2. Come prepared. Stay current. If you study Section A when the class is working on Section D, you will be reinforcing your anxieties. You do not need perfection. Just do the best you can and work on the detail later.
3. Break up your study time. Studying for a half an hour, six nights a week is much better than studying for three hours, one night a week.
4. Study by doing. Reading assignments are not designed to make you read. You should be looking at the pictures, working out the sample problems, and using all the text clues you can find (more about that later).
5. Work for understanding. If you get the answer to a problem right, look back over it so you understand why you got it right.
6. Work in groups. If at all possible, try to explain what you are learning to a classmate, friend, sister, brother, parent, etc. If you really know something, you can teach it.
7. Work on your self-confidence. After you work a problem, but before you see the answer, assign a confidence factor to your work. On a scale of 1-10, how confident are you that your solution is right? Be honest with yourself. The more you prove yourself correct, the less anxiety you will have.
8. Don’t cram for tests. This may work in some classes, but not in chemistry. You should not have to change your study habits before a test. Cramming leads to fatigue, test anxiety, and stupid mistakes.
9. Do (and turn in!) all assignments. Yes, even the reading assignments! They are designed to help you learn the material. They will not only affect your homework grade, but they will affect your test grades.
10. If you have questions, ASK! Ask a classmate, ask me during class, ask me before or after class, ask me before or after school. If you are having difficulties and I don’t know about it, I can’t help you. If you get behind or confused, let me know.