So far in this series of posts we have talked about the why, the when and the where of studying. Now we are going to talk about the how; how to actually implement the plan. First of all, a plan is no good if you don’t use it. We have already talked about the fact that habits are easy and discipline is hard, so the first step it to be habitual. Find a time and a location that work for your student and encourage them to form good study habits!

Exactly how are you supposed to help your student build good habits. First, it is important to realize that nobody gets up in the morning and says, “Today I am going to have a crummy day.” If your student is not doing their best, there is a reason. Find it! Here are some common roadblocks.

They are having trouble understanding the material.

Nobody likes to do things that they aren’t good at. If your student is putting the time in, but isn’t seeing any results, they are going to be less willing to spend...

In my last post, I talked about the need to review previously learned material in order to retain it. I am quite certain many of you thought, “Exactly WHEN am I supposed to do that?” when you read it.  I understand! Student’s schedules are beyond full! They have school 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Many have extra curricular activities such as sports, dance, band, music lessons and/or clubs. They already have assigned homework that can take anywhere from an hour to three hours depending on the course load and the teachers. There is also the little matter of eating, sleeping and maybe, just maybe, having some time for fun! So exactly how are you supposed to add in EXTRA review. 

The most important piece of studying efficiently, both assigned and review, is consistency. As the title of this post points out, Habits are Easy! There are lots of things you do by habit and you don’t even think about. 

Your brain is trained to do certain things...

Exams are stressful! I have experienced them as a student, a teacher, a tutor and a parent and they are just plain stressful! It seems exam reviews are never given out early enough. They are often collected a few days prior to the exam (so what are students supposed to use to review?) and without fail the majority of my students SWEAR up and down that they were never taught a large percentage of the material on the review guide. 

Why is it this true? Exam reviews contain problems from the ENTIRE semester and as if that wasn’t daunting enough, the problems are in no particular order. When you are learning skills in math class you learn them one at a time. Your homework covers the skills taught that day. You may have a quiz that covers 3 or 4 skills and you will almost always have a test that covers the chapter in your book, often 6 or 7 skills. When I receive requests for tutoring one of the most common concerns I hear is “My son/daughter’s homework...