Author: Jared Wells

There are few things more frustrating for students then spending lots of time and effort studying for a test, only to make mistakes in process rather than knowledge.

Students call them “stupid” or “careless” errors. But I prefer the term “discipline” mistakes, because they usually boil down to a student, for one reason or another, not doing things that they know that they can and should do in order to execute the way they can. Of course, this is a not a problem that only students have. I’m sure you can think of adults in your own life (and maybe yourself from time to time?) that have the same difficulty!

So for a student that is over being frustrated with disipline errors and ready to change the way they are doing things, here are three things that they can do starting today to minimize careless errors.

Show your work on every problem, every step

Yes, of course this is what their teachers have probably been telling them for years. And sometimes, for “easy” questions, it can seem like it isn’t worth the effort. Here are the two things a student should keep in mind 

1. There is no such thing as a problem “so easy” that it can’t be missed because of a careless error. And the “easy” questions are the most frustrating ones to miss! For me, personally, it’s the easy questions that I am most determined to show my work. If I miss a really challenging question, I don’t have to feel quite so bad, since it was at the edge of my skills. But if I miss a question that I have no excuse for missing, it really grates me. When I take the SAT, every problem has work shown, start to finish. The reason for that is that the one thing I have learned over the years is that I’m not so smart that I won’t make a mistake if I am not doing my due diligence, and I want to get every question right!
2. Showing your work on an “easy” (in your mind!) question is PRACTICE. Practice for the good habits that you want to have in place already when it comes time to do something more difficult. If you have a habit that you want to build, not starting is not just delaying when you start building the habit, it actually makes it harder because you are reinforcing the opposite habit. Every problem you work through on which you don’t show your work simply makes it that much harder for you to have the discipline to show your work when you know you need to. Same thing with any habit (eating well, exercising, you name it).

In the end, it’s simply about making the conscious decision that you want a different result, and to get it, you need to do things differently. The good news is that what you need to do differently isn’t that hard!

Say why you are doing the step you are doing

When I am working with my students and see that they’ve made a mistake, I give them a few seconds to notice before I say something. If they don’t notice, I say, “Can you walk me through what you’ve done here, and explain each step and why you’ve done it?” 9 times out of 10, when the student gets to the error, they recognize it immediately. Why? Because when they worked through the problem the first time, they were not fully concious. They were going through the motions: repeating memorized steps. Now, there is nothing wrong with memorizing steps! But if you want to avoid careless errors, you need to stay fully engaged in each problem. The best way to do this is have an internal (or external if you prefer!) monologue, explaining what, and why, you are doing each step. If you can’t quite explain, that’s an opportunity to learn something you aren’t 100% on, but more importantly, it will help you minimize errors.

When you make a careless error, problem solve, don’t dismiss. Learn the lesson.

Ok, so you’ve made a careless error on your homework (or a test). Now what? Instead of just being angry at yourself for carelessness, recognize that you’ve got an opportunity here. Your job needs to be to figure out 1) Why you made the mistake you did and 2) What can you do to ensure you NEVER make that mistake again? This can be a challenging process, but if you commit to learning from every careless error (instead of just groaning in frustration!) you’ll be doing something to actually improve for the future. If you think about the types of careless errors you make, I bet you there are some that happen repeatedly, right? And I also bet that, if you thought about it, there are some relatively simple things you could do to fix them. So do it!

-Vince

I hear from students all the time:

“I am working hard in this class. I am doing all the homework. I study for the tests, and I know the material. But I am just not doing well in the class. It’s so frustrating!”

Students who are not succeeding in a class they believe they should be, despite their honestly held belief they are doing everything possible, are usually focusing on a very narrow definition of everything possible: following the teacher’s instructions. Do the homework, do the reading, and study for the tests. And the student may be doing these things quite earnestly! But it simply isn’t true that, if these things aren’t enough, the solution is to just do the same things but more.

Here are three things that, in my experience,that can really help make a qualitative shift for students who feel like they are treading water in a class (that they are usually not doing):

Talk to the teacher. Often.

Raise your hand in class. Email the teacher with questions about assignments (when you have them). Go see the teacher before school, during lunch, or after school. For a class you want to improve in, it isn’t a bad idea to make it a habit to talk to the teacher on a weekly basis, just to check in and share what you are struggling with and see if the teacher has any advice or insight on how you can improve.

A teacher who sees you repeatedly initiating communication sees a student who cares about their grade in the class. That alone could make a big difference in your grade. You may get valuable information on what to focus on for tests or projects. For an English class, your teacher my give you feedback on a rough draft to help you turn your paper into an A paper.

The key, though, is to not make these communications about hectoring the teacher to boost your grade. If you want to talk about a poor grade you got on a essay, the energy should always be from the perspective of “What can I do to improve my grade on my next paper/test?”

If you are frustrated with your grade in your class, ask yourself, “How many times have I had a 1-on-1 conversation with my teacher in the last month?”

Create/join a study group, and teach the other students.

I got my degree in mathematics at UCSD. As challenging as that was, and as much as I learned, I learned more math TEACHING math at Wells Academics the first year I worked here. It’s one level of knowledge to get a problem correct; it’s a much higher level of knowledge to explain it to an intelligent teenager!

It’s easy to mistake the ability to memorize how to do a problem with true understanding. But when you have to teach someone else not only the HOW but also the WHY, you give yourself the opportunity to find out (crucially, before the test!) that you don’t know it as well as you think you do!

Not to mention that study groups create a pre-commitment to actually schedule time to study consistently, and a pre-commitment to come to the study session somewhat knowledgeable so that you can help your fellow students. So find 1-3 like-minded students in a class you are struggling in, and schedule a weekly time for you to get together and teach each other problems/concepts. Don’t just sit at a table and silently work alone. Present and discuss problems together.

Pre-read (and take notes)

If the first time you are hearing material is in class, you are already behind. Make your class lectures more comprehensible by familiarizing yourself with the material before the session! Yes, that’s right. If you have a history test on Friday, read the next chapter that weekend. Your goal is to a) get a big picture idea of what the next chapter covers and b) identify areas you find confusing or difficult. Cornell notes are GREAT for this.

Doing this will allow you to keep up and make much more sense of lectures, and prime your mind with the questions you have so that you can listen for the answers (or ask questions at the right time). If you’ve already taken notes for your reading, you’ll have fewer notes to take during the lecture, which means you’ll be able to actually listen and understand rather than trying to furiously keep up! 

If what you are doing isn’t working, the answer isn’t to do more of the same. It’s to try something different.

What are some other out-of-the-box strategies you or your children use to succeed in challenging classes?

If your son or daughter is struggling in a class and can’t figure out why, give us a call at 858.551.2650 or email help@wellsacademics.com to schedule a free consultation. We can help!

-Vince

I am big on paper planners. They are easy to use and very flexible, and to me, the act of writing something down adds an intentionality: it makes the item more “real” for me. The time it takes to write something down give me a moment to focus all of my attention on that task.

But for students who are resistant to using planners, carrying around an extra book is just an extra annoyance and point of friction that is going to lead to inconsistent use. No matter how much we might know that they NEED to learn to plan, if we give them a system they find cumbersome, it is not going to work.

However, students always have their smartphones with them, making them less cumbersome. Here are three very easy to use planning apps that I recommend.

myHomework: Of all the scheduling apps that I’ve seen, this one best combines easy of use with a strong feature set. Almost every student will find that this app can handle their schedules and task. Even more importantly, adding events is simple after a bit of initial set up (creating a profile and adding your classes). It allows you to add different types of events (so you can add your test date to a calendar, and also schedule study time for that test!) You can also program reminders for the items you schedule.

I’m big on scheduling things, and the calendar view lets you see how many things you have scheduled on a day pretty easily.

But for me, the most important aspect is how simple it is to schedule a item. Tap “+”, select the type of event from a dropdown menu, a date and time to put in on the calendar, and write a short description. If you want, you can add a reminder as well. 

myHomework is available on iOS, Android, Windows, and on the web in a browser.

Wunderlist: Very simple, but powerful to-do list app. It syncs cross platform like myHomework, and adding items here is even faster! It also handles reminders and due dates very well. You can create lists with different contexts (so for students, you might have a list for each class, a list for sports or other extracurriculars, and lists for personal/family to-do’s).

The great thing about wunderlist is it’s flexibility and extreme easy of use (which, for students who are resistant to using planners, easy of use is essential). It has lots of optional features you can add to each item (you can add notes or subtasks to a task, for example) but they are strictly optional.

The only downside to Wunderlist is that it does not have a calendar view (though you can sort items by due date, and there is a way to sync wunderlist to outlook…but that’s introducing a second app which adds unnecessary complication IMO) 

Wunderlist is available on iOS, Android, Windows, and on the web in a browser.

30/30: once you’ve got your plan, how do you stick to schedule? 30/30 is great for morning routines that you repeat every day, and for consciously creating a plan to get everything done afterschool.

In 30/30, you will list the tasks that you want to accomplish, and the time you will spend on each one. Start the timer, and it will keep you updated on how much time you have left for the current task, and will notify you when to move on to the next one.

I use this for my morning routine (helps make sure my daughter and I are out the door on time every morning without being rushed!) and the ability to save task lists that are routines you do frequently is very helpful. It can also help a student stick to the plan they, in their good intentions, created but find themselves getting pulled off task. Especially good for helping students start to learn how to estimate how long things take versus how long they actually take!

30/30 is available on iOS

What apps do your kids use to help stay organized?

If your son or daughter needs help keeping everything in their life organized, we can help. Give me a call at 858.551.2650 or email help@wellsacademics.com, and let’s discuss your child’s needs and challenges.

-Vince

Advice from William H. McRaven

When your son or daughter starts their day, they might think about all that they have to accomplish that day, and it might feel overwhelming, impossible even. Being a student can seem like a full time job and a half. And it’s especially challenging because teenagers are still learning organization and planning skills.

According to Admiral William H. McRaven, making today a success all starts with making your bed.

“If you make your bed…you will have accomplished the first task of the day”

So how does your child tackle the seemingly insurmountable list of things to get done for the day. By starting! It’s easy to get analysis paralysis when you have a lot to do, especially when those things are challenging. Start small, and nothing is smaller than making your bed! Getting that one thing done means you start off the day with a success. Your child has a space that is a little more ordered. They check one thing off the list, which creates momentum to check another thing off.

“If you can’t do the little things right, you’ll never be able to do the big things right”

“Ok, so the bed is made. What does that have to do with the history paper I have to write?”

That history paper is a series of small steps, perhaps even smaller than making a bed. Steps like

-Open your book.
-Take out a piece of paper and a pencil.
-Read a paragraph

And so on.

Making the bed reminds us that the big successes we want in life are made up of innumerable small successes. Success for your day might be spurred on by the symbolic success of making the bed. Success on a chemistry assignment is spurred on by the success of taking the book out of the locker and putting it in a backpack.

“If by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made”

Some times, no matter their intentions or efforts, your child is just going to have a bad day. Coming home and seeing a well ordered space (or at least, their bed) is a reminder that they can succeed at something (even if it is as trivial as making their bed). It’s a reminder that they are doing the small things right, and, over time, doing the small things right will lead to success. It’s a small victory, but it’s a victory. It’s a small bit of order in a day that might have been full of chaos. It’s a small amount of control over a day that seemed completely out of control.

I think there is something powerful about the act of making a bed. It’s a big, dominating piece of furniture in your child’s personal space, and it’s order or disorder can make a big difference on the energy in the room. That said, there are lots of ways to have successes at the start of the day, like:

-When the alarm goes off in the morning, count to 5, and get up immediately! No snooze
-Go for a run first thing in the morning
-Eat a healthy breakfast rather than junk
-Write your plan for the day in your planner

What does your son or daughter do to start their day off strong?

Check out the full commencement speech here

-Vince

Ben Hogan used “deliberate practice” to rise to the top of the golf profession, winning an astounding nine Masters championships

Students who struggle on tests and quizzes will often answer “Yes!” to the question, “Are you practicing at home?” And it’s often true. They go home and do their homework. But there is a difference between practice and what performance psychologists call “deliberate practice”.

Deliberate practice has a few features

-Deliberate practice is effortful. It feels difficult. It never devolves into mindless repetition.

-It consists of breaking down the skill or behavior into small chunks, and practicing them individually

-It involves constant evaluation, including measurement and feedback. This part can often be longer than the actual skill being practiced.

As you probably are already thinking, these features are very often lacking in the way that students approach homework (and sometimes even teachers and tutors can overlook their importance).

How can students apply “deliberate practice”?

One of the ways we incorporate deliberate practice into our work here are Wells Academics is through our Math and Reading logs in our ACT and SAT programs. Each time a student makes an error on a problem, it’s up to them to rework the problem, showing all work, and write a sentence or two describing why they made the mistake they made, and what behavior needs to change in order to avoid that mistake in the future. However imperfectly this is done by the student, the effort put in gets the student thinking about how to change behavior next time (and of course, our instructors review the logs with the students to make sure that the right lessons are taken away). Students can do this with their homework as well.

The difficulty, of course, is that it can feel much easier to just get a homework assignment done, rather than adding more work on top of a homework assignment. Deliberate practice does take a level of motivation to improve that many students might not have. But the key is keeping in mind what the purpose of the homework is. If the purpose for a student is to improve their ability in a class, then deliberate practice is what it will take.

Check out this great article on deliberate practice, with some real world examples.

Give us a call (858.551.2650) or email (help@wellsacademics.com) if you want to talk about how to help your son or daughter implement deliberate practice in their homework and studying!

-Vince

When should my son/daughter take the test?

This it the first question I’m asked by parents who are looking into test prep.

The short answer is: the soonest test that your child can spend about 3 months in advance preparing for.

The long answer is a little more complicated. Keep these three keys in mind when planning out your child’s test prep timeline.

1) How much improvement does your child need?

To answer that question, you need to know

–What their score is now (schedule a free diagnostic exam with us if you’d like to find out!) and

–What schools they are thinking about applying to. Ideally, you are shooting for a score that puts them in the 75th percentile of acceptees.

If your child’s scores are nearly where they need to be (within 50 SAT or 2 ACT points or so) a month of prep can be enough to give the scores a slight boost (and make sure that the student scores consistently…on any given day they might score 50 points higher or lower!)

However, if the score needs to be improved by 100 SAT or 3 ACT points or more, I’d recommend looking at a test 3 months out at the soonest (and for big improvement, 300+ SAT or 9+ ACT points, even farther out).

The sooner you know where your child stands, the better decision you can make about a test date (and the more options you’ll have).

2) What is the student’s schedule like outside of school?

Doing test prep the right way takes time. It’s about developing good habits and good problem solving skills. That means deliberate practice, which isn’t what you get from a student who does the homework from 11pm-1am because she had soccer practice, then homework, then a test tomorrow to study for. It’s very easy for the priority of SAT/ACT prep for a test months from now to fall below that of studying for a chemistry test this Friday.

There is almost no time for a high-schooler that will be easy, but with good planning and organization, prepping during the school year can work. Are there times during the school year that the student will be more or less busy? Look for times where sports and other extracurriculars will be lighter.

For Sophomores especially, I recommend prepping over the summer before Junior year for an August or October SAT, or a September ACT exam.  Over the summer, students generally have more time and mental energy to prep for SAT’s and ACT’s. It can be a good time for Juniors too; the problem is that waiting to take the test in August of senior year doesn’t leave a lot of options for future tests if the student has a bad test day.

3) Sooner is better

All things being equal, taking the test sooner, rather than later, will give the student more options for future tests if the results aren’t where they need to be. Of course, all things are rarely equal 🙂 But students will rarely be learning much in their classes Junior year that will help them improve their SAT scores, so there is little reason to wait until Junior year is underway to take the test. By then, they’ve typically covered the vast majority of math on the test, and most English classes don’t put much focus on the English mechanics that are tested on the SAT/ACT.

Give us a call (858.551.2650) or email (help@wellsacademics.com) to schedule a free SAT/ACT diagnostic exam and consultation. You’ll leave understanding much more about the test, your options, and the mindsets that will lead to the greatest improvement on the test.

-Vince