A Study Guide for Biology and Pre-AP Chemistry

Dr. Stephen L. Cotton wishes to offer his students and their parents some suggestions regarding study habits and methods that might contribute toward a more successful year in class. Success in this class, or any subject, relies on repeated exposure and use of the content or skills being presented in class.

• Start at the beginning. Don’t wait until well into the unit to read that chapter in your text, or look over those notes.
•  
• STUDENTS: Read assignments early. Things will get busier later on. Also, class makes more sense when you have some idea of what’s going on. Reading is vital to success in all class work!!
•  
• PARENTS: Check often on your son/daughter’s progress. Ask to see work. Don’t settle for the old "We didn’t do anything new in school." Things are new every day!!!

• Read for understanding. Textbooks are concentrated information, not casual reading. Special reading rules apply.
•  
• STUDENTS: Check for main ideas or objectives before you start reading. Look up new vocabulary words or terms as they come up in the reading. Carefully examine all pictures, charts, graphs, and their explanation. Read the summary at the end. Do you understand all the chapter? If not, go back and review what you don’t understand!!!
•  
• PARENTS: Have your child explain the objectives and topics in each chapter in their own words. Can they tell you what idea a chart or picture illustrates? Quiz them on the questions at the end of the chapter.

• NOTES, NOTES, NOTES. Notes are useful only if you understand them. Rewriting them can make them more useful and give you more exposure to the subject being covered.
•  
• STUDENTS: Review your notes regularly. Are the notes available for you from the teacher, or from the Internet? Re-write sloppy ones right away. Notes will only help you if used on a regular basis.
•  
• PARENTS: Check to see if your son/daughter keeps notes from their classes and that they are neat and organized.

• REPETITION !!! I SAY AGAIN, REPETITION !!! What you think you know should be practiced each and every day.
•  
• STUDENTS: Regularly review notes, handouts, diagrams, etc. about the unit you are studying in class.
•  
• PARENTS: Take the time to discuss and review with your child what material is being covered in class. Monitor your child’s study time and activity.

• EXPLAIN IT TO SOME ELSE. If you can’t explain it, you don’t fully understand it.
•  
• STUDENTS: Discuss class work with others in your class concerning our subject area, or at home with a brother, sister, or parent. Such discussions can benefit all participants. Make your classes a part of your daily routine.
•  
• PARENTS: Have your son/daughter regularly explain key points in the unit they are studying. Textbooks usually have the main objectives stated for each chapter or topic. Use it as a guide.

• DON’T FORGET ABOUT THOSE HANDOUTS !!! Look them over regularly. You got them for a reason.
•  
• STUDENTS: Keep those important diagrams, tables, etc. in a place where you can easily find them. Keep a class folder, and keep it organized.
•  
• PARENTS: Check to see that your child has a folder for each subject area, and knows how to keep them organized.

• LEARN TO BUDGET YOUR TIME. Time is the most valuable thing you will ever have. Use it wisely. Too often, things get put off to a "better time". There is no better time than the present to begin your work. You will never seem to have enough time later. This course requires work done in class as well as at home. Putting off work is an invitation to trouble.
•  
• STUDENTS: Begin assignments the day they are given. Don’t wait until the last possible minute. Hastily done work is usually of inferior quality. Teachers can recognize work done in haste.
•  
• PARENTS: Check on your child’s assignments and the dates they are due by. Monitor their progress. A monthly calendar of activities is available to you from Dr. Cotton’s Internet web site.

• AS EXAMS APPROACH – Review- that is, look at AGAIN the things you have been studying up to now. Review is best done over time. Last minute cramming usually doesn’t work very well.
•  
• STUDENTS: When an exam is announced, begin review that day and continue regularly up to the exam. Avoid last minute cramming.
•  
• PARENTS: Be aware of upcoming exams your child is preparing for. Help and monitor preparation as the exam approaches. Avoid any late night cramming the night before an exam.