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tudy skills are a set of skills and learning tactics that aid students in organizing, processing, and utilizing information successfully. Students usually fail at learning, not because they lack the capacity, but because they do not have enough know-how in areas like planning and organizing, reading and writing skills and examination technique.Indications that students need help in developing study skills include spending too much time studying, taking class notes that are hard to understand or have the wrong information, deferring large projects or tasks, inability to identify what is essential in a text, or inability to remember what they have read. Adequate familiarity with and practice of study skills helps students to study faster, smarter and longer, answer exams with confidence, and study for exams more effectively, tight boredom, increase their rate of success and live a better school and university life.
RELEVANT STUDY SKILLS
As stated above, studying involves set o f skills that must be practiced and mastered. Some of these skills include:
a. Planning and Organizing h. Note Taking Skills c. Reading Skills
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An Introduction to the use of 1i . LIBRARY, STUDY SKILLS & IC T 111
d. Examination Technique e.
a. Planning and Organizing
i. Set goals: Set precise and clearly defined goals, which are realistic and practicable. Examine your present circumstances and decide what you need to achieve your target. Alsohave an alternative to achieve your goal in case you have to change your plans.
ii. Make priorities: identify tasks that are pressing and important and focus on them. Sort tasks out in order of priority, and then dedicate the most time to the most important tasks. Avoid focusing on the simple, easy tasks or allowing too many interruptions to your work.
iii. Break tasks down into steps:Break tasks down into steps so as to accomplish them one step at a time. Try to complete one task before moving to the next. Review your progress towards your goals as often as you can, and revise your plans as appropriate to take account of unexpected changes.
iv. Avoid Procrastination: Do not put off the things that you should be doing at present till a later time.
v. Deal with stress: Formulate effective strategies to deal with pressure. For example, taking exercise, relaxation techniques, sharing problems with friends, working with a group (tutorial groups), etc.
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vi. Positive Attitude: Learn how to take a positive attitude especially when things are not working out. Do not be afraid of making mistakes, but learn from them.
b. Reading Skills
i. Have clear reading goals: this will considerably increase your reading effectively. Not everything in print will be of use to you at each point in time.
Use reading goals to choose and prioritize information in line with the task in hand.
ii. Allocate daily reading time:Daily allocate a particular time for reading and revisions of what you did in class during the day.
iii. Find a place to read where you can concentrate: Choose a place that is quiet, where there will be few distractions from radio, TV or other noises. There should be good natural or arti tidal light, sufficient heating and ventilation, a comfortable chair and enough table space to work on.
iv. Take regular breaks from reading: take a break whenever you are getting bored or tired.
v. Evaluate your reading habits: identify areas where you need to improve. Do you "say" the words you're reading? Do unfamiliar words slow down your speed and understanding? Do you read every word?
vi. Use your eyes efficiently: do not read aloud, or re-read unnecessarily. Read phrases and not every
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single word. If you cannot see well, make sure your eyes are by a professional
vii. Increase your vocabulary: keep a dictionary near you when reading, make a list o f new words, and use the dictionary to find out the meaning and the origin ofwords.
viii. Match your speed to what you are reading:
Note that studying needs closer, slower reading, while leisure does not.
ix. Improve your reading speed: Practice for about 1 5 to 30 minutes each day. checking your rate in words-per-minute. Check your comprehension by summarizing what you read. Ideally, you want to read faster while maintaining your understanding.
Therefore, use the same type of materials each time you practice to provide the consistency needed for meaningful practice.
x. Use reading strategies: You may also use reading strategies to improve your reading skills.
The commonest types of reading strategies are the SQ3R and SQ4R. SQ3R stands for survey, question, read, recall and review while SQ4R stands for survey, question, read, recite, review and reflect.
c. Note Taking Skills
i. Attend lectures regularly.
ii. Keep the notes for one class separate from other classes.
iii. Make sure to take clear notes. Concentrate on main ideas, themes, and concepts, and take down
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facts, examples, illustrations, or methods that will help you to remember the main point(s) of the lecture.
iv. Review your notes immediately after the class. At this time you can modify, organize, add. delete, summarize, or clarify misunderstandings.
v. Use consistent, understandable abbreviations whenever possible.
vi. Leave spaces for words, ideas, or dates that you didn't catch but can fill in later.
vii. Put question marks in the margin of your notebook to indicate where you need to do further research, either on your own or by seeking help from the lecturer or other classmates.
d. Examination Techniques
i. Make sure you take enough sleep and are well rested before examinations
ii. Make sure you have all the items needed for the examination before entering the hall e.g. spare pens and pencils, sharpeners, erasers, calculators, etc.
iii. Read the instructions carefully in order to avoid a n s w e r i n g t h e w r o n g q u e s t i o n or misunderstanding what is required.
iv. Gauge the time you should allocate to each question based on the length of the exam and the marks allocated to each question in order avoid spending too much time on less important questions. It is better to begin with the questions
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you know best so as to build your confidence.
v. Read the questions carefully so as to understand the meaningoi the questions. Make sure to pay attention to significant words and phrases.
vi. Do not be in a hurry to write. Plan your answers, in line with the how the question is framed.
vii. Write legibly. Students often lose marks because the examiner is unable to read their answers.
viii. Attempt all required questions. If you need to answer four questions in an exam, and you only answering three automatically reduces your maximum possible mark. Make sure your answers are clear and to the point.
ix. Put emphasis on important points. Using diagrams to highlighting important points can help to save time and in some cases, is more appropriate than words alone.
x. In case you find yourself going blank, do not panic. Stop writing, breathe deeply, try to relax, and after some time, gather your thoughts and try again.
xi. Leave enough time to read over your answers and to check for grammatical errors and spelling or other mistakes.
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. | I An Introduction to the use of 111 LIBRARY, STUDY SKILLS & ICT
Chapter Ten