6th Grade - 8th Grade

 

Middle school is a crucial time in a student’s life to lay the building blocks for success in high school, college and beyond. Colleges will look at your freshman year scores just as much as your grades from junior year, so setting yourself up for success as soon as you enter high school is imperative.

 

As you go through 6th, 7th and 8th grade, it is an important transition period to becoming an individual and to take on new responsibilities. It is also important to remember that while social life is important to any teenager, it is just as important to remain dedicated to your grades!

 

Habits to Start Building

• • • • Have a dedicated study space

      • Create a system to keep track of assignments and tests, and stick to that system

      • Create calendars and corresponding checklists

      • Figure out how to estimate how long projects will take, and learn to budget a certain amount of time for each of your assignments to be efficient

      • Break large projects into smaller tasks to better manage and not overwhelm yourself

      • Get used to asking teachers for help if you need it

        • You will need to be able to build up relationships with teachers in high school for letters of recommendation for college applications, so it’s good to start early

 

Study Tips

• • • • Get rid of distractions (i.e. cell phones, TVs, etc)

      • Rereading is not the same as learning!

        • Practice active learning (creating note cards, writing on post-it notes, diagramming concepts, highlighting, etc) instead of just reading

        • Try to think of potential test questions or essays

        • For math or science, make sure you can practice applying the concepts instead of just rereading notes

• Figure out when you are most productive

  • • • • Some students learn best in the mornings, while others are more likely to retain information after dinner

• Make the most of your time

  • • • • If you are stuck in traffic on the bus to school, take out your study sheet and review

 

Questions to Ask

• What information do you need to do your assignment?

• What do you need to do first, then what step comes after that?

• If something did not work, why did it fail and how can you solve the issue next time?

• What environment do you study best in? What methods work best for you? Would you do anything differently next time?

Citations:

1. http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/study-skills-for-middle-school-and-beyond/

 

2. http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/going-to-school/grade-by-grade/fifth/