study skills effective strategies for improving your academic performance

Study Skills

Effective Strategies for Improving Your Academic Performance

You are not born with good study skills. As with anything you wish to

be good at, you have to practice them.

• Why is it important to have good study skills?– Helps you succeed. Frees up time for other

things.

• So what are good study skills?

• Time management• Class Participation• Listening• Note taking• Reading• Test Preparation• Test taking

• Can you think of others?

Time Management

• Schedule time to study.

• Study in a distraction free zone

• Practice your schedule and adjust it if necessary

Class Participation

• Be attentive---How do I do this when I am bored?– Become an active listener.– Take notes on what the teacher is saying– Get involved by asking questions about the

topic– Make personal connections to what the

teacher is discussing

Note-Taking Strategies

• Keep all of the notes you take for each of your classes in one place.

• Having 1 notebook for each subject helps with this.

• Don’t write down every bit of information.

• Only record the key ideas

Reading StrategiesReading is an ACTIVE process

• Skim what you are about to read

• Look for bold words, headings, pictures

• For textbooks, try to understand the layout before you begin reading

• Read with a highlighter/pencil

• SQ3R (see handout)• QAR (see handout)• Annotative Strategy

Test Preparation

• Study a little bit each night instead of cramming all of the information in the night before

• Use mnemonics---strategy to help you remember a list or the order of things– ROYGBIV

• When studying for a test, make sure that is all you are doing

• Think about the kinds of questions you might be asked on the test then try to answer them

Test Taking

• Look through the test before you begin to see what kinds of questions are asked

• Answer the questions you know first (EASY)

• Try to use logic if you cannot remember an answer

• Answer all of the questions even if you have to guess on the ones you don’t know

Answering True/False

• For the statement to be true the ENTIRE statement must be true.– Don’t be tricked by one little part of a

sentence

• If you don’t know…GUESS…it’s a 50/50 chance

Answering Multiple Choice

• These questions are a lot like T/F…only 1 will be the most true choice.

• Be cautious of questions that use the words NOT, EXCEPT because the question is asking you to identify the choice that is not true

• If you don’t know…GUESS…you have a 25% chance of being right

Answering Essay Questions

• Read the prompt all the way through

• Make sure you understand what the essay is asking you to write about. If you don’t, ask your teacher to clarify.

• Plan what you will write about

• Use information from the prompt in your essay

• Pay attention to the key words the instructor has included. Such words as "list," "describe," "compare and contrast," and "outline" have special meaning. – Compare means to discuss the similarities– Contrast means to discuss the differences

• Answer the question directly, clearly, and concisely…don’t write around the question

• USE GOOD PENMANSHIP