How do some teachers make studying easier for students?

By Sofia Pyasta

Most students constantly have tests, quizzes, and big assignments, sometimes even multiple in the same week or even day. Figuring out how to study or what exactly to study may be hard for some students, especially for those who are freshmans and may not have had enough time to master the skills needed to manage a heavy workload. But how do some teachers try to help their students with these things? Do any of the things they offer actually help students? What do most students feel like is the best material they are given to help with preparation?

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Every teacher has their own approach to this across different classes. From study guides, to related assignments, and even to a handout with all of the topics listed that will need to be learned for the test. When it comes to Global 9, students are given many different materials that they can use, the biggest one being a study guide handout. It goes over everything that was taught in the weeks prior, with questions so that students can test their knowledge. Out of all of the classes, the majority of freshmen students say that this approach was the most helpful for them. One student stated, “Over time, especially with the things that we learned at the beginning of the unit, I sometimes forget some of it, but with the study guides, we go over all of it and get to correct ourselves in class when discussing it, with really helps me remember everything for the day of the test, even the stuff from the beginning that I barely even remember the lessons for.” 

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Another material that was highly appreciated by the students were the Juno assignments given in English 9 for vocabulary tests. There are four different sections to the Juno assignments, covering most of the topics on the quiz and going over the entire list of words about three times in total. An anonymous student stated, “I feel like the Junos really help me understand which words I know and which ones I’m still struggling on, so that I can then focus on those ones more before the test, especially since with Juno I can redo questions and take multiple tries, which also makes me think about why it would be that word instead of the other one and figuring out the differences between them, especially with similar words.” Many students said that they used Juno as their main study method when it came to vocabulary, and that they found it more helpful than just using flashcards. After studying, many would use the Juno to go over what they remembered and figure out the context of the word, especially if they didn’t understand the definition provided that well.

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Although many materials given by teachers are great with helping students, there are also some materials that, while not bad, many don’t notice themselves reaching for or utilizing as much. These mainly include things like slideshows from class that include the entire unit. Many students mentioned that they find these kinds of slideshows can sometimes be helpful for some of the notes that they might have missed, or that they didn't have enough time to copy, but do not reach for these slideshows as a main study method. Some found the length that some of the slideshows can be and the amount of information all packed into one thing overwhelming, which ultimately, when studying for a test, not open them. A lot of students also noted that sometimes, it feels like they are not given a lot of time to study for these tests, with them sometimes still learning topics that are going to be on the test the day before, which they agree should mostly be used for studying, especially since they would have the opportunity to ask questions about some topics that they may be confused on.

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Overall, there are many different things that teachers provide to students when it comes to preparing for a test. While some methods may be found extremely helpful by some students, others may not feel the same way, and the same goes for methods that some find not useful, because, in the end, everyone is different. The main thing that was seen throughout the interviews is that all of the methods given were found helpful by at least one student, which really illustrates the importance of variety when it comes to providing materials for students for studying. Different things work for everyone, and having that variety in every classroom to make it more inclusive and be able to support every student is crucial.