Top Skills to Study Efficiently and Effectively
Thursday, 28 October 2021
Do you want to learn how you can make your study sessions more effective? Here are some skills you need to make sure you develop to increase your productivity.
During high school, many students develop the habit of studying, but university is a different story. The load of high school is nowhere near college or university degrees’, which is why many students have a hard time getting everything done during the first months of their college life. This, in turn, may lead to cramming before exams or failing to meet deadlines.
How to Study Efficiently
University is no size-fits-all process. There’s no single way to be successful in higher education. Each student needs to find out what works best for them. However, there are some skills all students must muster, the sooner the better, as these skills will make the transition from high school to college much easier and smoother.
What are study skills?
These are the skills students must earn if they want to study and learn in an efficient way, that is, learn without wasting time. Even if it is true that each discipline may require a different set of skills that are appropriate for the field, there are some generic skills that work across all disciplines.
Here are some skills that can be helpful in different kinds of studying activities, such as getting organized, analyzing what we study, among many other things.
Most Essential Study Skills
1. Effective Reading
When studying a college or university degree, students are required to read a lot of information related to many different disciplines in short periods of time. If they are to remember what they read, they must muster effective reading skills. With effective reading skills, students avoid wasting time on unimportant information and focus on what is really important.
Reading skills entail a conscious effort to make connections between topics, understand different opinions, do extensive research, and apply what they learn to other subjects.
2. Time Management
This skill is directly related to being organized.
Time management is planning and organizing activities to exercise a conscious control of time. This means that those with time management skills are able to devote the right amount of time to all of the activities they need to do, which, in turn, enables them to do everything effectively and efficiently.
3. Organization
Even if it may sound easy, being organized is more difficult than it may seem. In turn, it is essential that those students who are not organized muster this skill if they want to avoid falling behind.
Getting organized to study is much more than just finding time to study. It is also about scheduling days or even weeks in advance so that students are all the time aware of what they must do, which subjects require most urgent attention, what their upcoming deadlines are, among other things. This way, they will be able to keep up with their studying and avoid falling behind.
4. Critical and Analytical Thinking
In order for students to understand what they learn and avoid learning by memory, they must make sure they have the skill of critically analyzing and thinking about what they hear, read, watch, etc. Those students who are able to critically assess what they learn will be able to acquire knowledge and remember the information in the long run. Plus, they won’t be easily manipulated by others.
5. Note Taking
Taking notes when watching a video, reading, or hearing a lesson is one of the most essential skills for students across all disciplines. This skill enables students to make sure they take down the most important information when first being introduced to a topic, which, when going back to their notes, will help them focus on the most salient information and, in turn, remember everything else. It is kind of like a domino effect.
It’s not easy to cope with everything that needs to get done at university. Many students have it really hard getting used to the fast pace with which they need to meet deadlines and study for exams. But with these skills, students will certainly have an easier time transitioning from high school to college.
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