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High achievers, on average, engage in these monitoring skills:
90% of all our actions that we engage in everyday are done in the subconscious. Habits form and you do things without thinking. This can happen in a classroom or in a familiar study room e.g., your bedroom or kitchen. You can be in a classroom without being there. No learning takes place in these situations. You have to be aware of yourself snapping out of these situations and become aware that you are concentrating on some task at hand.
Schedule your time. You should make a long-term planner, which includes assignment due dates, examinations and any other important items to be considered so that you can plan ahead for these. You will also need a weekly timetable, which will vary from week to week, and a daily timetable. Allow 2 hours per week for each hour spent in the classroom.
Study at the same time every day. In so far as possible a student should schedule certain hours which are used for studying almost every day in a habitual. Systematic way. Having regular hours at least five days a week will make it easier to habitually follow a schedule and to maintain an active approach to study.
Make use of the free hours during the working day. The hours between lectures are perhaps a student’s most valuable study time. Reviewing notes from a previous lecture immediately prior to the next lecture will make the topic easier to understand, and help in good note taking.
Wherever possible, plan study periods to follow class periods.
Space study periods. Fifty to ninety minutes of study at a time for each course works best. Take 10 minutes relaxation in between, and when you return, review the material you covered in the previous session. If you do not review, you will have forgotten 80% of the material in 24 hours!
Plan for weekly reviews, allow one hour each week for each class.
Leave some unscheduled time for flexibility.
- Click here to open or download the 'study place' document [Word doc. - 34 KB]
- Click here to open or download the 'study habits' document [Word doc. - 45 KB]
Selecting relevant pieces of information is very important. Select only what you have been asked to do. For example, when looking for information in a book:
Suddenly the elephant looks like a mouse!
Adding information this way is very efficient and it is said that one can handle up to 10 to 20 times more than just taking notes in the tradition manner.
Revising is the one thing we all have to do. This is why if you use mind-maps, revising becomes pleasurable because you are able to handle large amounts of information. After revising you should be aware of an AHA! feeling as you succeed. This feeling is very important as it indicate that all learning has an emotional content. It is a great feeling and you are now realising that you are increasing your self-confidence.
It is essential to monitor yourself studying. Be aware that you are:
Keep a weekly timetable this will help you to plan and monitor your learning.
- Click here to open or download the 'weekly timetable' document [Word doc. - 63 KB]
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