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Study Advice that Works in High School
by Andrew Liu, age 15
Throughout my school years, I have experienced many different types
of teachers. My eighth grade history teacher loved to give lectures,
tests, worksheets, and essays. My ninth grade history teacher is
completely different. We almost never have any tests or lectures. Our
teacher likes to teach us in a other ways, using videos, oral
presentations, and collage projects.
Every teacher has a different teaching style and personality. If you want to succeed in high school, it is important that you learn to adapt to your teachers, because it is very unlikely that every teacher will perfectly fit your learning needs. If you simply give up on adapting to a teacher you think you don’t like and just complain all the time, you will end up not doing well in that class.
Instead of finding faults with your teacher, try to learn things in his or her way and see if this works for you. You may even find that their teaching style helps you learn better than the methods you’re familiar with.
If you still can’t seem to learn from your teacher, you should try to set a meeting with them to talk about the problem. It’s possible your teacher might produce materials to try to alleviate your concerns, or try to set up after school tutoring sessions and to help you with the lesson plans. It’s possible that your teacher won’t be able to do anything at all, but it is still better to try than do nothing.
Of course, it isn’t your teachers who determine how successful you’ll be. It comes down to you and how well you study.
An important idea to think about when you are studying is not to multi-task. When studying, it is best to use 100 percent of your effort on the material at hand.
Keep your mind completely focused on academics while studying. If you are trying to do your math homework while chatting on Facebook, eating, drinking, or watching T.V., you’re likely wasting your time. This is because you weren’t concentrating on your homework.
Also, having food and drinks while doing homework is a huge risk, because you might spill on your work. It would be terrible handing in your essay with dried cheese sauce all over it.
You might think that if you can multi-task, finish your homework, and get full credit for it, then you have accomplished everything you need to. But this is a false conclusion because homework is designed to prepare you for tests. If you are not putting all your effort into studying, the concepts you were supposed to learn by doing the homework will not stick well in your mind. You will have a harder time succeeding on tests.
One more piece of advice that I find works for me. If you focus on your work during study time, remember to take short breaks--you will gain more knowledge and get better grades.
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