Of all the factors known to affect a student's performance in terminal and public examinations, none is as critical as the student's study habits.

Some time ago, we took a random sample of 120 junior and high school pupils (a mix of boys and girls) with questionnaires covering topics that ranged from their age to their periods of study and other extra-curricula activities.

Out of those that claimed to engage in independent private studies after school hours, only 21% admitted having planned time tables for their private studies. While 54% studied after school hours "Whenever they felt like it", 20% attend coaching classes, while about 46% had no idea of what they do with their lesson notes after school hours.

Shocking as this might be,it is the reality on ground.
However, for those students who appreciate the need for proper planning for success in their academic careers, it is good to recognize that there are certain underlying factors that have to do with the cultivation of an effective study habit. These factors play key roles in the student's acquisition of the right aptitude and capacity for learning.

With Coming TOPS, our plan is to encourage readers to become "All-round-scholars";
excelling in all their subjects through the application of the principles they acquired from this programme to the mastery of any subject they chose to study or specialize in.

With the series of articles lined up for this programme, we aim to instill in the readers traits they would not otherwise cultivate from any other source in relation to the acquisition of little known study-habit principles.

Now, the three major factors that are known to play powerful roles in the acquisition of effective study habits will be discussed in the next article under the following headings:
1) The psychological factor,
2) The mental factor and
3) The physical factor.

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HOW TO KNOW A CHILD'S BASIC LEARNING TYPE (BLT).

Finding out a child's basic learning type is relatively easy. One of the most common methods is to have the child in a comfortable and relaxed mood.
Next give him/her an interesting but short story to read ( not audibly); before then let the child know that you are going to have him/her narrate the story to you with as much details as possible, after about six(6) hours. The story line should be between 450 and 500 words.
When the time comes, re-read the story yourself (to refresh your memory) and have the child retell it.
Take note of the details.
Next, after about 24 hours, get another short story of the same length, but this time around, READ out the story clearly to the child (once) and after about six (6) hours, call the child and have him/her retell the story.
Again, take note of the details.
(Note: The child should go about his/her normal activities before being called to retell the stories.)
After two repetitions, a clearer picture would emerge that would indicate which of the two methods better suits the child's ability to assimilate, retain and reproduce/recollect information; this method invariably determines his/her basic learning type (BLT) and could also be applied in the case of an adult.
The principal thing is to try to ascertain the more affective of the two methods of gathering information. In most cases, it is easier to determine a person's basic learning type, but there are instances, though far between, where it is difficult to arrive at a clear notion of what the basic learning type is; these rare cases are rated as 50-50 and they are regarded as having equal assimilatory potentials.
Persons with this type find it relatively easy to adapt to any learning environment, and would do extremely well if nurtured and given a good direction.

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THE PROCESS OF ASSIMILATION
Until very recently, little or no attention was given to a pupil's rate of acquiring or assimilating tutorial information at school or any other learning environment. Previously, educational planners, especially curriculum planners, hardly gave much attention to the pupils' assimilatory abilities, other than mapping out their anticipated levels/grades of attainment at specific ages.
However, with recent revelations through research works, education psychologists have come to recognize that the two major avenues for assimilating tutorial or any mundane information are the human ears and eyes.
Furthermore, it was discovered that a variant exists between the rates at which such information are taken in through these two channels, and that majority of people fall into either of these two categories, while only a small fraction have equal capabilities of assimilating facts with both organs.
In other words, in most cases, a pupil is either "eye-minded" or "ear-minded" when it comes to learning, while a few, usually those who cannot easily identify their basic types, come within the cycle of 50-50 assessment rates; those that could assimilate information by hearing or reading, at the same rate.


The implications:
Given a situation where a student who is "ear minded", one who learns faster and better and retains more information through hearing than reading, spends more time with his books, both at home and in the library, while giving less time to classroom instructions or group/team activities, might, regrettably, find it difficult to retain or recollect a larger part of what he/she had learnt through reading.

We often come across this type of situation when a student's hobby is reading. But reading as a hobby and reading for the purpose of learning are two different activities.
While the former requires little or no efforts at assimilating or retaining factual information, but mere passive attention, the later calls for concerted efforts at assimilating, retaining and reproducing the factual details being imbibed.
To re-adjust, the pupil would need to be encouraged to do less private reading and attend more classes, indulge in group discussions, and listen to audio-versions of lesson notes and video practicals. Fortunately, this is made possible today with the advent of digital science and the Internet.

The reverse holds for a pupil that is "eye-minded".

Those in this group usually find it easier to understand faster what they read from texts, than through oral instructions; they hardly attend classes, yet they often perform better than some of their mates that spent more time in classroom works. This group would be better off reading more in libraries and in private settings, if given the right direction.

A NOTE OF WARNING

It is not intended or implied that a student that is "eye-minded" should stay off classroom activities neither should the one that is “ear-minded” do no reading aside from attending classes.
On the contrary, what was implied in both scenarios is for those finding themselves in these two categories to carefully plan their study/learning schedules, including extra-curricular activities, to be in tune with their Basic Learning Types (BLT).
Thus, given a situation where two pupils, Peter and James have different basic learning types, where Peter tends to appraise and assimilate information more rapidly from listening to spoken words or sounds, and James does same better by visual perceptions, both will still have to attend classes on regular basis, but during free periods or prep sessions, both would do better to indulge in activities that tallies more with their respective BLTs.
Going by the above example, a student in Peter's situation should be advised to engage more in group sessions at free periods, while those in James' position should visit the library or other reading locations.
All this calls for careful planning with the help and cooperation of parents, teachers and close associates.
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