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Study Myth Busters

Submitted by tutordoctor on Wed, 02/29/2012 - 09:19

Everyone has their unique study process and will swear that theirs is the magic study formula that works best. Many of these study myths are borne from the desperate attempts to cram an entire semester's studying into one night before the

Study Myth Busters_0.jpg exam, but others are habits that we have become accustomed to. We take a look at the most common exam study myths and decide whether they are confirmed or busted.

Osmosis

This myth is flat out BUSTED. Putting books beneath your bed, playing audio tapes while you sleep or eating pages from your text book will not help you to pass your exams. You may get indigestion, but you certainly won't get an 'A'. Any marks you do obtain during the exam using this method were thanks to your long term memory of the lessons, revisions or studying you did before. Imagine what you could have done if you had just studied!

Cramming

This myth is actually INCONCLUSIVE. The one thing we can say for sure is that cramming cannot help you to remember an entire semester's work. Large volumes of information crammed into your poor brain hours before an exam is likely to leak out before you have driven to school. If you have lots to learn, start early and give yourself plenty of time. However, if you have a relatively small amount of information, cramming can be a good way to study just before an exam. So, if you reviewed all of your science notes in good time, but spend the morning before an exam cramming a couple of formulas, you should be ok. This kind of studying also only suits certain learners so proceed with caution.

The All-Nighter

Totally BUSTED. I mean completely and utterly crushed. This is possibly the very worst thing you can do just before an exam. Sleep deprivation will lead to memory deficits and an inability to concentrate in class. In a study at the University of Tel Aviv lecturer, Dr. Avi Sadeh, found that sleep deprivation severely affects performance. He found that; "A loss of one hour of sleep is equivalent to [the loss of] two years of cognitive maturation and development.” What this means practically is that a sleepy eighth grader will perform academically closer to a sixth grade level. Basically, not getting enough sleep will severely hamper your exam performance.

No matter what myths you follow, there is no substitution for being prepared and sustained learning throughout the semester. If you don't succumb to any of these study myths, but are still not performing as we as you would like on the exams, consider getting a tutor. Tutors not only help you to understand work during the semester, they also help you to study for exams and are a real wealth of information on which study techniques will suit your learning style. Remember, everyone learns differently, so what may work for your friends may not work for you. Trust your tutor to test you to see what kind of a learner you are.

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elementary school K-12

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Recognizing Dyslexia

Submitted by tutordoctor on Mon, 02/27/2012 - 08:54

If your child is struggling to keep up at school, there may be several contributing factors including dyslexia. About 80% of students with learning disabilities have dyslexia. Dyslexia is a learning disorder that makes it difficult for students to read, recognize symbols and interpret words. Dyslexia is the most common learning disorder and it stays with children throughout their lives. It's often the parents who recognize that there is something amiss and it's crucial to identify dyslexia as soon as possible in order to help your child to learn in a way that suits their needs.

Delayed speech: As a baby, the dyslexic child will have trouble learning to speak. Although they will master speech successfully, they will be late starters in this area. They may also mix up sounds or use the incorrect words in sentences. Dyslexic children also have trouble pronouncing R's and L's as well as M's and N's well into the third and fourth grades.

Dominance issues: Dyslexic children often don't establish a dominant side until really late in life. They will not be able to tell the difference between left and right and may be a little clumsy. They will use their hands interchangeably i.e. they usually establish dominance around 7 or 8, but might still use one hand to draw and another to play sports.

Switching the order of numbers and letters: This commonly occurs with children who are learning to read, but if the problem persists after the age of seven or eight it should be addressed. Children who have dyslexia will also read very slowly and have great trouble recognizing words.

Trouble copying work from the board or from a book: Difficulty interpreting words and symbols will mean that the dyslexic child will have great difficulty copying work down. There will also be a general disorganization of words and letters on a written page. They will have trouble learning letters and the order they appear in the alphabet.

Disparity between reading and learning: You will see your child learn very quickly in other areas, but fall behind in lessons that are text related. This also translates into a difficulty with handwriting and trouble learning to spell words correctly. They will find it difficult to recognize rhyming words, even if they read books like Dr. Seuss, they will not be able to tell you that cat rhymes with hat.

Math problems: Dyslexia is not restricted to reading and you may find your child has trouble with math too. Symbols and numbers are just as difficult for the dyslexic to interpret as letters are.

Early signs of dyslexia require further investigation. If you suspect your child may have a learning disorder, seek the council of a developmental psychologist who can not only test your child to identify leaning difficulties, but they can also help you and your child to overcome learning problems.

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Dyslexia

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Study Habits of Successful Students

Submitted by tutordoctor on Fri, 02/24/2012 - 13:37

Midterms; that dreaded time of the year when we clean our rooms, wash our cars and make elaborate meals in the hope of delaying the inevitable studying for just a couple more hours. Regularly revising work during the term means you commit it

Study Habits_0.jpg to long term memory and don't have to study as hard for exams. Studying smart is far more important than studying hard. If you adopt these helpful habits, you may find you have to study less to retain more information.

Don't leave it to the last minute

OK, so it may be a little too late for this semester, but try to regularly reinforce what you have learned in class. After learning something new in class, go home and revise. This commits the information to long-term memory and you will find you remember more and have to study less come exam time. There are many ways to reinforce your classroom lessons. You don't have to spend hours doing this, just take a couple of minutes to review and lock the new information into your long-term memory.

· When you come home, look up interesting facts on the internet and do some extra reading.

· Read over your notes, you can even record your readings on your laptop or your Smartphone so that you can play them back to yourself when you are studying.

· Talk about new information with your study group or friends and get their input.

· Watch online videos, documentaries or movies that deal with the subject.

· Summarize readings and text in short notes that you can use to revise and study. This means you won't be trying to read the whole text book the night before the exam.

· If you don't understand something, sort it out right away. Ask a friend or a teacher to help. Learning is a building-block exercise - if you don't understand something now, you are unlikely to understand the rest of the classes that deal with this topic. Don't start falling behind; get a tutor if you need extra help.

Keep revising

After one week, and then again after one month, review your notes. If you are unsure of something or don't understand what you have written, then go back over the text book or ask a friend, tutor or a teacher for clarification. This revision should also take only a few minutes as you review your notes.

If you just take a few minutes out of your day to review new information, and set aside an hour to do the same thing each week, you will be amazed how much more you remember. Exams will be a cake walk when you have committed the semester's information to your long term memory. By being prepared you will have time to get a good night's sleep before the exam and rid yourself of pre-exam stress. You can focus on doing practice exams instead of trying to cram an entire semester's work into one night.

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9 Ways to Improve your Exam Performance

Submitted by tutordoctor on Mon, 02/20/2012 - 16:06

Exam tips.jpg The midterms are nearly upon us and the only thing that stands between you and the freedom of spring break is exams. You already know that you need to set up a study schedule, get plenty of sleep, ease your exam stress and have a good meal before you write. But there are a number of exam skills that can work on too.

· Timing is everything: Start by taking a quick look at the exam to see what lies ahead. Divide your time between the questions to make sure you are able to complete them all.

· Bring several writing implements; this will prevent the stress and wasted time of having to borrow a replacement pen from the invigilator. Check your exam kit before each exam and make sure you have a calculator, stationary and any permitted materials. There is nothing that induces fear and wastes time more than arriving at an exam ill-prepared.

· Don't rush; take your time and think carefully about the answer before writing it down.

· Leave spaceat the end of each question so that you can add further thoughts and ideas should you finish early and have some extra time to expand on your answers.

· When in doubt, elaborate:Write down the answer to each question, but if you have time at the end, go back and elaborate. You may just be able to add a couple of marks onto your total.

· Keep calm and carry on: if you are perusing the paper and discover that there are some questions you don't feel prepared for, don't panic. Take a deep breath and just start with the questions you can answer. This will help to build your confidence and, by the time you get back to the difficult questions, the answer may emerge from the murkier recesses of your brain. Remember; stress only makes it less likely that you will remember the answer.

· Write legibly:If the teacher can't read your handwriting, they can't give you marks. Slow down and write clearly. Writing slowly will also give you more time to think of the best possible answers.

· Double check: As tired as you may be at the end of the exam, check your answers if you have time. You may catch something that you got wrong and have the time to correct it.

· Shake it off; when you are finished with the exam, forget about it. Going through answers with your friends and then worrying about what you wrote will only add to the stress of the next exam. There is nothing you can do about it once it's over. Instead you should focus on the next paper and try to relax a little.

Whatever your exam process, make sure that you take care of yourself. Eat well, exercise, get enough sleep and try to stay calm. Good luck!

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10 Steps to Speed Reading

Submitted by tutordoctor on Fri, 02/17/2012 - 10:20

Part three of a three part series

Speed reading 3.jpg Speed reading will save you tons of time that you can put to better use. Speed reading is a great tool for sifting through large volumes of material to extract the most important points. It's also an excellent tool to revise work or study additional reading around a subject you enjoy. Speed reading takes months of dedication and time to master, but it's definitely worth the effort. Today we will discuss a different method of speed reading.

Step 7: Perceptual expansion

This technique makes use of your peripheral vision to read faster. The idea is to focus on a point near the middle of a sentence and be able to read the whole thing. But first, let's start with baby steps. Get a pen and a book with relatively accessible vocabulary and large print. Place the book open on a desk in a well-lit quiet area. Make sure you are focussed and well rested.

Step 8: One second test

Place the pen on the page one word into the sentence and then again one word from the end of the sentence. Get your eyes to focus not only on the words that the pen is on, but on the surrounding words as well. Give yourself one second to read each sentence before moving onto the next sentence. Do not concern yourself with comprehension; just practice seeing half the sentence a time. Do this for 3 minutes every day until you become adept at seeing the whole sentence.

Step 9: Speed up

Now try placing the pen on the third word from the beginning and end of each sentence and giving yourself only half a second to read the entire sentence. Do this for three minutes every day until you are able to begin comprehending the sentence by recognising the peripheral words. Keep practicing and you will find you become better and better at it. When you are able to read and comprehend the sentence in half a second, you are ready to move on to the final phase.

Step 10: Straight down the middle

Initially you may need to go back to giving yourself a full second to read the whole sentence, but try to focus on the word in the center of the sentence and read the whole line at once. Remember, this takes practice, so set aside 10 or 15 minutes every day to practice your peripheral reading. Soon, you will be able to run your pen or finger down the middle of a page and read the whole thing in a matter of seconds. Continue to practice and time yourself, always striving to improve. When you have mastered the technique, focus on improving comprehension. You should only concern yourself with comprehension once you have mastered the art of seeing the entire sentence by focusing on one word.

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10 Steps to Speed Reading

Submitted by tutordoctor on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 13:00

Speed reading 2.jpg Part two of a three part series

As you get to the higher grades, the volume of work you have to get through in a semester increases exponentially. Speed reading can really help to reduce the time you spend wading through texts. You can sift through the unnecessary information to find the details that you need to know and concentrate on. Speed reading can also be a great asset when reviewing notes before a test. It takes months of practice and perseverance to master, but its well worth the effort.

Step 4: Read in blocks

You probably already do this quite often. If you are racing along on a train or in a car, you are able to decipher roadside advertising by recognizing all the words in a sentence with a single glance. However, since we were all taught to read each word separately, we are inclined to only look at one word at a time. See how many words you can recognize at once by placing your finger under the second or third word in a sentence. Now look at the beginning of the sentence and look away. You will be able to recognize the words because your brain identifies words visually, not by their individual letters. Now put your finger after the fourth word of the next sentence and try again. Keep increasing the number of words so that you can ascertain how many words you are able to read at a glance.

Step 5: Practice makes perfect

Practice reading several words at a glance. You can do this by using your finger to mark off the number of words you know you can read at a glance and then look at them while moving your finger onto the next marker. Progress will be slow at first, but with some practice, you will soon be speeding along. As you practice more, you will be able to read more words with each glance and soon you will be able to read entire sentences. When this happens, you can run your finger down the side of the page from one sentence to another.

Step 6: Set the scene

If you are going to be practicing your speed reading, make sure you have a quiet, well-lit area with plenty of room. Speed reading takes concentration, so there can be no distractions; no music, TV, noisy siblings or mobile phones. Make sure you have plenty of room to lay out your book. Choose a book with a large font and relatively easy to understand vocabulary to start. Place the book slightly further away from you than you would normally and start slowly at first.

Review your progress regularly by taking the online speed reading tests. Remember that speed reading will take some time and plenty of practice to master, so be patient.

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10 Steps to Speed Reading

Submitted by tutordoctor on Sat, 02/11/2012 - 10:43

Speed reading 1.jpg Part one of a three part series

We all know the feeling; the long winded emails from family or the giant text books with thousands of pages that make you wish you could read a little faster. There are several techniques you can utilize to do just that. Speed reading is the ability to skim through vast reams of material two to ten times faster than you would normally read. This is an excellent skill to have when you want to get an overview of material or the general gist of a text. If you have previously read the material, speed reading is a great way to refresh your memory. There are several steps you can take to improve your reading speed.

Step 1: Time yourself

You can set a time limit and then count the number of words in a passage to find your reading speed. If you read online documents, it's easier to determine reading speed. Try to read at your normal reading speed during your reading test. Alternatively, you can take an online reading speed test which offers greater accuracy. As you try various techniques, keep on timing yourself to see which ones work best for you.

Step 2: Stop Subvocalizing

Subvocalizing is the habit of reading to yourself. Whether you are forming the words with your mouth or just forming them in your head, this will significantly slow progress. Reading is a visual exercise and your brain immediately recognizes words long before they have formed in your head. For example, read the following sentence:

If you can raed tihs sentnece, you msut be vrey clever.

You mind can still recognise the words, based on the first and last letters, despite the fact that they are spelled incorrectly. This means that there is no need to form the word in your head because you have already identified them visually. You can stop subvocalizing by being aware of this habit and, if it persists, hum to prevent yourself from forming the words in your mind or put a finger to your lips to prevent yourself from speaking them. Reading aloud has its own virtues and is especially good when practicing pronunciation or memorizing important facts, but it has no place in speed reading.

Step 3: Let your fingers do the walking

Run a finger or a hand along the page while you read. This will pull your eye down and help to speed up your reading. As you move your finger along the sentence or down the page, your eyes will follow the movement and this will force your mind to use visual recognition to decipher words.

Catch the next blog post for more ways to improve your speed reading in the second of our three part series.

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Gym Classes help Improve Grades

Submitted by tutordoctor on Sun, 02/05/2012 - 15:42

Physical education classes have come under fire of late as cash-strapped schools scramble for ways to save money. Everyone knows gym class is a great way to get kids

Gym Class.jpg moving and promote a healthy, active lifestyle, but some schools simple cannot afford the teachers or the facilities it takes to run a successful physical education program. Studies conducted to ascertain the value of gym class suggest that it's far more important than we think.

A number of studies were conducted on school children of all ages. One of the most interesting involved 138 students in Rome aged 8 to 11. The children were all healthy and none of them suffered from known attention disorders, but like most children their age, they had trouble staying focused throughout the long school day. The study required the children to pick letters from a long string of symbols; a test recognized for its ability to ascertain concentration levels. The children wrote the tests before and after their gym classes.

Researchers found that the children's test scores improved dramatically after their 50-minute gym classes. Their scores improved more the more they moved. Endurance classes where the children were just moving, rather than thinking like they would when playing ball sports, were the most effective in improving their concentration. The findings of the various studies show a remarkable improvement in a student's ability to concentrate right after exercising. This means that gym classes are not lost school hours, but are a valuable tool in getting students to learn.

It's not just gym class where these discoveries can be put to good use. We can also encourage students to walk, run or hit the gym when they are studying for exams. Getting your child moving means that they can take a break from their studies and recharge with some fresh air and exercise. Don't let your kids sit in front of their desks for hours; this will see the rule of diminishing returns take effect as they learn less and less for every hour that they study.

If you are studying, try to schedule regular breaks where you can move around. Play a game, go for a run or a walk or get to the gym to give yourself a break. If you find yourself having to read the same passage over and over again, then it's time for a break. If the weather outside is not conducive to outdoor activity, do some yoga in the living room or dance to your favourite song. Moving will definitely help you to concentrate.

Exercise has added benefits that help your kids to achieve. Improved sleep patterns, lower blood pressure and reduced obesity rates make your children happier, healthier and even smarter! Make gym classes an indispensable part of your school's curriculum. If you are having trouble finding the money for physical education programs, get the parents to help raise funds and have a volunteer program for gym instructors rather than a permanent teacher.

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Cramming: 3 dumb things to avoid

Submitted by tutordoctor on Fri, 02/03/2012 - 11:05

Exams are slowly approaching and you are probably planning your study schedules with the very best of intentions. But somehow, life gets in the way and you find yourself cramming the night before your big exam. Staying up all night to cram before an exam negatively impacts your performance and grades. You are unlikely to remember much beyond the exam and, although you may feel that the information has served its purpose, it forms the building blocks of future studies.

Many students who struggle (especially with science and math) are missing a couple of building blocks in the foundations of their knowledge base. This may have been due to a plethora of factors, but cramming is one of the biggest culprits. Sustained learning throughout the year helps you to commit information to long term memory, making it available for use as you go from one grade to the next. Cramming may get that info in to your brain in the short term, but it will be gone before you can say spring break.

1. Pulling an all nighter: Teenagers need 8-9 hours of sleep a night. A study by Dr. Avi Sadeh found that losing one hour of sleep can reduce your cognitive abilities by two years. This means that if you are in the eighth grade and miss an hour of sleep, you will perform at a sixth grade level. Imagine what pulling an all-nighter does to your ability to perform.

2. Candy and caffeine: Your brain uses 20% of your energy intake even though it only accounts for 2% of your body mass. You need fuel to keep that motor running. Cramming students tend to opt for a high sugar, high caffeine intake to stay awake all night. This means that your brain does not have the proteins and carbohydrates it needs to function which leads to reduced memory retention and a lack of cognitive functioning that you need for complex questions. If you must cram, steer clear of refined sugar and go for fruits (especially akai and blueberries), whole grains and proteins. For your caffeine intake, rely on green tea.

3. Too much information:Although it is possible to cram a certain amount of information the night before an exam, the exhaustion, stress and caffeine can have a really negative effect on your exam performance. Information crammed will be forgotten and will mean you have more work to do next semester. Your brain is like a sponge, but even a sponge can only hold so much water. The older you get, the more information you will need to retain and doing so effectively can only be done with time and dedication. Cramming the night before may work in the lower grades, but there is simply too much information for higher grade students to do so effectively. Start now and plan ahead for your midterms, you will be glad you did.

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