Learning Strategies

For Success in Catholic High Schools

Students in the Catholic high schools have a high success rate in mastering the high school college preparatory curriculum. Their elementary and junior high schools play a significant role in their success by helping them to develop the attitudes, perceptions, and mental habits that facilitate learning.

The strategies that will bring students success in high school are the same strategies that work well for them in earlier grades. These strategies fall into three major areas: readiness to learn, learning techniques, and study skills

• Be on time to school. Keep absences to a minimum
• Be prepared for class with materials, books, and homework completed
• Do your own work
• Show respect for teachers and other students
• Set daily and weekly schedules for completing your work
• Participate actively in class by asking questions, volunteering answers and cooperating with other students in group work
• Seek help when needed
• Establish a regular time and place for homework, free from distraction
• Set goals for yourself. Share these goals with your parents and teachers
• Cultivate a positive and cooperative attitude  

• Use graphs and charts to organize information
• Become adept at using the scientific process (induction and deduction) in the study of science and other subjects
• Analyze material designed to influence you by recognizing common errors in logic
• Practice strategies for constructing support for arguments
• Identify the reasoning behind positions you disagree with and keep an open mind
• Practice proper paraphrasing: using an author's ideas but stating them in your own words. Give credit to an author for his/her ideas
• Practice techniques of effective public speaking
• Seek accuracy in your work
• Set high standards for your work 

• Read actively by regularly practicing such reading strategies as SQ3R (scan, question, read, recite, review) or KWL (identifying what you already know about the topic; what you need to know; and after reading, what you learned) or RCRC (read, cover, recite, check)
• Take effective notes from lecture and from written material
• Break complex tasks into small steps or parts
• Develop test-taking techniques such as systematic review of material and classroom notes, using graphic organizers, constructing practice tests for yourself, and outlining information before beginning to answer test questions

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