Be a Real Survivor - study skills and stress management for high school students

Career World, Oct, 2001 by Melissa M. Ezarik

Take the challenge, and you'll reap the rewards. Here's how.

"Reality TV" may be entertaining, but actually how real is it? If you are like the majority of teens, your life is so hectic that you may wish you were stranded on a desert island, teamed with your fellow island dwellers while you strive to outlast them.

On the show Survivor, the challenge is to "Outwit, Outplay, Outlast." In school, the requirements aren't much different: Use wit to succeed in class and manage to enjoy life while juggling all your roles (student, friend, family member, employee, etc.), and the lasting rewards will outweigh even a hefty reality TV show prize.

The major survival skills you need right now are academic and coping skills. On the academic side, the name of the game is grades, and study and test-taking skills are along the path to take. For coping or stress-management skills, the keys are setting priorities and realistic goals and finding ways to relax.

As you deal with the tough parts of school, you may find yourself longing for graduation. Fortunately, the skills that help you survive school are the same ones you will need throughout your work life.

Read on for a crash course in survival skills.

Outwit: Study Tips

1. Plan your time and get organized. Use a daily planner to record test dates, paper due dates, times you plan to study, and anything else that is important in your life. Schedule more time for classes that you find difficult, those that have a lot of assignments, and those with a demanding teacher.

Keep your homework space organized, too. Would you be able to find a quiet, uncluttered place to study right now? Or would you have to spend 15 minutes clearing off your desk? Make room to store school supplies and old tests and notes you don't need at the moment.

Planning and organizing are essential on the job too. If your boss asks you for the sales report for last December, you'll know where you filed it. If you are handed an unexpected rush job, you should be able to adjust your schedule to fit it in.

Survivor tips:

"I achieve good grades in school because I write down all of my assignments in an agenda," says Chrissy, 14, who lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan. "When I am ready to go home, I look in my agenda to make sure I have all of the books that I need."

Kody, 17, from Sandy, Utah, suggests, "Get a separate folder for each class and keep it organized." That way, you won't waste your study time searching for materials from a certain class.

20 Keep on top of your assignments.

If you do, you won't be learning the material for the first time when you start studying for a test. Dr. Carolyn Hopper, a professor at Middle Tennessee State University and the author of Practicing College Study Skills, suggests that students "prepare for each class as if there will be a pop quiz." Keep up with the reading and get an early start on your projects. Being prepared each day will help you get the most out of each class period. And you will avoid the panic of having too much to do in too little time at the end of the term.

What should you do when your teacher doesn't check homework? It's easy to skip it when time is tight, but consider sharing your efforts instead. Compare answers with your classmates. If you don't agree on an answer, ask the teacher to go over it.

30 Learn to take good notes.

Taking good notes during class is essential. Write down as much as you can, paying attention to clues about what's important. For example, teachers often write main ideas down on the board, start off a statement by saying it's important, or speak more slowly when giving facts you'll need to know. Dr. Hopper points out that you can take notes faster if you don't use complete sentences and if you abbreviate wherever possible. You might even try inventing your own abbreviations for words you use often. Also, look over your notes after class to see if you have any questions and to mark the important parts.

When taking notes at home, try to identify the main idea of each chapter, and then check to see what your teacher emphasized in class. Try to concentrate on those parts. Never copy full sentences from the book--always summarize in your own words.

In the workplace, you may need to take notes or summarize important information. If you have to learn to use a new computer program to access your work files, you will know what steps to take if you made a note. If your supervisor asks you to summarize the important points of a report for your co-workers, you will know how to do it effectively.

Survivor tips:

Katherine, 15, from Shirley, New York, suggests, "Get a recorder and bring it to school and record the teacher.... If there is something important that you need to study for, you have it in the palm of your hand."

Jenn, 17, of New York City, offers these tips on taking notes from a textbook: "I color-code them and make sure that every fact that could possibly be on the test is in my notes."

40 Stay focused and on task.

Getting down to business for studying is no easy job. Suddenly, everything from cleaning your room to giving the dog a bath can seem like more fun.