Your final grades are heavily impacted by how well you perform on tests over the course of the semester. Going into a test unprepared causes a lot of unneeded stress and a drop in your grades.
Here are some helpful study tips to boost your test average.
How do you learn best?
Do you learn better alone or with others? Do you need silence or is some noise okay? Answering these questions can help you figure out the best ways to study. Studying alone can be very beneficial because you have no distractions and you should be able to get your work done. However, even with some added distractions, working in a group can help you stay motivated and also gives you some new perspectives from your peers. Decide what works best for you and stick with it.
Study Topics
Depending on what subject you're studying, your techniques may be altered. For example, an English test may require flash cards and notes. On the other hand, for a math test, practicing solving problems may work best. Don’t feel obligated to use the same techniques for every subject, use a technique that works best with each subject.
Procrastination
Perhaps the biggest downfall of high school students is procrastinating. When you wait until the day before a test to study you are setting yourself up for failure. In order to do well on a test, you need to build up confidence over time to remember the topics. Set a goal for yourself each day before the test to gradually increase your knowledge regarding the test topics. Setting these goals will make you feel much more confident when taking a test.
Go Above and Beyond
Don't be afraid to do more than required when studying. Doing the bear minimum such as completing just the homework is not going to result in a good test score. You need to put in the extra work after school in order to achieve the grade you want. A key to committing more efforts towards studying is motivation. Be sure to stay motivated over the course of the semester and don’t give up. Receiving a bad test score can be very rough but do not give up, just study more and you'll do better on the next one. One bad test score is not going to affect your whole future. However, every bad test score teaches you a valuable lesson. It tells you that you didn't do enough to do well on the test and you need to try harder.
The Basics
The simplest ways of studying include a small piece of paper including vital information. Flash cards are an extremely popular way of studying. Using flash cards can help you easily remember information you'll need on tests. Also, when studying in a textbook be sure to highlight or underline things that may help you. Another way to study, ask the teacher, they know what is going to be on the test and can tell you what you need to know. Studying for a test is as simple or as complicated as you make it.
