Presented by

Sushma Shivakumar
What are your own ideas about
what a “skill” is and how study
skills are developed? Do we need
study skills?
A Typical Student 
I. DEFINITION
1) A skill: is a learned activity - something that you can
develop through practice and reflection.
2) Study skills: involve developing personal qualities such
as awareness, commitment, determination,
perseverance, self-motivation, time management,
positive thinking.

Reference Source: “The Study Skills Handbook” by Stella Cottrell

ENEMIES OF GOOD STUDYING
1) Fear
2) Stress
3) Distractions
4) Low Self-esteem
5) No Plan of Attack
6) Poor Concentration
7)Low Level of Will Power
8)No Will to Succeed
Most of these enemies can be
dealt with by
GOOD PREPARATION
before you begin to study.
OUTLINE

Preparation

Preparing your Relaxing to Activating your

Sharpening your Pumping up your
learning control your brain for the
focus self esteem
environment anxiety and stress subject at hand

Be Confident , Enthusiastic , Relaxed , Calm , Focused and Alert

Preparing a place to study
1) Find a study place
2) Make it comfortable
3) Check the lightning
4) Have everything ready
5) Post a lot of positive messages around the
place.
6)Enrich your environment
Preparing your mind for studying
1)Define your goals and objectives
2)Plan a lot of activities
3)Prepare your state of mind and body
*Breathing
*Muscle relaxation
*Visualization
Positive Self -Image
 Plan for success ,Imagine success , build on success ,
sharing your gifts.
 Positive Affirmations
 Music….. Dr.Lozanov discovered that certain kinds on
music used in specific ways can accelerate learning to
unheard of levels…rhythms of baroque music.
 Memory
 Memories are neural traces created in the brain.
 The three Rs of memory are Registration , Retention
and Recall.
 This is done through short term memory and long
term memory.
 Forgetting.( students forget due to passive reading of
text books or sitting listening to lectures)
 Multi sensory effect.
 Recency and primary effects.( more beginnings and
endings-Grouping)
 Association
effect.(sensory,emotional,intensity,meaning)
 Repetition
Improving Your memory
 Relax
 Be active
 Use many intelligences
 Use smaller chunks
 Chunk the material
 Create strong associations.
 Practice output
 Review
 Develop basic memory aids
 Practice,Practice,Practice
 Sleep on it.
 Concentration
 Concentration is the ability to work intensely at a
task to the exclusion of every other demand on
your attention.

 What interferes with concentration-External and

internal distractions

 Lack of focus or goals also interferes with

concentration.
Improving your Concentration
 Eliminate all distractions within your control.
 Prepare.
 Take care of yourself.
 Make concrete goals.
 Reduce stress.
12 Principles of Study Skills
 Believe in yourself.
 Prepare
 Organize your self and your work.
 Spend time on what matters.
 Discipline yourself.
 Be persistent.
 Divide and conquer.
 Become an information filter.
 Practice output as well as input.
 Do not fear mistakes.
 Use all your intelligences to create study tools.
 Be active.
 What works for you
 We are all different and work to different rhythms
 Spread it out – don’t leave it to the end
 Revise actively
 Note-taking
 Learning – e.g. definitions
 Synthesizing – making connections
 Test yourself e.g. questions in text-book
 Half hour of active revision better than two just turning over
the pages
 If you get stuck, take a break – walk, coffee etc
 Time of Day
 We are all different and work to different rhythms
 Alone or with others?
 What works for you
 If working with others, need discipline!
 e.g. time, place, how long will we work, what method will we
use …
 A Balanced Life
 Don’t let the other bits of your life disappear
 Socialising, sport, family

 Fresh air helps the brain

 Adequate sleep

 Balanced diet
 EXAMINATIONS
 Examinations are part of the learning process
 An element in assessment
 Stimulus to order your thoughts
 Help you to think under pressure
 Satisfaction of knowing that you have studied
 Step on the way to your degree and future career
The Value of a Study Schedule
 It will not be possible to allocate your time effectively if you
don’t have a schedule to keep you focused and realistic
about what you need to accomplish

 The time taken to create the schedule is well worth it – it

will save you much time that could have been lost to
disorganization, stress, and poor planning
Creating the Right Environment
for Studying
 When deciding where you should do your exam studying
consider the following:
 Make sure the environment is moderately comfortable (furniture,
temperature)

 Work somewhere where you will be free of distractions (phone, TV

etc.)

 Try to use a space that is YOURS only and doesn’t have to be shared
with other family members

 Keep the study space organized with a specific place for paper,
pens, books etc.

 Have everything you need to study with you before you sit down so
you don’t waste time looking for things
 Make every hour count in your schedule – time at
lunch, before school, after school

 Begin to study for each exam well before it will

take place to have plenty of time to ask questions,
review etc.

 Give yourself reasonable breaks and try to

maintain as “normal” a schedule as possible in
terms of sleep time, eating time etc.
Proven Study Strategies
 SQ3R
 Survey – get the best overall picture of what you’re going to study
before you do it

 Question – ask questions to reinforce your own learning

 Read – actively read over the material and be alert to main ideas,
bolded terms, and key understandings and details

 Recite – recalling and then orally or through writing

communicating the information – make connections

 Review – re-reading, summarizing key points, testing yourself,

asking final questions
Coping with Exam Anxiety
 Exam anxiety can be viewed in two different ways:
 Poor coping with the inevitable stress of an exam
BEFORE it takes place
OR
 A strong emotional reaction of fear that interferes with
thinking clearly DURING the exam
Exam Anxiety Symptoms
 Students who have exam anxiety often report the following symptoms:
 Memory blocks or “blanking out” on things that you have studied
 Fear of failing before the exam is even written
 Physical symptoms such as rapid heart rate, shortness of breath,
sweating etc.
 Lower reading comprehension
 Poor attention and inability to concentrate

 The key to dealing effectively with exam anxiety is to work on what you
have control over (how you study, what you study etc.) and not worry
about what you can’t control (kinds of questions, how other students
perform etc.)
Tips for Coping with Exam Anxiety
 Be Prepared Early
 Set up a study schedule well before your exam

 Sleep Well
 Maintaining a regular sleep schedule helps reduce stress and
increase performance

 Keep the same caffeine and sugar intake

 Greatly increasing either of these substances can actually impair
brain functioning by throwing off your body’s metabolism

 Learn relaxed breathing

 When you get stressed, taking some slow, relaxed breaths can help
you think clearly again
Tips for Coping with Exam Anxiety
 Stop studying at least 1-2 hours before bedtime the night before
 Studying right up until the last minute increases your anxiety and will
impair your ability to sleep

 Review main themes

 Go over main ideas or concepts in the material to reinforce that you do
understand the “big picture”

 Have a plan before the exam

 As part of your studying, think about how you will approach the exam and
what you will do when you run into trouble

 Aim to do your best

 Recognize and turn off your negative self-dialogue – focus on the task at
hand and simply aim to do your best.
The Day of The Exam…
 Wake up at a reasonable time so you can get ready at a leisurely pace
and have breakfast

 Carry your notebook to the exam but don’t open it – will have it there if
you absolutely need it

 Stay away from other stressed-out students who may get you worried
before the exam

 Admit to yourself that you will not know all of the answers on the
exam…and that’s okay!
In Summary…
 Studying is an important component of being
prepared for your final exams

 Any sort of studying is inherently stressful, but

there are ways to manage it to reduce the stress

 Your approach to studying will vary depending on

the subject matter you’re studying.

 The keys to effective studying are all about

planning – it’s a good idea to start that process
NOW!

 Good luck on your final exams!

At the Examination
 Read the instructions you will get before the
examination carefully
 Check the time-table for
 exam dates
 Times
 Place
 First day check your seat on the plan
 Arrive on time but not too early
 Comparing notes with others can make you nervous
 Fill out all the details at top of the script, and each
subsequent one fully and correctly
 Follow the instructions of the invigilators
 Follow instructions on the question paper
 If it says ‘two questions’ do two, not three
 Take some time to plan the answer – rough work
 Keep an eye on the clock
 Read the final product before the end
 What do I do if I get a blank?
 Pause for breath and relax
 Look at your rough work
 Try writing a couple of sentences at the end of your
rough work
 Continue
 only in very extreme cases should you start all over again
What are they
looking for?

An examiner’s view of
examinations
Examiner’s View of Exams
 1. We are on your side!
 An exam not an attempt to trip you up
 We love to see you thinking!
 We do not have to meet a ‘failure quota!’
 Failing you means more work for us!
 We DO like you and want you to do well
I need to be able to read your paper,
so write clearly
 keep your handwriting neat
 use space intelligently
 skip a line between answers
 number answers as on exam paper
 Answer the question as it is set, not as you wish it
had been set
 Exam questions are never set in the ‘tell everything
you know about …’ format
 Make sure you understand what the question means
– note words like
 ‘Outline …’
 ‘Discuss ..’
 ‘Compare …’
 ‘Give examples …’
Do your own work! Plagiarism is against the rules