Strategies for Improving Study Skills in Higher Education

This essay delves into the critical study skills necessary for success in higher education. It begins by defining and exploring various learning styles, such as learning through argumentation, learning by doing, and crossover learning, emphasizing their impact on individual learning preferences and effectiveness. The essay then focuses on the development of a practical study plan, outlining key steps including analyzing learning styles, setting objectives, defining study time, prioritizing tasks, and implementing the plan. A detailed study schedule is provided as an example. Furthermore, the essay examines the role of comprehension and retention in improving learning quality, highlighting the benefits of interactive video lectures, systematic learning approaches, and strategies to increase concentration. It also addresses obstacles to comprehension and retention, such as lack of focus and distractions, and suggests strategies for overcoming these challenges. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of adapting to the changing educational environment and adopting effective learning strategies to achieve academic and professional success.

STUDY SKILLS FOR
HIGHER EDUCATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Learning styles which assist individuals to learn best............................................................3
Developing study plan to accomplish academic and professional success............................4
ASSESSMENT 2.............................................................................................................................7
Role of Building comprehension and retention in improving learning quality......................7
Evaluation of the obstacles in comprehension and retention.................................................8
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Study skills for higher education is very necessary for any individual who is interested in
the higher education. This is necessary because of the reason that without skills and learning
ability the person cannot learn or educate themselves (Hawley, 2018). Thus, the present essay
will deal with different approaches of learning styles. Also, in the end of the essay a study plan
will be made to help student to attain both academic and professional success.
MAIN BODY
Learning styles which assist individuals to learn best
The learning style are defined as the different way or approaches which the learner can
use in order to educate themselves with the different skills and knowledge. Also, the learners are
of different type that is they are different in their approaches and also different in their thinking,
perception, way of seeing things and this is the reason behind the fact that every individual
learner is different form the others. And because of this reason every learner has different
strategy to learn and understand different things in different way.
The learning strategies are different methods which the student of higher education uses
in order to complete their education and learning. In the present world where the competition in
the studies is up to the maximum level it is very necessary for the student to be very proficient
and expert in learning all the new things and concepts (Lim, 2018). The effective learning is also
necessary because of the reason that the business environment is very dynamic and ever
changing and to mange these changes the student needs to be updated with all the latest changes
in the environment.
Therefore, for managing these changing requirements of the business environment it is
very necessary for the student to adapt to the new learning and for these many different learning
strategies which can be adopted by the student. The first strategy is of learning through
argumentation. This is very effective strategy of learning (Kenedi and Mountford-Zimdars,
2018). This is an approach in which the student learns with the help of augmenting. This is a
better way of learning because when the student argument with the other person on some topic
then at that time the student remembers all those things said. This is because of the reason that
the person can argue only at that time when they have complete knowledge of that topic and this
helps the student in by heart learning that thing.

Another learning strategy is of learning by doing. This is the most effective learning
strategy. This is because of the reason that when a person does some task or anything then it
never forgets (Douglas and et.al., 2015). Therefore, all the skills and knowledge which the
student learn by doing is very beneficial for the student and all these skills help the student in
learning effectively. One more learning strategy which can be helpful for the student in learning
in better way is crossover learning. This is a technique in which the student learns out of the
class or out of the structured learning process. Under this method the learning is done in the
informal structure. This type of learning is preferred because of the reason that with informal
teaching the student can retain much information and can learn in effective and efficient manner.
Developing study plan to accomplish academic and professional success
Just learning is not enough the student needs to also get through the exams for which they need
to do study hard. And this can only be possible by planning for the study that is making an
effective study plan. A study plan is an effective way of planning for the steps which will be
taken by the student to study so that they get pass in the field (Cottrell, 2019). For making of the
effective study plan some of the following steps need to be followed which are discussed in the
adjoining points below-
Analyse the learning style- the first and foremost step is to analyse that which learning
style suits the most to the learner. This analysis is necessary because of the reason that there are
many different types of learning which suits different people in different way. Thus, the analysis
of the techniques of learning is very necessary.
Setting objectives- the next step is to set some different types of long term and short-term
objectives. These objectives help the person in knowing that at least in some time frame they
have to achieve this much of learning.
Defining study time- here the person needs to define the time frame within which the
person needs to set some deadline which needs to be fulfilled by that person.
Prioritizing- this is also a major step because the student needs to analyse that which part
of the study is more important in comparison with the other (Landry, 2019).
Implementation- the last stage of this is to implement the thought working and structure
of the plan made to learn the desired things.
Objectives
Short term- To attain the highest marks in the whole class

Long term- to become a professional manager in future
Study plan
Monday 20-minute review new topic
50-minute practical discussion
10-minute s modify work
20 minutes for learn about mistakes
Tuesday 20-minute reading practices
30 minutes for practical questions
25 minutes modify work
Wednesday 45 minutes for listening practice
20-minute specking topics
60 minutes for done practical work
Thursday 10 minutes for review yesterday work
20-minute writing task questions.
50 minutes complete their work
Friday 20-minute listening practice
15 minutes for reviewing study
40-minute practice the questions
20 minute read work
Saturday 3 hours test as per sample of exam.
20 minutes for checking answers.
20 minutes for making changes as per

requirement
Sunday 3 hours do a full-length teat as per day study.
15 minutes for checking answers.
25 minutes for making changes as per
requirement.
CONCLUSION
With the above study it can be concluded that for clearing the higher study it is very
necessary for the student to be aware of the changes taking place within the educational
environment. This is because of the reason that for getting success the student needs to be an
effective learner. Thus, the present essay outlined the different learning strategy such as learning
by doing, learning by argumentation and many others. Also, in the end to implement the learning
a study plan was developed.

ASSESSMENT 2
Reading and comprehension skills are one of the key components in developing the
intellect of a student and every student needs to understand the necessity of developing good
comprehensive skills and inculcate deep learning which they are able to retain for a longer time
period rather than momentary learning.
Role of Building comprehension and retention in improving learning quality
In order to develop and increase the comprehensive power of the students so that they can
interpret in a better manner and retain what they have learnt for a longer time period, authors,
Hung and Chen (2018) , in their research paper have suggested that holding interactive video
lectures are a good means. The authors suggest that by holding interactive lectures, the learning
experience of the students get intensified and therefore, the video lectures helps in increasing the
involvement of the student in the learning activity. The content of such video lectures should be
selected and included very carefully and the communication strategies along with hand gestures
etc. must be kept in mind and used perfectly ion sync with the video lecture that is going on.
Since there is more use of pictorial data, the students would be able to retain more of the
knowledge that is being imparted through such video lectures. Thus, the authors concluded that
increased retention led to increase in the correct answers that were being given by the students
and also when these students were cross questioned about the topic, their answer was more
prompt than the usual answering frequency.
The contribution of increased retention on the success of student was further emphasised
by Kimbark, Peters and Richardson (2017), where they although the number of students
choosing the option of higher education has increased in the past decade, yet the rate of those
students that are succeeding in life due to such courses has not showed much impressive results.
The researchers analysed and compared the difference of learning level between students who
were enrolled in the Student success course as opposed to the ones that were not. When they
were interviewed, it was found that the students that were made to learn in a systematic, practical
and success oriented manner had more chances at success due to the fact that they were able to
retain and comprehend more as compared to those students that were not actively involved in the
SSC course. Therefore the authors concluded that when the retention and comprehensive skills of
the students is higher, their chances of succeeding at the life automatically increases since they

are able to develop more practical learning approach that assists them in taking important
decisions in the future.
Another major factor that contributes in the development of comprehensive and reading
skills so that the learning experience of the students gets more enriched is by ensuring that their
minds do not wander much and their concentration levels are increased. Authors, Mrazek and
et.al., (2017), have researched in the similar field and concluded that there is specific training
that needs to be given to the students or any other category of individuals who wish to increase
their concentration power. There are various interventions that can be used by the individual’s
particular in the academic field such as using a standard course structure, giving elaborative and
illustrative instructions where it is easier to retain certain points that have a deep impact on the
mind of the students, listeners of readers. There have been many arguments that students belong
to different cultural backgrounds and therefore, it is not easy for them to grasp as well as other
students which leads to them lagging behind and thus their incapability to effectively retain the
information reduces their effectiveness. In order to address this issue, the authors, Thomas
(2016) , have suggested that there are much better strategies that can be adopted so that students
at academic level are able to develop a comprehensive approach towards their education. All the
students should be engaged in the process and their contribution and involvement should be
given highest importance so that they are able to develop the approach of comprehensive
learning and by educating them with practical and real life examples they will be able to conduct
their own research and therefore, the conclusions now developed would be more comprehensive
which the students would be able to retain automatically. Therefore, even though the students
might belong to the diverse groups, when they will be able to develop correct approach to the
learning and start educating for the purpose of gaining knowledge rather than passing exams and
this will be the major contributing factor in their success.
Evaluation of the obstacles in comprehension and retention
While developing and building a comprehensive approach in the students, there are
various barriers that the students or their tutors can experience:
Lack of Focus: There are too many distractions for the students today with the rising use of
technology such as phones, emails, social media, games etc. and therefore, it has become almost
impossible to concentrate on the work that they wish to do and therefore, the concentration level
of the students has declined drastically where they cannot go on for more than 20 to 30 minutes

without checking on their smartphones (Ness, 2016). This distraction has led to the students
becoming unfocused and therefore, this directly impacts their learning and development. The
retaining power is also getting affected since although a student is reading or writing but his
mind at that moment is rather involved elsewhere in something that is associated with his
smartphones and therefore, they are reading without absorbing its true essence or context with
which it was written. Therefore, distraction i.e. lack of adequate focus acts as a major barrier in
the learning process of students today.
Negative past education: When, in past, the learning experience of a student has been made i.e.
if either the student has encountered a bad teacher or if they have faced boring lectures or if they
have learnt through monotonous online lectures, then things are bound to go wayward for the
student hand he will lose interest in developing his learning activities. This is directly associated
with the students missing out on important lectures and other learning lessons which leads to
lack of deep learning or adequate knowledge and inability to retain the important data. And
hence, the students are not able to develop correct, comprehensive and adequate learning abilities
thus making the process complicated and difficult where they are not learning with the adequate
amount of knowledge and skills (Telfer and Newton, 2016).
Clashing Mind set: This kind of barriers usually occur with those individuals who are older in
the age group and believe that their age to learn or change has already surpassed and now they no
longer need to learn anything new. This kind of attitude or more importantly mind set makes the
learning process difficult or the learners where they are not ready to argue or contradict anything
but are also unwilling to learn new things. This is especially in the case of online technology and
new things that they are made to learn (Zabidin, 2015). This makes it difficult for them to build
up a comprehensive learning habits and therefore, they are not able to utilise maximum
advantages of the learning process and develop adequate and strong knowledge base. This also
impacts their co-learners where they too get affected by their negative attitude and refuse to
acknowledge the changes that are made and hence develop an up to date learning strategy and
approach.
Conclusion
It can be evidently concluded that for students, it is imperative to develop learning
abilities where they are able to formulate better comprehensive skills and understand how to
develop deep learning abilities that can assist them in succeeding in their lives. Therefore, the

research helped in concluding that although there are many obstacles in developing a
comprehensive learning and retaining the learning that is has been learnt such as distractions, bad
experience etc., yet there are a number of strategies that can be adopted in order to overcome all
such obstacles. Developing concentration through mind techniques such as motivation etc., using
latest technologies like interactive video lectures are some of the strategies that can be used by
the learners in order to develop a more targeted approach in the entire learning and development
process. It can also be concluded that the varied research papers and their study can help in
concluding that those students whose retaining power and comprehensive skills are more
developed are able to develop better learning abilities and have a higher chances at succeeding
than those students who are not developed in this manner i.e. who lack adequate comprehensive
and retention skills. Such students, when faced with practical situations in real life, are not able
to comprehend and interpret it correctly and therefore, it leads to failure in the real life which
makes all their learning redundant. Therefore, it is important for students to develop good
learning skills and enhance the comprehensive and retention skills.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Cottrell, S., 2019. The study skills handbook. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Douglas, J. A. and et.al., 2015. Understanding student satisfaction and dissatisfaction: an
interpretive study in the UK higher education context. Studies in Higher
Education. 40(2). pp.329-349.
Hawley, R., 2018. Academic Writing as Embedded Skills Acquisition for Transition to Higher
Education: An Example from a UK University Classics Department. Journal of Academic
Writing. 8(2). pp.67-77.
Hung, I.C. and Chen, N.S., 2018. Embodied interactive video lectures for improving learning
comprehension and retention. Computers & Education, 117. pp.116-131.
Kenedi, G. and Mountford-Zimdars, A., 2018. Does educational expertise matter for PVCs
education? A UK study of PVCs’ educational background and skills. Journal of Higher
Education Policy and Management. 40(3). pp.193-207.
Kimbark, K., Peters, M.L. and Richardson, T., 2017. Effectiveness of the student success course
on persistence, retention, academic achievement, and student engagement. Community
College Journal of Research and Practice, 41(2). pp.124-138.
Landry, M. H., 2019. The Efficacy of Teaching Independent Study Skills Within English for
Academic Purposes Programs. BC TEAL Journal. 4(1). pp.1-12.
Lim, D., 2018. Quality assurance in higher education: A study of developing countries: A study
of developing countries. Routledge.
Mrazek, M.D. and et.al., 2017. Mindfulness in education: Enhancing academic achievement and
student well-being by reducing mind-wandering. In Mindfulness in social psychology (pp.
139-152). Routledge.
Ness, M.K., 2016. Reading comprehension strategies in secondary content area classrooms:
Teacher use of and attitudes towards reading comprehension instruction. Reading Horizons:
A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts, 49(2). p.5.
Telfer, S. and Newton, V., 2016. Learner identity and academic literacy skills’ acquisition in
students at The University of Bolton.
Thomas, L., 2016. Developing inclusive learning to improve the engagement, belonging,
retention, and success of students from diverse groups. In Widening Higher Education
Participation (pp. 135-159). Chandos Publishing.
Zabidin, N.B., 2015. The Use of Humourous Texts in Improving ESL Learners' Vocabulary
Comprehension and Retention. English Language Teaching, 8(9). pp.104-111.