What to do when our child/children are not getting the grades we expect?

Sometimes the best advice comes from the students themselves! Read on to find what many teenagers had to say about keeping focused in school.

ü  TIP 1"Sometimes, if I have a study guide, I'll tape it to the front of my Trapper Keeper, so if I have any extra time, I can glance at it." Jeny

ü  TIP 2 "For girls, when you study, have a scent in the room, preferably a perfume or something. Then when you take the test, wear that perfume.  It can help you remember what you study because you relate the scent to the information. Of   course you have to use a scent that you wouldn't normally smell." Clarise

ü  TIP 3   "Listen to soothing, but invigorating music. I usually listen to Beethoven while I do mindless homework like math, French, or science assignments. It gets your brain pumping and flowing, and keeps you alert and awake." Jason

ü  TIP 4”While studying, keep peppermint in your mouth... it clears your nasal passage for fresh air. More fresh air means more oxygen to the brain. Trust me; this really helps with memorizing and studying for school." Dennis

ü  TIP 5 "When having a test or quiz on your notes (which happen quite frequently), take your notebook to your computer, and type all of your notes pertaining to that chapter in that particular section of your notebook. By typing the notes you need to know for your test, a lot of the information is displayed from your short-term memory to your long-term memory. After typing your notes out, look them over and study in-depth... This always helps." Dennis

ü  TIP 6 "Definitely listen in class; you won't have to study so hard if you actually know some of the information beforehand (from class)." Dennis

ü  TIP 7 "Be careful about wearing too much perfume or sitting near someone who does. The chemicals in some perfumes may affect your power to concentrate and remember information." Shay

ü  TIP 8 "Depending on the type of class, taking notes on a PowerBook computer has helped me immensely.
•It makes my notes readable & printable.
•My notes are saved in a retrievable place for the class and to use as citations for papers in other classes-(make sure you date your notes for this purpose).
•Professors and other students think you are smarter and more attuned to learning, just because you have a PowerBook in front of you, and will pay more attention to your questions. Other students will want to share their notes because they can read yours.
•The process of recording lecture notes onto a word processing document makes you consciously categorize topics as you type. Example: putting terms in bold type, putting concepts in italic, putting key ideas in underlined form, and preceding subtopics with a bullet •. This process organizes the ideas in your mind as you are doing it. The PowerBook is not helpful in Math classes, nor is it helpful in  classes involving a lot of discussion." Keith

ü  TIP 9 "Read over the notes a couple of times and then summarize it in your own words. Writing it down might help store it into the long-term memory." Veronica

ü  TIP 10 "I'm recently starting year 12, I'm trying to get organized, I found your Tips very helpful. Though there are many other useful techniques, one of the best is teaching others what you have learned. I found when I helped others with questions I would gain a better knowledge of what I learned. I have also learned from my experience from year 11 that just studying a couple days before is not really studying but cramming. Therefore to gain better marks you have to study months before. Using flow charts, making notes simples, that's what summaries are supposed to be. My friend also gave me a study hint, though yet to be proven, she said the color yellow helps you remember things better, she always uses yellow paper for studying." Anna

ü  TIP 11 "I have a TIP for you. Students should try to study as much as  they can during daytime hours. When I study, I usually try to study during daytime, From my personal experience, study during the day time is much better than study during night time. I remember things better during daytime and I tend to not to slack off as much during daytime. Sometimes, there are less distraction for me during the daytime and I found myself more awake, even if I feel sleepy, take a 20~30 minute nap to recharge your energy. You should only study everything at night only if it's absolutely necessary, (i.e., due to work, after school activities,...etc.) besides, study as much  as possible would usually reduce yourself from getting stress out at night time. Best of all, it would prevent you from staying up all night!" Paul

ü  TIP 12 "I am currently half way through my year 12, but I have talked to many students who have finished year twelve as well as teachers for study hints.  The things that I have already put into practice, and have gotten very good results from is to write out my own study guide from the syllabus (this makes you understand the concepts you are summarizing, as well as putting the information into your long-term memory.)  I have also found doing as many past papers with a time restriction extremely helpful, as many exams have similar types of questions to previous years, and after doing the questions a few times, you get so used to them, that the hard questions seem basic, because you are used to the style of question."  Kristina from Australia

ü  TIP 13 "I have found through personal experience that by separating all of my different classes from one another by using different notebooks for each (different colors works good for me), I am not only more organized but more likely not to wander away from that subject when studying.  A friend told me it's my subconscious.  That I associate the notebook with that class and it helps me to concentrate on it alone.  No matter what the reason is, it helped me boost my grades tremendously and learn a whole lot more then I had been before."  Meranda

ü  TIP 14 "Keycards are great study aids. You summarize your notes for the subject by each topic then you summarize the summary so that you have the key ideas and points for each topic. These you write down on cards under each topic heading. Put them in a small ring binder and carry them with you. Then you can flip through them while waiting in a queue or waiting at your desk for a class to start. These quick flip-through of all the major points keep facts alive in your memory ready for recall in the exam." Jackie

Source: http://www.adprima.com/studytips.htm