Study skills are gained only through actually studying. They develop, evolve and mature over time as you become more practiced, experience feedback and reflect upon what you are doing and how you are progressing. Your thinking and use of language will also develop as you progress through your course. Students often make the mistake of believing that quantity is what is important rather than quality. Knowing your proffered learning style will improve upon the quality of your learning and quantity will naturally follow.

Taking a reflective, self-evaluating approach to your learning will help you to develop a deeper understanding of the subject in the long term. This in itself is a massive bonus and will manifest itself in better grades as you progress. If you have been away from study for some time do not worry. Simply by reading this article you are taking the first step towards developing the skills you need or may have forgotten.

Learning is an adventure and can be fun too if your approach is right. It is always difficult to learn if you are stressed out or bored. Children learn because they don’t worry about set-backs or what people think nor do they have fear of what will happen if they make mistakes. When learning to walk they don’t give up the first time they fall down -they just try again and again until eventually walking becomes easy.

Everyone is an individual and learns in their own way though there is a lot that we all have in common too. There are questionnaires available that can help you to discover your individual learning style, however, what is most important is that you recognize that there are many different elements that contribute to how you learn. Over identifying yourself with one particular type can lead to you becoming fixed in your idea of the way in which you learn. You always need to experiment with different strategies and new skills in order to continue your development. Remember the brain is highly adaptable and can move seamlessly between different styles and that it may be your own pre-conceptions that are preventing it from doing so.

Knowing how you learn best is an important piece of knowledge as it empowers you to take control of your learning and achieve much more. You will be able to adapt new learning to fit where you are now and it will enable you to see more clearly why you did well or badly at school. There are many websites and organizations that can help you discover your own individual learning style and begin to see how you can improve the quality of your learning.