Whether you have a test coming up in three months, or even two weeks, you can study well enough to get a desirable grade. Following this guide will allow you to do so, by using the many resources that are available to you, from your class notes, to helpful resources on the Internet, to study groups and teachers’ office hours, and more. A student coach can provide you with relevant resources to prepare for your tests.

Step 1: Rifle Through Your Class Notes

Your teachers are not testing you on the entire knowledge of their field. There are specific things they have mentioned to you in class that they expect you to know, and use, to achieve marks in your tests. Whether you are answering multiple-choice questions, essay questions, or short answer questions, is irrelevant. If you know the knowledge required for your classes, you will be fine.

See if your teachers mentioned things multiple times throughout your note-taking. This means they value those snippets of knowledge. It is much more likely such snippets will appear in some form on your tests. They could be in a question prompt, or an answer on a question.

Ask your friends for their notes and compare yours’ to theirs’ to see if you missed writing something down. In addition, you should have taken notes on your assigned class readings. You may be quizzed on themes, knowledge, and more from your readings on your test.

Having comprehensive notes is the first step to test success. To learn how to take and compile comprehensive notes, contact a student coach today.

Step 2: The Internet

Friends come and go in life but Google will never desert you. Any information you are missing or believe you will require on a test can be easily sourced via Google, or any other search engine. For instance, if you are writing a test for your high school Shakespeare class in a few weeks, a great site to visit is No Fear Shakespeare via Sparknotes. CrashCourse on YouTube has a great Chemistry playlist, as well as other great playlists on a variety of topics. Whatever course you are interested in studying for, as a supplement to your class notes, you can find online.

However, given the sheer amount of resources available, you should search for reputable ones. Some guy’s blog is not as reputable as resources offered by educational institutions. You can find many reputable courses on edX.org, an educational platform for people interested in learning online. Coursera is another such educational platform. Although they sell courses, you can audit them for free. The key is simply supplementing your high school test preparation, not replacing it. A student coach can provide you with a list of reputable educational sites.

Step 3: Study Groups and Teachers’ Office Hours

Study groups are not intrinsically better than studying alone for tests. They can, in fact, be far worse. If you are in a study group and people come late, or watch YouTube videos while everyone else is studying, or have loud conversations, you may not be able to get your work done. However, teaching a subject is one of the best ways to learn it. If you and your friends portion out the knowledge required for your tests and you teach each other in turn, all the while referring to your texts for concepts and knowledge you do not know, you and your friends will be able to learn the material and teach each other. Studying alone does not let you teach others material, unless you want to teach the mirror or your cat.

Teachers are a great resource that few students take advantage of. Teachers can seem imposing, scary, or even inaccessible by students. After all, they appear to control the grade you get in a class (although that is really up to you). However, teachers want their students to put in the effort, show initiative, and succeed. That is why they became teachers in the first place: to help the next generations of students succeed.

In addition, if you cannot ask for help and admit your shortcomings in high school, how will you be able to do so in university when it is even more pertinent to go to office hours if you need help? There is no shame in asking for help so make sure you do not feel ashamed. For more tips to succeed in high school and university, contact a student coach today.

Step 4: Practice Tests

Sometimes, your teachers will give practice tests the week before to show you where you need to focus your studying. Other times, they hand out practice tests for homework. You may not even receive one. However, regardless of whether they do or not, you should still seek out practice exams, quizzes, and questions online.

One method you can use, as well, is to film yourself teaching concepts to the camera. Then, play it back and see if you understand your own video. Try and look for gaps of knowledge in your explanation, study some more, and then re-record the video. Once you are satisfied with the level of knowledge you possess in a video, save it to playback at least once a day until the test, and move to the next concept. You can even convert your videos to mp3 files to play on your phone or iPod while exercising or walking to school.

The difference between an “A” and a “D” is a few weeks of preparation. Studying is often thought to be stressful and anxiety-producing but it does not have to be. Start studying at least two weeks before your test and you can achieve the grades you want. For more tips to practice relaying knowledge before your tests in a productive manner, meet with a student coach today.

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