THIS PAGE IS ABOUT LEARNING AND STUDY SKILLS.
The page is designed for high school, college and university students but is often helpful to adults in the workplace. There is a lot of information here, and it can be overwhelming so just look at a few things that are specific to your issue. Students, their parents and teachers often think that it’s necessary to make major and multiple changes in their lives. Often they develop complex scheduling systems and start to monitor every detail of what they are doing. But big changes often lead to big failures.  Start small! Try new things. When they don’t work go back and try again. Don’t keep doing different things over and over again. People who are successful at learning new skills often - most often - have to try from the start several times.

What I’d like you to do is remember that you should pick only one or two new ways to do things (new skills or habits) to change at a time. Then stick with those.

When you forget to follow your new procedures, or mess up or just fall behind, go back and start over. That’s what a coach would be making you do if you were learning to throw a ball, run faster of jump higher. “Try it again,” they would say.

TO REPEAT MYSELF:
Most people take several tries at this before they get a new way of doing things working.
If the changes you are making are not working right, think about how to tweak them before you try something new.
Too many students try one thing after another, experiencing serial failure.
Pick out one or two new skills or habits, and stick to them.

START HERE-READ THIS: What Works and What Doesn’t Work
This is a research based article on study skills and behaviours. The answers to what works and doesn’t might surprise you.
Click here to read: What Works and What Doesn’t Work
It’s often best to have your parent, partner, spouse or teacher read this too.

A good video about studying, for high school seniors and college students can be found here:
Click here: Study Less, Study Smart

NOTE TAKING: Cornell Note Taking - The Gold Standard for notes….but not the only way.
The Cornell Note Taking Method is well known, but remember, you don’t need to use it for everything. But do use it for the important stuff. Besides being a good note taking method it’s going to teach you how to think.
Click here: Cornell Note Taking: The Wikipedia Page
Click here: Cornell Notes Taking from Cornell University (with videos)
Click here: Sample Cornell Note
Click here: Another sample of the Cornell Note page with an outline of instructions and link to Cornell University
Click here: A funny video on three types of note taking Cornell/Bullet/Mondmaps

READING: Getting to know the Information the First Time
Click here: Cornell: The Three P’s of Effective Reading

Doodle Notes: These note methods are great for less important information, and for those who have trouble with focus, really great!
Click here: New York Times Doodle Notes (with videos)
Click here: New York Times Article on Doodling (This article is great for parents, partners and teachers to read.)

Dealing with Distractability and Procrastination: The Pomodoro Technique
Click here: Using the Pomodoro Technique
I will make some specific suggestions how to adapt this technique, including using a separate timer for only this task-nothing else, and using it for one subject at a time. But this technique is very useful in avoiding procrastination. One thing to remember, there are a number of long articles, books and workbooks on the Pomodoro Technique. It can become cult like and take over your life! I would not use this technique more than twice a day. Otherwise studying becomes punishment to someone with attention issues. We will discuss this in detail during our follow-up session.

“Learning Styles” are Not Real. (No matter what your child’s teacher says.)
For Parents and Teachers Who Think the Real Issue is the Need to Match “Learning Style” to the Student (hint, it’s not true….at all). I’m not sure why teachers seem to still believe this, especially when years, decades, of research shows there is no such thing as “learning styles.” I know they are taught this, I took two graduate courses in “Learning Styles.” We even learned how to test children to figure out their learning styles. And it’s hard to give up something I put so much effort into learning. But the overwhelming truth is there is no such thing as “Learning Styles.”
Click here: The Truth About “Learning Styles”
Click here: Dr. Novella’s statement on Learning Styles.
Click Here: Second Talk on “Learning Styles”

Working Memory Issues (Often more of a problem than you think.)
Click here: How Working Memory Can Be a Bottleneck to Learning