Tips and Tricks :

Study Approach @ KU Leuven

Karel Joos
Study Advice Service
October 19th 2020
Introduction
• Study Approach
• Time Management

• Thesis, Writing skills, : Mon 16th of Nov

• Exams : Thu 3rd of Dec

https://www.kuleuven.be/english/studentservices/study-support/academic-skills/info-sessions-workshops
Study Approach
• General Approach
o Table of content
o Text – image
o To know – to do

• Skills :
o Marking
o Memorizing
o Schemes
o Being precise

• Grading
Different Approaches for Studying

• Academic culture
• International students : different background
• Student studying a course :
o Course - Knowledge : learning everything, memorizing
(>< do)
o Student - Personality : what the article did with me (><
factual)
o Studying : independence, flexibility, mental operations =
doing something with the facts
Different Approaches for Studying (2)

Student Course content

Western Eastern
KU Leuven???
countries??? countries???
General Approach
Left to Right Approach
• Lots of students do this :

This is the text of not representative

this course. You for the average
can see 7 different course … … … …
pages here, of … … … ..
course this is

• Following chronology of the text, basic understanding (leads

to 9-10-11/20)
Integral Approach

Table of content (1)

Text - Representation (2)

To know – to do (3)
1). Table of Content

Anatomy

Sensoric Central nervous motoric

tactile visual ….
1). Table of Content (2)
• how :
o Train of thought on every level
o Asking questions
o Try to find :
• Goal of course
• What did the professor have in mind
• The logic in it
2) Text - Image
• Text approach :
o E.g. “in upper right corner, but what was it again”
o Not focused on meaning, content
• Representation (mental picture) :
o Content-oriented, focused on meaning
o How to represent in image what you‘ve read
o Concentration
o Building up, adding new elements to the mental picture
2) Text – Image (2)
• Per 2-3-4 pages
• Skimmed reading (fast, rough idea of structure of text,
content)
• Intensive reading : constructing the ‘picture’
• Taking distance : what is really written here?
• Marking keywords : train of thought in text

•  In January :
o reading keywords = reconstructing image
3). To know – To do
• What to do with knowledge
o Exam : no goal as such
o Useful in professional setting
• Adding information to course material :
o Own examples – counter examples
• Heart of the matter
• Extend – border with other concepts, formulas,…
o Connections – comparisons (cfr table of content)
o Applications
o Critical point of view
• Asking yourself questions about course material
o How does this appear in my own life?
o What can I do with it?
o Is there an alternative for this?
o …
• = To transform course material :
o Theory – example
o Algebraic – graphic (range)
o Comparison between two concepts
Small example
• Tautology
o = an unnecessary repetition of meaning, the same
concept is mentioned twice, one of both can be deleted
F.i. “That is totally and completely ridiculous.”
• Pleonasm
o = an unnecessary repetition of meaning, a part of a
concept is repeated in another word, only one can be
deleted
o F.i. “I drive a mechanical car”
Multiple choice question
• “I went to the shop and I received a free gift” is :
1. A pleonasm
2. A tautology
3. Both
4. None of both

• “The student room wasn’t great but it was acceptable

enough” is :
1. A pleonasm
2. A tautology
3. Both
4. None of both
Multiple choice question
• “I went to the shop and I received a free gift” is :
1. A pleonasm
2. A tautology
3. Both
4. None of both

• “The student room wasn’t great but it was acceptable

enough” is :
1. A pleonasm
2. A tautology
3. Both
4. None of both
 tautology
pleonasm

?????
Skills
Marking
• First reading (relevance depends on what comes later)
• Just a few (key-)words per paragraph
• Later on : more “details”
• Using symbols : = , , , ,
• Use margin (“how”, “what”, “def.”, …)
• (taking notes?)
Marking : Questionable Example
• Indemnification: To the fullest extent permitted by law, you
agree to indemnify and hold Britannica, its directors,
officers, shareholders, parents, subsidiaries, affiliates,
agents, and licensors harmless from and against all
losses, expenses, damages, and costs, including
reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising out of (i) the information
or material you submit, including, but not limited to, liability
for violations of copyrights, trademark rights, trade secret
rights, or any other intellectual property rights, or the
privacy or publicity rights of others, or liability for
information or material you provide that is obscene,
defamatory, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful or
embarrassing to any other person or entity, or is fraudulent
or deceptive, (ii) your use or unauthorized copying of the
Services or any of their content, or (iii) your violation of
these Terms of Use or any applicable laws or regulations.
Marking : Better Example
• Indemnification: To the fullest extent permitted by law, you
agree to indemnify and hold Britannica, (its directors,
officers, shareholders, parents, subsidiaries, affiliates,
agents, and licensors) harmless from and against all
losses, expenses, damages, and costs, including
reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising out of (i) the information
or material you submit, including, but not limited to, liability
for violations of copyrights, trademark rights, trade secret
rights, or any other intellectual property rights, or the
privacy or publicity rights of others, or liability for
information or material you provide that is obscene,
defamatory, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful or
embarrassing to any other person or entity, or is fraudulent
or deceptive, (ii) your use or unauthorized copying of the
Services or any of their content, or (iii) your violation of
these Terms of Use or any applicable laws or regulations.
Memorizing
• Memory is limited
• How to improve :
o Understanding (imaging) : cluster
o Structuring (table of content, logic in keywords): cluster
of clusters
o Repeating
• Why can you remember a story that happened a long time
ago?

• Now : two exercices …

Memorizing : Example 1 :
Focus on ‘picture’
• House, rain, bird, cold, man, warm, heating, smoke, tea,
autumn, child, visit, story, wood, music, dark, leaf, wind,
table, present

• 20 words

• Try to make a picture of it

Memorizing : Example 2 : Structuring
• American football • Baseball • Basketball • Cricket •
Canadian football • College football • Cycling • Figure
skating • Fishing • Formula One • Golf • Gymnastics • Ice
hockey • Motorcycle racing • Wrestling • Rugby •
Swimming • Tennis • Volleyball • windsurfing

• 20 words

• Try to make a small table of content

Schemes
• Summary >< scheme
• Don’t follow the chronology of the text
• No sentences, but words, concepts, ideas
• Example : mind map
Being Precise
• Detail >< being precise
o Detail : less relevant elements - unimportant
o Precision : critical elements (make the difference) -
important
Grading
 Grading (approximate indication)

Mark Transcript US ECTS % of Your answer

succeeded
20 Outstanding A+ A 10% Exceptional, additional
analyses, additional
19
information
18
17 Very good A
16 B 25%
15 Good A- Own examples, own
counterexamples,
14 C 30%
compare, critics,
13 Above average B application
12 D 25% Structuring answer
11 Satisfactory B-C+ Memorizing literally,
basic understanding
10 C E 10%
8-9 Insufficient D Superficial knowlegde-
comprehension

0-7 Very insufficient F Lack of knowledge-

comprehension
Finally
• Approach, skills in general, not individualised
• Other skills: papers, presentations, exercises, motivation,
….
• Individual questions : make a free appointment

• Questions??
Contact
o Study Advice Service
Naamsestraat 80
3000 Leuven
016/32 43 11
www.kuleuven.be/studyadvice (contact form)
Succes