Study Skills: A Survival Guide For High School Students And Parents

Study Skills

Your success as a high school student will depend a great deal on how efficiently you use your study time. The California Teachers Association has collected some tips from classroom teachers to help you reach your full potential in high school.

Studying

Study a little bit every night. Don’t try to cram the night before a test. Don’t study for too long at one time. Take a break now and then.
 
Your study spot should be well lit, comfortable, and distraction free. TVs and stereos prevent you from concentrating and make your study time less efficient.

Rest, relaxation, exercise, and a proper diet are all important parts of your preparation for school. A high protein, low sugar breakfast is helpful for maintaining a constant energy level all day.

Think of your study time as a pleasant learning: experience, not a chore.
 

Preparing for Tests

Keep up with your schoolwork. Once you fall behind, it's hard to catch up.

Pay attention to review sessions. Ask questions about what type of question to expect. If you don't understand something, ask your teacher.

Emphasize the major ideas (concepts) of the test material. Learn the key vocabulary words. Make flash cards of the vocabulary if it helps you. Have someone test you on them.

Taking The Test

 Don't panic! Everyone feels tension before a test. Tension helps you stay alert. Let it work for you.

 Read the entire test before you do anything else. This will allow you to:

• Get rid of a few of the butterflies.
• Choose the easiest questions to start on.
• Budget your time.
• Start your subconscious mind working on the tougher questions. You'll find that when you come back to them, the answers often pop right out.
• Pick up clues to some questions in other questions. Reading the whole test will save you time in the long run.

Look for clues in the test questions themselves.

• Use the process of elimination for matching or multiple choice questions.
• In true/false tests, look for words such as all, always, never, and none. If you can think of just one exception, the questions is false.
• For essay questions, think first, jot down a few key words or (better yet) a simple outline, then write your answer.
• If you have trouble interpreting a question, think about the concepts that you studied. One of them will probably be the key to the answer.