Helpful Reminders: • Post-It Notes come in an assortment of colors and sizes, which makes them perfect for writing out short To Do lists and notes. Stick them on your computer monitor, TV screen, bedroom door, or in other easily visible places to remind yourself of daily tasks. • Palm Pilots (electronic pocket organizers) work like mini- computers and help keep you organized and on schedule no matter where you are. • Day planners also keep you organized and don’t require batter- ies. Keep one in your backpack and remember to write down important dates and assignments throughout the day. • If you are extremely forgetful, leave yourself an answering machine or voicemail message as a backup reminder. MAKING ADJUSTMENTS Reassess your progress on a regular basis. You will undoubtedly find that your study plan needs a few adjustments here and there. Ask yourself if you reached your goals. If not, where did you fall short and why? Try to assess your plan every week as you move toward test day. The more you assess your plan, the better you will be able to hone it to your actual needs. Here is Janine’s SAT exam study plan. Creating and Implementing a Study Plan 85 February 1 Week 1: Feb. 2– Feb. 8 Saturday Class None None SAT STUDY PLAN VERBAL Take practice exam. Target weakness: criti- cal reading Review reading com- prehension strategies. Start running vocabu- lary list for sentence completions and analogies. JANINE SALAZAR MATH Take practice exam. Target weakness: algebra Review quantitative comparison strategies. Practice quadratic equa- tions and formulas. Review geometry theo- rems from last year. Algebra tutor Thursday 4–5 P.M. 86 10 SECRETS TO ACING ANY HIGH SCHOOL TEST Week 2: Feb. 9– Feb. 15 Week 3: Feb. 16– Feb. 22 Week 4: Feb. 23– March 1 Week 5: March 2– March 8 Week 6: March 9– March 15 Week 7: March 16– March 22 Saturday Class None None None Start Saturday program. 9:30–11:30 A.M. 9:30–11:30 A.M. SAT STUDY PLAN VERBAL Practice main idea and specific detail questions. Create analogy ques- tions from vocab list. Review vocab with Jessica. Practice vocabulary in context questions. Create sentence com- pletions. Create flashcards for Latin roots. Practice inference and reference questions. Review Latin roots flashcards. Practice process of elimination with Jessica. Take practice test. Re-evaluate strengths and weaknesses. Review vocab flash- cards. Practice critical reading questions. Create practice analogy questions with Jessica. Spring Break Create flashcards for common prefixes and suffixes. Review parts of speech (for analogy questions). Create more vocab flashcards. JANINE SALAZAR MATH Practice word problems. Review fractions. Create flashcards for geometry formulas. Algebra tutor Thursday 4–5 P.M. Review square roots. Review exponents. Review geometry flash- cards. Algebra tutor Thursday 4–5 P.M. Practice quantitative comparison ques- tions. Review factors and multiples. Review probability. Algebra tutor Thursday 4–5 P.M. Practice geometry questions. Review order of opera- tions. Create flashcards for math laws. Algebra tutor Thursday 4–5 P.M. Take practice test. Reassess plan. No tutor—Spring Break Review math laws flashcards. Review perfect squares. Practice geometry problems. Creating and Implementing a Study Plan 87 Week 8: March 23– March 29 Week 9: March 30– April 5 Week 10: April 6– April 12 Week 11: April 13– April 19 Week 12: April 20– April 26 Saturday Class 9:30–11:30 A.M. 9:30–11:30 A. M. 9:30–11:30 A.M. None Exam Day! SAT STUDY PLAN VERBAL Review flashcards for prefixes and suffixes. Review vocab flash- cards. Practice sentence com- pletion with Jessica. Review common types of analogies. Review antonyms. Practice critical reading questions. Review Latin root flashcards Review all vocab flash- cards. Evaluate study progress with Jessica. Start overall review. Continue overall review and taper all week until test day on Saturday. JANINE SALAZAR MATH Review absolute value. Review decimals and percentages. Review mean, median, and mode. Practice graph and tables problems. Review polynomials. Practice system of equations problems. Review coordinate geometry. Practice word prob- lems. Review ratio and rate problems. Algebra tutor Thursday 4–5 P.M. Start overall review. Algebra tutor Thursday 4–5 P.M. Continue overall review and taper all week until test day on Saturday. No tutor. Just the Facts • A personal study plan is a contract you make with yourself to help you succeed on each high stakes test. • You make the important decisions about who, what, when, and where as they apply to your study plan. • Include an adult, teacher, or mentor in your study plan to help pro- vide support. • Refer to Secret #1 for tips on managing your time. [...]... the information in bullets, and any information that is otherwise highlighted to show that it is important You can jump back at any time in the reading process, and you should do it any time you feel that the information is starting to overload Skimming ahead and jumping back can also remind you of how what you are reading now fits into the bigger picture This also helps you better understand and remember... try outlandish solutions involving testtube babies or surrogate mothers Why does the brain search for complex solutions when there is a simpler one available? J u s t t h e F a c t s • Be an active listener, absorbing, analyzing, organizing, and recording necessary information • Translate what you hear into useful notes • If needed, ask for help as soon as you can • Enjoy the advantages of working with... works! MAPPING AND DOODLING Mapping and doodling are visual ways to take notes You can map or doodle information about anything you are studying, whether you are in a classroom listening to a lecture or sitting in the library reading If you enjoy visualizing, this is a good study strategy for you because the process of drawing a map or doodling a picture can make relationships between topics become clearly... of what he or she is really feeling and thinking Finding the Right Study Buddy Your ideal study buddy should be someone who: • • • • you are comfortable with is responsible and will keep agreements and appointments takes learning seriously takes you seriously You may think that your best friend or closest family member will be your best study buddy, and that might be true some of the time For instance,... the official definition from a dictionary and compare the two • Index Cards Jot down anything you want to remember—French vocabulary, chemistry terms, mathematical equations, whatever— each on its own card Flip through the cards in the car or on the bus to review More on flashcards later in this chapter Rewriting Your Notes Reorganizing and rewriting your notes gives you a chance to review materials and. .. thinking puzzle, the “proper” answer will be the most apt and satisfying When you hear the right answer to a good puzzle of this type, you should want to kick yourself for not working it out! This kind of puzzle teaches you to check your assumptions about any situation You need to be open-minded, flexible, and creative in your questioning You may need to put lots of different clues and pieces of information... test preparation books, and notes Marking the material helps you focus on the most important aspects and skip over the material you know well or don’t need to know for the exam Highlighting words, phrases, and facts will help you see and retain them Benefits of Highlighting • • • • It requires you to make decisions about what is important It focuses your attention on important material It encourages... spend any more time on it during the rest of your session • At the end: Allot five to ten minutes at the end for reviewing what you have just learned Spending time reviewing will help you solidify what you learned and clarify what you still need to work on Use Your Time Together Well Here are some things you and your study buddy can do to help each other understand the material: • • • • • Explain to... allows you to make connections and place that information in context When facts and ideas are related to other facts and ideas, you are far more likely to remember them Learn more about memory strategies in Secret #9, Tackling Memory Tricks • Ask questions In any text you read, certain things happen, and they happen for a reason To find out why they happened, and, more importantly, why it matters, you... Rosa wrote nonstop during class and still couldn’t capture every thing her teacher said When Rosa missed class one day, she saw an opportunity The following day, she borrowed Michael’s class notes to catch up Rosa discovered that Michael took about one-third the notes she did And where Rosa’s notes were pages of clean handwriting, Michael’s notes had arrows pointing to circles containing only a few words . Helpful Reminders: • Post-It Notes come in an assortment of colors and sizes, which makes them perfect for writing out short To Do lists and notes. Stick them on your computer. Facts • Be an active listener, absorbing, analyzing, organizing, and record- ing necessary information. • Translate what you hear into useful notes. • If needed, ask for help as soon as you can. •. the information is starting to overload. Skimming ahead and jumping back can also remind you of how what you are reading now fits into the bigger picture. This also helps you better understand and