The Braided Blonde

Hello Everybody! Today I am sharing with you my 10 favorite studying tips! I am currently in my Sophomore year of high school and maintain a 4.5 weighted GPA, 4.0 unweigted GPA. I have received so many helpful tips through the years from friends, teachers, and my parents. Also, my learning style is kind of hands-on, I really remember things well when i write them down or when I study flashcards. Here they are:

1. Quizlet!!
Never underestimate the power of quizlet! I absolutely love quizlet so much, maybe even too much haha. It is so easy and fast to make a set and there are so many different settings and ways to study your cards. I really like to use the 'learn' and 'test' mode, I feel like those are the most helpful for preparing me. Also, when I have a test the next day, i'll turn the sound on and hit play. That way I can review my cards without even touching it!

2. Study SMART, not long
This one is probably the most important of all of these tips. Study SMART!! Endlessly reading your book until you can't keep your eyes open typically doesn't help (unless you have a photographic memory, of course). If you have a vocabulary quiz for example, the absolute best way to memorize these words quickly and to make you remember them long-term is to find fun ways to remember the word. Whenever I do this, I can completely memorize and understand 20 words in less than 5 minutes. Example: the word 'superfluous' means unneeded or unnecessary. To remember the word, i'll think 'okay, the fluid is unnecessary'. Normally it is really goofy things like that but it really works.

3. Early bird gets the worm
Is it 10:00 pm on Monday night and you have an Anatomy test tomorrow that you haven't studied for? Don't cram late-night, odds are you won't remember the material. And, your brain is tired. Go to sleep and set an alarm 1 hour earlier than usual.When you wake up, splash some cold water on your face and get to work. You will feel more awake and it typically helps me retain more information when I study early morning vs. midnight.

4. Review sheets? always grab an extra
This is another huge tip, especially for math. If your teacher gives you a review sheet for an upcoming test, ALWAYS ask for an extra. Do the first review sheet for homework without using any notes, just like you would on the test. When you go over it the next day, circle all the questions you got wrong on the blank review sheet. Re-do all of the circled problems until you get them all correct. This saves so much time and effort, and it really works.

5. Spend your time wisely
You get to class 3 minutes early. It takes the teacher a few minutes to go through roll and then try to get everyone calmed down. You could take 10 minutes to talk to your friends, or you could bust out a few questions on your homework from last period. Say you have 7 periods in a day, that ends up being around 70 minutes of free time. How much homework can you do in 70 minutes?! a lot!!

6. Annotations!!
If you are reading a book for English, I would highly recommend lightly annotating it. You will really grasp what is going on in the book, and it becomes so much easier to study the book after the fact. You can immediately spot the important passages and not spend your time on the unnecessary ones. Also, don't dive in the deep end and color your pages like a coloring book. That will take way to much time!

7. After school
Most of your teachers probably linger around school after-hours. If you have some questions, go to them after school and they will probably be more than happy to help you. In fact, they will probably think very highly of you for coming out of your way to get help. Not many people do that. Also, the people that do come after school are typically the ones that are doing well in the class. If you are confused, don't assume that you will figure it out when you do homework. You probably will not.

8. Turn off that phone!!
If you are anything like me, you are a sucker for your phone. If i see it laying there, 80% of the time I will grab it and endlessly scroll through instagram or pinterest until I realize that I have just spent 1 hour of my life looking at meaningless pictures... Then I will do it all over again. Turn it off and put it in a drawer where you won't see it. Odds are if you want it, you will not feel like rummaging through your drawer to get it then waiting for it to turn on.

9. Ditching... no no no
There is always that one kid that is seemingly always sick whenever there is a test or project due... don't be that kid. If you know in advance that you will be missing a test, let the teacher know beforehand. Teachers really, really hate when students ditch. It gives you a really bad image to them and they most likely will not be as willing to cut you some slack when you need it (aka give you a free homework grade to boost your average to an A).

10. Grades do not determine your self-worth
Grades absolutely do not determine your self-worth. In 20 years, will it really matter that you got a C on that English paper? No! You are who you are, and no one can change that. If you can honestly say that you gave it your best effort and you still didn't get an A, just take it and move on. You can't change it now. If you didn't try and you failed, that is a different story. Most teachers can tell when a student TRIES and struggles, and when a student GIVES UP and struggles. They are much more likely to help the student that tries their best get a better grade on the next one. If you think they cannot tell that you are on your phone/playing games/whispering/passing notes, you are wrong. Even if they don't say anything, they definitely notice and remember.

Sorry for the long post, I hope that helps!

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