LAN – EAP –

111

Study Skills
January,
2023

Lecturer: Romeo
Year One – Semester One
Katanga
romykatanga@gmail.c
om
 Outline

0 Effective Study Skills

1
0 Time management
2
Effective Study Skills
› Skills and habits which are
necessary for understanding and
retrieving information, and in
particular they are the link
between comprehension and
memorization.
› Developing and improving these
skills can help you:
♦ make more efficient use of

your study time - get more

work done in less time!
♦ make your learning easier

♦ retain what you have learned

for longer.
♦ feel the work and effort
 Key Points about Study Skills

› Develop your own personal

approach to study and learning
› Study skills are not subject
specific
› You need to practice and develop
your study skills
› Study skills are not just for
students
 Some of the Study Skills
1.Getting Organized to Study
♦ Find a suitable place to study

(consider your study

environment)
♦ Organizing your materials

♦ Deciding when to study

(finding time to study)

♦ Developing a support network

for study
2.Sources of Info for Study
♦ Be able to research and use

materials which back up your

study
♦ Be aware of where to look for

info (sources from library,

internet, bibliographies,
colleagues, etc.), how to
access it and how to use it.
3.Styles of Writing
♦ The style will also affect how

you read and interpret the

document concerned
i. Academic: essays,
dissertations, reports
ii.Fiction: myths and legends
iii.Nonfiction: factual writing
iv.Journalistic: usually in news
4.Effective Reading
♦ Academic reading is an active

process - the process of

engaging with the text as you
read.
♦ Requires a conscious effort to

make links, understand

opinions, research and apply
what you learn to your studies.
♦ Know the goal of reading:
i. to gain factual information
for practical use (nonfiction)
ii.to be entertained (fiction)
iii.to inform us about current
events (journalistic)
5.Critical Reading and Reading
Strategies
♦ Critical reading goes further

than just being satisfied with

what a text says
♦ It involves reflecting on what

the text describes, and

analysing what the text
actually means, in the context
 Time Management Skills
› The process of arranging and
controlling how you spend your
time over your workload to be
accomplished.
› planning through apportioning
your time well for various
activities.
› Can make the difference
between graduating and
› Consider the who
A doctor following
is operating on
situations:
a patient. The operation was
supposed to last 2 hours and
it has now taken 8 hours.
How will the relations of the
patient feel?
A lecturer who was supposed
to attend a 7:30am class on a
Monday. The lecturer wakes
up at 8:15am on that Monday
and must use public transport
to the lecture room. How will
students in the class feel?
A politician planned to open
a referral hospital as part of
the campaign promises. The
contractor who is
constructing the hospital
fails to finish the project in
time due to other factors and
people refuse to vote for the
politician because of an
unfulfilled promise. How will
the politician feel?
› Failure to manage time causes
inconveniences not only to one
person but to other people too.
Principles of Time Management

1.Planning
♦ Plan your activities for the day

(list all your tasks and

schedules)
♦ Minimize distractions as much

as possible
♦ Use various personal planning

tools (calendars, wall charts,

notebooks, electronic
2.Organize and Prioritizing
♦ Understand the difference

btwn urgent & important.

♦ Though both urgent &

important tasks can be done

together, focus on important
ones regardless of their
urgency.
♦ Most important tasks are not
the most urgent tasks and
vice-versa.
♦ Urgent tasks demand your
immediate attention, but may
or may not matter.
♦ Important tasks matter, and
not doing them may have
serious consequences for you
 Answering
› Consider thethe phone is urgent.
following
If you don’t do it, the caller will
examples:
ring off, and you won’t know
why they called – and it might
be important. It may also,
however, be an automated voice
telling you that you may be
eligible for compensation for
having been mis-sold insurance.
That’s not important.
Going to the dentist regularly is
important (or so we’re told). If
you don’t, you may get gum
disease, or other problems. But
it’s not urgent. If you leave it
too long, however, it may
become urgent because you
may get toothache.
Picking your children up from
school is both urgent and
important. If you are not there
at the right time, they will be
waiting in the playground or
the classroom, worrying about
where you are. You may also
inconvenience others such as
teachers who are waiting with
your children for you to arrive.
Reading funny emails or
checking Facebook is neither
urgent nor important. So why is
it the first thing that you do
each day? See our page
minimising distractions to help
you recognise and avoid other
things that may distract you
from getting your urgent and
important tasks done.
♦ To prioritize your tasks:
i. prepare a semester calendar: record
assignments with due dates, exams
and your known out-of-school
activities
ii. prepare a weekly schedule: record
your daily classes, things to be done
with due dates e.g. projects, lab
reports, assign., etc.; review of your
class notes/lessons; “out-of-school”
activities.
3.Avoid Procrastination
♦ Putting off what can be done

today for tomorrow - leads to

stress and pressure
♦ There are various ways to

avoid procrastination:
i. Have motivation:
internal/intrinsic/ inside and
external/extrinsic outside
ii.Have goals: must measure
observable, concrete fact
rather than abstract ideas
iii.Get started: cut the task
down to size, brainstorm
with others, ask your
lecturer for suggestions,
arrange for tutoring with
your instructor.
4.Avoid Distractions
♦ Distractions happen and it is

hard to avoid them.

♦ Identify internal distractions

(mental problems resulting to

noise in your mind) and
external distractions (physical
distractions) that will affect
concentration
5.Learn to say NO
♦ This is perfectly OK to say

“no” to tasks you feel

overwhelmed by.
6.Make Realistic Schedules
♦ Timetables work, but not

everyone makes them

♦ Be realistic, leave room for

flexibility
♦ Stay positive, when stressed,

take a 10-minute break to do

things that you enjoy.
♦ Take care of your health, eat
Techniques used to Manage Time

1.To-do List
♦ Involves listing down all

activities to be done on a
particular day - allocate time
for the activities to be done
♦ Can be presented in form of a

program, timetable or
checklist.
2.Pareto Analysis (80/20 Rule)
♦ Created by Italian, Vilfredo

Pareto, who observed that

80% of the land in Italy was
owned by 20% of the people.
♦ Observed that 80% of the land

challenges Italy faced were

caused and would be resolved
by focusing on the 20% of the
♦ The idea is: 20% of actions are
responsible for 80% of
outcomes
♦ The ratio is 80:20 – the
remaining 80% of the time
yields only 20% of the results
♦ Approximately 20%percent of
your hard work produces 80%
results.
3.ABC Method
♦ Developed by Alan Lakein.

Helps to understand your

current time management
situation
♦ The goal is to focus more on

the important things

♦ It categorizes all human

activities into: “A”, “B” and

 Categ Priority Nature of Task
ory
A– “Must Do” High Very important,
Task priority, critical items, with
close deadlines or
high level of
importance to them
B– “Should Do” Quite important
Task Medium over time, not as
priority critical as “A”
items, but still
important to spend
time doing.
C– “Nice to Do” Low consequences
Task Low priority at if left undone at
4.Gantt Chart
♦ Developed by Henry Gantt and

usually used in project

management.
♦ All activities in a project are

listed down and allocated

specific time periods when
they would be carried out.
Importance of Time Management

› It improves your performance

› It boosts your confidence
› It reduces stress
› It opens up new possibilities
› It enhances your decision-
making ability
 End of
Presentation
Thank you!!!!!