Want to Help Your Child Raise Their Grades? Start Here.

Dear Dr. Linda,

Our daughter is in eighth grade. She’s smart, a great soccer player, a member of the swimming team, a skilled dancer, and a talented musician. We’re so proud of her. But her grades are always mediocre. It’s the tests that are pulling her grades down. She hands in all her homework.

She’ll be entering high school next year, and we’re concerned that she won’t have the grades to attend a good college. Do you think she needs a course in study skills? We’re seeking advice on how to help her improve her grades. Thanks, Concerned Parents

Dear Concerned Parents,

A course in good study skills is always time well spent. However, before you enroll her in a study skills course, take some time to fill in my free Time Management Grid. You may find that your daughter doesn’t have time actually to learn the material she’s being taught. It appears that she is overexerting herself and doesn’t have enough time to prepare for tests. Time to practice is critical in the learning process, and she may not have the time to learn the material to raise her grades. Together, discuss what activities need to be put on hold so that she has a minimum of two hours a day to do homework and learn the material.

Here are some “Time Management” tips:

Transferring material into your memory doesn’t happen magically. You have to practice it repeatedly, and that takes time.

Unfortunately, most students wait until the night before to start studying for a test or even a final. To most students, that means reading through their notes once or twice. They think that’s all it takes to prepare for finals and are shocked when they receive a grade of C or less. The good news is that it’s easy to raise that grade to a B or an A by using good time management skills.

To make things easier, from now on, quizzes, tests, exams, midterms, and finals will be referred to as “tests.”

Step 1: Write every test date on your paper or digital calendar. Get a calendar or use an electronic calendar. Find out the dates and times of all the tests you have coming up. Place the name of each test on its calendar date. If the test is taken in the morning, place it in the top half of the box; if it is taken in the afternoon, put it in the bottom half of the box.

Step 2: How many study days are there until each test? Take a few minutes to estimate how many study days you have before each test.

1. Use the calendar to count how many days from today to your test date(s).
2. Mark the days or half-days on the calendar that you will not be able to use to study. For example, you may take Sundays off. Additionally, you will not be able to work on holidays, family gatherings, and other special occasions.
3. Count the number of days you will actually have to study between now and your test. For example, every Sunday is booked up with sports or other activities. Now that you have a realistic estimate of the number of days you have until a test, write the number next to the test on your calendar. For example: English test – 10 days, Math test – 8 days, History test – 2 days.

Step 3: Talk, Find, Gather, and Organize. Before you begin studying on your own, it’s a great idea to do the following:

1. Consult with your teachers to determine if they are holding review sessions. Mark the dates on your calendar and make every effort to attend them.
2. Find out if any review classes are being offered by other teachers, either within or outside your school. Find out who these teachers are, and if they are giving a review class on the exact material you need to learn. Mark the dates on your calendar and attend them.
3. Gather all the notes, handouts, whatever, that you have gathered throughout the year and put them all in one place, one notebook, one folder, one section of a file folder, or in one file in Word.
4. Organize them into topics and then break those topics down into smaller chunks.

Step 4: Find the best memory technique that works for you. Once you are sure you understand the material, chunk it into small chunks to learn, about five bits of information at a time. Then consider how you learn best. For example, do you do better with acronyms, associations, talking about it, or playing games?

Here’s to better grades,

Dr. Linda

To download my free Time Management Grid, visit stronglearning.com, click on “Game Directions,” and then select “Free Resources.”