Gary North

YESTERDAY'S ASSIGNMENT

Have you identified those key social events (or any other major events) for this semester that you are unwilling to skip? If not, do this now. Then block out how much time each will take, including travel time. Enter this in your schedulers.

How are you coming on your time estimates per assignment per course?

At Harvard Law School, students create study groups. The final exams are so detailed that the students must join together, assign specific assignments to members, and share their results with members of the group. You can see this in action in the movie, "The Paper Chase."

This is known as the division of labor. The Bible says this about the division of labor:

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10)

You need at least one study partner. It would be better to have more than one: a study partner for each class.

This study partner should be of the same gender. Don't confuse things and more than they are already. When you approach someone to be your study partner, the other person had better believe that this is all there is to it.

Study partners can remind each other of assignments and exams. It's easy to forget. It's even easier to procrastinate. A study partner will help you not to forget or procrastinate.

It is a well-known fact among teachers that you learn things best when you try to explain them to someone who doesn't understand them. (This is the basis of "lecture to the wall.") This is why you should not seek a study partner who is far smarter than you are.

It is also true that sometimes you get stuck and need help. A study partner may be able to explain something that you don't understand. This is why you should not seek a study partner who is way behind you in a course.

I could have told you to seek out study partners in Lesson 1, but I wanted you to gain confidence in what I have been showing you so far. Otherwise, you probably would have ignored this advice. People are usually embarrassed about asking other people for help, or to join them in some project. But by now you're "into the program," and you want to finish it.

You need to find one or more people to work with, preferably one in each course you take. But if you can recruit only one partner, this is way better than recruiting none.

Think about the class that scares you the most. Start here. Try to recruit a partner in that class.

Maybe you already have a partner. Maybe someone has recruited you. Stick with this partner. But if you can find another partner, especially in a class that scares you, recruit one. Nothing says that you can have only one partner. This isn't the senior prom.

If you ride the bus to school, and there is someone who rides it with you who would be willing to study with you on the bus, this would make a good partner. You're both wasting time riding the bus. If you can sit together and study by asking each other questions, you're both better off.

If students on the bus see you both doing this, maybe someone will ask you what you're doing. Tell him about this course. Help the other person get his grades up. Don't be a maniac grind. Don't be a grade-miser.

I have prepared a study partner recruiting sheet. Send an e-mail, or click on the link, and then click SEND. Within 20 seconds, you will have my recruiting sheet. Then print out as many as you need.

But don't stop here. What if you could have multiple study partners? What if they could be anywhere in the country?

That was my idea when I set up a question and answer forum for study skills on this Web site. Here, high school students who have taken this course can ask specific questions, answer specific questions, and generally stay ahead of the competition. I answer questions. Other students also give their two cents' worth.

You need all the help you can get. My advice: Get more help. It's available here, six days a week. Join.

SUMMARY

Each hand washes the other.

ASSIGNMENT

Send for the recruiting sheet and hand out one or more potential partners.

Don't forget to lecture to the wall: one page, one class.

PREVIEW OF TOMORROW'S LESSON: Identifying marshmallows

Any time you want to ask me specific questions regarding your plans for college, you can find out where to contact me by clicking this link: Answers.