Many teens feel stress when it comes time to take a test. They want to experience success, but sometimes their strategy falls flat, and they don’t do as well as they hoped. This negative feedback throws many teens into The Chronic Stress Loop. Then, when it comes time to take the next test, they are more stressed than before. This stress blocks them from experiencing the success that they desire.
Luckily, I have four strategies that will help your teen feel more prepared for their next test. The key is to use every assignment as an opportunity to test prep. Let’s take a look at how your teen can make this shift so they can be more at ease and experience more success.
Do the Reading:
Often times, teens will just look for answers to the questions rather than read the material. While this does help the teen get their homework done faster, they miss the scope and sequence of the reading. Therefore, the teen does not fully understand the connections between the events or concepts being introduced, and they are unable to see the big picture. This practice of skimming the reading for answers makes it more challenging to grasp and remember the material. Whereas reading the material will give your teen a greater understanding of the material and concepts. So when it comes time to take a test, they are more familiar with the information, which makes studying a less stressful task.
Read the Extras:
In most text books, there are boxes with pictures, graphs, and flow charts that give a visual component to the information. The natural tendency is to skip these and only do the actual reading. While again this saves time, often these information boxes explain the main details in a way that is much easier to grasp and remember. By taking the time to read the extras, teens will gain a greater understanding of the material which again makes studying a less stressful task.
Answer Questions Thoroughly:
Although it is tempting to write only a basic answer, it serves teens well in the future to write a thorough and detailed answer. They also should indicate the question in their answer. These quality answers turn their homework into a valuable study tool rather than sheets of unclear facts.
Question: Who was Thomas Jefferson?
Basic Answer: He was the third president.
Quality Answer: Thomas Jefferson was an American Founding Father who was one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence. He was the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809.
Turn Notes into a Study Guide:
When taking notes, leave a space between the topic or question and the answer. This way, when it comes time to study, your teen can cover the answer while looking at the topic. This enables your teen to be sure they know the answer because they can not see the answer when they are looking at the question.
Typical Notes:
Thomas Jefferson – an American Founding Father who was one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence. He was the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809.
Study Guide Notes:
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was an American Founding Father who was one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence. He was the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809.
These four study skills help teens be more engaged in the material which helps solidify the information in their memory. When it comes time to take a test, they already have a base understanding, so they are remembering not learning for the first time. Additionally, their notes and homework can be used as study guides. Even with all of this preparation, for many teens, test taking automatically throws them into the Chronic Stress Loop. Even if they have prepared well, they need a strategy to calm their stress. If this sounds like your teen, grab a copy of my FREE Stress Less Guide here to learn my top 5 tips to help your teen stress less about tests and experience more success.
Originally published at www.claireketchum.com