Study skills

Some examples are mnemonics, which aid the retention of lists of information; effective reading; concentration techniques;[1] and efficient note taking.

It is crucial in this, however, for students to gain initial insight into their habitual approaches to study, so they may better understand the dynamics and personal resistances to learning new techniques.

[3] Study skills are generally critical to success in school,[4] considered essential for acquiring good grades, and useful for learning throughout one's life.

While often left up to the student and their support network, study skills are increasingly taught at the high school and university level.

[5] In the 1950s and 1960s, college instructors in the fields of psychology and the study of education used to research, theory, and experience with their own students in writing manuals.

[6][7] Marvin Cohn based the advice for parents in his 1978 book Helping Your Teen-Age Student on his experience as a researcher and head of a university reading clinic that tutored teenagers and young adults.

A work in two volumes, one for upper elementary grades and the other for middle school, the Guide has methods for taking tests and completing schoolwork.

[citation needed] In order to make reading or reviewing material more engaging and active, learners can create cues that will stimulate recall later on.

A cue can be a word, short phrase, or song that helps the learner access a memory that was encoded intentionally with this prompt in mind.

[citation needed] Self-testing is another effective practice, when preparing for exams or other standardized memory recall situations.

However, it's likely that this can create a false sense of understanding because of the increased familiarity that students have with passages that they have reviewed recently or frequently.

Their results showed that students who tested themselves on material they had learned, rather than simply reviewing or rereading subjects had both better and longer lasting retention.

Being discrete and separate, they have the advantage of allowing students to re-order them, pick a selection to read over, or choose randomly for self-testing.

Summary methods vary depending on the topic, but most involve condensing the large amount of information from a course or book into shorter notes.

These tools can give a visual summary of a topic that preserves its logical structure, with lines used to show how different parts link together.

One popular memory enhancing technique is the method of loci,[18] a system of visualizing key information in real physical locations e.g. around a room.

There are four main types of mnemonic: (1) Narrative (relying on a story of some kind, or a sequence of real or imagined events); (2) Sonic/Textual (using rhythm or repeated sound, such as rhyme, or memorable textual patterns such as acronyms); (3) Visual (diagrams, mind maps, graphs, images, etc.

); (4) 'Topical' (meaning ‘place-dependent’, for instance, using features of a familiar room, building or set of landmarks as a way of coding and recalling sequenced facts).

For example, the cardinal points of the compass can be recalled in the correct order with the phrase "Never Eat Shredded Wheat".

The Black-Red-Green method (developed through the Royal Literary Fund) helps the student to ensure that every aspect of the question posed has been considered, both in exams and essays.

REd is a REference Point or REquired input of some kind, usually to do with definitions, terms, cited authors, theory, etc.

Spacing, also called distributed learning by some; helps individuals remember at least as much if not more information for a longer period of time than using only one study skill.

Also, some websites (such as FlashNotes) can be used for additional study materials and may help improve time management and increase motivation.

[38] While productivity is greater earlier in the day, current research suggests that material studied in the afternoon or evening is better consolidated and retained.

A software engineering corporation found that employees using the Pomodoro Method saw a decrease in their work flow interruptions and an increase in their satisfaction.

Much of students’ difficulty or aversion to analytic subjects such as math or science, is due to a lack of confidence or belief that learning is reasonably within their abilities.

Popular uses of analogies are often forming visual images that represent subject matter, linking words or information to one's self, and either imagining or creating diagrams that display the relationship between elements of complex concepts.