5 study techniques to get better grades
We all have our tricks to study, but if we integrate these study techniques our performance will improve.
In elementary school children take home an infinite number of homework, they also have exams but the agenda is not extensive. From ESO onwards, the boys begin to demand more theory in the exams, and the grades also begin to be valued more. For this reason, during learning it is important that children learn to study in a competent way , so that the time they are studying (even if it is not much) they can make the most of it. In the past, teachers told you what you had to study but very few explained study techniques, in recent years this perspective has been changing and even in textbooks they show you learning suggestions, such as making diagrams of the subject, etc.
Index
WE CANNOT FORCE TO LEARN
A good way to make your child more autonomous when studying is to teach him study skills . Many kids reach 3rd or 4th year of ESO without knowing how to study correctly, for example with books without underlining (or even underlined too much). Explain that learning study techniques will spend less time studying because faster methods are used with better results, not just memorizing.
WE CANNOT FORCE ANYONE TO CHANGE THEIR STUDY METHODS, BUT WE CAN SUGGEST THEM
The conclusion is that we cannot force our children to change their study method, moreover, if they are in adolescence it is counterproductive because they will surely end up doing the opposite. We have to suggest it to him and make him see the advantages , of course, always related to getting better grades in less time and effort. Teach him the techniques as a support . Then let him decide.
WHAT STUDY SKILLS CAN I TEACH YOU?
There are countless techniques that help us study better, but by learning to apply the following, we will guarantee a better learning of the subjects, and a higher performance with less effort:
1. Comprehensive reading
Before doing anything, you have to look over the whole issue, see the number of sections that there are and what you are going to talk about. It will help us to put ourselves in the situation and organize the information . Then you have to read the whole section well. For example, imagine that a story topic is divided into 5 sections with two sides each, we will start by reading the first two sides in a row, looking at the titles of each subsection. In this first reading it is forbidden to underline, we will only stop to check if we are learning what is being said. For this we can ask ourselves out loud . The purpose of this first reading is to check that we are learning what we read.
2. Underlined
The study technique par excellence, but not the only one, and it is also often done poorly. For example, there are guys who are dedicated to underlining the entire book with phosphor. The technique loses all its meaning because we will not be selecting the most important information, only coloring the book. Insist that he can’t underline everything. Others emphasize what is important to later memorize the content, although the intention is good, it is not possible to pretend to know what is underlined to the letter because we will not understand what has been studied and if they change the way of asking things, we will get lost. By underlining we select what is important but then we have to rework the content in our own words, adding links, links, etc.
3. Mark keywords and enter clarifications
To facilitate learning in books, they put the most important concepts in bold, but it does not hurt that the children re-mark them or select new ones that they consider equally useful.
Equally a fantastic way to understand the contents and that will help us to retain them is to introduce our own notes to the margins of the book or notes. Anything goes, from a word that helps us remember the concept to phrases that explain it.
4. Summary in a word
When the content is a lot and the subsections have several paragraphs it can be useful to summarize in one or two words each paragraph in the margin of the book. For example, we are studying the digestive system section of a biology topic and there are several subsections. In each one he will explain where the food will pass. We can summarize each paragraph with one or two words: “-> Mouth-> pharynx-> esophagus …”
This technique is not aimed at memorizing but at ordering the information . Our brain works faster and retains better if we order information by parts (it helps us to establish relationships between knowledge).
5. Outlines and summaries of the topic
Once the boy knows the section, he will have to make diagrams or summaries. Here everyone is free to choose the method. If you do both much better. The scheme is more visual and tends to give better results in most of them. However, there are people who are more “auditory” and prefer to repeat a summary out loud and check that they know it. Both methods are complementary although adolescents tend to opt for only one.
Outlines and summaries should not be confused with copying the underlined book from the book. If this is done it will be useless. The idea is to rework the information in our own words, not to memorize the underlined information as is.
As a last suggestion, making an outline of the whole subject is the perfect icing for the boy to make sure he knows it, with a glance he will see what each section is about and will help him in learning. Unfortunately very few teenagers do it because it takes more time, but in high school , when kids start to really care about grades, it is interesting to teach them this technique if they don’t already use it. A final outline of the topic is the best method to review once we have studied the topic.
ACADEMIES YES OR NO?
Yes and no. If your child really has trouble studying and you don’t know how to help him, an academy can be useful , but not just any academy . In the majority there is a teacher who takes care of a large group of people and in the end the interaction time with the boy is minimal. Choose specialized academies that teach children how to organize and study , they will not only become more autonomous but also make better use of their time. Also ask how many people there are per group . These types of academies are usually somewhat more expensive but have the advantage that children end up needing fewer hours and the quality of service is better.
Dr. Tabriella Perivolaris, Sara's mother and fan of fashion, beauty, motherhood, among others, about the female universe. Since 2018 she has been working as a copywriter, always bringing to her articles a little of her experience and experience as a mother and woman.