Susiej

There’s a rumor swirling around that the only reason we were forced to send our kiddies to school on this 2-degree morning is because it was exam day at the high school. Friday is teacher-grading day; without the exams, the teachers would have nothing to grade on Friday.

I do hope the HSs were prepared this morning, and did not go sledding with their Dad until 9:30 last night, like my (very-sleepy today) children did last night. Childhood only swings around once.

Last weekend, I regrettably learned, that despite my own diploma, from college even, I am not truly free from the drudgery of cramming for multiple choice and true or false tests. My middle school student spent more time than I would have liked sitting at the kitchen table,  with the help of several mnemonic devices, preparing for his session of exams.

I found him some tips, which I will pass on here, on how the mind works and how to prepare for the tests. I am also well-aware that teens know everything, and parents know nothing, so I have included the “sources” of the experts, to help prove I’m right.

1. Tests are not a waste of your time: they make you smart. Despite our protests against them, the act of taking tests actually helps you remember and retain what you’ve studied. This news comes from a study by Chan, J.C., McDermott, K.B., & Roediger, H.L. (2007), entitled, Retrieval-induced facilitation, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
2. Don’t study every, single, thing. If the teacher does not hand out a study guide (shame, shame) a quick email, or simply asking after school, “what will be covered,” should suffice.  Focus on those areas. Highlight those questions on previous quizzes, study sheets and your text books.
3. I’m afraid, Dear child, your test grade was earned months ago. Reviewing your notes daily, for just a few minutes, gets the facts into your long-term memory, where you will be able to recall the information quickly. Cramming three weeks (or months) worth of information in a weekend will be difficult to recall the next day on a test.
4. Talk and draw. Reading over your notes is boring and monotonous. Better to engage more regions of your brain by drawing maps about the information, or even describing what you’ve learned to a parent. According to J. Willis, Childhood Education, 2008, the more regions of your brain that store data, the more connections, and the more redundancy.  Hearing yourself say it makes a more solid impact on retention and long-term memory than any other method of review.
5. Sing. Make up a song or story that is going to get stuck in your head about the information. Follows number 4 above, and takes the  mnemonic device one step further. This cross-referencing of data means you will learn, rather than memorize.
6. Make your Own Test. Turn each section of notes into questions to be answered orally or, in the case of essay questions, in writing. Check your answers. Recite your answers. If your answer feels shaky, then your understanding of the material is probably weak.
7. If you forget, find the answer fast. When you find yourself struggling to remember that one lone answer, quickly look up the right answer and get it into your head. The longer you spend trying to look up the correct answer, the more likely you will forget the answer again. The longer you struggle with that feeling of “I know this… I just can’t remember it…” you begin to learn in What Mary Beth Warriner, an undergraduate student at McMaster University, calls the “error state.” She says the best way to break the cycle is to get the answer, and repeat the word to yourself, either silently or out loud.

He ignored most of my advice; yet soared through with 3.7 grades.  Maybe teens do know everything.

If you dare to cover the topic of “neatness” with your child, check out the latest research on orderly enviornments, and how the habit may lead to riches.

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