Top Ten Tips For Studying Independently

1. Study every day. Even if only for ten minutes. Especially when you are not motivated. DO IT EVERY DAY.

2. When you get stuck, look at other sources.

3. When you get stuck, step back for a second and then re-focus on it to see if it becomes clear. ASK FOR HELP. Email someone.

4. Write due dates up on a card and put them up in full view. The accountabilities should focus you when you are not alert.

5. Save your notes in an organised way so you can draw on them for revision.

6. Know and be flexible with the different study approaches. Case studies, flash cards, summary pages, short answer writing, and verbal discussion are examples of some different study approaches. 

7. Each subject is a new form of thinking. Focus on the formal requirements and the structural elements of that, to grasp the entire subject at once.

8. "How does this apply to my life?"; "How do I explain this to someone who isn't learning this?";  "How does the writer/teacher/tutor think differently from me and how can I emulate him?"; "How can I research and repeat this information best?"; "How can I falsify this statement in three different ways?" In other words, interrogate the knowledge for potential and possible meaning.

9. Create a completely clear desk with only the ONE THING you will be studying right now on it. Put everything else away.

10. Read all the assigned textbooks before the first class.