What about Learning Styles?

How many times have you heard someone say, “I’m a visual learner, so I need to see diagrams” or “I record my lectures because I’m an auditory learner”? The idea that individuals differ with respect to the mode of instruction, or method of studying that is most effective for them, is referred to as learning styles. While we may have preferences about how we learn, there is no evidence that aligning your preferences and your instruction and/or studying will produce better results in learning.

So rather than focusing on your preferred “learning style,” take advantage of all of the strategies built into this class, and you will likely see much better results. You can find some tips in "What do successful students do?".

Why do I need a study plan?

Your Brain Doesn’t Want You to Study
Learning is like exercise for your brain. Just like after a workout session, you may feel uncomfortable or even can feel that it is hard. This is good, it means you are learning! Your brain finds studying to be hard, even painful, and your body naturally avoids things that are painful. If you don’t plan your studying and you instead try to “fit it in” when you have time, you will find that your body subconsciously avoids studying, which results in procrastination, lots of stress, and low grades.
Scientifically Proven to Work
One study technique that is scientifically proven to work is called distributed learning. Distributed learning is when you spread your studying out over a period of time rather than trying to do it all in one sitting. By planning your studying you make the time you use studying more effective. This means that if you're consistent, you can study less and learn more.
Be a Wise Student
In a physics class, a student complained that their physics teacher had a deadline on Saturday each week. So every Saturday, they had to spend hours and hours doing all of the work. Plan out when you will work on your assignments rather than waiting to do everything the day the assignment is due. The "due" date is not the "do" date.

How do I create a study plan?

Step 1

Open a new spreadsheet (Excel, Google Sheets, etc.). If you want to use your smartphone calendar or computer calendar, you can. It's a good idea to make your plan on a spreadsheet and then transfer it to your computer or phone calendar later.

Step 2

Put the days of the week across the top. Put time from when you wake up until you go to sleep down the left-hand side.

Step 3

Add to the plan the essential things in your life (classes, work, church, meetings, family responsibilities, etc.). If you work, read the article titled Surviving College to determine how many credit hours you should be taking each semester.

Step 4

The BYU-Idaho standard for the student workload in courses is about 3–4 hours per week per credit hour, so a 3–credit course would require approximately 9–12 hours of work per week - including class attendance. Set time aside in your daily schedule to work on the course. You can find in the Help forum - FAQ a table that can help you to organize your study time for this class.

Add your study time to your plan.

Remember:

Make sure you break your study time up, remember distributed learning is more effective than scheduling all your studying on one day.
Keep it simple. Simple plans succeed more often than complicated ones.

Here is an example of a student working 19h/week, taking 9 credits for the semester, and who decided to work for this class 10h30/week. You can see it is totally doable!

Step 5

Print your plan. Post your plan. Stick to your plan.

If it is your study time, and you have finished your homework, then use your study time to work on projects or study for a test. Get in the habit of using your study time. You invested money into this class, you should invest time into your class too.

If you need help sticking to your plan try the following ideas:

Set an alarm on your phone.
Working on your class in the morning, when your brain is clear, and then you won’t have to worry about it the rest of the day.
Tell someone about your plan and ask them to check on you.
Adjust your plan as needed, it’s okay to make changes, so this study plan works for you.
Reward yourself for doing all of your studying each week.