Work&Play Success

101 Study Tips for Better Grades

101 Study Tips part 7. Provided by Secret Study Skills,

The study techniques of Secret Study Skill are hightly recommended as they teaches how to perform miles ahead of your fellow students, score 90% plus in any subject, whilst still having more time to go out and play. Best of all, they offer a full money back guarantee !!!

Study Tips 61- 70

If you are using your own textbook, scribble marginal notes when needed. These are useful for emphasizing important notes, marking points that need to be clarified, or expounding on certain topics.

62. Determine the —big picture“ of any lesson.

Always relate a lesson to a larger picture to help you discover how it relates to past lessons and to enhance your understanding of the subject matter. If this is vague, ask your teacher for the answer.

63. Know about the grading system being used.

Teachers often give the formula at the beginning of the semester, but you can always ask for a more detailed list. Know what weight the teacher gives to quizzes, class participation, projects, papers, and exams.

64. Enhance your memory by organising your notes.

It‘s better to memorize stuff when these are classified into clear-cut categories. You can even classify abstract ideas into meaningful groupings. Rewrite illegible notes and make them more neat and orderly.

65. When making a presentation, always do a run-through.

Don‘t assume that everything will be perfect after you have finished making your Power Point slides. Ask friends to listen and ask questions while you simulate your actual presentation.

66. When making reports, always include trends and developments.

Whatever your topic may be, you‘ll get plus points if the teacher sees that you have gone out of your way to research on the latest issues related to your subject matter. This emphasizes your topic‘s relevance.

67. Involve yourself in small study groups rather than large ones.

The more isn‘t always the merrier. The larger a group is, the greater their tendency to depend on others. A moderately sized group allows for a more fruitful exchange of ideas and eliminates the apathetic.

68. Make commitments when working in groups.

Never assume that a group member will pitch in. If needed, put everything in writing when asking a member to commit to a task. Always set submission deadlines or ask for regular updates.

69. Define roles for group assignments.

70. Determine your most ideal time for study.

Some people‘s brains work best early in the morning; others are night owls who are more productive beyond 9:00 PM. Once you find out the time most conducive to you, work your study schedule around that time.

Instead of asking everyone to read all the covered topics thoroughly, assign topics that each one should master while browsing through the other topics to get an overview.

More study advice at: Secret Study Skill – Your rare chance to legally steal The One Secret that will allow you to score over 90% in your exams.

“Don’t Study Harder, Study SMARTER!
Introducing The Speed Study System Anyone Can Use To Get Better Grades In Less Time And With Less Effort – Guaranteed!”

101 Study Tips for Better Grades

101 Study Tips part 6. Provided by Secret Study Skills,

The study techniques of Secret Study Skill are hightly recommended as they teaches how to perform miles ahead of your fellow students, score 90% plus in any subject, whilst still having more time to go out and play. Best of all, they offer a full money back guarantee !!!

Study Tips 51- 60

51. Make it a point to ask a question at the end of every session.

Not only will this show that you are eager to learn more and are interested in the subject matter; it will also force you to listen during lectures so you can ask an intelligent question later on.

52. Stay in the room even if the teacher goes beyond the alloted time.

First, it’s rude to up and leave while the teacher is still talking. Second, they usually extend their time because what they’re about to say is important, and you wouldn’t want to miss that.

Spend about 5 minutes after the class organising your notes. If homework had been assigned, do it that same day (or night) while the concepts that have just been taught are still fresh.

54. Manage your study time well.

Create a schedule where, instead of studying for hours on end and resting afterwards, you.ll be studying in blocks of 20 minutes with 3-minute breaks in between. Our minds need rest from time to time.

55. Write difficult lessons in your own words.

To assess your comprehension, summarize a topic in your own words. Explain its most salient points, how these relate to material learned previously, and why you think it is important to learn about it.

56. Listen to music to enhance learning and not distract you from it.

Different people have different learning styles. Some say they can absorb material better while listening to music while others say they need to be in a very quiet room. Find your style and practice that.

57. Always use alternative sources of material to develop your comprehension.

It’s not enough that you listen to the lecture. In History, for instance, review your notes with a map in front of you so you can visualise the events in your mind.

58. Go beyond your textbook.

After studying a particular topic, look for other texbooks dealing with the same subject matter and answer the questions at the end of the unit. This way, you’ll encounter various angles of that topic.

59. Use realia whenever possible.

Some people learn better when they make use of realia or 3D models. A 3D model of a human heart, for instance, can reveal a lot more than a book illustration could. Find out where you can borrow these tools.

60. Avoid distractions during class.

Turn off your mobile phone or put it on silent mode. Don.t sit near the doorway or next to a picture window. Don.t sit next to a fidgety student. Observe what other factors may distract you and always avoid them.

More study advice at: Secret Study Skill – Your rare chance to legally steal The One Secret that will allow you to score over 90% in your exams.

“Don’t Study Harder, Study SMARTER!
Introducing The Speed Study System Anyone Can Use To Get Better Grades In Less Time And With Less Effort – Guaranteed!”

So, it’s not always necessary to aim for the spectacular – just a little growth here and there will
make a world of difference.

When it comes to speed reading, learning to use your hands correctly and efficiently will require that you train yourself to accomplish the following 3 tasks:

1. Use your hands to guide and pace your eye movements through the text

2. Use your hands to force your eye to constantly scan through new information

3. Use your hands to prevent your eyes from repeatedly reading the same words

The Speed Reading Hand Motion
*****************************

Although it may seem uncomfortable at first, the ideal use of the hands of a right-handed person would be to use your left hand to pace your reading and your right hand to turn the pages.

To begin reading, place your hand at the start of a line. Move your hand towards the right hand margin. Make sure to focus your eyes upon the text that your hand is pointing towards.

When you reach the end of the current line, move your hand to the start of the next line. Repeat this method to the end of the page. To make paging faster, make sure that your right hand is always positioned at the top right hand corner of the book.

Go ahead and practice this movement. You don’t need to worry about reading any of the text, just practice the hand motion and paging techniques for now. Make sure that you are able to rapidly move through the pages of your book.

Believe it or not, you can reach the place where your reading speed explodes to the point that your paging and pacing hands will have a hard time just trying to keep up!

Next I will show you how you can begin improving your comprehension of text so that when you
begin reading at the higher speed you will actually have a BETTER understanding of the text that you did at your lower reading speeds!
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101 Study Tips for Better Grades

101 Study Tips part 5. Provided by Secret Study Skills,

The study techniques of Secret Study Skill are hightly recommended as they teaches how to perform miles ahead of your fellow students, score 90% plus in any subject, whilst still having more time to go out and play. Best of all, they offer a full money back guarantee !!!

Study Tips 41- 50

 Not the private details, mind you, but his or her likes, dislikes, preferred teaching methods, and expectations. You’ll fare much better in class if you have a good grasp of what the teacher wants out of a student.42. Always forward fresh ideas in class.

41. Get the lowdown on your teacher from former students. 

 45. Classify work to do according to their importance.

If needed, construct a table with cells for the important, not important, urgent, and not so urgent tasks at hand. When pressed for time, always attend to the urgent and important matters first.

46. Stay fit when studying for long periods.

If you plan on spending long hours finishing a paper or cramming for a test, don’t forget to drink lots of fluids. Prepare a sandwich or anything you can eat at your workplace if you can.t sit at the dinner table.

47. Schedule regular study breaks.

Don’t push yourself too hard and work continuously without rest. Instead, take scheduled breaks say, every 40 or 60 minutes. Without them, you’re brain would need greater time to recuperate.

48. Read about the last topic discussed.

Before attending class, brush up on the lessons during the previous session. This will rejuvenate your memory and get you ready for the next topic. You can also prepare questions on items that were not clear to you.

49. Always read about a lesson in advance.

This gives you an edge in class participation and a chance to impress your teacher. If he or she sees that you are interested enough to want to study in advance, that’s Brownie points for you! 

“Don’t Study Harder, Study SMARTER!
Introducing The Speed Study System Anyone Can Use To Get Better Grades In Less Time And With Less Effort – Guaranteed!”

My friend at BestSpeedReadingCourse.com, the world expert on increasing your reading speed has provided a his Speed Reading Secrets. I will share this with you all on my blog – there are 6 parts in total.

* How to use your hands to prevent your eyes from repeatedly reading the same words

* That you CAN comprehend details better at higher speeds

* Keys to how you can begin improving your comprehension by leaps and bounds within just minutes.

* The secrets to instantly increasing your comprehension by making effective use of a book’s, first and last chapters, its topic and summary sentences, its negative words and its conditional tense.

* How you can use a books format to further increase your comprehension

* How to experience some of the thrill of rapidly devouring vast amounts of information at blistering speeds by using skimming..

* How to use skimming to receive visual clues to what you can expect when speed reading 

* What the details are that you must look for when you are skimming

* The secret techniques to master different types of reading.

* How to make the most of PLEASURE READING, HOBBY & SPECIAL INTEREST READING, STUDYING and MAXIMUM
POTENTIAL READING

So, be prepared for a great ride and keep your eyes open for the first blog on Speed Reading Secrets !

P.S: If you would like to use these hints and tips to their greatest potential, then you really must try “The 16-Minute Speed-Reading Audio Program” where you can literally double your reading speed with just ONE 16- minute exercise!

* What my definition of skimming is.

101 Study Tips for Better Grades

This is the 4th part of 101 Study Tips provided by Secret Study Skills,

The study techniques of Secret Study Skill are hightly recommended as they teaches how to perform miles ahead of your fellow students, score 90% plus in any subject, whilst still having more time to go out and play. Best of all, they offer a full money back guarantee !!!

Study Tips 31 – 40

38. Avoid being late for class more than once.

Being late once is excusable; you might not have known where the class is held, or you were held up by something really important. However, habitual tardiness only shows your disinterest in class.

39. Choose the best seat in the classroom, if possible.

Sitting in the front row may make you look eager but can strain your neck. Sitting at the sides can give you a bad angle of vision. Rear of the class is for deserters and latecomers. Middle, center, is best.

40. Always prepare for every class.

Syllabi are distributed at the beginning of the semester to serve as study guides. Read on the scheduled topics so you can participate in class and ask for clarifications about difficult topics.

On a recent flight I sat next to a businessman who told me that, even at their young age, his children were exhibiting very different personalities. He saw signs of his wife’s overachieving tendencies in their son. In his daughter, he saw himself. In the first grade she was getting lectured for not applying herself enough. She, too, was a slacker.

He was frustrated by her slacking ways, but he also sympathized because she showed traits of his business mindset.

“She does her own little cost-benefit analysis,” he said. “She realizes that she can do just enough to get by and use the rest of that time for playing and having fun.”

I had never thought of slacking off in those terms, but he was right. I’ve known my share of slackers, and most of them are intelligent people who could easily upstage everyone else’s efforts if they applied themselves a bit more. They knew that. Yet, while everyone was in panic mode trying to get ahead, the slackers knew how to fulfill their obligations, get decent marks and enjoy a relatively stress-free existence.

I’m not saying we should all strive to be slackers. The balance between laid-back and high-strung workers is probably beneficial to everyone. But in a culture where we’re constantly being told to be better than everyone at everything, slacking off can be the right way to go for your health and your career.

Manic workplace
Once upon a time, work was a busy place. You showed up, worked hard, stayed late during your busiest periods and then went home. Today, many people don’t escape work. Before they even arrive at the office, they’ve already sent a dozen e-mails from their phones and held teleconferences with people all over the country. Once you’re actually at work, things are even crazier.

The workplace is different today than it was 10, 20 and 30 years ago, but you should be able to pull back in some areas. You don’t need to overextend yourself to the point that you never relax.

Here are some ways you can be a “slacker” at work and benefit from it:

E-mail can wait. No, really, it can. You don’t have to answer an e-mail the moment it pops up on your screen. Unless you’re waiting for that one message that could make or break your career, you should designate time to check e-mails so that you don’t get distracted while doing other tasks. You can even disable the new message icon and noise alert to help with this.

Saying ‘no’ won’t get you fired. If the boss or someone comes to you with a task that’s part of your core job duties, by all means accept it. If you’re drowning in work, however, telling co-workers that you just can’t get to their request right now won’t necessarily hurt you. Tactfully explain that you’d like to help them but you’ve got too much on your plate shows you care about the quality and promptness of your work.

Don’t multitask. The ability to simultaneously talk on the phone, send an e-mail and heat up the meatballs for the monthly potluck is an admirable quality but not necessarily the most beneficial. Multitasking has become the de facto approach to daily operations in many workplaces. The problem is that we often end up doing a little of everything and never making much progress on any one task.

Give yourself a break. Literally, just get away from work for five minutes. Take a walk around the floor or step outside for some fresh air. Without Saturday and Sunday off, you’d probably go a little stir-crazy. Think of brief breaks throughout the day as small-scale versions of weekends. You’ll return with a clear head and produce better-quality work.

Don’t eat lunch at your desk. Eating at your desk can be an occasional necessity, either because you’re close to a deadline or you’re in a productive zone that you don’t want to interrupt. Having your lunch in front of a computer every day, however, doesn’t give your eyes or your mind time to relax. You might feel like a slacker if you’re the only one taking your sandwich outside for 30 minutes, but your mental health is worth it.

Schedule some “me” time. Go into your calendar and block off a period of time for whatever work you need to do without interruption. Treat that time as if it were an important appointment with your boss and consider it non-negotiable. If someone tries to schedule a meeting with you, tell him or her that you’re busy but can try for another time. If possible, book a conference room so you won’t be interrupted by a chatty co-worker or a phone call.

Anthony Balderrama is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com and its job blog, The Work Buzz. He researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/abalderrama.

101 Study Tips for Better Grades

This is the 3rd part of 101 Study Tips provided by Secret Study Skills,

The study techniques of Secret Study Skill are hightly recommended as they teaches how to perform miles ahead of your fellow students, score 90% plus in any subject, whilst still having more time to go out and play. Best of all, they offer a full money back guarantee !!!

Study Tips 21 – 30

Don’t bother to review topics that have not been taken up in class; they are not likely to be included in the exam. Try to focus on the topics which the teacher discussed over and over. 

 23. Prepare for an exam with a buddy. Ask your friend to ask you tough questions that are likely to be asked during the exam, to ensure that you have mastery of the subject matter. Spend time only with one who is also serious about his studies. 

 24. Know the items a test would likely cover.

What should I do differently next time?  Most teachers give credit for effort, and won.t hesitate to do so if they see that you’ve at least tried solving the problem. A blank sheet, on the other hand, has zero chances of getting any credit. 

26. Do a post-test ‘mind dump’.. 

After the gruelling exams, write everything you remember about the test on paper. Try to find the answers to items which stumped you. Only then will you be able to fully relax after the exam.

27. Don’t compare answers with others after an exam.

Comparing answers would only give rise to negative feelings and will keep you from unwinding after an especially strenuous exam. It.s better to find out the answers on your own or wait for the test results.

28. Perform a self-examination after every test you take.

Ask yourself these questions: Which parts ate up most of my time? Where did most of the questions come from? Was I anxious during the exam? If so, why?

29. Keep a journal for tackling exams.

Assess the revision methods you used after getting your exam results. If you didn’t fare as well as you expected, make the necessary changes. Study much earlier next time, or study with a group.

“Don’t Study Harder, Study SMARTER!
Introducing The Speed Study System Anyone Can Use To Get Better Grades In Less Time And With Less Effort – Guaranteed!”

Exam Tips

Before you start on any project, including preparation for an exam, it is important to be mentally and physically prepared. As early as a week before the exam, be sure to

* Get enough sleep. Remember that old saying about eight to ten hours of sleep a night? Being well rested is perhaps the most important, and unfortunately most overlooked, aspect of health when trying to stay focused and retain information.

* Eat healthy. Most of the time in our busy schedules, we forget to take time out for our most obvious needs. If you are not eating well, you cannot possibly expect yourself to perform well in school, or anything else. Make sure you are eating right.

* Get enough exercise. This doesn’t mean joining a gym or starting a rigorous program, but make sure you keep your energy levels high during the day. This, by the way, depends on a well balanced diet, and can prevent insomnia!

These are really lifelong habits that you should employ to help you throughout the semester. Still, they are especially important before a stressful activity, like a major exam. However, it is equally important to be mentally prepared for this great task ahead.

Before you even begin to study or take an exam, consider these questions:

• Is pressure from home interfering with my work?
• Do I feel consumed with a problem with a friend or significant other?
• Am I feeling overly stressed?
• Is this exam really worth stressing about?
• Is a recent event in my life causing my emotions to conflict with my schoolwork?
• Is my living and working conditions causing me to waste time that could be spent better?

If any of these conditions apply, that does not mean you are unfit for studying, but if outside influences are interfering, then take the time to resolve these issues. If you are taking a test, try to clear your mind of all stress. Tell yourself that however pressing these matters seem, they can wait two hours while you take this test. Keep these ideas in your mind as you work through the task. Keep a positive attitude, and you WILL succeed:

• I AM ready for this exam!
• I AM capable of doing my best, and that is what is important.
• I WILL succeed.
• This exam may seem difficult now, but I WILL be ready when I take it.
• I DESERVE to do the very best I can.

Tips provided by FreshStart, a program specifically designed to help you with all of these issues. Click here for more details

Starting uni can be a daunting experience and if it’s your first time away from home there’s a lot to contend with. So lets all share our  knowledge and top tips for new students.

What do you wish you’d known before you moved away? What should no student be without? What are your top tips for making your student loan stretch?

101 Study Tips for Better Grades

This is the second part of 101 Study Tips provided by Secret Study Skills,

The study techniques of Secret Study Skill are hightly recommended as they teaches how to perform miles ahead of your fellow students, score 90% plus in any subject, whilst still having more time to go out and play. Best of all, they offer a full money back guarantee !!!

Study Tips 11 – 20

11. Double-check your answers on an exam

Always devote about 15 minutes per set for reviewing your answers, and to make sure nothing has been missed. Allot some 5 minutes for re-reading and 10 minutes for providing new answers.

12. Don’t sit too close to others during an exam

Not only will the proctor be less suspicious of you; you will also avoid being distracted by your seatmate’s fidgeting or furious writing. When added up, minutes wasted on being interrupted can cost you.

13. Plan an exam essay intelligently

Do not attack the essay without coming up with an outline first. Not having one will result in scattered thoughts, rambling, and repetitive ideas throughout the essay.

14. Never take open-book exams for granted

These types of exams test your comprehension of the subject matter. When you fail to prepare for it and only read about the subject during the test, you’ll be wasting time that should be spent tackling the questions.

15. Use index cards for open-book exams

When there are too many references that can be used during a test, you tend to waste a lot of time searching. Use index cards for formulae and other important data to save time.

16. Search for clues in short-answer tests

Questions can carry a few clues, such as first or third person, plural or singular, etc. If you forget an answer, write a closely related word instead; you might be given credit.

17. Always read directions, no matter how familiar

This is often done by individuals rushing in too quickly during exams. Teachers may occasionally introduce variations to familiar formats just to catch those who habitually skip this crucial text.

18. Make a quick .mind dump. of what you have studied

If allowed, immediately write the things you have memorized on a sheet of paper as soon as the exam starts. This way, you’ll clear your mind of some clutter and become more relaxed.

19. Tackle the easy questions first on an exam

This is a time-worn rule that.s always broken. Too often, students waste time on a single difficult question that could have been spent answering about five or more easier questions.

20. Plan your time answering essay questions

If there are five questions, spread your time over all five. It’s better to get five mediocre grades than two excellent ratings and zero points for those you weren’t able to answer due to ‘lack of time’.

More study advice at: Secret Study Skill – Your rare chance to legally steal The One Secret that will allow you to score over 90% in your exams.

Your student years are among the best times in your life to meet new people and found lasting friendships. Many universities provide extensive opportunities for socialising on campus – in student bars, the union buildings, through societies and within halls of residence. But it’s equally important to maintain your links to the outside world. It’s often surprisingly easy to get lost in the day-to-day goings on of a campus, particularly if student newspapers and other media direct all you attention to affairs within the university. In these circumstances it’s worth finding the time to leave campus and even the city on occasion, and to establish contacts in different walks of life.

Most universities encourage students to live in outside accommodation after their first year. This can provide an excellent opportunity to become part of a residential community. Choose your housemates carefully – think about who you have known the longest, who you feel most comfortable around, and who shares your lifestyle in terms of cleanliness, socialising, work habits and so forth. The worst thing in the world is to find you’re living with people who can’t stand each other’s tastes and are constantly at each other’s throats. A little care in choosing good housemates goes a long way. Once you’re established in your new home it’s well worth becoming familiar with the local neighbourhood – visit the local pubs, shops and bars, and get acquainted with public transport. Try to keep up with the friends you made in your first year, and take the time to visit them even if they’re living at the opposite end of the city. When time is tight, try organising a few events and inviting a lot of people – this can often be the best way to keep up an extended circle of friends. Take the time to attend birthday parties, house parties and so on, and reciprocate with invitations of your own. Make sure to keep in touch during the holidays – visit friends across the country and, time and money permitting, give some thought to going away with the friends you meet or at least spending some days in each other’s company in the middle of the long breaks from study.

Student societies can be a great way to meet new and interesting people and expand your social scene. These may operate on and off campus, and may involve non-students such as alumni or even the general public when it comes to, for instance, putting on a student play or inviting supporters to a football game. Whenever you have the time and the money, eating out is a good way to keep up contacts, while going out to bars and clubs in the evenings can widen your circle still further. Make every effort to support a friend when he or she invites you to a concert, play, debate, quiz etc. – it’s the best way of encouraging them to return the favour, and it often exposes you to their extended circle, yet another opportunity to meet new people and make new friends.

It is entirely possible to maintain a healthy social life while studying at university. Good time management is important if this is to succeed, and the use of modern media like mobile ’phones and the internet to stay in touch has helped a great deal. Many of the friends you make in your student years will be friends for life, so it’s worth making the effort to explore a wide and diverse range of social opportunities both on and off campus – you’ll rarely, if ever, have such a wide range of pastimes to choose from in future!

Study Smart, Not Hard is an informative and functional guide to achieving perfect grades – created by a student for students. Guaranteed to Improve your results – click here for more details

101 Study Tips for Better Grades

These 101 Study Tips are provided by Secret Study Skills, and their 101 very useful tips and advise which will be posted here in 5 parts.

Secret Study Skill teaches how to perform miles ahead of your fellow students, score 90% plus in any subject, whilst still having more time to go out and play. Best of all, they offer a full money back guarantee !!!

Study Tips 1 – 10

1. Draw up a timetable for revision.

Prior to your big exams, draw up a plan for revision spread over two or more weeks. The earlier you prepare for the test, the easier it will be to ask for help for parts that are unclear to you.

2. Select an ideal study place.

Whether it’s the library or your room, your study area should have all the materials and references you expect to need during study time, and none of the distractions that could slow you down.

3. Choose a comfortable study environment.

Use a wide and uncluttered desk when doing schoolwork. Make sure your chair is comfortable and that the temperature is just right. The lighting should be adequate as well.

4. Decide which revision method works best for you.

If you can understand lessons better in outline form, then convert your notes into this format days before the exam. If you can remember things better with the aid of mnemonics, then use them whenever you can.

5. When preparing for a test, think positive.

If a particular topic bores you, think of a reward that you.ll treat yourself to if you reach a target grade for the exam. This will help motivate you into looking at the subject matter in a different light.

6. Study for understanding and ask about what you don.t understand.

After dividing the material to be studied in several chunks, move on to the next only when you have a clear understanding of each one. Otherwise, ask your teacher for clarification the next day.

7. Use old exam papers to practice on.

Be resourceful and ask more senior students for old test papers. The professor won’t likely ask the same questions, but they can be useful to practice with.

8. Make use of “colors” during revision.

Highlighter pens can be effective in bringing out the salient points of a topic. You can even use them on your notes, if necessary. Make use of various colors to help you visually remember categories.

9. Always come to an exam room early.

When you’re at the exam venue about ten minutes prior to the start of an exam, you’ll have enough time to relax and assemble everything you need - pencils, an eraser, and water or candy sweets, if allowed.

10. Scan the test before starting.

This simple act can save you from committing grave errors or underestimating the time allotted. It only takes a few seconds, but scanning can give you a bird’s eye view of the task and help plan your time.

More study advice at: Secret Study Skill - Your rare chance to legally steal The One Secret that will allow you to score over 90% in your exams.

A particularly important skill to develop if reading for a degree in an arts or humanities subject, speed reading allows you to make wide-ranging reference to a substantial body of work in the course of your essays without requiring you to familiarise yourself with every last dot and comma. Once you have speed-read your way through a considerable amount of material it’s easier to select the most important texts and concentrate on those while making occasional reference to other works from which you have extracted the (comparatively limited) relevant content.

A couple of key things to remember…

• Start with the contents or the index; pick out relevant sounding chapters or flip to the pages where your subject is discussed. Read these then cast an eye on the previous and next pages to familiarise yourself with context.
• Always speed read with pen or pencil in hand; underline or otherwise demark relevant words, phrases and sentences, and copy down (with a  title and page reference) any particularly promising sound bites you come across.
• Top and tail paragraphs: if you’re pushed for time, skim a page for keywords and read around these without concentrating on the bulk of the prose.
• Bullet-points or highlighted passages are the place to start, taking far less time and attention to cover than extended sections of prose.
• Chapter conclusions are worth more time and concentration; often key information will be repeated and the themes of a chapter summarised giving you a sense of whether it is worth reading the whole thing in detail.

Perhaps as important as speed reading is knowing where and what to speed read and what to spend more time on. As a rule, primary texts require more thought and more detailed reading, whereas much critical and secondary material is, by its nature, concerned with too many themes to be entirely relevant for your purposes. Thus an English student might read Robinson Crusoe in its entirety, but selectively speed read several compendia of critical essays about it. Likewise, a classicist might invest considerable time in a primary source text, like Cicero’s De re publica, but read only selectively from those critics and ancient historians who have previously assessed it.

Fundamental to effective speed reading is the ability to single out and record useful material. A four hundred page book may yield only one or two quotations worth including in a particular essay, and the trick is to find these and extract them without necessarily reading the whole work. While to do so might provide interesting background information, the student experience is one of perpetual time pressure, and it is better to show a breadth of reading than a detailed knowledge of a single, largely irrelevant work.

Some form of key is also useful in speed reading lots of material in a short while. By ‘key’, I mean an article or similar source, with clear relevance to your line of inquiry, which contains detailed references to other works – including page references – and can therefore be used as a guide in showing you where to look next or how to draw links between different sources. Clearly, it is important not to duplicate the work of a ‘key’ article like this, but having several such to direct your research and give you an idea which texts to concentrate on (the ones most often mentioned!) is no bad thing.

 Speed reading is one of those skills which, once mastered, allows you to get far more done in a given space of time than ever before. It requires practice and an environment of pressure. Particularly for arts and humanities students, however, it is well worth the investment.

An invaluable skill to develop as a student, a good memory is useful not only in the context of study (where it is nonetheless very useful!) but in every area of a lifestyle which by its very nature encourages you to juggle as many different and competing interests as you can. Having a good memory can help you to recall names and faces, favourite people and places, and on top of all that it comes in very handy when revising for exams.

Despite its many applications, we will here focus on the uses of memory in relation to academic work. Most students who perform well in classes, labs, written work and exams do so in large part thanks to their ability to store and recall valuable data and ideas. While the ability to apply what you have learned is equally vital, it is little use without some initial knowledge upon which to base your ideas. We can divide the subject of improving memory into two categories – improvising short-term recall skills, and improving your capacity for long-term learning.

Where long-term learning is concerned, what is important is to commit information to memory and retain it in the back of your mind where you can access it – almost spontaneously – at a later date. There are various approaches to storing information in this way. Some people prefer to boil it down to its essentials, learning by wrote a few statements of fact or equations which relate to a broader range of knowledge. By memorising a few key facts, you can train your mind to trigger the recollection of something more detailed. Others learn information as an actor learns lines for a play – repeating it over and over, often just before going to sleep, in an attempt to ingrain it on the mind. By far the best method of making something stick is to use it over and over – in conversation, in your work, in everyday life. Write out key sentences and leave them scattered around the house; read them as you pass by every day and allow them to sink into your subconscious. The idea is to learn something so entirely that decades from now you will still be able to recite it, and there can be no better way to do that than to refer to it exhaustively over a period of time – long-term learning, as the name suggests, requires a certain investment of time.

By contrast, short-term memory or ‘instant recall’ refers to the process of cramming as much information into the mind as it can hold for a short time and then releasing it. This is often a feature of revising for exams – no matter how knowledgeable you are, and how much you can recall in your long-term memory, there is nothing to be lost by cramming a few extra facts at the last minute. Here the key is often to seize upon particularly striking devices – the pneumonic, the rhyme, the song lyric – something catchy, and associate them with particular facts or formulae which you need to commit to memory. Again, repeat yourself to the point of exhaustion. Try writing a quotation down some fifty times – chances are you’ll know it by the end of the exercise, but chances are equally high you’ll forget it within days if you cease to think about it for any length of time.

Ultimately, the memory is rather like a muscle in the body – the more you work it, and the more demands you place upon it, the stronger, faster and more responsive it becomes. Like a muscle, however, it can be strained or even torn under excess demand, so perhaps the best approach is to split your learning between a long-term recollection of the most important material and short-term cramming for the ancillary data. The balance between the two will always be an individual one – some people are blessed with particularly capacious, or even photographic memories. These are not characteristics which you can necessarily learn, but by challenging your memory and keeping it in good working order – filling it with trivia when there’s nothing else to use – you will keep it in good shape for the work it will ultimately be called upon to do.

If nothing else, you’ll be a whiz when it comes to pub quizzes!

Most of the research done in universities is conducted at postgraduate level. Increasingly, however, undergraduate courses are requiring students to compile a project or dissertation which demonstrates their ability to research a particular theme – often chosen by themselves, in consultation with supervising tutors – and present their findings in as scholarly a way as possible. Fundamental to performing well in these tasks is the development of good research skills. In particular, the ability to read and assimilate a large amount of information is valuable, as is the ability to take thorough and comprehensive notes. Most important of all, however, is the ability to think in an original way and thereby to uncover some new or previously untested idea or result. Postgraduate research is generally geared towards discovery, and these undergraduate projects should be seen as an opportunity to attempt this for the first time.

Research begins in the library, reading around your subject and assembling useful contextual material. Make use of bibliographies and indexes to track down the most relevant work hitherto produced on your area of interest. Next, gather as much primary material as possible. If you’re a scientist, this will involve conducting experiments; if a mathematician, you will want to apply what you have learned to the problem in hand and address it from as many angles as you can think of, keeping detailed notes of every attempt you make on it. If you are a linguist, the first step may be to make your own translations of relevant material. Whatever the case, you will need to keep detailed notes on the process. The aim here is to be comprehensive – to follow a line of inquiry until it is proved or disproved. Often you may be unsuccessful in proving your thesis, in which case the research has at least shown some if not all of your early theories and assumptions to be inaccurate. Research work is a long-term investment of effort and is time consuming, but if you report on your work in a thorough and diligent way, your work will ensure that others need not repeat your unsuccessful inquiries, but can concentrate instead on those arguments or theories which do appear to lead somewhere.

In presenting your findings it is important to take your readers through each stage of the process, enabling them to verify each new phase of your work and to follow your overall argument. As research intends to demonstrate something which before was unknown or unclear, a distinction must be drawn between received wisdom and the new contributions you are seeking to make. The scholarly integrity of your work must be paramount – avoid any reference to or reliance on any questionable material which in your judgement may be open to attack. Plagiarism, too, is a cardinal sin and one best avoided. A researcher’s work is presented to the public as a personal contribution, and all sources and supporters should be credited and their intellectual contributions to the work acknowledged.

It is, of course, entirely possible that by the end of this process you will have discovered nothing new. That this may be the result is a truth best recognised before you even begin your work. That said, it is equally true that the only way to advance the sum total of our scholarly knowledge is through research work, and if you learn only the skills from your undergraduate project, that alone should make it worthwhile, since it is those skills which will allow you to go on making discoveries in later life – and not just in academia. The researcher’s unique brand of original thinking is a skill worth acquiring, and if an original thought can be supported with credible evidence, it may just lead to new and exciting revelations in any walk of life.

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Being a student is financially challenging and a real test. Tuition fees, accommodation costs, utility bills, books, food, and not to mention the cost of socialising. It is all expensive and most students have minimal income. You need to learn to budget and manage your finances. Reduce needless expenses, and maximise your possible income.

Learn to manage your finances now. It is a skill you will need for the rest of your life. So many many people never learn finance skills or learn finance management skills too late. Too late when they are in thousands and thousands of pounds in debt, unable to get a mortgage for a house, a loan for a car, unable to pay for a wedding or afford to have children and start a family.

 Debt is so easy to build up. But once you have a bad credit rating, it will take years to repair. Do not let yourself get into financial desperation. It will ruin all your dreams

 If you let your finances go out of control now, it will cost you years to fix, repair and