Study Skills Tips

My Study Skills Tips Story

My oldest daughter Devin is a very good test taker and a great learner. She is academic and has developed critical habits like note-taking easily. My youngest daughter Megan is not. Devin decided to help Megan in learning some study skills tips to help her build her confidence and not freeze up as easily on tests.

Devin had some study skills tips and strategies that she swore were fool proof and that would help her little sister. The first thing she looked at was Megan’s note taking skills. She found that Megan left lots of detail out of her notes and that made them vague. So when she studied her notes they had gaps with information missing. This made studying for school tests all the more difficult. The first set of study skills tips that she taught Megan were how to take brief but detailed notes as well as to listen to what was important and needs to be written down.

The next thing she focused on with Megan was to show her some study guides that she had. They taught her how to break down her readings and to take out the important information and to highlight it. When you go back and study you have already marked what you need to know. That way you are only studying what you need to. This set of study skills tips were going to help Megan a lot. Usually she tries to study everything and becomes overwhelmed by it all. By using simple memory techniques it has helped her to let relevant information sink in without feeling so overwhelmed.

Then Devin moved onto organizational skills techniques. She told Megan that of all of the study skills tips that she could show her that being organized was key to success. Time management was a key focus here. It was amazing to see what could be done in 1 hour that would usually have taken her a day or more. Megan was a mess to say the least. All of her books and papers were strewn everywhere. Devin helped her to clean the clutter, start some files, and to utilize book shelves for their intended purpose. She also showed Megan how to set up an online calendar and she opened a folder with all of her study skills tips inside for Megan to review as needed.

Megan was going into middle school and as we all knew she was going to have to be responsible for her work. The teachers would not be holding her hand as much as they did in grade school. Now was the time to hone her sister’s study skills tips and to make them a part of her everyday school and home life. I was thrilled at the improvement that we saw in Megan’s testing abilities.

These study skills tips and organization tips helped her to feel better about herself and to be more confident when taking tests in school. She became more organized and confident in all areas of her life. I am now confident that she will be well prepared for high school in will be able to pursue any job she desires in the future.