Study Skills for Effe ctive Learn ing
How to Study
Concentration
- If you find it difficult, try studying in short bursts of 30 minutes or less. Focus on something definite to do. Build up to 45 minutes or an hour.
Be Realistic
- You will discover early on that you can't do everything. Study is an 'open-ended Business' - with seas to navigate. You can always do a better job with more time!
This applies to everyone. Learn to draw the line and get on with the next task. Don't force yourself into a perfectionist straight-jacket. Have a general study strategy with tactics for different situations.
Planning and Time Management
- The difference between full-time and part-time students is becoming blurred by part-time jobs. Full-timers often work within a framework of day-time classes and time to continue private library study, meeting with colleagues to prepare a seminar, practising in an PC lab, getting on with research/practice/client contact etc. If you are a full-timer, schedule yourself to work into the evening as a routine. Work hard and play hard.
- Plan your Saturday and Sunday working and relaxation. There will be times in the year when time demands will be high. Flatten the peaks by good continuous work (preparation) at off-peak times.
- For part-timers this advice may stick in your throat given the burden you carry. Try to do 8 hours private study a week on average e.g. 2-hours on each of two evenings, 1-hour on Saturday and 3 on Sunday or similar pattern.
Continuity
- Keep continuity going - keep up-to-date. The importance of personal organisation is obvious. This applies to library visits to shopping and swimming, to interviewing, to nagging your partner or neighbour (or both!) about the garden and then giving them a big hug by way of thanks.
Fitness and Relaxation
- Take a 5 to 10 minute break every hour or maybe two shorter breaks; stand up, walk around, make a cup of tea, avoid booze, turn your mind to something else.
- When taking a break with others - enjoy them but be careful of long, self-indulgent conversations eating into your time.
- Keeping fit helps. Light, regular exercise makes you more able to cope with stress and life demands.
Windmills of your Mind.
- Spend the last few minutes of a study session scanning and recalling what you have done. Add to your level of absorption and understanding.
- If you find yourself day dreaming or drifting from the task in-hand, pull yourself back to reality. Take a break and then force your attention back to the task.
- If your mind is going round and round a problem without making any progress or if you end a study session anxious and in difficulty, jot down what it the problem is and why. Talk it over with someone. Go for a tutorial.
Form a Study Group
- Join with colleagues to form a study group (2/3 people are enough). Compare notes, discuss topics and problems, share notes on articles, read each others assessed work. Remember the rules about plagiarism.
Study Skills Index
© This resource was developed by C Jarvis