Self-teaching is a necessity in post-secondary for sure. While in high school you can chill and have everything spoon fed, post-secondary is none of that. Often, students get professors who don’t cover topics in depth or can’t teach very well. There’s a lot of information and less time to explain and teach it. I find self-teaching to be a great skill to enhance and work on before even getting into post-secondary. I think the most important tip to remember is self-discipline. No one is going to sit there and motivate you to get up, you’ll have to learn not to procrastinate and gain good time management skills. It’s essential to productivity!
1. Plan a Schedule and Execute Accordingly: For example, this week there are 15 new topics to cover for your courses. Might seem easy to divide 3 topics for every day, however that isn’t as smart. It is always important to understand what the subjects are, what the topics are about, how long they are, how difficult they are, and how much information do you have on hand with you for now? These are all good questions to ask yourself. If you’re generally weak at Biology and you have a difficult topic on it this week involving genetics, but for math it’s probability, it would be better to start with math then. Not only will you warm up yourself to practice questions, you will also get into the rhythm of the productive work. Keep a checklist of what needs to be done for the day prior to starting, and specific time goals to finish by. This will keep you focused and organized. List your tasks in order of most do-able, time efficient and easy to challenging and lengthy work. This is because you’ll be able to check off the easy things on the list and this will motivate you to wok farther. However, it’s important to remember a plan is nothing without execution. Don’t plan a tough day for yourself that you know you won’t be able to get through, you’ll end up procrastinating. Be practical, and perhaps even mark things with color (red for important, blue for normal). That way you’re on top of your game. Make sure to accommodate for things like dinner, washroom breaks etc. (so yes, practicality).
2. Use multiple resources to study your concept: Read your textbook, it has more than you think. I know it might sound like a boring thing to do; however, many teachers rely on textbooks for making test questions. Most of what you need to know in class will likely be in your class, however, don’t just depend on a boring textbook to teach you well. This globalized world has so much to offer so use those resources (hint: the internet). Go on YouTube, I’ve found so many people on there who are better able to explain concepts than my teacher. In addition to that, consider going to a public library to see what they offer; many libraries offer tutoring services along with great online resources to practice your concepts. Not only that, you’ll have a great environment to learn and focus on your work training you to be more self-disciplined.
3. Use colors, drawings and highlighters in your notes: Without notes, there’s no point in studying. There’s so much the human brain can retain, however that doesn’t mean you’ll memorize what you read. Often its forgotten. With good note-taking skills, you can learn to have your own organized way of thinking. It doesn’t have to be writing, it can be a mind map, a drawing, whatever you want. Stretch your thinking and be creative. With note taking there are two benefits, you’ll have a resource to always go back to and study and second, you’ll retain the information better. There are abundant psychological studies to support the impact of note taking and using colors in learning processes. Essentially, using highlighters, colors and other creative methods will help you remember and learn better.
4. Take breaks in between your study sessions: This is one I fail to accomplish myself. I’ve been guilty of forgetting to eat because of being pre-occupied by too much school work. This isn’t a healthy habit and proves to cause more harm than benefit. When the brain doesn’t get breaks, it won’t have the strength to absorb all that heavy information. A break of 5 minutes every 30 minutes is ideal but if that doesn’t work for you then take a break every 45 minutes or hour. BUT TAKE BREAKS. Not only will your brain relax, it will better perform after the break. I also suggest taking a bigger break every 2 to 3 hours to unwind and focus on something else. Pick a hobby or go outside and walk. It will take your brain away from all the stress, and will give you a chance to recharge yourself.
5. Teach it to another person: This might be an absurd point. You may not have heard it in other articles but teaching has an impactful effect on your knowledge of a concept. When you have to teach another individual, you need to understand the concept yourself first. Isn’t that true? Teaching is a form of learning that helps you retain the most information. You will improve your own and another’s understanding of a concept. Teaching has been proven to help students with their ability to learn and comprehend information as well as with their creativity. So when you self-teach/self-learn teach it to someone you know.
That sums up all my points. Self-discipline won’t come through in a day, it’s like a muscle that must be trained in order to be strong. It’s practice and consistency that will ultimately help you with your self-learning.
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