It always surprised me that few people are taught at school how to study. This schedule is an approach to really fix in memory those important texts that are needed for serious study. It is not meant for reading the sporting pages. It looks long winded and complex but if you put it into a routine of study it becomes very natural and by golly does it improve recall at those exams or other important situations.

Notes on how to approach a study text

Timing	Stages	Activity	Notes
Preparation	Browse	General skim review of the study material to get an overview	Look at the Contents, Index diagrams headings etc. Get a feel for the study text.
	Estimate Time and Amount	Estimate the time you will devote to the next study period and the amount of material that you expect to cover in that period.	Cuts your study down in to manageable chunks. Guards against the feeling that you are in a sea of unlearned material.
	Assess Current Knowledge	Layout your starting knowledge position. How much do you already know about this subject. You usually know more than you think.	Use a Mind Map and only take between 2 and 5 minutes
	Specify your Goals and Questions to be answered	Layout your goals and what questions you want answered from the study period	Use a Mind Map and just take a couple of minutes. It can be the same Mind Map as above. If it is, use a different colour for the new notations.
Application	Overview	Get a good idea of what the material is comprised of. What is where. Your mind will assimilate more later if you create a Knowledge Map of the new intellectual territory	Follows on from Browsing but a bit more detailed. Use Chapter headings, Summaries, tables diagrams etc.
	Preview	Read the Conclusions and Summaries FIRST. Update the Mind Map	This gives some structure to the new section.
	Inview	Read the material. Not necessarily all of it or sequentially. Try to fill in the gaps in your knowledge. Remember: If you have really followed the preceding steps, then you already know the most important parts of the material	Make notes using the Mind Map approach. Think of and use evocative key words. Make specific notes on the text book
	Review	Review and mentally summarise your findings. Modify the Mind Map if necessary	End of the initial study session. Do it immediately and update your Mind Map
Reviews	First	Review the material from the Mind Map after 15 minutes	15 minutes
	Second	Review the material from the Mind Map after 24 hours	24 hours
	Third	Review the material from the Mind Maps and a quick overview of the material after 7 days	7 days
	Fourth	Review the material from the Mind Maps after 1 month	1 month
	Fifth	Review the material from the Mind Maps after 6 months	6 months
Tools	Mind Maps	Keep them safe and easily accessible	Use for reviews and any necessary swotting.
	Overview Mind Maps	Create super Large Mind Maps to summarise and coordinate	When covering a lot of related material over many study sessions
	Mark Text	Mark the text in the instructional material with you own comments and Notes.	Knowledge is more important than the medium on which it is carried. Only do this if it is your book
	Mind Maps and Notes symbols	Create your own graphic symbols to indicate certain ideas in your Notes and Mind Maps
	Mnemonics	Use Mnemonics and other memory tricks	Where appropriate.
Note	New Experience	If you follow this approach then it will almost seem too easy to assimilate the material. Remember: You mind needs a filing structure if it is to store the new information. The Preparation phase is intended to provide your mind with an outline map of the new knowledge. You need that structure in order to position the main points of the new area. The rest of the activities (which people think of as learning) should be used to merely to fill in the gaps	Swotting is not hard if you use the tools that god (?) gave you. The preparation phase is the real learning period.

 

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