One of my biggest beliefs in helping one gain the most of their studying experience is that music can help a great deal. It helped me a great deal in college.  I used music to "categorize" topics that I was learning in each of my subjects. Hopefully I will be able to teach you how to use this to help you personally. First things first though, nothing will help those that do not put effort in before the day of the test. If you do not read or take notes, then you are probably doomed to get C's or lower.
       I know back in middle school you may have been able to do ok without doing any reading or taking any notes. I am sorry to say but that is going to change here at high school, not only in my class but in most of your classes. There are a few that will still manage to get B's or higher without reading a head of time or taking notes but they become less and less as they progress through high school. Then boom all of the sudden they are at college and they have no idea how to study and their professors really do not have the time to show them how.
 
Dividing Topics
      
        First you need to divide what you are learning into topics. Luckily the way your book is organized you should be able to group the topics by the sections in the book.  You have to think of one other thing though, generally there is something that I will add in class that may not fit into one of the sections in the book. It is something extra that the book may have forgot etc.  So, you may want to make a category or two for in class notes that do not fit into a particular section of the book.  Generally, you should have no more than 6-8 topics that your dividing information into.  You generally do not want to do more than 4 topics in any given night per subject. So, yes this could be a two day process to get ready for a test. 
 
Picking Music
 
     This part is tricky because you have to divide the music up into types, so that your brain activates the association to the type of music. For instance you may want to go classical, rock, jazz, then pop.  Another major key is do not listen to music you do not like.  If you try doing this your brain will completely shut-down. For instance I would never be able to study to jazz  because I just do not like it, sorry. Now you can also divide your playlists by a particular artist.  Have all songs during one topic by a particular artist then study another subject with a different artist. Be sure though that the artists are different kids of music. Like John Mayer followed by Fall Out Boy would be an example of a difference strong enough for your brain to departmentalize the information.

      So, you have picked how your going to divide your topics by artist or musical style now what?  Make a playlist that is between 5 and 8 songs in length or no more than 25 to 30 minutes long.  You can study a category more than 30 minutes if you wish (I would not) but if you are going to go more than 30 minutes during a session, the repeativeness of the music helps reinforce the material.  How long should you study per topic? that is up to you and your strengths and weaknesses by subject matter. Personally, social studies was easier for me than science so I would spend more time per topic with science than I would with social studies.  So, you decide experiment as much as you need to.
 
      Important point here!! When you are done with a topic you must and I repeat must take a break before moving on to your next topic. Your brain needs at least a 5 minute break to process, associate and categorize all that you just did. So, go get a drink, go to the bathroom but do something to give your brain down time from inputtting information.  Now, just repeat the steps for each of the categories or topics that you have chosen. All told this should not more than 2 hours. Remember though this is 2 hours per subject. Also, remember it also depends on the person. One person may only need to take 4o minutes once and do well on a test and another person might need 2 hours to do well.  It is all how well an individual internalizes and how well one performs under academic pressure (tests)

Things Not To Do While Studying!!!

  1. Watch Tv- worst thing for you because your inputting information into your brain that has nothing to do with the subject being studied generally. Plus the many transitions that take place visually will impair how much information is being processed by the brain.
 
   2. Talk On Phone- if you are going to study with some one do it in person. You know that you will not talk about school work while on the phone. You may not even when your together but more school work will be done while together. Also, you will internalize how others learn things. Like if Suzy all the sudden made funny hand gestures when she finally learned about the Napoleon Code, believe me you will remember that if you run into the Napoleonic Code on a test.
 
   3. Play Computer Games- Same as watching T.V. you are sending your brain into information overload. And too much of the stuff you do not need to do well will enter. I am not saying you do not learn from certain computer games, you just should not study with them.
 
 
 
Please understand this is only one way of studying, if you do not like music then this method is not for you. If you do well in school then you may not want to try this or maybe try it and see if this makes studying more interesting.