The Importance Of Study Skills

An important question to address when attempting to identify effective study strategies and their relationship with academic performance is, “What are study skills?” The term “study skills” can be defined as proficiency in identifying, organizing, memorizing, and using information in order to succeed academically (Proctor, Prevatt, Adams, Hurst, & Petscher, 2006). Activities identified as study skills include “time management, setting appropriate goals, selecting an appropriate study environment, employing appropriate note-taking strategies, concentrating, selecting main ideas, self-testing, organization, and managing anxiety,” (Proctor et al., 2006). When studying, college students employ a variety of these study strategies that they believe

In their review of the relevant literature, they found that time spent in study skills programs were the greatest predictor of academic success for students who were academically unsuccessful prior to receiving academic support services. In the study that they conducted, results showed that students who were academically unprepared at pretest actually performed better after attending the study skills program than an academically prepared comparison group who had not received study skills training. The researchers found that the study skills program improved the participants’ academic self-efficacy as well as their study skills. Their finding indicate that receiving academic support services focused on study skills is associated with students feeling more capable of success and with improved academic performance (Wernersbach et al., 2014).
Ultimately, students become strategic learners when they realize that their successes or failures are a product of the strategies they used. Flexibility in strategy choice is important for students to become successful learners (Cukras, 2006). Study skill courses can be highly beneficial to students, especially those who have not yet found strategies that arrange for the most