STUDYING STRATEGIES

When and where to study?

In order for studies not to become a troublesome burden, it is essential to create good habits that imply doing your homework everyday and not letting these tasks accumulate.

These are some of the suggestions:

1.    Choosing a time during the day.

2.    Choosing a place for studying at home. It is preferable if you use the same place every time you study. You need to have a place where you will be able to leave your things and materials used during your process of study. Make sure it is a calm and noiseless space.

3.    Setting (a) goal(s).

4.    Having a schedule and calendar with tasks in a visible location.

THE STUDY METHOD

Having a study method means planning the steps you will take when you begin studying. This implies having organization so that you know what you will do first and what you will do after. Setting your priorities straight.

The method we suggest is comprised of the following five steps:

1.    Pre-reading

2.    Reading and identification of main ideas

3.    Organizing the information

4.    Using your memory

5.    Self-evaluation and preparing for exams.

1.    Pre-reading

Before beginning to read:

a.    Read titles, captions and any word written in Bold.

b.    Look at all the illustrations, pictures and graphs in the book.

c.    Ask these questions before reading the actual text:

What do you think this book is about?

What do you already know about this topic?

During reading:

a.    As you are reading the text, ask yourself:

Is this what I thought it would be?

Do I understand everything I am reading?

After reading:

a.    Ask yourself:

Did I understand what I read?

What new information did I learn from reading this?

2.    Reading and identification of main ideas

After having performed a pre-reading, it is important to detect all the relevant ideas expressed.

The main ideas of a text are those phrases/sentences that express the most relevant, important and what we must retain once we are done reading. In order to find these ideas, is it very useful to highlight with a pen or highlighter what seems relevant to us.

3.    Organizing the information

Once you have read and highlighted the text, you ought to work with the information you have gathered so it may store it in your memory.

a.    Drawing up a scheme

b.    Summarizing the content