By Alexis Weppner | Writer
September 24, 2015
For the vast majority of students, especially freshman, the key to success is to study! No matter the class curriculum and structure, studying will raise your grade.
However, due to the time, effort, and lack of knowledge in knowing how to study, many students bypass this necessity of academic life. If you are one of these students struggling to study and need help–look no further!
The time to study is different for everyone and you must find what times will work for you. Though some people find studying a little first thing in the morning helps, studying late at night (past 9pm) can begin to get difficult due to fatigue which can in turn make any studied information learned only temporary. Most students find studying for about an hour soon after they get home the best choose for them–giving them ample time to learn the information without falling asleep. Many classes will also require you to do homework regularly and if you study before the homework the homework will act as a quiz for you letting you know how much more you may need to study if you still have to constantly look up answers. For students who work, studying for shorter amounts of time (10-15 minutes) as soon as you get home from work will allow you to still gain information without running out of time to do your required homework. If this is the route you will need to take for studying you may also have to study 10-15 mins for a week or longer instead of about one hour for a few days, so make sure to start studying as far before a test or quiz as possible.
Effort needed for studying is primarily the same effort needed when taking a test: stay focused and don’t stress if the answers aren’t coming to you as quickly as you like. The more clear minded you are while studying the more likely the information will be retained. Easy tips on creating a “distraction free” environment are to try to study in the same location each time, avoid rooms with many or large windows, only keep the necessary items for studying around you, turn off phones, avoid music with lyrics, and provide rewards for yourself when you have been diligent in your studying time. Once you have all unnecessary distractions eliminated, it is time to decide which studying technique you will pursue.
One of the most common ways to study would be flashcards. These help a variety of people because they are easier to study from than a sheet of paper and can be used for virtually any class! But if you are one of those students with a job after school it may be difficult to carry and use 20+ flashcards from school to work then home without losing any. An easy alternative would be Quizlet. Quizlet is a free app available on most phones that allows you to make flashcards on your phone (and on your computer). This way you can never lose any and most teacher accept flashcards made on this app (you show them your flashcards on your phone the day they are due) but be sure to ask this teacher before you do them and before the assignment is due–NOT the day of the assignment! The class that is could be the hardest to study for is math–normally there are not many terms that need to be learned but more understanding how the concept of each problem works so they you can solve it. In cases like this it is typically best to redo homework problems (that you already have gotten answers to) until that type of problem is second nature. If you decide to look up other similar problems either online or in your book (use your book it’s what they’re there for!) make sure to have someone, advisedly your teacher, check your answers and make sure you did them right as to avoid studying the wrong techniques.
On occasion, while studying may help, some students still require extra help within a subject. For those students there is free tutoring available in the San Clemente High School Library after school (3pm-5pm) Mondays and Wednesdays for all grades and subjects. Don’t let grades slip because of a lack of time, effort, and ways to study–figure out the best study routine for you and stick with it! You’ll be thankful on test day.
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