How To Succeed As A Student (continued) section 4 and 5
by Kevin B. Bucknall
`Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.' (Dr. Johnson, Boswell's Life of Johnson, p.365, 18 April, 1775).
You will normally take three years to complete a degree consisting of two hundred and forty credit points, eighty each year(see Figure 2).
`The first stroke is half the battle.' (Traditional saying.)
The first year course is designed not only to give you a firm foundation in the various disciplines (and a language) which you will build upon in later years, it is also set up to be rather like a `shop window' which you can look in, sample bits of the various offerings and more rationally choose what you will most enjoy or succeed at in the subsequent years. You will receive several kits that describe the individual components of the First year and how each is organised. Read these kits carefully as they not only lay out the various lectures and what will be covered and when, but they also tell you what is expected of you, including what dates you will have to put in essays, when workshops start and the like. They also tell you how the particular stream is assessed and the weighting of the different components, such as how much to exams and to essays. It is common to feel that the First year contains too much information and goes too quickly. If you find this applies to you, first, try to relax for you are normal, and secondly, review your studying techniques and see if you can become more efficient in the way you approach your studying.
CHOOSING YOUR SUBJECTS IN SECOND AND THIRD YEAR:
`Life's business being just the terrible choice.' (Elizabeth Barrett Browning, The Ring and the Book, bk.x, l.1236).
Many of the first year subjects are set and you must do them, in order to give you a strong foundation. Towards the end of the first year you will have to start to decide what exactly you wish to study. When choosing what subjects to undertake you should be aware that your degree results will appear on a computer transcript that indicates exactly what subjects you studied and how well you did in each, including fails, pass conceded, pass, credit, distinction and high distinction. When you come to apply for a job, your potential employer may well ask to see this, and normally they select the applicants with the best scores. They want not just someone with a degree, but someone with a `good degree'. As most people tend to score best at things that most interest them, you are usually advised to choose what interests you, rather than what you think an employer might want. Most employers prefer to see distinctions in subjects that do not directly concern their firm or department, rather than bare passes accompanied by the odd fail in subjects that are directly relevant.
Employers know that someone who has demonstrated that he/she can do well is a good choice for all the in-house learning and training that the new employee will undergo. Unless you are doing vocational training, e.g., to be something like a medical doctor, computer programmer or statistician, much of the information and practices that you will require to do a job well are normally learned by doing the job itself. If you are a typical person, much of your future career will involve you doing things that you did not learn at university. Naturally, the wider the base of subjects you select, the more chance there is of using a bit of your university learning.
This is particularly the case since about the mid 1980s, because firms internationally have been forced by increasing competition to improve their efficiency. This has often meant shedding middle management positions and adopting a flatter management profile in the firm. As a consequence, there are fewer posts in management available, so the normal process of the past, of joining a firm and working one's way up the ladder, is starting to become less common. The ladder is shorter than it once was. This means two things. First, that within a firm, a graduate will have to do more and different jobs, rather than staying in Personnel, or whatever, as in the past. A manager is increasingly expected to manage more generally, perhaps joining a team for a period, then moving to another team and taking on a different role. Second, it means that graduates are more likely to have to move to new firms where the structure and positions are unlikely to be identical to those in the old firm. These two changes are increasing the need for several portable skills, rather than one intense skill with in-depth knowledge. In any case, knowledge advances so quickly nowadays that the facts, and even theories, which you may learn at university tend to get rendered out of date more quickly than in the past.
What is increasingly sought are professional skills, such as good communication, problem-solving, cooperative team working, and the ability to control time-management. A basis for these can and should be learned while at university, particularly Griffith University, which has laid stress on most of these from its inception. Time-management is the one that you will perhaps have to work at more for yourself.
You can usefully bear these factors in mind when choosing your subjects, and also when working in groups or attending scheduled workshops, tutorials or seminars the subject of which may not seem immediately relevant to what you perceive as your current needs. When you come to apply for jobs, you can, and indeed should, frame your application to lay stress on such things. Some people think it is useful to have some management-type experience to show, such as being on one or two committees that run a University club or having been active in the student union. Certainly such things on your Curriculum Vitae (often abbreviated to CV and also known as a resumé in North America) can only help, although if you run across a recruiter who hates a certain political party or has strong views about particular religions etc. it just might back-fire. Such problems are not restricted to graduate employment; the world is full of such unpleasant situations. Almost any newspaper will reveal instances of people being willing to kill others for such trivial reasons.
You should look up the Faculty subjects to see what will be held in later years and note if any subjects you think you might like to do then have any prerequisites set. If you do not do this, you might eventually find that you are barred from something you wish to study as you have failed to take some earlier subject.
In some universities the Student Union has surveyed many of the subjects available and done an unofficial guide to each, telling you if the lecturers are good, whether the material is useful and interesting etc. While they tend to be critical, they are a most useful source of information when you have to make choices. You should know that `popular', `interesting', `fun' and the like may not prove the only consideration for you. `Challenging', `stimulating', `difficult but valuable' all speak for themselves and are sometimes a better bet.
Half way through your first year it may be useful to rethink what subjects you might wish to do in the second year, as exposure to new subjects or a new look at ones you did at school and hated then but like now, may cause you to change your mind. You should not automatically accept that if you came with the intention of doing one thing, that is an immutable decision set in stone.
When studying for the BA. in MAS (The School of Modern Asian Studies) there are two main ways to go when selecting direction and subjects for the final two years. You can either take one country in depth (e.g., Chinese language, and a choice of several other subjects on China such as the economy, modern history, and social change), or else a discipline (e.g., microeconomics, macroeconomics, and Japanese Management and Industrial Relations, which cover both theory and Asian countries). It is not absolutely essential to choose one, and you can easily mix and match, but many students find there are clear advantages in either choosing or stressing one approach, rather than just muddling through.
Other Schools and Faculties often have similar fairly obvious optional directions and if you are not in MAS you should check the University Handbook or get help by talking to one of the staff in your School.
By the third year, you might find that you have already done most of the subjects that appeal to you. If you are having difficulty at that stage in finding something to do, consider cross registering in another School in your Faculty or even in another Faculty for the odd subject. Check the University handbook for what subjects are offered that might interest you, and also check on the current rules on how many subjects you are allowed to do in this way.
It is uncommon these days to be offered a subject such as `Guided Studies' which allows you to do a project within a subject, but it is worth asking about, as times change. You should however be aware that although such a study method sounds simple it actually is not so. Some students mistakenly wish to do such a subject as they think it will be easier, with few or no lectures to go to. In fact, since almost all the work has to be done by you, they tend to be more time-heavy than a normal subject. They also demand a different set of skills, including much self-discipline, the ability to find your own information, to organise it in a sensible way, plug holes in your data or material, and reach some sensible conclusions of your own. These are skills more associated with research at the post graduate level rather than typical of undergraduate experience, and it can be a long slow learning curve for some. Never believe that such subjects are an easy option.
On the positive side, such subjects are often more interesting, as within reason you can choose what you like or at least something that interests you. As a result, you are likely to be more motivated than normal and enjoy it more. In view of the extra amount of work you will probably need to do, this is just as well. It is well established that people also tend to remember better, and for longer, things that they have discovered or worked out for themselves, rather than being handed to them on a plate by some academic.
When undertaking a project, you are getting closer to real research than most learning that is done at the undergraduate level. What you might have been told was `research' at school was nothing of the kind. It was actually merely `doing your homework', in that it meant going off to the library and reading what people had already said about a topic and finding this for yourself before writing it up. Research means a bit more than that, and includes originality and hopefully a venture into some real thought.
ATTITUDES, VALUES AND SOME ADVICE:
`The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values.' (William Ralph Inge, `The Training of Reason', in A.C. Benson (ed.) Cambridge Essays on Education, 1917, chap.2).
Everyone has a set of views that they carry around with them as a sort of cultural baggage. Once you are aware of this, you are in a position to examine yourself and your particular set of beliefs. Some are likely to be the result of conscious thought and acceptance on your part, many others will have been fed to you by your parents or teachers, or perhaps picked up and accepted with little if any consideration. These views that you hold can affect how you approach study at university - and some approaches are better than others. The following advice might be helpful.
Avoid regarding your own experience as a definitive truth. It is always a mistake to think `What would I do?' and assume that this is so reasonable that others would do exactly the same. Just because you would behave in a certain way, or have actually done so in the past, does not mean that you can rely on this as defining how others behave or how the world works generally.
Avoid small samples. Your own experience is a sample of one, and the experience of your friends is likely to be a sample of a few at best and more likely around half a dozen whom you know particularly well. What happens to them or to you is too small a sample to be generalized to `This is how the world operates' with any degree of confidence. Beware of people who give you one anecdote from their experience as an explanation of what must be `the truth'.
Plausibility does not mean truth. Merely because something seems to you to be a likely event or way the world works does not mean that it must happen. It really tells you nothing about the truth of a matter. You might find this a common way of arguing at first but bear in mind how unreliable it is.
Consistency does not mean truth. Merely because an argument hangs together and there appear to be no logical objections to it, does not render it true. Faked alibis in law courts are often consistent, but by definition are incorrect. Consistency in economic plans may be desirable, but it does not ensure that they are either sensible for the economy or wanted by anyone except the planners. Nor of course does it ensure that the plans will be achieved.
Repetition does not mean truth. Because something is told to you often, either now or in your past, does not make it true. The people telling you might have been mistaken or they might have been misleading you in part or whole. Television advertising offers some fine examples of constant repetition being deliberately undertaken in an effort to make you believe something.
The number who believe in a view does not make it true. Truth cannot be settled by a democratic vote, with the majority determining what it is.
The number of points to a case does not indicate truth. Clearly if there are six weak points in favour of a proposition and five strong ones against, we cannot automatically accept that the proposition is correct.
The views of someone you like or respect does not necessarily equate with truth. At school, you might have been tempted to hang on the words of a favourite teacher and discount the views of someone unpopular with you. If you tended to do this, and many do, discard this approach.
The views of someone from a different academic discipline or profession do not mean it must be true. When, say, an internationally respected physicist with a Nobel prize speaks out on something like international relations, his/her view is merely that of an intelligent observer, not a specialist and need not automatically be regarded as correct. There is no reason to think that military generals, successful in war, necessarily make good presidents of a country in peacetime. It is perhaps surprising that the USA, the citizens of which have tended to vote for generals, has managed to get reasonable ex-military Presidents on the whole.
The latest or newest information is not necessarily true. Some government departments offer prime examples of believing or at least operating as if they believed this proposition. I have witnessed many examples of intelligent high powered people in meetings accepting that the latest cable to arrive in Canberra from an Australian Embassy must be taken as gospel. A quote from the latest cable is often sufficient to win an argument, ludicrous though this seems. When working in the public service, I do not recall ever hearing anyone querying any recent information on the grounds that it seems unlikely or possibly mistaken. Try not to follow this poor practice and if you ever get into a position of power in the public service, you might bear it in mind. Perhaps you will even be able to change and improve matters.
Ultra-complexity does not necessarily equate with the truth. Just because a proposition might be hard to grasp and one gets a feeling of achievement when eventually it is understood, does not mean it must be true. The editors of several academic journals seem to confuse the use of advanced mathematics with indicating that a view is valuable. Some people still wonder if certain relatively modern philosophers, such as Kant, who seem almost impossible to understand are really saying anything important at all. This was foreseen as long ago as the days of the Roman Empire, when Tacitus remarked with great sagacity, `Men credit most easily the things which they do not understand. They believe most readily things which are obscure'.
In our efforts to understand the wonderfully complex world in which we live, generally we try to set up some sort of theory and test it. In simplified form, we make the theory predict something, test that prediction by referring to what measurement suggests happens in the world and see if the theory is refuted or not. If it is refuted, the idea was wrong and we try again. When testing, we usually try to make the theory fail and hope it passes the test, rather than try to justify the theory. In a complicated world it is usually fairly easy to find data that corresponds with just about any theory, so trying to back up a theory rather than refute it is an approach that promises little in which we can place trust. Bob Dylan wrote the words `Take what you can gather from coincidence' and he had a point. Testing a hypothesis is the way we try to get around accepting easy but misleading lessons from coincidence.
SOME ADVICE THAT REFLECTS MY VALUE JUDGEMENTS:
All of the advice in this monograph is mine and much of it reflects my values. In this section I present advice that is clearly value ridden, and you are at liberty to ignore it. What this section does is reveal something of me, in order that you can see the sort of person I am and allow you to evaluate the advice better.
Common sense is a valuable commodity, and is often in surprisingly short supply around the higher levels of intellectual endeavour. While you should try to apply your common sense to everything you hear, read, or are told, you must be careful not to rely upon it to provide answers. As Albert Einstein pointed out, `Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by the age of eighteen' [Scientific American, Feb. 1976]. What you believe or think you believe, may or may not have validity. Obtaining an education is a start towards the getting of wisdom and the process of learning can shake some of your belief system or change your essential views of the world.
Do not be dogmatic or self-opinionated. There is a danger that once you have tasted the heady delights of learning, and especially of thinking, you will get so wrapped up in it that you go round trying to convert others to your particular view. If you do this, try not to sound as if all knowledge on the subject lies within your particular grasp. It seems improbable that any particular philosophy or political ideology has a complete monopoly on truth. When you make a point, you should also listen to the replies you get and consider them carefully and dispassionately. Too many people seem not to listen to the opposition's argument, but instead are mentally rehearsing the points that they will themselves make, once allowed in.
Try to keep an open mind and be prepared to change your views. You will be exposed to new views and information while at university. Recall William Blake: `The man who never alters his opinion is like stagnant water, and breeds reptiles of the mind'.
If you already whole-heartedly subscribe to a particular ideology, political party or religion you probably get much emotional reward in the sense of certainty and reassurance, as well as belonging to an easily recognized group that can provide support when needed. There are two intellectual dangers that can affect you however. One is dogmatism, i.e., knowing that you are right and that all the others are wrong. The other, and closely related danger, is narrow-mindedness, in that you may not consider any views that seem to conflict with what you believe you already know. While at university you will be exposed to views and opinions which may contradict what you have been trained to believe. There is a danger that you will either reject them out of hand (the common if less desirable practice), or begin to have doubts about what you believe. This can lead to internal stress, as the world as you know it starts to crumble and it may begin to take on a new and unrecognizable shape. This can be frightening to some and they might wallow in confusion. If this happens to you, be aware that such uncertainty and strain are normal; you are not the first to experience them and you will certainly not be last.
In the West, the majority of thinkers value a pluralistic society where different views and ideas are allowed to exist and flourish. Their merits can be compared and contrasted and openly debated, with at least an improved chance of something we might call `truth', or at least `better' resulting. Beware of those who would try to persuade you that theirs is the only correct political or social beliefs or system and are prepared to use force to prevent the adoption of any alternatives. A university in particular must allow rival views and opinions to be aired and discussed. Muzzling someone does not answer their points or cause them to change their views, even if you think these totally wrong. The writer/philosopher Voltaire expressed this as `I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it'.
More and better information is always desirable. You should beware of governments and departments which try to conceal information from those they rule. Be aware that data and statistics can mislead, sometimes by accident, often by deliberate intention. `There are lies, damn lies, and statistics' is pungent but perhaps not a bad description. When using a run of statistics you should watch carefully for changes in definitions over the years. Governments have a nasty habit of `fixing' problems by hiding them. The Chinese government shows a misleadingly small unemployment rate by means such as refusing to count anyone as unemployed if they refuse a single job. The Chinese are not alone. During the 1980s, the British government disguised the size of the real rate of unemployment, by removing unemployed people from the list, although these people had no job. The Government used a series of (largely definitional) changes on some forty occasions, and dropped people from the statistics. In Australia, the unemployment figures are disputed regularly, although Australia and Canada are regarded internationally as having the most accurate statistics in the world, despite them being released more slowly [`Economics Brief', The Economist, 11 Sep. 1993, p.83]. In part, the first is a function of the second, as fewer revisions have to be made.
Some hold that there is no `truth' to be found and that all things are relative, perhaps to the society, and time considered. If one considers four major religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and the Muslim faith (listed alphabetically), each holds a totally different set of `truths', which mutually conflict. At best, only one can be true. When one further considers the variations and factions within the main religions, the number of truths multiplies considerably. Truth, like beauty, might lie in the eyes of the beholder. Even what seem to us to be truths like `The sun rises in the east' will not always be the case, as eventually the sun will cease to emit light and heat and the world perhaps cease to spin.
Others hold that absolute truths do exist. Such views particularly tend to rise when there is a well-publicised and particularly horrid torture/murder case. The concepts of good and evil are then often examined anew.
Relatively few these days hold to the once popular idea of `natural rights'. More modern ideas suggest that what are argued as natural rights are really merely civic desires that have been achieved, whereupon they become something that cannot easily be removed. With no power one has no natural rights, with much power one has lots. Extreme believers, whether of a religious or political bent, are more likely to approve of the doctrine of natural rights.
In view of the above considerations, it is suggested that you try to keep an open mind and not denigrate or persecute those who hold values about which you have doubts or entirely disagree.
One of the things you must do is question, question and question. This does not mean that you should not learn what you are told, for you should. But you should not automatically believe it, but merely remember it as what is currently believed. Keep on asking those questions, firstly to get answers. And then ask questions on the basis of the knowledge gained, including about the knowledge itself. There is much that we do not know, and probably much of what we think we know is either only partially true or even wrong. If you indulge in a process such as this, you both help to develop yourself and also might help push back the frontiers of knowledge a bit more.
`And none can read the text, not even I...' (Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Idylls of the King, The Coming of Arthur, Merlyn and Vivien, l.679).
Probably will need to buy one textbook per subject and maybe a book of readings (if one is set). You will probably not have money to buy all the books that people put on lists, so you might need to be selective. You might not even read all of a book that appears on a list, as it may be there because it is particularly good on one topic only, such as economic aid in a book concerned with general economic development.
There are lots of different textbooks. We usually recommend one or two for a subject. Do not feel that you must use that book and only that book. Try several in the library and if you find one that seems both easy to understand and covers the topic well, use it. If it is particularly helpful, then buy a copy if you can. It is useful to look up the call number of your textbooks in the library catalogue and go to the shelves where they are kept. Examine the books by different authors around the set text - many will be useful to you and some may suit you as well or better than the set text. There is not much point asking someone `Which is the best textbook?'. There is no such thing as the perfect textbook -they each have strengths and weaknesses and the writing style of one may be easier for you to learn from. If you can discover a book that fits you well, use it. There can be a book that is best for you, but it is improbable that it will be the best for everyone.
If rather than being set one or two textbooks you get a book list that is extremely long, do not panic. You are not really expected to learn everything in all of them. The title of some will probably indicate that they have a limited and specialist relevance in the subject. If the dates of publication seem to range regularly from a date some years back, with a few books added each year, it is possible that the compiler of the list has been energetic enough to keep the list up-to-date, but not energetic enough to have knocked out books that have been superseded. Some academics also seem to develop an unreasonable degree of affection for old textbooks that they learned something from and enjoyed. They may have a psychological block about removing such books.
Should you be faced with a long book list, it often pays to start with the latest, or one of the latest, books on the list. It will have later ideas in it and will have dropped some of the views now regarded as old fashioned or which are not as relevant to the questions now being asked. It may also be laid out better, using modern ideas and technology, and you might find this is easier to learn from. You should select one to read and test before buying. Books are extremely expensive these days, so you do not want to wind up with something unsuitable for your needs. Choose one with a reasonably general title, rather than one that seems to deal with a specific part of the subject, as you are looking for a book to cover the whole semester.
If you have set up or joined a study group, you might find you can share textbooks and save a bit of money in this way. The saving can then be spent on additional books for the group. Make sure everyone knows which person in the group owns what, in case the group folds or someone leaves - it is best to put your name in any book you own.
Second hand textbooks are cheaper but it is best to make sure that they are the current edition being used, as page or chapter references may be given in class and it is easier not to have to keep checking with a friend to get the relevant pages in your out of date book (if they are in at all). If you are very hard up, and a really cheap copy of an out of date book is offered, it may be worth your while trading off later information for the saving in price. You can always ask the people giving the lectures what they think of the older edition.
When approaching any serious book, use the index in the back as well as the contents page in the front. It is probably that you will have a particular aim in mind, e.g., finding out about religion in Indonesia, and you will not have to read the entire book to find what you need. Compare what several books say about a topic, e.g., marginal productivity, and see which you can learn the best from. When looking up items in an index you may have to think of alternatives to check, e.g., `trade unions', `unions', `labour unions', `worker unions' and `worker organizations' may need checking. Think carefully if the first phrase you look up is not there. You should also check the edition and year of publication: old books can be seriously out of date.
If you are looking up a topic and find conflicting statistical data it can seem confusing. Actually it can be rather fun, putting the data side by side, investigating why there is a discrepancy, and reporting your findings. There are a few rules of thumb that may help. Ask yourself if the author has a particular axe to grind. Religion can affect people's views, as can the particular firm the person works for. An Irish bishop and a representative of a firm that manufactures condoms will probably disagree about the desirability of birth control, for example. An economist working for a trade union will have different ideas from one working for a management Organisation. Other things that can seriously affect views include ideology, social status, wealth, nationality, and sex.
Ask yourself about the likely ability of the author. A privately published book by someone unknown from some obscure town in Brazil is less impressive a credential than a Nobel prize winner publishing in their own field. This is not to say the latter must always be correct, but it is more likely. At the post graduate level you might delve a bit deeper into the issue. Equally, the views of the man who sells you your daily newspaper are mostly a less reliable source to quote than, say, some Prime Minister. The latter may not always wish to tell you the truth, but he probably knows more about what the truth really is.
If in the end you are down to choosing between statistics put out by a body you do not know, or any Organisation with a strange name like `The Friends of Charlie', and those from a United Nations body, select the latter. UN statistics are not always correct or may be fudged, (I speak as one who one worked for the UN) but their staff do generally try hard and they may have had access to unpublished sources. Any UN body can safely be quoted, and if challenged you can pass the buck over to the UN. It is not an easy target to attack, at least as far as producing statistics is concerned. You might find it harder to justify using the views of your news agent or The Friends of Charlie as a source.
If you are considering xeroxing a part of a book or monograph, do your sums first and compare the xeroxing price with buying the book. It has been known for students and academic staff to spend more money as well as the time involved copying something that can easily be bought more cheaply, especially second hand. As books rise in price, this is becoming less common, but it still can happen, particularly with university monographs in a series where the price was fixed long ago, or are being subsidized one way or another. Note also that copyright laws apply, and it is illegal to copy more than a fairly small percentage of a book or monograph.
HOW TO STUDY: `Whatever was required to be done, the Circumlocution Office was beforehand with all the public departments in the art of perceiving - HOW NOT TO DO IT.' (Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, bk.1, ch.10).
You have to find your own `best way' and discover what suits your personality the best. The following is a set of points that most people find work well for them. Try them. If they work, great. If some of them do not work for you, try something else. The only rule is that if it works for you it is right for you.
When reading anything for study purposes, rather than say a novel for pleasure, you should have a pen in one hand, or at least within easy reach, and a pad of paper beside you. You should note the main ideas if the topic or the ideas are new to you. If you are familiar with the topic, you might choose only to mark the new or controversial points made, as your will use the material as an alternate view, or perhaps to argue against later. The only people who need not read for study purposes without a pen and paper are those gifted with total recall. You almost certainly do not fall into this category. As you read, you should immediately put down on paper any critical ideas that might jump into your head as you are reading any material, in case you cannot remember them later. To lose a good idea is to lose part of your intellectual wallet.
You should reread your notes for each subject often, doing this by section. It is better to read your lecture notes and all other notes devoted to one section or topic, then move on to another, rather than read just some of your notes on a section. This is a good reason for keeping lecture and other notes together. Remember that you do not learn something merely by possessing it - you have to read textbooks and notes, not merely own them or carry them around. Hard work is required to learn something. The importance of reading and rereading your notes cannot be over-stressed. If you think of this as meaning constant revision, then fine, just make sure you do it.
`I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigree of nations.' (Samuel Johnson, Boswell, Tour to the Hebrides, 18 Sept., 1773 p.310).
Many students have difficulty learning their first foreign language. The whole process seems different and incredibly difficult to cope with. The fact that everyone learned their first language quickly and reasonable easily does not seem to help much. It was all too long ago. The mind could really soak up information from the time of birth to, say, the age of three years. After that, the rate of acquisition of knowledge slows down. Yet many people do learn to read and speak a foreign language, and so can you.
The first thing to accept is that it will take much effort. It is not possible for adults to learn a language by osmosis, just absorbing and picking it up by being there. The author George MacDonald Fraser, when writing the Flashman series of books, uses it as a device to get the hero (?) fluent in a foreign language in a couple of weeks, but that is in fiction. In the old days, many colonialists spent most of their adult lives in a foreign country and spoke no more language than was needed to order drinks and meals and control domestic servants. Some spoke none of the foreign language at all, even after having lived in a foreign country for decades.
How can you best apply this effort? First, you should go to all the classes and do all the set preparation and homework. It can be tedious in the beginning, but it pays off in the end. Next, accept that learning a language is much easier if there are two or three of you working together. Get a `language study buddy' and cooperate. You can test each other on drills, learn vocabulary together and test each other out. Revising last week's vocabulary can be mutually beneficial; many students concentrate on the vocabulary of the current lesson, and fail to reinforce what they have previously learned.
Use the language laboratory facilities whenever they are free and you have a spare fifteen or twenty minutes. This is a valuable use of time, as it is easier to assimilate small amounts of information. If your study buddy and you cover the same material for a period, you can follow this by sitting quietly and reviewing it. After that it helps to talk to each other in the language, using the material you have just studied and practised; this reinforces your learning and also shortens the time needed to absorb the material. Set aside a few periods, putting it on your timetable, when you can both do this.
Language learning needs vocabulary. Mothers, and a few fathers, instill this in children by constant repetition. You might notice that as soon as the child is able to make sensible sounds, the mother insists that the child repeats the word aloud, often several times. They then bring up the word several times for the child, and make it use the word. They are instinctively good language teachers. Every word you learn must be used, and said out loud many times. Sitting learning lists of words, hearing them in your head and not saying them out loud is not a total waste of time, but it is nowhere near as valuable as vocalizing them. You will not get the sound exactly right, but the general sound is going in your head. Your teachers can correct and polish your pronunciation easily, but you have to learn the word. If you only learn by hearing in your head, you might join the large ranks of people who can read a foreign language, often well, but cannot use the local bus service or even order a cup of coffee. You should aim to speak as well as read.
When learning a foreign vocabulary, many people make a list of the words, sometimes writing them out several times, on the grounds that this helps them to remember. It might do so, but it is not a particularly efficient way of learning or use of your time. Usually, it is better to avoid lists completely, except for writing down words in class. It is better to make small cards with the foreign word on one side and the English on the other. A major problem with lists, is that they are easily learned in the order of the list, but often much harder to remember in another order. With flash cards, you can shuffle the cards and get a different order each time. They are also easy to carry around and pull out in a spare five minutes and go through, learning and reinforcing the vocabulary. You can make a game out of it with your study buddy if you like. some reading kits for children use this method, including the well known Teach Your Baby to Read which worked well in my family.
Never let a day go by without some language practice, including speaking aloud. The constant exposure helps considerably. If you try to spend two mammoth sessions each week learning a language, rather than doing some every day, your rate of progress will be slower. You are trying to use your total time available in an efficient manner you will recall.
If you can find a native speaker of the language who is a student at the university, you might be able to arrange formal language sessions, on a swap basis, your English for their Chinese, Italian or whatever. It does not matter that they wish to talk and improve at a level much higher than yours. They are not trained teachers, but they can correct pronunciation, tell you what the correct grammar is etc. and it will help you a lot. If you are rich, and few are, you can buy lessons also. Whatever you do, it is better to make it a regular thing, timetabled in, not just every now and then, although anything is better than nothing.
You will ultimately face oral tests and examinations, so that the more you do normally, the more natural and less frightening they will seem. Nerves can play havoc with oral language scores, and the more practice at talking you get now, the better you will score later.
When you get corrected assignments back, examine the corrections carefully. Some find it useful to write out the correct version a few times to drive the lesson home. Saying it out loud is a good habit to develop, as it helps memory and the phrase pattern may start to stick in your mind. Try to understand what the correction means, and why you got it wrong. Work on that point for a few minutes, or hours, to help rectify your weaknesses. Just looking to see if you have passed or failed, or got eight out of ten rather than five out of ten, and feeling pleased or disappointed, does nothing to help you improve.
`Notes are often necessary, but they are necessary evils.' (Samuel Johnson, Shakespeare, 1775, preface).
You will need a certain amount of stationery. One or more loose-leaf files, and A4 lined pads, as well as a pen, pencil and ruler will be required at once. You might find a clipboard useful for resting on when taking notes in lectures; many students merely use the A4 pad. A short ruler made of clear plastic is often the most useful, as it can be carried easily and it is possible to see through it. This is handy when drawing diagrams and you wish to keep lines roughly parallel. You should aim to build up only as you need things, so do not rush out and buy a whole kit at once. Ultimately you will probably find you need a stapler and staples, paper clips, white-out, several different coloured pens, some overhead transparencies, special overhead transparency pens (OHT) pens in perhaps three different colours, an eraser, scissors, cellotape, maybe a hole punch, and a cheap calculator. The latter may be a required item in some subjects but is generally useful to have around anyway.
It often pays to buy the cheapest lined pads for note taking, as the quality of paper for this purpose does not matter a great deal. You might want one pad of better quality paper if you do not type or word-process your assignments. The appearance of a written item that you hand in should be as good as you can reasonably make it. Check the supermarkets for stationery prices, they are often keen, and keep an eye open for sales and items `on special'. If you can afford to do so, you should aim to take notes only on one side of the page. This has the advantage that you can spread out notes on a table and see what you have, without constantly having to turn over and check. If you do not spread out notes, you may be able to use the blank side facing for comments or additions. If you do this, make sure you do not separate the notes or you lose the comments in the appropriate place.
Always put the source of your notes at the top. For lecture notes, you need the name of the subject, lecturer and date for instance. For article notes, you need the title of a book, its author, publisher and place and date of publication. In the case of a journal article, you need the title, author, and name and date (including number) of the journal.
You should always read a chapter, or section through first before starting to take notes. If you do not do this, it is possible that you will start copying out just about everything in the chapter, rather than just the main points that you need.
Some people find the SQ3R system works well. This is an acronym that stands for:
SURVEY or skim through, checking on sub headings and anything in bold or italic print, to get an idea of what will be covered but you do not read the whole thing word for word.
QUESTIONS - which means think up a few questions as a result of the skim reading that you might want to be answered when you read it through properly.
READ through quickly, not stopping to follow detailed arguments in all their intricacies.
RECALL - which means closing the book and trying to think of the main points, perhaps jotting them down on a piece of paper. These can form the basis of your notes if they are good enough.
REVIEW - which means going through the text more slowly and making your notes, either adding to those from the `recall' stage or making new ones if necessary.
It is a good idea to try this SQ3R method a few times and see if it works for you and if so, stick with it. If it does not, or it seems a total waste of your time, then try another method for yourself. As a start, you might drop the recall stage and make your notes on the second reading, after the quick read through. The recall effort works for most people, but not necessarily for you. Or you might find a totally different way of tackling reading leading to note taking. If so, and it works for you, then use it. Note that it is important not to try a new reading system only once and then give up on it, as all new systems take a little getting used to. Remember the `no pain, no gain' adage and persevere. With practice in using any reading system, you can normally expect to find a significant improvement in your reading skills.
Whatever system you adopt to improve your reading and learning skills, it is virtually always useful to glance over the contents of a new chapter, article or book quickly before settling down to read it properly. When approaching a new topic, it is also very desirable to spend a few minutes early on in the piece, perhaps before you start to read, asking yourself a few questions and what you hope might be included and what you might learn. Cadet journalists are often told to remember `What, who, where, when, why and how' as a basis for interviewing people in order to get the information to write up a story. It is not a complete list for a student, who might also justifiably wonder about things such as `The effects, what do I think, does this clash with other theories or data I have' and so on. Journalists are mostly attempting to report, not to analyse, but their questions might be a starting place. A simple thing like either of these two suggestions can help make the task more interesting and assist you to learn faster. By the way, if you find you cannot get an answer to one or more of your questions, first go and look harder and wider; secondly, discuss possibilities with fellow students; thirdly, you can go and ask a staff member. If you have thought up a brilliant question, do not be surprised if he/she does not know the answer off-hand, but they may be able to find out for you. Fourthly, you just might have produced a great idea for some serious research, and who knows, there could be a Ph.D. in it for you eventually.
Hi-lighting a book is OK as long as you own it - a textbook is not a work of art that must not be desecrated. There are thousands of identical new copies in existence and the book shop will be delighted to sell you another one in pristine condition if you want. Some parents and school teachers will try to persuade you that writing in your book is some obscure form of sin or vice - this is nonsense. In one Woody Allen film he asks a young woman what is the worst crime she could commit when a child in her family; she responds something like `Damaging or marking books, what about in your family?'. Woody Allen, coming from a Jewish family, replies `Buying retail'! The family values of one's youth take a lot of throwing off, even if subsequently judged to have been wrong. Highlighting makes learning quicker and easier, as you can reread the highlighted parts through over and over to learn them. It does on the other hand reduce the second hand value if wish to sell the book next year but which do you put first, learning and succeeding or saving a small amount of money? It is usually a total waste of time to note your text book, unless you find it is the only way to remember the information. It is quicker to highlight and revise by reading over those passages, skipping the less important and unmarked ones. You should never highlight or write in library books of course.
Some believe that highlighting is a waste of time, as if it is important enough to highlight, it should really be in your notes. You can make your own mind up on this. Whatever you decide, if you highlight you must read and reread the book's highlights to learn the material. If you take notes instead, you must read and reread the notes.
Ask yourself questions as you read - what is the main idea of this part - do it for each paragraph, section and chapter.
Note only the main ideas, nothing else, unless you want an example perhaps. You should try to structure your notes so that they make sense and are easy to read later. If you can write clearly, make every effort to do so as you will find that reading and revision later much easier if you are not poring over scribble and trying to work out what you might have meant. Equally, spilling coffee over the notes is not going to encourage you to read them over later.
When making notes, some people find it convenient to underline subheadings in different colours, e.g., title in red, main headings in black, sub-heads in blue; others might use block capitals for titles, double underlines for main headings and single underlines for sub-heads. It is easy to go to too much trouble on different colours and wind up with a work of art without getting down to studying the contents properly. You should be careful not to become obsessed by appearances. If you can do it quickly and easily and it helps when you read and reread your notes, then fine, you should go ahead.
As part of useful colour coding, some have found that using yellow paper for the notes taken privately from journal articles, books etc., but ordinary white paper for notes taken from the formal timetabled lectures, seminars and the like. The notes can then be filed together by topic etc., with different colours within each topic. This is of value if when revising you can force yourself to read a bit further than you otherwise would and `finish the yellow pages too', but it may be more trouble than it is worth for others. Try it if you like, but discard it should it seem not worthwhile in your case.
Some people find using an inset system for major and minor points is better. After the centred main heading, often uppercase (capital letters), the first heading is placed at the margin and the next sub-heading gets stepped in, maybe by a centimetre as the importance decreases. It is back to the margin for the next main heading and so on. Too little inset for sub-headings makes it hard to see the relative importance and learn the notes; too much inset wastes paper. If you have a choice it is usually better to err on the side of a little wasted paper and inset by a bit more rather than not learn properly. With this general point in mind, do not try to write too small in order to save paper, and do not try to cram in too much at the end of lines or at the bottom of a page which makes it hard to read easily.
When insetting notes, you will find that using a computer word processing package allows you to set tabs for jumping across the page very easily. An example of the inset system is:
THE OPIUM WARS
WHY DID THEY START?
Colonial expansion
- Nineteenth century practice
. started with ....
. others followed suit in....
- including....
- Industrial revolution in Britain
. began in Eighteenth Century in agriculture
. then into industry
- textiles important...
Balance of payments problems
- Britain takes Indian tea to sell in China...
THE EARLY RESPONSE OF CHINA
.... and so on.
(End of example)
Note that this example uses upper case and lower case as well as the dot-dash method, which you might find useful. You can start with either dots or dashes as you prefer, - they are your notes after all. Many politicians speaking from notes tend to use this dot-dash system, along with larger typeface than normal, so that they can glance down and find their place easily.
You will note that using a dot-dash method does not require a numbering system such as the common one of:
I.
A.
1.
a.
(1).
(a).
(i).
The dot-dash method is also an alternative to the `legal' system of:
1.0
1.1
1.1.1
1.2.1
1.2.1.1 ... etc.
Both the common method and legal method can be used in written assignments that are to be handed in for marking, but the dot-dash method is strictly to be used for your own notes.
It is possible to combine the underlining, inset, and dot-dash system if you find that useful when note taking.
With lecture notes you should take only the main points and of course all diagrams or figures that the lecturer puts up. Your lecture notes should be more of a skeleton outline than a full script of what the lecturer said, word for word. As you take the notes, leave enough room for your comments and anything else you might want to add later. Read up the notes as soon as possible after taking them, and try to put them into your head as you do this. If you let too long pass before reading them, you are likely to lose the information and have to start again. It should be a habit to read your lecture notes the same day you take them, and at least once more the next day. Early reinforcement is an excellent thing, so you should try to make this a habit.
It helps to compare your notes from a lecture with those of someone else - perhaps a close friend, or someone in your study group. You will often be surprised at what you felt was important, relative to them. You can often improve your notes in this way by combining any important points you find. You should, of course, try to find someone who is bright and takes good notes, rather than someone who either copies down everything including jokes, or else notes almost nothing. Perhaps your entire study group could pool notes to improve them. Whatever happens, do not start to miss lectures and rely on such pooled notes to get you through. It is far too dangerous, and you have already missed a part of the learning process by not hearing the lecture personally.
It is usually a waste of your time copying out lecture notes that you have already taken - it is far more important that you read and learn them, than to copy them out again. There are two exceptions to this. The first is if you wish to put your notes as they are onto a computer via a word processing package. If you find it easier to read your notes in typescript form, either on screen or printed out, then it may be worth spending some time entering them up. The second occasion is more valuable generally. It pays to rework or redo your notes, rearranging them, adding arrows, circles, boxes, dotted lines, shadings, or whatever makes sense to you, to get a better looking and more pictorial set of notes. Even little pictures or cartoons can help, as long as you do not spend much time on them. Keep in mind that it is not the essential prettiness of the notes that is important to you, only what you learn from revising them constantly.
The reason for making your notes more interesting to look at is that when you read and reread your notes, if they are distinctive they will be more easily remembered. If each page looks a bit different, it will be more easily recalled to the mind's eye. In other words, you will learn your notes better. Try this and see if it works for you. If you learn better from straight forward text notes, then you are lucky and can save yourself time.
If you have a small cassette recorder, you might consider taping your lectures, to review later and help sort out any gaps or strange looking parts of the notes you took at the time. Such recordings are not a substitute for attending lectures, because many lecturers put up key words or important ideas on the screen or blackboard as they talk, which helps you to sort out the more important from the less. If they used diagrams, it is rarely possible to understand a tape that refers to a diagram that you cannot see. If you do decide to tape lectures, it is considered polite to come up and ask the lecturer first, rather than just poking a machine under the person's nose and walking off. After the first time, you do not need to ask further permission of course. You might find that the First year is already being taped by the university - ask in the first lecture if you are not sure. If this is the case, the lecture tape is placed in the library, but it may take a day or two before it gets there, so you should not race down an hour or two later unless disappointment turns you on.
If you are listening to a taped lecture, it is usually better to listen to the whole lecture through once before starting to take notes. This improves your note taking efficiency and tends to produce better notes. It is not a waste of time doing this; it is a desirable investment of your valuable time. Naturally this listening through once is not necessary if you attended the lecture yourself, took notes there, and still recorded it. If you have a specific question or two, like `What did he define literature as?' or `What did he say about the diagram, I was too busy copying it to listen properly', then you can skip through the tape looking for that particular part.
When actually taking notes, it is a good idea to use abbreviations as much as possible. There are many standardized ones that can save you writing more and in this way help avoid a sore wrist. Useful reasonably standard abbreviations include:
> more than
< less than
= equals
¹ not equals\f4 therefore
_ because
e.g. for example
i.e. that is; that is to say
k kilogram, kilometre
TU. trade union
Cf. comparison
fig. figure
Diag. diagram
ibid. in the same book or passage (used in footnotes)
loc. cit. at the place quoted (used in footnotes)
ms. or mss. manuscript
op. cit. in the work cited (used in footnotes)
passim throughout the whole work, rather than in one chapter
PC personal computer; politically correct; police constable
PM Prime Minister; afternoon (usually "p.m.’)
Very many more abbreviations can be used, depending on your particular needs.
Many abbreviations are connected with publishing or footnoting and you will find them, and more, when reading articles and books. Whenever you find an abbreviation that you could not explain to someone else, you should make a note to check it later in your dictionary.
You can also invent your own abbreviations, as long as you do not forget them. Try to make them intuitively obvious. In economics, for example, I personally use small `q' for quality and big `Q' for quantity, `S&D' for supply and demand, `raw mats' for raw materials, `govt' for government, and `lab' for labour.
Your notes will come from different sources, perhaps including the radio or TV as well as the more normal books and journal articles. They are all most usefully kept grouped with like material or topic, rather than by source. In this way when you come to reread or learn, you get all the material you have on that topic. When introduced to a new theory or concept in a lecture, you might find it useful to go off and look up several different explanations of it in different books, including encyclopedias and specialist dictionaries of that topic. If you take notes from these, you can insert them in the proper place, using your ring binder. Do not duplicate, but aim to understand the concept, add new examples, get a better set of words if you can and so on.
With diagrams, you must practice drawing them for yourself. It pays to read the text sentence by sentence and examine each statement it makes by looking at the diagram. Make sure you understand the diagram and what is said about it. Then draw it for yourself. You should practice drawing all important diagrams until you can do them by heart - every day you should draw at least one and then check it against the textbook. The importance of drawing and redrawing the diagrams that your lecturers show you cannot be over-stressed.
If you wish to take notes from group discussions, workshops and the like, then there is one useful way of setting them out which is very different from your ordinary note taking method. This other way is a free form method and you do it by first writing the subject name in the middle of the page and then radiating lines out as you need, drawing one for each main point as shown.
This method suits the free flowing nature of group discussions and new points can easily be added, even if lines have to be stretched further along the page. You can loop new lines around old boxes etc. easily too, and show linkages using arrows (perhaps in a different colour, or using dotted lines).
Some students in a fit of rejoicing at successfully getting through the year have been known to destroy their notes with a certain amount of glee. This is not a good idea. It is definitely useful to keep your notes when you move into the second and later years, as you might suddenly find you need to look up something you covered earlier and cannot quite remember fully. It is easier to look up well-kept notes quickly than have to go off to the library and start searching for and relearning, including note taking, something you have already covered earlier. You can also see the waste of time involved in duplicating your work.
If you have to cross out part of your notes, it is usually wise to use a single diagonal slash to do this, and to keep the crossed out notes filed properly where they were. If you ever do need to refer to them and decide that they were not that bad, you will still be able to read them.
The most important thing about your notes is that you read and reread them, so that you know the material contained in them. This includes any criticisms of the major viewpoints you may have been given, found for yourself, or thought of. The material has to go into your head. It is a sheer waste of time to make notes and then ignore them for the rest of your life. You do not learn much simply by amassing piles of notes and you learn nothing at all by merely owning them or carrying them around under your arm during the day. You cannot learn by osmosis. You must read your notes and think carefully about what you are reading. Far too many students fall into the habit of making notes then not reading them again - please do not be one of them.
FILES AND FILING: `Prisoners and students can both make good use of files.'
The most convenient way to take lecture and other notes and carry them around during that day is in a ring binder. Make sure that you put your name and Faculty on the front, so that if you lose them and they are handed in, they will go to the correct Faculty Office. One such file for every-day use is virtually essential.
A set of file dividers for your daily use file, so that you can separate the different subjects that you are studying. Some people find keeping lecture notes separate from other sources of notes a good idea but most do not seem to think it useful. Do it which ever way works best for you. It is generally best to file all your notes in the appropriate subject section at once and not leave them laying around to be lost or have coffee tipped over them.
For more permanent note keeping you can choose a normal size ring binder for each subject, a fatter version of the same sort of file, or a lever arch file. The last two hold a great deal more, but you have to manipulate the actual notes a bit more by sliding them across the longer metal hoop. This tends to tear the holes in the paper and eventually a few pages tend to come lose and, not being fastened in, can get lost. If this happens, you can buy reinforcing paper rings that glue around the enlarged or split hole, and you can keep the page safely fastened down again.
In the beginning, you might find that one binder will suffice for all your subjects, and you can separate each subject by using cardboard interleaves that can be purchased, but it will probably not be long before you need more binders.
It is a good idea to choose a different coloured binder for each subject, as it makes finding what you need much easier. Later on you might have quite a lot of different files and if all the same colour, it takes time going through them and reading the front to see what subject it is.
File dividers are also useful within your subject files, so that you can locate major topics easily. The handout that gives you the subject outline often provides a useful set of headings, but do not be afraid to change these or merge/split some of them if you find that one or two sections are swelling rapidly while others remain thin.
Envelope files, or wallet files, are thin cardboard files shaped rather like a large envelope. You can fold over the front to prevent your notes and bits of paper falling out. They are very useful for carrying around loose pages, newspaper cuttings and the like, as it is not easy to lose items. You might choose to use one of these on a daily basis, rather than a ring file. They can be used for permanent filing at home but are a trifle expensive for that purpose.
Cheap fold-over files can be bought and these are more sensible for permanent filing for most people. These fold-over files are designed to put loose papers in, and the whole thing then placed in a hanging file in a filing cabinet. They are pretty hopeless for carrying around, as a piece of loose paper can easily fall out, especially if there are several papers of varying sizes. They are however very good for storing things such as newspaper clippings at home. Write the subject name on the top front, so that it can be read when it is standing upright.
Note that you may not have to keep buying the cheap fold-over files, as they can often be recycled. If you have combined some of your notes, or discarded some, and have an empty fold-over file with a name on the outside, do not throw it out. You can reuse the fold-over files easily by turning them around and writing the new subject matter on what becomes the new front. Later you can recycle them again, by turning them inside out, for two more goes. After than you are down to using white-out or sticking paper over the old title to change the subject matter title. This is usually cheaper than buying new files.
Rather than buying an expensive filing cabinet, a cardboard box works well for standing fold-over files in. You can buy tailor-made ones designed for storing A4 size files but you can probably find a free box into which your files will fit reasonably well in the front part of supermarkets. Take a folder with you to check on the best sized box for your needs. You can ask a check out person or the front end manager if you can have a few boxes, and they are usually only too glad to get rid of them.
Box files are roughly what they say - a sort of empty box that closes up. Lawyers sometimes use them for filing things. Old large sized breakfast cereal boxes with the top cut off, or part of the front cut away, might serve you just as well. As long as you like eating cereals, they cost you nothing. Proper box files are not cheap.
Card index files are going out of fashion, rendered obsolete by technology. They were once used to keep details of books, such as author, title, publisher and date, one card for one book, and filed upright in little boxes. The arrival of personal computers (PCs) has rendered card index files out of date for all but the most conservative people. A PC with a data base is a far superior filing method and allows easy editing, cross-referencing and virtually instantaneously retrieval. The old card index files involve a lot of tedious searching and either no cross referencing, or else a time consuming and rather cumbersome system to make it work. Even then they do not work too well.
Generally with filing, you will find that you start with an easy system, e.g., one file for each subject, and this rapidly becomes out of date. You will find that you need to increase the detailed nature of your filing system quite regularly and as you learn more about a topic, your filing system will also probably need some alteration. Naturally, as the years go by and you begin to study more disciplines or subjects, you will need to add to your existing filing system. It pays to keep an eye on your system and occasionally refine it when it becomes worth the effort.
`Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.' (B.B. Skinner, New Scientist, 21 May 1964).
I cannot over-emphasis the importance of learning your notes by constantly rereading them. Information and knowledge are the basis you need for subsequent critical evaluation. When going through a textbook or reading a journal article, you should try to understand it and then question what you understand. It is desirable to read critically but you should never reject a viewpoint or idea merely because it is new, differs from something you already believe, or differs from what your friends, parents, or lecturers say. In particular, do not reject something because it seems difficult and you cannot understand it. If you encounter this situation, it means you must work harder at it. Read it through several times. If it is the textbook that is causing you trouble, try one or two different textbooks to see how they explain the point, as things often seem easier if put in a different way. You might also find a Dictionary of Economics (politics or whatever interests you) helpful, as such books summarise ideas in a short space using simple words.
A good way of learning is to read something, note (or underline) the major points, then go off and explain what the main points are to some friend. An effort to teach something focuses your attention on the subject, really reinforces the information in your memory, and also reveals to you any weak areas of your knowledge. Your small study group is a good outlet for this approach.
Condensing or reducing your notes is a good thing to do: the process reinforces the information and helps to fix it in your head. In addition, the shorter summary version can be read more quickly and learned more easily. Some students find that it helps to reduce the summary down to several key words, in the same order as the more full notes, then learn them. Bringing back the list of key words then helps them to recall the fuller notes.
Try to learn something each day. Notice that you have no school homework to do and need to rely upon yourself to study and learn.
It is not possible to study continually without a break and it is not an efficient use of your time to try to do so. Many people find that the optimal period for them to study is somewhere between three quarters of an hour and an hour and a half. After that, their concentration reduces and they get less out of what they are doing. Try to discover your own optimal time and make use of the information. After the hour's study (or whatever), you should try to do something different for say ten or twenty minutes, e.g., have a cup of coffee, dig the garden, or polish the furniture - it is a good time to do those short domestic tasks that need doing but which seem to get overlooked a lot. Then after this break, you can go back to the studying refreshed.
If you take a coffee break, especially when at the University, try to keep it down to ten minutes or so. It is easy to sit talking with fellow students and persuade oneself that one is really working and in this way waste much of ones' day. If you are in the middle of a discussion of an academic topic of interest, then that really can be considered to be work. However, casual observation suggests that such debates in the common rooms seem to be a lot rarer than the habit of socialising. Some justify this as `networking'. Always remember that you are responsible for using your time in the most productive way. You get the rewards for doing this successfully, and conversely you get the pain for failure.
It is often useful to set aside a short period every day to read over your recent notes, do some revision of a subject (a different one each day) and to practice drawing diagrams. Perhaps half-an-hour after breakfast, or before dinner/supper would suit you. Try to find the time that fits your routine the best. Some students find that reading the textbook in bed last thing at night helps. Firstly, it helps many people to remember something if it is the last thing read before sleep; secondly, the habit often proves a great cure for insomnia!
There are certain things that can help you study more effectively and others that can reduce your capacity. It is worth spending a little time considering this, as you have three years over which to make your gains, so that an hour or two of thought now plus a little experiment would be a good investment. Such things as the conditions of the room you are in, the time of day, your ability to relax, and the degree of emptiness of your stomach, can significantly affect your learning progress.
The choice of where you study is often dictated by circumstances. If you share a house, then it is likely to be your bedroom, as the rest of the house may be noisy or offer too many distractions. Even here you have choices: do you manage best sitting at a desk or table, lounging in a comfortable chair, or lying on the bed? If the others are out, the kitchen or living area is available and again you have choices.
Equally when you are on campus between lectures, you are constrained by limited time and must study close by. Possible venues include the library, the lawn, under various trees, the Refectory (outside lunch time), Common Rooms (if quiet enough) and, if you can find one, an empty class room. You should consider such alternatives, and decide which fit your personality best.
The majority of people seem to study best in a quiet room on their own, one which is well lit for reading, and is at a reasonable temperature. Some on the other hand find that music in the background helps them to study. If you are like this, then by all means play music. Should you find it distracting, then turn it off, and listen to it in the breaks you take between study sessions. If you are sharing accommodation, be mindful of the others who may not like noise when they are studying. A Walkman or other source of sound equipped with earphones may be a solution that satisfies everyone. Should you be working where you are subject to intermittent noise, which is often more disturbing than a constant one, as this can be tuned out eventually, then quiet regular music through earphones might be preferable to the shock of outside major disturbances. Few work well with a TV set on, unless it is playing background music, and almost no one can do so if they are sitting where they can see the screen.
It is desirable to develop a study pattern or habit, know your favourite places and how best to arrange your books, note pad etc. around you so that you feel comfortable and at home. Some people find they work best in a library if they always sit in the same area. It is best not to develop a strong affection for one particular seat, without which you worry or fidget, as it will definitely be occupied by someone else on occasion. Equally you should be prepared to study under conditions that are far from the best for you, learning to close your mind and ears to your environment. An hour's study under what you regard as poor conditions is better than no study at all.
You might usefully consider the question of what time of day you study the best: are you essentially a night person or a day person? Some people work well until late in the evening and even after midnight. Others seem to work better in the morning. If you wake up naturally at, say, around five a.m., do not complain and think you are an insomniac. People vary a lot and not everyone require eight hours sleep. Some of the famous people in history managed on less than five hours a night, e.g., Zhou Enlai and Groucho Marx. Those who require little sleep have more time to work and succeed. It is useful to work out when you do not study well - everyone tends to have periods of low natural activity during the day, although the actual time varies between individuals. Your slack time may, for instance, be between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. If so, you might find it better not to try study then, but use it for relaxation purposes.
If you can quickly relax from tension, you will do better in the long run. Many people find it refreshing to have a short nap, or meditation session, if you have learned how, in the early afternoon, before tackling the rest of the day. There are various relaxation techniques around, and just about all of them seem to work. You should not feel that you are a bit weird if you decide to adopt one. Your health and work can only improve. Modern society is full of pressures and human beings have had little experience of coping with them. The industrial revolution only began last century, but we have been around for considerably longer than that.
Taking a nap or relaxing deliberately can get you the equivalent of the energy of two mornings in a day, rather than a comatose afternoon. The summer can be enervating and it is easy not to notice a gradual diminution of energy. Few people who are gradually slowing down are able to monitor their own decline. It is better to work for an exhilarating productive ten hours than for a tired, semi-switched off twelve hours.
Some find they work better if they have a glass of milk, or a biscuit to nibble, but beware of leaving an open pack within reach. The next thing you know it could be empty. No one studies better with alcohol, although a few might feel they do.
Many students find it helpful to look at the end of each chapter of their set textbook, or a different textbook if necessary, where there are often questions for discussion or typical questions about the material of the chapter. They then try to answer them. Even as little as ten minutes each day can be very helpful, thinking about the issue, and jotting down what you can recall or can think of, then checking back with the text itself to see how well you did. Preparing a short skeleton answer is perhaps the best method. You can file these skeletons, after adding to them if needs be, by checking the textbook, along with your notes for that topic. If you are a member of a self-organised study group, you can compare notes and discuss discrepancies, and this practice will reinforce the learning process.
Getting hold of old exam papers and trying them in this way is also valuable, especially towards the end of a semester when exams approach. If you try this early in the semester, do not be put off if you find questions that seem to make little sense or which you cannot answer. It is probable that you have not yet covered that topic, so do not worry. You will be able to deal with such questions later on. It seems to be counter-productive for some students, especially those inclined to anxiety, to try to answer exam questions early in the course; others benefit greatly from the experience. Try it for yourself: if it does not seem to matter much to you, then you should definitely try to answer old exam papers, rough out skeleton answers to old essay questions and the like, because learning from doing is valuable.
If you are finding it hard to settle down to read a text, you might find that you can ease in to the task and develop enthusiasm by doing some study-related task first. File yesterday's notes, look over last week's lecture notes, sort out your briefcase or whatever you carry things around in that gets cluttered up - there are many tasks that will help you anyway, but can serve to force your mind into studying mode. Another way of getting down to study when you may not feel like it is to allocate, say, five minutes and sit down to think about what you want out of university, the reasons you came, and the sort of interesting jobs that you will be able to apply for when you have your degree. If you find that doing this stimulates your motivation, then you have a useful way of kick-starting your work. You might find yet a different way that works for you - if so, I would appreciate you passing on the tip to me, so that future students can try it and see if it will work for them. Whatever you do, you should not moon around thinking you should be working but not actually starting to do so. Jump in quickly. If you have an odd job to do, maybe wash up, buy some milk, or tidy your room - don't! Start to study and when you need a break, stop and do the job then. If you find you tend to do such odd jobs first, as likely as not, the mind is simply trying to stop you studying as for many people it would seem to be a lazy organ. Ask yourself who is in charge here and start to discipline it. It may seem odd to you to think of your mind as a separate entity, but such displacement activity often happens and you can start work if you really try.
If you have much studying to do and a good length of time to do it in, like a whole day or even a week, then sometimes the task seems daunting. Some students will sit and think about what they have to do, and start to despair, rather than really doing it. If this ever happens to you, it is a good idea to divide the task into segments, then allocate the time into segments. You can then see that you will work 9-10 a.m., stop for coffee until 10.20, then work again until 11.30 a.m. and so forth. It often helps to give yourself a little reward for achieving things - like the coffee rather than just stopping studying. Knowing something nice is coming at the end can be surprisingly stimulating and an incentive to continue. You will probably also find that when you have been taking notes for an hour, it helps to take a break. When you return to studying after a break, it may be helpful to do a different job for a while, such as filing the notes, or reading and amending them, or perhaps thinking about the next segment and planning out what you might do in it. This different task is useful to you, so is not a waste, but it makes a short break from what you have been doing previously.
If you have a complex task to do and much time to do it in, then it usually helps to break the task down into several chunks, each one of which then seems manageable. Spending ten minutes doing this as a way of getting into the task can make the whole thing seem easier and indicate to you the most rewarding ways to tackle the job, as well as perhaps revealing the intrinsic ways into which the project, or whatever it is, might be broken down. Do not forget to give yourself a little reward for completing a predetermined part of the whole, which gives you something to look forward to.
One important thing to bear in mind when studying, is that you should be doing it conscientiously. This means concentrating properly for the whole study period, and avoiding distractions. You may find that you have to work at concentrating at first, but it does get easier as you practise. If you find that people interrupt, and come up to chatter while you are studying, it is a good idea to suggest you meet for tea etc. at a specified time, rather than spend ten minutes talking, then find your concentration has gone and you have to work hard to get back to where you were earlier. Although I do not recommend reducing the length of time spent studying, if a friend does interrupt you and it looks like upsetting your concentration, then it might pay to stop at once and go for the tea. As long as you keep the time away reasonably brief, you might get more effective concentrated study that way. This is particularly so if you are nearing the end of your hour or so study session and are tired anyway.
Human beings find it easier to remember the things that they feel are really important to them. This has to be the case. If we were able to remember everything there is a danger that information overload would cause the brain to seize up and close down - we would go mad, in some sense of that word. It is surprisingly difficult to define what `mad' means, and few specialists will be pinned down on that subject. If we remembered nothing, we could not function and would die. If we forgot at every meal time in which orifice we should put the food, imagine the result. So we select from the huge number of things we see, do, hear, smell, taste, read and touch each day, and store them in a part of the brain we can more easily get at for later recall.
After the degree of importance to us, comes `interesting'. Way down on the list comes `boring' but at least that is ahead of `useless'. You probably noticed at school that teachers who were interesting made the topic seem easier and more important and you liked the subject more and remembered the subject matter better. From a practical point of view, at university, this means you have to develop a state of mind that regards your course work as important and interesting. The topic may be interesting, even if the teacher or article is boring. You many need to keep reminding yourself of this fact. This effort can help you to increase your motivation, the importance of which it is hard to over-stress.
If you have a large chunk of time in which to study, say a morning or an evening, then it is often better to spend it on two or three different study tasks, or study related tasks, in order to give yourself a break. For most people it seems to be more productive to study, say, economics for an hour, switch to learning Chinese vocabulary for an hour, relax with a non-alcoholic drink for fifteen minutes, then spend the last three quarters of an hour revising their history notes. This is better than trying to devote three straight hours to one subject without a break.
If you have a spare ten or twenty minutes, try to use that time to do one short task, e.g., read, review and think about the lecture notes taken yesterday. Making use of small amounts of spare time is a valuable way of improving performance. Because the mind is fresh and knows that the process will shortly be over, it seems to take things in quickly and you might find you remember them better. If you do this in unusual places, e.g., leaning against the inside of the front door, it is often amazing how recalling leaning on the door can bring back the details of what you were studying at the time. I do not recommend that you continually look for new places, but make use of them as you find them. After all, if you go round the house seeking new places to work, eventually they will all become your normal place. It is using the ten minutes productively that really counts.
If you travel by bus to and from university, this is an excellent time to review notes, plan out an essay, memorize definitions etc. Staring out the window at the same old view will not help your progress anywhere near as much.
Some students find it helpful to use the last half hour or so of their study day, which is usually in the later evening, to go over everything that they did during that day, reading the notes taken, the ideas jotted down, or essay written. This not only serves to help you to remember what you have done, it also shows you that you have accomplished things and you can feel happy that you are progressing and achieving something. It can be an antidote to feelings of anxiety, depression or `the blues'.
One important and often missed way of improving your learning is to read carefully the comments on your essays made by the marker. These are far more important to you than the actual mark, although it is tempting to grab the returned paper and search for the mark or grade urgently, and then feel elated, satisfied, unhappy, or downright miserable once it is found.
When reading the comments on a paper, you must avoid any feeling of sadness, depression, or resentment. It is the easiest thing to feel hurt, when the essay or other assignment comes back covered in red ink, and containing several wounding remarks. After the initial cold shock has swept over you and abated somewhat, sit down and tell yourself, `This helps me; I now know what to do to improve', or some such phrase. It may help if you say it three times. What you are trying to do is put your mind out of `hurt mode' into `receptive learning mode' and make use of the comments.
The mark reflects the assessor's judgement of that piece of work and it is over and done with. The comments on the other hand offer help to you that can improve your future performance. It might help you to think up, say, three things you could do to tackle the specific weak spots identified by the criticisms, write them down, then do them. Keep the note to yourself on file, either with the relevant topic, or in a section of its own, called something like `Improvements' or `To do'; whatever feels good and will also encourage you to action is the best name for you to use. Refer to this section regularly and keep trying to tackle the weaknesses. Do not just file your lists of comments and suggestions for improvement and then forget them. If one or two markers make similar comments, e.g., `not enough evidence to justify that conclusion' you now know what one of your major problems is, and it suggests strongly that you should address it when writing an assignment in future. If it helps, make a list of the comments, and pin it up where you can see it easily where you write your work. This will act as a reminder when you are preparing an assignment to plug your personal defects and improve your average performance.
Whenever you cannot read the staff member's comments owing to poor handwriting (a not uncommon occurrence), then go and see the person in his/her office hours. Take the essay with you, and ask them to decipher their comments for you. You can also seize this opportunity and ask if they can suggest ways around the problems they have identified.
Learn as you go. Do not wait until just before exams and then try to swot up. You are at university to learn and use the information, to widen your mind and horizons, to enjoy the intellectual stimulation, to struggle with the new and come to terms with it. You are not trying to fool the teachers now, if you once were, nor are you here just to get a degree.
Last Revised
07/22/06 16:35
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