Success in Study Book

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Success in Study and Exam Habits

A manual of answers to two major questions which confrontevery student

1. What is my study Weaknesses?2. How can I improve my study methods?

By: KabasoSydney Mupukwa

© 2010

CONTENTS



1. About the Author………………………………………

2. Introduction ……………………………………………

3. Know who you are ……………………………………

4. Improving your reading ability ……………………..

5. Studying your text book assignment ……………….

6. Improving your memory ……………………………..

7. Taking notes ………………………………………….

8. Preparing for and taking examinations ……………9. Improving your capacity for study …………………..

About the Author

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Chapter one

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K abaso Sydney Mupukwa is a multi gifted International motivational

Speaker, Business and Academic consultant, dynamic preacher,

Author, Lecturer, Researcher and Social Worker who addresses

critical issues affecting the full range of human, social and spiritual

development. The central theme of his message is critical self

awareness of one potential in life.

He is a Managing Consultant for Kabsy Consultancy Services; a

consultancy firm specialized in academic, business, development

and InfoTech. Through his work as a consultant, he travels

extensively around the World as a conference speaker and

facilitator. He is a man sought after by business men & women,

students and institutions in that he displays his dynamic skills inacademics, development, business and leadership with insight of

specialized knowledge and understanding.

As an Author, Kabaso has written number of publications whose

books are noted for their crisp simplicity and practical principles. In

addition, he is also a contributing Author of Lulu Publishing. His

work is distributed on the internet and sold.

He is the Director of Love World Campus Ministry- Zambia, A

ministry of Christ Embassy pioneered by Pastor Chris Oyachilome

and president of Vessels of Honour, a Christian International

Organization dedicated to raising champions and prayer warriors

and leaders. Kabaso as a preacher travels around the world on

evangelism and missions. Anointed to preach good news, healing

the sick & delivering captives. Kabaso is also a producer of various

radio and TV programmes that are sold in all electronic formats and

aired on different radio and TV stations.

He blends knowledge received from Mulungushi University,

University of Zambia and University of Africa into money and is

currentl hel in millions in transformin their visions into realit

Introduction

Success in studies and Examsmanual book written to answe

many questions that are oasked by students from all wof learning on:

What are my sweaknesses?

How can I improve study habits?

Knowledge from PsycholPhilosophy and the word of has been blended into 7 habithelp students all over the wdevelop study and exam habefore undertaking their examinations.

It can be used by all studeregardless of their level of stud

The book is accompanied by aand DVD on the success in stuand exams for students. Contathe author on+260966717712email:[email protected] our website: http:

www.kabsyconsultancyserviceg

http://www.kabsyconsultancyservices.org/






Know who you are

It has often been said that, if you do not know who you are otherpeople will tell you who you are not.

Knowing your self is the first step in making your study and exam easy

for you. Who are you? What is your personality, where do you come

from, what are your weaknesses, strengths?

“Any act often repeated soon forms a habit; and habit allowed, steadily

gains in strength. At first it may be as a spider’s web, easily broken

through, but if not resisted, it soon binds us with chains of steel.”

(Tryon Edwards)

You are extraordinary! You came into this world with more talents and

abilities than you could ever use. You could not exhaust your full

potential if you lived 100 lifetimes. Your amazing brain has 20 billion

cells, each of which is connected to as many as 20 thousand other

cells. The possible combinations and permutations of ideas, thoughts

and insights that you can generate are equivalent to the number one

followed by eight pages of zeros. According to brain expert Tony

Buzan, this number is greater than all the molecules in the known

universe. Whatever you have accomplished in life to this date is only a

small fraction of what you are truly capable of achieving.

The psychologist, Abraham Maslow, once wrote that, “The story of the

human race is the story of men and women selling themselves short.”

The average person settles for far less than he or she is truly capableof achieving. Compared with what you could be, everything you have

accomplished so far is only a small part of what is truly possible for

you.

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The challenge is that you come into the world with the most incredible

brain, surrounded by unlimited possibilities for success, happiness and

achievement, but you start off with no instruction manual. As a result,

you have to figure it all out for yourself. Most people never do. They go

through life doing the very best they can, but they never come within

shouting distance of doing, having and being all that is possible for

them.

Coming From Behind

I started off my school life with few advantages. I was brought up in a

disciplined family and my parents were the main model. I was born at

the time when my father was a member of parliament, and Deputy

Minister for Northern Province. In that time of it meant well for my

education. My father always ensured that I pay much attention to my

studies.

My school started well, when I had three brothers in the teaching

professional. It was an advantage for me, in that after my school hours,I utilized every skill in me. I grew up as an intelligent pupil. I did well, in

all my Primary education and passed well in every examination.

Things changed for me, I moved from Luwingu to Luanshya, I started

staying with my brother who is a Chemist Teacher at Mpatamato High

School. The place was secured for me at Luanshya Central High School.

At grade nine I passed so well, in that I came second the all school and

went in a pure class at Luanshya Boys High School.

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I left high school without getting six points, despite doing well during

my mock examination. The Grade 12 results were not impressive for

me, even my family was shocked why I failed to have six points.

Things well not well for me for three years in that, my results did not

favour me to get a scholarship or a bursary and study with University

of Zambia, where I wanted to study Chemical Engineering. My family

had no money at that time to pay for me in a University.

I worked at laboring jobs for several years. I worked in a mining

company as a general worker and later promoted to a safety officer at

Zambia Metal Fabricators (ZAMEFA). I worked with number of

contractors; I worked in the woods slashing brush. I dug ditches and

made fences for people in the yards. I worked on farms and ranches. I

worked in factories and on construction sites. For a time, I was a galley

boy on a Zambian soil. I earned my living by the sweat of my brow.

When I could no longer find a laboring job, I got a job at the clinic, as a

peer educator and psychosocial counselor. I became the project

coordinator for Chibolya Youth Friendly Health Clinic and I remainedthere for three years. For a long time I was asking myself, where did I

go wrong failing to pass my examination as I expected.

The Key to Success unlocked

Then one day I began asking that question, “Why is it that some

people are more successful than others?” Especially, “Why is it that

some students are more successful than others?” With that one

question, I did something that changed my life and began the

formation of a habit that had a profound effect on my future. I went

and asked the most successful Manager, Mrs. Christine Maonde, who at

that time was a district programme coordinator for Health

Communication Partnership (HCP) and she advised me.

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In the Bible it says, “Ask and ye shall receive.” I soon developed the

habit of asking everyone, and in every way possible, for the answers

that I needed to move ahead more rapidly. I met men of God, Pastor

Develious Phiri Pastor Mwansa, they preached the gospel to me, I was

born again and discovered myself. And my life changed from that day.

I started my first Social Work Course at Mulungushi University; by then

it was National College for Management and Development Studies. I

utilized my potential fully in that I understood myself. I helped my

students whilst at the campus with studies. My friends called me

“Lecturer” because of the insight of Knowledge and the help I was

rendering at the Campus. I was the highest in my intake and graduated

with a merit in social development and am in the History of the

University in that we were the first students to graduate at Mulungushi

University.

After completing my first professional programme, I decided to remain

behind in Kabwe and help more millions in discovering their potential

in life. I formed Kabsy Consultancy Services.

The organization provides Research, Consultancy and Tuitions in

Business and Social Sciences in Kabwe, We became known to

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Mulungushi University of Zambia, Evelyn Hone, National Institute of

Public Administration (NIPA), Nkrumah University and other schools,

colleges and Universities in the country, as experts in academic

consultancy, business, development and InfoTech.

I began to read books on selling, consultancy, business, InfoTech and

development and put into action what I had learned. I listened to audio

programs while I walked and eventually, as I drove around. I attended

every sales seminar I could find. I continually asked other successful

salespeople for advice. And I developed the habit of immediately

taking action on any advice or good idea that I received or learned. As

a result, and not surprisingly, my consultancy business went up and

up, and eventually I started to do work, for great people, companies

and nations around the World. Soon, I became the Lecturer at

Immaculata Business and Technical College; lately I expanded and

registered a consultancy firm. Kabsy Consultancy Services where Iam

currently the Managing Consultant.

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Over the years, the people I have taught with methods and techniques

that I had learned, in no time at all, they are making sales and moving

upward and onward in their own lives. Many of those early students

and business people are millionaires today.

The true secret to success that I learned years back has made me a

success ad I wish to share with you, the same principles and I hope and

trust, you will find this book interesting.

The Iron Law of the Universe

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Consultants at Work at Kabsy Consultancy Services, 2009

Kabaso Sydney motivating students in Swaziland on success. March 2010.



What I learned from this experience was the great Law of Cause and

Effect . This is the foundation principle of western philosophy and of

modern thought. It says that for every cause, there is an effect .

Everything happens for a reason. Nothing happens by accident. This

law says that, even if you do not know the reason why something

happens, there is still a reason that explains it. Here is one of the most

important of all success principles: “If you do what other successful

people do, you will eventually get the same results that they do. And if

you don’t, you won’t.”

Nature is neutral. Nature does not favor one person over another. The

Bible says,

“God made the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” When you do

the things that other successful people do, over and over again, you

will eventually get the same results that they do. It is not a matter of

luck, or chance, or accident. It is a matter of law. This was an

extraordinary idea for me. Even today I am awed by the immensity and

power of this simple principle. If you want to be successful in your

studies, pass an examination, be happy, healthy, prosperous, popular,positive and confident, just find out how other people who are enjoying

these benefits got that way and do the same things that they do. Think

the same thoughts. Feel the same feelings. Take the same actions. And

as sure as two plus two makes four, you will eventually get the same

results as others do. It is no miracle.

You Can Learn Anything

Over the years, I have worked in a variety of businesses and industries.

I have traveled in number of countries, learned different languages,

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and developed various skills. In my 20s, I went to leading Universities

locally and Internationally and got papers that I wanted. In every job,

and in every situation, I started off by asking, “What are the rules or

principles for success in this area of activity?” I then read books,

attended courses, and asked everyone I could find for their insights

and ideas.

When I became a Lecturer and Consultant, I read every book and

article I could find on development and management, and applied the

ideas and principles to building and directing a successful consultancy

firm. When I got into Business development, I read dozens of books on

the subject. Within a year, I started Motivation talks, starting with no

money and no contacts, I recorded motivation Talks on business and

sold number of CD’s and DVD’s.

When I got into the ministry, evangelism and missions, I went to learn

to Mozambique, Malawi and Swaziland how to do ministry. I again read

the books, on evangelism and missions, spoke to the experts, and did

my research to find out how to set up a network of Christian

Organizations and do Ministry. Today, run we have over 50 branches of Vessels of Honour International.

Over the past 10 years, in my work as a consultant, my entire focus

has been on discovering the reasons for sales, revenues and profits in

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Kabaso Sydney in Maputo,

Mozambique on anEvangelistic mission in

February 2010.



each business or industry, and then determining how those principles

could be best utilized to achieve the results of the most successful

companies.

When people complimented me on my successes, I eagerly shared

with them what I had learned in each area. I told them that they too

could learn anything that they needed to learn to achieve any goal

they could set for themselves. All they had to do was to find out the

cause and effect relationships in any area of endeavor, and then apply

them to their own activities. If they did this, they would soon get the

same results that other successful people get.

Taking Control of Your Life

But instead of taking this advice, they would nod, smile and agree, and

then turn away and go about their day-to-day business. They would

start work at the last possible moment, waste much of the day in idle

conversation with co-workers and personal business, leave work at the

earliest possible time, and then spend their evenings socializing or

watching television.

In frustration, I began to study psychology and metaphysics. I

eventually learned that there are a series of universal principles and

timeless truths that explain much of human success and failure. These

principles explain happiness and unhappiness, riches and poverty,

health and ill health, and good and poor relationships. These mental

laws explain why some people have wonderful lives and why others do

not.

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The Law of Control

The first law that I discovered was the Law of Control. This law says

that, “You feel happy to the degree to which you feel you are in control

of your own life. You feel unhappy to the degree to which you feel you

are not in control of your own life.” Modern psychology calls this

“Locus of Control Theory.” Psychologists differentiate between an

internal locus of control and an external locus of control. Your locus of

control is where you feel the control exists in each area of your life.

This location determines your happiness or unhappiness more than any

other factor.

For example, if you feel that you are the primary creative force in your

own life, how you make your own decisions, and that everything that

happens to you is a result of yourself and your own behaviors, you

have a solid internal locus of control. As a result, you will feel strong,

confident and happy. You will think with greater clarity and perform at

higher levels than the average person.

On the other hand, if you feel that your life is controlled by other

factors or people, by your job, your boss, your childhood experiences,

your bills, your health, your family or anything else, you will have an

external locus of control. You will feel like a victim. You will feel like a

pawn in the hands of fate. You will soon develop what Dr. Martin

Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania calls “learned

helplessness.” You will feel helpless and unable to change or improve

your situation. You will soon develop the habit of blaming others and

making excuses for your problems. This type of thinking leads

inevitably to anger, frustration and failure.

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The Power of Belief

The next law I discovered was the Law of Belief. This is the basic

principle that underlies most religion, psychology, philosophy and

metaphysics. The Law of Belief says that, “Whatever you believe, with

conviction, becomes your reality.” In the New Testament it says,

“According to your faith, it is done unto you.” In the Old Testament, it

says, “As a man thinketh, in his heart (his beliefs), so is he.” William

James of Harvard wrote, “Belief creates the actual fact.” The fact is

that, “You do not believe what you see, but rather, you see what you

already believe.” Your deeply held beliefs form a screen of prejudices

that distort your external reality and cause you to see things not the

way they are, but the way you are.

The worst of all beliefs are self-limiting beliefs. These are beliefs that

you have developed through life, usually false, that cause you to

believe that you are limited in some way. Your negative beliefs soonbecome habitual ways of thinking. You may believe that you lack

intelligence, creativity, personality, the ability to speak publicly, the

ability to earn a high income, the ability to lose weight, or the ability to

achieve your goals. As a result of your self-limiting beliefs, you

continually fail in mathematics subjects, “sells yourself short,” give up

easily in the pursuit of a goal, and even worse, tell other people around

you that you lack certain qualities or abilities. Your beliefs then

become your realities.

“You are not what you think you are, but what you think , you are.” In

developing success study & exam habits, one of the most important

steps you take is to challenge your self-limiting beliefs. You begin this

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process by imagining that you have no limitations at all. When you

develop your mind to the point where you absolutely believe that you

can do anything you put your mind to, you will find a way to make that

belief a reality. As a result, your whole life will change.

As we will discuss later, beliefs are the hardest things of all to change.

But there is good news. It is that all beliefs are learned. And anything

that has been learned can be unlearned. You can develop the beliefs of

courage, confidence and unstoppable persistence that you need for

great success by reprogramming your subconscious mind in a specific

way.

Your Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

The next law that I discovered is the Law of Expectations. This law says

that,” Whatever you expect, with confidence, becomes your own self-

fulfilling prophecy.” In other words, you do not necessarily get what

you want, but rather what you expect. If you confidently expect

something to happen, this expectation has a powerful effect on yourattitude and your personality. The more confident your expectations,

the more likely it is that you will do and say the things that are

consistent with what you expect to happen. As a result, you will

dramatically increase the probabilities that you will achieve exactly

what you are hoping for.

One of the wonderful things about expectations is that you can

manufacture your own. You can get up each morning and say; “I

believe something wonderful is going to happen to me today.” As you

go through the day, you create a force field of expectations that

surrounds you and effects the people with whom you come in contact.

And in some remarkable way, a series of wonderful things, both large

and small, will happen to you throughout the day.

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A successful student expects them to be successful in every subject of

study and successful people expect to be successful, in advance.

Happy people expect to be happy. Popular people expect to be liked by

others. They develop the habit of expecting that something good will

happen in every situation. They expect to benefit from every

occurrence, even temporary setbacks and failures. They expect he

best of other people, and always assume the best of intentions. And

they are seldom disappointed.

The flipside of positive expectations are the negative expectations that

many people have. Unhappy people expect to fail more often than they

succeed. They expect that other people will hurt or disappoint them.

They expect their ventures to do poorly. Instead of expecting the best,

they expect the worst, and because the law is neutral, they are seldom

disappointed.

One of the most important things you can do to assure a happy,

healthy, prosperous life, is to expect the very best from every person

or situation, no matter how it may look at the moment. Develop thehabit of positive expectations. You will be amazed at the effect this has

on yourself and on the people around you.

You Are a Living Magnet

The next law I learned about was the Law of Attraction. This law says

that, “You are a living magnet; you invariably attract into your life the

people, ideas and circumstances that harmonize with your dominant

thoughts.” This law of attraction has been written and spoken about for

five thousand years. It is one of the most important of all principles in

explaining success and failure. The law of attraction says that your

thoughts are activated by your emotions, either positive or negative,

and that they then create a force field of energy around you that

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attracts into your life, like iron filings to a magnet, exactly the people

and circumstances that are in harmony with those thoughts.

Like all mental laws, the law of attraction is neutral. If you think

positive thoughts, you attract positive people and circumstances. If you

think negative thoughts, you attract negative people and

circumstances. Successful, happy people continually think and talk

about the things they want to attract into their lives. Unsuccessful,

unhappy people are continually talking about the people and situations

that cause them to feel angry and frustrated.

One of the most important habits you develop is the habit of keeping

your mind full of exciting, positive, emotionalized pictures and images

of the exact things you want to see materialize in your life, and in the

world around you. This is one of the most difficult of disciplines, but

one that pays off in extraordinary ways.

As Within, So Without

The summary law of the laws we have just discussed is the Law of

Correspondence. This law says that, “Your outer world is a reflection of

your inner World.” It is as though you live in a 360-degree mirror.

Everywhere you look, you see yourself reflected back at you. People

treat you the way you treat them. The way you think about your

physical body will be reflected in your health habits and your

appearance. The way you think about people and your relationships

will be reflected back to you in the quality of your friendships and your

family life. The way you think about the subject will be reflected on

your test paper. The way you think about success and prosperity will

be reflected in the results that you enjoy in your career and your

material life. In every case, your outer world reflects back to you, like a

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mirror image, exactly what you are thinking in the deepest recesses of

your mind.

When you put the Laws of Cause and Effect, Belief, Expectations,

Attraction and

Correspondence together, you arrive at the great universal principle

that explains your life and everything that happens to you: “You

become what you think about – most of the time.”

Just think! You become what you think about most of the time. You

always move in the direction of your dominant thoughts. Everything in

your outer world is controlled and determined by what you are thinking

in your inner world. The good news is that there is only thing in the

universe over which you have complete control, and that is the content

of your conscious mind. Only you can decide what you think about

most of the time. And fortunately, this is all the control that you need

to shape your own life and determine your own future. By taking

complete control of your conscious thoughts, you can control the

directionof your life. By taking control, you will feel happy, powerful, confident

and free.

You will become unstoppable.

You can improve the ability of your school work immeasurably by first

analyzing your present study methods and then changing those

methods and then changing those methods which are known to be

ineffective. The procedure necessary for improving your habits of study

includes the following: -

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First, answer the items in the study “Study Habits Inventory” below. It

is a weighted checklist of specific habits and attitudes which bear an

important relationship to scholastic success in college or university.

Directions: The following is a list of statements of situations, habits

and conditions which affect the use of study time and consequent

success in school work and study. You are asked to state your habits

with regard to these items, not in accordance with what you think you

should or should not do, or what you see others do, but in accordance

with what you, yourself, are in the habit of doing. Please answer all

questions.

A. Reading and note taking habits.

After each statement, you will find three columns. Place a check mark

in the column which you feel most nearly describes the truth of the

statement in your own case now. If the statement is rarely or never

true in your own case, make a check mark in column 1; if the

statement is sometimes true, make a check mark in Column 2; if the

statement is often or always true, and make a check mark in Column 3.

B. Habits of Concentration

Instructions

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A.Reading & NoteTaking Techniques

1Rarely

Or Never

2Som

etime

s

3Often

Or Alwa ys

Scor e

Ref Pages

1. I have to re-readmaterial several times –the words don’t havemuch meaning the firsttime I go over them2. I have trouble pickingout the important pointsin material read orstudied; tend to takedown material whichturns out to beunimportant3. I go back and recite tomyself the materialstudied – rechecking anypoints I found doubtful4. I pronounce the wordsto myself as I read5. I miss importantpoints in the lecture

while copying downnotes on somethingwhich has gone beforeB. Habits of Concentration

6. I find it hard to keepmy mind on what I amstudying – don’t knowwhat I have beenreading about when Iget through7. I have a tendency to“day-dream” whentrying to study

8. It takes mesome time to getsettled and“warmed up” tothe task of study9. I have to waitfor “the mood tostrike me” or for“an inspiration”before starting atask; I am likelyto waste timeC. Distribution of Time & Social relationships in Study

10. My studyperiods are oftentoo short for meto get warmed upand concentrated11. My timeunwiselydistributed; Ispend too muchtime on somethings and notenough on others12. My periods of study areinterference suchas telephone

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Second, Score the various study item. Find out the score value of your

answer for each item and write it in its appropriate space in the

inventory . Add all scores with positive signs; add all scores with

negative signs; then subtract the smaller sum from the larger sum. Do

not, however, place too much dependence on this total score, since

you may have a high positive total score and still have one or two poor

habits which are represented by large negative numbers. If your total

score is below a plus 30, which is the average for a large group of

freshmen, you certainly need to examine your individual scores with

great care.

Third, determine which habits need to be improved. Encircle all those

items in the inventory which received a negative score. Each indicates

a habit which is associated with poor academic achievement. Careful

investigations have shown that students who are doing school workbelow the average for their level of ability habitually study in the way

indicated by the negative score. Students whose school work is above

the average for their level of ability do not study in this way, but in the

way indicated by the positive scores. The score is especially important

if your answer was in Column 1 or Column 3. The size of the score is

somewhat indicative of the importance of the habit.

Fourth, find out how you can improve upon your poor habits. Almost

any habit can be changed by persistent effort. For any habit that tends

toward low scholarship there is an alternative habit which is

characteristic of students who achieve high scholarship. You will find

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the location of the appropriate suggestions in this manual for

improving your study and reading habits in the column labeled

“Reference Pages” in the inventory . Read the entire manual at least

once in order to see habit relationships.

Fifth, write out six or eight of the study & reading suggestions that are

most important for you in the blank spaces below. Put these into

practice everyday. You should look over the suggestions once a day for

at least a week to determine whether or not you are practicing them.

When these become habitual, you should add further needed

suggestions.

Sixth, check yourself by taking again the “Study-Habits Inventory”

which is located on pages 30 – 32. You should have practiced the new

study habits for at least a month before you take this inventory. Score

yourself as before and compare your scores with those you received on

your first inventory .

SELECTED SUGGESTIONS

Use the space below for writing in those suggestions which you will

want to put into practice as a result of the preceding analysis.

Whenever possible, secure specific assistance in your study

improvement from a psychologist habits

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Chapter Two

Planning your work

You should regard your School, college or University as you

would any job for which you should agree to work certain

scheduled hours. Having formed the habit of keeping a schedule, the

adjustment you will be forced to make when you leave school and get

a job will not be so severe. Imagine what would happen if an industry

were carried on in the way that many students carry on their study.

Suppose a manager should tell employees only that it was up to them

to work hard and to do their best, without telling them when or how

they should work. A tremendous waste of labour would result. To avoid

such waste, efficient managers plan each move with care.

No doubt you have had the experience of being confronted with

several tasks simultaneously and have found that in such a situation,

you either failed to do any one of them or you were able to get started

wholeheartedly on one task only after a long delay. The pressure of

each task prevented you from concentrating completely upon any one,

causing you to turn in a futile fashion from one to another. This type of

indecision is called mental conflict. A declaration, however, that you

will study your French at eight o’clock tomorrow settles the conflict;

the proper mental set is established, other inclinations are opposed inadvance and when the time comes you almost automatically do the

task scheduled. A planned programme is one of the greatest aids in

making your work smooth-running and effective.

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1. Put into your schedule the hours spent Sleep. You should

arrange to get at least seven or eight hours every night.

2. Schedule the hours spent in necessary activities, such as

meals, class laboratories, and work for pay. Cross-hatch or

lightly fill in these squares so that they will stand out as the

fixed periods and the blank squares as the ones to be planned

for.

3. Plan your study periods. Determine the approximate number

of hours necessary for each subject from your trial record on

Time Chart No.1. The average student who has no more than

one laboratory course will probably need to spend from 24 to

30 hours a week in study in addition to time spent in

laboratories and classes. Some students will need to spend

more time; a few can spend less. The less your academicbackground, your mental ability, or the effectiveness of your

habits of work, the more time you should spend in study.

Don’t judge how much time you should by how much

someone else spends. Students differ as much in this as they

do, for example, in physical strength or skill in tennis.

4. Arrange some time for reaction. You should spend a minimum

of 15 hours a week in conversation, social activities, lighting

reading, and other forms of relaxation.

5. Adapt the length of each study period to the type and

difficulty of the material to be studied. For example, if you are

doing drill work involving rote memorizing, you should not

over 20 minutes without a change or at least a rest. If you are

24



reading a novel or writing a paper, however, you may work

several hours without a change. Most students find it best in

textbook studying to work intensively for forty minutes to an

hour and then rest for a few minutes. During the rest period,

get a drink, walk around, or do something else that will give

you muscular or visual relaxation. While resting, avoid any

activity such as conversation which would make it difficult to

return to whatever you were doing. This will eliminate the

danger of mental distractions and the necessity for warming

up again to your study.

6. Place each study period as close to its class recitation as

possible. Thus, if you have history at 8:00AM on Wednesday,

you will remember more if you study the assignment Tuesday

night rather than the preceding Monday night. It is highly

efficient to review class and lecture notes and do preliminary

advance preparation immediately after a class if you have a

free period. If possible, provide a brief period for reviewing the

lesson just before going to class, but do not wait for that

period to do your first studying of the assignment.7. Do not waste the hours between classes. The hours from

8:00AM to 6:00PM are the hardest to schedule. Assign them

carefully to classes, study, and recreation.

8. Do not change directly from the study of one course to

another similar to it. For example, if you are taking two

foreign languages, never study one of them right after having

studied the other.

9. Study your most difficult courses during the time of the day

when you work most efficiently.

Follow the Schedule, Allowing for Some Changes.

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10. Place a copy of your schedule on the wall in front of your

desk where you can see it easily. Study your schedule

carefully at the beginning of each day and check on yourself

at the end of the day. After you have made a time chart and

followed it for several weeks, you will be surprised how easily

you fall into regular habits. Just as it is easier to get up at 7:00

O’ clock after you have made it a habit. You will be further

astonished at the amount of free time you will have as

compared with the amount you had under your former

careless daily routine.

11. Make changes whenever necessary. Your schedule will

need to be revised, and at times broken. It should be, not an

inflexible system which takes away all spontaneity of action,

but rather a guide to efficient effort.

12. Don’t be too heroic in your belief that you can follow a

schedule easily. You may become discouraged in your

attempts, particularly in the beginning. It is, however, vitally

important for you to keep applying the schedule until it

becomes a habit.

26



Chapter Three

Improving your reading ability

A. Know WHEN and HOW to vary you’re Reading Rate.

1. Factors determining reading rate include:

a. The difficulty of the material, which may range from the

lightness of a light novel to the heaviness of a very

technical book. You may be able to read something light at

the rate of 600 words per minute and yet not be able to

read with understanding more than fifty words of chemistry

per minute.

b. Your familiarity with the vocabulary of the material. A

lawyer can read in a few minutes and with perfect

understanding material which you might understand only

imperfectly after puzzling over it for hours.

c. The purpose for which you read. You may read a novel

primarily for the plot, for the beauty of description, for themethod of characterization, or for all of these purposes.

Your reading speed will vary accordingly. You ordinarily

read the newspaper rapidly and casually, but for an oral

report you would read it slowly and critically.

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2. Speed used in reading may roughly be described as:

a. Skimming, which is the most rapid way of reading? Use if

for: (1) determining whether a book has certain information

you are looking for; (2) finding the author’s method of

organization; (3) getting a general idea of the book’s

usefulness to you.

b. Rapid Reading, Which is speed without skipping? Use it (1)

to get a fairly complete understanding of the material read;

(2) when reading familiar material with the purpose of

picking up new ideas of to refresh the memory; (3) for

finding the answer to a specific problem. This rate is most

appropriate for reading fiction and light non-fiction.

c. Normal or average reading, which represents a slowing

down for the sake of thoroughness. Use it (1) to get a fairly

complete understanding of the material read; (2) in making

an outline; (3) for summarizing; (4) in collecting

information for a theme or report. The average college

student will need to read from about 200 to 400 words per

minute of average textbook material. If you have doubtsabout your reading ability, arrange to take a reading test.

d. Heavy reading, which calls for the slowest rate. Use it (1) in

evaluating or criticizing; (2) in reading very difficult or

unfamiliar material; (3) for discovering a method of solving

a problem. This rate is particularly necessary for intelligent

reading in physical sciences, mathematics, and philosophy.

You may not be able to read effectively more than four or

five pages an hour at this speed.

B. Increase Your Speed of Reading.

Extensive experimentation has shown that particularly anyone

can greatly increase his rate of reading. Many people can double

28



their speed without any loss in accuracy. Studies show gains

ranging from 25 percent to over 100 percent increase in speed,

accompanied by no loss and often by an improvement in

understanding or comprehension. An increase in reading rate is

often accompanied by better comprehension, because a

relatively faster rate calls for closer concentration and

necessitates the grouping of words in larger units, such as

phrases or sentences. The following suggestions will help you in

improving your reading rate:

1. Eliminate throat or lip movements and the “hearing” of the

words. If you whisper or use lip movements, you are able to

read silently only as fast as you do aloud. You may detect any

lip movement by placing your fingers on your lips as you read.

2. Make a definite effort to correct errors which you tend to

make consistently. For instance, you may tend to overlook the

word not or you may continually misread a certain word.

3. Read for ideas, not words. The eyes do not move gradually

across the line as you read but rather by jumps, pausing ateach jump. Most students while reading material that is not

too difficult are able to see several words during pause.

However, some students pause or look upon every word

including even such minor ones as a, an, and the. To

overcome word reading, practice reading enough words at a

single glance so that you get ideas rather than isolated words.

4. Try to get the main thought of each paragraph. Generally,

two-thirds or more of the sentences of each paragraph are

illustrative or supplementary. The central idea is frequently

stated in a topic sentence of the paragraph.

29



5. Have in mind something definite that you are looking for, such

as a point of information, answer to questions, or solutions to

problems.

6. Focus your attention only upon the meaning. If you are

concerned about your eye movements or the time it takes you

to read the present material, you are trying to pay attention

to both what and how you are reading. This division of

attention will slow you down, since it is impossible to pay

attention effectively to two or more things at one time.

7. Reduce re-reading to a minimum. Read easy material without

re-reading any parts. Do not stop to puzzle over sentences

that are obscure on the first reading, as you would if you were

solving a problem. Later sentences sometimes make clear the

meaning of earlier sentences. If this does not occur, then you

can re-read the obscure sentences. Gradually, you will learn

to understand without re-reading.

8. Try to read more rapidly. Continually forces yourself to read

faster and still get the thought. Simple as this sound, it is a

very important aid in increasing your reading rate. At first,you may experience a feeling that you are missing some of

the content; however, in checking your comprehension you

may find that this feeling is misleading.

9. Time yourself on various types of material, and then try to

beat your own record. Keep a graph or chart to show your

progress.

a. Read easy fiction under limits. Read a novel of seventh or

eighth-grade difficulty, keeping a record of the number of

minutes required to read ten full pages at intervals of

about fifty pages. This will give you a measure of any

increase in reading speed as you read the book.

30



b. Use the “running start” in reading articles and stories.

Read the first two paragraphs thoroughly. Then, timing

yourself, read the first two paragraphs a second time and

continue reading further until you finish. Since you will

read the beginning paragraphs twice, you should be able to

read them faster than you would have ordinarily. Thus you

will gain a certain momentum which will enable you to read

the remainder of the selection faster than usual without

requiring too much effort on your part to read faster.

c. Compete with yourself in reading your assignments. Select

five pages from one of your assignments and read these

pages in your usual manner, keeping a record of the

number of minutes and seconds it takes you to read them.

Then, select five more pages and read them as fast as you

can without any conscious loss in comprehension, keeping

a record of the time required for reading. Compare the

time necessary for the first five pages with that necessary

for the second five pages. Continue this process until your

habitual rate of reading is as this increased rate.

C. Get the Writer’s Meaning by Finding His Framework or

Organization.

Any material which is well written is organized. However, do not

always expect to be able to determine the writer’s organization.

Reading for meaning requires the ability to follow the author’s

sequence of ideas rather than to note isolated facts. With practice

you can make it a habit to notice the plan of development of the

material. Make use of the following methods to help you get a

blueprint of the material read:

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1. Make use of the editor’s signals:

a. The table of contents, located in the first few page of the

book, gives you a bird’s-eye view or map of the ground covered,

because the chapter headings make up the main topics of the book.

b. Each chapter usually has within it headings, printed in special

type, which indicate the chief divisions of the chapter. These

make up the main subtopics of the book.

c. Often, each paragraph or group of paragraphs is introduced

by topic printer in italics or boldface type. These are further

hints as to main points. Of course, not all books have these

signals; but use them whenever they are available.

2. Find the writer’ use and development of paragraphs. Aparagraph is generally a signal that a different idea is being

developed which should help show the steps in the writer’s

thoughts.

a. Be able to recognize the introductory paragraph and thesummary paragraph in a chapter. The former frequently gives

the purpose of the article and sets the stage for what is to

follow. The latter, which is usually found at the end of a

chapter or section, consists of a condensed restatement of

the principal points or main ideas. It may occur within a

chapter for the purpose of summarizing the discussion to that

point. Sometimes a summary is expressed in the introductory

paragraph.

b. A paragraph topic may be developed by gicvng examples,

contrasting or comparing two objects or things, giving reasons

for a statement, giving the solution to a problem, repeating

32



the main idea in different words, or by explanatory or

descriptive details.

3. Make use of topic sentences. Paragraphs are usually written

according to one of the following patterns:

a. The topic sentence (which expresses the main thought)is

most frequently located at the beginning of the paragraph:

also, it may be located at the end of the paragraph;

occasionally, but rarely, it is located in the body of the

paragraph.

b. Sometimes no main topic sentence is given but the main idea

is to be inferred from the details given.

c. Further, a single topic sentence may suffice for a group of

paragraphs when each new paragraph deals with a new group

of details rather than a new thought.

4. Make use of signal words. These are connectives which show

relationships existing among the various points.

a. Full signals are words like “first,” “second,” and symbols like

(1) and (2). These reveal directly the writer’s points.

b. Half-signals also indicate the writer’s points or ideas, but notas clearly as full signals. some half-signals quite frequently

used included the following:

(1)Another fact: next, then, further, besides, moreover, but.

(2)Another time: then, soon, mean while, later, at last, finally .

(3)Another place: there, here, above, beneath, on the other

side.

(4)A specific case: for example, especially, in particular.

(5)A conclusion: therefore, consequently, for this reason.

The sentence, “He was interviewed by the secretary, then by

the president, and finally by the whole board,” illustrates the

use of half-signals indicating time.

33



5. Note the writer’s framework while you are reading. This will

vary a great deal according to the writer and the nature of the

material. The following example indicates one way of noting the

writer’s organization. You may think to yourself:

This is the author’s introduction; he has announced his purpose or

main idea.

This is the first important point which he illustrates.

Now he is wandering away from the main thread of thought. He is back

on the main road again and is making a second point; he restates this

point several times.

Now he is making a third point, a fourth, and a fifth, offering supporting

statement for each.

Finally he makes certain conclusions based on the preceding facts.

D. Get The Meaning Of Each Unfamiliar Word1. Secure its meaning from the context. In the sentence, “john

scrutinized the pen, since he thought it might be the one he had

lost,” you can guess the meaning of the word “scrutinized:” from

the rest of the sentence. Furthermore, the meanings of words

depend entirely upon the manner in which they are used in a

sentence. For example, the word order would have different

meanings in each of these two sentences: “I should like to place

my order now,” and “The order of names should be reversed”.

2. Secure its meaning by analysis. In order to do this , you should:

a. Know the most commonly used prefixes, as Trans (across).

b. Learn such common suffixes, as able (capable of being).

34



c. Make use of word roots such as part (carry). Thus

transportable would mean ‘capable of being carried across.”

d. Try to discover whether the word contains within it familiar

shorter words such as solid in solidarity.

3. Look the word up in the dictionary if its meaning is still vague.

Unless the word is absolutely essential to an understanding of

the paragraph, look it up after you have finished the paragraph

or section. Otherwise frequent pauses to look up words will

disturb the rhythm of your reading and reduce your speed.

4. Learn to use a phonetic attack if you can’t pronounce unfamiliar

words which if heard would be understood. (See back pages for

reference to a phonics workbook.)

E. Do Not Skip Tables, Graphs, Drawings, Or Maps

These aids are put into your textbook to give you a concise

summary of main points. Since they give you a visual picture, you

should remember them more easily than you would any word

explanation they summarize in a small amount of space facts and

relationships that would otherwise require hundreds of words.

F. Evaluate Whatever You Read.

1. Test your own thinking. Is it free from personal prejudice or

emotional bias? Do you read this material with an open mind or

do you only retain that which supports certain conclusion which

you have already established?

2. Test the writer’s reliability. What experience has the writer had

in the subject with whom he is dealing, and how authoritative are

his sources of information?

3. Test the author’s use of words. Since some words have many

meanings, the author may cause you to believe something which

you would not believe if you had known what he meant by

35



certain words. Also, he may use certain emotionally toned words

to which you react favorably in order to make you accept

statements you would not otherwise accept.

4. Test the statements themselves. Do they agree with other

established facts and conclusions, and are they self-consistent:

does the author offer any proof for his statements; if so, is his

proof sound?

G. Interpret and apply the facts that you learn.

No doubts friends and parents have said to you, “you know better

than that.” What they really mean is that you should make better

use of what you know. The value of knowledge is determined by

the use you make of it. Some suggestions that will increase your

ability to use your knowledge are:

1. Make associations with the past . Relate new ideas to facts that

you already know; relate material learned in one course to that

learned in other courses.

2. Think up illustrations and examples of your own. Force yourself

habitually to recall experiences and examples of your own whicheither support or contradict the writer’s or speaker’s statements.

3. Talk about the material you or hear. Take every opportunity to

discuss with your parents, friends, and instructors the various

ideas and facts which you learn.

4. Apply your knowledge. Put into practice the principles you learn.

You may memorize all the material in this pamphlet, but it will be

of little value until you use the ideas in improving your study.

36



Chapter four

Studying your textbook assignment

One of the poorest but yet most widely used methods of studying

a textbook assignment is to read it through and then, if time

permits, to re-read it. Students using this method often are unable

to recite in class although they can recognize the correct answer

when someone else gives it. Experimental studies show that the

following method, devised by F.P. Robinson, will greatly increase

your understanding and ability to remember your assignments.Some comments made by students using it are: “I predicted 15 of

the 20 questions asked: and “I’ve been getting D’s in history but I

got a B yesterday.”

The Survey Q3R Method

37



SURVEY1. Make a hasty survey of your assignment to get the main

ideas.

This need not take over two or three minutes. Note the title

of the chapter; read any introductory, summary, and

concluding paragraphs and leaf through the assignment to

determine the main sections (generally three to six), thus

getting the framework of the chapter. To being reading

your lesson without this bird’s eye view is like beginning an

automobile trip without a road map or without knowing

where you are going.

QUESTION 2. Turn the first heading into a question. This will

arouse your curiosity and give you a purpose in reading.

The question will make important points stand out while

explanatory detail, elaboration, and repetition is

recognized as such. If there are no headings, ask questions

that you think might be asked by your instructor.

READ 3. Read to answer your questions. This means that you read

to the end of the headed section. Your rate of reading will

depend on your purposes, the difficulty of the material, and

your familiarity with it. While reading, make use of editors’

signals (italics and boldface type), topic sentences, signal

words (“first,” “further”), and various summaries (including

graphs and charts) to help you organize the material.

RESTATE 4. After you have read the first section, look away from

your book and try briefly to restate the answer to the

question. Use your own words and if possible give an

example. If you can’t give the answer, reread the section.

38



Then jot down cue phrases in outline form in your

notebook, particularly for later review. Make the notes

brief.

NOW REPEAT STEPS 2,3 AND 4 ON EACH SUCCEEDING

HEADED SECTION. THAT IS, TURN THE NEXT HEADING INTO

A QUESTION, READ TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION, RESTATE

THE ANSWER, AND OUTLINE. READ IN THIS WAY UNTIL THE

ASSIGNMENT IS COMPLETED.

Studies indicate that a quick review or restatement

immediately after each reading period will insure almost 50

percent greater efficiency in remembering.

REVIEW5. When your lesson has been read; look over your notes to

get a bird’s-eye view of the various ideas and their

relationships. Check your memory by covering up the

notes and trying to recall the main points. Then expose

each main point and try to recall the sub points listed

under it. Further, you should always go over your outline

just before a test. You tend to forget most of what youlearned during the first 24hours. But remember that you

can often relearn in a few minutes what took you an hour

to learn the first time.

In the beginning, the Survey Q3R Method may seem strange and

difficult. However, after you become familiar with the method, it will

result in a far greater mastery of your assignments, with no increase in

time spent in studying. It has these advantages: you are learning to

distinguish between main ideas and details; you trains yourself to

answer questions as you would on a test; you reduce mind-wandering

because you make frequent checks; you make brief notes-using your

own words best possible use of the principles of memory.

39



Chapter Five

Improving your memory

Many students consider the memorizing of a lesson something quite

different from the mastering of the lesson. This is misleading because

the understanding of an idea involves the remembering of certain

related ideas. Memory provides the materials for thought. Memorizing

the important points of a lesson is a necessary part of mastering.

Use a memory system only for learning facts which allow for no

associations or for something you have particular difficulty in

remember. to expect more from them would be using valuable time

learning peculiar associations which might be more efficiently used

learning directly what you wish to remember.

40



Experimental evidence indicates certain principles of memorizing

which lead to more efficient remembering. These principles are:

A. Be Sure You Understand Any Material You Wish to

Remember.

In an experiment on matchstick puzzles, some students

concentrated more upon learning the solution and other studied the

principles involved. A month later the students who had learned the

solution rather than the principles could remember much less. They

did not have poorer memories; rather, they failed to understand

what they learned and therefore forgot more.

B. Learn with the Intention of Remembering.

Experiments have shown that whenever there was no intention to

remember, very little progress was made despite many readings.

The classical “absent-minded professor” doesn’t forget his umbrella

as he leaves the classroom but rather as he arrives. He sets hisumbrella down mechanically with no intention of remembering

where it is because he is thinking of his lecture.

C. Learn to outline or organize the facts.

Contrast the difficulty in remembering the series “apple, pecan,

cherry, pear, walnut” with that of memorizing the same words

arranged in two groups: (1) fruits: apple, cherry, pear; (2) nuts:

pecan, walnut. In similar manner, organize the ideas in your lesson

so they are grouped under main ideas or key words.

D. Select or Create Key Words to Represent the Facts to be

Remembered

41



Try to find certain catchwords or key words which will serve as

guide posts to which you can tie the thread of thought. For

example, typical key words for section II on “Improving Your reading

Ability” would be: (1) vary and increase your speed; (2) get the

writer’s ideas; (3) evaluate, and (4)use.

E. Take Advantage of Your Memory Type.

Some people are “visual minded,” other remember better by ear

(saying it out loud), and a few memorize best by writing out the

material. However, most students find visualizing the best method.

In that case, getting a mental picture of graphs and charts and

making and visualizing summary outlines are valuable are valuable

aids to study.

F. Memorize by using the method most appropriate for the

materials to be memorized.

1. Memorize word for word those materials which are more

effectively learned in that way. Formulas, dates, laws, etc., are of

this type; however, even much of these materials can be

organized.

2. Memorize poems, plays, speeches, or similar materials by

repeating the whole selection from beginning to end until the

general pattern becomes familiar, after which you should work

on the difficult parts. Units and memorize each of the units.

G. Use Short practice Periods.

42



1. It is more efficient to give complete attention to memorizing

something for twenty minutes than it is to give half of your

attention to it for an hour. Hence three different periods of

twenty minutes each spent in memorizing are far more effective

than one period of sixty minutes.

2. Pause for a short while after intensive memorizing; let your mind

rest completely: do not take up a new mental activity for several

minutes, or the new material may get mixed up with that which

you were trying to memorize.

H. Use a flash system.

This consists of writing the words to be learned on one side of a 3x5

card and then writing its meaning on the other side. At regular

intervals go through all your cards testing yourself by giving the

meaning of each word. This method is particularly effective for

memorizing a technical vocabulary. Formulas, dates in history, and

a foreign language vocabulary. Further, these can be carried with

you so that whenever you have a few minutes spare time, you can

review them.

43



Chapter Six

Increasing your ability to concentrate

Concentration is the ability to direct and control attention. It is not

something which some people are born with and others are bornwithout. It consists of a habit or many habits which are formed in

relation to certain tasks.

A. Find the Cause of Your Minds-Wandering

44



1. You many find yourself distracted by little things which interfere

with concentration. Maybe you are supposed to make a phone

call or to write a letter home. It may be best for you to perform

these duties immediately if that is possible. But if you are in the

midst of study, jot down the task, idea, or problem on a scratch

pad so that you will be reminded to take it up later. Doing this

will enable you to put it out of your mind until you complete your

studying.

2. Possibly you have too little or too much confidence regarding the

number of activities you can handle, the grades you feel yourself

capable of getting, or the vocational goal you can attain. An.

Objective examination of your abilities may show you the

desirability of changing your goals.

3. You may have financial difficulties, an unsuccessful love affair,

feelings of inadequacy, and so on. If so, try to determine as

emotionally as possible just what the problem is, what changes

are needed, and what changes can actually be made. This will

reduce or eliminate “thinking in a vicious circle” and will bring

you face of face with the objective facts. It may be best for youto talk over your problems with someone in whom you have

confidence or with a counselor. The most important thing is to

come to a decisive stand concerning your problem, whether or

not it results in immediate action, and then stick to it.

B. Develop work Habits Which Will Aid Concentration

1. Develop regular habits of study in certain places. Try to study a

subject in the same place and at the same time. By so doing, you

will develop habits which will make it much easier for you to

contrite. Keep your place of study sacred to that purpose. Loaf

and do your recreational reading somewhere else, thereby

45



insuring an attitude of study when you sit down at your study

table or other appointed place for study.

2. Work in a place where noise and distractions are at a minimum .

If it is impossible to find a quite place, do not let that become an

excuse for not studying. Experiments show that students can

become so well adapted to a noisy environment that it will not

hinder study efficiency; however, the noisy environment will

require you to exert more energy in order to concentrate. In

adapting yourself to distractions, it is better to disregard rather

than to react to any disturbances. When people fret over

annoyances in their study periods their own anxiety is a greater

source of distraction than is the actual disturbances.

3. Study at your desk in a chair that isn’t too relaxing. An easy chair

is often conducive to sleep.

4. Keep on your desk only those things necessary for study . Have

no distracting objects on it, such as magazines or pictures of

your girl friend, since they encourage mind-wandering.

5. Do not study in an overheated room. A room that is a little toocool rather than too warm will stimulate better study habits.

6. Set a definite goal or task and complete it . Possibly your job is so

vague or seems so large that you becomes discouraged before

you start. Then, break it into a number of small jobs that are

definite and immediate and tackle each part at a time. Long-time

goals may sometimes best be achieved if you break them into

smaller and closer goals.

7. Decide the order in which your jobs will be done. You often find

yourself with so many things to do that when you start on one

your mind wanders to others and, in the end, you don’t finish

any. Decide the order in which you are going to tackle your jobs,

46



writing it down if necessary and crossing each item off as

completed.

8. Begin working immediately : do not wait for inspiration-strive

through the motions, and concentration will soon follow. If you

have to prepare a theme, begin writing something even if it has

no relation to your subject. The act writing will often arouse

appropriate thinking processes. You will be surprised at how

quickly your interest can be aroused.

9. Compete with yourself . Select a task which you can get done in

the amount of time you have and force yourself to finish it. You

have time left over increase the amount of work you tackle each

day until you are just barely able to finish it in the allotted time.

This will force you to concentrate and work efficiently.

10. Attend to one thing at a time. Do not try to attend to or do

several things at once. for instance, some students attempt to

read an assignment and at the same time worry about whether

or not they will remember the facts in the assignment. If you

worry about whether or not you will remember what you are

reading you will find the use of the survey Q3R Method of greatvalue. Since you make frequent reviews in using these methods,

you will not need to worry about having missed certain points

while reading, since you will check up on them in the review.

C. Use The Following Techniques If You Still Can’t Concentrate.

1. Change to another subject. Studying a more interesting course or

just the act of making a choice often bolsters concentration.

2. Visualize your instructor and classmates as you study. Imagine

yourself reciting pr listening in class while the assignment is

47



being discussed. Thus you create a personal reason for study

which often helps concentration.

3. Read only one paragraph before stopping to restate the main

idea or ideas. Reducing your reading to a single paragraph

before restatement will make it easier to state the main idea and

thus you will be moiré likely to experience a feeling of success. A

feeling of accomplishment will aid concentration. After you are

able to read single paragraphs with understanding, you should

be able longer sectors as suggested in the Survey Q3R Method.

However, if you can’t read and understand a paragraph after

several tries, close your book and relax. The good student learns

when “closing the book” is justified and is not just a superficial

excuse for evading study.

Chapter Five

Taking notes

Good notes have several functions: they help you understand the

writer’s or lecturer’s plan; they help you remember for a longer period

48



and with greater accuracy; and they give you concise and complete

outlines for reviews before examinations.

A. Takes Usable Lecture Notes.

1. Study the topic before the lecture in order to be more familiar

with the essential ideas. If this is not possible, make a survey of

the topic.

2. Sit in a place where you can easily hear the lecture and see the

blackboard. Those sitting in the back or by a window or door

have to overcome many distractions.

3. Make your notes brief. Condense the thought into a few words. If

you try to write too much, you fall behind and be unable to follow

the though t o the lecturer or think about the meaning of what he

is saying.

4. Do not try to get the exact words of the lecture. Write this

thoughts in you words. Use abbreviations whenever possible but

use them consequently. Put down in full only such things as the

following: references, definitions, formulas, direct quotations andspecific facts (such as dates).

5. Organize your notes. Arrange statements in your notes so to

show their relation to one other. Two outstanding features of the

notes taken by poor students are their unnecessary length and

their lack of organization.

6. If you miss as point, don’t stop at the moment to recover it.

Leave a blank space and get it later from someone else.

7. Use these cues to sport the important points: title and

introductory remarks; repetition of the main idea; summarizes;

key words; voice inflections; pauses; changes in the speaking

voice; use of transitional words such as “besides,” “therefore,”

“but.”

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8. If necessary, review and revise your notes immediately or as

soon after your class lecture as possible. Check for

misstatements, omissions, and clearness. Never let this review

go until the next day.

9. Underline, preferably using a red pencil, all, main points. All you

may refer to print or to “box in” the main points. It is vitally

important for you to use any method, which will make the main

point’s standout thus making it easier to review the material. Use

the method of review suggested in the description of the survey

Q3R Method.

10. Do not completely rewrite your notes. This is too time –

consuming and you should learn top make them usable the first

time. However, if you have not yet learned how to organize your

notes or if your rumbling lecturer, you should do the following:

draw a line down your note book page leaving about two – thirds

of it on the right hand side of for your lecturer notes; leave the

other one-third of the paper of other reorganizing the notes after

class. For instance, possibly your rambling lecturer made five

statements, scattered throughout the lecture, which should be allorganized under one heading. You may do this by putting the

main heading in the left – hand side section and drawing lines

from this main heading to the five statements. Work out other

organizational aids which may be used to help your notes.

11. Use an 8½ x 11 spiral-bound or loose-leaf notebook. If you

don’t use a separate notebook for every course, keep separate

parts of the notebook for different courses by means of tabs.

12. The suggestions referring to organization, briefness, and

use of own words apply equally well to notes made from your

text or outside reading.

13. Research reveals that outlining is superior to underlining.

However marginal notations, mighty be used effectively if you

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use a set of symbols which would serve as a form of outline.

Thus marginal notations, which take much less time to make tan

underlining, can both help you in organizing the material while

your are reading and aid you in outlining it afterward.

B. Keep a Combined Text and Lecture Outline.

Use the left-h and page for lecture discussion-section notes andthe opposite or right-hand page for your text and outsidereading notes on the same topic.

Chapter Seven

Preparing for and taking examinations

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A. Attempt to Overcome Any Nervousness which You MayExperience Before or While Writing Examinations.

1. Face the situation realistically. Find out whether you have college

ability, adequate reading habits, and effective study procedures.

2. Look upon a test as a competitive game. Regard a test as an

opportunity to show your metal. Develop the altitude of the

sports—man – win if you can, lose if you must, but do the best

you can.

3. Be concerned about your answers to the questions rather than

yourself. If you think about whether your will pass the course or

whether you should have written more on the first questions, you

use up valuable time and energy which should be devoted to

answering remaining questions.

4. Prepare adequately and learn the best methods of taking

examinations. No other suggestion is more important for

overcoming pre-examination “jitters.”

5. If you have examination “jitters” accept them rather than fight or

deny them. Fighting nervousness only increase tension.

B. Prepare Systematical y for Your Examinations.

1. Begin the day after a test to prepare for the next test. Set aside

one hour each week for review of each subject.

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2. Arrange a schedule for review. Designate the day and hour to be

spent each subject for several days preceding the mid-terms and

not later than one week preceding the final examinations.

3. Review by making a list of important laws, principals, theories,

experiments, or ideas. For example, if you are reviewing a test in

English, you will probably want to make a list of all the poems

learned, rules of punctuation, etc.

4. Make a condensed summery or outline of the material reviewed.

Study the summery or outline thoroughly. Get a complete bird’s

eye view of the subject matter so that you will know all the

separate parts are related.

5. Cramming as a concentrated review of materials previously

learned is beneficial. Cramming, as a last minute to learn for the

first time is harmful, because it results in a confused, mass of

undigested material.

6. Predict questions which you would ask if you were the inspector,

and then be sure you know the correct answers. Learn what

works best for you and follow it regardless of what others do. For

example, you may have discovered that working with others orstudying just before an exam confuses you; then don’t do this,

regardless of what others say or do.

7. Find out from the instructor the kind of test that will be given and

material to be covered. Some instructors make available

examinations from previous year. If so, note what kinds of

questions are asked: objective? Interpretation? Discussion?

Problems? Were they primarily from text or the lecture?

8. Know the difference between essay and objective examinations.

Realize that essay test, which require the ability to recall,

necessitate a study emphasis which is different from that

necessary for objective test, which require the ability to

recognize. In reviewing for the former, pay particular attention

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to: main ideas, together with their supporting points;

relationships among various topics, sections, and chapters; the

application of the important principles and ideas; and the ability

to recall the necessary information. For the letter, review not

only the main points, but also the supporting details, and note

striking words or phrases and key sentences.

9. Review selectively. Give special attention to phases of the

subject in which you are weak. You should refresh your memory

with regard to the high points of the section of the chapter

reviewed selectively, so that you will be able to connect or

associate the unfamiliar material with important familiar

material.

10. Analyze previous and present examinations to determine

your weaknesses. Keep all your tests and your quizzes. Ask

yourself whether the questions were the ones you accepted, and

of those you hadn’t predicted, note where they came from. Also

deter mine in which of the following ways your answer was

deficient: too brief, inaccurate, omission of certain points of a

question, careless mistakes, lack of understanding of what thequestion asked. If you have difficulty in determining what was

wrong asks your instructor.

11. Some students especially in mathematics study their

assignments and work their problems rather leisurely only to find

that during tests they are not able to answer all the questions

asked. It that case speed up your work by studying and doing

your problems under pressure. Duplicate the test situation by

setting you’re your alarm clock to ring at the end of certain

period of time.

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C. Learn How to Write Objective Examinations.

1. Read the direction s twice and underline all significant words in

the directions. This is equally important for essay examinations.

If there is any doubt about the meaning of the directions, ask the

instructor or proctor for an explanation.

2. Find out whether you will be penalized for wrong answers or

whether only correct answers will be counted. If there is no

penalty for wrong answers, guess; however, if there is a penalty,

answer only if you are reasonably sure.

3. If you are not penalized for wrong answers, answer every

question without spending too much time on any one question.

Those answers you aren’t sure of or don’t know should be

marked so you can come back to them later.

4. Try recalling a forgotten fact by some association. Think of the

book in which you read it, the page, or an illustration. Or make

use of any special association, as, “ Did I study it just before I got

into that argument,” Possibly stating the question in a whisper

may arouse recall. If you can’t recall it, drop it and come back toit later.

5. Underline words such as: only, always, not, usually, in test

questions before you answer them. Note that true-false

questions including such words as all, always, and never, have

no exceptions, whereas those questions including such words as

most, generally, and may do allow for exceptions. Note that if

one main clause of a sentence is true while the other clause is

false, the whole sentence obviously must be false.

6. Try changing the wording of a difficult true – false statement so

that you are able to understand it better. Negative statements

are apt to be more confusing than positive statement. An

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objective test measures not only knowledge but also carefulness

in reading.

7. On multiple – choice questions you can usually eliminate all but

two or three answers immediately. Thus lit will be easier to make

your choice from those remaining.

8. In answering a word – completion test, if you can’t remember a

word your text uses, explain it in your own words if they carry

similar meaning.

9. Pay particular attention to the directions. For example, a

question asking you to name or enumerate means that you

should list rather than describe or explain. To compare means

taking the two things named and showing how they are alike and

how they are different. To discuss requires a carefully organized

answer. You might organize in terms of kinds, causes, etc. you

may want to use illustrations to make the meaning clear.

10. Pay no attention to your neighbor. Those who finish early

may have written superficial examinations.

11. Check over your examination papers to determine whether

you left out answers to questions or parts of questions, madestatements on you paper that you did not mean or which are not

clear, and followed directions. Check English errors and correct

poor handwriting.

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Chapter Nine

Improving your capacity for study

A. Guard your health.

1. Never attempt to study when excessively fatigued

2. Sleep your normal amount every night. Students differ as

to their needs for sleep. Usually seven or eight hours are a

desirable minimum. Studying when you are sleepy

generally results in a “vicious circle”: lack of sleep causes

poor study, which in turn necessitates more study at the

sacrifice of sleep. If you are sleepy at midnight with two

hours of work yet to do, it will be better for you to go to

bed immediately and get up two hours earlier to finish your

work.

3. Do not neglect persistent pain or physical-discomfort

symptoms such as headaches, backaches, and colds.

Students often tolerate such defects as these for months

without doing anything to remedy them. Thus seriously

affecting their schoolwork. Always report such ailments to

the medical adviser.

4. Have your eyes examined if you suspect them to be asource of trouble. Some symptoms of eyestrain are:

habitual frontal headaches, excessive sleepiness,

irritability, and restlessness while at study, dizziness,

nausea, indigestion, lack of usual interest in reading, and

blurring and running together of words on the page. You

57



should consider any one of these symptoms a danger

signal.

5. See that light conditions are proper. Do not directly face a

light nor work in a shadow. Be sure that the light is uniform

over the entire page of the book. Unequal illumination of

the page will cause eye fatigue.

6. Get some relaxation every day. Provide time in every day

for conversation with others, light reading, listening to the

radio, or some other activity which will take your mind

from your duties. During and immediately after meals is a

good time for “letting down.”

7. Take some form of exercise with fair regularity. That dull

and listless feeling, that persistent worry or tenseness may

be eliminated by a competitive game or a brisk walk.

B. Make your vocational plans as early as possible.

You may be having difficulty because your courses have no

meaning to you. If so, attempt to find the reason: do you lacka vocational goal? Should you be in different kind of school

such as a trade or business school? Or would you be happier

in some occupation which doesn’t require further formal

education?

Although the formal education decision should be made by

you, vocational counselors and psychologists can help you get

an appraisal of your abilities and interest’s means of tests and

then can aid in finding vocations that are in harmony with the

appraisal.

You s should not feel it is a disgrace or a retreat to alter your

vocational goal while in college or University. Rather its poor

sense to cling stubbornly to a goal which your new insights

58



about yourself tell you is in appropriate for you. It is better to

have to take some additional courses that contribute to your

new than to be unhappy for years in your Job.

C. Do not consider it a Weakness to Get Help for a Social

or personal Problems.

Entering School/college is a critical period in that you may

have to adjust to the development of an entirely new set of

friends and at the same to learn time to get along without

your parents. Many students have problems such as lack of

confidence, concern about sex, hostile, feelings, and

depressions, all of which interfere with effective study. These

problems may be made more severe by parental pressure

sometimes loving, but still pressure to make high grades, to

become engaged to be married, or to pressure for a certain

vocation.

Since you would not fear consulting a physician for a broken

arm, likewise you should not fear or feel ashamed of going to

a psychologist or psychiatrist for a personal; problem. At leastone out of five people will consult a psychologist or a

psychiatrist sometime during his life his life regarding a

personal problem.

Experience and research has shown that “talking your

problems over” with some trained person can often benefit

you considerably. Just as an abscessed arms feels better

when lanced and drained by a physician, so your feelings will

cause you less trouble if you talk them over with another

person, and particularly with someone trained in that type of

work. This “talking out” process does not just involve “getting

it out of your system “or a release of feelings. Neither does it

consist of a trained counselor’s giving you advice or trying to

59



persuade you to act in certain ways. Primarily, it consists of:

releasing your negative feelings; getting a better

understanding of the causes of your of your fears, loves, and

hate; gaining confidence in yourself; and developing an ability

to solve your various problems in a healthy way and by your

own efforts.

Secure an Adequate Background for Each Course.

An outstanding cause of failure or poor college work is

inadequate preparation in the fundamentals of the various

subjects. Mathematics, English, and foreign languages,

particularly, presuppose a certain amount of specific training

and knowledge on the part of the student.

1. Find out in what respects you are deficient. This may be

revealed y diagnostic tests or through conferences with

your instructors or class members. Keep a list of common

errors and deficiencies and check occasionally to see

whether or not you are improving.

2. Make arrangements to overcome any backgrounddeficiencies. Review any books or materials previously

studied but which you did not master at that time. Ask your

instructor to suggest readings that will provide you with

the necessary background. It may be desirable for you to

hire a tutor if you are seriously deficient.

3. Lear n the special vocabulary for each of you subjects.

Make use of flash cards to aid you in learning the basic

vocabulary.

Do not be content with merely understanding the foregoing

aids; put them into practice. If a college education develops in

you a power to study effectively, it has been worth while,

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even though it does nothing else. To be able to acquire

information efficiently, to educate it critically, and to use it to

good ends are marks of an educated person.

Documents

Success in Study Book