'Plan and Prioritize'; Student Success Follows Learning Efficient Use of Study Time

Beginning of article

Byline: Gabriella Boston, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Nikki Massoud, 13, of Bethesda is not too worried about the academic pressures of starting high school tomorrow because she has learned how to study efficiently.

"You have to plan and prioritize when it comes to homework," says Nikki, who will attend Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda. "In middle school, we had assignment books, which helped you keep track of assignments. When you're done with an assignment, you just check off what you've done."

Even if assignment books aren't required at Walt Whitman, Nikki, who attended Thomas W. Pyle Middle School, also in Bethesda, plans to keep one because it's the best way - along with planning and setting priorities - to be structured and organized.

Nikki has touched on some of the cornerstones of study strategies, says Jesse Nickelson, a social studies teacher at Banneker High School, a public school in Northwest.

"At Banneker, typically the biggest emphases, especially at the beginning of the school year, are time management and …