Preparing to study

If your child has a tutor, let your child’s teacher(s) know. Some teachers are very willing to communicate with tutors. This allows them to be a resource and source of support for each other in maximizing your child’s achievement and progress.

If the teacher doesn’t already provide it, request a study guide, review sheet, or at least a list of the topics, concepts, or chapters to be covered on the test.Always try to get advanced notice of upcoming tests and quizzes. Even if the teacher doesn’t know the exact date, it would be useful to know that a test is coming sometime the following week. This information makes planning time for studying easier and is helpful to a tutor as well. It’s always better for a tutor to help prepare a student in advance rather than to try to play “catch up” afterwards.

As with homework and reading, find a comfortable, quiet place to study that’s free of distractions. A desk is preferable to a bed, since it may be too tempting to fall asleep.Help your child plan to study in small chunks, a little bit each night, instead of trying to cram the night before. Studying and reviewing each night helps the information to make it into their long-term memory whereas studying the night before or the morning of a test, usually means the information will only stay in their short term memory. Since in most subjects, your child will need to build upon the information or be responsible for knowing it later on, it is best if it’s their long-term memory. Studying ahead of time also provides the opportunity to ask the teacher for clarification or review on difficult concepts.

Have all study materials on hand: class notes, review sheets, study guides, textbook, etc. Remind children to bring these things home. (Consider color-coding books for children who have organizational difficulties and/or creating check-off lists.)