Fry - Ace Any Test

In case there werent enough tests already, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 mandated annual tests for math and reading proficiency for grades three through eight. In the fall of 2007, children in these grades also began annual tests in science.

Since two-thirds of students are not proficient readers when they leave school, and I suspect a majority probably couldnt balance a checkbook, its hard to argue that something had to be done. But more tests? Just what you need, right?

The book you are holding in your hands has been helping students and parents (and even teachers) for 15 years. (The other books in my How to Study ProgramHow to Study itself, Get Organized, Improve Your Memory, Improve Your Reading, and Improve Your Writingare also now available in new editions.)

Thank you for making these books so successful.

I cannot take very much credit for their longevity. Unfortunately, the state of affairs that existed in 1988, when I wrote the first edition of How to Study, has not improvedteachers are still underpaid, students are still undertaught, schools are still underfunded, and study skills are still underutilized, the No Child Left Behind Act notwithstanding. As a result, my How to Study Program is, for many of you, parents and students alike, the only source of information about the vital skills needed to succeed both in school and in life.

A number of you are students, not just the high school students I always thought were my readers, but also college students and junior high school students.

Many of you reading this are adults. Some of you are returning to school, and some of you are long out of school, but if you can learn now the study skills your teachers never taught you, you will do better in your careers.

All too many of you are parents with the same lament: How do I get Jill to do better in school? She just doesnt test well.

If youre a high school student, you should be particularly comfortable with both the language and format of this bookits relatively short sentences and paragraphs, occasionally humorous (hopefully) headings and subheadings, and a reasonable but certainly not outrageous vocabulary. I wrote it with you in mind!

If youre a junior high school student, you are trying to learn how to study at precisely the right time. If youre serious enough about studying to be reading this book, I doubt youll have trouble with the concepts or the language.

If youre a traditional college student, who went right on to college from high school, howd you manage that leap without mastering test-taking techniques? Well, here you are, facing more and tougher tests than ever before.

If youre the parent of a student of any age, your childs school is probably doing little if anything to teach him how to study. Which means he is not learning how to learn. And that means he is not learning how to succeed.

Should the schools be accomplishing that? Absolutely. After all, we spend more than $300 billion on elementary and secondary education in this country. We ought to be getting more for that money than a diploma, some football cheers, and a rotten entry-level job market.

Okay, here they are, the rules for parents of students of any age:

1. Set up a homework area. Free of distraction, well lit, with all necessary supplies handy.

2. Set up a homework routine. When and where it gets done. Studies have clearly shown that students who establish a regular routine are better organized and, as a result, more successful.

3. Set homework priorities. Actually, just make the point that homework is the prioritybefore a date, before TV, before going out to play, whatever.

4. Make reading a habitfor them, certainly, but also for yourselves. Kids will inevitably do what you do, not what you say (even if you say not to do what you do).

5. Turn off the TV. Or at the very least, severely limit when and how much TV watching is appropriate. This may be the toughest suggestion to enforce. I know. I was the parent of a teenager.

6. Talk to the teachers. Find out what your kids are supposed to be learning. If you dont know the books theyre supposed to be reading, whats expected of them in class, and how much homework they should be scheduling, you cant really give them the help they need.

7. Encourage and motivate, but dont nag them to do their homework. It doesnt work. The more you insist, the quicker they will tune you out.

8. Supervise their work, but dont fall into the trap of doing their homework. Checking (i.e., proofreading) a paper, for example, is a positive way to help your child in school. But if you simply put in corrections without your child learning from her mistakes, youre not helping her at allexcept in the belief that she is not responsible for her own work.

9. Praise them when they succeed, but dont overpraise them for mediocre work. Kids know when youre being insincere and, again, will quickly tune you out.

10. Convince them of reality. (This is for older students.) Okay, Ill admit its almost as much of a stretch as turning off the TV, but learning and believing that the real world will not care about their grades, but will measure them by what they know and what they can do, is a lesson that will save many tears (probably yours). Its probably never too early to (carefully) let your boy or girl genius get the message that life is not fair.

11. If you can afford it, get your kid(s) a computer and all the software they can handle. There really is no avoiding it: Your kids, whatever their ages, absolutely must be computer savvy in order to survive in and after school.

12. Turn off the TV already!

13. Get wired. The Internet is the greatest invention of our age and an unbelievable tool for students of any age. It is impossible for a student to succeed without the ability to surf online. Theyve got to be connected.

14. But turn off IM (Instant Messaging) while doing homework. They will attempt to convince you that they can write a term paper, do their geometry homework, and IM their friends at the same time. Parents who believe this have also been persuaded that the best study area is in front of the TV.

Dont get overanxious about your childs test scores. Too much emphasis solely on grades can upset a child, especially one already chafing under too much pressure.

Children who are afraid of failing are more likely to make mistakes on tests. Help them feel confident about everything they do.

Dont judge your child by a single test score, no matter how important the test. No test is a perfect measure of what a child can do or what she has actually learned.

Talk to your childs teacher as often as possible. Her assessment will be a far better measure of how your child is doing than any test, or even any series of tests.

Make sure your child attends school regularly. You cant do well on tests if you are rarely in class.

Make sure your child gets enough sleep, especially before a big test. Tired eyes lead to tired grades.

Review test results with your child and show them what they can learn from a graded exam paper. This is especially crucial in math and the sciences, where a new concept builds upon the previous ones.

Look at the wrong answers. Find out why she answered as she did. This will identify times when your child knew the right answer but didnt fully understand the question.