As students progress through school, they are expected to take countless in-class and standardized tests that include essays. Students are often baffled by this type of exam. How do I begin? How do I write an effective thesis statement? How do I organize my ideas? These are just some of the questions that run through the minds of students who are facing these essay exams. Learning strategies for how to write effective essays for timed tests can help students build confidence, ease anxiety, and ace these exams.

Here is a step-by-step process for how to write a perfect timed essay:

Brainstorm
Even if time is limited, it is always important for students to brainstorm before they begin writing. To do so, students can draw a vertical web diagram with a box on top for the opening and thesis statement, three bubbles underneath it, and a box at the bottom for the conclusion paragraph. They can write their opening sentence inside the upper part of the box and their thesis statement inside the bottom part. Next, they can create branches stemming out of each bubble with ideas for their body paragraphs. Look at the following model as an example for an essay on a prompt that reads: Eating Healthy Food verses Eating Junk Food:

Write the essay
For the introduction paragraph, begin with an interesting, unique remark or story. The paragraph should end with a well-constructed thesis statement to set the organization and tone of the essay. Students can start with a question, general statement, quotation, opposite statement, or story. The thesis statement should always come at the end of the introduction paragraph, and should contain the student’s opinion on the topic and his or her plan for the essay. For example, a well-constructed thesis statement might be as follows: Red House Grill is the best restaurant in town because of its food, atmosphere, and friendly staff. Note that for this thesis statement, the opinion is Red House Grill is the best restaurant in town and the plan is because of its food, atmosphere, and friendly staff. Thus, the first body paragraph of this essay would be about Red House Grill’s food, the second body paragraph would be about its atmosphere, and the third would be about its friendly staff.

The body paragraphs should include details, examples, statistics, quotations, and any other specific information. It is important that the student describes information in detail, with concrete backup from credible sources, rather than just “telling” about it. Remember that if any information is taken from other sources, it must be credited as an outside source.

The Conclusion Should Do the Following:

(1) Restate the Thesis Statement
This is where the student should remind the reader of his or her opinion on the topic and restate the three supporting points. For example, for our Rocking Horse Grill essay, we might start our conclusion paragraph with the following: “Because of its delicious Mexican cuisine, convivial ambiance, and energetic staff, Rocking Horse Grill is one of the best restaurants inChicago.”

(2) Lead-out
he next 2-4 sentences should lead the reader to the author’s final, conclusive remark. The student can reiterate some points about each of the body paragraphs. These sentences should, of course, contain words that are different from those used in the actual body paragraphs.

(3) Concluding Remark
This remark should be conclusive, strong, and perhaps profound. It should leave the reader thinking. For example, a concluding remark for our Rocking Horse Grill essay might be: “The next time you are in town, do not bother with any other restaurants since Rocking Horse Grill has it all.”

Self-check
It is very important that students always self-check their essays when they are done writing. They can do so by using the following acronym:

• Capitalization
• Tense
• Organization
• Punctuation
• Spelling

Students should check for each of these elements, one at a time. By practicing this technique of brainstorming, writing, and self-checking, students can learn to master writing timed essays.

Dr. Emily Levy is the author of Strategies for Study Success, a 13-part student workbook series that teaches students research-based strategies for test taking, note taking, organization, reading comprehension, and writing. She is also the founder and director of EBL Coaching, a tutoring organization based in Manhattan and New Jersey. Learn more at www.eblcoaching.com or call 212-249-0147.

The post How To Take Essay Tests: Tips for Student Success appeared first on EBL Coaching.

As summer winds down, the thought of going back to school gives many students the jitters. Homework demands build and staying focused in class becomes an important goal once again. Learning strategies to help your child stay focused, organized, and motivated will allow him or her jump-start the school year on a positive note.

The Multi-Sensory Approach

The multi-sensory approach is a great way to help your child stay focused and on-task. By integrating as many senses as possible, you can help your child learn new information and lock it into his or her long-term memory. This multi-sensory approach, which integrates the visual, auditory, and tactile/kinesthetic senses, can be applied to nearly all aspects of school. For instance, it can be applied to math, by using counters, base ten blocks, white boards, play money, and dice. It can also be used for phonics, with magnetic tiles, colored sand, and shaving cream for learning new sounds. Additionally, multi-sensory teaching can be used with reading comprehension and note taking.

Reading Comprehension

A great strategy to help students become active readers and to build their study skills involves three colored highlighters: blue, green, and yellow. As the school year progresses, students will inevitably be required to read passages with increasing levels of text. This strategy will help them organize this information and identify key elements when reading. The strategy works as follows:

The student should first read the passage without any highlighting.

Next, he or she should identify the topic of the passage, which is one to three words describing what the passage is about. Some examples of topics include: the beach, New York City, and bluebirds. He or she should always highlight the topic in blue.

After highlighting the topic, the student should then look for the main idea. The main idea is a phrase or sentences which describes what the author is saying about the topic. For example, if the topic is flowers, the main idea might be: Growing flowers is an easy process. The student should highlight the main idea in green.

Finally, the student should identify the important details. Note that only important details – not just any details! – should be highlighted. Students should also try to highlight words and phrases (not full sentences) whenever possible. They should highlight the important details in yellow.

To take it to the next level, students can write a one to two line summary in their own words describing what the passage is about. They can either write it in their book at the bottom of the page, or on a post-it note that they can stick in their book. This strategy is a great one for building active reading and overall study skills.

Webbing

Often times, students are not introduced to note taking until middle school or later. By using this highlighting strategy as a basis for note taking, we can introduce the concept of note taking at a very early level. The Webbing Strategy is a great way to do this.

Here’s how it works:
Say, for example, a student has to read the following passage for school: Fires can be harmful and helpful. They can destroy homes and buildings and turn forests into piles of ash in very little time. Yet fire gave humans the first form of light and heat. It allowed us to cook food in unique ways. It also helped us create tools and pottery and harden bricks. Fire became an essential part of our daily lives.

After the student reads the passage, he or she should highlight the topic in blue (in this case, fires), the main idea in green (in this case harmful and helpful), and the important details in yellow (students can highlight words such has destroy homes and buildings, first form of light and heat, etc.). This is where the Webbing Strategy, a great form of note taking, begins. Students should draw a diamond in the middle of the page and write the word fires inside the diamond (the topic goes in the diamond in the middle). Next, he or she should draw a rectangle on the top of the page and write the main idea inside of it. Finally, he or she should draw bubbles branching out of the diamond and write the important details inside them. You can encourage your child to use abbreviations, symbols, and contractions, since this is a form of note taking. A sample Web diagram might be as follows:

Note that students are free to add as many or as few important detail bubbles as they’d like. Also, they can color code the bubbles as follows: diamond in blue (for topic), rectangle in green (for main idea), and circles in yellow (for important details).

These strategies are great tools for helping students stay organized, focused, and on-task. They also build helpful reading comprehension and note taking skills. Try these strategies at home with your child as the new school year begins and remember, the more multi-sensory, the better!

The post Strategies to Help Students Succeed in School appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Column-Style Notes for Studying

Many tests require students to understand and recall large quantities of information. Learning how to create column-style notes can help them actively learn this information and create well-organized study guides along the way. Here’s how column-style note taking works:

A student may need to learn and retain information from a passage containing multiple sub-sections about the Civil War. When using this strategy during executive functioning tutoring sessions or independently, they should first read the passage one sub-section at a time before taking any notes. They should highlight the main idea of each section in green, or if there is no explicit main idea written in the text, they can write an implicit main idea in the margin and highlight that information in green. They should then highlight the important details in yellow, trying to only highlight information that is very important and only words and phrases whenever possible. Once the student has finished reading the section, they should create a column-style diagram, which might look as follows:

On the top of the page, the student should write the topic of the section. In this case, the topic is Civil War. The main idea of each sub-section should be written in the column on the left in the student’s own words (Causes of the War, Battles, etc.), and the important details from each sub-section should be written in the column on the right. Note that for the important details, students can feel free to use abbreviations, symbols, contractions, or any form of shorthand that they find helpful. Students should use this strategy for each section of text that they are required to learn. With this technique, which is often used in executive functioning coaching sessions in NYC, they can “chunk” information that was once overwhelming into smaller, easier-to-understand, bits of text.

Read more about executive functioning strategies at Organizational Tools for Academic Success – EBL Coaching.

Three-Tier Flashcards for Memorizing Vocabulary

Many exams require students to memorize large quantities of vocabulary words or terms. Without having a photographic memory, this process can be tough. The three-tier note card strategy can be a helpful tool used during study skills tutoring sessions for learning these words and terms. The key is to write the word or term on the front of the card and then create three horizontal columns on the back of the card, as follows:

The student should write the definition on the top part of the back of the card in their own words. In the second (middle) section, the student should write a sentence that helps them associate the meaning to something in their life. In the bottom section, the student should draw a picture annotating the sentence. For example, if the vocabulary word to be learned is “digress”, the student would write that word on the front of the card. On the top section of the back of the card, they might write “to stray or deviate.” In the middle section, they might write the following sentence: Every time my friend Ella tries to tell a story, she digresses from the main point. In the bottom section, they might draw a picture of Ella with a bubble coming out of her mouth with “blah, blah, blah” written inside the bubbles. With this strategy, students learn to link random vocabulary words and terms to various people and events in their lives.  This vocabulary strategy is often used during study skills tutoring in NYC as well as in executive functioning coaching sessions in Manhattan.

Read more about executive functioning tools at Study Strategies for your ADHD Child – EBL Coaching.

Start Studying Early

To maximize the benefit of these strategies, students should not wait until a day or two before the exam to begin implementing them. Instead, they should plan ahead and start using the techniques well in advance of the test day. The more they practice them, the more internalized the strategies will become, and the closer students will be to achieving test taking success. Executive functioning coaching in NYC can help students prepare for tests and build their overall study skills.

How to Reduce Test Taking Anxiety

Students can reduce their test taking anxiety in several ways. Once effective technique, which can be integrated into academic tutoring or executive functioning coaching sessions in NYC, is by practicing deep breathing. For example, they might try the box breathing strategy, which works in the following way:

• Your child should sit upright in a comfortable position, ideally with their feet flat on the ground, but they can lay down if that makes them feel more relaxed. They should exhale all the air out through their mouth.
• Then they should inhale for four seconds through their nose, trying to fill up their lungs and stomach.
• They should hold their breath for four seconds.
• They should slowly breathe all the air out of their mouth for four seconds.
• They should hold their breath again at the bottom of the exchange for four seconds.
• They should repeat this cycle at least four times, but more times than that is okay too.

To further reduce test taking anxiety, your child can try positive self-talk by reminding themselves they know the information and will do well on the exam. They can also try taking a lot of practice exams prior to the test day to become ultra-familiar with the material.
If your child is struggling with test taking anxiety or executive functioning skills, EBL Coaching can help. Read more about our one-on-one executive functioning coaching and academic tutoring programs at www.eblcoaching.com.

Frequently asked questions 

What are some effective test taking strategies for students?
Students can improve their performance in tests using strategies such as chunking information, creating well-organized notes, studying well before an exam, deep breathing before and during the test, and managing their time effectively when taking exams. Executive functioning coaching sessions can help them build these skills.

How can students reduce test taking anxiety?
Preparing effectively for a test and taking a lot of practice exams can help students reduce test taking anxiety. Additionally, doing deep breathing exercises with a method like the box breathing strategy can also help them reduce their test taking anxiety.

What are some good ways to memorize vocabulary for a test?
A helpful method for learning vocabulary is the three-tier flash card strategy. With this method, students use flashcards and write a definition, an example sentence using the word, and a visual image to help them make a connection to the definition. Study skills tutoring sessions can help students learn strategies for improving their test taking abilities.

Dr. Emily Levy is the founder and director of EBL Coaching, a tutoring center that specializes in helping students in grades prek-12 develop executive functioning, reading, writing, math, and organizational skills. She holds her Doctorate Degree in Education and her Master’s Degree in Special Education.

Other Related Blogs:

Differentiating Between ADHD and Autism in Children
Helping Autistic Students Build Stronger Executive Functioning Skills

The post Test Taking Strategies for Students: How Can My Child Prepare for Exams and Reduce Test Anxiety? appeared first on EBL Coaching.