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Table of Contents

1. Listening and Note Taking
   1. Setting Goals
   2. Tips for Taking Notes
   3. Reading To Learn
   4. Memorization
2. Taking Tests
3. How To Use Punctuation
4. Paragraph Writing
5. Basic Mechanical Rules
6. Literary Terms
7. Making Learning Easier
8. "I just can't remember!"
9. Are you a good student-Print out quiz

LISTENING AND NOTETAKING

You've got your notebook out and your pencil ready... but by the time you get the information about how World War I started, your teacher has already explained how it ended. What's a student to do?

Try using abbreviations and symbols to speed up your writing. Keep your system simple so, you can quickly understand your notes after you've written them. Deciphering will only waste valuable time. For instance, your notes might look like this:

WWI beg. in Eur. -1914 wl assassination Austria Archduke Frains Ferdinand; in U.S. 1917.

This would be a lot faster than writing:

World War I began in Europe in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Frans Ferdinand of Austria. The United States entered the war in 1917.

Since You can't write down everything, you must know what is important to write. Listen to your teachers for clues. They will often indicate what information you should concentrate on learning. When you go over your notes to prepare for the test, you'll remember to pay attention to this information.

Listen for these phrases:

"Listen to what I am saying"

"This is important"

"Because of this..."

"These results are..."

"Let's go over this again"

"Don't forget this..."

"This will be on the test"

(when you hear this, write a capital "T" in the margin of your notes and circle it)

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SETTING GOALS

"When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are ... when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true." Jimminy Cricket isn't entirely correct. Wishes need action. You need a plan to achieve your goals.

Setting goals should be fun. It will result in better grades, higher self-esteem and a sense of control.
Set realistic goals for academics. Participate in sports and other school activities and set goals for achievement in them. These goals can be short-term (within a month) or long-term (within the school year).
- Write your goals down and put them in a place where you'll see them everyday, such as your locker.
- Share your goals with your parents and teachers. They can give you encouragement.
- Develop a plan including a time limit to reach your goals; then go for it!
- Be positive and determined! Visualize yourself achieving your goals.
- When you reach your goals, reward yourself.

In order to get the most from classroom activities, you must listen intently. Keep your thoughts on the teacher and the subject being discussed. Don't write notes until you have a clear idea of what you are writing about.

- Be alert and ask questions.
- Think about the topic; do you understand what is being said?
- If you are confused, listen for familiar words which will get you on the road again.
- Ask the teacher to explain the material in another way to help you understand.

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TIPS FOR TAKING NOTES

- Use a pen or pencil that won't smear or smudge.
- Take notes on a full sheet of paper marked with a page number, subject and date.
- Keep your notes for each subject together.
- Use highlighters or colored pencils to mark different topics.

READING TO LEARN

You've finished your reading assignment on the planets and are prepared for class. The next day in class, your teacher asks you what planet is closest to the sun. Your mind is in outer space, and for all you know, it could be the Planet of the Apes! How can you remember what you read?

Every subject in school involves reading at some point. By sharpening your reading skills, you can get more information from textbooks and other reading assignments. It is easy to get into the trap of just reading the words without actually gathering the information in the text. To avoid this problem, think about the subject while you read. If the section is difficult to understand, try stopping after one or two paragraphs and summarizing what you have read. Either say your summary out loud, or write it down in your notes. If this is difficult, reread the section more slowly; look up words you don't understand.

- Get the context of what you're reading from groups of words, rather than each word by itself. Moving your lips when reading slows you down.
- Don't follow the words with your finger. If you read faster, you will understand more of the information.
- Keep your mind on the subject you are reading.
- Look at included charts, maps and illustrations to help you grasp the idea of what you are reading.
- Write a summary of the story in your own words. Glancing back at the notes will jar your memory.
- Read many different kinds of material. The more you read, the easier and more enjoyable reading will become. Ask your teacher to help you find reading materials on topics that interest you.

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MEMORIZATION

You've got so many dates and facts to remember for your history test that you can't even remember what year the War of 1812 began! Often facts and formulas seem to jumble up in our heads, lost in our brain, never to be remembered. Some creative study habits can help those facts stay in your brain.

Flashcards

Flashcards work very well when you need to learn a lot of information. Get a supply of 3" x 5" index cards. Print vocabulary words, formulas, dates, etc., on the front of the card and an explanation on the back. Study the cards several times in one day Try doing it between classes and during your study session. The next day, test your memory. Keep a record of your score. Keep practicing and watch your score improve!

Flash cards work well for:
vocabulary lists... foreign words... dates and events in social studies... states/counties and capitals... names of government branches and departments... famous people... math and science terms or formulas... principles and laws of science...

Word tricks

- Here are several ideas to help retain information:
Grouping ideas with the same first letter -products imported into the U.S.: Cars, cattle, ...
Alphabetical order - Western states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, ...
Word Hooks - The first letters of the Great Lakes spell HOMES: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior.
Sentence Hooks - Make phrases to help fix information in your memory. The more creative the phrase, the easier it will be to recall. For example, to remember when Columbus landed in the Americas, we say: "in fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue."

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TAKING TESTS

Your palms are sweating, your mouth is dry, and the butterflies in your stomach are break dancing. It's not a rare case!. It's not what you ate in the cafeteria for lunch. It's the math test on your desk.

The best way to avoid having pre-test jitters is to prepare well for the test. Be sure to schedule plenty of time for reviewing. Get plenty of rest the night before; late-night cramming will only make it more difficult the next day.

Essay tests

- Read all the questions included on the test. Answer the questions you know best; save the hardest questions for last. With a pencil, number the order in which you plan to answer the questions.
- Begin with the first question you plan to answer, and underline the key words which give you clues as to how to answer it. Words like "explain," "define," "compare," "contrast," "list," "describe", and "give the reasons" are hints telling you what to do.
- Quickly outline the answer you're going to write. Write a simple introduction listing the points you will cover. Explain each point using examples if you can. Finally, restate your main points in a concluding paragraph.
- While writing, take time to reread the question. Are you sticking to the question and answering all of it's parts?
- Allow more tine for the most difficult questions and those worth the most points. Pace yourself so you can complete all the questions required.
- Be as neat as possible. If you make a mistake, draw a line through the incorrect words and continue.

Multiple choice

- Go through the test and complete questions you know.
- Take your time. Read through the entire question, think of the answer, then read all of the possible answers.
- On more difficult questions, narrow your choices by crossing out the answers that you know are wrong. Then, carefully think out the correct answer. If you don't know an answer, take a logical guess. - When answering questions, go with your first hunch; don't change your answer unless you're sure that you're right.
- Look for answers to the questions within the test. Sometimes one question will include the answer to another.

Matching

- Read the directions carefully
- Read both columns and see if they have the same number of items. You might use one twice or some not at all.
- Work the easy ones first.
- Mark answers when used, so you don't get confused.

True/False

- Read the question carefully If any part of the question is untrue, the answer is always false.
- Questions which include the words "all," "never", "no one," and "always" are often false.

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HOW TO USE PUNCTUATION

Comma

- Use to separate items in a series - "I like .pizza, tacos, and pie."
- Use to separate sentences joined by a conjunction - "He plays football, and he dances."
- Use for direct address - "Mary, please come here."
- Use after an introductory dependent clause "If you study, you will pass."
- Use to set off an appositive - "Black Hawk, a famous Indian chief, fought hard."

Semicolon

- Use to combine sentences without a conjunction - "He plays football; he also dances."

Colon

- Use to introduce a list that is not following a verb - "I will order the following: hamburger, fries, and a shake."
- Use to combine sentences when the second sentence explains the first - "It looks like autumn: the leaves are falling off the trees."

Quotation Marks

- Use around the direct words of a speaker He said, "I'm failing down."
- Use for titles of short stories, songs, poems, and es and newspaper articles and chapters - We read "The Tell-Tale Heart."

Underlining

- Underline titles of books, pamphlets, magazines and newspapers, movies, television programs, plays, and poems that are separate volumes. Johnny Tremain is often read in the eighth grade.

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PARAGRAPH WRITING

1. Write a topic sentence. This should tell the main idea of your paragraph.
2. List all ideas to support it.
3. Arrange in best order; cross out what doesn't belong.
4. Write paragraph.
5. Add clincher - a final sentence to sum up.
6. Proofread for mistakes in grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.
7. Revise paragraph, making corrections and changing sentences to make them more interesting.
8. Write final copy.

BASIC MECHANICAL RULES

This is not a complete list, but the most common applications.

Capitalization

- Capitalize the first word of every sentence and the first word in a direct quotation. The boy said, "Yes."
- Capitalize all proper nouns and proper adjectives including races, nationalities, languages, religions, days of the week, months, holidays, holy days, periods and events in history, special events, political parties, official documents, trade names, geographical names, heavenly bodies, streets, and official titles.
- Capitalize words like father, uncle, and senator when they are proper nouns, when they are parts of titles, or when they are substituted for proper nouns.
- Names of school subjects are not capitalized unless they are titles of a specific course or the name of a language: science class, Biology 100, English.

Abbreviations

- In formal writing, do not abbreviate names of states, countries, months, days, measurements, or school courses.
- When part of a proper name, do not abbreviate street, road, avenue, company or similar words.

Plurals

- Most nouns are made plural by adding 's' to the singular - wheels, bikes, girls, pencils, thoughts.
- Nouns ending in 'sh,' 'ch,' 'x,' 's,' and 'z' are made plural by adding 'es' to the singular - foxes, churches, wishes.
- The plurals of common nouns ending in 'y' preceded by a consonant are formed by changing the 'y' to 'i' and adding 'es' - skies, flies, puppies, gypsies.
- The plurals of nouns which end in 'y' preceded by a vowel are formed by adding only 's' - monkeys, trays.

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LITERARY TERMS

Climax - the high point of a story
Conflict - the struggle in a story - Man vs. Man; Man vs. Society; Man vs. Self.
Foreshadowing - use of clues or hints suggesting an event that will follow later in the plot.
Irony - contrast between expectation and reality.
Plot - series of related events that make up the story.
Point of View - who's telling the story -

Setting - place and time a story.
Theme - general truth about life in a story.
Tone - mood of the story.

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Making Learning Easier

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"I just can't remember!"

Trying to remember a text book for an upcoming test is hard, especially if you don't know what you're doing. Try and improve your memory with these memory techniques.

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