Check your study skills

Study skills are essential to your online degree, and many of them can be learnt. We suggest you print this document and read each phrase to see if it applies to you and your online degree study experience or not. Check the proper box. Using your printout, read each statement and consider how it applies to you.

   I spend too much time studying for what I am learning.

   I usually spend hours cramming the night before an exam.

   If I spend as much time on my social activities as I want to, I don't have enough time left to study, or when I study enough, I don't have time for a social life.

   I usually try to study with the radio and TV turned on.

   I can't sit and study for long periods of time without becoming tired or distracted.

   I attend online chat, but I usually doodle, daydream, or fall asleep.

   My notes are sometimes difficult to understand later.

   I usually seem to get the wrong material into my notes.

   I don't review my notes periodically throughout the semester in preparation for tests.

   When I get to the end of a chapter, I can't remember what I've just read.

   I don't know how to pick out what is important in the text.

   I can't keep up with my reading assignments, and then I have to cram the night before a test.

   I lose a lot of points on essay tests even when I know the material well.

   I often study in a haphazard, disorganized way under the threat of the next test.

   I often find myself getting lost in the details of reading and have trouble identifying the main ideas.

   I rarely change my reading speed in response to the difficulty level of the selection, or my familiarity with the content.

   I often wish that I could read faster.

   When my teachers assign papers I feel so overwhelmed that I can't get started.

   I usually write my papers the night before they are due.

   I can't seem to organize my thoughts into a paper that makes sense.

If you have answered "yes" to two or more questions in any category, you should visit a study advisor in your university or chat with your online degree instructor to seek studying advice. It will take much less time and effort than you think and you will learn valuable skills on proper studying methods that will help you a lot during your online degree study.

Back to Online Degree home page