{"id":382,"date":"2021-08-20T11:58:56","date_gmt":"2021-08-20T03:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jrpsych.com.au\/?p=382"},"modified":"2023-05-24T14:26:33","modified_gmt":"2023-05-24T06:26:33","slug":"study-skills-tips-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jrpsych.com.au\/study-skills-tips-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Study Skills &#038; Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Before we start on study techniques, let\u2019s be clear about how study is important to you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:auto 48%\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"779\" height=\"439\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jrpsych.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/studying-e1629430359544.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-383 size-full\"\/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p><meta charset=\"utf-8\">Studying can be tedious and difficult, and it takes time away from other things that are important to you.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, take a moment to consider&nbsp;&#8216;<em><strong>Why&nbsp;<\/strong>you are studying?<\/em>&#8216;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What are your&nbsp;short-term&nbsp;goals and&nbsp;what are your longer-term&nbsp;ones?&nbsp; Why are you willing to put other activities on hold in order to study?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are more motivated to do something if we are clear about why it\u2019s important.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-heading\">Study skills to <strong>set<u> you up for success<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Develop a study plan\/timetable<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Start with putting in your timetable the non-study activities that are most important to you. The ones you really don\u2019t want to compromise on during the study period. Then you can more clearly see all the time you have for your blocks.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Break down&nbsp;your study&nbsp;content and plan out times and days&nbsp;where&nbsp;you can cover it.&nbsp;Think how you work best&nbsp;e.g.&nbsp;alternating subjects versus focusing on one,&nbsp;and&nbsp;the best time of day for you to study.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Watch for overstudying! An effective method is to aim for windows&nbsp;of study time and then plan in clear breaks&nbsp;as this&nbsp;helps&nbsp;with knowledge retention.&nbsp;During breaks you could have some food, talk to friends, or exercise. This will help you refresh and take in more.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Manage your environment<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>It&#8217;s OK to vary your study environment. Do have a clear desk with just the material you need to study at the time on it.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Set a time at night when you will stop studying by. Your body needs time before bed to unwind before falling asleep. Fuel yourself with regular meals and snacks to help study well.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><u>Study techniques<\/u><\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are two core concepts that should help you to get the most out of your study:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Start more broadly then narrow down<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Start with all the information&nbsp;on the subject&nbsp;you are studying&nbsp;and&nbsp;then&nbsp;gradually reduce the information you need down to one page of notes or a series of palm cards.&nbsp;Highlight and use colour to group related ideas together and&nbsp;make clear what you need to pay attention to.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Start with key terms, then their definitions and finally the detail. Think about the order of information you are trying to&nbsp;remember,&nbsp;and&nbsp;go over areas&nbsp;again&nbsp;that are difficult.&nbsp;Try and relate new material to what you already know.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Don\u2019t just read things:&nbsp;Elaborate, rehearse<\/strong>, and interact with the study material.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The more actively we engage with things we are learning, the better it sticks.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Learning styles<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consider what kind of learning styles you could use for different situations:  talking through ideas, creating&nbsp;visual aids, listening to information, moving whilst focusing, breaking information into chunks.&nbsp;For&nbsp;example,&nbsp;you could:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Create mnemonics&nbsp;and&nbsp;acronyms to help remember information&nbsp;<\/li><li>Read your notes page or palm cards and&nbsp;try&nbsp;repeating&nbsp;them out aloud&nbsp;<\/li><li>Record your notes on a voice memo and listen to them&nbsp;<\/li><li>Visualise the information you need to remember&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li>Describe the information to a friend or your parents. Teaching others helps us retain and consolidate information.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Make a poster or screen of content using different colours and headings for important information to create visual memories.&nbsp;Put&nbsp;up posters&nbsp;in different locations.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Spend time on practice exams and questions and take quizzes. An important study skill is remembering to not just read over the information, rather <em>interact<\/em> with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Managing procrastination and distractions<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Procrastination can occur for&nbsp;a number of&nbsp;reasons including&nbsp;because&nbsp;study&nbsp;is&nbsp;difficult, boring, or because you might be&nbsp;feeling worried&nbsp;about&nbsp;failing. What is your biggest proacrastination trigger? <\/li><li>Watch for procrastination excuses, break work down into small steps&nbsp;and try just starting for 5-10 minutes.&nbsp;Often&nbsp;it\u2019s starting off a study session that\u2019s the hardest&nbsp;part.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Think in advance about&nbsp;what tends to distract you from your work and consider controls&nbsp;to limit distractions whilst studying. For example, you might have a snack prepared beside you and turn off phone notifications for a period of time. Let your family or housemates know you are studying and need quiet time. Allow yourself regular breaks&nbsp;as rewards.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:38% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jrpsych.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/boy-studying.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-384 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jrpsych.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/boy-studying.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/www.jrpsych.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/boy-studying-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.jrpsych.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/boy-studying-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p><strong>Use your supports<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Consider if it\u2019s helpful to use supports around you. Parents, teachers,&nbsp;friends&nbsp;and partners&nbsp;can all be helpful with study with organisation, rehearsing content and accountability. Letting supports know&nbsp;what you need will&nbsp;ensure you get the right help for you.&nbsp;<\/li><li>To parents,&nbsp;be an ally not a policeman with your child.&nbsp;Offer to assist them with&nbsp;going over work. If they say&nbsp;no, ask if there is another way you can be&nbsp;helpful&nbsp;in&nbsp;supporting their&nbsp;study.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are having a hard time with your study and are unsure how to move forward, speak with a parent, trusted teacher, or your GP. Additionally, the team at Jeffery and Ree Clinical Psychologists support people to study effectively and manage study-related worry and anxiety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Feel free to download our study skills tip sheet here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\"  class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/www.jrpsych.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/Study-skills-handout-1.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of Embed of Study-skills-handout-1..\"><\/object><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jrpsych.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/Study-skills-handout-1.pdf\">Study-skills-handout-1<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jrpsych.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/Study-skills-handout-1.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button\" download>Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before we start on study techniques, let\u2019s be clear about how study is important to you. Studying can be tedious and difficult, and it takes time away from other things that are important to you. So, take a moment to consider&nbsp;&#8216;Why&nbsp;you are studying?&#8216; What are your&nbsp;short-term&nbsp;goals and&nbsp;what are your longer-term&nbsp;ones?&nbsp; Why are you willing to put other activities on hold &#8230; <\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jrpsych.com.au\/study-skills-tips-2\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,5,26],"tags":[21,20],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jrpsych.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jrpsych.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jrpsych.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jrpsych.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jrpsych.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jrpsych.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jrpsych.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jrpsych.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jrpsych.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}