- Listen to your child’s concerns about final exams.
- List and prioritize the concerns from the most overwhelming to the least.
- Engage your child to begin problem solving the concerns himself, suggesting solutions ONLY if he gets “stuck”. Consider all of your child’s solutions as workable, even if you do not think they are.
- Write down the problems and solutions.
- Make a Plan together, attacking each concern in a systematic way:
- Break the study task into manageable segments, scheduling them on a day-by-day basis.
- Suggest using a large desk calendar for breaking down tasks and over viewing
- Balance so that your child is not committing to Herculean efforts each day.
- Use daily check lists to record study tasks to be completed each day.
- Have your child find missing materials, notes, etc. BEFORE beginning any exam prep.
- Explain that the word “STUDY” is an action verb meaning that it involves doing something active such as writing, reciting, making memory tricks, etc. Here are some ideas about ACTIVE REVIEW:
- Explain that it is important to read class and text notes, and make margin notes in writing regarding main concepts, conclusions, connections, significances and themes. This is “recoding” notes.
- Help your child Predict Exam Essays (if they are not given in advance) and then suggest to him to brainstorm an answer for each question they pose or are given. He can write his response in an outline form or in a less formal structure.
- Explain that “Looking over” material is PASSIVE; reciting, writing, making memory tricks, “recoding” notes and predicting possible test questions are all active reviewing strategies.
Prepared by: Dianne Mazzullo, Learning Specialist
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