Use this study structure to enhance your learning

All too often, students sit down at their desk, get ready to study, and then sort of just… flounder. The study sessions aren’t structured, and there’s no real goal apart from “I want to study”.

But if you’re a little bit more methodical about your learning, you can better set yourself up for study success. Here are three easy steps to follow.

1. Work out your learning goal

What is it that you actually want to learn? Is it an area of content? Is it a skill?

This seems like a basic step, but it’s an important one. If you have no study direction, you’re not giving yourself the best possible chance to succeed.

2. Work out what success looks like

How will you measure your success? Consider this a simple checklist of ‘success criteria’. For example:

▢ I can accurately describe key dimensions of health
▢ I can explain how dimensions of health impact determinants of health
▢ I can interpret visual depictions of determinants of health from a graph

You’ll be able to come up with your own, specific to your subject at hand. Using the syllabus/study design is a really good idea for this - often, the syllabus clearly outlines the skills and knowledge you need to develop in any given topic.

Clearly setting these criteria out before you start your study session means you have a more measurable way of assessing whether you’ve achieved your goals - and, indeed, what you still need to work on.

At the end of the study session, be honest with yourself - did you achieve each criterion? It’s okay if you didn’t, of course - but the important thing here is to re-visit that goal. Keep a record of the criteria you still have ‘open’ - the ones you haven’t yet completed. Make sure you re-visit this list regularly to ensure that, come the end of the year, you’re confident in yourself that everything is on track.

The main purpose of this strategy is to give yourself more study structure. It’s so easy to sit down and just think “I’ll do this, then maybe I’ll do this, then maybe I’ll do that”, but without any real rhyme or reason. Taking a more structured approach to study, where you can more clearly identify your goals, will help ensure you understand each and every part of the syllabus to a suitable level.

3. Work out what you still need to develop

And how you’ll do that. The benefit of setting up criteria in the step above is that you have a clear record of what you haven’t yet achieved, and those criteria can form the basis of your future study sessions.

Feel like you’ve nailed a definition, but that you’re struggling to apply that definition to worked questions? Great - that’s a really useful thing to identify, and something that you can actively work toward.

Without this type of study reflection, it can be overwhelming trying to decide what to work on next, when to work on it, and how to do it. But if you clearly set out your goals, set up success criteria, and then be meticulous in recording what you have and haven’t achieved, you’ll be well on your way to confidence come exams.

Best of luck!