5 Tips to Best the Test!

Taking a test can be a pressure-filled experience. You can reduce stress by preparing yourself with a study plan. Use the tips below to prepare for your next test.

1. Don't Cram! Studying the night before is not going to get it done. Short, daily study sessions leading up to test day is your best approach.

2. Fuel Up, Rest Up. It’s best to study when you’re not hungry or sleepy. You concentrate better and retain more of what you’re trying to learn.

3. Pace Yourself. If you’re being tested on four chapters, plan five study sessions – one per chapter and a final review of the main ideas in all the chapters.

4. Reps. Repetition helps facts penetrate your noggin. Read and re-read your notes and chapters you’ll be tested on.

5. Study Your Test. Review the test before starting and read the instructions closely. Ask the teacher if you're unsure about anything. Note the value of each section. 

5 Tips to Make Homework Less Like Work

After a day at school, it's not easy to stick your face back in the books. To ease your pain, here are 10 tips to make homework a painless, productive process.

1. Decompress. Take a 30-minute break when you get home to give your brain a break before re-hitting the books. 

2. Find a Study Cave. Don’t sit in front of a TV and think you’re going to have a productive study session. Find a quiet, well lit work area with room to spread out your books and papers.  
3. Prep. Before starting, be sure you have all you need – ruler, pens, scratch paper – to avoid interrupting your study groove.

4. Don't Delay. Don’t put off your homework until late at night. Start earlier in the day so you can call a classmate or friend if you have difficulty with an assignment.

5. Take Off Your Headphones. That Zune is not going to help you focus.

Time to Make Some Noise

Some call the crisis of some 30 percent of American teens dropping out of high school the “Silent Epidemic.” Why do so many choose to quit? For most, it’s not because it's hard. A 2006 Gates Foundation survey of high school dropouts found most dropouts were bored or unmotivated -- 88 percent surveyed had passing grades when they left school. If they knew what happens to most dropouts, they might have stayed in school.

A Not-So-Bright Future

Those with no high school diploma are more likely to be unemployed, in prison, unhealthy, on public assistance or living in poverty than a high school graduate. Consider:

• Dropouts are 3.5 times more likely than high school graduates to be incarcerated in their lifetime – three-quarters of state prison inmates are dropouts, as are 59 percent of federal inmates.

• In 2005, the average annual income for a dropout was $17,299, compared with $26,933 for a high school graduate -- a difference of $9,634, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Over a lifetime, that’s more than a $400,000 difference in career earnings.

It doesn’t take a genius to graduate high school. It does take a person with perseverance who recognizes that earning a diploma will impact their lives, one way or another. That’s not to put it all on the students. There needs to be an overall change in the importance placed on education in American society. But that will take a while. For now, help yourself.