You're doing the homework, but are you doing it effectively? Consider the following:

• Double-checking is a skill that must be practiced in order to develop proficiency. Always double-check your own work before looking at the answer! Integrating this into your homework time will help you get better at catching those 'silly' errors on tests.

• Your goal is independence when solving problems. As such, be aware of any 'crutches' that you use to help you through a problem. Did you need to look at your notes, ask a friend, or peek at the answer key in order to get the correct answer to a problem? If so, that's a normal part of the learning process...but you should be aware that you haven't yet mastered this concept. Put a star next to that question, and return to it another day to see if you have gotten to the point where you can solve it without any crutches.

• Set your bar very high. Even if you made a small error or omission (significant digits, missing units, forgetting to include direction, etc.), you haven't quite mastered that question yet. Put a star next to it and return to it another day.

• When you make mistakes, take the time to really reflect upon your error. Don't spend ten minutes doing a problem the wrong way, and then 5 seconds looking at the proper solution before moving on - you've probably ingrained the incorrect method more than the correction! Write a brief sentence in your notes about what your error was - this will force your brain to take the time to consider where you went wrong, and will hopefully help you avoid it in the future.

• Be sure to follow up on questions you can't solve, either with a friend, teacher, or peer tutor.

• Return to any problems that you couldn't solve independently before doing the following day's homework. Remember...your goal is to solve them independently!

• When you've just covered a lesson on a topic, and then you do a dozen homework questions on that one topic later that day, it can be easy to feel like you've mastered it. However, you're really just practicing a small set of specific skills! You might not have it as mastered as you think you do. You can better develop your understanding of a concept by splitting your homework time across multiple days - spend some time perfecting the questions from the previous class, then do some/most of the new homework questions. Then, on the following lesson, return and finish up this section before moving forwards. Splitting your homework across multiple days this way will force you to remember each lesson for more than just a few hours in order to get through the associated homework problems.

• Sometimes, you need to spend your time focusing on the academic level that is most appropriate for you. For some students, this means doing only the "Essentials" problems in the homework...but doing them very well, and spending the extra time you save by skipping the "Extensions" section going back to previous days' homework questions and pushing yourself towards independence when solving them. Talk to your teacher before committing to this style of homework practice.

• Homework questions might have 10-15 questions all focused on the same concept. However, on a test, you might only get a couple questions on one concept before you're forced to move on to something else. You can emulate this while practicing by trying a couple of problems from previous lessons before starting your new homework questions. This constant 'shifting gears' from one lesson to another forces you to learn the unit as a whole, rather than focusing solely on one concept at a time.

Don't come up to your teacher and say "I don't get it", or "I couldn't do question 5". There are better ways to ask for help, that will make you a strong student in the end!

• First of all, try to identify what you do understand.

• Then, try to really isolate what you're having trouble with. Which part of the concept or example doesn't make sense? If it's a homework problem, which step is giving you difficulty?

A good question sounds more like this: "I tried question 5, but I got stuck. I drew a force diagram, and represented the forces algebraically. I know I need to solve for the tension force. I managed to find the force of gravity, but I don't know where to go from here."

Don't simply go through the motions when studying!

• Make a strong, personalized study guide that truly captures all of the material you weren't comfortable with from your class notes. Add misconceptions and errors from homework questions also. Some students find success by building the study guide throughout the unit, rather than all at the end.

• Treat the unit review materials like a proper test, and make sure you can do the problems independently.

• Follow up properly on concepts you're unsure of. Network with your classmates to find a group of students who can help each other before a test - not only will this give you some extra resources on the evening before a big assessments, but answering others' questions is an excellent way to solidify your own understanding of the concepts within the unit!

Test preparation is more than just studying; there are many things you can do to give yourself the best chance of success on test day!

• Get a good sleep. Eat breakfast and lunch. Walk briskly or do some stairs before the test - anything to slightly elevate your heart rate.

• Build an internal self-image based on confidence - do not break yourself down before the test!

• Manage your time effectively. If the written response questions make up 30% of the total test mark, then you should spend roughly 30% of your time on them.

• Skip the hardest questions on your first pass through the test. You want to build up your confidence with easy problems first, and if you're going to run low on time, it is far more preferable to do it on a hard problem (that you might not be able to solve) than an easy one (that you could do, if you have the time!).

• Never, ever, leave a questions blank.

• Attempt to eliminate answers from multiple choice questions - often, one or more of the answers just don't make sense in the context of the problem. This is especially true on Diploma and AP exams.

• Show your work, even on multiple choice questions. It's too easy to make an algebra error when you're trying to do the whole problem on your calculator!

• Draw diagrams, especially for any problem that has a spatial element to it.

• Double-check your work. Then triple-check it. Even when you're tired after taking a test, it's important to honour the time that you spent studying and preparing by properly trying to eliminate silly or mechanical errors.