Do acceptable scores or grades require a certain amount of preparation time for children?

Written by Mister Wilson-Astoryplus Children’s Books

http://www.astoryplus.com

 As parents we want our children to study, and we encourage them to do so. When we say study, we mean to prepare to be tested. But what we really are saying is that there is a certain amount of time require for them to perform to our and to their own standards. So, when we say go study, we mean go and put in a certain amount of time to perform well. Our children must understand preparation time and how it impacts their performance. Specifically, how preparation time affects their testing performance. It’s amazing how many children do not associate their poor performances with a lack of preparation time. This failure of association often leads to subject specific anxieties or of personal inadequacy when neither is the case at all.

Of course, we all know that children must study but do we know how much time is required for them to perform to our goals or standards? As former students you may recall when you fell short of preparation time and tried to cram it into an all-nighter. Even after the cram-session, you had to hope, wish, and pray that you did not dig too big of a hole. Perhaps you didn’t make the grade desired, but you knew it could have been much worse based upon a lack of or of poor-quality preparation time. You may recall even been overjoyed to still be within striking distance of an acceptable grade when the results were returned. It may be hard to pin down what adequate preparation time is exactly. Generally, it is the time needed to gather the information, practice, review and repeat it until it is learned or easily recalled from memory.

Preparation time will differ from child to child and from course to course. So as parents we must assess the adequacy of our children’s preparation time. Past and recent test scores or grades may be the best indicators of the adequacy of a child’s preparation time. A parent may derive from past test results where preparation time is needed.  It is reasonable to think that a certain amount of study or preparation time is required to make a desired score or grade. It follows that anything short of that amount of preparation time would yield a score somewhat short of what is desired. How a child uses their time to complete homework in different subjects may give clues to where preparation time may be needed. Certain course homework which takes longer to complete may also need longer preparation time because it may indicate that it is slightly more challenging.  We need to estimate how much preparation time is required for them to maintain their current performance and what additional preparation time is needed to improve their performance. Parents may be helpful to redistribute preparation time where indicated. Other important factors to preparation times are an environment conducive to studying and with as few distractions as possible.

Our duty to our children is to help them to link their preparation time to their performance. It is important to help them to understand what adequate preparation time is for them in each subject or course.  Relaying this to them will help them to mentally associate adequate preparation time with successful testing and good grades. Children will begin to see study or preparation time as a very reliable pathway to improved grades!

Written by Mister Wilson-Astoryplus Children’s Books

http://www.astoryplus.com

 

 

Written by George Wilson

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