no idea how to study. Many of the kids is his classes were studying for weeks before finals but he is clueless what they do. He did very very little studying for the English & Social Studies class and Aced them with little effort (without needing all those outlines that didn't get finished correctly) and this makes it hard to teach these skills. I agree it really is a waste to study for days for no reason.
This is not uncommon. A resource from the Davidson Database may be of interest -
http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Resources_id_11291.aspx The
Study Skills Checklist may be a great place to begin.
You may wish to share with your son that although there many ways to study, the goal is to ensure that you have absorbed, processed, can recall and make connections with the material presented. Some may prefer rote memorization, others may enjoy reading/review, some may take notes, others may list what they believe are interesting connections or questions. Studying can be in the form of quizzing one's self. Being able to summarize/articulate
overarching ideas and also recall
details such as a sequence of events or technical terms often means one has completed studying and will perform their best on the test.
When the material may seem meaningless, you may wish to help him learn to make connections. For example, interesting/relevant
news stories and
scientific advances may be good sources of material for connecting to a particular piece of literature, history, math, etc, which he may not otherwise relate to.
Best wishes to your son, I believe he will soon excel.
