Study Skills for Higher Education: BA Business Studies Review Essay

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of essential study skills crucial for success in higher education. It highlights ten key skills, including communication, adaptive thinking, effective reading, memorization, note-taking, collaboration, problem-solving, time management, teamwork, and information technology skills. Each skill is discussed in detail, emphasizing its importance in both academic and professional settings. The essay underscores the need for students to develop and improve these skills to achieve their academic goals and career aspirations. The document is available on Desklib, a platform providing study tools and resources for students.

STUDY SKILL FOR
HIGHER EDUCATION

INTRODUCTION
Whether one is studying for getting pleasure, for building career, to enhance
knowledge of the subject, to acquire unique skills or to obtain a qualification, the study skills
are of great importance to be present in an individual beforehand. It can be called as study
strategies or academic skills that are to be applied while learning. These skills are a group of
skills which handle the process of organization and acquisition of new information, retaining
some old or new information or dealing with the assessments (Thompson, 2017). It is
sometimes developed at an individual level for learning and studying in such a way, so that
their needs of gaining and retaining information can be fulfilled. Also, these are discrete
techniques that can be applicable most or all the fields of study. They are meant for boosting
an individual’s ability to retain and recall old information and learn new information along
with providing aid in passing exams. The present essay is based on the discussion pertaining
to such study skills and their role in helping students to get succeed in their university career.
MAIN BODY
Many skills that an individual learnt or develop during their academic era are used
throughout the career whether it is university or workplace. With the academic experience
many skills are learnt and developed which are termed as transferable skills as these are used
in variety of conditions or scenarios or roles. The study skills which are also transferable skill
plays a very noticeable role in a person’s life as along with success at university, it helps in
getting attractive employment opportunities due to employer’s demand for the presence of
these skills in the potential candidates. Further in this essay various study skills will be
explained along with the reason why they are helpful for the students in attaining their
university career.
 Communication skills: Communication involves acts like speaking, listening
and writing. Professors and teachers at school always put emphasis on
student’s ability to communicate, and they always try to conduct such
workshops, webinars, presentations and events through which students can be
able to know their own ability to communicate and can accordingly work upon
towards the improvement in the same (Drew and Bingham, 2017). During the
digital age, with the availability of various ways of communication from social
media to video conferencing, there seems people and specially students are
communicating much more both with those closer to them and those who are
living far away from them. Communication is the first skill that every
employer wishes to look in to their potential candidates while interviewing
and hiring, as if one who can’t communicate appropriately would not be able
to work in a team or perform any task assigned to them in a required manner.
The reason why communication skill is helpful for the students is that it helps in
passing exams, giving presentations and oral examinations like viva. Without
having an ability to write the answer, one can’t be succeeded in passing university
examinations (Naqvi and et.al., 2018). Also, every university has included the
PowerPoint presentation as a part of marking curriculum, and student needs to
perform for this in front of their classmates or schoolmates, so without possessing
required level of communication skills, students can’t be able to pass their
university exams and accordingly can’t be succeed in their university career.

 Adaptive thinking: It involves recognition of unexpected conditions or
situations and requires quick responses for the same in order to decide for the
best alternative. Students must have an ability to adapt themselves in the
changing conditions taking place in their career at university. For example,
with the emergence of Covid – 19, the teaching and learning patterns has
changed completely, and students are required to attend their academic
sessions from their home itself through online classes (Cottrell, 2019). Those
who have the ability to adjust and adapt to the changing scenarios of
conducting university teaching sessions and exam patterns are able to perform
in an outstanding manner against those who haven’t adapt themselves towards
the changing pattern of learning are not able to get successful in completing
their education in these times. Accordingly, this skill is equally important at
both university and workplace career. As at workplace too, the situations keep
on changing and without possessing an ability to adjust with the changing
conditions, one can’t perform at a highest level or become master of their
field. In this way, Students need to learn how to learn everything quickly and
efficiently.
 Effective reading skills: Ability to read is required in all phases of life.
Reading may be done for the purpose of getting pleasure along with different
purposes arising at both university and workplace career (Villarreal and
Martinez, 2018). With the help of this skill of effective reading, students can
understand the meaning of the written language and in addition to this, they
can constructively process what meaning does the text is representing.
Analysis and understanding of language of the given reading topic allows for
influencing student’s ability to communicate with others and with the world at
large.
The reason behind why effective reading is helpful for the students to get succeed in their
university career is that students can easily question and survey the text that they are reading
in order to get good understanding of the given subject or topic. This skill can be improved
through reading more and more and improving one’s reading skills, so that reduction in the
reading time can be achieved and more reading can be performed in a focused manner
(Jairam, 2020). This allows students to go through their study materials in quick manner and
learn each and every aspects of their subject matter to get better marks and achievements in
their university career.
 Memorization: It is that skill that follows the whole academic career of the students
and beyond it like at work place too this skill in equally important. Students at their
higher education level at university are required to memorize rules related to
grammar, poems, vocabulary words, facts and figures and many principles of science
and other subject matter (Roberts, 2019). Memorization skills can be learnt and taught
in different manner such as through rote learning, word association, flash cards and
mnemonic devices which includes rhymes and songs. Students must identify the best
method for themselves as employment of this skills in one’s achievements is as
necessary as the importance of memorized information that has been retained in the
memory of the students.

To get succeed at the career at university, ability to memorize facts, figures and other
informative material is very important, as student without the ability to retain what has been
memorized by them for the examination can’t pass it with the attractive marks. In this way,
memorization is important at all phases of life whether it is university or workplace career.
 Note taking: Students must master their skills of taking note, however it is a quite
tricky task as if notes are taken of just high level information or complex information,
then at the time of reviewing it gain in future it would not be possible for the students
to understand the complex or high level information at a glance. Also, if just a
copious notes having no form or directions are taken then all the efforts just go in vain
as copious notes means noting down just few notes or nothing (Guerrasio and et.al.,
2017). For a student of university, it is helpful in getting succeed at their university
career due to the following reasons:
1. Accumulating enough study materials and saving time of study during examinations.
2. Understand concepts well and getting better marks in examinations.
3. Comprehensive study could be possible which clarifies concepts in a better way.
 Collaboration skills: Collaboration skills allows for working with one another at the
classrooms in university. With the help of collaboration an effective and efficient
discussion can take place among the students team members which allows for better
understanding and clarification of complex concepts (Thompson, 2017). Also, an
individual student may be facing certain problems while studying that can be resolved
through collaborative study. At last, it can be said that with the help of collaboration
skills, students can save much of their limited time available for study as collaboration
allows for group study which is best for the students at the level of higher education to
learn more and succeed in their university career. Problem solving & Critical thinking skills: Whatever students learns at their
university career are of analytical nature. To analyze the information they are reading
and studying, they must possess the necessary critical thinking skills. Also, many
subjects such as accounting, aptitudes, logical reasoning and mathematics are based
on problem solving and accordingly, students needs to possess ability or skills of
problem solving to outperform or achieve distinction in these subjects. If these
subjects are passed with the distinction marks, then students will be able to get
succeed at their university career as well (Drew and Bingham, 2017). These skills are
also needed at workplace and to get employed with good employers, these skills must
be developed during the time of higher education at university. These skills are
needed at workplace, as environmental factors provides for various circumstances
where critical decisions are made to solve existing problems and this could be
possible only with the presence of these skills. Time management and organization: This is also one of the most important skills
which helps the students in completing their academics projects and exams on time.
Not only that this skill is also helpful for their career development such as when they
join as an employee within any organization, they need to complete their task on time.
At that time the time management skills help them in achieving their personal as well

as professionals targets and goals (Cottrell, 2019). This skill indicates that learning
with unique level of discipline and experience helps in solving critical problems at no
time. For students, each day is structured by different level of plans which they need
to complete on time in order to achieve the ultimate targets. That's why proper time
management is an important skill which every student have to develop and improve in
themselves. For example, in case if students have exams in 30 days which involve 5
subjects than each student have to give 6 days to each subject in order to prepare well
for the exams. In order to develop time management skills, the students have to study
or work in a clean and neat workspace with the all study materials. Team work: Ability to work in a team must be learnt at the level of higher education,
so it is the duty of the professors and teachers to build and develop the habits of
students in a school or university to take projects and tasks in a team in order to learn
skills of working in a team, as team work produces higher results than individual
work (Villarreal and Martinez, 2018). Also, at university, students are required to
perform in a team while giving presentations, so this skills forms part of the study
skills and considered as an important skill to succeed at university career.
 Information technology skills: IT helps in developing technical projects which are
part of higher education that is being taken at university (Jairam, 2020). Also,
presentations needed to be given on different subjects required good knowledge of
technical skills. In this way, IT skills are helpful in succeeding at university career.
CONCLUSION
The report has concluded the list of 10 skills which need to be developed and improve
by students in themselves in order to achieve their targets and careers planning goals. The
various skills have been discussed by the report along with the benefits it provides to the
students. Further, in each skill the report has concluded why such skill is important in
everyday life of the students. The report has concluded the university students can recognize
the impact of their actions and also finds the new ways of thinking and solving the critical
problems. Lastly, the report has stated that it build confidence in students.

REFERENCES
Cottrell, S., 2019. The study skills handbook. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Drew, S. and Bingham, R., 2017. The guide to learning and study skills: For higher
education and at work. Routledge.
Guerrasio, J., and et.al., 2017. Study skills and test taking strategies for coaching medical
learners based on identified areas of struggle. MedEdPORTAL, 13.
Jairam, D., 2020. First-year seminar focused on study skills: an ill-suited attempt to improve
student retention. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 44(4), pp.513-527.
Naqvi, S., and et.al., 2018. Study skills assessment among undergraduate students at a private
university college in Oman. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 9(2), p.139.
Roberts, C.H., 2019. Developing Essential Learning and Study Skills Among Students in
STEM Courses at Higher Education Institutions.
Thompson, P., 2017. Communication technology use and study skills. Active learning in
higher education, 18(3), pp.257-270.
Villarreal, V. and Martinez, A., 2018. Assessing study skills in college students: A review of
three measures. Journal of College Student Development, 59(5), pp.629-635.