"So many times people end up fixated on doing things right, that they end up doing nothing at all."
-- The Wright Brothers

          The first step to studying is organization!  Before you get organized,

there always seems to be an impossible mass of stuff that you are supposed

to know for a test.     It feels like a mountain that’s too high to even begin to

climb.  Have you ever let a room of your house (or your garage) get so messy

and cluttered that it seemed impossible to clean?  So, you just left it that way? 

(Guilty here.  You should see my garage right now.  I remember having a pool

table out there somewhere… I think it’s under the biggest pile!) 

          That’s what studying for a math test can feel like – a huge thing that can’t

be done.   But, it really isn’t.  The key to making the material feel like it’s

something you can conquer is to make a study outline.

          Several years ago, I started teaching my students how to make study

outlines.  For the first couple of tests,           I handed out an outline.  Boy, they

loved that!  The outline lead them through every little thing they needed to

know for the test.  Grades went up!  Then, I told them that I wasn’t going to

give them the outlines anymore…  Talk about an angry mob!  Boos and

hisses!  If they had rotten fruit and vegetables, they would have thrown them

at me.  (OK, it wasn’t that bad.)

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