THE beginning of the school year is generally accompanied by feelings of newness and anticipation, similar to the start of a calendar year. We make many new school year resolutions, such as “all A’s this year” or “no more time-wasting”. But we often fall back into “same old, same old” before too long. We are less than one term into the school year, and I’m sure many people have forgotten those resolutions. So what can we do about this? Perhaps our resolutions fail because we fail to formulate a plan that guarantees success.

A good plan involves understanding yourself and utilising the strategies that will maximise learning and, ultimately, success. There are numerous skills and strategies for succeeding in your academic endeavours this school year. One very critical skill is academic self-understanding.

Know thyself

It is very important that you understand yourself as a learner. In the field of psychology, this is referred to as metacognition, which can simply be defined as the ability to understand how you learn and use that knowledge to guide you in selecting strategies that will guarantee that you do well.

An important part of metacognitive awareness is knowing your learning style. Most of us encode information for optimal storage and retrieval in particular ways, which usually places us in one of three learning styles: auditory, visual or kinesthetic. There may also be persons who use more than one of these styles equally well but, for most of us, one style stands out.

If you are the kind of person who likes to engage in discussions, because you realise that listening to persons talking about topics or issues makes the information stick, then chances are you are an auditory learner. Auditory learners often say that if they listen carefully in class, then they basically remember the information fairly well. If this sounds like you, good strategies for studying would include:

1) recording your notes in audio and listening to the recordings while going about your daily activities;

2) listening to soothing music while studying — classical music tends to be really good;

3) reading your notes out loud so you can hear the information again;

4) forming study groups so you can hear other persons explaining the subject.

Visual learners tend to like to see things and learn best when visual aids, such as charts and PowerPoint presentations, are employed in class. They often say that they can “see” the information in their minds. If you are that kind of person, then maximise on that photographic memory that you have.

Read your notes and textbooks, and be deliberate about looking at the words; don’t just gloss over them. Create concept maps and flow charts and memorise them. Remembering the images means you will remember the information. Watch videos — there are numerous educational videos covering a wide array of topics available online for free. Write information that you want to remember on cards or charts and paste them on the ceiling and on the walls in your room. The more you see the information, the more it will be reinforced in your mind’s eye.

If you don’t fall into any of the two categories mentioned above, then you must be a kinesthetic learner; that is, one who likes to get involved in learning. Kinesthetic learners like to do things and learn best when they are able to use their bodies in the learning process. If you are kinesthetic, then maybe you like being involved in practical demonstrations like role plays, experiments, field trips, etc. Here are some simple but effective learning strategies that are sure to work for you. Writing and re-writing your notes will concretise the information for you; because as your hands move to form the letters, you are memorising the material. Call some of your friends and play “school”. This may sound playful, but when you take on the role of a teacher, and deliver the material to others, your active engagement in the process guarantees that you will learn. It also means that you shouldn’t shy away from making presentations or getting involved in other class activities as the same principle certainly applies.

These strategies are simple, yet effective. Try some of them and see the difference that they make in setting you on the path to guaranteeing academic success.

Shaye-Ann Campbell-Mosquera is lecturer in the Department of Behavioural and Social Sciences at Northern Caribbean University. shayeann.campbell@ncu.edu.jm