Study Strategies & Testing Tips:
Simple Ways to Sharpen Study Skills & Boost Test Scores

By: Shannon M. Dean

“Take out your number two pencils.” Your child probably hears this phrase often. According to Teacher’s College at Columbia University, American students may be the most tested kids in the world, taking more than 100 million standardized tests every year. The results of these tests are taken very seriously by educators, parents, and administrators. Yet, as school’s push greater academic expectations, very few offer instruction on how to effectively study for and excel on tests. As a parent you can help your child learn how to record and retain important information, efficiently study, and ace tests.

ACTIVE LEARNING AND NOTE TAKING
Jay Klusky, PhD. author of Easy A’s: Winning the School Game (Uptone Press) says learning involves only two things - “getting information into your head, and getting it back out again.” Without the ability to comprehend and record what the teacher is communicating, your child will likely miss key information. Karen Abrams, study consultant and founder of Upgrade Academic Coaching, says kids should train themselves to actively listen to the teacher, scanning for important information which may later be on a test. She advises students to “watch your teacher and look for hints that are dropped… such as the repetition of particular information over the course of a week, or the teacher really getting excited about what they are sharing.”

Most experts suggest upper grade students use a loose leaf notebook for note taking because it allows students to easily extract pages and change the order. Consider having your child draw a light vertical line about 3 or 4 inches from the left margin for a recall column. Notes will be taken on the right side of this column skipping lines between different themes, ideas and thoughts. After the lecture, the student should digest, extract and record key information on the recall column. This encourages your child to immediately process information while it’s still fresh and will make studying less time-consuming later.

ACTIVE, REPETITIVE, SCHEDULED STUDYING
The test date has been announced and now it’s time to get to work. When students pull out all of their notes, previous homework, and text books, they sometimes become overwhelmed and discouraged. Make the process more manageable by helping your child break down only relevant information into manageable pieces which can be reviewed a little each day. Experts agree there’s a direct correlation between successful test taking and a student’s ability to create a workable, repetitive study schedule: “It makes the difference between an A and a C,” says Abrams who suggests scheduling both study and play time every day.

Klusky says the key to effective studying is to review material actively rather than passively - a practice he calls “active encoding” where a student digests information and then turns it into an entirely different format. Examples include teaching someone else what you’ve learned, putting information into your own words, making charts or timelines of key events. “Instead of just highlighting and going over your material repeatedly, try to really memorize it by asking questions that demand you to pull the information back out of your head again,” explains Klusky.

Experts agree it is far better to study for shorter periods over more days than to cram a lot of study time into a few days. It’s also usually more beneficial to tackle the most challenging information first. Help your child vary his study diet by rotating a combination of different active exercises (see Sidebar for ideas). The more practice your child gets, the more confidence he will have at test time and the less overwhelmed he’ll be.

TEST TAKING TRICKS
Arm your child with a watch, several sharpened pencils with new erasers and a positive attitude. Remind your child that she is well prepared and can use this opportunity to show off her hard work and mastery. Studies show that children who can use relaxation techniques do better on tests. Teach your child to deep breathe before tests and to revisit his breathing if he starts to tense up. Remind him to quickly analyze a test when it hits his desk and to do the following:

1. Read each set of instructions before starting - ask for clarification, if needed.
2. Scan the test to see if any sections are worth more points - complete those sections first.
3. Finish the easiest questions in each section first.
4. Save enough time to check work before time is up.

Cover these bases and help your child to adequately and regularly study carefully-selected material, and your child will likely have more success and less anxiety at test time.
 

Sidebar: Tips for Active Encoding & Memorization

• Have your child condense all key information onto one page. This helps the student weed out irrelevant information and provides a portable study sheet to take anywhere.
   
• Pretend you are a reporter interviewing your child on the test subject. Ask him to explain the main points to an audience who has no previous knowledge.
   
• Consider allowing your child to occasionally study with a buddy or study group. When kids discuss key points and issues, they are actively encoding the material.
   
• Take a break at least every 50 minutes. Overstuffing the brain with too much information at any one time can actually impede memory.
   
• Offer specific praise for your child’s efforts. She needs assurance that while academic excellence is important, you highly value any consistent efforts made.

Shannon Dean is the mother of two and a freelance writer who specializes in topics involving families.