How to organise a study session

As we have seen, self-organisation is very important in achieving success. An important aspect of this is how you set up a study session. Follow the suggested steps here to make sure that you become actively involved in meaningful learning.

Why?

• Studying will become more interesting
• You will experience less frustration and better concentration
• You will have a better chance of achieving your goals

As you become more skilled, adapt your strategies to suit your own learning style

1 Preparations

• Deal with worries
  • Write down what is worrying you - this will remind you what to attend to later
  • Think about possible solutions
• Deal with distractions
  • Ask: What is stopping me from focusing?
• Have a positive attitude
  • Take responsibility for yourself and your own learning
  • Remember your previous successes

2 Length of study sessions

• Ideal length: 20-40 minutes
• Then take a 5-10 minute break during which you drink water or exercise
• At the end of each session, revise what you did before (spend about 5-10 minutes on this)

3 Goals/ purposes

• Decide on the following
  • What do I want to achieve?
  • How much time do I have?
  • How will I know that I know the work?
• Realistic goals
  • Make them challenging but reachable
• Measurable goals
  • You will know when you have achieved what you wanted

4 Warm up

• Read headings
• Ask questions
  • Link new information to other things that you know
  • Explore what you know already: Who? What? When? Why? Where? How?
  • Reflect on your studies

5 Skim read whole passages

• Get an overview very fast
• Use your index finger to guide your eyes
• Write down what you remember - practice remembering under pressure

6 Read

• Use your index finger to guide your eyes
• Read the first sentence of each paragraph
• Reread the whole passage for comprehension

7 Make notes

• Keep it interesting
  • Use colour
  • Use pictures
  • Use idea maps
  • Put in page references
• Keep it short
  • Keywords of important ideas
• Keep it personal
  • Do I understand my notes
  • Can I use them for exam revision

8 Check notes

• Read aloud - you will be able to spot missing information
• Correct wrong or missing information

9 Solve problems and do exercises

• Always learn in the way you are going to be tested

10 Revision

• The only way to really remember!
• Revise within 24 hours, at the end of the week and within a month

Talk to us