Study Skills

Tips, Activities, Suggestions

Active Learning

Active learning keeps you involved – it helps to maintain your enthusiasm for your course, and you also gain confidence in your ability to cope with new challenges. Active learners rarely just read their course materials. They find every way they can to interact with what they are studying. You could try some of their strategies, such as

highlighting material useful for the next assignment
working out the links between current material and previous sections to help build your knowledge and understanding
re-reading previous material that relates to a difficult new topic
collecting lists of items to compare, say where you need to get to grips with a set of similar equations, or comprehend a range of properties
relating the course learning outcomes to each section you study
drawing flow diagrams to show a process or a sequence of events
making your own glossary of terms or timeline of dates
continually asking yourself questions about the material you are studying
taking notes that help make the topic meaningful to you.

Motivation

To be successful in your studies you need to feel motivated and want to learn. Have you identified your goals relating to your studies? Your motivation is helped by having a clear view of:

your short-term goals, such as getting to grips with a difficult concept, or completing an assignment
your long-term goals, which might include your career development, passing a course, or obtaining a qualification.

When study gets tough it can help if you motivate yourself with a small reward. What do you really like doing? Promise yourself a relaxing swim, lunch with a friend, or your favourite TV programme if, for example, you

do at least two hours of study each day
keep to your schedule
send your assignment in on time.

“I now make sure that whatever I’m working on I give myself a reward after forty-five minutes. It’s something to look forward to and it keeps me going. I might only stop for about two or three minutes and other times I take up to fifteen minutes – it depends how I feel. It’s made a tremendous difference.”

Visualise your learning

It can be useful to think of learning as an ongoing process in which you advance your understanding step by step. See your learning as a spiral - as you follow the spiral you realise that the ideas you once had difficulty grasping are now clear, and you want to move on to take in new ideas and think them through. Start in the middle and see where the spiral takes you.

Developing your study skills
Spend a bit of time taking stock while you're studying so you identify your strengths and what you find difficult. Being aware of what you’re good at and where you need to develop your skills can be the first step to boosting your confidence, enabling you to plan to improve your performance as a learner.
All learners are expected to develop study skills such as

organisational skills (e.g. planning and scheduling how to complete an assignment)
communication skills (e.g. reading and understanding different sources, and writing in a style that is appropriate to the task)
numeracy skills (e.g. constructing graphs and applying statistical techniques).

Make sure you know which study skills are required for your course, subject, assignment etc – they do vary between subject areas. So if you move from, say, English to science you’ll need to give yourself time to develop the particular skills required.
Understanding which skills are needed for a particular task is important in every course. If you find there is a specific skill that you need to develop – such as understanding graphs or making notes as you read – then make a decision to improve that skill and set aside the time to do so.

The importance of feedback

Don’t miss the opportunity to learn from the feedback given on your assignments. A great deal of learning takes place as you are completing course activities and assignments, and the feedback on your work can be very helpful in checking whether your current study strategies are effective.
The advice may come as a surprise if it identifies something needing improvement that you felt was fine. Wait a few days then read the feedback again, as you may find that you can then be more objective, and think about your reactions.

Are the comments expected?
Do you agree with the comments? If not, in what ways do you disagree?
What steps can you take to address the issues raised in the comments?
What specific skills do you think you need to improve?

Ask your teacher if you have any queries about anything in the feedback or for advice on improving your study skills.
You might also get useful feedback from other students. For example, an online discussion forum for a course activity might help you assess your understanding of a topic.

Being reflective

Like many other aspects of studying, reflective learning is highly individual. There’s no guidebook on how or when to do it. Rather than thinking of reflection as yet another task to be added to the ‘to do’ list or squeezed into a busy study schedule, it could be viewed as a process that can be practised at any stage. Think about what it means to you to be a learner rather than what you actually do as a learner. The emphasis is on being a reflective learner rather than doing reflective learning.
Reflecting on what works well in your studies helps you to develop your skills, as you try out different approaches and review their effectiveness. It is easy to become stuck in a study routine that is not effective for the task in hand. Thinking about your own skills and being aware of those you tend to use may help you to:

see how you might make changes
develop new ways of working
become more aware of the different techniques you could use.

Reflection has an important role to play in learning and self-development. There are some key elements of reflection, and you'll need decide on your preferred ways. Reflection could be described as:

thinking with a purpose
being critical, but not negative
analysing how effective your learning is
questioning and probing
making judgements and drawing conclusions.

Get used to reflecting on your experiences as part of your everyday learning. In this way, each experience - whether positive or negative - will contribute to your development and personal growth. An experience that is repeated without reflection is just a repetition, which does not help you to learn. Record your reflections in a learning journal or on audio.

See reflection as complementary to your study
Use it to clarify your thoughts and focus on your development
Record your thoughts on any difficulties or challenges you are facing
Think about any strategies that might help you deal with difficult tasks or assignments
Use it to help you think about how the course topics relate to other areas of your experience

Source for above notes – ‘Open University’ www.open.ac.uk

Example of a mind map

Mind map example - Author: Danny Stevens

Methodology
Always start out by placing your main idea or keyword in the center and then start pondering about anything that might relate to that keyword. List all the things you came up with on a piece of paper (not on the actual mind map) and then write them all down on the mind map by interlinking each idea to an appropriate category.
Remember that each line should carry only one keyword or one image and they should be of the same length as the keyword or image.
Obviously, there’s more than one way of mind mapping since the technique itself is very subjective. You should only take these suggestions as guidelines and nothing more. It’s more important that you develop your own style in order to fit your specific needs.
Emphasising certain elements in your mind map such as using different colours to make the mind map more vivid and easier to digest is very helpful.

Let your ideas flow
Make sure that you don’t kill any of your ideas at the beginning. It’s a common problem that people try to edit their ideas before they’ve done collecting them. You can remove, edit and add as much as you’d like after you’ve finished listing them all.

Keep it clean
Another common mistake is to scramble in as much information as possible without keeping the format. If your mind map looks like clutter, you will not be able to understand it (maybe at the present moment but certainly not in the future). Finally, mind mapping is something you do to help yourself. Make sure that you can understand and interpret your own thoughts even if no one else understands it.

10 steps to revision success

1. Revision space: Find a good place to work. It should be quiet and uncluttered.

2. Revision timetable: Draw up a revision timetable - it's crucial. It should be realistic, cover all subjects and allow you time off to relax.

3. Make notes: Don't just read through your class work, make notes. One useful tip is to gradually condense your notes so they fit on the back of a postcard.

4. Revision guides: Get a recommendation from your teacher as to which are most useful and then make sure you use them!

5. Questions and answers: Write out some questions and answers to see how much you're actually remembering.

6. Listen in: Read your notes onto a cassette and then play them walking down the street or whilst you're in bed.

7. Prompts: Put key words and phrases on sticky notes around the house, so you'll see them often.

8. Seek help!: Don't go it alone. They say a problem shared is a problem halved. So, get friends and family on board to help you revise.

9. Past papers: Make sure you get hold of some past papers, they're a really good way of knowing what to expect in the exam.

10. Relax: If you panic you're lost! The exams are going to happen so you might as well give yourself the best chance of doing well by starting to revise early and keeping calm.

Memorise it!
Memory cards are a great way to condense your revision notes and help you remember all those important facts for the exams
1. Summarise: Once you have written out your revision notes, it's time to condense that information into small manageable facts. This is where memory cards come in to play.

2. Word power: For each topic, write bullet points of key facts on a set of index cards.

3. Organise: Categorise the facts into sub-categories, then sub-sub-categories so you can understand how they all link together.

4. Link: Don't just remember the key facts on the cards. They should act as prompts for all the other revision facts you've been learning.

5. Portable: The great thing about small index cards is that you can put them in your bag/pocket and take them anywhere. That way you can look at them on the way to school or even when you're out shopping!

Mind Maps
A mind map is a type of diagram that contains words, pictures, ideas or tasks that are linked around a central idea or keyword.
A mind map can be drawn by hand or by means of a computer, before a particular lesson, while attending the class or even after the lesson has finished.
Popular Usage:
· Solving problems
· Brainstorming
· Note taking
· Resolutions
· Planning

Benefits:
· Gives you a good overview of important points and keywords (such as dates, facts or figures).
· Organizes your topic in a way that let’s you write less and understand more. Thus making your studies more efficient.

A Student’s Guide to Revision

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/studentlife/images/1/156/students_guide.jpg

As a student myself, I am aware that even with exams looming, the last thing you want to do is sit down and revise. But it is really important that you do, so here are some tips on how to get through the stressful exam period:

1. Manageable revision: Don't try to revise for too long all at once. Do your revision in half-hour slots, stopping for a drink and a five or ten minute break in the middle. This will help you concentrate and you'll remember more of what you are revising.

2. Start early: Don't leave your revision until the last minute. If you haven't already, start revising now. It is true that it is never too late to start revising, but you shouldn't leave it until the day before your exam.

3. Get help: If you don't understand something then ask someone. Never suffer in silence. There is no point learning something from memory if you don't understand it, it won't help you in the exam. Get your teacher to explain it.

4. Make notes: Get a small pile of notes (Post-it or similar) and a biro and write all the key words from your subject onto the notes. Then stick them all over your house. As you walk around and see the words, challenge yourself to be able to say what they mean.

5. Revision tip: I find this a really useful way to revise. First, write out the key topics onto an A4 piece of paper. Fit as much on as you can. Then, take only the important bits and copy the information onto the A5 piece. Try to fit it all on! Condense it again onto the postcard. You should now have only the very important words left.

And finally - good luck in your exams!

www.bbcbitesize.co.uk

Grade 11 Life Orientation

Research Project: Developing a Study Plan

SITUATION

80% of the learners in your class failed their most recent examination.

The Principal has asked you, as Chairperson of the Representative Council of Learners, to determine the reasons for this high failure rate and to offer suggestions about how to help the learners improve their marks.

TASK

You have to investigate the study skills, learning style and study strategies of all the learners in the class and find ways to help them improve.

You must do the following:

· Interview the learners about their current study habits

· Conduct research – books, websites, interviews etc – to find out about helpful study skills

· Present your results in an essay – which can include diagrams and illustrations to support your findings.

Your essay should be structured as follows (you may use sub headings):

1. Definitions of:

· Study Skills (3)

· Learning Styles (3)

· Study Strategies (3)

2. A comparison of strong and weak study skills – make sure you explain why they are strong (beneficial to learning) or weak (not very helpful). (6 & 6)

3. An explanation of different learning styles – how people prefer to learn. Explain how these can be used to the learner’s advantage. (5)

4. Consider your marks for your exams last year, both in June and November. Analyse your own performance for both sets of exams. What do the results say about your development and progress? How did you improve? Did you change your study strategy from one set of exams to the next? (You may use a graph or table to help you here, but make sure you analyse the results you are presenting). (15)

5. Examination Skills

· How should you prepare yourself the night before an examination? (5)

· How should you conduct yourself during an examination? (7)

6. Study Plan

· List six steps to consider when developing a study plan (6)

· Refer to your timetable and draw up your weekly study plan – you may use Annexure 1 for your study plan. (14)

Two marks are also given for presentation and layout giving a total of 75 MARKS.

Use the following checklist to ensure you have completed all elements of the project:

Your final project must include:

Ø A cover page, detailing your name, register class and the title of the project

Ø A table of contents

Ø A copy of the annual assessment plan for LO

Ø Your essay, divided into paragraphs/sections using subheadings

Ø Pictures, diagrams and graphs may be included

Ø A list of references is essential – where did you get your information from?

Ø The project must be bound or stapled

Ø You should attach your completed checklist to the project.

Some important links will be available online at http://dghslife.blogspot.com/

here are some useful links
http://www.how-to-study.com/study-skills/en/improving-concentration.asp

http://www.howtostudy.org/

	STUDY SKILL 1	STUDY SKILLS 2	STUDY SKILLS 3
LEARNER 1
LEARNER 2
LEARNER 3
LEARNER 4
LEARNER 5

lifeorientation@2-41

Friday, 17 August 2012

Grade 11 Developing your Emotional Intelligence

Grade 11 and 12 - ethics and morals and making good decisions

Wednesday, 15 August 2012

Gr 11 and 12 CAREERS

Gr 11 and 12 Writing a cv

Tuesday, 14 August 2012

Gr 12 Mission Statements

Gr 12 - how to identify stress

Gr 12 Employment Act Principles

Gr 12 Effective communication skills

Gr 12 Goal setting

Gr12 effective commmunication

grade 12's building positive relationships

Friday, 3 August 2012

Grade 12 syllabus

Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Study Skills Audit Worksheet

Study Skills Notes

Motivation

The importance of feedback

Being reflective

Tuesday, 14 February 2012

Grade 11 Study Skills project...

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