If you find settling down to study a problem; if you spend more time planning to study

than actually studying, then you probably need a few procrastination- avoiding tips. The
five tips outlined in this article, will help you get to a point where you are able to settle
into a study routine which becomes a habit that will stand you in good stead for the
years of schooling and beyond.

Firstly, you must identify where you will study. A low traffic area in the home, with
adequate lighting and a large enough surface upon which to spread out your books
would be a good start. Keep this space as organized as you would any work space in an
office, for example. Paper, stationery, staples and the like should be within easy reach.
The idea is not to have to get up to look for items once you have settled at your
workspace.

If you are an organized person, you could apply this trait to your study tools and area.
Many people find that color coding works to keep resources identifiable at a glance. You
would, for example, have all your History resources covered in orange, while your math
books would be covered in green paper. This color coding could be carried over to your
timetable, homework diary and study program planner.

If you are a disorganized person, use your new approach to studying to help you
become more organized, at least in this area of your life. Practice using your homework
diary as a daily to-do list. The keeping of a to-do list will be a valuable tool for the
college and adult years in the workplace which lie ahead. Use your list to identify urgent
or high priority tasks, for example, work that is due the following day. Assignments for
which you have been given a longer time to complete, should be carried over to the
following day for further attention. When you have completed a task, tick it off or cross
it out, so you can see at a glance what you have left to do.

Secondly, you must learn to focus in the classroom or lecture hall. One learns through
doing; and note-taking in classes when the teacher or lecturer is talking; enhances your
concentration. Learners whose learning style is auditory (based on what they hear) will
even find themselves able to recall exactly what the teacher said in class. The notes
taken in class will be untidy and employ a shorthand which only you will understand.
When you get home, you need to rewrite these notes neatly onto a study or revision
sheet.

Rewriting the notes will enable you to review and revise what was covered in class and
will be a help to you for future tests and examinations on this section of work. Auditory
learners can talk out loud to themselves while writing out the notes. Visual learners are
stimulated by shapes, color and so on and they would do well to organize the notes into
mind maps, using color to identify and separate headings and sub-headings from
content. If you have not used mind maps as a learning tool before, now would be a
very good time to start.
A study technique similar to using a mind map would be to use the Cornell method.
This technique entails your drawing a margin down the left-hand side of your sheet of
paper. Key words and headings are placed on the left and content and explanations on
the right hand side of the page.

Regardless of your major learning style, it is probably best to use visual, auditory and
tactile (hands-on learning, for example, writing) in combination. When re - writing your
notes or studying, talk to yourself, create visual cues and write as much and as often as
possible.

Thirdly, to become a successful student, you must find a way to memorize and retain
the work covered. The most common of the techniques employed is the SQ3R method.
This stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review. If you are settling down to
learn a chapter for a geography test the following day; this is how you would use this
method. First you would scan or skim read the chapter, or part thereof. Then you would
formulate questions that need answering, then you would read the work more carefully,
underlining key words and key concepts and write these down (on your mind map or
Cornell page). You would then, out loud, go over the main points to memorize them.

You could at this point take a break, go for a brisk walk around the garden and then
come back to review your work. The review stage requires that you recap what you
have memorized and then test yourself. If you are using the Cornell sheet, you could
cover the content on the right hand side of the page and make sure you can, for
example, provide definitions or sub points under each key word which appears in the
left hand side margin.

In the fourth study habit improvement strategy you need to draw up and stick to a
study routine. Once you have learned how to study, you must now look at the when. As
daunting as it may seem, most study skills experts agree that high school students and
college students should spend an average of 40 hours a week on their studies, over and
above classroom and lecture times. Again, you need to organize yourself. Look carefully
at your weekly program and block out the time spent on extra mural activities such as
sport. At a glance then you can see how many hours you have available to study each
day.

When drawing up your study times, do not discount weekend days; it will not harm you
to work on a Saturday or Sunday; these "free" days can afford great uninterrupted
chunks of time during which you can study, especially during examination and high
workload periods of the year.

In the fifth instance, you need to remember to take care of yourself and feed your brain
to optimize your ability to study. Here the basics hold true. Eat well - include vegetables
and fresh fruit in your diet. Sleep well; your brain will not retain anything if your are
physically tired. Exercise is vital as it provides the brain with oxygen, thus maximizing
your ability to study.

Study for fairly short periods of up to twenty minutes. Take a break, walk around the
house or outdoors, do a few sit-ups or push-ups or any quick and easy aerobic exercise
and then go back to your books, refreshed and ready to learn a little more. During
exam times, you could use your easier subjects, for example, English poetry, and study
a poem in between your allocated times for a heavier learning subject such as Physical
Science, to use as a mental break.

In summary, a good student has a place and a time to study, is organized, has a
method to employ to memorize the work; and determination to stick to a daily routine.
As the Nike slogan so aptly says - "Just do it!"