Tackling Test Anxiety When You Have Learning and Attention Difficulties

Tackling Test Anxiety When You Have Learning and Attention Difficulties

When you have learning or attention difficulties, even the easiest task can be quite the challenge. Things that other students whiz through can leave these students struggling to decipher the directions, let alone complete the assignment. Now picture those difficulties but apply them to a test taking environment. It’s a recipe for failure, especially if their anxiety rises and their difficulties get the best of them. There are a few tips that will help you prepare your student to the best of your ability prior to a big test, especially tests such as the M-Step or SAT. Let’s take a minute to go over them.

Schedule Prep Time

In order to make sure you have enough preparation time worked into your student’s schedule, you need to know a bit more about the test. How many questions is it expected to be? Is the subject one that your student feels comfortable in or do they struggle to learn the concepts that the test covers? How much information is the student being tested on? Make sure you and your student are on the same page and understand how much time should be carved out for studying for the specific test. Blocking out the right amount of time will avoid them cramming for the test and will decrease their anxiety regarding the test.

Share as Much Information as Possible

Think about your life for a moment…if your boss passes by your desk and says she wants to see you for a minute regarding a project you are working on, wouldn’t your nerves kick in and your anxiety increase? You would want to know why she wants to see you, what area of the project she has questions in, and perhaps if you’ll have access to your files to pull up notes if you need to refer to something. The same exact feelings and thoughts run through your teens mind when a test is mentioned. If a study guide is not provided, reach out to the teacher and ask a few questions like how the test is formatted (multiple choice, matching, fill-in-the-blank, etc.), will they have access to their notes, are their certain areas your student should focus on (definitions, graphs, etc.)? Being able to provide your student with enough information that they can conjure up an idea of what the test might look like will be beneficial during the studying phase and when it comes to actually taking the test.

Know What Support is Available

For students with learning and attention difficulties, Teen with test anxiety looking at her computer with her hands on her headhelp can be made available. If you know your child has these differences to overcome, be an advocate and make sure they have an IEP or a 504 Plan on file. These plans allow for certain accommodations that might make test taking a little easier on your student. It’s important that your student knows what accommodations are set in place and that they should speak up if their needs aren’t met.

Even the best, well-intended plans can go wrong, but by talking with their teacher, school administrators, and test administrators, they can have other stipulations put in place that will help them do their best on the test. Take the time before the test to talk with your child and see what fears they have regarding the upcoming tests. This will be an eye-opening experience and will help you to guide your child in the best, most effective way possible. If you should ever need our assistance or have concerns regarding your student, give us a call at 800-297-2119. Should your student still receive a score that displeases them after all of their hard work and accommodations, remind them that it’s okay. We don’t all hit it out of the ballpark every time, and they can use the test as a learning tool to adjust their game plan for next time.

Time Management 101: How to Juggle Both Work and School

Time Management 101: How to Juggle Both Work and School

As a virtual student, you probably have already discovered that it can be challenging to stay on track when you are studying and going to school from home. The everyday distractions can seem like simple 5-minute breaks here and there to take out the trash, fix a quick snack, check your text messages or social media (you get the idea) but before you know it, hours have flown by and time got away from you and the task at hand. Whether you are in high school for a few more years or are graduating and getting ready to enter the real world, time management is key to success.

Often times our students are faced with challenging home lives including financial hardships. Whether it’s to help support your family or put gas in your tank for running around with friends, our students find themselves juggling both work and school. Juggling work and school can really stress students out and some students start falling behind if they don’t have the tools needed to stay on track. We don’t want that to happen to you, so let’s go over some ways that you can be a successful student while earning a paycheck.

Set up a work station

First of all, in regard to school, are you setup for success? By that we mean do you have an area designated for your schooling that is relatively free from distractions? Do you have the supplies needed to get your work done (pencils, notebooks, computer, etc.)? When you are running around looking for a sharpened pencil so you can take notes or you can’t focus because your work station is in front of the family TV, you’re not really setting yourself up to be successful. Prepare your school space and you’ll save yourself some valuable time and energy.

Fast food workerConsider the time of day you are most focused

Second, take a second to think about your day. Do you tend to be someone who wakes up and gets their day going with a bang or do you pull the sheets over your head and let the snooze go off 5 more times before you wake up? Think about when you feel like you are at your peak performance and make a mental note of those times. Try to do your school work when you’re most alert and motivated. If possible, schedule work hours around your school schedule.

Schedule ahead

Third, let us introduce you to your new best friend: your planner. Whether you have a schedule that changes each week or one that is set in stone, creating a schedule that you can live with and stick to is going to be key in staying sane while tackling both work and school. Hey, when you’re running here and there and trying to get your lessons in, the stress will get high. With a thought-out schedule, things will get easier because you would have made time for everything. The trick is to stick with it.

Listen, no one said this would be easy but by taking some time to carve out your days in the beginning, you will avoid mass chaos at the middle and end. If you feel that your school work is suffering because of your work commitment, see if there are areas that you can reduce your spending so perhaps you don’t Girl laying in the grass with a book smiling at the camerahave to work as often. If you made a schedule thinking that you were really productive in the afternoon, but it turns out that is when you hit a lull in your day, make some tweaks and move your obligations to the earlier hours of the day. We are confident in you and know that after a short time, you will have found the perfect balance and things will fall into place.

Have you checked out all of the entertaining and informative posts on our blog? What are you waiting for? It’s a great resource for those within our MVA family and for those families that are contemplating making the leap to virtual learning. We post on all kinds of topics that will help keep you on the right path and also gives parents some guidance on things they may be dealing with. Click here to check it out! If you or someone you know could benefit from a virtual learning environment please give one of our enrollment specialists a call today at 800-297-2119.

Quick Tips On Note Taking: Take Notes Like A Pro

Quick Tips On Note Taking: Take Notes Like A Pro

One of the most useful skills you can master when you are a student is effective note taking. It’s a skill that will benefit your student not just in their schooling days, but well into their professional adult life. Note taking helps people retain information longer, better understand the information they are being taught, and improve the recall of information.

Think about it – if notes are written in an unorganized, sloppy way, it will be hard to make sense of them at a later time. Add the fact that your handwriting may be messy if you are writing rapidly and the notes you took are basically useless.

On the other hand, good note taking helps you to:

  • Remember concepts
  • Understand topics in a better way
  • Connect the dots between topics
  • Engage in active listening to your instructor
  • Think about what you are writing

Top Note Taking Methods

#1: Summaries

In the Summaries Method, notes are broke down into little summaries. To do this method, you would take notes during a tutorial as neatly as you can. After the tutorial, review your notes and jot down key things you need to remember, including key vocabulary terms. At the bottom of the notes, write a summary that highlights the key points of your notes. People like this method because they can quickly scan the summary to see if they need to delve deeper and review that days notes in preparation for a test since all of the main points and concepts are called out.

#2: Outlining

In this method, you will use headings and bullet points to organize your notes. When you have topics that have a lot of details and nuances, this is the method to use. It keeps your notes nice and organized, and shows a clear relationship between the topics and subtopics. To use this method of note taking, begin each section of notes by listing the main topic at the top of the page (this is your heading) and add bullet points under each heading for each subtopic and/or supporting facts. You may end up with several different indents of bullet points, depending on how much detail needs to be noted.

More Note Taking#3: Mapping

If you have a lot of information and you want to show how various topics are related, then the mapping method is best to use. It is a visual way to put order to a chaotic topic. Your page of notes will be organized by topic then will branch off into subtopics with additional branches citing detailed information.

#4: Charting

When covering topics that have a lot of facts or relationships, charting is an easy way to keep your information organized. This type of note taking is very clear and easy to follow. Key pieces of information are called out for each topic. To do this method, divide your paper into equal columns by category. Use the space below each column header to jot down supportive facts.

Excel with Excellent Notes

At first, notes can look like a bunch of chicken scratch but after spending some time rewriting or organizing the notes, they will prove to be helpful study materials. Have your teen try out some of the note taking methods we mentioned and let us know what they thought by leaving a comment below.

For more tips and tricks head over to our Facebook page, and if you have any questions regarding our program and how we help middle and high school students, visit our website or give us a call at 800-297-2119.

Improving Your Memory: Tips And Tricks

Improving Your Memory: Tips And Tricks

In our everyday life, as adults we have a lot of things to remember and the same rings true for your child. Algorithms. Schedules. Formulas. Vocabulary words. Writing assignments. Upcoming test dates. Dates with friends. The list goes on and on of things that your teen is trying to commit to memory.

Every time we take in something new with our senses, our brain briefly holds onto that information. This short-term “holding tank” is our short-term memory. This “holding tank” is very, very small. In fact, if we don’t do something with that information, it will be forgotten rather quickly. That’s right – in order to move this information over to our long-term memory, we need to DO something with it. There are some proven tricks to help improve your memory and move this information from short-term storage to long-term. These tricks work great for people of all ages, but they will be very beneficial when your student is trying to retain information for an upcoming quiz or test!

Put it to music.

If you think back to your earliest memories, one of the first things you learned was the alphabet. To this day, if you are asked to recite the alphabet, you will most likely sing the ABC song. The easiest way to memorize those 26 letters was to put it to song and look, it stuck with you all these years! Encourage your teen to create their own song, rap, or rhyme with the facts they are learning. They could even put their facts to the tunes of their favorite song or create a new one. Doing a simple internet search of songs for the periodic table will give tons of examples to get your teen started. When material is interacted with in such a creative way, it is sure to become a long-term memory.

Scan, read, recall.

Does your student ever find themselves reading a chapter in a book and then afterwards they have no idea what they just read? It happens to the best of us all the time! Sometimes we aren’t fully present and our mind is wandering in a million different directions. To make sure they are taking in what is being read, first ask them to scan the reading for pictures and headings. These are clues as to what the material will be about. Next, as they begin to read, ask them to stop and recall what it is that they just read. This pattern of scanning, reading, and recalling will help lock the key points into memory. It may sound time-consuming to read this way, but it beats having to read and re-read the text over and over again.

Acronyms Help Memory

Acronyms!

An acronym is a word or name formed as an abbreviation from the initial letters or syllables in a phrase or word. We’re all used to learning with acronyms because they are so effective. Some examples that many people have heard of include:

  • HOMES: Used for memorizing the Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior)
  • ROY G BIV: Used for memorizing the colors of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet)
  • FANBOYS: Used for memorizing conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)

The easiest way to make an acronym is to list out what you need to remember and then try to make up a word based on the list you made. Sometimes it takes a moment, but with some creativity, the acronym will be sealed in your long-term memory forever!

Break facts into groups.

It’s impossible to memorize huge groups of information. It’s an overload for your brain and even if you were able to somehow memorize the facts, they Grouping Helps Memorywould soon be forgotten because it’s not a realistic way to have your brain store the information. Breaking large information down into smaller groups is the way to go! Consider this number: 4398071625. Now consider this number: 439-807-1625. The numbers are the same but when it’s broken down into a phone number format, it’s much easier to remember. Grouping facts by what they have in common is the easiest way to sort information. Whether people sort things by color, size, region, or characteristics is up to them and the material at hand. Just remember to make sure the groups make sense to you and then memorizing what is in the groups will come easier.

Give your brain a rest.

If your teen had a particularly hard study session, have them take a brief cat nap. Research shows that resting your brain helps transfer short-term memories into long-term. So, whether it is a short power nap or a good night’s rest, be sure to let your rest give your brain a boost.

How does your teen prep for a big test? Do they have any tricks to lock key information into memory? Leave us a comment and let us know! We’d love to hear from you. Also feel free to share your memory tricks with the My Virtual Academy community over on our Facebook page.