TeachOrTutor.com Presents: The Buzz

Effective skills for studying is important for being a good learner. These skills will help you to successfully approach your education. There are many things that need to be done here though.Â

 

First of all you must understand that learning is a very personal matter. There is not a single thing that will work for everyone in every situation. Some of the things that you should use to help you learn new skills include:

1.  Enable yourself to take responsibility for your learning.

2.  Spend your time effectively and do everything possible to stay on task.

3.  Select the best approach for each of your assignments.

4. Make sure to have access to various types of content and reference materials.

5.  Be confident enough to know when to get a tutor.

 

Secondly, you need to identify your own learning style preferences. While a lot of factors affect your learning, the thing that effects your learning most is whether you learn by reading, watching, listening or doing. Of course, you cannot make your instructors adapt to your learning style, but you can learn to adapt to theirs. Another thing that effects your learning style is whether you are a morning person or a night owl because this is when you are able to concentrate the best.

Third, you need to learn how to manage both your time and your life. Herein it is important to set goals and then work towards achieving them. From there, analyze how you are using your time and if you find that you are wasting it, make the necessary adjustments so that you can reach your goals. Of course, it may take you longer to learn something but how well you learn something, not how fast you learn it, is the critical factor.

 

Now that you have all of these things in place, you also need to learn what studying means and how to do it. This begins by developing a better vocabulary so that you can be a more active reader. English has a huge vocabulary and being able to understand the meaning of numerous words is a very important part of effective learning. It is also very important of becoming both physically and mentally involved in what you are reading, which is what you need in order to be able to learn from what you are reading.

Learning does not end with your textbooks though. You will also need to learn how to become a better listener so that you can take better notes. There are some things that you will need to do in order to be able to take good notes:

1.  Make sure to prepare for class.

2. Learn how to distinguish major from minor points.

3. Use a system for taking notes.

4. Participate in class.

5.  Review your notes often.

 

If you are willing to try these things, you will be able to get something from the classes that you take. This is because true education is not about cramming material into your head, but about expanding your capabilities. Your teacher or tutor is there to set the stage for this to happen but you have to be the one to put it into action.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2007 at 12:25 am and is filed under Study Guides. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.