I’ve been tutoring for a while now. Before coming to the Study Hut, I
worked as a private tutor and substitute teacher in New Jersey for
about 4 years. During that time, there was one question I was asked
over and over again. It had nothing to do with sines or cosines. It
had no relation to bicameral legislature. And it bared no resemblance
to anything in chemistry. The question was a simple one: WHY DO I HAVE
TO KNOW THIS?!

And parents, let’s be fair; we’ve ALL asked this in the past. We’ve
all experience the study session where we have to answer 14 questions
relating to alternate interior angles, and we couldn’t think of a
single instance when we’d use the information in real life. We were
usually given the same excuses as well:

-“Maybe you’ll have a job with a lot of math.”

-“You’ll need to know it to get into college.”

-“You need to know it because it’s ON THE TEST.”

-“Because I said so.”

All valid. All true. But none of these speak to the average Manhattan
Beach student. And, let’s face it, how often DO you use trigonometry
and chemistry in your real life? (Engineers and doctors, put your
hands down, I was being rhetorical.)

This is how I try to explain the value of education to my students:

When you go to the gym, you do pushups. Are you doing this because of
how often you push yourself up in real life? No. You do it because it
trains your body, and allows it to do other physical activities when
you need to. It makes your body strong. And to get strong, your body
needs to do a variety of exercises. Just doing pushups wont cut it.

It’s the same thing with your mind. You’re not going through Trig and
Chem and Bio and History because of how often you’ll use them in real
life. You’re taking these classes in order to TRAIN YOUR MIND HOW TO
THINK. You’re making your mind strong, so that, later in life, it will
be ready for when you really need it. By studying so many different
subjects, you’re practicing the fine arts of thinking analytically and
critically, which is beyond important in any career.

Plus, memorizing the state capitals is a great trick at parties.

While the key to doing well on any exam at Mira Costa High School, Manhattan Beach Middle School, Pacific School or American Martyrs school is to conceptually understand the material backwards and forwards, there are some tips you can employ to give you
an edge and make your time spent studying as efficient and effective as possible.

What kind of learner are you? Everyone is different in the way they learn and
absorb information so its best to identify what kind of learner you are when
deciding on what study strategies to use.

Cramming doesn’t pay! Don’t wait until the night before a test to review all your
materials. Space out your studying up to several days or weeks before your exam
which will keep you from getting overwhelmed and increase the likelihood you will
understand and recall the information you need to.

See, Write, Say! – Experts maintain that your chances of recalling information
increases greatly when you look at a given piece of information, write it out again in
your own words or way, and then say it aloud to yourself.

Summarize information, concepts, and big picture ideas in concise charts, graphs,
or outlines. This will make the information easier to recall and extrapolate upon to
answer critical thinking type questions.

Study actively! It is best to study during daylight hours. Don’t study in your bed to
avoid being tempted to fall asleep. Also ask yourself questions as you go through the
material to keep yourself actively engaged in the material at hand.

Avoid distractions! Find a place away from things you’re easily distracted by. A quiet
room away from the computer, television, and disruptive friends or siblings is an
ideal study location. Sometimes music such as jazz or classical may help keep you
more interested and stimulated if complete silence is unappealing to you.

Take a break! It’s good to periodically take a short break from long periods of
studying. Get up and walk around to get your blood flowing or go and make yourself
a nutritious snack. Your brain may only account for 2% of your overall bodyweight,
but it consumes 20% of your calorie intake. While studying, this figure can increase
to nearly 40%! Snacks rich in nutrients such as nuts or fruits are great to munch on
while studying to keep your brain working at full capacity.

Here at Study Hut in Manhattan Beach, we know that there’s more to academic success than simply knowing the material. Organizational skills and general study tricks are perhaps the most important “subjects” we teach, because without them it’s difficult to stay on top of the ever-growing workload of high school.

We, the super smart and super awesome tutors of Study hut, develop customized study plans for every student that walks through our doors, based on their own habits and personalities. However, here are a few basic strategies that can work for anyone who’s having troubles with procrastination (read: everyone).

1. Designate Goof Off Time
Nobody is a machine. Sometimes you’re lucky enough to find a subject that you love so much that homework is actually fun (yay physics!)
However, a lot of the time you’re going to have to deal with subjects that you straight up don’t like. And that’s alright! However, there’s a physical limit to how much loathsome boredom a human can take before they get distracted and goof off.
And that’s alright, too!
The trick is to actually portion off part of your day to goof off – that can mean facebook, video games, TV, or whatever else.
These things are fine in small quantities, and they make your life more fun! So give yourself over to them, but for a set period that you’ve planned for ahead of time.
The other way – checking facebook every time you feel like it during your problem sets – is incredibly distracting, hinders your progress, and thus ends up stressing you out even more.

2. Page Blockers
If you’re having troubles staying off of fun pages, try downloading a page blocker. There are lots of them online, but a few great ones are “Concentrate” and “Self-Control”. They work by physically disabling your browser’s ability to visit certain sites for a pre-determined amount of time.
This serves as a sort of guardrail; if you feel like procrastinating for a tiny bit they’ll help keep you on track.
However, they aren’t cure-alls: just like real guard rails, if you’re really determined to go off the trail you’ll be able to hop over them easily enough. However, they do serve as reminders about where your priorities should lie.

3. Enjoy the process!
It is much easier to work if you enjoy the process. Sometimes that’s difficult, but there are things you can do to improve it. Choose a room that’s pleasant to you, one that you will enjoy working in.
Playing music while you study can be a big help. It can be marginally distracting, but sometimes that’s a sacrifice that’s worth making. If you have to choose between working at 90% efficiency because you’re listening to music, or working at 5% efficiency because you’re constantly getting bored and taking breaks, then that’s not really any choice at all, is it?
Enjoy the process, or if you can’t, make it enjoyable.

4. Healthful snacks in small quantities
Lay off the sugar and junk food. Small doses of healthful foods keep your energy up and keep you focused. Almonds, walnuts, carrots, broccoli, and dried fruit are all great choices. Overly sweet things like candy or poptarts send your blood sugar into a tail spin, and release hormones that make staying focused difficult. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot with a poor diet.

5. Don’t use these tips to procrastinate.
This is the important. It’s easy to think that “applying” tips like these is productive work. And to a certain extent that’s true.
But, if you find yourself spending twenty minutes reading reviews about the best page blockers, or preparing a gourmet snack tray, or meticulously organizing your iTunes folder into different playlists for each subject, then, well… We see the problem here, yes?
Apply these tips, but bear in mind that the final goal is to actually get your schoolwork done.

That’s it for now! Call Study Hut in Manhattan Beach for more information about how to study right and slaughter your coursework and SATs