
Forming an acronym is a good strategy to use to remember information in any order. An acronym is a word that is formed from the first letter of each fact to be remembered. It can be a real word or a nonsense word you are able to pronounce.
Here is how to form an acronym.
- Write the facts you need to remember.
- Underline the first letter of each fact. If there is more than one word in a fact, underline the first letter of only the first word in the fact.
- Arrange the underlined letters to form an acronym that is a real word or a nonsense word you can pronounce.
"HOMES" is an example of an acronym that is a real word you can use to remember the names of the five Great Lakes: Michigan, Erie, Superior, Ontario, Huron: In HOMES, H is the first letter of Huron and helps you remember that name; O is the first letter of Ontario, and so on.
"Telk" is an acronym that can be used to remember the following animals: tiger, lion, elephant, kangaroo. "Telk" is not a real word, but you can easily pronounce it. You could also have used "kelt" as an acronym. Notice that in this example, you cannot form a real word using the first letter of each fact to be remembered.
Sometimes two or more of the facts you must remember each begin with the same first letter. For example, the acronym "capp" can be used to remember the following fruits: pear, apple, peach, cherry. You can use the first letter "p" in the acronym to remember either "pear" or "peach" and the second letter "p" to remember the other.
Use the acronym strategy as a way to remember information.
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Using Acronymic Sentences to Remember Information
Creating an acronymic sentence is a good strategy to use when you have to remember information in a certain order. An acronymic sentence is a sentence that is created using the first letter of each piece of information to be remembered.
Here is how to create an acronymic sentence.
- Write each piece of information you have to remember.
- Underline the first letter of each piece of information. If there is more than one word in a piece of information, underline the first letter of the most important word.
- Write a sentence using words that begin with the underlined letters.
"My (Mercury) very (Venus) earthy (Earth) mother (Mars) just (Jupiter) served (Saturn) us (Uranus) nine (Neptune) pizzas (Pluto)" is an acronymic sentence that students through the years have used to remember the order of planets around our sun, from closest to farthest. If you accept recent evidence that Pluto is not a planet, you can use "My very earthy mother just served us noodles."
Here are the five most populous cities in Indiana shown in order from highest to lowest: Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Evansville, South Bend, Gary. Here is an acronymic sentence you can use to remember these cities in the order shown.
"Insects from everywhere seem gross."
Try to form an acronymic sentence that is funny or has a personal meaning for you. You will find the sentence easier to remember if you do this. When you remember the acronymic sentence you create, each word in the sentence will help you remember the piece of information it represents (for example, "Insects" represents "Indianapolis").
Creating acronymic sentences is an effective and fun way to remember information.
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Using Flash Cards to Remember Information
Flash cards are a powerful tool that can help you remember information such as the meanings of vocabulary words, mathematical formulas, history facts, and the correct spelling of words.
Here are some strategies to help you get the most benefit from using flash cards.
- Make flash cards as you learn and study.
Carry a stack of blank cards with you (3" x 5" size works well). Whenever you come across a piece of information you want to remember, write the information on a card. Organize your cards into decks, one for each subject or topic. If you place cards for different subjects or topics in the same deck, you will only become confused. - Use both sides of a card when appropriate.
When learning a new vocabulary word, for example, write the word to be learned on the front of the card and a short two or three word definition on the back of the card. For a historical fact, for example, you might write "George Washington" on the front and "first U.S. president" on the back. Flip the cards over from time to time. Sometimes you will see "George Washington" and will have to remember that he was the first president of the U.S. Other times you will see "first U.S. president" and will have to remember that it was George Washington. Doing this will strengthen your recall of the information. - Use flashcards in several different colors.
Use colors as cues to help you recall a distinctive characteristic about the information on a flash card. For example, if you are using flash cards to remember vocabulary words, use a different color for words that have different connotations. Positive words such as delightful, excellent, and nutritious could go on green or blue cards. Negative words such as resentful, suspicious, and threatened could go on red or yellow cards. You can use neutral colors such as white or tan for words that are neutral (words that are not positive or negative). The particular colors you choose don't matter as long as you are consistent in their use. - Illustrate the cards.
Draw pictures on a card or cut pictures from a magazine and paste them on the card. The more you work at making a card distinctive and interesting, the easier you will find it to recall the information on the card. - Don't put too much information on any one card.
The biggest mistake students make is putting too much information on a single flash card. Each card should contain just one piece of information. - Carry your cards with you.
Review your cards whenever you have a chance. For example, you can review your cards while eating a meal, riding on the school bus, waiting on a line, during long trips, in bed before you go to sleep, and so on. Make reviewing your cards a daily habit like brushing your teeth or taking a shower. - Change the order of the cards frequently.
Shuffle the cards each time you review them. Questions on a test about the information on your cards may come in any order. If you always study the cards in the same order, it will be difficult for you to remember a piece of information when it is not in the order you studied.
Flash cards are easy to make and easy to use, and they are a great tool for remembering information.
