How to improve your study skills

Time management:

Time management is about deciding how you use your time, whether these decisions be active or passive. Here are some basic steps in getting better control of how you spend your time.

Set goals

Goals give you direction. Don’t limit yourself to academic goals. Include goals in social / professional aspects of your life.

Understand how you spend your time

Record your daily activities to get a sense of how your time is spent. Include time spent on classes, study, travel, meals, laundry, sleep, etc. Once you have data for one week, ask questions: Is this how I want to spend my time? Which activities would I like to spend more time on? Spend less time on?

Plan your schedule

Once you understand how you spend your time, you can plan better. Organize your time to keep yourself on track using a method that fits your style (calendar, weekly planner, to-do lists).

Using a Calendar

A desk or pocket calendar is a convenient way of making and keeping track of time commitments.

• Mark the dates of all of your exams, assignments, and paper due dates.
• Write down must do activities (class, appointments, job, etc) and their times.
• Include time for study and preparation (reviewing, reading, library research, etc).
• Add personal / social activities that you plan for the week.
• Leave some free time for leisure and relaxation.

Using a To-do list

Making a to-do list everyday is a great way of ensuring that you do what needs to be done. Crossing off items from your list will motivate you to complete the rest of the items. When you make this list:

• Write down all the things that you want to get done.
• Write down an item to accomplish, not as an item to spend time on. ("Read chapter 5 and take notes", rather than "read the book"). Estimate time to complete the item & write it down.
• Cross off each item as it is completed, and write down actual time taken.
• Prepare the list at the same time each day, and review previous day’s list as a guide for improvement.
• Prioritize the items on your list.
• Be realistic. If you overestimate how many tasks you can complete, it’s easy to get discouraged.
   

Some general advice

• Start immediately. Make a list of things you should do now and schedule time to work on it.
   
• Work to finish early. Break larger assignments / projects into smaller chunks of work, and cross them off the list as you complete them.
• Determine your most productive time of day. Note down results at different times and build study habits around the most productive times.
• Allot chunks of time for each task based on how long you usually take to complete it.
• Study difficult subjects first, while you are fresh. You can process information better this way.

Taking Notes:

Taking notes is a skill that improves with practice. Here are some general tips for taking notes during lectures or presentations.

• Listen actively – rephrase using your own words if you can - but don't fall behind.
• Develop and use a consistent method of taking notes in class, using abbreviations, punctuations, etc.
• If you are not taking notes directly on your computer, use a large notebook, and leave space between points – so you can go back and add information later.
• Listen for the major/main points and make sure you have notes on them.
• Copy / edit / elaborate on your notes soon after the lecture. Save these notes and review them to study, write papers etc.
• Recopy your notes to seal them into your memory.

Flash cards for studying:

Flash cards are a tested and proven aid for learning and remembering - whether it is vocabulary, a new language, math or science facts, or lines in a play. ndxCards makes it easy to create and print flash cards. The software comes with a "Flash Card" type where you can enter information for the front and backside of the card. All the organizational and filtering features of ndxCards (subject, keywords etc.) are available. You can study the flash cards on-line and memorize them using the Leitner box method. You can print the flash cards on ordinary card stock or special perforated paper.

Reading for comprehension and retention:

Reading articles, essays.

• Read it once quickly. Circle words you do not understand, but do not dwell on them now.
• Go over the circled words and look them up. Read over the definitions of key words more than once.
• Then re-read the article slowly. Identify the main theme or thesis – make a summary note card (if the article has an abstract, compare your own summary with the abstract).
• Re-read to get how the author makes the thesis, or states the theme. Note down each of the main points the author uses to prove the thesis, or make the case.
• Relate the points to the theme, and analyze the author’s approach, target audience and style.

Reading books

A 5 step approach is recommended by many –

• Survey – Get a high level view of what the book contains; read the introduction, and the conclusion; look at the pictures, graphs, maps, charts.
• Ask questions - Read the title of major headings (chapters, sections) and list questions about what you think is covered in that section. List as many questions as you can.
• Read – Read each section. The work you did earlier helps you understand better and retain the information.
• Repeat - Recite those portions that you think are important to retain and remember.
• Review – Re-read with the intent of cementing what you have learnt.