4 Study Skills Tips for Undergraduates 1

In previous blog posts I have generally focused on the study, revision and exam skills or dissertation skills necessary to be successful in your A levels or your dissertation.  Today I shall impart some wisdom that should prove insightful and useful to all the undergraduate students who follow or read my blog posts.

So most of you have had or are having exams, however let us think about your second semester for a moment.  How can you ensure you develop effective study skills during semester 2 to make sure you are on top of all your learning, produce brilliant assignments and or presentation and are well prepared for your second semester exams in the summer?

1.     Include study and assignment preparation time in your timetable.

a.       Extend your lecture/seminar timetable by including in your timetable, your study skills, assignment preparation and revision sessions as soon as you have your semester timetable. 

b.       This will mean you can prepare for your assignments and exams gradually over the course of the semester, rather than leaving it all to the end.

Please see exemplar below

	9.00-11.00	11.00-13.00	13.00-15.00	15.00-17.00	Travel	19.00-21.00
Monday	Research/Study ½/3	Lecture preparation deconstructing the problem of crime (study) 1	Deconstructing the crime problem (lecture)	Deconstructing the crime problem (seminar)		Consolidating Notes, study skills, assignment /exam/essay preparation (study) 2
Tuesday	Work	Work	Work	Work	Work	Research/Study ½/3
Wednesday	Psychological research methods preparation (study) 1	Psychological research methods (Computer labs)	Consolidating Notes, study skills, assignment /exam/essay preparation (study) 2	Research/Study ½/3	Travel	Lecture/seminar preparation introducing Psychological approaches (study) 1
Thursday	Introducing Psychological approaches (lecture)	Introducing Psychological approaches (seminar)	Consolidating Notes, study skills, assignment /exam/essay preparation (study) 2	Research/Study ½/3	Travel	Free Time
Friday	Research/Study ½/3	Work	Work	Work	Work	Work
Saturday	Work	Work	Work	Work	Travel	Research/Study ½/3 /Social Life
Sunday	Work	Work	Work	Work	Travel	Research/Study ½/3 /Social Life

Timetable key

Black - General study or research, or embedding independent research/learning for module lecture, lab, seminar, or assignment or exam preparation.

Green – reading ahead of and around the topic

Red – Lecture

Blue – seminar

Purple – consolidate your independent notes/research, with lecture hand-outs/notes, seminar hand-outs/notes and any additional notes or research for topic.

1 2.  When creating you prep notes before the lecture you will often use journals, research papers or other textbooks, the same applies to your consolidation sessions or research sessions. 

a.     It is imperative that you reference the notes you have made to be included later in your bibliography and include page numbers, this important to avoid accidental plagiarism. 

b.     Additionally you call also colour code your notes as done in the timetable to demonstrate and distinguish your ideas from the author’s and your lecturer’s and again avoid plagiarism.

1.        3. During your lecture you will be given a hand-out, which will offer you a very basic overview of the given topic.  You should notes to your lecture hand-out, this can be done in more of a number of ways.  However, please don’t write out everything single thing the lecturer says as you will find it impossible to absorb any information and when reading it back later, you probably won’t remember anything.

a.       Taping the lecture and transcribing later or the lecture presentation may even be available on the University’s intranet.

b.       Nevertheless I would encourage you to develop your own short-hand technique (as I did) which will enable you to take good and effective lecture notes and assist your learning.  You could learn short-hand, devise your own with a key and abbreviation any long or words constantly used in the lecture for instance, SLT= social learning Theory, CD= Child Development or middle class = mc, working class = w/c, or civil rights =cr, politburo = pb, between = btw etc…  You may also find symbols such as arrows useful, especially when concluding. 

c.       Many students find that hand-outs are not that useful, especially if they mirror the lecture presentation.  Additionally they are often vague and general, lacking depth and any real insight, thus they should be kept with your lecture notes but can be examined further after your lecture.

d.       At your earliest convenience during your consolidation study time, write the lecture notes you made out in full and synthesis with information from your prep, seminar and any other reading you have done, to make the notes and explicit and detailed as possible to gain understanding on later reading.

e.       Ensure the notes you take include any in-depth explanations that the lecturer provides as these main not be on the intranet or hand-out and should give you a wealth of understanding and insight into the topic. (These can be typed up and will be returned to in another session)

1.        4. At the start of each new semester you will be given a module outline for each module, this should include a full list of topics to be covered weekly for each module, it may also include a reading list for each week and seminar questions.  (see separate PDF)

a.       I would encourage you to use your study and independent research time as accommodated in the timetable above to read around the topic ahead of your lecture and seminar. 

b.       Read the texts for your topic each week, on the reading list to engage in active learning by creating your own study notes, key study sheets, evaluation grid, topic posters and essay mapping (these components will be examined further in a later session).

c.       Also have group discussions or pair discussions on seminar topics or even when preparing for lectures to share and gain new insight and information – this can be done face-to-face, via Facebook, google hangout, skype or any other medium you can think off.