EXCEL IN STUDIES

EVALUATION

Check list: Grade yourself from 0 to 10 (0 if you feel you are not at all up to the mark and 10 if you are satisfied with your achievement.

___Managing my time to meet spiritual, academic and relaxation needs.
___Setting realistic academic and personal goals.
___Staying alert and focused during classes.
___Listening effectively to get the most out of lectures.
___Taking lecture notes that are complete, clear, and useful.
___Reading my textbooks so that I learn what is essential.
___Understanding how I learn best.
___Studying effectively for exams.
___Using a variety of strategies to remember information.
___Keeping track of my quarterly and cumulative marks.
___Testing myself to see if I really understand information.
___Using visual aids to help learn.
___Knowing what I need in a study space.
___Differentiating between essential and non-essential information in lectures.
___Motivating myself to study.
___Differentiating between essential and non-essential information in my textbook readings.
___Studying courses material so that I understand and retain it for exams.
___Taking exams in an efficient and systematic fashion.

TIME MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES

As a student, there are some basic Principles of Time Management that you can apply.

Identify "Best Time" for Studying: Everyone has high and low periods of attention and concentration. Are you a "morning person" or a "night person". Use your power times to study; use the down times for routines such as laundry and errands.
Study Difficult Subjects First: When you are fresh, you can process information more quickly and save time as a result.
Use Distributed Learning and Practice: Study in shorter time blocks with short breaks between. This keeps you from getting fatigued and "wasting time." This type of studying is efficient because while you are taking a break, the brain is still processing the information.
Make Sure the Surroundings are Conducive to Studying: This will allow you to reduce distractions, which can "waste time." If there are times in the residence halls or your apartment when you know there will be noise and commotion, use that time for mindless tasks.
Make Room for Entertainment and Relaxation: College is more than studying. You need to have a social life; yet, you need to have a balance in your life.
Make Sure you have time to sleep and eat properly: Sleep is often an activity (or lack of activity) that students use as their time management "bank." When they need a few extra hours for studying or socializing, they withdraw a few hours of sleep. Doing this makes the time they spend studying less effective because they will need a couple hours of clock time to get an hour of productive time. This is not a good way to manage yourself in relation to time.
Try to Combine Activities: If you are spending time waiting in a queue, bring your notes to study. If you are waiting in line for tickets to the railway station booking counter, bring your biology flashcards to memorize.

It is useful to chart out and account for the time in a week and see where you are losing out and to cut down. A good table is available at the following address.

http://www.d.umn.edu/student/loon/acad/strat/time_use_chart.html

THE PQR3 FORMULA

P = Preview what you are going to read

Q=Question what you are going to learn after the preview

R3= Read, recite and review

P - Preview uses less time than the Q and 3R steps. It can be very helpful. Look over carefully what you are going to read. Look for main ideas and subjects. Notice any new vocabulary. Form an impression about what you are going to read. Practice on this document itself, quickly look over the words that are in bold type.

Q = Question. Form a question in your mind, in your own words about what you are about to read and learn. Practice on this page itself. How will you do it for what you are practicing?

R = Read the assignment, Recite – stop every once in a while, look up from the book, and put in your words what you have just read. Practice on this page itself. After you have finished, review the main points. How will you do it on this page?

MEMORISING AND RETAINING

The way in which people learn affects the sort of mnemonics they should consider using to store information.

The three main learning styles are:

Visual
Auditory
Kinesthetic

No one uses one of the styles exclusively, and there is usually significant overlap in learning styles. To discover your learning style, click here (links to psychometric test)

Visual Learners:

Visual learners relate most effectively to written information, notes, diagrams and pictures. Typically they will be unhappy with a presentation where they are unable to take detailed notes - to an extent information does not exist for a visual learner unless it has been seen written down. This is why some visual learners will take notes even when they have printed course notes on the desk in front of them. Visual learners will tend to be most effective in written communication, symbol manipulation etc.

Visual learners make up around 65% of the population.

Using Mnemonics to Learn More Effectively

When you are creating a mnemonic, e.g. an image or story to remember a telephone number, the following things can be used to make the mnemonic more memorable:

Use positive, pleasant images. The brain often blocks out unpleasant ones.
Exaggerate the size of important parts of the image
Use humor (perhaps linked with point 2)! Funny or peculiar things are easier to remember than normal ones.
Symbols (e.g. red traffic lights, pointing fingers, etc.) can be used in mnemonics.
Vivid, colorful images are easier to remember than drab ones.
Use all the senses to code information or dress up an image. Remember that your mnemonic can contain sounds, smells, tastes, touch, movements and feelings as well as pictures.
Bringing three dimensions and movement to an image makes it more vivid. Movement can be used either to maintain the flow of association, or can help to remember actions.
Locate similar mnemonics in different places with backgrounds of those places. This will help to keep similar images distinct and unconfused.

The important thing is that the mnemonic should clearly relate to the thing being remembered, and that it should be vivid enough to be clearly remembered whenever you think about it

BETTER LISTENING

is second most difficult after reading. It incorporates exercise before the class, during and after the class.

http://www.how-to-study.com/how_to_listen_better.htm

OTHER ONLINE RESOURCES:

To improve reading skills: http://www.how-to-study.com/read.htm

Preparing to study: http://www.how-to-study.com/Preparing%20to%20Study.htm

Techniques to improve memorizing skills: http://www.psychwww.com/mtsite/memory.html

Top 10 sites on study guides: http://www.howtostudy.com/topten.htm

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You can download and use these materials in your presentations, teaching sessions, seminars without altering the core-content of the materials. These materials are prepared and presented by various God's servants.

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