1. Study Groups!! Study groups are meant to HELP you learn and perform better on the tests. If you met a lot during 1 st semester and didn’t see many results, then you and your group are most likely not following the proper protocols at the groups. If you didn’t meet and have been struggling on the tests, then you need to start meeting with your group! Here’s a list of what study groups are NOT meant for:

2. 1.Study groups are NOT meant for socializing the entire time. If that’s all you and your group have been doing, then the study groups will NOT be effective. 2.Study groups are NOT for doing the homework the entire time. The whole point of a study GROUP is to work with others. 3.Study groups are NOT for individual work. You are supposed to work with the other people! 4.Study groups are NOT for random debates that have nothing to do with the class. It’s great you’re discussing things with other people, but there’s a time and place for discussing which Star Wars movie was the best and study groups are not the time nor the place. 5.Study groups are NOT meant for non-AP classes. If you need to go over something for your other classes, fine, but you need to spend most of your time on AP work.

3. Now – what you SHOULD be doing at study groups! 1.Focus! Getting off task is OK as long as it doesn’t happen the entire time. 2.Work on specific things – choose something like thesis statements or HAPPs, or going over the content to help the group stay focused. 3.Make connections – every person in the group should come prepared to ask the group a connection question that the group will discuss. 4.Go over notes – this will help everyone to see if he/she has been taking good notes. Discuss key points and review old stuff. 5.Discuss old tests and possible questions for upcoming tests – this allows everyone to talk about mistakes and how to fix them and also to brainstorm about what could be asked on the next test. 6.Stay focused on one subject – if you’re taking five AP classes, that’s great but you need to keep your discussions to one class per day. Your study groups most likely is meeting just for history so keep the discussions and work focused on history and work on other classes another day.

4. How to be successful in your groups: 1.Make a personal decision that you are going to focus and contribute to the study groups. If each group member does this, your group will see results. 2.Then, as a group, stay on task. You will accomplish more if you’re all dedicated to the success of everyone in the group. 3.To go along with that, try to remember that every person in your group is trying to be successful – if you’re off task, you’re bringing the group down. 4.Every person needs to have a job – more on this is in a second. If each person sticks to his/her job, it’s easier to stay focused. 5.The GROUP LEADER needs to lead! It’s his/her job to figure out what the group will be going over. 6.Keep a positive environment – no one will want to participate if you think it’s funny to bash on them constantly. Be positive and remember that you’re trying to help each other pass the test! 7.EVERYONE participates. If someone isn’t participating, the whole group is brought down. PARTICIPATE!

5. Jobs: To try to keep everyone more focused this semester, your group members will have a job. If you lost members at semester, you may have to join another group or re-form. Here are the jobs: 1.Group leader: most of you leaders have not been doing your jobs properly. In order to have an effective study group, you must: a)Decide what your group will cover PRIOR to the study group b)This does not have to be super specific, but needs to be specific enough to keep the group on task. c)You also must come up with a general idea of how long to spend on each thing. For example, you want your group to cover HAPPs, the recent material in class, and thesis statements. You need to decide how much time for each PRIOR to the study group. You can keep going with something if the group wants to discuss more, but you need a general lineup. d)You are also in charge of initiating discussions about which day to meet and you need to contact the group members directly if someone hasn’t responded. e)The group leader needs to stay constant but you MUST have a leader in your study group!

6. 2.Timer – this person literally keeps track of the time for the group. Say you’re spending 30 minutes on HAPPs. The time will keep track and announce when 30 minutes is up. It’s up to the group to decide if it’s time to move on or not. If the group wants to keep going, the leader should announce how long the group should continue. 3.Note taker – this person does not have to take notes for everything that is said and done. Rather, this student is going to jot down ideas, information, and key things that the group went over and then send it to the rest of the group. For example, this student will write down all the connection questions discussed that day, as well as possible essay topics for the next test and then send it out to the rest of the group within one day. 4.Researcher – there are times during discussion when someone needs to look something up. Instead of having every group member do this, the researcher will be in charge of either going through the notes, book, or online in order to find the answer for the rest of the group. In general, this is usually the student with really good notes from class and/or good skill in finding information fast.

7. To be successful: 1.You need to keep to your jobs! It is YOUR responsibility to your group to do your job correctly. 2.Be available – I understand a lot of you have other things going on but you need to make the time to get to these groups. There is a different system this semester, but you will once again be required to attend six this semester. Your entire group needs to go! 3.Be positive – if you attend these with a negative attitude and think they’re stupid and pointless, then you’re missing the point. These are proven to help students succeed in difficult classes (in COLLEGE) so if you go in with a good attitude, they’ll be more beneficial. 4.Keep socializing to a minimum – some is OK, but try to keep it to less than ¼ of the entire session. Stay on task! 5.If you only have 3 people this semester, then you the timer or note taker will be the researcher as well. If you have 5 people in your group, rotate whoever the researcher is.

8. The new procedure: 1.Your group is required to submit to me AGAIN the names of your group and each job everyone has. 2.Study groups are no longer worth extra credit points right off the bat. You may earn up to 5 points extra credit but SIX study groups are required. 3.You MUST attend 1 in January, 2 in February, 2 in March, and 1 in April. This is the MINIMUM – you may attend as many as you’d like! 4.Each study group is 25 points – NOT extra credit, but required points that will go into the class work category. I will have a list of each group and each group member’s name. I will keep track of when and who attended a group. If you did not attend, you lose the points. They’ll go in after the end of each month. 5.You can attend additional study groups for 1 point extra credit each, for up to 5 points.

9. 6.If you attend at least half of the available study groups, you automatically earn one full point back on a test in your lowest category. 7.Dropped grades are no longer dependent on you attending the study groups – however, losing 150 points in your class work category could drop you some serious percentage points! 8.Group leaders must email me the group’s agenda AT LEAST one day prior to meeting – if you don’t the group leader loses ½ of that day’s points! 9.The agenda needs to be specific – if you just say “history stuff” you won’t get credit. Try to remember that these are supposed to HELP you! Approach them like that and they should! If you have questions, ASK. The AP test is coming…