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How to Study Effectively, Part 2

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Aside from being organized and identifying your target range for TOEFL, you will need to identify exactly what you need to learn. That is to say, consider which academic skills you can improve on to have the best advancement in your language and to achieve a high score. If you are weaker in listening, then be sure that you practice listening daily. If speaking is your weakness, practice recording your voice in simulated responses on a recorder or on your smartphone and listening to your voice to evaluate your speaking. If you do not know your weaknesses, you will need to first identify your strengths in English and find out your level of English according to separate language skills. In fact, you may have excellent grammar and reading skills and thus need not dedicate time to practicing reading passages; however, first you need to discover what you need to improve upon.

  1. Identify your level and learning needs

 

  • By taking a practice TOEFL test, you can find out your current level. Once you have an idea of your exact level, you can pinpoint your target and lay out a strategy of how to get from Point A (current level of English) to Point B (TOEFL target score) in your exact time frame. You do not want to waste any precious time, so if you can identify the task you need to strength (e.g. listening or note-taking,) that will help you work accordingly within your study time table.

Example: Let’s say you have one week of time before you need a final score, that would be a very different study plan than if you had a 90-day study plan (if you had more time to attain a TOEFL score.)

  1. Read and take notes

In the previous blog, How to Study Effectively, Part 1, you learned that having a notebook or computer files of notes is useful.

  • Read & make notes: When making the notes under each academic skill or sub topic, read your subject and make notes either writing comments or short summaries. (How to take notes effectively will be addressed under a different blog heading.)
  • Write key ideas taking notes: in addition to reading and note-taking, practice identifying the main purpose and writing down the main idea, key points and supporting facts from your memory of listening or reading into your notes. You will retain information better later on. Be sure if you write by hand to handwrite legibly, otherwise, it will be useless to read later on when you review and you might not interpret your notes or waste your valuable study time. Save time by composing neatly.
  • Highlight key points: if you are on the computer, highlight key information with colors (not too bright) in the file so that you can locate key words later on when you review. If you are using a notebook for taking notes, highlight with a colored marker (not too bright or it can distract you) to easily relocate key ideas. If you have these key ideas highlighted, it will be an outline of the information that you can review quickly at a later day.

How to Study Effectively, Part 1

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Be organized

  1. Create a study calendar. Organize your timetable so that your biggest weaknesses are prioritized first and given the most attention time. Prioritize (high-medium-low) skills and practice what needs to be learned urgently first. Then, address what weaknesses you can strengthen and plan out how long you expect it to take you. Avoid procrastinating and be sure to give equal time to your least favorite task. Practice the skill that you enjoy most LAST not first. The skills that are the least urgent to learn practice last as well. Use color coding on your calendar to highlight the most important skill to learn.
  2. Use a study notebook. It can be either a traditional notebook, or Notes in an app on a smartphone. Whichever you use for taking notes, keep it handy at all times so you can refer to it in your free time. Notes are a valuable tool to keep yourself organized and to retain information you already studied so you are able to track your progress and advance in the language.
  3. Address different language skills when you study. If you take too much time on just one academic skill, it will give you less time for another skill, which may be just as important to improve your English or test-taking strategies.
  4. Keep your notebook/notes/computer files well organized. Create files by academic skills in your computer files, notes in a binder, or notebook. For instance, have a notebook for vocabulary, for speaking, for listening, for reading, for writing; or otherwise, have different sections of your notes in your binder for each academic skill. Write the skill name to label the differing sections, so that when you go to study, you can quickly reference your notes. Be sure to write the date on the left side of your notes for each day that you write new notes. You skill subjects can be then divided into sub topics such as a particular topic of different kinds of vocabulary words or where you got those vocabulary words from. In this way, you can quickly reference your notes by skill, by sub topic, or by date. All of this organization will make it much easier to locate a certain topic when you need to refer back to it quickly later on in your practice.

Have a target range

  1. Timing: when you make your study table with your deadline date, be sure you have given yourself a realistic time frame to complete what you would like to achieve. For example, “Complete writing essay task 2 for 30 minutes timed. Clearly write exactly what you have in mind to accomplish in terms of an activity during a specific time and on a certain date.
  2. Be realistic. When you set your target, it needs to conform to what you can attain. If, for instance, you set an unrealistic ideal, you may not be able to get your target, or you will feel discouraged if you cannot get your objective. By looking at your calendar and working within a specific time frame to complete practice activities, you can set real targets which are attainable.
  3. Reward yourself for minor achievements: think daily in terms of what you can achieve. Every little achievement is like a baby step, and it will help you feel more comfortable in the language as well as assist in building your confidence in TOEFL and for test taking. With this in mind, you can reach your short term and long term goals. Reward yourself after each study session. When you reach a target, mentally congratulate yourself. Positivity goes a long way in building your confidence to succeed.