Different Study Techniques - Book Report/Review Example

Experience of Different Study Techniques – Study Skills Dairy 1 Studying skills refer to the strategies and approaches towards the learning process. It is important to have good study skills because having these skills increases the successful achievement of academic goals and remarkable performance at education centre. The educational experts and social scientists have devoted considerable amount of literature to assist students in acquiring these skills. I have also consulted different books, articles and web based informative portals to get hold of some useful information about study skills and techniques in order to facilitate my process of learning. Some of the effective study skills that I learnt from different resources and also applied to my learning process include note taking, time management, active listening, revision planning, preparing answers for the exams etc. Almost every day, I encounter such situations where I find the implication of these techniques within my study premises and apply the appropriate technique to handle the situation in more effective manner. For instance, today I have to write to complete the weekly assignment that is to write an essay upon any topic of my own interest. The guidelines provided by Barret et al (2008, p169) help me a lot in completing this task. The researchers explain basic steps of essay writing and I follow these steps. After deciding the main topic, I analyzed its title and main thesis and then proceed towards collecting material for the essay. During the reading, I take noted and plan the structure of my essay. After writing the essay, I proofread and edit it to assure it is perfect structure wise and deliver my intended tone. In this way, I use a study technique and succeed to write a well organize essay following simple and helpful steps of essay writing. Date: 20th February, 2010 Study Skill Dairy 2 The day was very busy and I was feeling too much tired and pressurized because there is little time left to appear in the exams and there are lot of things to do. At this point, I use my time management skills that I learnt from the reading of Marks-Beal (2009, p45). At first, I listed out the tasks that I have to complete before the exams and then arranged these tasks according to first priority. After that I made the plan to start working on these tasks one by one. There were some writing projects and I have also to read certain books and other material to prepare for answering exams questions. I started with the reading and keep on taking notes that later help me during the writing work. There were too many things to do in short time and I started feeling stressed. Then I use the technique of taking a five minute break as suggested by Tamblin and Ward (2006, p98). I use these five minutes to sit back and relax without involving my mind in the study matters. This break refreshed my mind and after these five minutes I become able to focus upon my work with more attention and motivation. In this way, I become able to complete the studies in effective manner because the study technique of taking a relaxation break help me completing my studies with fresh mind within the available time. Date: 1st March, 2010 Study Skill Dairy 2 There is too much reading material and studying information related with constitution and administration law requires understanding the law glossary that is different from the ordinary reading. While reading, I found that I don’t know the meanings of certain words that are not present in the glossary as well. I found it very helpful that Nyren (2000, p3) explains different ways of using the glossary. He also explains the way of understanding some words that are not present in the glossary. Following this guidance, I look at the words and sentences around that particular word and try to understand the overall theme of the sentence. This understanding allowed me coming up with some substitute words and looking at the meanings of these words I become able to understand the meanings of the words not present in the glossary. The organization of reading material is also an important part of the studies. As Hosler (1991, p98) explains different ways of managing reading material, I also organize the reading material according to the topics. I arranged the material in a manner to get hold of basic information about the topic before reading the extensive information and details. In this way, I develop the background knowledge about certain issues under study and then go through their details and successfully understand the information presented in the material. Date: 15th March 2010 Study Skill Dairy 2 During the exams preparation, I keep on gathering and reading useful and relevant material from different sources. I studied almost all the required material I gathered from different resources and it seems I am equipped with the information that is needed to face the questions in exams. However, I was not sure how to utilize this information to prepare the answer of the questions in exams. Before appearing in the exams, I recall my memory and consult towards different examinations techniques that teach how to answer the exams questions. The study tips about preparing exams answers proved to be very beneficial for me during the exams. ` Barrass (2002, p188) explains that before starting writing the answers in exams it is important to thoroughly read the instruction paper and the questions. After reading and understanding the instructions, we have to focus upon the questions one after one on the basis of their importance. At first it is important to answer the compulsory question. Once decided which question to answer first, we have to recall the relevant information and start writing the answer. It is important to understand what is actually asked in the question to avoid the inclusion of non relevant information in the answers. Thus, method of preparing the answers of the exams question allow me coming up with appropriate answers for the questions asked in the exams. Date: 25th March 2010 B. Book Review There are several useful books written to facilitate the studying process of the students. One of the useful books studied for gaining knowledge about the study techniques and skills development is Study! A Guide to effective study, revision and examination technique. The book has been written by Robert Barrass who has several years experience of assisting students during their diploma courses and studies. The book contains extensive information and guidance to assist students in the process of learning and to improve their study approach (Barrass, 2002, p2). The author has shared some very important tools and strategies of studying in the book that makes it very useful reading experience. In the beginning the author suggests that the students should participate only in such sources and subjects that came under their area of interest so that they could find the studying process more interesting and motivating. The book also explains that the students have to organize the study and must have clear understood about their long and short term and immediate goals of study. Moreover, there are several useful tips and techniques included in the book that strive to assist the students during different stages of the study process like exams preparation, scheduling the study plans and organizing the work flow. The reading of the book allows having understanding of some useful techniques of study. However, there are some skills and techniques explained by the author that seem more interesting and facilitating. For instance, the author talks about the study pressure and suggest some ways to overcome it. This part of the book appears to be very interesting and close because this situation is often encountered especially at the eve of exams. After reading the techniques of reducing pressure during study, it becomes possible to exercise these techniques during studying because the author has explained these techniques in quite simple and understandable manner. For instance, he suggest to take five minutes break after every hours and to exercise, walk and relax during this break. I have practiced this technique during the study and it is found that five minute break after every hour is really significant way of reducing pressure and to concentrate upon the material with more attention and refreshed mind. Another useful section in the book is about planning the answers for examination. In this section also there are some very practical tips provided by the author. After reading these tips, it becomes easy to understand that how to manage the acquired information and material in a manner that it will form the correct answer to the question being asked in the exams. The book explains that it is important to understand that what is actually asked and then recall the memory to gather and organize all the studied information related to the question. In addition to this, there are certain other study techniques that provide great help in enhancing the study skills like the tips about the organization of year, week and day. The book also explains the importance of taking notes during the lectures and significance of group work after the lecture. Hence, the book provides extensive and useful information about study skills development and after the reading it becomes possible to manage the study process in more effective and efficient manner. Word Count: 545 3. Presentation Evaluation The essay evaluates the presentation I delivered in the class and expresses my response towards the feedback received for the presentation. It also reflects my understanding of learning certain important things from this exercise. Title and group members The presentation was prepared on the topic of “community safety and crime reduction”. There were two members in the group and we equally distributed the work to prepare the presentation. Positive and Negative Aspects The presentation was prepared on the topic selected after discussion and mutual understanding of both the group members. There are some negative and positive aspects of our work that identified during the delivery of the presentation. The negative aspect of work that is also responsible for underachievement of our presentation is the fact that the group lacks balance that is supposed to be an important characteristic of the group. Both of use decided to equally distribute the work responsibilities but when it comes to the execution of our plan, my mate failed to come up with his part of work completely due to his personal reasons and ultimately the compiled work was not complete and flawless. Some areas of the presentation became weak due to some missing work but rest of the work was fine and the tutor also appraised the data collection and organization of work. This becomes possible because we went under a detailed discussion for planning the structure and outline of the presentation. We thoroughly discussed each aspect of the work several days before to get clear lines to work upon. As a result, all the information presented in our work was complementing the topic and the presentation well covers the main issues that came under our topic of presentation. Improvement based on feedback There is only one presentation delivered so far. The overall response received for the presentation was good however, there were some flaws also identified in our work. In the forthcoming presentations, the feedback will work as guideline for brining improvement in the work. Learning Outcomes from the exercise There was specific timeframe for the delivery of the presentation but our presentation was exceeded the time limit and we also receive tutor feedback regarding the issue of management of data according to time limit. I believe we should consult towards the principle of time management that affirms the organization of work according to the available time. I learn from the presentation that it is important to give proper attention towards each aspect of work. I also learn from the presentation that the constant contact among the group members is essential to accomplish any common goal. As my mate was having some problem that result in uncompleted work from his side, but I remain uninformed about his problem till the end time because after the initial discussion and work distribution we were not constantly in touch with each other and met just on the day of presentation when there was not enough time to amend the presentation structure according to the work done. Along with importance of time management and communication, I also learnt the significance of leadership while working in a group. Though I really enjoyed working with my fellow in group setting and both of us really tried to work hard for the presentation, but I drastically felt the absence of effective leadership that ultimately worked for brining certain flaws in the presentation. Unfortunately, out group lacked the positive leadership due to which the group achieved lower then what actually was expected. This is because there were only two members and we worked on equality basis rather one acting as leader. References Abby Marks-Beal (2009), Study skills: the tools for active learning, Delmar Pub., Pennsylvania State University Barrett, Barday, Barday, Iya & Olivier (2008), Skills for law students: fresh perspectives, Pearson South Africa, 2008 Hosler (1991), Study Skills, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill School Pub Co, 1991 Robert Barrass (2002). Study! A Guide to Effective Study, Revision and Examination Techniques. London: Routledge Justin Spizman (2007), Insider's Guide to Your First Year of Law School: A Student-to-Student Handbook from a Law School Survivor, Adams Media, 2007 Louise Tamblin, Pat Ward (2006), the smart study guide: psychological techniques for student success, Wiley-Blackwell, 2006 Penny Nyren (2000), Study Skills, Pearson South Africa, 2000 Read More