published: 18 Dec 2020
5 min read | website: www.ebr.com.au
It is exciting to be officially a university student as you feel like you've taken a big step toward your dream but during exams, you realize that you can't translate your enthusiasm into high grades. Good study skills and study techniques are crucial for your academic success. Here are five skills that will make your university life easier.
Study Skill #1: Mastering note-taking strategies
We always think we'll remember something because it's too important to forget. But we often get easily inundated with so many other stuff - funny videos on YouTube, a silly fight in the family etc. Even if you take notes, it doesn't mean you are doing it effectively. Some note-taking strategies include paying attention to boldface words and headings, reworking main ideas into concepts that are easily understood, including highlighters, sticky notes, index cards, graphs, charts, and diagrams and making sure the notes taken answer/reference the objectives and questions that accompany each lesson.
Study Skill #2: Reading to yourself out loud
Sometimes you need to hear things more than once, to fully remember or understand them that's why some people memorize best through sound. Try reading your course materials to yourself out loud and see if it works for you. You can also record yourself. Then, take the recording and listen to it in the car or the train.
Study Skill #3: Teaching others
A great way to get a deep understanding of new material is by teaching it to others. You need to answer questions that make you go deeper, figuring out problems you didn't even realize the material presented. Try asking a friend or someone who's having challenges with the material to study together. When you teach others, you get a chance to better understand the materials yourself.
Study Skill #4: Creating effective mind maps
Many people find that visual elements help them retain information better in their studies like a mind map. A mind map is a kind of framework that helps you to organize, visualize and summarize. Its purpose is to give you a better way to store information on one page. Many topics can be studied and revised easier and more meaningfully by making a mind map. It can be made by hand or by using a special program on the computer.
Study Skill #5: Managing your time effectively
Good time management is planning ahead - weeks, months and terms. Students constantly struggle between attending classes, going to work, getting stuck in traffic, taking care of family members, running errands, and finding time to eat and sleep. It gets overwhelming, and it's easy to get to a breaking point which is why it is crucial to organize your study and prioritize your tasks effectively as possible. Planning ahead saves you a lot of time, worry and energy.
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