I’m sure this thread has already been made a million times, but I wanted to create my own because my situation is more unique.
I’m in online school and my teacher only has class once a week for 30 minutes. I have to put in more time to understanding the material because of this, and with six other classes, I don’t really have that time and I’m struggling to keep organized. I get behind every week and failed my unit 1 exam. I need help setting up a routine and developing better study habits.
Currently, I take notes while I read (not in outline form but still organized by each section of the chapter; unfortunately, I can’t highlight in the textbook) and highlight the important ideas in my notes afterwards.Then I’ll take some time to analyze everything by considering their significance and connecting them to other ideas. Finally, I’ll put key terms into a Quizlet set. I’m finding that this is takes me a really long time and I often get frustrated and give up because of that. What did/do you do?
Well I’m not taking APUSH but I can help (or at least try)
- Annotate the text - I know you can’t write in the textbook, but on a separate piece of paper write out the main idea of Paragraph 1, 2, 3, etc.
- Time Management - You say you don’t have the time for APUSH and 6 other classes, but the reality is, you do. Maybe you’re not fully using your time. Does an assignment that should take half an hour take 45 minutes because you’re browsing the internet while “working”?
- Planning - Don’t work on assignments the night before they’re due if you had them for a while. Begin to chip away at them little by little over many days. I just had 20 gov questions due, I did about 5 each day over 4 days.
- New Studying - Quizlet might not be for you. Personally, I love Quizlet and everything fromAP Gov goes into it. But, many people don’t like memorization. My bio teacher said to draw pictures or diagrams so you understand what’s happening. Like a historical event, draw a quick sketch of it and write brief captions (don’t draw like some masterpiece haha)
-Use an agenda - I use myHomework, it’s great for keeping track of assignments. It shows you when everything is due and let’s you see what’s due on what day.
I hope this helped! I have some more tips, so if you need any, let me know! =)
Thank you! You’re right, I definitely need to work on time management. I’ll try different studying methods as well.
Does anyone else have any advice?
Quizlets may not be the best tool for success considering the new AP US history curriculum, which is focused more on understanding of concepts than content memorization. I’m not sure what your class is like, but I would guess that a decent AP class would model its assessments like the AP exam. Last year when I took APUSH, I spent less time memorizing every little detail than I did trying to understand how the small details fit into the big picture.
I agree with the other person that diagrams are helpful. Spend the time that you would have spent on quizlets by doing diagrams and charts instead. Good luck.