References

Useful websites on Study Skills

Useful texts that include Study Skills.

• Seven Keys to Successful Study
• Up From Underachievement
• How to Help Your Child with Homework
• Look It Up

How to Make a Study Plan

1. Draw up a blank timetable for the week. An example of the formal of such a blank timetable is set out on the back. First of all, place in it all of the other commitments besides private study that you have for the week ahead – scheduled classes, sports, dance, music lessons, seeing mates, social engagements, major parties, part-time or full-time jobs or whatever.
2. If there is no time left on your timetable for any study, something has got to go. If you are not prepared or able to wipe some other commitments off, maybe you are not ready to undertake the amount of work you are enrolled in. Don’t forget that you must have some leisure time though – you are not a study machine.
3. Try to pic a regular daily time where there are no other commitments and give that time over to study. A regular routine helps – although it may not be possible if you have unavoidable commitments.
4. Look at each subject you are taking, and make a list of the jobs you have to do in each one this week. That is – what will you have to do in the next seven days to be able to honestly say you have kept up in each subject?
5. Next, you must allocate an appropriate amount of time on your timetable for each of the above tasks that you have identified. Make sure that a subject is given more than one spot on the weekly planner. A subject that deserves four hours a week is better served with several shorter times than one four hour block of time.
6. Timetable short breaks (only 5-10 minutes). A brief break helps you get back into the swing of things. It is important that breaks are short – a break for an hour is not a break; it is a halt. No-one can study for endless hours without some kind of break. In fact, forcing yourself to continue can lead to inefficient learning. As you get used to study, the time spent before you need a break will increase.
7. Check in your diary to keep ahead of coming events. If a test is timetabled in a class for a certain day of the week, allocate some extra time to study for it. If a large assignment is set, spread it out over the time available before it is due.
8. Weekends are wonderful. Try to keep one day of the weekend free – but it may be necessary to allow some time for study on the other day.
9. At the end of the week, write into your timetable to make a new one for the following week. Ask yourself what is coming up in the next week, and look back over the previous timetable to see where it could be improved. There is no point in continuing with a study plan that contains serious weaknesses for you. So – ask yourself if there were any aspects of last week’s plan that were not helpful. As time goes by, you will develop a plan that works well for you.