Studying Tips By Grade

May 22, 2009 • High School, Middle School, Studying

Early years—Kindergarten Through Grade Two

Though there’s not much need for studying during the early years of education, but these are the years that habits and learning behaviors are formed. That’s why it’s important that positive attitudes about learning are developed at a young age; a good attitude toward studying will stay with a student for the years to come.

Perseverance is a key skill in this age group—the ability to stick with a task, be it sounding out letters or learning how to perform simple addition despite frustration or difficulty, will teach the child the important lesson that sticking with it brings good results.

Early study skills that young children can learn:

• Sitting down and maintaining focus on a single thing for a period of time such as a book
• Having thoughtful discussions about an event or a book you’ve just read together develops active thinking
• Working on puzzles and figuring out the solutions develops problem- solving abilities
• A set time to read or work on a puzzle everyday helps create good homework habits

Middle years—Grades Three to Eight

During these years students are introduced to the world of test-taking and study skills. These are also the years that students develop study habits (in addition to their attitude toward studying) that will stick with them for the rest of their academic career.

Because students are still learning and growing in so much of their academic life, the lessons that they learn during this critical development stage leave lasting impressions. Almost more important than developing study habits, students are continuing to develop attitudes about how they approach learning—and these attitudes are very critical to motivation and their enthusiasm (or lack of it) for school.

It’s important that students’ efforts are rewarded rather than their accomplishments. Students should be praised for their hard work and for trying, as much as for getting good grades. Students don’t have to be top of the class, but they do have to put in a reasonable effort—if students are trying their best, then they are already winners.

Recognizing the effort helps to teach the lesson that hard work is always worth the effort. That’s a lesson that builds a positive attitude about learning. It’s also a lesson that builds great study habits.

Teen Years—High School

The high school years (and beyond) are when students put the study habits that they have been building since they began school to the test (pun intended).

In high school, tests become of greater importance with each passing year. So it makes sense that the earlier that students learn to apply the study skills that they have been learning since kindergarten—skills such as perseverance and effort—the less difficulties they will have in dealing with the increasing frequency and difficulty of tests.

It’s not always easy to transform the knowledge that teens have been accumulating over the years into practical skills that they can use while studying. Practical study skills are unfortunately, not always taught in school. It’s little wonder then that many students find the process of studying for, and writing, tests very stressful. Without some extra help, many students may find it challenging to translate the innate study skills that they have learned over the years into practical skills that they can apply while studying.

When students are taught practical study skills such as note taking, time management, and active reading, they can combine them with other important skills such as perseverance and effort to develop top-notch study skills that can transform study time from stressful to stress-free!