9 Tips to Ace Study as an Adult
9 Tips to Ace Study as an Adult
The idea of studying is appealing for lots of reasons. It’s an opportunity to learn skills in an
area you are interested in, make new friends, change careers and take control of your life.
It can also be a bit like a love story gone wrong, the idea is romantic but there are many,
many unromantic times ahead for the studying adult.
A lot of people start out in courses full of enthusiasm, only to quickly discover that it isn’t
what they expected. It can be a type of shell shock, all of a sudden it doesn’t feel like the
doorway you thought it would be, even though it very possibly is!
If you’re thinking of enrolling in a course, these 9 tips will help you face and ace your
studies!
1. Make sure you really want to do the course
First things first, define why you want to study.
Think about what you are going to have at the end of it and make sure it’s something that
will actually help get you to where you want to be.
It might be a degree that will qualify you for the type of work you want to do, it might be a
skill set that will allow you to start the business you’ve always wanted to start.
Whatever it is, it’s important to get this clear in your mind from the start so that you can use
it to drive you through the hardest times in your study.
2. Make sure you have time to do the work
Any good education provider will be able to give you an estimated amount of time you
should spend studying outside of class.
Really think about this, mentally prepare yourself to spend X number of hours studying on
your own time each week.
If you feel intimidated by the time requirements check to see if part time study is an option.
A lot of education facilities will let you drop back to part time if you think you need to during
your course.
3. Set up a work space
You don’t need your own office to be successful in your studies but it will help if you have a
space where you can leave books, laptop and notes open between study times.
Once you get on a roll with an assignment you really want to be able to leave it and know
that you won’t have to pack it all up in half an hour so dinner can be served on the kitchen
table.
It’s also going to help to keep all your study bits and pieces in the same place. Organisation
is key to juggling all your units. If you’ve got a designated area to keep your study material
you’ll be less likely to lose stray papers and notes.
4. Your first assignment actually is…
Now this is a big one so listen up!
Before you do anything, after your first week in your study, go through your unit outlines
and create a calendar for your assessments. You will be given a unit outline for each unit
you study, sometimes you will have to look these up online.
Write out a list of your units and each assessment that’s due for each topic in the order they
are due! This way you can work through your entire workload and be able to see which
assessments you need to focus on first.
Create your own deadlines, aim to get each assessment done at least a few days before it’s
due.
If you do this you will know exactly how much work is ahead of you and you won’t be
caught unaware of an assignment that flew under the radar. You’d be amazed how often
students don’t actually know about assignments until the last minute because they just
didn’t realise it existed.
5. Treasure your unit outlines and REFER TO THEM!
Your unit outlines are your ticket to make sure you know exactly what you need to cover in
each of your assessments. They actually give you a list of what your assessor needs to see to
pass you for the assessment.
REFER TO THEM!
Don’t just blindly do your work how you kind of think it should be done. You need to make
sure you’ve ticked all the boxes that your assessor needs to tick to pass you.
Use your unit outline as a check list before you hand in each assignment to make sure
you’ve actually done what they’ve asked you to do. Again, you’d be amazed how many
students hand in work that doesn’t actually fulfil the requirements of the course.
6. Don’t be shy to ask questions
Going back to study as an adult feels intimidating for a lot of adults, especially if you haven’t
done as assignment since high school.
A lot of students are nervous to ask questions because it reveals that they don’t understand.
The thing is that if you aren’t getting it there’s almost always a handful of other students who
aren’t getting it either.
Be brave and speak up if something’s not making sense. This will ultimately create a more
engaging and interesting vibe in class and your teacher will appreciate your initiative.
7. Don’t put off starting your work
Just do it.
Just sit down without thinking and make a start on the assessment that’s due first.
For some reason starting assessments is a bit of a mind game. It feels like a huge thing and
it’s easy to keep putting it off. If you make a start early you’ll overcome the mind battle and
you’ll probably enjoy the work once you’re into it!
8. Take notes!
Write things down the way you understand them. Think of your note taking as your
translation of what’s being taught. Don’t ever just mindlessly copy things down that you
either don’t need or don’t actually understand.
Notes can be photos on your phone as well. Take a photo of the white board, a friends
notes or email yourself a screen shot of a computer process that you might forget later.
9. Look after yourself!
This is probably the most important point of all.
Studying can become a really negative experience if you don’t look after yourself. If you’re
juggling a family or work or both you’re going to have to be more disciplined with taking
care of yourself.
A classic example is that you stay up until the early hours of the morning working, then
drink 7 cups of coffee to stay awake the next day. Naturally you can’t sleep that night and so
the whole cycle repeats until you’re a neurotic mess.
Sleep is often the biggest factor.
Getting sleep makes you way more productive when you’re awake. Sounds obvious, but if
you’re anything like me you’ll be tempted to work late at night because it’s uninterrupted
time. It’s better to just get the sleep and you’ll make up for it with the extra energy the next
day.
Late nights are probably unavoidable if you’re a studying parent, just try not to let it get out
of control to the point where you’re struggling the next day.
Another Option
If you want to study something but jumping straight into a degree feels like too much of a
leap, why not do a short course in that topic first? This will give you the chance to cover the
basics and see if it’s something you want to invest your time and money into.