The Development of Effective Study Skills - Essay Example

Study Skills Study skills promote learning confidence and competence. However, in order to be an independent, confident, and competent lifelong learner, you must posses comprehensive and optimum study skills. Study skills, also known as study strategies, are approaches applied while studying or learning. For students, study strategies are considerably essential since they help acquire good and outstanding grades. One of the common yet crucial study skills is mnemonic. Mnemonics revolve around the procedure of organization and absorption of new information. It also helps in retaining the details of information, reading effectiveness, concentration techniques, and the will of efficient note taking (Downing, 2010:127). This essay will explain how study skills form the basic building blocks for developing a successful independent learner and discuss how development of these skills contrasts to a person with a visual impairment. The development of effective study skills, improvement of reading comprehension, the discovery of your own individual style of studying, teaching yourself how to manage time more effectively as well as getting to know the best way for preparing for exams are part of development of study skills. Therefore, in order to develop the most effective studying skills you must understand that effective study skills require a systematic procedure (Downing, 2010:129). To begin with, in order to become a successful independent learner, you must appreciate the value of a schedule. Before you begin studying, you should have a well-planned schedule that will enable you allocate your valuable time to studies while you avoid considering the unexpected in case it comes up. It is there fore imminent to have a studying plan. Study skills form the basic building block for developing a successful independent learner because, study skills are invaluable assets on life that help one become an excellent time manager, a competent research analyst, a comprehensive reader as well as a good verbal communicator. Agreeably, having excellent study strategies helps one become a more confident and productive individual in both personal and professional lives. Therefore, it is potent for all people to construct excellent study skills since one can acquire them within a short while and use them for a lifetime. Even though is true to say that study skills are more useful in school, it is also dubious not to start developing some of them in pre-school and elementary school. This is because, for some study skills to be of more efficiency in life they require one to start practicing them at a tender age. A successful independent learner is one who is able to inculcate excellent communication skills, reading, and listening skills in life. These habits come along with use of cues such as flashcard training and use of acronyms. They are all essentials of a promising lifelong future that is why whoever wants to be a successful independent learner must acquire essential study skills. Study skills act as basics for successful independent learners since they incorporate different methods of preparing for different exams. It is easier to identify a successful independent learner through class performance since no two people are the same and no two can study exactly the same way. Presumably, some study strategies may be suitable for one person whereas prove to be ineffective or frustrating to somebody else. Hence, cultivating the right study techniques is viable for acing someone’s performance in school, which in turn prepares a smooth path for a successful fulfilling life ahead. One can acquire study skills through tutorial services that enhance individuals’ ability to receive and retain information for the future’s betterment. Therefore, it is concrete that study skills are the founding blocks for a successful independent learner. Some tutors point out that, most people can only acquire study skills individually, not in a group. This is because, focusing on one person at a time makes it possible for a tutor to connect with the student and consequently provide the best care since this scenario helps to establish and tailor a student’s needs effectively. With this established bond between the tutor and a student, it is possible to address the student’s core strengths and needs beyond the usual. This results to proven student’s success via improved academic rate and immense focus on set goals. Therefore, it is of great importance to get a good tutor for study skills if you want to become a success independent learner in the future. With good study skills, you are able to organize your daily activities well. Documented evidence puts across that, carrying around your to-do-list in your head means that the odds in your list are not getting any attention. This is due to the fact that, putting down your plans in writing shows commitment and with commitment comes fulfilling. Additionally, writing down your daily studying tasks provides clarity for your mind, frees up your mental energy that is essential for using to concentrate in your studies. However, this is not possible without advent studying skills. One cannot become a consistent task organizer yet not equipped with good study skills. Organization is vital for an individual’s future learning and life survival thus developing successive study techniques is the basic building block for a successful independent learner. A successful independent learner is not a perfectionist but a time manager. According to academic tips, perfectionism is an enemy to time management. This is because, if you are aware that crosschecking your work for more than once having found no mistakes for the first time, will only delay you, it is therefore advisable to avoid perfectionism. In addition, scholarly research reveals that perfectionism can result to procrastination and avoidance. However, great study skills are the basic equipments for launching a successful independent learning future since with competent study strategies you become realistic about how you want your result of your task to be at a minimum mental energy and time. This proves that study skills are the basic building blocks for a successful independent learner. Study skills are the basis for successful independent learners since they help prioritize things. A student equipped with good study techniques is diligent enough to choose well between tasks that are beneficial and those that are part of the daily routine. Although this is not an easy task not even for adults, with excellent study strategies, a student is able to achieve a set of priorities that are reproducible according to the school curriculum. Furthermore, you find that successful independent learners are stern with their setting of tasks since they rank them in accordance to the order of their importance (Downing, 2010:132). Since learning how to prioritize tasks is a challenging activity, once acquired last for a lifetime hence helps in making hard choices in life. Thus, study skills act as a foundation block for a successful independent learner. Visual impairment is a disability beyond ability since visually impaired people’s sight loss is irretrievable. This category does not include short or long-sighted people since their status is subject t changes through wearing contact lenses or glasses. Surprisingly, visually impaired people can see nothing at all; some of them have a useful perception regarding light and shape (Rooks, 2009:55). According to specialists, the level of one’s visual disability varies according to conditions of lightning as well as on day-to-day basis. Therefore, situation of visually impaired people is not constant since it may be a permanent condition or it might be a gradually deteriorating one. This means that, tutors attending visually impaired people must check their coaching tools from time to another. Moreover, it is clear that, acquisition of study skills by visually impaired people is different from those who are not visually impaired. Study skills needed by sighted students are different from those required by visually impaired students. This is because, visually impaired students ability to acquire the relevant study skills dependent on a number of factors. They include, previous educational experience and the time that they became victims of visual impairment, whether they possibly have any other impairment, the level of training and support they received upon becoming visually impaired, and the techniques and strategies they may have developed. Therefore, the way visually impaired students acquire and develop study skills is in contrast with that of sighted students. This contrast comes because of the mode of study skill development used in visually impaired student coaching. It involves special equipment that requires periodical checking and ensuring that support strategies tools are in appropriate condition. Study skills or study techniques are the founding block for a successful independent learner. Nonetheless, this becomes challenging if the person who needs to be a successful independent learner is blind or partially blind. With regard to their status, visually impaired students require special expensive coaching as opposed to sighted students. This brings about a physical challenge to the visually impaired students. It is cheap to educate a normal student compared to coaching a visually impaired student. Visually impaired students require special attention based on their needs. Therefore, in order to develop good study for a visually impaired student to become a successful independent learner, parents and guardians must ensure the basics needed for these special cases are available and in good condition. Acquisition of study skills or study techniques between sighted and blind students is different because, in order to give visually impaired students the correct environment required for essential acquisition of study strategies, you must provide special programs. A sighted student can acquire skills at a simple school provided it has good tutorial services. However, a visually impaired student must attend to a special institution where programs suitable for teaching students with visual problems are available. Apparently, these two different environments provide diverse methods of learning. As a result, order of developing study skills between the groups of students is also different. Cognitively, visually impaired students have unique educational needs wherein, meeting them effectively requires a consistent teamwork of tutors, parents, as well as students. This entails having specialized materials such as books and the appropriate media that includes Braille (Rooks, 2009:72). Presence of these kind of special equipments incorporated with technology can enhance a visually impaired student’s ability match up to the status of a sighted student’s performance. However, other essential factors such as time become an obstacle to acquisition of study skills. A sighted student has the ability to keep up with the speed of time much faster compared to visually impaired student. In this case, time factor becomes the contrast between these two types of students. Hence, the ability to use study skills as the foundation block for developing successful independent learners becomes a subject of time. Agreeably, study skills are the basic building blocks for developing successful independent learners in an ultimate society. Hence, there must be consistent individual preparation programs that are essential for training staff responsible for provision of specialized services to students with visual impairment. Gaining crucial study skills can help a visually impaired student ace up with examination and eventually improve on grades. This development could in turn result to a successful independent learner who has the ability to tackle life challenges with ease (Rooks, 2009:101). In contrast, for visually impaired students, it is a hard and challenging journey as opposed to normal students since their needs differ accordingly. Generally, even though visually impaired and sighted students could be living and studying under the same roof, it is ultimately impossible to match up their potential. In conclusion, vision is fundamental to studying therefore; it is of great importance to ensure that visually impaired students attend institutions equipped with special educational systems that are in line with their special needs. It is also recommendable to have programs that foster independence and success for students with visual impairment. On the other side, it is vital that blind, sighted students and parents realize that study skills form the basic building block for development of successful independent learners who are comprehensive and life experts both in school and in the ultimate society. Bibliography Downing, S., 2010. On Course, Study Skills: Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life. Ohio: Cengage Learning. Rooks, D. L., 2009. Science for all: Experiences and outcomes of students with visual impairment in a guided inquiry-based classroom. Miami: ProQuest. Read More