Thai students don't ask for study tips. They are used to rote learning from kindergarten, so they know how to memorize. Since my classes usually do not cover materials to memorize, this skill doesn't help them much. They need creativity and critical analysis as well as thinking skills.

So, what they do is asking for shortcuts. And, usually there aren't any. I have to help to think creatively and to read critically, e.g. to see the gaps in an argument.

One thing which immediately comes to my mind is the "the path of least resistance". I think our students (including us) tend to choose the lesser work. Majority choose this path. They want no more further readings. No longer stress. If you can provide them the hint then it will be to their advantage. Our brain is designed to use a way of lesser energy requirement. In this manner, a study tip can be nice.

I usually give study / method tips based on my experience. In other words I try it first before I prescribe it. If it works for me then I guess it will work on them too.

Thanks Elmer. In my college, we try so hard to help our students. Just look at my papers, and you know this is true :)

But, oooh there's a big BUT, when they go to univ in a year's time, the lecturers aren't too helpful (they say). I have also told them they have to be responsible for their learning :)))

Hare are my opinions

1. Yes, every student asks for study tips. Especially during revision before exams.

2. Yes, it is my duty to guide my students.

3. Usually, my tips never meant to shortcuts. I guide them for exams to understand the questions and construction of answers. During classes, I would prefer to guide them about how to read reference books.

Thai students don't ask for study tips. They are used to rote learning from kindergarten, so they know how to memorize. Since my classes usually do not cover materials to memorize, this skill doesn't help them much. They need creativity and critical analysis as well as thinking skills.

So, what they do is asking for shortcuts. And, usually there aren't any. I have to help to think creatively and to read critically, e.g. to see the gaps in an argument.

Thanks Darasingh and Michael. My students have found that memorizing was still good enough at school, but sadly they cannot use it anymore!!

Yes, they have to 'think creatively and to read critically' and learn to Enjoy this :)

Hello all,

It is my duty to advise students how best to go through the material, and the fact that they need to prepare before class... however, they might ask for tips for exam rather than tips on how to study!

Thanks and regards

Theodora Issa

I am not a qualified enough like a teacher or professor to answer this question but I would like to share my views.

I being a student, never asked for any study tips from any teacher but my friend used to ask it specially at the exam time or at the time when their own study study plan doesn't work.

According to me, if any student asks it from a teacher, it is their duty to guide them.

My study tips which worked well for me are:

1. Learn, forget, learn : If you have learnt something and forgot it, it is good because when you will relearn it, you will remember it for a longer time.

2. Revise: Revision is best habit a student should develop for better academic carrier.

3. Late night study before the day of examination should not be practiced.

4. Memorizing is not only the solution in the examination, you should be able to analyse the question and answer it creatively.

Regards,

Nitish

@Nitish, very good answer.

Many students of mine used to ask that they forget what they learned. I say don't memorize, you wont forget. Just concentrate on learning, forget about forgetting.

Nitish, good pointers. As long as we are instructors we serve the students as mentors as well. There is no unique short cuts to the students, but advising them to read every day and practice frequently will keep their minds ready when knowledge is needed to be retrieved.

Dear Miranda,

Unfortunately, Hungarian students do not ask how to learn and many of them do not know how to learn. I feel during examinations that many of them cannot understand even my questions. I found that they use often obscure (students "edited") fake teaching material instead of the books and syllabuses I proposed them. Many cannot assess their comprehension and come without knowledge to have an exam

They ask for study tips , but that will be few months before exam. I feel that is bad approach by students but same time it is teachers duty to make the subject simple and under-stable.Teachers duty is to guide them not spoon feed them. Find out their real talents and support it.

@Vijay and Hussin,

Thanks for you appreciation.

These are the points which I use to implement on myself and it works quite well.

Regards,

Nitish

Thanks for the points that you have raised. Yes, our students must understand what they learn. At times, the problem is that they Understand, but they can't remember too well, and don't have confidence that they can remember. Then, what DO YOU SUGGEST? Thanks :))

Dear Miranda

The interaction between teacher / student set is characterized by the selection of content , organization , systematization teaching to facilitate student learning and exposure where the teacher will demonstrate their contents .

The educator to implement the dialogue should not put yourself in the position holder of knowledge , it must first put yourself in the position who does not know everything , recognizing that even an illiterate carries the most important knowledge: life .

In this way , learning becomes more interesting when students feel competent by the attitudes and methods of motivation in the classroom . The pleasure in learning is not an activity that arises spontaneously in students , therefore, is not a task that comply with satisfaction , and in some cases regarded as an obligation . For this to be better cultivated, the teacher should arouse the curiosity of students , watching their actions in developing activities .

The teacher's role is to act an intermediary between content learning and constructive activity for assimilation.

The work of the teacher in the classroom , their relationship with students is expressed by the relationship he has with society and culture.

According to Freire " good teacher is what you get while talking , bring the student up to the intimacy of the movement of his thought . Your class is thus a challenge and not a lullaby . His students tired , not sleeping . Tired because accompanying the comings and goings of his thought , surprised their breaks , their doubts , their uncertainties . "

The authoritarian teacher, lewd teacher, competent , serious teacher, incompetent, irresponsible teacher, loving teacher of life and its people , the unloved teacher, always angry at the world and people , cold, bureaucratic , rationalistic , none of them passes by students without leaving their mark . "

The relationship between teacher and student mainly depends on the mood established by the teacher, empathetic relationship with their students , their ability to listen , reflect and discuss the level of understanding of the students and the creation of bridges between your knowledge and theirs. The teacher should encourage the positive side of the students for the formation of a citizen conscious of his duties and social responsibilities

Nelson, your summary at the end makes great sense. However, sometimes the instructor also has to learn from the students to change mood and mode of interaction. There are there excellent students instructors can rely on in their endeavor to pass the message.

Dear Hussin

I fully agree with your opinion. Life is a constant exchange of informations and learning

Regards

Dear friends, thanks for your posts. All are valuable, but I can't up vote on this mobile now.

@Hussin, at last you are back on RG. I missed you and Vasile for some time. Most of all, I missed Martin. I hope he comes back too :)

Sent from mobile.

Study tips? Yes, they ask for them, and they get them. I have review sessions before every major exam. During these sessions, I give the class all the answers of all the questions of the exam, plus more information when the students ask for it. All this I do in the form of questions and answers. I begin by asking the class, "If you were the professor, what would you ask?" By figuring out the response, the class gets all the study tips it needs. This is not rote memorization, but reasoning.

Question/answer is a reality check for knowledge and an excellent style Nelson. Moreover, I ask students to prepare their own true or false and multiple choice questions when I assign certain topics through the semester, and I use many of these suggestions in exams. Full participation in the process of assessment adds value to the exercise itself and makes students motivated to go ahead.

Dear Miranda, thank you for your kind words. I actually was "cooking" a number of research papers that took my attention for a while. Regards

I give my students who ask, the following study tips:

1. The exam will be on the syllabus.

2. The exam will cover all parts of the syllabus equally.

3. Start studying for the exams early.

"Oh, Sir," they reply! :-)

Dear Kennedy sir,

Typical teacher's answer!!!

We use to hear it regularly from some of our teachers.

Regards,

Nitish

Ian, so mean! (I just assume my students study early. Giving frequent brief quizzes assure it).

We normally get this question asked individually, and I see no reason to favour those students.

My students know that they are not prepared to beat a test but to learn to learn on their own, that's what they are essential for professional!!

I tell mine that learning proceeds in an incremental fashion and there are "no tips". They need to ensure that they are studying the material as they go along and continuously refining their skills because they can't learn the advanced skills we want them to in a short period of time.

I very much agree with Nelson

We found that our medical students often ran into problems with study skills. Many of them had relied on good memories all through High school and ran into trouble when there was just too much to cram. Others had good study skills for knowledge, but had little awareness of this (metacognition) and so when it came to learning clinical skills, they really struggled, trying to apply their effective study skills for knowledge to psychomotor skills/reasoning skills, and unsurprisingly failing!

I'm biassed (co-authored a book on study skills for medical students etc), but all the same, I strongly believe that it is our duty as teachers to help students learn how to learn. Part of that is formal training, but in my fantasy reality the largest part of that should be by modelling ("oh yes, I always have trouble memorising lists, I tend to use XYZ technique. although [in these conditions] I find ABC technique useful")

Miranda, in terms of "At times, the problem is that they Understand, but they can't remember too well, and don't have confidence that they can remember. Then, what DO YOU SUGGEST?", sometimes it is a matter of context. Our students learn anatomy in the classroom and dissecting room, then a year or two later an intimidating surgeon points at a bit of anatomy in a living patient in the bizarre environment that is the operating theatres and demands that they tell him what it is. Before they have had a chance to even register the question they are admonished for not knowing any anatomy. The secret, I think, is learning the information from different angles, different contexts, and recalling and particularly applying it in different contexts too. That and helping them link the information from one context to another.

The students I am referring to usually rock up at my door for the first time the day before the exam. You can understand why I am so mean to them.

Yes Ian, it takes maybe 3 months to learn a new study technique, so best advice to those students is get a good nights sleep!

For clinical skills, when I had 4 months between the students failing and the retake, I demonstrated that the students who failed could be taught how to learn effectively and efficiently and that they improved in their clinical skills, and maintained this ability to learn for at least the next two years (statistically significant, unpublished). Changes to the timetable to make it "more symmetrical" resulted in only a one month gap between failing and retaking, these students demonstrated no ongoing benefit from 're-mediation' based around improving study skills, and I suspect just spent a month trying to cram.

Thanks, dear friends for your comments.

@Darasingh, this was the only question that I shared yesterday. So you have got it :)

[I'm very busy suddenly because I got back comments from 3 reviewers, and I have to add more to my Review. It's so different to get a paper into a journal, as compared to a conference proceeding. So I just press on :) ]

In my opinion, a teacher is morally responsible to help his/her students to the best of his/her ability so that they will be successful in their academic life. So, advising them on study tips is a small part of that responsibility.

In terms of tips to tell them, I prefer to emphasize on the point that every student should follow his/her own style and tips. So, the most important role of the teacher could be to help the student to think deeply on his preferences and experiences. This dosen't mean that there shouldn't be some general points that may work for every one. for instance: time management, having at least some sort of schedule to guide study, having a balance life style (study, rest, sleep)...etc.

@Miranda, as You like good readings on issue, here it is! Exam Preparation: Ten Study Tips seems very good!

http://www.topuniversities.com/student-info/health-and-support/exam-preparation-ten-study-tips

We need to resolve the ambiguity of the request for "study tips".

Only the lazy ask individually the day before the exam for tips on what will be in the exam, so that they can concentrate on those questions to the detriment of the others that will not be asked.

Only the dedicated will ask early on the generic question "How do I optimally study?" I still have to be asked that question! I would reply with topics such as how to take notes, summarise, highlight, comment, make links, read outside the textbook, internalise, practice etc.

Dear friends, thanks for your thoughts :)

Yes, this is true: 'Only the lazy ask individually the day before the exam for tips'. So I have Simplified the Learning Process for these people. Just 3 steps are needed:

Step 1: Read (highlight, scribble) till Understand,

Step 2: Practice makes Perfect. Practise answering structured questions, essay questions, all questions;

Step 3: Test before Exam. Close all the books and answer the questions Again.

Sure, in semester system is tight for both students and teachers especially in the developing countries where too many holidays to be affordable in this type of system of teaching-learning.

It resulted in the decline of exposure to books and other standard sources. Most students either use class notes or resort to internet for information that sometimes confuse them. In such a situation where class note are not considered sufficient and possibility of confusion is high, it is quite natural students ask me for study tips. I always refer them a standard book which almost covers all topics in the syllabus.

Yes, Mohammad Firoz. This is true: 'semester system is tight for both students and teachers especially in the developing countries where too many holidays'.

In Malaysia, we have about 16 public hols. When I was a student I used them well o study. But now my students plan outings on public hols. But, there are still a few who will study and enjoy it.