Study Skills - Making the Adjustment
Alison Shaw
What are study skills at Exeter University?
• A service which aims to remove your disability as a barrier to
academic study
• Led by the student
• Personalised to the needs of the student – we do not take
a ’one size fits all approach’
• A parallel service to other academic skills providers in the
university
...and what they aren’t
• Worksheets
• Phonics programmes
• Prescriptive
• Proofreading
How we can help
• We offer one-to-one tuition for specific learning difficulties
• Tuition is led by your needs but it can include
Help with finding research
Unpacking assignment questions
Planning
Structuring of assignments
Helping you proofread
Time management
Revision
Essay planning in exam conditions
Best use of your extra time – if you have it
Who we are
• Specialist Professionals
• A team of tutors with differing areas of specialism which allows
AccessAbility to meet your specific needs
• A dedicated tutor
What does a study skills session look like?
• A dedicated hour of one-to-one tuition with a qualified and
experienced professional
• These sessions are guided by your needs and can work on your
immediate study requirements
• The emphasis is on giving you the transferable study skills to
manage your disability
What other study support is available at
Exeter ?
• Your Personal Tutor in your College
• The Academic Skills Advisers at Student Skills Development offer
non SpLD specific study skills to all our students
• The Library
Accessing study skills
• Study skills from AccessAbility are a paid for service which are
awarded for eligible students
• Study skills should be taken up in conjunction with seeing an
AccessAbility Adviser as only they can set up extra time in
exams or other adjustments
Preparing for study at University
• A quick search on Amazon will find a range of study guides but
this is a good starting point
This is good too ...
This diary has lots of useful tips
and finally...some Top Tips
– using your extra time to your best advantage
Review your past exam performance to identify your personal
weaknesses...and strengths
If you tend to run out of time
Strictly work out your time limit for each question and stick to
it...you will always do better if you finish ALL the required
questions
If you tend to write down everything you know
Spend your time analysing the question so your response is
relevant
If your answers are too brief
Make sure you provide supporting evidence for your answer
You miss part of a question
Often the first part of a question asks you to describe or outline
but in reality most of the marks come in the analytical SECOND
part –do the whole question.
You miss the key qualifier
Words like the MAIN, the SIGNIFICANT often indicate what you
should be using for your judgment –make sure you use them to
access the highest grade
Checking work for errors in Maths, Science
or Multiple Choice Question Papers is time
spent wisely.
Checking spelling should be confined to
terms and names.
What would you like to ask us?