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Top 8 Study Tips for Finals

June 13th, 2014
Top 8 Study Tips for Finals

1. Start Early! – This is the most important one. The internet provides plenty of ways to waste your study time, but you’ll be happy you stayed away from Netflix and Reddit when the final finally comes.

2. Study in Chunks – Your brain works best in 50 minute intervals. You may feel studious after your 6 hour study marathon, but a tired brain doesn’t absorb information like a fresh one. Take 5-10 minutes breaks every hour to make sure you’re making the most of your study time.

3. A Clean, Well-Lighted Place – Studying in bed may sound like a good idea, but once you’re in bed, so will a nap. Find a place that works for you. It should be somewhere where you can focus, spread out your notes, and get in a studying groove. And if you get sick of one place, switch it up!

4. Know Your Teacher – Ask questions, take notes, review old worksheets. Figure out what your teacher thinks is important because that’s what will show up on the final.

5. Study Alone – Start with what you don’t know. Review your old tests, quizzes, and homeworks, and take notes on what you missed. Then spend some time on your own with each of these topics. Write down any questions you have because the next step is…

6. Study in Groups – Once you’ve figured out your own strengths and weaknesses in each subject, form a study group. Here you can ask questions you had on your own and answer some of your study buddies’. Explaining concepts and hearing them explained in new ways will strengthen your understanding of the material.

7. Exercise – Exercise increases blood flow to the brain, and you may need all the brain blood you can get for finals week. It’s also a great way to take a break from book to soak up some sun.

8. Sleep – It may be tempting to cram all night, but
it may not help as much as you think. Give your brain a rest! When the night before the test comes around, be confident in the studying you’ve been doing all week and get some extra sleep.

Algebra and Chemistry tutoring for RUHS

March 27th, 2014

I’ve been tutoring Kelsey from Redondo Union High School (http://www.redondounion.org/) for about three weeks now. After briefly talking about Kelsey’s day, we discuss how she thinks she did on her most recent quizzes or tests, what assignments she needs to work on in that moment in time, and how we can prepare for her upcoming quizzes or tests. Kelsey mainly comes into Study Hut to get tutoring for Chemistry and Algebra 2. My goal is to help Kelsey overcome her struggles in these two subjects by accommodating her with tutorials that will help her retain information efficiently, develop excellent study habits for any of her future assessments, as well as motivate her to be the best student she could be.

The first day I worked with her we completed her review packet for her upcoming Chemistry test. At the time, Kelsey was learning about specific heat capacity and how to find the missing variable, whether it was the amount of heat gained or lost, specific heat, or final or initial temperature. Kelsey came into Study Hut confused about the basics of this particular subtopic in Chemistry, so I went over the fundamentals by breaking down every significant piece of information she had to know.
The second day I worked with Kelsey, we reviewed for the Algebra 2 test she took last week. Kelsey was being tested on her knowledge of conics, including parabolas, hyberbolas, circles, and ellipses. Kelsey was confused about the difference between each of the conics, how to go about finding the different types of points for each type of graph, how to formulate an equation when given specific points on the graph, and lastly, how to graph each type of conic. I went over the details of each graph and provided her with simply strategies on how to memorize the specifics of each graph.