How to Study

Studying at University - How to Study

Attendance and engagement

Different session types

How to study

Academic skills

Effective studying is a process of making a plan that takes into account your time commitments both at university and your life outside your studies. It is here that you may have an advantage as your military work will have developed strong project planning, time management and organisation skills. These are essential to help you manage multiple units, each with their own timetable and assessment deadlines. Here are a few ideas to consider that will help you manage your study.

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Note-taking in lectures and tutorials

You will be given copies of the lecture, so you do not need to write everything that is on the screen. However, you should take notes as this will help you organise your thoughts and enhance your understanding of the topic.

Always write the date and title of the lecture or any of your classes, as this will keep your notes organised.
Be logical in your notes by using headings, dot-points, images, and arrows as it may be a few weeks before you review them.
Try to link concepts and ideas.
Pay attention to what the lecturer says, as this will help you understand what is essential to know.
Leave room for your own thoughts or questions that you have at the end.
Most students take notes on their electronic devices, and these help them to keep everything in an organised manner.

This video is a short, no-nonsense tutorial on making notes by hand, although the same principles apply to taking notes on your laptop or tablet.

Study Groups

Learning is an individual process; no one else can do the learning for you. However, learning theory describes how individuals construct their own understanding in a social context and is where study groups can help you clarify your understanding of the concepts. Many units have a group work part where you will be placed in a small group to work on a presentation on a topic.

If you are part of a study group, then you can discuss the work and further develop your own understanding of the key components of a unit. Working in groups can also help relieve some of the uncertainty you may feel about coping with study.

Groups are like the teams that you formed in your military work, and they work in a comparable way. You will have an advantage here because your experience gives you the skills to assign tasks to each group member, to work to a deadline, and to keep others motivated and on task.

You can access a fantastic resource at Five2Study with a Teamwork Contract Template to make collaborating easier.

Time management

As you are already aware, there are many conflicting demands on your time and never more so than when you start to study. The time that you allocate to your studies will also need to be carefully managed so that you do not waste precious time.

Here are a few ideas:

Use a weekly and semester planner and mark when each assessment is due.
Accept that you will probably be doing some study every day.
Allocate intensive study time when you are preparing and writing assignments. You will need thinking and writing time. Remember to stand up and walk around during long periods of sitting - this will help re-oxygenate your body and essentially, your brain.
Spend time every day reviewing the notes that you’ve taken. This can be a brief period where you might annotate your notes and write questions that you want to ask in the next session.
Consider studying in the university library, where you can concentrate without interruption.
Make time for yourself - socialise with friends and family and get regular exercise.

Pay attention to assessment due dates

Assessment dates help to keep you on track to reach your learning outcomes for the unit. They are spaced to give you enough time to reflect on the feedback that you get so that you can improve. Although you can apply for extensions if you feel that you need one, be very careful of this. Extensions are for extenuating circumstances, and delays in submitting one assignment will likely impact on your time to do the next assignment.

You will likely have assessments from your other units due in the same week. Allocating time to complete all tasks will need careful planning.

Use your planner to check the due dates of each assignment.
Do not underestimate how long it will take to complete the first few assessment tasks.
Plan to have enough time to prepareand submit your assessment task.

Applying for extensions

It can happen that despite all the planning and preparation, it becomes difficult to meet the assessment deadlines. It is possible to apply for an extension on that deadline through the Special Consideration process that every university has in place

Some institutions, such as Australian Catholic University and Flinders University, will also have Student Veteran Support Programs that have advisors to help you navigate this process.