Student Essentials: Study Skills - Tapa blanda

Introduction: What are study skills?

Study skills are methods, habits and practices that can help you to make the most of your time at university and help you achieve the highest possible grades. Study skills are the range of approaches and techniques that successful students employ to find their way through the challenge of higher education studies, reducing stress while maximising success.

Many years of working with higher education students has shown that a grasp of key study skills equips students with an attitude and insight that allows them to engage with often complex ideas and arguments with greater confidence and efficiency.

Without an understanding of practical and useful approaches to studying, students often feel quickly swamped by their workload or disoriented by the expectations and pace of their course, so it’s best to hit the ground running. This theoretically informed and carefully compiled collection of practical tips offers you a head start in preparing for your degree course and helping you manage the juggling act of higher education with greater clarity, precision and control.
This book is intended to be a practical guide for students of any discipline or stage of a university or college course. The aim of this book is to help you prepare for study by assessing who you are as a learner and by investigating ways of improving your time management and approach to critical thinking and research. It also offers useful advice on how to improve and develop a range of basic skills: from lecture and seminar comprehension to reading and researching strategically; from essay and report writing to giving effective presentations and revising for exams.

You will set yourself a number of short- and long-term goals over the duration of your course and reaching these targets requires advance preparation and a systematic approach. Ensuring that you can reflect a practical grasp of core ideas and concepts on your course doesn’t happen by chance. Successful academic study requires meticulous thought and planning, and a familiarity with the essential study skills covered in this book.