Higher Education Study Skills: Goal Setting and Information Retention

This assignment delves into the crucial aspects of study skills, focusing on goal setting and information retention within the context of higher education. The essay begins by highlighting the significance of developing effective study skills, including note-taking, time management, and organizational skills, emphasizing their lifelong benefits. It underscores the importance of goal setting as the initial step towards academic success, differentiating between short-term and long-term goals and outlining their respective benefits. The assignment then explores various techniques and methods designed to enhance information retention, such as active listening, avoiding cramming, using mnemonic devices, and visualizing concepts. Furthermore, it stresses the importance of developing a structured study plan, which involves creating schedules, prioritizing subjects, and adapting to individual learning styles. The essay concludes by summarizing the key takeaways, reinforcing the idea that effective study skills are indispensable for achieving academic success and that the application of these techniques can significantly improve a student's ability to learn and retain information. The provided references support the concepts discussed in the assignment.

Study Skills for Higher
Education

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Discussing importance of setting goals and evaluation of the methods that can be used to
remember new information..........................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

Discussing importance of setting goals and evaluation of the methods that can be used to
remember new information
`Study skills refer to the skills that are needed by the students to learn and study
efficiently. Skills gained today remain with us for lifetime and helps in achieving success in the
career. These skills are developed by our own or with the guidance of someone with high skills.
Students can get proficient in these skills by regular practising. It includes note making, time
management, reading, organizational skills and test preparation (Fisher and Frey, 2017). These
skills come with different benefits. To achieve these skills, it is important to develop some goals
or milestones. Goal setting is the very first and essential step towards success. This essay covers
the essential requirement of goal setting, types of goals and their benefits. It also includes
different techniques and methods that can be used by students to increase their retention power.
Academic goals are very essential as they provide direction and guidance to the students.
Goal setting is fundamental to success of the students. Goals helps students in moving forward. It
fuels ambition in students to achieve their desired goals (Dunn, 2019). Also, establishing goals
creates a sense of clarity between the process of working hard and achieving the something
significantly (7 REASONS GOAL SETTING IS IMPORTANT FOR SUCCESS. 2019). It provides
several benefits such as providing clear path to success, teaches time management, and
preparedness, increases motivation, helps in measuring progress, boost self-confidence and gives
focus and purpose. Goals can be of two types, short term and long term.
Short term refers to achieving small goals which requires to be completed as soon as
possible. It covers getting high grades, clearing SATs, getting help on specific topic, completing
a team project, creating a study schedule etc. Long term goals are a combination of small goals
that will lead to the long term success. It includes, learning new skill, clearing a course,
graduating on time etc. Study skills can be acquired as per the requirement of the students. There
is no specific procedure for acquiring these skills, it requires considering two important factors
which are concentration and determination (Beckman and et.al, 2019).
Developing a study plan will help in successfully achieving goals. Few essential that
should be considered while creating a study plan. First is creating schedule with short term and
long term goals. It becomes easy to create schedule if goals to be achieved are already known. It
also helps in identifying the areas of improvement. Second is listing all the subjects along with
the time required for each. It gives a clear idea what is required to be done. It also requires

prioritizing the list. Third is analysing the study habits and learning style, based on this schedule
should be created like how much time student can give continuously for study, which is the best
time to study in day time or at night. Fourth is identifying the time available for study after
considering all the classes and other commitments (Drew and Bingham, 2017). Fifth is following
the schedule seriously and consistently which will help in effectively achieving the desired skills
and goals. Sticking to the schedule is very important. Also, student should include breaks in the
schedule to get fresh and relax.
From the above, it can be said that setting goals makes things very clear and provides
direction to the students in achieving their goals. The development of study plan as per the
requirement or goals is the main thing in the goal achievement process.
Sometimes, students come across the situation where they feel like forgetting everything
they have learned, that is, not able to retain the information. So, to overcome such problems,
there are some techniques that will be very useful for students in retaining information. First is
teach what is learned to another person. By explaining the same thing to another person will help
student in checking own knowledge about the topic and the area of improvement. Second is
listening to the speaker attentively (Wilder, 2019). It is the most important component of
retention. Students need to be focussed while studying and should study away from any
distraction like television, music, crowd etc.
Third is avoiding cramming, students should regularly study and revise it regularly as it
helps in retaining the information. Also, students should organize the information in such a way
that will help in easy learning. For example, grouping the similar terms together and making
outline of the notes that will help in remembering the concepts. Fourth is using mnemonic
devices which is used by students in recalling the information. Students associates the term or
information with the item or something similar to it. For example, with music, rhyme, joke etc.
Fifth is visualizing the concepts which includes paying attention to the pictures, charts, graphs
given in the books or creating the own charts helps in remembering the information (Brain-based
Techniques for Retention of Information. 2020). Sixth is reading out loud. Reading the material
loudly helps in improving the memory of the material. Also, explaining the same to the others
also helps in recalling the concepts and information. Next is varying the study routine. This is the
great way to increase retention by the changing the place of studying. This will help in increasing
effectiveness in the learning process.

So, these techniques stated above are very effective in retaining the information. Students
are required to be active and highly motivated to achieve their goals, only then these techniques
will turn out to be effective.
It can be concluded that study skills are very essential for the students who wants to
achieve something in life. These skills are very important for accomplishing short term and long
term goals of the students. The formulation of study is plan helps in believing and motivating
students that what they want can be to achieved (Barrable, Papadatou-Pastou and Tzotzoli,
2018). Also, the major problem that is faced by the students is the retention of information and to
overcome such problems different techniques were stated that will be useful to students. Thus,
study skills play a crucial role in higher education.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Barrable, A., Papadatou-Pastou, M. and Tzotzoli, P., 2018. Supporting mental health, wellbeing
and study skills in Higher Education: an online intervention system. International Journal of
Mental Health Systems. 12(1). pp.1-9.
Beckman, K., and et.al, 2019. Self-regulation in open-ended online assignment tasks: the
importance of initial task interpretation and goal setting. Studies in Higher Education. pp.1-
15.
Drew, S. and Bingham, R., 2017. The guide to learning and study skills: For higher education
and at work. Routledge.
Dunn, W., 2019. How Does Student Goal Setting Affect Motivation to Learn?. Studies in
Teaching 2019 Research Digest. p.1.
Fisher, D. and Frey, N., 2017. Teaching study skills. The Reading Teacher. 71(3). pp.373-378.
Wilder, S., 2019. Library jobs and student retention. College & Research Libraries
News. 51(11). pp.1035-1038.
Online
7 REASONS GOAL SETTING IS IMPORTANT FOR SUCCESS. 2019. [Online]. Available
Through:<https://gradepowerlearning.com/importance-of-goal-setting-for-students/>.
Brain-based Techniques for Retention of Information. 2020. [Online]. Available
Through:<https://medicine.llu.edu/academics/resources/brain-based-techniques-
retention-information>.

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