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Study Tips for Math & Science
Study at least 3 times per week
- You can pick whatever day and time works best for you, but you need at least 3 study dates per week in order to keep the information fresh, catch mistakes, and engrain your understanding of larger concepts and ideas
Always do your practice problems
- As a student, “practice problems” may seem like nothing more than an annoyance or busy work. As a working adult, I can assure you that most of us would love it if our work came with “practice problems,” opportunities to rehearse what’s coming next and learn from our mistakes before said mistakes actually count against us. Don’t ever let the word “practice” make you feel like something is less important or valuable on your syllabus – the opportunity to practice and prepare/ask questions is a deeply valuable resource built to serve your best interests
Do your chapter reviews!!
- Like “practice problems,” chapter reviews can seem annoying or uselessly busying. However, these are a key opportunity to not only establish a study routine, but to discover what components of each chapter you ought to focus said study routine on – making your study time all the more efficient, purposeful, and useful. Getting into the habit of reviewing new information soon after you’ve read or encountered it (whether through a lecture, presentation, or other such thing) will serve you well throughout the rest of your life. Nothing impresses more than a keen memory and eye for detail – skills that are flexed and bulked up when you dedicate time to reviewing new information as promptly as possible. Don’t wait till you’ve already forgotten information to review it. Instead, review new information while it’s still fresh in your mind. Keeping it fresh and regularly renewed will help seed it in your mind so that you can begin to puzzle-piece things together in new and more innovative ways later on.
Watch videos and read extracurricular books on the subject
- Whether your teacher provides you with online materials or you happen upon some useful resources on your own, finding new ways of interacting with and reviewing your study assignments will not only help you learn new things about the materials, but will help you to take that next crucial step beyond memorization and into the realm of invention.
How to Know if Your Kid Needs Tutoring
According to U.S. News, three good ways to know whether or not your child would benefit from tutoring are:
- Use Your Institution: You know your kids better than anyone.
- Get to the Root Cause: Are your kids struggling to pay attention or are the subjects themselves eluding them?
- Look Beyond the Score: Don’t settle for your kids’ grades and test scores as a barometer of how they’re really doing in school.
According to Parents:
- “Slipping Grades: If you believe that your child can do better than he did on his latest report card, or if you’ve noticed a gradual or sudden decline in his test scores, communicate with his teacher about your concerns. …”
- “Not Managing Time Well: If your child puts off projects and postpone homework, she may not be able to keep up as workloads increase. …”
- “Being Consistently Confused: Sometimes a child is underperforming because he simply doesn’t understand the homework. …”
- “Lacking Confidence: It is natural to be uncertain when learning a new concept, but it is not constructive when a child is told she isn’t smart enough to do well in school. …”
- “Decreasing Parental Supervision: When parents take on additional commitments outside of the family, it may be impossible to maintain the same level of homework help they had been providing their child. …”
- “Learning Disabilities: Tutoring sessions are also beneficial for children who have been diagnosed with a learning disorder, such as ADHD, dyslexia, or a visual processing problem. …”
According to PBS Parents, there are several ways to know if your child may need a math tutor, including:
- “If your child is old enough to receive report cards, you can tell pretty quickly whether or not he might need help when you see his grades.”
- “Beyond slipping grades, look out for a lack of enthusiasm for math.”
- “That loss in interest could signal that your child needs help, but it also may mean that he or she is bored. That’s where a tutor can come in.”
(Article by Laura Lewis Brown)
According to CBS, a few key ways to recognize whether or not your kids might benefit from tutoring are:
- “Continued failing grades in school.”
- “Child is constantly making excuses as to why he or she is not doing homework. The student is unhappy in school or having problems in general that you are aware of.”
- “The teacher sends notes home to you and you have to go to school because there is disruptive behavior, a pattern that goes on for at least a full school year.”
And according to KSL News:
- “Does your child have continual bad grades that do not seem to improve?”
- “Does your child have behavior problems at school? Behavior problems at school do not always indicate a need for a tutor. Some students have behavior problems because they do not seem to understand what is being taught and some have behavior problems because they are simply bored with the subject material.”
- “Does your child regularly say they hate school?”
- “When working on homework assignments, does it seem to take your child longer to finish them than you would expect?”
- “When confronted about unfinished schoolwork, does your child makes excuses as to why it is not finished?”
Study How You Study
First, let me thank Latinas Uprising for this terrific post about studying and the forming of strong study habits. And though this post is written from the perspective of a law student, the advice included here can be useful for students of virtually any age from middle school and up. There are two things in particular about this post — two ideas it presents — that, I think, set it a part from the many other posts on studying out there in the blogosphere:
1.
That studying is not a given skill and that studying, contrary to what is apparently popular belief, doesn’t look or work the same way for every student. As Latinas Uprising explains, “For me, it wasn’t until I was a 2L that I finally figured out a way to study where I would really understand the material. Before I found ‘my method’, I tried different things like flash cards and case briefings, but none of it seemed to really help the material stick. It wasn’t until I fell back on what I had done successfully in college and gave myself permission to stray from the way law students ‘should’ study, that I finally started to really comprehend my cases.” In other words, studying itself takes patience and practice — don’t let yourself be convinced that you simply aren’t good at a given subject. Instead, try exploring new styles and schedules for studying until you find what works for you.And 2.
That studying requires more than simply the act of studying — studying requires creativity in scheduling and, above all, discipline. As Latinas Uprising explains of her newfound studying success: “Yes, it would take up all my weekend. Yes, it sucked. But I preferred having my weeknights free because my boyfriend (now husband) and I had started to live together, and I wanted to commit some time to the relationship (a life outside of law school? Crazy concept, right?!). Mostly, I ended up sticking to this ‘no weekend ever’ plan because I enjoyed not feeling as if I was just barely holding my head above water during the week.” Can you dig that wild news? Well, it’s true — to study successfully, you don’t always need to revisit the material on a daily basis. It all depends on the needs of your schedule and the unique ways that you learn best. This requires not only flexibility and discipline, but creativity as well — don’t let yourself get stuck on an idea of what studying is supposed to look like and when it is supposed to take place. If studying in the morning each day works best for you because you’d prefer to have your evenings free for a significant other, the advancement of a hobby, participation in an extracurricular activity, etc., then give it a try! If focusing the bulk of your homework time to the weekends might work best for you and your schedule, then give it a try!The main takeaway is, learning to study takes time — don’t let a few stresses and bumps along the way discourage you from pushing forward.
We previously discussed how to prep for 1L week and –surprise–the main focus was getting prepped for studying. But it’s worthwhile to delve into “how to study” a little deeper.
I say this a lot, but it’s actually really important to realize that you will be most successful if you study how you study. Think back on all the college classes where you excelled and mimic those study habits. Note that I wrote excelled, not: barely put in the work but somehow still passed–that won’t fly in law school. The reason why this is important is because law school has the tendency to push people into doing the same thing. According to them, if briefing cases works for one student then it should work for all of them. The reality is that we all have different capacities and methods of understanding. Definitely try case briefing, but if it’s not working–move…
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How to make essay writing not quite so scary
I recently came upon a blog post from H.E. History Hub (a terrific blog focused primarily upon issues related to students and teachers of history) titled, “Five things you need to think about when starting your dissertation.” As a student of American Studies with a master’s degree and a peer-reviewed academic book under my belt, I well understand both the more exciting and interesting elements of academic writing as well as just how terrifying, anxiety-riddled, and difficult it can be. Moreover, for many students (who are never taught time management skills but are instead all too often left to try and reinvent the wheel for themselves), learning how to organize oneself and give oneself the time necessary to read, take notes, research, and truly think over all the issues before ever putting pen to paper (or finger to key, I suppose), is the true bugaboo. True writing—academic or otherwise—must begin with hours, even days, (in some cases, even weeks) of reading and research before any actual writing takes place.
But I, like H.E. History Hub, am here to tell you that essays of any length—whether it’s a 5-pager for your freshman high school English teacher or a 10,000 word long dissertation for your PhD—are well within your reach and capability; it’s all a matter of:
1) Making your essay topic interesting to you;
2) Being diligent and creative about your research;
3) Reaching out to supervisors, teachers, and mentors;
and 4) Working hard and having faith in yourself.
Now, all of these things may seem either obvious or impossible, but I guarantee that neither is accurate. For college students, the freedom many professors offer regarding essay topic and style can be at once liberating (given the more restrictive nature of the models employed by most high school teachers) and yet overwhelming by the same token. For high school students, the number of restrictions and limitations imposed by teachers can be at once stifling as well as useful and helpful (as sometimes constraints are necessary to both hone basic skills and inspire true creativity).
There is a middle ground here, however, because no matter how wide or narrow your allotted scope, no matter your current writing skill level, you basically always have the room and abilities necessary to make the topic interesting to you—it just means that you’ll have to be willing to take the time to get creative with topics and assignments that may, at first, seem boring/irrelevant/useless/long/busywork/too hard/pointless/etc. Even those short 1 to 5 page assignments (those often frustrating ones that can seem disconnected from everything useful) can be used as stepping stones to bigger and better things if you give them the time and attention necessary. Think of these shorter assignments not as busywork but as opportunities to explore new ground and/or build up research for some future project(s).
And trust me, I understand that it’s super tough to dedicate extra time, resources, and feeling to projects that seem intended for you to fail or be bored out of your mind, but if you’re willing to make the leap, to pay the dues, and wear the Essay Writing Club t-shirt, then it’ll pay off—if not today, then tomorrow, but I promise: It Will Pay Off.
The first thing to know is that, while all rumor and chatter seems to suggest the contrary, high school and college are the places to take risks—to try research, arguments, and styles that may seem odd, that may get you a couple not-so-awesome grades in the short-run, but which might just also blossom into something original, strong, and lasting. Digest that. Let yourself get comfortable with the simple truth that a few bad grades won’t irreparably damage your career dreams but that being timid in your scholarly studies, explorations, and writings just might.
All digested? Ready to plow forward? Good.
Next step: Leap. Take that strange family tree/ancestry assignment and turn it on its seemingly-clichéd head. Conduct a full-scale oral history of all the extended family members you can get a hold of. While a handful of relatives might bore you, while learning to transcribe recordings to paper might drive you crazy, there will be a relative out there who fascinates and surprises; there will be a teacher so impressed with your efforts that they help you bring the project forward in a new way; there will be something new in the process of collection, interview, transcription, and analysis that arrests you and leads you down a new path of exploration and understanding—there will be something to reward you for your risks and efforts.
Of course, if you looked closely, taking that big leap required a great many smaller leaps pieced together:
- Deciding to go above-and-beyond for a simplistic-seeming or clichéd-seeming project
- Finding a way to make it happen: finding/borrowing/renting/buying the necessary equipment to record and conduct formal interviews (*cough*libraries are great for finding these kinds of supplies*cough*)
- Getting outside of yourself and Starbucks to conduct some real primary research by finding and contacting all of those family members and getting signed agreements to have their stories recorded
- Organizing your time and resources around the needs of others and restrictive research
- Learning to be delicate and respectful while still clear and uncompromising in all elements and stages of your research and writing
- Learning to take things that are close and personal to you and analyze them for the benefit of others and all involved
- Learning that not all research can be utilized in a written work, even if it’s fascinating or on-point (especially when human subjects are involved)
The list goes on and on…
In other words, as Nate Kreuter of Inside Higher Ed so wisely said in his article, “Conquering Writing Anxiety,”
Whether you’re approaching your dissertation or your first high school-level essay, writing anxieties and frustrations hit everyone, and the first step to overcoming such obstacles is to make the decision to do so.
Developing Study Skills, Part 3
As discussed in our previous posts on the development of study skills, always remember that study skills, as with all skills, require both teaching and practice. In Part 2, we discussed how to Set Study Goals, Keep Organized, and Get Motivated.
In this post, we’re going to focus less on general tips for study sessions, and focus more upon specific advice regarding how to approach studying as a Visual, Auditory, and/or Kinesthetic Learner.
Contrary to the way many classrooms are run, all students learn, retain, and contextualize information differently and at different paces and levels. Oftentimes, students and their learning styles are grouped into the three primary categories of Visual, Auditory, or Kinesthetic, though individual students are obviously much more nuanced and unique than any one of these categories suggest. In other words, just because some students may respond more favorably more often to a visual learner approach, it doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t be better off in certain subjects by utilizing an auditory or kinesthetic approach. (For more information on these categories and approaches, also check out Maryland Community College’s online guide to effective study habits.)
Now, as you more critically consider this diversity in students, you may feel prompted to ask: What’s the point of these categories if students falling under one column may also benefit from methods used in another?
According to NPR’s (2011) “Think You’re An Auditory or Visual Learner? Scientists Say It’s Unlikely,”
In other words, while taking method advice and ideas from these different learning styles may still prove useful, students and teachers really ought to begin thinking less in terms of one learning style versus another and more in terms of what components of different styles work best in combination. So, if you know you’ve been dealing in maps and power points a lot lately, maybe it’s time you tried putting some study materials into a song and singing it to yourself, or maybe it’s time that you sought out a game-version of a lesson plan (such as through building models or interactive foreign language challenges and puzzles). Mixing and matching might just be our best bet at maximizing all students’ abilities to learn and succeed.
So, as we go through what it can mean to learn visually, auditorially, and kinesthetically, don’t try and pigeon-hole yourself into any one category. Rather, use these to think about what methods you most typically utilize and then try experimenting with a method from a different category for a bit – let these labels, in other words, be a means of helping you explore and think more creatively about different ways of learning and studying.
Visual Learning
For visual learners, information is often best retained when it is presented on the page, board, map, or screen – visually, in other words. The typical advice for students who respond best to visual approaches are to use a variety of colors and doodles in their class notes, use diagrams and illustrations whenever possible, create infographics of lecture and book notes, and to seek out videos and maps of information whenever possible. These are all great pieces of advice and can definitely be of great help to anyone who may otherwise have difficulty remembering details or how specific pieces of information fit together into a larger narrative.
Auditory Learning
For auditory learners, information is usually easiest to retain when it’s spoken aloud, whether with another person, in a lecture, or read/recorded. Thus, these students are often told to pay special attention during lectures, in group discussions, to books on tape, and so forth. Of course, it’s also useful to read texts aloud to yourself (you can even make your own taped recordings of readings and insert your own ideas and observations along the way for future reference), always participate in class discussions, propose informal debates with friends and classmates over course topics, create songs or jingles of study information, and try explaining or teaching class ideas to others not in the class.
Kinesthetic Learning
For kinesthetic learners, information may be best absorbed when the learner in question is in motion or action, whether they’re talking with their hands, acting something out, or taking frequent study breaks to walk or cook or so forth. So, a lot of advice kinesthetic learners often receive is to try: taking notes, flashcards, or lecture recordings out while you walk whether it’s on an exercise machine or through a park; make physical models of what you’re learning whenever possible; spend time looking and interacting with relatable things such as at a museum or through a school club or other activity; take frequent study breaks but make sure study time remains structured and utilized to the fullest extent; and always keep your hands busy whether by squeezing a stress ball, petting an animal, playing with a bit of clay/play dough, or typing up notes you’ve already written in long-hand.
Of course, as you may have noticed, if we were to break down walls of Visual versus Auditory versus Kinesthetic, then we’d be able to see just how well these tips and ideas could crossover and work for all students. Why wouldn’t a supposedly “visual” learner benefit from visiting a museum or by participating in a debate? Why wouldn’t a supposedly “kinesthetic” learner benefit from singing a song they’d created over study materials or from translating class lectures into infographics and diagrams? Why wouldn’t a supposedly “auditory” learner benefit from using flash cards while on a walk or from watching videos related to course topics?
The truth is that these barriers are fallacies in large part, and can often box students in and keep them from thinking creatively about how to approach what they’re learning in and out of school.
So, why not do away with the auditory/visual/kinesthetic columns, and just let students approach the world as Learners–as Learners eager to discover the world in every way they can?
Further Readings:
- University of Utah, Learning Resource Center: Tips for Auditory Learners
- Law School Toolbox: 5 Study Tips for Kinesthetic Learners
- National Center for Learning Disabilities: How Teens Can Build Better Time Management and Study Skills
- Fit Kids: Sanford WebMD: Why Your Good Study Habits Are Wrong
- KidsHealth: Six Steps to Smarter Studying
Tutoring 101 