Learning Center
End school year strong
by
Patrick McNamara
Set goals with your student to help them achieve
T
he end of the school year is coming up faster than you might think. Before you know it, final exams will be here, and many students will find themselves cramming late into the night. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be that way. If you’re reading this right now, there is still plenty of time to get organized and make a plan. It starts with setting goals. Here are some ideas, study tips and strategies to finish out the school year on a high note.
JUNE 27TH-SEPT 2ND FOR KIDS 4 TO 15 www.albanyjcc.org/camp 518-438-6651 x 113
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4 Family Now — March 2022
1. Sit down with your child and agree on academic goals, such as bumping up grades in certain subjects or getting an A on a particular final exam. Talk with your child about your expectations for the end of year, and get their perspective on what is most important to them. If they don’t buy into these goals, they are unlikely to exert the effort to achieve them. Setting goals will help narrow down the areas where they should focus their efforts so they don’t get overwhelmed. You could even set up a reward system along with their goals to help keep your eyes on the prize!
Students who identify their goals, who create concrete plans to achieve those goals, and who follow through on those plans are the most likely to be happy with their results. viewing everything the night before the test almost guarantees the information won’t stick, and trying to study every unit and subject every day is a good way to get overwhelmed. Instead, help your child break the workload down into smaller units of time, and create a schedule they can stick to over the next several weeks and months.
4. Get organized. Is your child’s book bag a mash of papers and files? If so, now is the time to address that. Have them dump everything out of 2. Discuss with your child their bag and organize it. You what they need to do to accom- might need to do this a couple plish these goals. Maybe they or times before they start keeping you need to contact teachers to it organized, if only to avoid the confirm the material that will embarrassment of dumping out be covered and/or format of the the bag again. Achieving top exam (essay or multiple choice – grades usually requires not only format can inform preparation). great test scores but consistent 3. Make a study plan. Re-
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