Study Techniques

Being a student is hard work!

Preparation, lessons, study, and exams can all seem too much.

Do want to improve the quality of your time at your desk?

Do you feel stressed about study and can't concentrate?

Do you want to improve your grades and use your time effectively?

If so, then we may have something for you.
Study techniques are an important part of learning in an effective manner.

As a student, you are probably juggling work and social life with study.

In short, you have a busy life so you need good skills to maximize the use of your time.

Here we provide you with study tips and good study habits that use your time efficiently and take advantage of the way information is encoded in your memory.

Are you an owl or a fowl?

Some students work best in the morning. These early starters, 'fowls,' are most creative and productive in the first few hours at work.

Others may work better in the afternoon or in the evening. These late starters, 'owls,' tend to be more creative and productive in the afternoon or evening.

All of us have body cycles called biorhythms. Research suggests that we are more productive and alert in our prime time.

When is your prime time?

Download your time management and students time log and record your energy in the right column throughout your day.

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Are you doing your most important tasks when you have highest energy? If not, then you can study more effectively by doing so.
2. What distractions keep you from focusing on your top priority tasks? Study tips involve protecting your quality study time from distractions. Study tips might include turning off your mobile, taking off the automatic notifications on your email, and minimizing any other interruptions in your prime time.

The Tyranny of the Urgent Are you a student who jumps from crisis to crisis putting out bushfires? Is cramming for exams and doing all-nighters before an assignment familiar territory for you? If so, this can be stressful and lead to poorer grades. There are options to use your time better. Rather than being reactive, why not try being a proactive student? Examine your time log through the lens of the time management for students matrix and see where you can reduce your stress and get more done.

Reviewing and reading strategies for new information

Students do a lot of reading, so an important student time management technique and study technique is to ensure that you read effectively.

It is important that you do your readings before you go to lectures or tutorials.

By reading before class you are able to contribute to class and also link pre-existing knowledge structures to the content that is in the lecture or tutorial.

This enhances your long-term memory and the retrieval of information from it, a skill which is useful in exams.

It is also important to re-read your notes each week.

By reading each week you are more likely to commit your ideas to memory by the process of repetition.

This reduces your exam study time significantly.

Here are some tips on how to increase reading speed.

Study techniques: Lectures and tutorials

Lectures and tutorials are important to go to and actively concentrate or participate.

Reviewing your notes on the same day as the lecture allows you to reconstruct the lecture and ideas to memory.

By doing this on the day of the lecture you maximize the content that you are able to meaningfully encode into memory.

In tutorials, try to be an active participant.

Use tutorials to test your understanding of ideas and the subject content.

The benefit of student planners

I can't emphasize how important it is for students to plan.

College student planners or academic planners aid you in planning your work and then working your plan.

Research shows that planning reduces execution time and the quality of the output. As a student, this results in better grades with less stress.

Having a plan for when you are going to study, read your notes, or socialize, gives you a sense of increased control.

I talk more about the benefit of having an overall view of your demands and the importance of making detailed weekly plans and daily plans at student planners.

Student time management at the desk

You can only concentrate for so long before you become fatigued. Fatigue reduces the quality of your time at the desk.

This means that you have to spend more time studying - and a vicious cycle of increase stress and fatigue can ensue.

When studying it is important to take active breaks.

Try to take 5-10 minute breaks every hour.

By taking active breaks you stop your concentration from flagging.

An effective study technique is to study different subjects in a day. Try not to spend more than 2 hours on a subject each day.

If you do, then try to do at least a couple of distinct tasks. This will keep your concentration higher than if you slave away on one task all day.

What Study Techniques Work for You?

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