How to Study the RRC Way: Essential
Reading Before You Start Your Studies
WELCOME
Study has been likened to a voyage of discovery and that is precisely what you will
find once you begin. You will learn of principles and ideas that will challenge and
inspire you - and you have the unique opportunity of doing so at your own pace in your own
time.
In choosing to study through The Rapid Results College you can be completely certain, from
the start, that you're using the finest teaching material available in your field. For
some seventy years our success, both here and internationally, has rested on one simple
premise:
What helps the student is good for RRC.
The following pages will guide you on how to use this information and the best method
to employ when studying.
As well as this booklet, you will have received:-
- Details about Your Examination Entry.
- Your Programme of Studies and your Timetable.
- A book entitled "How to Pass" is sent to students doing business and
professional
courses.
- Your lecture books in the subjects you intend to tackle initially.
PLEASE READ THEM CAREFULLY.
STUDY IS IMPORTANT TO YOU NOW.
The moment you start as an RRC student, your aim and ours is to see you successful.
This is not a casual or half-hearted affair; your future depends on it so it's worth
taking seriously. We know this and will help.
Think what your success can mean: promotion, better prospects, assured
prosperity.
Success will be more rapid, and results better, if you know from the beginning how to
study, by correspondence in your own time. This is a skill you can learn. This guide -
based on RRC experience- will show you how.
THE URGE TO WIN
It's a common experience for us at RRC to meet people who thought they could not study
and pass exams "at their time of life". We have watched them to become motivated
adults who know why they need to pass. Does this apply to you? If you really
want the rewards which success in study will give you, you'll learn rapidly and
effectively.
I like to tell the story of the man who was out walking one day when a voice said to
him, "Pick up some pebbles and put them in your pocket and tomorrow you will be both
sorry and glad." The man obeyed. The next morning he reached into his pocket and
found diamonds and rubies and emeralds. And he was both glad an sorry. Glad that he had
taken some - sorry that he hadn't taken more. AND SO IT
IS WITH EDUCATION. Please remember this whenever you feel your motivation weakening.
Assess your objectives. Why are you studying? What do you expect to gain?
There are usually five rewards:
Salary increases, or bonuses1 are given to you.
Promotion, will follow more rapidly.
Effectiveness at work improves your future.
Achievement results in a sense of accomplishment.
Recognition from those around you beings satisfaction.
There will be times when you doubt your ability or your objectives. Whenever your will
to study weakens, recall that bright.
S P E A R
and how it will affect your future.
IT TAKES TWO TO SUCCEED
Although many students know pretty well what they ought to do, they don't do it! Most
students who have worked through our How to Study and How to Pass booklets say that they
found them most helpful. The crucial factor is whether or not you put into practice the
advice given. There's a big difference between knowing what you should do and actually
doing it! Make it your aim from now on to use the advice we give you and actively put
theory into practice.
While the College does most things to ensure your success, there are some things YOU
must do as well. Let's explain this:
1. YOU AND YOUR EXAMINATIONS
RRC does not conduct the examinations nor do we enter students for them.
THIS IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.
When you enrolled, you should have received a pamphlet headed "Details
about
your Examination Entry" giving relevant information regarding the regulations
and
address of the Examining Body which concerns you. Please check that you have
received yours and read it through carefully.
It is then your responsibility to write to the Examining Body, to obtain
an official
copy of their handbook of regulations (often supplied free) and to make
whatever
arrangements are necessary to register as a student (if you have not already
done
this) and to ensure you enter for the examinations as required. The College
does NOT act for you. Make sure that your letters to the Examining Body
and
remittances of examination fees, are posted direct to them and NOT via us.
We repeat, check the last date for forwarding examination entries and make a
note of it where you cannot overlook it.
2. YOU AND YOUR CAREER
If you are a student of one of the professional Institutes, it's
RRC's job to help
you pass the examination. It's your job to learn about your profession or
career.
This must involve:
- joining the activities of your Institute, for discussions, for meetings,
for
identification;
- developing the habit of reading - regularly and thoughtfully;
- learning to use those standard works of reference which will be "the tools of
your trade" when you qualify. Your Institute has library
lists and may have
library facilities. Your office may have copies, your local
library will usually be
able to assist you. Avail yourself of these!
3. YOU AND YOUR COLLEGE
We believe that your success depends on close co-operation between
yourself
and the College. Therefore it is important that you take advantage of the
many
services we offer you. The staff at The Rapid Results College are specially
trained to assist You in many ways. We may have already helped you in
choosing your field of study and we are here to assist you when you wish to study
further.
We will also help you whilst you are studying. Our function is to see that you
receive up to date material and ensure that your lectures reach you when
you
require them.
Our tutorial department sees that your notes are current and that any problems
you may experience with your studies are dealt with promptly and effectively.
The department is also responsible for the monitoring of your tests which is an
important link in your study chain.
4. YOU AND YOUR TUITION
Your tuition service offered by The College is of such a high standard that
with
conscientious study on your part, there is no reason why you should not pass
the examination at your very first sitting. You should certainly strive to achieve
this objective thus equipping yourself for early promotion and higher earning
potential. We do, however, recognise that the part-time student is sometimes
faced with pr6blems, which necessitate an adjustment to study plans and,
possibly, preparation for a later examination sitting than originally envisaged.
We will ensure that your lectures are kept up to date up until the examination
you chose when you enrolled. Thereafter, we will also look after your tuition
and give you updated lectures for any future exam as long as there is no
material
change to the syllabus.
During this period the College will keep your lectures up to date where necessary,
revise your study programme when required and advise you of changes in
examining body
regulations, providing you in turn, keep us informed of your examination plans.
We will do this for a maximum period of four years from the date you enrolled.
5. YOU AND YOUR LECTURES
Your RRC lectures are designed to teach, and the amount of material included
has been carefully written to meet the needs of your own examining body.
Therefore, they are not office manuals for practical guidance in your work, and
they are not works of reference, indexed and extensive. They are teaching
papers
frequently revised, to make your study easy.
Too often however students have only a hazy knowledge of, or nodding
acquaintance with, the contents of RRC's notes.
DON'T FALL INTO THIS TRAP!
There is no padding in RRC's notes. Your tutors distil for you, from their own
experience and very wide reading, the essential knowledge you require.
Any
repetition is deliberate-for teaching purposes.
It is therefore important to study your notes with care, ensuring that you have a
thorough knowledge of your subject. If you know what is in your lectures and
can
apply that knowledge - YOU WILL PASS.
Format of Lectures
Lectures are bound into books and each book or set is coded on the
top
right-hand corner of the page. It is essential that you check these codes
against
your Programme of Studies which we describe later in this booklet. This
will
indicate the sequence in which the books should be studied as well as
indicating
when the test at the end of the book should be sub-submitted for marking.
Whenever lectures are updated or revised the code will change to indicate this
and changes are done as follow
(a) code consisting of letters : AA2Z will be updated to AA3Z, then AA4Z etc.
(b) code consisting of numbers : 1136A will be updated to 1136A1, then
1136A2 etc.
If your programme shows you should have AA4Z and you have received AA5Z,
there is no need to query this.
Progress questions that appear after each lecture have been specifically
chosen
to highlight important aspects. PLEASE DO THEM.
Each set of lectures will usually contain a test at the end of
the book which you
should submit to the College for marking . Don't neglect this essential step!
RRC lectures do not usually require reference to textbooks. They are normally
self-contained. This does not mean that you should avoid extra reading -
for
background and for enrichment. This is particularly true in business
subjects,
where newspapers and journals keep you up to date. In particular, the
Journal
published by your own Institute WIST be read very carefully
Perhaps this is a good place to emphasise the question of copyright in the notes
(which remains vested in RRC). If you let other use your notes you are
doing
them a disservice, because they will not be registered on our computer, they
will
never receive any amendments to the notes or other vital correspondence
from
us, neither will their tests be marked by our tutors. You in turn, will be
infringing the copyright laws!!
6. YOU AND YOUR QUESTIONS
Your courses are written with care to avoid doubts and difficulties. (If
and it's
rare! ) something is not clear to you, what do you do?
(a) Read it again, carefully. You'll often solve the problem yourself and feel
a
sense of achievement.
(b) If you still experience a problem write to us and define it: for example -
"In set AA9, lecture 3, page 8,
second paragraph it is said that ... But on page
6, third paragraph, of the same lecture you said
that ..."
Explain your doubt or difficulty in this way with full details.
(c) Always try to advance your own explanations for the difficulty. This
helps
your Tutor to assess the extent of your
knowledge.
(d) Post your questions, after you have put your name, address, course and
student number on it, to the College.
(e) Go on to the next part of your studies, leaving a marker at the point in
question. You will receive a written reply to
your query in due course.
STOP
and consider what we have said up to this point.
1. RRC is here to help you succeed in the friendliest possible
way, based on 70
years of experience in the educational field.
2. You can succeed if you work hard and remember the rewards at the
end of it.
3. But you must play your part. YOU MUST :-
(a) arrange your own examination entries with the examining body;
(b) become active in the student affairs of your institute;
(c) advise RRC of any changes to your study plans. When do you plan to
write? Did you in fact write? What were
your results? When do you intend
writing again?
(d) advise us, also, of change of address;
(e) study everything in your RRC notes extremely carefully (there is no
padding
- everything is essential). Also important,
to give you greater background,
depth and enrichment, is to read current press
and journals, especially your
Institute's own publication.
4. Your success depends on close co-operation. Write to us if
you have any
study problems.----oOo----
PART II
INTRODUCING THE RRC SYSTEM
YOUR PROGRAMME OF STUDIES
When you enroll with the College you are sent a Personal Programme of
Studies. There are two typed which are shown on the following pages and the details
are:-
A. The Code of the Course for which you are enrolled.
B. Your name and the address to which all your correspondence
and lecture sets
will be sent.
C. Your personal student number which should be used at all
times.
D. The name of the examining body for which examinations you
are studying.
E. The month in which you plan to write your examinations.
F. The name of the subject(s) you are studying at this stage.
G. The codes of the lecture sets which you will be studying in
the sequence in
which you should study them, and
H. The suggested dates by which you should have completed
studying each set
and submitted the tests which appear in the back
of most sets.
In order to use this Programme of Studies effectively you need to remember the following
:-
1. Each book of lectures (called a set) contains a number of
different lectures.
Each set has a distinctive code on the Index Page, e.g. BA2. This
code is the one use n your programme of studies to identify the subject to which
it refers and when it should be studied.
2. The College undertakes a continuous updating policy and thus from
time to time
you may be sent either a completely new set to replace
one in your possession
in which case the code will change, e.g. from BA2 to
BA3: or a supplementary
note which, when studied in conjunction with an
existing set which you already
have, brings your lectures completely up to date.
3. Normally the lectures you need are all sent to you
immediately after your
enrolment is accepted.
4. The timetable dates at the foot of each of six columns (see
"H") are suggested
dates not deadline dates. Thus if you are either in advance
or behind of your
schedule plans, submit your tests whenever completed.
However, if there are
less than three weeks to your examination date we cannot
guarantee to receive a
test, have it marked, and returned to you in time.
This is one of the major
reasons why your timetable has a 3 to 4 week gap at the end.
Another
important reason is to ensure that you have adequate
time for revision before the final exam.
5. Vital information is contained on the back of your Programme
of Studies. Please
read that note.
PLEASE ALWAYS FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS VERY CAREFULLY
This will not happen when:
(a) we are temporarily out of stock. The Programme or a separate
slip will show
which books will be sent to you once delivered from
our printer;
(b) you may have chosen several exam dates. We will not send books for
next
year's exam dates as you don't yet need them and they
could go out of
date; you must write and remind us that you now need
those books once you
are ready to study.
6. OUR GUARANTEE
Note that your tuition period does not begin until you actually receive
your
lecture notes. Thus, tuition for subjects for which lectures are not required
at the outset will only begin when you request your notes.
We will guarantee to keep your lectures up date right up until the exam date
you chose when you enrolled. If you don't write then or you have to rewrite,
we will continue to keep your lectures up to date PROVIDED there is no
major change to a syllabus. In that case, an updating/switching fee will
be payable. The guarantee ceases when the subject is passed.
We will do this for four years. Let us illustrate how the system works.
For
example, if your lecture material is sent on, say, 15 January of this year then
up to 15 January (four years later) all services offered by the College and all
updating of lectures will be completely free of charge providing there is no
major syllabus change and you keep us informed of your exam plans.
Nothing in this four year arrangement will, however, preclude the College
from
ceasing, or suspending for a time, tuition in particular subjects. The College
therefore reserves the right to drop or suspend subjects from its range but
will
make all reasonable endeavours to safeguard the interests of existing students.
Read this carefully, as re-assurance.
Please note that the guarantee does not apply to certain isolated courses,
e.g.
Taxation subjects. In some literature subjects RRC provides
prescribed
booklets for an additional fee. If study of these subjects is delayed and
the
books have changed, a charge will be made to replace them.
In view of the above, it is VITAL that you KEEP IN TOUCH with the College.
Why is it so vitally important to keep in touch?
- Syllabuses may change as may laws, practices and
procedures. RRC has a
policy of monitoring all such changes and
of revising your notes on a regular
basis. If you don't tell us of your changed study
plans, you won't receive the
amendments.
- Most examining bodies adhere to a "6 month rule"
whereby they undertake
not to examine changes which occur within 6
months before a particular
exam session. RRC will give you the relevant
changes depending of course,
on when you are writing. If you don't advise us
of your study plans, you
won't receive this information.
It's important, also, to advise the College whenever you permanently
change your address. AND NOW
A WORD ABOUT MONEY
When you enroll you are given an option of paying the full amount for the course
or subject immediately, or paying a deposit and the balance in monthly installments.
In order to ensure that your payment reaches us safely and is credited to
the correct account, please note the following:
1. Do not send payments of any kind with test scripts,
returned lectures or queries.
Send your payment in a separate envelope by
REGISTERED POST to The
Accountant, P 0 Box 2523, Harare or P 0 Box 1164 Bulawayo.
In Zambia, use P. Bag E673, Lusaka.
2. All cheques, postal orders and money orders MUST BE CROSSED
and made
payable to the College.
3. DO NOT SEND CASH PAYMENTS UNLESS REGISTERED.
4. Retain your counterfoils and postal slips for future
reference.
5. ALWAYS return the detachable portion of your statement or
quote your
Student Reference Number.
6. If your circumstances change and you find it difficult to
pay your full installment
regularly please write to our Credit Controller. You
will find that the College is
very understanding and will suggest a way to help you.
NEVER just ignore your
debts as if we don't know that you have a problem, the
debt could be handed
over for legal collection.
------000-------
PART III
HOW TO STUDY EFFECTIVELY
Virtually every student can pass the examination. Students who fail
do not fail because of lack of ability. They fail because of one or a combination of the
following three reasons:
1. They don't know how to study and revise. (Ineffective
study methods).
2. They don't know how to write examinations. (Defective examination
technique).
3. They don't do enough work. (Laziness, lack of motivation, lack of
effort).
A. TIME, YOUR SERVANT
Each student must make a personal decision about the amount of time he or
she
will devote to studying.
INADEQUATE TIME SPENT ON STUDIES IS THE BIGGEST
SINGLE REASON STUDENTS FAIL.
It is largely a question of self-discipline.
Whoever you are a full time student studying at home or a part time
student
tired after a full day's work - it is essential that you discipline yourself to
study
regularly and consistently.
This point cannot be overemphasised. If you have not already
resolved to make
your studies your first priority, do so now! Remember a lot depends on it!
The only effective way to achieve self-discipline is to develop habits
that assist
your studying. Your task is to make the best use of your time.
Concentrate on using it more efficiently, rather than finding more to use. What
counts is not the time, but what you do with it! Here are our suggestions.
1. Be Consistent
Don't let anything unimportant force you to put off studying when you
have
planned to. Always start a study session at a fixed time. If you persevere, it
will
soon become a habit.
2. Be Practical
It is said that efficient business people always start the day with a list of
things
and objectives to be achieved. Take a leaf from their book and be as specific
as
possible in what you plan to have achieved at the end of study sessions.
Definite goals, in conjunction with your timetable, should give study
sessions
organisation and purpose.
After the sessions, compare what you have actually learned with the learning
objectives set. Knowledge of results and continuous feedback are important
principles of effective learning. Monitoring your progress will ensure that you
are
meeting the targets of your plan. So go back and study areas you don't really
know. This will ensure that you will not "jump ahead" without knowing
the
material you are currently studying. Most subjects are structured on a building
block basis, so premature jumping ahead will lead to confusion.
Each study session should be of about one hour's duration. Begin each study
session with a five minute review of your previous night's work. Finish with a
five
minute review of the session's work.
Use the last five minutes of each study session for a break. Get up, stretch
yourself and walk about. A good idea would be to do a few physical
exercises
to keep your blood flowing, such as sit ups, touching your toes and so on. This
will keep your body supple and your mind alert. You can't work for long hours
without breaks.
Make sure you understand as you go along. This is an extremely important rule.
If
you do not understand something or think you roughly know what's going on but
are still hazy about it, find someone to explain to you as soon as possible.
Don't
delay. Most courses are cumulative, which means that undertaking one concept is
crucial to the understanding of the next. If you delay seeking assistance you will
soon find yourself in a state of utter confusion. Many students in this
position drop
out of the course in despair.
Live a balanced life. The study schedule you impose on yourself must take
into
account your needs as a social being. You must achieve a balance between study
and leisure activities such as entertainment, sport and hobbies. Obviously the
closer you get to exams, the less time you should spend on leisure activities.
The figure below gives you a good example of how to divide up your week
in
order to create the necessary balance.
3. Be Planned
Would you build a house without a plan? Of course not! It's just as
essential to
plan your studies - studies that will affect your career and future.
Check your Programme of Studies to see when your RRC tests have to be
completed.
Write down the number of weeks to the examination. Deduct for
revision,
holidays or other commitments. You're left with effective study weeks.
Base on these facts, prepare a plan to see how much time you can devote
to
each set of lectures and when your tests should be submitted. Each week plan
a timetable based on your Plan and your assessment of progress. This weekly
timetable will enable you to set yourself immediate and realistic targets.
We all work better if we can see immediately targets - this week instead
of next
month. And one lecture is easy to master where five would be alarming.
But more important of all is the feeling of achievement as you mark off
each
week DONE.
4. Getting Started
Getting started is often a problem. Remember the saying that
procrastination is
the thief of time. So start actively studying straight away. The momentum will
focus your mind on study and thus improve your concentration. Always
remember to spend the first five minutes of each study session reviewing what
you last studied on the subject.
When beginning to study for the first time you might find it useful to
practice
studying for short periods until you adapt and develop a rhythm of studying.
In
any event take a break of five minutes duration each hour. This will refresh
the
mind and body and help to consolidate your learning.
5. A Place To Think
We work best, and think most effectively, when we're at ease in familiar
surroundings. Plan for this: find your own regular study place, where your
lectures will not be disturbed. Make a rule that, when at home, you'll always study
there. Very soon, the habit of returning to it will "switch on" your
mind to receptiveness.
Organise your study material, your papers and your pens. See that the
lighting is
effective, the chair correct, the surroundings quiet and comfortable. Never
study
on your bed or on an easy chair - this is conducive only to sleep!
Let nothing come between your mind and its work.
A sound mind in a sound body is still a sound maxim! Therefore keep as fit
as
possible; if you find you are not concentrating, stop. Remember the short
breaks between study periods which will give you a chance to refresh yourself!
Above all, avoid a physical slump as this discourages an alert mind!
WORK ELSEWHERE, TOO. Your thinking times will be best done in your
study place, but you'll also want:
revising times when you're recalling what you've
learnt. Do this anywhere -
by learning to shut the outside world out of your mind for even a few minutes;
and testing time when you're answering questions.
Since your examination will
be limited to three hours usually, get used to sustained concentration for that
period of time.
B. A LOOK AT MEMORY
Grant Loudon, RRC's Principal from 1948 to 1983,had a hobby; taking part in
quizzes. He was often referred to lightheartedly, as "one of
the Three Wise
Men". People said he had "a photographic mind". What did he say
about
memory?
"A photographic mind is extremely rare and I certainly don't have
one. I recall
things because I'm interested or because they are linked to other things, or
(quite
often) because I've practised the art of recall. I don't believe we every
really
forget anything: the problem is to find a way of 'getting it out of storage'.
That is
the art of recall."
Think how effortlessly a golfer recalls past rounds, or a footballer old
scores.
Watch how a mother remembers events ... "It was early in January nine
years
ago because it was after Farai 's birthday ..."
Remember, we learn about things
by
seeing
by hearing
by speaking about them
by writing about them
and, of course, by using other senses like taste, touch and smell. These
are our
"input" methods and the more of them we can use in our study, the faster
we
shall learn, and the more readily we shall recall.
We also will usually remember something we have fully understood as
a
connected whole (like a theory) where we might easily forget a collection of
separate statements.
1. Methods of Recall
How can we use these factors? Many of us have developed our own
methods
of recall, with varying degrees of success.
Here are a few techniques that may help you:
(a) To remember a group of facts, make a word or sentence
which represents
them all and then remember that
word. (This is called a Mnemonic). You
have already encountered this method
earlier. SPEAR helps to remind you
of your original objectives.
(b) Don't just sit and read but rather write your own summaries. Studies
have
shown that writing it down helps the
memory! You might find that
summaries also helps. This is called
"the funnel and trigger" method.
The trigger
"releases" the detail for expansion. You need only recall the
trigger because, like the first link
in a chain, it will "pull" the other ideas out
of the memory store. The
trigger can be a mnemonic or sentence or even
a logical arrangement of words or
phrases.
(c) A technique which is quite effective for understanding and recall is
to read
out loud any notes you don't
understand or which you are trying to commit
to memory. If you have the use of a
tape recorder it is especially useful for
this.
Try this experiment:
(i) Write down your Summary.
(ii) Read it on to tape.
(iii) Tear up the Summary.
(iv) Listen back to the tape.
(v) Rewrite the Summary from memory.
(vi) Replay the tape and check the Summary.
(vii) Tear up the Summary.
You'll have used the "inputs" of seeing, hearing, speaking and
writing and
you will have said to your mind:
"I am confident that I know it now"
A tape recorder can also be used to good effect for getting off formulae,
rules,
definitions and case law. Repeat a definition onto a tape for about 15 minutes
(i.e. this means that the definition is on the tape several times). Now in a
quiet
moment sit down and listen to the definition. This little technique gets the
mind
conditioned and if the tape is played often enough the definitions will work
their
way into your subconscious and long term memory. This is the technique
that
radio and TV advertisers use with their jingles.
Record topical past examination questions and answers onto cassettes
for
reference and replay. Certain subjects such as law, economics, business
management and so on, are ideally suited to this method of revision. While
listening to the recording you should jot down the main requirements of the
question and the main points of the answers. Stop the cassette at intervals
of ten minutes for recall and review. Use a portable cassette recorder
to review subjects during spare moments of the day such as at lunchtime.
C. THE MOVING EYE
Reading of course is the key to any correspondence course. It's your way of
discovering what your Tutor is saying. Surprisingly, many students don't stop
to think about this. here are three ideas:
1. Think While You Read
Have you ever watched a copy-typist? She can read and type pages of
writing
getting all the words right, and not understand it at all. You must work over the
material in your mind as you read, so that you do understand.
2. Read In The Right Gear
Not all reading needs, or should, be at the same speed. Your purpose will
tell you whether it should be in:
(i) Top Gear Fast,
skimming along,
getting
the general idea.
(ii) Third Gear
Scanning a little more
slowly,
looking for points
and
facts.
(iii) Second Gear Moving
more slowly,
following
a narrative.
(iv) Low Gear
Slowly; critically,
powerfully
analysing
detail.
If you are naturally a slow reader avoid looking at single words and
missing the
meaning of sentences. As you read the words, build them together like bricks in
a wall so that when you come to the full stop you can see the whole meaning and
purpose.
3. Learn Again How to Read!
How much study time could you save if you read twice as fast? YOU
PROBABLY CAN!
All you need is deliberate practice: every time you read, no matter what it is,
try to go a little faster - without losing the meaning.
A SUGGESTION:
You should be reading this Guide in low gear!
A MIND IN FOCUS
Concentration is the ability to devote your thoughts and attention to one
subject for a limited time. The student who says that he really cannot
concentrate has never really tried! Yes, we mean that! It is quite possible to TRAIN
YOURSELF to concentrate! If I ask you to run AND WIN a Marathon Race tomorrow,
would
you be able to do it - even if you are fit? Ask any runner and he'll tell
you its impossible without practice. But given sufficient time and drive, we all could do
it!
It's the same with concentration. The more you read and the more you
study, the easier it becomes. The more you train your mind to concentrate, the
better you do until, eventually, you are up with the leaders. You will be able to
digest even the most complicated things quickly and with little effort.
There are three steps to take every time you sit down to study:
1. Recall your reasons
Remind yourself of your motives for study - and the rewards at the end. You
have promised your family you are studying. You have promised yourself
you
will finish this work now. Keep your word.
Stop daydreaming the moment it starts. The first law of success is
concentration
and involves learning how to cope with distractions. Eliminate irrelevant
thoughts,
daydreams, emotions and negative feelings. Prepare yourself for the study task
at
hand by say to yourself "Come on now stop wasting time and get down to
business". This little technique will talk yourself back into
concentration. Also,
before actually studying, picture yourself effectively studying. This positive
mental imagery helps create the right study good and focuses your attention to the
study tasks.
2. Clear the Line
Have near you a blank sheet headed "Afterwards". If
you remember anything
you should do, jot it down and forget it. If something irritates you, write a
note
about it for later action-and forget it now.
3. Be active in interest
Don't ever just sit and read. Write notes. Re-plan. Mark
points. Comment.
Summarise. This activity keeps your interest alive. Knowing you have
an
examination in the morning helps concentrate the mind. So imagine you are
going to be examined on the content of the study session the following
day.
Alternatively, imagine you will be called on to give a lecture on the topic to
a
group of important business people.
WHEN YOU HAVE LEARNED TO CONCENTRATE YOU HAVE SOLVED THE CENTRAL
PROBLEM OF HOW TO STUDY.
Imagine you are faced with a new lecture. What do you do?
1. SURVEY it. Read rapidly over the material. Get an outline
of what you will be
studying. Your mind begins to focus.
2. UNDERSTAND it. Read it again noting main points,
questioning the train of
thought, marking your lectures with lines for emphasis; make
charts, lists or your
own diagrams.
3. NOTICE it. What do we mean? Just this - now is the
time to look for your
personal significance in linking together facts and
arguments. Notice what
methods help you to understand.
4. SUMMARISE it. You can now reduce the material to very
brief notes,
because each word you write reminds you of all the
thought links you have
noticed.
5. EXERCISE it. Now make use of what you have mastered.
Tackle some
progress questions. Rewrite parts of your summary,
from memory. Check
back to see how close you were. Revise (mentally) in
the bus or at work.
Check back later.
6. TEST it. After a few days, do the
Test on the material, or tackle again a
Progress Question, fully and in writing.
This Mnemonic
SUNSET
will assist you in remembering these vital steps.
E. TESTS FOR STRENGTH
As the weeks of study pass, what do you need most: more time? more
reading? more determination? NO! You need to know - that you ARE
learning; that you CAN answer questions. Only this can give you the confidence
you need as the basis for further study.
THAT IS WHY YOU SHOULD TACKLE THE TESTS, found at the back of
each book.
There are other good reasons too. You probably need both -
THE DISCIPLINES
- of TIME, planning to get the Tests done by the due date and
so mark off
progress on your Timetable.
- of TUTORS, who will review your work, guide and criticise
your approach,
point out where further study is needed.
and
THE EXPERIENCES
- of RECALL, where the mind has practice in producing the
ideas and the facts
it has mastered.
- in READING the questions, analysing them and deciding what
is required of
you.
- in RESPONDING correctly to questions, planning your answers,
assessing the
time you can spend on each, and reviewing it when you are
finished.
Many of the students who "give up" have sent in no tests at all.
They have never given themselves a chance of building the confidence that practical,
constructive assessment can bring.
Successful students have found the marking of tests a great help.
In short, your tests are the most important part of your studies.
SOME SUGGESTIONS
1. Treat them seriously! You are teaching your mind to recall;
please therefore
don't copy from the lectures. Also time
yourself. Your Tutors allocate time
periods for each test. If you find initially that you
cannot set aside a full two or
three hour period at a single
sitting then try one question at a time. When you
have completed the test, indicate the time
taken. Later in your studies you
should, of course, practise sitting the full 2 or 3 hours
at a single session in
preparation for the final exam.
2. When answering questions preferably use A4 line paper (not bound books)
and
number answer sheets in sequence.
Leave a margin on your script for your
Tutor's comments.
3. Fill in your name, address, student number, your
course, (e.g. C.I.S.) course
code (e.g. Z026 - this course code is
indicated on your programme of
studies), as well as any other information
required on the test return slip
provided with every test. Attach this slip
to your test, before submitting it to the
College.
4. Your corrected script and a guide to the answers will
be returned to you.
LEARN FROM YOUR TESTS.
Examine your Tutor's comments; compare your work with the model solutions.
Use your tests also for the purpose of revision.
THE END OF THE BEGINNING
We have given you pointers in this guide on HOW TO STUDY and this book is
your foundation. Keep it on your desk at all times and refer to it frequently. "How
to Pass" will become vitally important to you as you get closer to the examinations.
Based on examiners' comments, DON'T be one of the:-
"Candidates who were unsuccessful in the examination failed because
they had done little or no preparation."
BUT RATHER be one of the
"Successful candidates showed evidence of careful preparation."
We know that your will to succeed can spur you to achieve distinction.
You have made a start on a path to future security for yourself and your
family.
On you go - and every success
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