ITBS Exam Secrets Test Prep Staff - Itbs Success Strategies Level 11 Grade 5 Study Guide: Itbs Test Review for the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills

Theres a lot riding on your performance. If you want to acethis test, youre going to need to keep your skills sharp and the materialfresh in your mind. You need a plan that lets you review everything you need toknow while still fitting in your schedule. Well break this strategy down intothree categories.

Start with the information you already have: the officialtest outline. From this, you can make a complete list of all the concepts youneed to cover before the test. Organize these concepts into groups that can bestudied together, and create a list of any related vocabulary you need to learnso you can brush up on any difficult terms. Youll want to keep this vocabularylist handy once you actually start studying since you may need to add to italong the way.

Once you have your set of study concepts, decide how tospread them out over the time you have left before the test. Break your studyplan into small, clear goals so you have a manageable task for each day andknow exactly what youre doing. Then just focus on one small step at a time.When you manage your time this way, you dont need to spend hours at a timestudying. Studying a small block of content for a short period each day helpsyou retain information better and avoid stressing over how much you have leftto do. You can relax knowing that you have a plan to cover everything in time.In order for this strategy to be effective though, you have to start studyingearly and stick to your schedule. Avoid the exhaustion and futility that comesfrom last-minute cramming!

The environment you study in has a big impact on yourlearning. Studying in a coffee shop, while probably more enjoyable, is notlikely to be as fruitful as studying in a quiet room. Its important to keepdistractions to a minimum. Youre only planning to study for a short block oftime, so make the most of it. Dont pause to check your phone or get up to finda snack. Its also important to avoid multitasking. Research hasconsistently shown that multitasking will make your studying dramatically lesseffective. Your study area should also be comfortable and well-lit so you donthave the distraction of straining your eyes or sitting on an uncomfortablechair.

The time of day you study is also important. You want to berested and alert. Dont wait until just before bedtime. Study when youll bemost likely to comprehend and remember. Even better, if you know what time ofday your test will be, set that time aside for study. That way your brain willbe used to working on that subject at that specific time and youll have abetter chance of recalling information.

Finally, it can be helpful to team up with others who arestudying for the same test. Your actual studying should be done in as isolatedan environment as possible, but the work of organizing the information andsetting up the study plan can be divided up. In between study sessions, you candiscuss with your teammates the concepts that youre all studying and quiz eachother on the details. Just be sure that your teammates are as serious about thetest as you are. If you find that your study time is being replaced with socialtime, you might need to find a new team.