LET Tips: Review/Study Strategies

...Hello there..long time no post aye?...I still am doing my thesis which will be the most groundbreaking and most controversial thesis in the history of education....hahaa...It has been two years since I started conceptualizing and doing this thesis of mine and thankfully I am about at 75% of it. Some of you may wonder why it has taken me almost two years to do my thesis and I already have explained it on my previous post. Anyway, sloth has visited me again so I wanted to have a hiatus for a night from doing my usual tasks. So aside form watching TV and Facebook-ing, I decided to update this blog since LET again is just around the corner.
     According to my blog stats, my post on LET Tips has received a lot of comments and page views. I then thought that why not make another post about this but this time, on my own personal experiences on reviewing and studying my LET notes. Again, you may or may not apply my tips. If you find these useful to you, apply it. If not, then create your own strategy that best fits your personality and thinking style..

1. Have the TOS (Table of Specifications) for LET. Take note that EED and SED and their corresponding majors have different TOS. You may ask your dean or the PRC for a copy or you may check online for available e-versions. Why is the TOS important? Of course, TOS will give you the parameters on the things you need to study and review. This would also give you the information on which topics you need to be focusing on. You don't want to waste your time and energy on topics that would even not be in the exam.

2. Prepare your long-term time frame/schedule. This still depends on you. On my personal experience, I prepared which topics I would be studying each week and how many days would I dedicate studying these topics. Again, refer to the TOS. Don't focus a whole week on just Gen Ed only or Prof Ed or Major. In a week for example, you have to have an allocated topics for both the Gen Ed and Prof Ed including the Major Subjects.

3. Prepare your daily schedule. I know some of those who take the LET review full-time while others review in-betweens because they are employed. I myself managed my schedule during my preparation for LET since I was a full time tutor from 1:00 PM to 9:00 PM. This however is not an excuse for you not to study and review. Again, allocate which three parts of LET will you be studying in a certain time. For instance, if you dedicate 6 hours of your day studying (e.g. 6:00 PM to 12:00 MN), then always  make sure that you reach the quota of 6 hours a day. You may have 2 hours for Gen.Ed, 2 hours for Prof Ed and 2 hours for the Major. Now, if you think you're too tired not to review in a certain time, make sure to make up the hours that you failed to study. If you're too sleepy at 11:00-12:00 MN, make up that 1 hour lost by allocating extra hour the day after perhaps early in the morning or extending your study time from 6 to 7 hours.

4.  Speaking of time, choose which time your brain is the most optimum. If you're sleepy, go to sleep. If you still need to study, coffee is not deadly so drink. It would be futile to force yourself studying with your eyes drooping of drowsiness because nothing will be retained or stored in you brain. I am a nocturnal person but I personally think your brain is fresh at morning. This still depends on you. You can either spend the whole night studying then wake up late in the morning. Or sleep early then wake up early, I mean very early ( 4:00 AM). In my case, 2 weeks before the LET, my schedule was 9-12 MN then 4-7 AM. Then sleep again heheh...I said that I am a nocturnal animal and I don't know why but I love the thought that I am the only person awake while others are asleep...hehehe

5. You can have something to munch on while you study. Chips, chichacorn, whatever you like. Mine was peanuts, but it made my face oily so it gave me a pimple or two. But what is a single pimple if compared to become a professional teacher right? and perhaps to even  top the LET...hehe...Kidding aside, I suppose that something to munch on would make your brain more active. When I join quiz bees during student days, I chew bubblegum or a candy because according to my teacher, it activates the brain. I think this is effective because not only I won on some of the quiz bees but because I passed the LET. hehe...

6. When you study, you can jot down notes. Some students have handouts then use markers or highlights to note an important information. But personally, I think writing down would make a certain information more memorable. Some may find this tedious. But I am not saying to copy verbatim from a handout or a book the ideas you want to remember. The best way is for you to write the idea in your own words, the way you understood the concept in order to retain it in your long-term memory. I did this actually in the Prof Ed books like Facilitating Learning, Prinicples of Teaching 1 and 2, etc. If you want this to be even more effective, you can talk to yourself while you are writing it, as if your teaching yourself. During the LET, I remembered some of the answers to the questions because I pictured out my notebook, my handwriting and even to what page the answer could be found. It's like opening your notes inside your brain. You can only do this if you have written yourself the notes and not just highlighted them.

7. No man is an island, so review with your coLET-takers. Aside from it is absolutely fun, you can actually exchange ideas. You can debate for a certain LET sample question or discuss to each other principles that are difficult for you. Sometimes, the explanation of your classmate is more comprehensible compared to the explanation of the book or of your professor/lecturer.

8. This tip is a little bit not advisable but I will advise it...hehehe...Learn to sacrifice some of the topics you think would be mentally consuming for you. Don't exert too much of your energy memorizing a certain topic at the expense of not mastering other more important topics. In my case for example, I realized that there are a lot of legal foundations of education, RA 7722, RA blah blah blah....and I find this impractical to memorize all of these than to master more important topics like educational theories and philosophies. What I did was to just memorize the most important RAs like the Magna Carta, the Code of Ethics, RBEC and others. I did not memorize anymore about other RAs. It was a risk but during the LET, there was only one question on RAs but a plenty on educational theories and principles. My risk was right. hehehe...Try at your own risk...hehe

These are just some of the tips I remembered on how will you maximize you brain while studying or reviewing for the LET. During my time I was bit not afraid to take the LET. I was rather excited. But the feeling of not being scared made me scared. I thought that I was being complacent that is why I became religious in studying. To be honest, these tips were just implemented by myself about 3-2 weeks before the LET. So if you're a LET taker and you're reading this post now, don't worry, you still have time...hehehe...

P.S. A lot of readers were asking about review centers so I would give my opinions regarding this if given the time.

(image source: http://jolamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/teenagers-studying.jpg)