Study Skills Workshop

A Sea of Sharks

Cut-throat competition for university admissions, their contingency on career success, internalized parental pressure, and astronomical self-standards; have all magnified academic stress in children manifold. School ought to be a stress-free academic environment to be conducive to bettering performance. But the glaring reality is quite different. Children are facing tremendous exam stress, are unable to comprehend subjects, are getting disinterested in studies, and believing that they can’t manage their time well enough to get everything done; while parents and teachers are worried about what they can do to help.
study skills help children shine
Academic stress is a dysfunctional hyper arousal (distress) faced by children, in relation to academics. This is clearly in excess of the magnitude of the challenge posed. Each year plenty of students give examinations but some end up with serious stress that can predispose anxiety, depression, nervousness and longstanding stress response situations. It is repeatedly emphasized that one must study, but children aren’t given clear-cut guidance on how to study. Here is the ABCD model of academic stress.

Academic Anxiety (A)

  • “This is way too many assignments!”
  • “The grade expectation is too high!”
  • “I need to beat the others in class!”
  • “Time is not enough for this much!”

Academic Beliefs (B)

  • “I will never be able to do this much!”
  • “I am not as good as other students!”
  • “It is already too late to start now!”
  • “There’s no point; why bother trying?”

Academic Conflict (C)

  • “I should give up on my friendships?”
  • “Should I waste time on exercising?”
  • “Isn’t it better if I stay up all night?”
  • “Where should I even make a start?”

Academic Doubt (D)

  • “I will goof up in the exam like always!”
  • “My parents will be unhappy with me!”
  • “My teachers will be so disappointed!”
  • “I won’t get anywhere in life like this!”

What Are Study Skills?

Studying effectively depends upon 2 factors: the content one intends to study and how they learn. Study skills are a series of attitudinal and behavior preferences with regard to studies, that build a knack at sticking to the study matter, retaining information and reproducing it efficiently in the examination and in life. Academic excellence requires core subject skills as well as such executive functioning skills in order to learn effectively and quickly. Core skills involve understanding the subject matter, retaining it to memory and applying it in context when asked to. Study skills support core skills by training the brain to absorb the information in a way that it will be preserved.

Skill 1: Time Management

Time is a scare resource. There’s always too much to do and such little time. Managing time means planning rightly, prioritizing and avoiding procrastination. Few students use time tables these days. A time planner not only sets the plan and priorities, it also gives feedback on how far the student is from his or her goals and can modulate the speed to reach there in the allotted time span. Time management keeps one on top of their game.

Skill 2: Study Motivation

Studying is like driving a car. It takes a few minutes to get from the first to the third gear, and then fourth and fifth, so you cruise smoothly. The first gear however is slow and guzzles more power and fuel. That’s the case with motivation to study. It always seems daunting and you think there’s too much to do and it will never get done. It gets overwhelming when self-doubt creeps in and could lead to stress, anxiety and panic too.

Skill 3: Study Style

Studying is an art, and every artist has their own style of creating a masterpiece. The way every student processes information in their brain constitutes their learning style. If students learn in the style that matches their brain’s preference, they retain and reproduce information better for the examination as well as use later in life. Most students use a combination of styles. At times one may prefer a given style for a given subject too.

Skill 4: Reading

The purpose of reading is to perceive, understand, decode, and interpret the meaning of the text. Reading is an extensively used skill – from directions to instruction manuals to messages and emails, we read every hour. But study reading demands a different knack. The sheer volume of the material is so large that the brain loses focus and drifts. The subject and its context are hence lost. One needs continuous focus to read and retain.

Skill 5: Listening

Listening is by far the most used and least taught human interpersonal skill. Especially in school, students are expected to listen to, and absorb a magnanimous quantum of content. But their incessant background mind chatter could prevent them from receiving the information well, leave alone absorbing, retaining or reproducing it for an examination or for application in life. Not just studies, even in commonplace conversations, we lose 80% of what we listen to. We need to teach our kids how to listen.

Skill 6: Acing Examinations

Exams are really the culmination point of all the hard work students put in all year long. And while it seems easy to say that all the effort should’ve been put in way beforehand, pre-exam preparation makes a mammoth difference in the final performance. Devils that plague performance are – exam anxiety, improper revision, last minute time mismanagement, ignoring health, dehydration, not getting enough rest and disrupted sleep.

Improving performance

Much can be done to improve and sharpen academic performance. Study skills, like most other acquired skills, can be learned, inculcated and put to practice. These skills are dynamic, ever changing and alter with the system and syllabus demands. They focus on the form, and not the content; hence can be put to practice for any subject, any class, any child. Once inculcated, these will benefit children in every walk of life.

Dr Shefali Batra: Reframing Study Attitudes

The multi-course module on scientific study methods uses time tested techniques to make studies simple, interesting, understandable, retainable, easy, and reproducible. The course includes interactive group work sessions (with parents too) and provides take-home booklets and worksheets for the students to absorb and internalize these concepts. This enables them to continually put into practice – the proficiencies acquired. Learning is imperative for children’s success. Inculcating learning skills can be their best gift… for life.

Dr Shefali Batra is a Feature Writer in the Teenager Today (India’s first Teen Zine) since 15 years. The magazine is focused on adolescent wellness. 

References

  • Chung, O., & Yip M., (2002). Relation of Study Strategies to The Academic Performance of Hong Kong University Students. Psychological Reports, Vol. 90, 1, (338) 3.
  • M., Gettinger, J. K., Seibert, (2002). Contributions of study skills to academic competence School Psychology Review, 31 (3):350-365
  • Dodge, J. (1994). The study skills handbook: More than 75 strategies for better learning. New York: Scholastic Inc.

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