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College

Study Groups

Submitted by tutordoctor on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 08:54

Study Group.jpg Study groups are like garage bands; they should be fantastically helpful and enable their members achieve success beyond their wildest dreams, but most just end up arguing, chatting or playing Xbox and eating pizza.

For a study group to be successful there must be a consensus to be disciplined and to include members who are committed to pulling their weight. Study groups can help you to cover large volumes of material, explain concepts you don't understand or introduce you to new perspectives. Study groups also hone your presentation skills. When it does work, a study group can be proof that several heads are better than one.

Being picky

Don't choose study group members because they are your friends, choose people you know are reliable and hardworking; people you think you can learn something from. The most successful study groups are homogenous and contain people who are all roughly on the same academic level.

Follow the leader

You must choose a group leader. This person is responsible for dividing up the work and informing group members of the dates, times and venues of the study group and which chapters each person must prepare. Rotate leadership if there is not one clear leader; taking turns also helps you improve your organizational skills.

Set goals

Setting goals for your study group will help you to get through all the work before the exams. It will also help you to plan your study schedule. Include all the assignments and exams so that no one forgets to submit work. You should also set aside time to discuss assignments and exams so that you can identify your mistakes and avoid them in the future.

Group love

Get together with other study groups before a big assignment or exam to share knowledge and get different perspectives. A great exercise during these sessions is to go over past exam papers and discuss answers. Leave more time for this session than you would normally leave for your own group.

Progress check

Study groups can really be beneficial when they are conducted correctly. Instead of covering reams of reading by yourself, sharing it with others can save you tons of time. You can also benefit from alternate explanations of difficult concepts or ideas. Not only do you benefit from the efforts of your classmates, but having to explain work to others helps you to formulate your own ideas and become more articulate in presenting complex concepts or opinions. Keep track of your test scores to ensure that your study group is beneficial. If you are wasting your time and not gaining something in return, discuss this with the group members and try to come up with a new game plan. If there is no change to your group, consider joining a different group or studying on your own.

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10 Steps to Speed Reading

Submitted by tutordoctor on Fri, 02/17/2012 - 10:20

Part three of a three part series

Speed reading 3.jpg Speed reading will save you tons of time that you can put to better use. Speed reading is a great tool for sifting through large volumes of material to extract the most important points. It's also an excellent tool to revise work or study additional reading around a subject you enjoy. Speed reading takes months of dedication and time to master, but it's definitely worth the effort. Today we will discuss a different method of speed reading.

Step 7: Perceptual expansion

This technique makes use of your peripheral vision to read faster. The idea is to focus on a point near the middle of a sentence and be able to read the whole thing. But first, let's start with baby steps. Get a pen and a book with relatively accessible vocabulary and large print. Place the book open on a desk in a well-lit quiet area. Make sure you are focussed and well rested.

Step 8: One second test

Place the pen on the page one word into the sentence and then again one word from the end of the sentence. Get your eyes to focus not only on the words that the pen is on, but on the surrounding words as well. Give yourself one second to read each sentence before moving onto the next sentence. Do not concern yourself with comprehension; just practice seeing half the sentence a time. Do this for 3 minutes every day until you become adept at seeing the whole sentence.

Step 9: Speed up

Now try placing the pen on the third word from the beginning and end of each sentence and giving yourself only half a second to read the entire sentence. Do this for three minutes every day until you are able to begin comprehending the sentence by recognising the peripheral words. Keep practicing and you will find you become better and better at it. When you are able to read and comprehend the sentence in half a second, you are ready to move on to the final phase.

Step 10: Straight down the middle

Initially you may need to go back to giving yourself a full second to read the whole sentence, but try to focus on the word in the center of the sentence and read the whole line at once. Remember, this takes practice, so set aside 10 or 15 minutes every day to practice your peripheral reading. Soon, you will be able to run your pen or finger down the middle of a page and read the whole thing in a matter of seconds. Continue to practice and time yourself, always striving to improve. When you have mastered the technique, focus on improving comprehension. You should only concern yourself with comprehension once you have mastered the art of seeing the entire sentence by focusing on one word.

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10 Steps to Speed Reading

Submitted by tutordoctor on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 13:00

Speed reading 2.jpg Part two of a three part series

As you get to the higher grades, the volume of work you have to get through in a semester increases exponentially. Speed reading can really help to reduce the time you spend wading through texts. You can sift through the unnecessary information to find the details that you need to know and concentrate on. Speed reading can also be a great asset when reviewing notes before a test. It takes months of practice and perseverance to master, but its well worth the effort.

Step 4: Read in blocks

You probably already do this quite often. If you are racing along on a train or in a car, you are able to decipher roadside advertising by recognizing all the words in a sentence with a single glance. However, since we were all taught to read each word separately, we are inclined to only look at one word at a time. See how many words you can recognize at once by placing your finger under the second or third word in a sentence. Now look at the beginning of the sentence and look away. You will be able to recognize the words because your brain identifies words visually, not by their individual letters. Now put your finger after the fourth word of the next sentence and try again. Keep increasing the number of words so that you can ascertain how many words you are able to read at a glance.

Step 5: Practice makes perfect

Practice reading several words at a glance. You can do this by using your finger to mark off the number of words you know you can read at a glance and then look at them while moving your finger onto the next marker. Progress will be slow at first, but with some practice, you will soon be speeding along. As you practice more, you will be able to read more words with each glance and soon you will be able to read entire sentences. When this happens, you can run your finger down the side of the page from one sentence to another.

Step 6: Set the scene

If you are going to be practicing your speed reading, make sure you have a quiet, well-lit area with plenty of room. Speed reading takes concentration, so there can be no distractions; no music, TV, noisy siblings or mobile phones. Make sure you have plenty of room to lay out your book. Choose a book with a large font and relatively easy to understand vocabulary to start. Place the book slightly further away from you than you would normally and start slowly at first.

Review your progress regularly by taking the online speed reading tests. Remember that speed reading will take some time and plenty of practice to master, so be patient.

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10 Steps to Speed Reading

Submitted by tutordoctor on Sat, 02/11/2012 - 10:43

Speed reading 1.jpg Part one of a three part series

We all know the feeling; the long winded emails from family or the giant text books with thousands of pages that make you wish you could read a little faster. There are several techniques you can utilize to do just that. Speed reading is the ability to skim through vast reams of material two to ten times faster than you would normally read. This is an excellent skill to have when you want to get an overview of material or the general gist of a text. If you have previously read the material, speed reading is a great way to refresh your memory. There are several steps you can take to improve your reading speed.

Step 1: Time yourself

You can set a time limit and then count the number of words in a passage to find your reading speed. If you read online documents, it's easier to determine reading speed. Try to read at your normal reading speed during your reading test. Alternatively, you can take an online reading speed test which offers greater accuracy. As you try various techniques, keep on timing yourself to see which ones work best for you.

Step 2: Stop Subvocalizing

Subvocalizing is the habit of reading to yourself. Whether you are forming the words with your mouth or just forming them in your head, this will significantly slow progress. Reading is a visual exercise and your brain immediately recognizes words long before they have formed in your head. For example, read the following sentence:

If you can raed tihs sentnece, you msut be vrey clever.

You mind can still recognise the words, based on the first and last letters, despite the fact that they are spelled incorrectly. This means that there is no need to form the word in your head because you have already identified them visually. You can stop subvocalizing by being aware of this habit and, if it persists, hum to prevent yourself from forming the words in your mind or put a finger to your lips to prevent yourself from speaking them. Reading aloud has its own virtues and is especially good when practicing pronunciation or memorizing important facts, but it has no place in speed reading.

Step 3: Let your fingers do the walking

Run a finger or a hand along the page while you read. This will pull your eye down and help to speed up your reading. As you move your finger along the sentence or down the page, your eyes will follow the movement and this will force your mind to use visual recognition to decipher words.

Catch the next blog post for more ways to improve your speed reading in the second of our three part series.

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