Develop Your Reading Skills | Study Tips-6

Like all other skills, reading skills also very important to succeed in any exam, and it becomes a habit as more as you practice it. The more you read more you become an effective reader. You should make reading as a habit not a mere skill. Read not only your course materials but also newspapers, periodicals and novels if you have sufficient time. This will make your reading habit more interesting.

Strategies for Developing Reading Skills

The following are some strategies to develop your reading habit.

• Become a member if your school library and your local public library.
• Join a book club or create one with interested people in your school or your living area
• Have reading targets to compete reading books. Plan and list out the books of your interest and set time limit to complete them.
• Subscribe and read regularly a standard newspaper and magazines.

Tips to improve your reading Habit

• When you open your study material, decide what you want to read ? and how much you want to read? with in you capacity.
• Have a break for note taking after studying for 45 to 50 minutes. Use 10-15 minutes for taking notes and summarizing what you have studied in the last session.
• Take a refreshment break after every one hour of study time. The break may be up to 10 minutes.
• Continue .... studying after a immediately after a refreshment break. Be careful ! If you take more than 10 minutes refreshment break your mind might be diverted from studies.

Organize Your Study Area for your exam preparation

Despite of staying in home or hostel or mansion or a rented room, every one of you may have separate place for studying. I know some students they don't study in single place, changing their study places frequently and I have seen students who have a single place for study every time. I could see their performance in the exams. The candidates who studies in a single place performs better than the wandering students.

Why you should have a permanent place to study ?

• Having a permanent place for study will help you to concentrate better on your studies.
• It helps to quick start up, when ever you sit for studying.
• You can organize all your study aids in an orderly manner. So that you need not spend time each time you sit to study. It saves lot of your study time.
• Having an organized study area, you inform your family members your primary business is to study.
• It avoids frequent missing and searching of your books and study aids.

What to be organized ?

As a student you may have the following properties in your study area to be organized.

• A study table and a chair at correct height.
• A writing pad, if necessary.
• At least two are three book shelves.
• A study lamp.
• A computer or laptop.
• A Planner Diary for your study plans.
• A4 Papers.
• Files and Folders.
• A dictionary or thesaurus.
• A scientific calculator.
• Stationaries like hole punching machine, stabler.

Tips to organise your study area ?

• Keep your study area neat. It should be pleasant looking, so that you may tempted to sit and read.
• Don't keep all your books on table, keep them in book shelve in some order.
• Use ring files and folders, so that you can keep your assignments organised.
• Keep all stationaries in a separate table drawer or a plastic box, don't let them to occupy your reading table.
• Finally, always follow "Right thing at Right Place" . Following which will make your study place looking pleasant and you will love studying.

Be an Active Learner to Succeed in your exams

This post is an attempt to make you know your learning style and your present learning skills and a brief comparison between Active and Passive Learners. Read the content with careful. Appreciate yourself, if you own some of the positive characters of active learner. Improve yourself if you lack some of the good characters.

Active Learners vs Passive Learners

Active Learners	Passive Learners
Always asks questions to understand concepts clearer.	Accept whatever they study without any questions and just depending on study notes, not even try to understand the concepts.
Learns by thinking, reflecting and exploring each and every corner of the subject to improve the knlowledge in the subject.	Learning things just to reproduce in the exam papers.
Active Learners have the regular habit of reading and writing.	Passive Learners are hatters of such practices.
Active Learners try to integrate learning with social life.	Keeps learning and social life separate.
Being always present minded, engaging in some learning activities.	Avoids learning activities, some time absent minded during learning sessions.
Reads and learns beyond course materials to have command over subject.	Only rely on class notes and course materials.
Interested in getting feed back and learning from feed backs.	Fears about feedbacks and avoid the same.

How to Wake Up Early Morning and Prepare

The researchers all over the world concluded that early morning is the best time for studies. Before the tips, I want to share my ideas about the advantages of getting up early in student life.

Develop your inner side

It is a proved fact that morning is the good time for self development. Admosphere will be quiet. You can develop yourself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

Physical Exercise

With getting early, you will have enough time and energy for some physical exercise. You can do it in a professional gym or with in your home. Exercise really makes you fresh through out the day.

More productivity

Productivity is doing the things with full concentration and getting the expected results. Yes, getting up early will make you more smarter.

Meditation

Morning is the right time for meditation. Do some simple yoga and breathing excersices to keep your spiritual side streanghten.

Plan your life

Waking up in early morning and thing about your life goal and analyze yourself "am I in right track?". It really makes your life more successful.

Tips to wake up Early in the Morning

• Early to bed, early to rise, make a man health, wealthy and wise. Really it is true. I request my student friends to go bed early.Go to your bed at before 10 pm in the night because when you fall asleep faster you could wake up earlier as possible. It improves your productivity throughout the day.
• Wash your hand and face with cold water or have a shower before going to your bed. It will help for a sound sleep.
• Set your alarm for at least 2 or 3 times. For example if you plan to wake up in the early morning 4'O clock. set your first alarm at 3.50 am , second alarm at 3.55am and third alarm for 4.00 am. Consider the first alarm bell as an indication, second as a warning and before third you will be waken up.
• Wash your face (brush if possible) soon after waking up. Failing which will send back to your bed soon.

You may also read .... How to avoid sleep during studies ?

Meet you with more tips in next post ....wish you all the best !

How to avoid Sleep while Studying?

Sleeping is a common process, our body needs it naturally. But it is very important to consider when to sleep? where to sleep? how much time to sleep? .

Sleeping Place	Your Loss
School / College	Studies
Church	Blessing
Bus	You will miss your destination
Driving	You will meet Accident

Sleeping is necessary for a healthy body. But sleeping in unnecessary times spoils our health, wealth and studies. Doctors advise that the sleeping at improper timings may lead for obesity during the students days.

What you understand from the above examples ? Sleeping is good but sleeping in wrong place, at the wrong time is absolutely wrong. For example if you sleep while driving you would meet an accident.

What is the reason for sleep during studies ?

There are three factors determines our sleep in right or wrong times.

Health

Health is the first factor which decides our sleep. Daily 5 to 7 hours sleep is enough for a normal student. If you are a student with alergy, asthma you need to sleep more. So that you should not waste even a single minute and use your healthy times effectively. Over weight also cause some sleep disorders.Using the time effectively, they too can improve their study habits. Some students have sleep disorders they should use the available time effectively for studying. If your are a student who doesn't have the above said problems you are healthy and you can follow all the tips given here.

Food

If you are studying in morning, take some ligh breakfast and some light snacks if it is evening. Avoid eating heavy meals as they can make your body and brain sluggish.

During your study hours take juicy fruits like grapes and oranges.

Environment

Have proper lighting in your room. Keep your properties like bag, books, pen, notes etc. organized. Don't study with a fan blowing on your face as it dries your eyes and make you sleepy.

Scientific reason for sleep while reading or studying

Mostly of us, in our student life, whenever we sit to read, we used to sit in a relaxed position. It prevents physical activation, This causes stagnation of lactic acid in the cells. Since the lactic acid is a high oxygen absorbing agent, it quickly reacts with the oxygenated blood to reduce the flow of the blood to brain. Lack of oxygenated blood causes the brain to get tired. This automatically make us sleepy while studying.

Psychological reason for sleep while studying

Psychologically, you will feel sleepy whenever you try to study something you are not interested. You will not understand if you try hard to study that subject.

Tips to avoid sleeping while studying:

• Sit in a straight position(Sit on a chair with flat back). Always try to sit on a uncomfortable desk. Comfortable cushion chair or bed may invite you to sleep.

• Strictly avoid lying position as it instructs your brain to do two contrary tasks to sleep as well as to study. Finally, the instruction to sleep will win.

• Take notes while you read. It will give some physical work to your body and keep your brain afresh.

• Change your topic if you feel sleepy.Read some interesting subjects whenever you feel sleepy.

• Change Your Siting positions frequently. It will stimulate your concentration level. Whatever the position can be but do not lean from your straight pose.

• Walk and study for some time. The physical activity caused by this will keep afresh your brain.

• Read loud whenever possible.

• Avoid reading continuously with out break which will cause semi consciousness ( a hypnotic effect) and you can not understand anything in this process.After every one hour relax yourself for at least 10 minutes. You can swallow the things you studied during the last session.

• Avoid keeping your eyes too much close to your books. It will lead you to fall asleep.

• Do some easy exercises if you feel sleepy.

• Take small breaks during studies. Take 10 minutes brake during 1 hour continuous study. Drink some hot drinks in your study breaks.

• Take a cold shower if your health is normal of Wash your face with some cold water.

• Drink water eventually, so that you have to hit the restroom often. It will avoid sleepy mood. And water is good for health.

• Study in groups to avoid sleep, it really works. If you are in hostel, join with the students who study sincerely. It will keep you away from sleep.

• If you are feeling sleepy so much and could not control yourself, take a short time sleep (cat nap) Sleep for 15 mins to 30 mins. Use a good working alarm clock for your help.

Be a Smart Worker not Hard Worker

I have come across some best candidates who used to study for a long time in the night, taking number of notes, reading until they get tired, staying in the library for hours and partially isolated from the fellow students and some time from the entire world to get good scores in any competitive Exam.

At the same time I know some candidates they could be seen with friends, no body can differentiate them from others. They play in the grounds, laughs with friends. But in the results only they stay unique from others.

While both hard workers and smart workers get same results. What makes a student smart ?, To be a smart worker what one should do ? . Have a look at the following picture and the table, you might get some understandings about being a smart worker.

Hard Work	Smart Work
More input more output.	Less input more output.
More physical efforts, less brain usage	More brain usage, less physical efforts.
Utilizing all the available sources to complete the work in a specified time.	Utilizing few sources to complete the work in less time.
Hard work means just working for some thing without knowing the technique involved in it.	In Smart work, a simple logic which can solve all the problems
In hard work the person only think about the completion of given work it doesn't mean how much time it takes.	But in Smart work, one finds easiest as well as most convenient way to complete a work as early as possible.
One who doesn't have more knowledge about his task does hard work.	Can be done only with complete knowledge about the task.
Doing things without using brain and takes long time and more physical stress to complete the things.	Doing the things by using brain in a short span of time with less effort.

"There were two wood cutters in a jungle one cuts trees for 12 hours and the other for 6 hours but the woodcutter that cuts the trees for less hours cuts the most trees. This was because he sharped his knife after every hour. Now you can easily differentiate between hard work and smart work."

Simple tips to be a Successful Smart Student.

Self Confidence : The most important requirement for being a Smart Worker is the Self Confidence. You should believe your self. You should believe you can be best. This belief will automatically direct you towards success.

Aim for High : You should define your aim in your life. Having a plan will make your travel easier. You should visualize yourself that you have reached the goal.

Be Organised : Being organised makes you perfect. It increases your self confident. It will raise your image among others.

Time Management : Have every thing at its time. Dont waste a single minute of your students life.

Think Positive : Positive thinking is a gift of life. Develop positive thinking. It will give strenght to face challenges in your student life.

Useful Reading Skills for Your Exam Preparation

Today, competition has increased in all competitive examination. To get success in any Competitive Exam candidates has to prepare number of study materials. Aspirants have many things to be learned from a short span of time. Speed reading may be the solution for this problem. Speed reading makes you a smart reader instead of hard working reader. Here you may go through some important tips for speed reading.

1. Have a reading diary : Note your reading progress in the diary. Record your reading speed of various texts in different timings. Compare the data in the end of a week. You can find whether your reading speed increasing or decreasing. And, you can find your peak time to read.


2. It is more important how much of information/facts you have absorbed from the study material than how many pages you have covered reading.


3. Be in a relaxed position while you read. If you are in stress do some meditation or simple exercise to calm down your stress. A relaxed mind absorbs more than a stressed mind.


4. Have a goal of reading. Ask yourself"what I am going to read?".Set yourself targets of how much portion you are going to complete.


5. Concentrate more on titles, subtitles and beginning of paragraphs.


6. Understand the power of words. If you find some words such as 'consequently', 'to sum up' , 'therefore' , that may be the conclusion part. The words such as 'moreover', 'in addition to'will extends the portion with new concepts.


7. Motivate yourself for your achievements. If you successfully execute your reading targets.


8. Avoid mouth reading, as reading with your lips slower your reading speed.


9. Reading with your finger pointed on the text will improve your concentration on reading. Don't point your finger word by word, as it will slow down your reading speed. As your target is to complete a big portion of hundred of pages, use your fingers pointing line by line or para by para. Remember your fingers should travel with coping with your mind speed.Remember you can not cover a long distance inch by inch, you can cover it by kilometer by kilometer.


10. Practice ! Practice! Practice ! It only makes you perfect. Practice with consistence and increase your reading speed. Finally you will wonder seeing you read like a robo.

All the Best !

How to become a Police Officer in Tamilnadu Police?

For many of us, becoming a Police Officer is a dream from our childhood days. We do always impress about the Police Officer characters in the Movies. As a youth we always show interests to see the news about high level police officers like DGP, ADGP, JC, SP, DSP, etc. in the newspapers.

Our Government gives enormous opportunities to all citizens with out any discrimination to become a police officer.

Click to see the Organization Chart of Tamil Nadu Police at http://www.tnpolice.gov.in

There are two ways for the direct entry as a Police Officer in Tamilnadu State Police Department.

1.UPSC - You should pass in All India Civil Service Examination conducted by UPSC and you should opt for IPS. You will be directly posted as SP of a district after two years successful completion of training.

2.TNPSC - You should pass in TNPSC Group I Examination conducted by TNPSC. If you score sufficient marks in written exam and interview, you will be directly appointed as DSP (Deputy Superintendent Police) in Tamilnadu Police.

Becoming a Sub Inspector of Police in Tamilnadu

To become a Sub Inspector of Police ( SI ) in Tamilnadu you should pass SI Selection Conduducted by TNUSRB. There will be a written exam (80 General Knowledge Questions and 60 Psychology Related Questions ) for Sub Inspector Selection. Following that there will be a Physical Test and Oral Test. Based on the all marks, you will be appointed as an Sub Inspector of Police.


For two ways, only one thing is required from you ....that is none other than HARD WORK . All the best !

Note Taking Tips for Your Exam Preparation | Study Tips-10

Note taking is an art. A good study note decides your success in all competitive Exams. As a aspirant of your dream competitive exam, you should take notes whenever you sit to study. You should make it as a habit not merely a practice.
Why note taking important?

• Aid to memory : It is impossible for memorizing what ever we learn. Thus we have to make notes.
• Notes serves as the tools for revision
• You learn the by writing notes with your own words.
• Note taking habit keeps as active always, avoids dullness and sleepy mood when we sit for exam preparation.

Which is best, A4 Sheets or Notebook ?

Two commonly used note taking materials by the most of the aspirants are Long Size Notebooks and A4 Sheets. Both have their own benefits, if you are using A 4 Sheets, when you go to a library of coaching class, only one file or folder and some A4 Sheets inside is enough for taking notes for various subjects. In case of notebooks, you should bring notebooks of all subjects.

Whatever the materials may be, you should keep your notes organised and safe. If you use A4 sheets, keep seperate files and folders for each subjects. If you use a long size notebook, use separate notebooks for each subject.

How to take notes from Books ?

As a aspirant for an exam, you need to study the basic text books thoroughly as well as some other relevant study materials and guide books. Here are my tips to make your note taking most effective.

• Decide what is the scope of your notes. Are you preparing for Group 1,2,4,VAO ? . Decide whether you are preparing for Prelims/Mains/Prelims cums Mains
• Make sure you have understand the passage you have studied
• Keep your notes short as possible
• Use plenty of headings and sub headings as much as possible
• Write everything in your own words.
• Maximize use of abbreviation and keywords for lengthy and complex facts.
• Include your own thoughts while you make notes.
• Skip unwanted information while you read the material
• Make sure your notes will be readable after a long time.
• Note what you haven't understood and get clarified from others.

How to take notes In Class Rooms ?

• know whether the lecturer provides handouts.
• Do not try to note entire lecture in your notes
• Note key points only with Main concepts to Mini concepts
• If you are given handouts, use your highlighter economically. Highlight important concepts only.
• Use short hand system. If you don't know short hand, use your own short hand system. For example, bcos = because, ie, etc.
• Create spider diagram for easy understanding.