By: Dr. Raymond J. Huntington, Co-Founder of Huntington Learning Center

During their school years, students are presented with a great number of new facts, ideas, and concepts that they must learn. How well children do in school is determined not only by intelligence, but also by the methods, or strategies, that they use to master all this new information.

Student Achievement Enhanced by Strong Study Skills

These methods, often referred to as study skills, are necessary because effective learning requires students’ active participation.

According to Dr. Raymond Huntington, co-founder of the Huntington Learning Center, “Study skills are acquired skills, and you can help your children learn to use them effectively. As a parent, you can provide the structure and guidelines that can enhance your child’s study skills and make him or her a successful learner.”

Here are some suggestions:

1. Establish a set time for studying. By learning to manage time more effectively, students can fit in shcool, study, and fun. Create a weekly schedule that includes time for studying, relaxing, doing chores, and seeing friends. This will help children learn how to plan their days and weeks, how to fit in all their activities, and how to re-arrange priorities. Schedules will help your children see where they can shift and trade among things they have to do and want to do.

2. Set aside an appropriate place for studying. A desk in a bedroom is a fine place to study; so is the kitchen table. All that is needed is a table to work at in a relatively quiet place that has good light and a comfortable chair. It is also helpful to have supportive materials, like a dictionary and scrap paper, nearby.

3. Preview the material. Students should preview the material before beginning to read the text itself, and should construct a mental “map” for themselves by reading the introductions, headings, and summaries. The summary will provide an overview of the material, while headings within the chapter will form an outline of the main topics. By first understanding the “big picture” and the flow of the material, the student will understand and remember the material better.

4. Read the material and think about it. As material is read, students should organize it into a complete picture and generate relationships between the material and their own knowledge. After reading each paragraph, students should restate the main idea of the paragraph in their own words. After each section, they can summarize key points in their own words.

5. Take notes. Books often use ALL CAPITALS or BOLD FACE TYPE or italics to indicate important points that are worth remembering. These points should be in the student’s notes. Diagrams and tables in books are used to clarify main ideas, and are good indicators of which information the author considers important.

As mentioned earlier, headings within the chapter will form an outline of the main topics. Modified or abbreviated versions of these can be used as the basis of a study outline, with supporting details added. Notes must be written legibly.

6. Self-testing identifies areas to study. Students often review all the material they have read investing the same amount of time and energy on sections they have already learned as on sections they have not learned. By testing themselves, students can determine what they know, what they don’t know. In this way, they can spend more time studying what they don’t know.

Your child can use their notes to make up test questions to discover which of the topics need extra review and study. Or perhaps you can use your children’s notes to make up test questions for them. The answers to these questions will tell your children (and you) what they need to study most.

Consistency is a key element in improving a student’s study skills. Once the “habit” of effective studying is established, the student will gain confidence, and will be more motivated.

Dr. Raymond J. Huntington is co-founder of Huntington Learning Center, which has helped children achieve success in school for over 31 years. For more information about how Huntington can help your child call 1-800-CAN-LEARN.

Maggie Lage is the Executive Director of the Huntington Learning Center in Newark, 34 Liberty Plaza, Kirkwood Highway, Newark, DE  19711. For more information or to schedule a consultation at the Newark location call 302-737-1050 or visit www.huntingtonlearning.com.

Jay Weiss is the Executive Director of the Huntington Learning Center in Wilmington, 3500 Naamans Road, Tally Ho Shopping Center, Wilmington, DE  19810. For more information or to schedule a consultation at the Wilmington location, call 302-478-4242 or visit www.huntingtonlearning.com.