Simple Study Strategies

By N. Bowen

Is your study routine in need of a complete transformation?
Note: This is a short book of roughly 18,000 words.

Study skills are an important part of being a student. Despite this, some schools and academic institutions don't spend much time teaching them, or skip over them entirely because they expect you to already know how to study by the time you enrol.

If you feel lost when it comes to planning your study routine, or think you need help developing your study techniques, then this guide is for you.

Topics covered in this book include:
- How to start your course on the right foot, while you are still excited and haven't gotten buried under too much work.
- How to recover if you are already part way through the course, but due to mitigating circumstances you haven't been able to start the work yet or are at risk of failing.
- Studying and revision methods for different learning styles.
- General study skills that are also great practical skills that will make your life and career easier.
- The surprising reason people leave a lot of points on the table during an exam.
- How to ask academic staff questions when you need their help, without "sounding stupid" or whatever similar fear is stopping you from approaching them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: N. Bowen
• Release date: Mar 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386636151

Book preview

Disclaimer

Simple Study Strategies: How To Develop Your Study Skills For The Classroom And Beyond

By N. Bowen

All rights reserved.

Although the author has made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct at the time of publishing, the author does not assume and hereby disclaims any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.

This book is written in British English, as opposed to American English. As such some spellings and phrases may differ from what would be expected in American English.

1st Edition (.ePub, March 2019)

Introduction

Despite the fact that many of us spend at least a decade in our respective education systems (often much longer), few institutions dedicate adequate time and effort to teaching good study habits and strategies to their students. Often by the time you get to higher levels of study they will just assume someone taught this to you in an earlier year, and that if you have gotten good grades so far then you must have no issues with your studying techniques. Worse still, if you are struggling with something they may try to blame it on you being dumb or not trying hard enough, or something as equally incorrect and unhelpful, rather than taking a moment to analyse why you are struggling. Picking up good study skills often ends up as something the student has to learn and develop by themselves.

If you have picked up this book, you may be starting your studies soon and want to avoid mistakes from previous years. You might be considering returning to school, but you have concerns about being able to keep up with the workload. Or perhaps you have started another year of school, but this time around it has not been as easy for you to learn things as it used to be and it has you concerned.

This is a short guide on how to organise your studies and learn practical study skills. It intends to give you a brief overview on how to structure your time and use techniques that allow you to study more effectively. That way you can get back to focusing on your studies quickly, rather than spending all your time reading about how to study.

––––––––

Who Is This Book For?

While the advice in this book could be useful if you are taking a course for leisure purposes, it is mainly written for those in full time education or who are pursuing industry certifications. It assumes the situation is one where a passing grade (or better) is critical for the reader's future plans. Therefore this book is primarily aimed at:

•  Those studying at an institution such as a school, university or college.

•  Those taking online courses that lead to qualifications or certifications. The basic guidelines are the same, but the main issue that you may encounter if you are studying online is that you are going to have to be much more self motivated to get things done. You will have to learn to study without being prompted to do so by someone else.

•  Those in other part time or full time education situations, who are trying to plan their current or future studies around an existing full time career, paid work, or other obligations.

•  Those who want a quick guide to study skills and organisation.

However, while this book does discuss ways to get yourself back on track if your studies have been interrupted, it is for those that are in that situation because of mitigating circumstances. It is not for students looking for a magic bullet because the reason they have done no studying so far is because they could not be bothered, and now they are panicking because the exam is in two days. If that is what you are seeking, then this is not the book for you.

––––––––

What You Will Learn From This Book

•  How to start your course on the right foot, while you are still excited and haven't gotten buried under too much work.

•  How to recover if you are already part way through the course, but due to mitigating circumstances you haven't been able to start the work yet or are at risk of failing.

•  Studying and revision methods for different learning styles.

•  General study skills that are also great practical skills that will make your life and career easier.

•  The surprising reason people leave a lot of points on the table during an exam.

•  How to ask academic staff questions when you need their help, without sounding stupid or whatever similar fear is stopping you from approaching them.

In many cases, the default language and course structure in this book assumes you are studying at around university undergraduate level in the United Kingdom. Common terms are listed below:

Institution

Usually a school, college or university, but may also be a company that accredits a certification, provides training towards a certification, or runs exam and testing centres. In other words, the academic and business entities you may have to deal with in order to pursue your specific studies and receive the resulting qualification.

Lectures

These may be classes held at a physical location (such as on a campus or at an office building), or video lectures if your course is mostly online (usually pre-recorded so that you can download them and