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"Success and failure is in one's own hands." The issue is to develop good study habits, good revision programmes and good examination techniques. Below are texts that I had found from an old edition book and that I have edited and put into simple words and steps to be easily understood.
Essential principles:-
1)How to study:
The more we like to study a subject, the easier we find it. Or the easier we find a subject, the more we like to study it.
Studying should become a habit- A habit is something that doesn't require a great conscious effort or an act of will-power. You do it without thinking about it. This is how your study should be.
a) How to build the study habit:
i) Always do your private study in the same place at the same times each day. Always sit on the same comfortable chair at the same table in the same quiet room on your own.
ii) Warm up at the start of each study session by doing a simple, routine task left ready on purpose from your previous study session: e.g. underlining the headings and subheadings on a page of your notes.
iii) Work up gradually to the study of a difficult part of a topic by tackling the easier parts of the topic first: e.g. draw a diagram of the apparatus before analysing your experimental results.
iv) Always stop each session whilst you are still enjoying your studying. Never carry on for so long that you stop because you are fed up and no longer enjoying your work.
v) Just leave a simple routine task for the start of the next session.
This five-point plan is simple and it works. Here is the psychology behind it. as soon as you sit at your table you have pleasant memories of your previous study sessions. There on your table is something simple for you to do and there is nothing to distract you. So as a matter of habit you find yourself dong something useful straightaway. In no time at all, without any conscious act of will power, you are automatically engrossed in your studies. One hour of effective studying that you enjoy is worth ten hours of ineffective studying that you dislike.
Hints & Tips:
· Organise your time- Use your time more wisely. Don't waste it, give it away or let others steal it.
· Use good textbooks that are relevant to your syllabus and whose concepts are easy to understand.
· Take the time to assimilate what you are reading.
· Summarise the texts into note-forms.
2) How to revise:
Revision is an essential component of good study habits. Make it part of your daily routine and use a planned programme of spaced revision. Do not leave it too late and resort to last minute cramming.
Revising should also be a habit- Our brains probably constantly engaged in revision without our being consciously aware of it. Every second our senses are sending new information to the brain to process. Much of this information will be compared with the information we have stored from past experiences. What you need to do as a student is to acquire the habit of consciously recalling and comparing your stored information with the new material.
---> Spacing your revision- Various investigations and research have established the following features of the most effective revision:
v Periods of revision should be frequent and short.
v Periods of revision should be carefully spaced.
v New material should be revised as soon as possible.
Ten minutes after a one-hour learning period spend 10 minutes in reviewing what you have learnt. This revision will prevent the very high percentage loss of memory that normally occurs in even a very short time after your learning period. The next day spend 5 minutes revising the same material. One week later, take 3 minutes, then one month after that, take
2 minutes to revise this material again. You should find that this spaced revision(20 minutes in total) will be enough to lodge the material in your long term memory.
--> How to take exams:
The first thing to do is prepare yourself thoroughly. Check your syllabus from time to time. Tackle at least one set of past papers. Use the number of marks and the time allowed for each paper to calculate the mark rate: it is often about 1 mark per minute. Take off your wristwatch and put it in front of you where you can see it clearly. Get into the habit of checking your watch to keep to time. Do not spend too long on one question and not enough on another. Time lost can rarely be recovered. Misjudging the time is one of the common mistakes you must avoid. If you are running out of time towards the end of an exam, abandon sentences and write your answers in note form. Allow at least 5-10 minutes of revision in the exams.
I hope that this will help you and if there is anything more to add, don't hesitate.
Essential principles:-
1)How to study:
The more we like to study a subject, the easier we find it. Or the easier we find a subject, the more we like to study it.
Studying should become a habit- A habit is something that doesn't require a great conscious effort or an act of will-power. You do it without thinking about it. This is how your study should be.
a) How to build the study habit:
i) Always do your private study in the same place at the same times each day. Always sit on the same comfortable chair at the same table in the same quiet room on your own.
ii) Warm up at the start of each study session by doing a simple, routine task left ready on purpose from your previous study session: e.g. underlining the headings and subheadings on a page of your notes.
iii) Work up gradually to the study of a difficult part of a topic by tackling the easier parts of the topic first: e.g. draw a diagram of the apparatus before analysing your experimental results.
iv) Always stop each session whilst you are still enjoying your studying. Never carry on for so long that you stop because you are fed up and no longer enjoying your work.
v) Just leave a simple routine task for the start of the next session.
This five-point plan is simple and it works. Here is the psychology behind it. as soon as you sit at your table you have pleasant memories of your previous study sessions. There on your table is something simple for you to do and there is nothing to distract you. So as a matter of habit you find yourself dong something useful straightaway. In no time at all, without any conscious act of will power, you are automatically engrossed in your studies. One hour of effective studying that you enjoy is worth ten hours of ineffective studying that you dislike.
Hints & Tips:
· Organise your time- Use your time more wisely. Don't waste it, give it away or let others steal it.
· Use good textbooks that are relevant to your syllabus and whose concepts are easy to understand.
· Take the time to assimilate what you are reading.
· Summarise the texts into note-forms.
2) How to revise:
Revision is an essential component of good study habits. Make it part of your daily routine and use a planned programme of spaced revision. Do not leave it too late and resort to last minute cramming.
Revising should also be a habit- Our brains probably constantly engaged in revision without our being consciously aware of it. Every second our senses are sending new information to the brain to process. Much of this information will be compared with the information we have stored from past experiences. What you need to do as a student is to acquire the habit of consciously recalling and comparing your stored information with the new material.
---> Spacing your revision- Various investigations and research have established the following features of the most effective revision:
v Periods of revision should be frequent and short.
v Periods of revision should be carefully spaced.
v New material should be revised as soon as possible.
Ten minutes after a one-hour learning period spend 10 minutes in reviewing what you have learnt. This revision will prevent the very high percentage loss of memory that normally occurs in even a very short time after your learning period. The next day spend 5 minutes revising the same material. One week later, take 3 minutes, then one month after that, take
2 minutes to revise this material again. You should find that this spaced revision(20 minutes in total) will be enough to lodge the material in your long term memory.
--> How to take exams:
The first thing to do is prepare yourself thoroughly. Check your syllabus from time to time. Tackle at least one set of past papers. Use the number of marks and the time allowed for each paper to calculate the mark rate: it is often about 1 mark per minute. Take off your wristwatch and put it in front of you where you can see it clearly. Get into the habit of checking your watch to keep to time. Do not spend too long on one question and not enough on another. Time lost can rarely be recovered. Misjudging the time is one of the common mistakes you must avoid. If you are running out of time towards the end of an exam, abandon sentences and write your answers in note form. Allow at least 5-10 minutes of revision in the exams.
I hope that this will help you and if there is anything more to add, don't hesitate.
Last edited:
