你的学习习惯说明的比你想的更多

时间:2020-03-18 06:44:13

(单词翻译:单击)

Your study habits may say more about you than you realise.
Your approach in school can often predict what your approach will be like in the workplace, and that in turn can predict the kind of roles at which you might succeed or fail. Someone who likes to do everything in advance and plan for every last possible outcome could be a great solicitor1 (if they love the finest details too) or a great event planner (if they’re also good at figuring out what to do if something unexpected makes all their plans go wrong). 
That said, if you don’t like your study habits, they’re not set in stone. Many people find that their study habits change naturally as they get older, or as they move from school to university, but there’s no reason to wait for these occasions; if you don’t like what your study habits say about you, you can change them! Even if that doesn’t seem possible, you can at least try to make sure that you work to your strengths in future. Here are some of the most common study habits, and what they suggest about you.
 
1. You cover your notes in highlighter
 
If you’re studying with friends, you can always tell which notes are yours – they’re the ones that are various shades of lurid2 yellow, pink and green. Once you even had to photocopy3 your friend’s notes because there was so much highlighter on yours that it tore through the page and you couldn’t make out the words any more. This is a study habit that typically goes along with having your notes colour-coordinated in a beautiful ring-binder, and spending nearly as long designing your revision timetable as following it. 
What this suggests about you is that you need to have that sense that you have control over what you’re studying. With everything covered in highlighter, you can prove to yourself that you’ve looked over it (even though, as we’ve noted4 before, lots and lots of highlighter use doesn’t actually help you absorb information). Feeling in control of your studies gives you the confidence to work harder and succeed. But you can challenge that need to feel in control into a more useful direction – for instance, instead of covering your notes in highlighter, how about trying to write a one-sentence summary of each page? That way, you can prove to yourself that you’ve taken it in, but you’ll stand a better chance of retaining the information.
 
2. You’re always studying – but not necessarily what was set
 
You’ll start off reading the pages of the textbook that were set, until you come across something that doesn’t make sense or piques5 your interest. You head to Wikipedia, then follow up on the footnote in Google Scholar, then see if your school library has the book that the Google Scholar article referenced. By that time you’re reading something that’s barely connected to the reading you were set, but it’s fascinating stuff and you can’t wait to learn more! Meanwhile, your original reading lies neglected. Pity that you’re supposed to have done it by first thing tomorrow. 
Some teachers will have a lot of patience with a student who spends a lot of time studying, even if you’re not following the syllabus6, so you might find you can get away with this study habit for some time. But as exams approach, you might well find it taking its toll7 on your marks, as you’ve learned a great deal – but not much of what you’re being assessed on. This study habit is usually a sign of an enthusiastic scholar, and you’ll find that the further you advance in your education, the less prescriptive your teachers and lecturers become, so eventually you will be able to do this kind of freewheeling study unhindered. On the other hand, it can be a sign that you need to work on your concentration, especially if there’s a danger that you’re avoiding learning the necessary but boring things that are required to make progress.
 
3.You only study as much as you need to pass
 
If seven out of ten is good enough, then seven out of ten is what you’ll aim for. You’re probably someone who finds learning new things quite easy; possibly you’ve never really had to try at school. When you can keep going by turning in the minimum amount of work you need to avoid getting into trouble, you don’t think putting in more effort is worth it. 
People with this study habit are short-changing themselves, and often get a rude awakening8 as they advance through school and to university, where their carefully calculated level of “good enough” suddenly isn’t sufficient. The increases in difficulty from year to year can be hard even if you’re used to working hard; if, at the age of 17 or 18, you suddenly have to start working hard for the first time in your life, it can come as a shock. This study habit can come from pure laziness, but it also comes from fear of failure – you’re worried that if you try harder, you might not do as well as you’d like, and that puts you off the idea of trying. But a few failures are worth it in the process of learning to achieve your full potential.
 
4. You spend all hours in the library
 
There are a couple of different ways to spend all hours in the library. One is because you’re spending your time there studying, and another is because you’re there watching old episodes of The Big Bang Theory and trying to persuade yourself that this counts as studying in some sense, because you are, after all, in the library, and you’re bound to get back to your reading in a moment. 
If you’re spending all your time in the library studying, it can suggest that you have too much work to do, that you’re being too much of a perfectionist, or perhaps that the way you’re approaching your studies is inefficient9 – for instance, you might be spending ages reading through books rather than finding what you want to know by looking it up from the index, and then moving on. But if you’re spending your time in the library procrastinating10, then maybe you need to move your study location to somewhere where you can’t fool yourself (or others) into thinking that you’re working without actually doing some work.
 
5. You leave everything to the last minute
 
Possibly one of the most common study habits is leaving everything until the last possible minute. If you’re not doing your essay the night before it’s due, it’s probably because you’re still putting it off until the next morning, when you’ll scribble11 it frantically12 on the bus. 
Usually this is a study habit that emerges from struggling to motivate yourself without the pressure of a deadline. Sometimes, this can be rooted in perfectionism – you put off doing something when you’re worried about getting it wrong, but then you put it off for so long that you have to do it last minute. This can mean that you struggle with this habit just as much for the subjects you love as the ones you hate; in fact, sometimes you do your work for the subjects you hate sooner, because you don’t mind doing a bad job. 
Students trying to break themselves of this habit might try to find other things to motivate themselves than an impending13 deadline (e.g. setting up a donation to a political cause they dislike for every day that they haven’t finished an urgent piece of work). But overcoming the issues that prevent you from starting sooner can also help, for instance by breaking the task down into small chunks14 that you can do a bit at a time so the task doesn’t feel as large or pressuring.
 
6. You’re fixated on your grades
 
You can remember what you got on most of your graded work this year, at least in your favourite subjects, but not necessarily what led you to get that mark. You’ve got a good idea of your overall rank in the class as well, and there are a couple of classmates whose grades you always want to know so that you can see if you’ve beaten them this time or not. You’re always deeply disappointed if you get a grade that was lower than you were expecting, even if it doesn’t count towards anything at the end of the year. 
This is a bad habit that a lot of students fall into, especially the very academic ones. If academia is your key strength, your grades can start to feel less like one imperfect metric for measuring your ability and more like your personal league table ranking, or worse, a judgement of you as a person, not just your school performance. This habit can also lead to you missing out on finding out what you need to do to improve, if you focus on the grades you’re getting at the expense of the feedback you’re being given. It can be a sign that you’re simply very competitive, or somewhat insecure and therefore in need of the reassurance15 that good grades give you about your academic abilities. Channeling your competitiveness into something less stressful can help, as can finding other areas of strength to value about yourself.
 
7. You have 10 tabs open at any time
 
If you’re studying on your computer, you don’t feel comfortable unless you have your phone next to your hand, and maybe your email, Facebook, a couple of other social media sites, something with entertaining lists and a weird16 link your friend sent you open as well. It’s somewhere between procrastination17 and multitasking, because sometimes you have lots of tabs from lots of different subjects open, and you find yourself flicking18 rapidly between them.
If you have this study habit, you may be easily distracted. It could be that having picked up this habit, you now find it hard to focus on one thing long enough to begin to find it interesting. It’s worth trying to beat this habit because studies have shown that this kind of rapid multitasking reduces productivity – it feels like you’re being really productive as each switch between topics wakes you up a little, but overall, you end up spending more time doing less work. Train yourself out of this habit by closing some of those tabs and putting your phone somewhere where you have to stand up to check it. That way, you’ll notice more easily when your concentration is straying from your work, and you can nudge yourself to power through the moment of distraction19 and regain20 focus.
 
8. You always ask lots of questions
 
You can only get a few minutes into a typical lesson without raising your hand to ask about something. You’ve ended up doing homework last minute, not because you were procrastinating or didn’t have time, but because there was a question you wanted answered about it before you started. You’ve even experienced your friends getting annoyed about how often you text them to clarify details about the assignments you’ve been set – and you hate it when you’ve been set different tasks where they won’t be able to help you with the questions that invariably arise. 
This is a study habit that most often comes from insufficient21 confidence in your own ideas and abilities – and sometimes, an excessive fear of getting things wrong. You might also find that you play things safe in your work rather than trying out something new that might result in lower marks. It can also be a sign of over-analysis – if there’s the possibility that a task could be interpreted in a couple of different ways, you’ll be the one to notice the different possibilities, but not to be confident in your ability to figure out which one was intended. Of course, curiosity also plays a role. But in all of these situations, trying to answer more questions for yourself – whether that’s by relying on your own judgement, doing your own research, or simply having the courage to take a chance – will be beneficial for you as a student, as you grow in confidence and become more independent in your work. 
What study habits do you have? Leave a comment and let us know.
 

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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 solicitor vFBzb     
n.初级律师,事务律师
参考例句:
  • The solicitor's advice gave me food for thought.律师的指点值得我深思。
  • The solicitor moved for an adjournment of the case.律师请求将这个案件的诉讼延期。
2 lurid 9Atxh     
adj.可怕的;血红的;苍白的
参考例句:
  • The paper gave all the lurid details of the murder.这份报纸对这起凶杀案耸人听闻的细节描写得淋漓尽致。
  • The lurid sunset puts a red light on their faces.血红一般的夕阳映红了他们的脸。
3 photocopy XlFzlM     
n.影印本;v.影印
参考例句:
  • The original reproduces clearly in a photocopy.原件复印得十分清晰。
  • What's wrong with the photocopy machine?复印机出了什么问题?
4 noted 5n4zXc     
adj.著名的,知名的
参考例句:
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
5 piques 0559a8ce8efccc416a5208a31e49d77d     
v.伤害…的自尊心( pique的第三人称单数 );激起(好奇心)
参考例句:
  • I understand practically everything, except one thing that piques my curiosity. 实际上,我什么都了解,只有一点除外,而且引起了我的好奇心。 来自飘(部分)
  • He piques himself on having a good memory. 他常夸耀自己记性好。 来自辞典例句
6 syllabus PqMyf     
n.教学大纲,课程大纲
参考例句:
  • Have you got next year's syllabus?你拿到明年的教学大纲了吗?
  • We must try to diversify the syllabus to attract more students.我们应该使教学大纲内容多样化,可以多吸引学生。
7 toll LJpzo     
n.过路(桥)费;损失,伤亡人数;v.敲(钟)
参考例句:
  • The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
  • The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。
8 awakening 9ytzdV     
n.觉醒,醒悟 adj.觉醒中的;唤醒的
参考例句:
  • the awakening of interest in the environment 对环境产生的兴趣
  • People are gradually awakening to their rights. 人们正逐渐意识到自己的权利。
9 inefficient c76xm     
adj.效率低的,无效的
参考例句:
  • The inefficient operation cost the firm a lot of money.低效率的运作使该公司损失了许多钱。
  • Their communication systems are inefficient in the extreme.他们的通讯系统效率非常差。
10 procrastinating 071016597ffad9d4396b4a6abff1d0c5     
拖延,耽搁( procrastinate的现在分词 ); 拖拉
参考例句:
  • Begin while others are procrastinating. Save while others are wasting. 当别人拖延时你开始。当别人浪费时你节约。
  • Before adjourning, councillors must stop procrastinating and revisit this controversial issue. 在休会之前,参议员必须停止拖延,重新讨论这个引起争议的问题。
11 scribble FDxyY     
v.潦草地书写,乱写,滥写;n.潦草的写法,潦草写成的东西,杂文
参考例句:
  • She can't write yet,but she loves to scribble with a pencil.她现在还不会写字,但她喜欢用铅笔乱涂。
  • I can't read this scribble.我看不懂这种潦草的字。
12 frantically ui9xL     
ad.发狂地, 发疯地
参考例句:
  • He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
  • She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。
13 impending 3qHzdb     
a.imminent, about to come or happen
参考例句:
  • Against a background of impending famine, heavy fighting took place. 即将发生饥荒之时,严重的战乱爆发了。
  • The king convoke parliament to cope with the impending danger. 国王召开国会以应付迫近眉睫的危险。
14 chunks a0e6aa3f5109dc15b489f628b2f01028     
厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 ); (某物)相当大的数量或部分
参考例句:
  • a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
  • Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大,还能再切小一点吗?
15 reassurance LTJxV     
n.使放心,使消除疑虑
参考例句:
  • He drew reassurance from the enthusiastic applause.热烈的掌声使他获得了信心。
  • Reassurance is especially critical when it comes to military activities.消除疑虑在军事活动方面尤为关键。
16 weird bghw8     
adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的
参考例句:
  • From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来,他好像有点怪。
  • His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。
17 procrastination lQBxM     
n.拖延,耽搁
参考例句:
  • Procrastination is the father of failure. 因循是失败的根源。
  • Procrastination is the thief of time. 拖延就是浪费时间。
18 flicking 856751237583a36a24c558b09c2a932a     
(尤指用手指或手快速地)轻击( flick的现在分词 ); (用…)轻挥; (快速地)按开关; 向…笑了一下(或瞥了一眼等)
参考例句:
  • He helped her up before flicking the reins. 他帮她上马,之后挥动了缰绳。
  • There's something flicking around my toes. 有什么东西老在叮我的脚指头。
19 distraction muOz3l     
n.精神涣散,精神不集中,消遣,娱乐
参考例句:
  • Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注,不能有丝毫分神。
  • Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。
20 regain YkYzPd     
vt.重新获得,收复,恢复
参考例句:
  • He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
  • The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。
21 insufficient L5vxu     
adj.(for,of)不足的,不够的
参考例句:
  • There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
  • In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代,科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

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