Study Skills for Higher Education: A Comprehensive Guide

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Study Skills for Higher Education
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Main body........................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
Reference list...................................................................................................................................7
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Introduction
Academic skills are some set of attributes, which is required for students. The study will be
conducted to understand reasons behind joining university. Then it will find out many academic
skills and state their importance. A plan will be developed after that by setting some short and
long-term goals.
Main body
(1) What are the main reasons for studying a degree at university?
Students often do not know about academic skills or education level they may need to become
successful in professional career. They are confused about academic demands and campus life in
universities. They have no clue about requirements of classes and schedules of it. They did not
know about names of organisations and many new activities, which they can do. A survey was
performed and results showed that most students think that their high school education is
excellent and they do not need further education. This is a wrong conception and joining a
college can change it. Many students commented that they need communication skill, as they are
weak in oral skills as well as verbal.
Many other surveys pointed that students have various intentions for joining university. Some
wanted good vocational training and other wanted basic education. Some preferred vocational
training more than basic education and vice versa. Other studies said that freshmen have
different reasons for joining colleges. Some of them thought college education can give them a
degree and using it, they can have better job. Many thought it could give them opportunity to
learn things they like. Others thought higher education is great for earning more money by
doing jobs at higher ranks. Education at university gives a student many chances for participating
in educational activities. They can learn many things from it and can use it for making better
professional career. Campus life can teach a student discipline and it can shape their professional
life in future (Holdaway and Kelloway, 1987).
(2) What are the core academic skills that can be developed and why are they important?
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Communication skills are very important in higher education and it can give many advantages to
a student. Skills for writing are very important and it helps a person to take notes in academic
life as well as increases the quality of paraphrasing. Universities assign projects to students and
they have to present these in academic writings. It is very difficult for a student if that person
does not know proper way of writing. This needs proper training and student has to know right
methods for writing and develop lucrative learning styles. Higher education requires writing
many thesis, analysis reports in fluent language. This will let a student have good marks in
subjects and can later become very important for their profession.
Ability to speak in proper way is important because it can help students to have conversation
with tutors. This kind of verbal skill is very good for students, as they need to give presentation
in front of professors, which is a part of their educational course. Good speaking skill will let a
student have good communication with partners, while working inside a team. There are many
group assignments given by universities and lack of speaking skill can hamper it. If students fail
to communicate with teachers, then they will not be able to state their problems regarding a
subject to them. Good body language is part of non-verbal skill and needs to improve it. During
presentation at colleges, it is important to have proper body language or else it may look odd and
offend teachers. A person should focus on their dressing sense, attitude and way of talking to
improve body language, as it may help them in their future. There is a huge amount of marks
dedicated to presentation styles of students and learning this skill can get those marks easily.
This will make great impression on teachers and can help students in giving good interviews.
Students should focus on vocational training. This skill gives students good knowledge about
practical fields. They can learn about various business skills, which can be very important for
them to be successful in practical classes. There is a good amount of marks assigned to practical
examinations at universities for many subjects. This knowledge is necessary to get more success
in those practical papers. If they do not have any practical knowledge, then they will fail at these
papers, which can become great problem at their educational career. Many universities have
rules that states failing in practical papers will fail them in entire paper. This kind of knowledge
can help a student boost their skill and can become an essential factor for their professional
success at later stages. Interviewers often check vocational skills of a student and candidates
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having this experience are more preferred. That is why; students should focus on getting
vocational training.
(3) Develop a study plan that includes short term and long-term goals that will help
in acquiring and developing the skills and knowledge mentioned in (2).
Skills Way to achieve Monitoring process Time required
Writing skill It can be learn by
referring to language
books to learn
grammars. This
provides good
knowledge and many
exercises are available
for gaining knowledge
about it. Newspapers
can be read on daily
basis to understand
proper sentence
structures.
Teachers can be
approached to know
the amount of
improvement.
Teachers can give
feedback and can help
to correct mistakes.
Long term ( 1 year )
Verbal skill Tutorial classes can
be joined to acquire
this skill. These
classes show way to
pronounce a word
properly and take tests
from students
periodically. This
class works on
someone’s vocabulary
and enriches it.
Debates and
discussions are very
good way to test this
skill. This can let
someone know about
their existing faults,
while speaking and
can correct it by
removing those
mistakes.
Long term ( 1 year )
Non-verbal skill This particular skill The way to monitor Short term ( 3
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will require seeing
many tutorial videos
or grooming classes
can be joined to
improve body
language. These
grooming classes and
tutorials will show
methods to improve
body language and
outlook.
the progress here is
simple and can be
done by asking
people’s opinion
about the outlook.
Self-evaluation is a
very good process to
understand progress.
months )
Vocational skills Improvement of this
skill can be achieved
by participating in
practical classes held
at colleges. These
classes allow a person
to use their presence
of mind and shows
proper techniques,
which applies in
practical scenarios.
Effective monitoring
method will be to
assess performance
while doing practical
classes.
Short term ( 3
months )
Table 1: Study plan
(Source: Created by the learner)
Conclusion
Reasons behind joining universities were pointed out by taking help from suggested article. The
Study pointed some academic skills like communication and vocational and showed their
importance in academic career of a student. Lastly, a plan was drawn to suggest methods, which
can hone these skills and monitoring methods were given too.
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Reference list
Holdaway, E.A. and Kelloway, K.R., 1987. First Year at University: Perceptions and
Experiences of Students. Canadian Journal of higher education, 17(1), pp.47-63.
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