Brain Food; it’s good for memory

Is there such a thing as brain food? Can certain foods really improve your intelligence or memory?

Strange as it may sound, there really are some foods that are good for the healthy functioning of the brain. Thus, these foods may be called ‘brain food’. And when the brain functions in a healthy manner, the output naturally is superior.

It is an accepted fact that green vegetables are good for the body and the brain. These vegetables contain an array of vitamins, which are essential for the smooth functioning of the body. And of course, when the overall body functions well, the brain is able to do its part even better!

Dark-skinned fruits are also said to be good for the brain. Blueberries, blackberries, broccoli, grapes, oranges, raspberries, plums, prunes and cherries, all dark-skinned fruits, have very high levels of antioxidants and phytochemicals that are good for the brain and helps keep it sharp.

Eating plenty of fish is a good idea if you want to keep your brains in top shape. Fish such as mackerel, tuna, sardines and salmon contain huge amounts of Omega-3 acids, which help foster healthy communication between brain cells.

Proteins enhance the thinking capacity of individuals. Therefore, it is a good idea to eat a protein-rich diet for lunch as it helps perform your duties, whether it be studying or working in an office, better during the daytime. For the night, it is best to eat carbohydrate-rich food as it helps the body relax and sleep well. However, there is a danger in this for those who have the tendency to put on weight – carbohydrates increase the risk of weight gain.

Drink plenty of water. This keeps the body hydrated, washes out the acids and impurities in the body and helps the brain function properly.

According to studies, fish oil, eggs and blueberries are among the top food candidates that help improve intelligence and memory.

How can you use study time most efficiently?

Using the time available for study is vital for getting best results. The right use of this time also helps set aside some time for other pursuits, such as hobbies, sports or exercise.

The first step in the efficient use of time is to schedule the things that need to be studied. Without a schedule you wouldn’t know where to start and where to end. A schedule should also contain all the subjects or topics need to be studied. In fact, care should be taken to see that nothing is left out.

Now, allocate the time needed for each topic. There are no specific formulas for this exercise. As a rule of thumb, you just need to allocate maximum time to the most difficult subjects or topics and the least time to the easiest subjects or topics.

This should be followed by determining the part of day or night when the study has to be done. It would be a good idea to study the difficult subjects or topics when you are most fresh since it allows for greater concentration and more understanding.

Once the study is in process, it is essential to gauge how well it is proceeding. For that, you would need to sit back from time to time and survey all that has been studied. A good student will work up the courage to ask himself or herself difficult questions, and see how well the subject or topic has been absorbed. Naturally, there would be some doubts, too. At such points it would be best to repeat the same thing to oneself several times and memorize it. Get back to the topic once again after a few hours or a day and see whether you remember it all. If yes, the hours spent in studying has been worth it. Otherwise, you would need to spend a few more hours at it. Online Tutors at SchoolTrainer help you develop healthy studying habbits so that you can make most of your study time.

Time Management during a Math Test

What should be your strategy?

A math test can be daunting for the best of students. The allocation of time between the questions can be even more of a concern. And the worst part is that as soon as the student lays a hand on the question paper, it is always the most difficult question that catches his or her eye. That induces fear in the mind of the student, which in turn erodes the sharpness of memory that is so important for taking a math test well.

Don’t get flabbergasted. The trick is to look for the easiest questions first. Solve those questions first. But remember, these easier questions may not be in serial order. So, remember to put down the serial number of the questions correctly, else it will result in deduction of marks. Doing the easier questions first will enhance the student’s confidence level and help move on to the more difficult ones. It will also ensures that the student is able to capture as many points as possible in the shortest possible time. After a few right answers, when the breathing of the student gets back to normal, he or she will start remembering how to solve even the more difficult questions.

For those students who feel that remembering formulas is an uphill task, they may write down the important formulas on the margin of the answer paper as soon as these are handed out. This will obviate the need to recollect these formulas often. It will also show the examiner that the student is meticulous.

Even if the student is unable to do a particular problem, the steps involved should be written down in order. This will help extract some points from the examiner.

The student should make sure that all rough work is shown on the margins of the answer paper. Nothing should be erased or crossed out. Many examiners keep these things, besides neatness, in mind while grading the test.

Last, but not least, keep an eye on your wristwatch. Better still, keep it on the table and look at it once in a while.

Online Math Tutors at SchoolTrainer help you understand math concepts with clarity and you learn how to solve problems fast.

How much homework help from friends and family is appropriate?

This is a question that parents are faced with as long as their children are in school. There is no simple of answer. It depends on many factors, such as the number of children you have, the amount of time the parent can set aside for the child, the child’s IQ level, the child’s interest level in studies, the child’s ability to absorb educational inputs, etc. However, the bottom line would be that as the student graduates from elementary school to middle school and to high school, the number of hours of time spent helping him with homework should steadily come down. Parents should encourage children to be able to handle their work  on their own (to the extent possible), and look for help only when it is absolutely essential.

One positive method of helping children with homework is to position oneself as a dependable resource to answer specific questions. Parents should make an effort to answer the child’s questions. In addition, parents may wish to consider engaging a tutor to fill in knowledge gaps and plan the student’s work.

However, under no circumstances should parents do any part of the child’s homework, such as project work, even if it helps them receive high grades or accolades. When parents do some part of the child’s homework, the child will begin to increasingly depend on parental assistance. The child would begin to expend less and less physical and mental effort on homework. Also, when an elder sibling does a child’s homework, it would be unfair to the other children in the class who would be taking pains to do the work on their own, as they may not get the high grades or accolades that they rightfully deserve. The student would miss out in terms of learning about the importance of ‘fair play’ in life, and could also damage a student’s self confidence. That would be a setback in the growth and development of the student.

When does “homework help” cross the line and become “cheating”?

It is quite common for friends and relatives of a student to help him or her with homework. Getting homework help in order to do homework is generally not considered cheating. In fact, it is considered essential in many cases.  Some students use study guides to to help them with their homework. So, if all these sources of assistance are considered necessary, when does it cross the line to become cheating?

Let’s look at the case of family members (e.g.  parent or elder siblings) helping out with a student homework. When the teacher explicitly states that certain work has to be done by the student, without the help of anyone else, getting help would definitely be cheating. Even if there is no one to monitor whether the student has taken the help of others or not, a teacher who knows the student well can often tell whether he or she has received help.

There are other potential forms of cheating with respect to homework. These include getting answers from homework guides, getting answers from older students who have done the same homework in a previous year, etc. In all these cases, there is little in the ‘legal’ sense to say that one has cheated. Rather the difference is subtle. In most cases, the choice is left to the student, who has the option of using or not using a source of superior information. Using such superior sources of information, which are not available to others, might be considered cheating. Teachers should monitor the quantum of help that each of their students get, and take that into account when assigning grades.

Is it better to stay up late studying for a test?

Is it better to stay up late studying for a test, or is it better to get 8 hours of sleep?

This is a tricky question. The answer depends on the individual student. While some students just cannot wake up in the morning and concentrate, others are more altert at dawn. However, as a rule parents discourage staying up at night and studying since they are typically, unable to monitor the progress of the student’s effort – after having spent a tiring day at work.

One very effective way is to study before going to bed; take a book to bed and dose off while reading it. Though doctors typically discourage reading in the lying down position, it has been observed that what one reads before going to sleep remains in the mind. Some students read out the answers into their mobile phone, plug on the earphones and go to sleep hearing their own voice reading out the answers to potential exam questions. This can be a good way to absorb a large amount of information in a short amount of time.

Some students stay up late just before a test.  To make this effort most effective, students should read concise answers to potential test questions, important points and formulae (for mathematics) during such late night study sessions. This is because during this time the student is not trying to learn anything from scratch but is only trying to reinforce areas where he or she feels are relatively weak. 

It is important to get sleep before the test. Therefore, never stay up the whole night before the exam. Even if you have only a few hours before having to wake up and take the test, you definitely need those few hours to rest.

5 ways to improve your SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) score

It is important for students to score as high as possible on the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) to improve their chance of getting admission into the college of their choice. Competition for the best colleges is intense, given that a couple of million students take the test every year in the US alone.

There are many vital elements in preparing for the SAT test. These include understanding the nature of the test, practicing for the test and preparing oneself mentally and physically for the test. However, the most vital part is learning for the test itself.

One could begin by talking to students who have scored very high in past tests. This will give you some perspective.

This should be followed by undertaking some research on the test itself. A lot can be gleaned from the Internet. Visit various SAT coaching centers or their websites.

Then the student might want to take a baseline test. This will provide a basic scale of measurement about the student’s capabilities – and more importantly, weaknesses. The student should then concentrate on filling up gaps in his or her knowledge, i.e. shoring up areas of weakness.

Get information on all that is permitted and not permitted in the test. This will help avoid problems at the time of taking the test.

The student should physically prepare for the SAT test. How can that be done? The SAT test requires not only knowledge but also the skills to apply the knowledge, presence of mind and calm disposition while attempting to answer tricky questions. It is important not to get flustered. Try meditation, stay cool, stay away from memory enhancing drugs, get plenty of sleep and take a shower before going to the test – this will enhance the level of alertness. The rest will all follow.

All the best!

How important is practice in doing well in Math?

Math teachers often tell their students that the more they practice, the better they can perform. Nothing could be more true than that statement. But to practice, you should first know how to tackle math problems. So, let’s start at the very beginning.

Clarity – Students should attempt to bring in clarity into their math work to obtain top grades. When their teachers solve or explain math problems in class, they should copy it down legibly and properly. One should try not to use abbreviations that could be confusing later. The use of highlighters and colored pencils (to highlight the important portions) can be very effective. A good formof practice is to try the same problems back home and verify the method used as well as the answers.

Questions – Don’t take questions back home. Discuss these with the teacher or with other students who have clearly understood the concept and get the questions answered comprehensively. Then, attempt some similar questions yourself and get the concept crystal clear. This too, is a form of practice.

Model tests – Take model tests. These are available online or in other books. It is a good idea to buy books by other authors dealing with the same topics and solve the problems. This will widen the understanding of the concept and give greater confidence to the students. This form of practice can do wonders to the students’ score.

Math is a subject where students can, with practice, get a very high grade and thus improve their overall grade point average. Therefore, it is important for students to do well in math. However, as with athletes who get rusty when they do not practice for a period of time, students lose their touch if they do not practice math problems. And such practice should always be done on a piece of paper, not just by glancing at problems in a book or an answer sheet.

Math is all about practice.

How not to panic during a math test

This is easier said than done. Most students, except those gifted with a special love for math, perspire at the thought of taking a math test. Actually, this panic is what begets more panic. If students learn to treat math just like other subjects, there will be no problem.

Students should however, begin the process of taking a math test by preparing properly and systematically for it. The biggest mistake students do while preparing for math tests is to leave questions unanswered. Every question needs to be answered, the concept understood and exercises done to attain clarity and confidence.

While learning math formulae or a particularly difficult problem, look at the page closely, close your eyes and try to save a photographic copy of the page in your mind. At first, it may not work. After a couple of tries, it works. Try recollecting that page and its contents a few hours later. 

Ok, now we are at the math test venue. Take a few deep breaths, close your eyes and think of all the exercises you have done. Well, you have spent a lot of time preparing and you rightfully deserve good marks. So, here goes.

Take a look at the question paper. Start with the easiest ones. Do the questions at a reasonably fast clip. Once the easiest questions are answered, your confidence level will rise. Now attempt the harder ones. If the questions are from those portions which you have tried to learn through the photographic memory route, close your eyes and think back to the page. Things will fall into place. Your adrenalin will flow. You will be able to attempt the rest of the questions.

Never look around the exam hall and look for distressed faces. This will hurt your confidence. Concentrate on your work. Leave aside what you cannot readily do. Attempt such questions only if you have time.

Math tests are not impossible, and if you are well prepared there’s no reason to worry.

What to Eat Before a Test

Test – the word itself sends chills down the spine of many a student, taking away their appetite and desire to sleep. There’s a scramble to learn as much as possible in the shortest possible time. There’s no time to take a bite or get a wink of sleep. But that’s not good practice. Students need to eat healthily before a test.

Typically, before taking tests conducted in the morning, students should consume protein-rich foods such as eggs, nuts, yogurt and cottage cheese for breakfast. Food such as spicy or fried food should be avoided as these tend to make the stomach heavy and could cause some discomfort. High school students sometimes take a cup of coffee to perk them up and keep sleep away. Of course, this depends on parental permission.

Tests that are conducted in the afternoons or evenings are more difficult to take. This is because the body generally seeks some rest in the afternoon. Therefore, it is important that before taking tests held in the afternoon or evenings, students should eat a balanced meal, including protein and fruits, such as bananas, apples, oranges. You could also keep healthy snacks like protein bars with you to nibble on between exams. Avoid spicy dishes, yogurt (especially the sour ones), rice, pizzas and burgers, since these create heaviness in the stomach and can adversely affect your attention span, alertness, and consequently performance levels.

Before and during the exam, drink enough water to keep hydrated, as dehydration may cause you to lose focus or feel tired during the test.

Finally, you may want to consider having a cup of yoghurt or fruit, both of which contain serotonin, on the night before the test. Serotonin relaxes the mind and can help you fall asleep.