How to create good study habits
There are a number of aspects we need to discuss to set up what could be termed "good study habits". These include:
1. What is your study motivation: When you leave the confines of "normal schooling, you have a choice - namely "what do you want to be "when you grow up"". What are you hoping to achieve as a result of the time you spend studying. If the reason you are studying is great enough, the motivation to study will always be there.
2. Making sure you organise your study time: Whilst, having the motivation to study is perhaps one of the main aspects of generating good study habits, you do need to sit down and do some.
When you are organising your study time, remember to block in an entire week and remember all the other important (can't get out of) things for example - sleep, eating, travel time, work if you have any.
3. Be prepared for studying by organising resources: Before you begin to study you need to make sure you have all the resources you need. Make sure you have coloured pens to high light portions of text, or erasers, or flash cards to write your notes on.
If you don't know where to start, then start by reading the synopsis of a book / text then making notes.
4. Organising the right study location: Some people can study with noise in the background, others can’t, it’s a personal preference. You may need to invest in a series of earplugs or have a music you can listen to, to drown out the noise. But you do need to limit the extraneous noise if you want to succeed with your study and retention of information.
5. Study in 20 - 30 minute blocks: It may sound a little strange, but believe it or not you have to make every minute count, and there is endless research that says - your brain can only study in 20 - 30 minute blocks before it starts to forget things. Set some kind of alarm and start. Once you reach the end of your allocated time block - change track. Either change subjects (tandem studying) or get up, stretch, have a drink of water and then go back to what you were reading. It wakes up the brain.
February 17, 2010 at 18:54
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