Study Skills

Effective Studying

There is no doubt that effective study skills can transform learning. Still, what are the most effective study habits? What is the most efficient way to study? Psychologists interested in the learning process—school psychologists, cognitive psychologists, and educational psychologists—have defined how people learn and how to get the most from their study time. Hettich (1995) suggests that time management skills, memory techniques, and note-taking strategies are critical for maximal learning. Sedita (1995) notes that, while not a panacea for all academic difficulties, study skills (and the learning of study skills) can improve educational experiences for both students and educators.

The fundamental task of primary school is to teach children to read. Subsequently, from elementary school forward, people read to learn. After learning to read, people need to learn effective study skills. The first step to doing this is for an individual to identify his or her most effective learning style. Petch (1991) indicates that while there is not a right or wrong way to learn, students who learn best use tools that complement their particular learning styles. For example, auditory learners should use tape recorders, reading aloud, discussions, and debates to increase their knowledge. Visual learners should focus on note taking, charts, note cards, and visual activities; and kinesthetic learners need to employ tactile approaches such as typing, calculators, writing, and other such activities.

How do people determine their preferred learning method? Skillful, observant, teachers can often help students identify and learn to accommodate to their most natural and strongest learning modality. Another source of information is a psychoeducational evaluation, which is often part of an evaluative process completed by a school psychologist and which may involve a battery of psychological assessment tools. When used by a skilled and appropriately trained examiner, cognitive assessment instruments, achievement tests, and processing instruments can help identify cognitive strengths and weaknesses, and provide remarkable insights into individual learning preferences. Educators can request that the school psychologist collaborate with their instructional curriculum through the administration of learning style indicators to entire classes of students, thus larger numbers of students learn their preferred learning styles. To this end instruments such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Myers & McCaulley, 1985) and Gregorc Style Delineator (Gregorc, 1982) represent a brief glimpse into the types of tools that often can be used with entire classes of students.

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