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Free advice · From the study hall

Study skills.

Putting in the hours is only half of it. These are the skills that decide what those hours are worth — and they're learnable, unlike a good memory.

Devoting time to revision is only half the battle. Students need the right study skills to get anything back from the effort. Since reading textbooks and notes is how most students work on their own, this is where to start.

Why study skills matter

The skills you build in school keep paying out long after the last exam. And here's the encouraging part: study skills are about discipline and dedication, not about how good your memory is.

Get them right and two things happen at once — you spend less time studying, and you retain more of it. Your confidence when you sit down goes up accordingly.

Before you open a book: control the controllable

Pay attention to yourself and your surroundings before you start. Most lost study time is lost in the first ten minutes, to things you could have settled in advance.

Are you hungry or thirsty?

Get water and a snack sorted before you sit down. Concentrating while hungry is much harder than it needs to be.

Is the space quiet?

The quieter the better. Ideally no noise at all.

Will you be comfortable there for the whole session?

If you'll be shifting about after twenty minutes, pick somewhere else.

How likely is someone to walk in on you?

Every interruption costs more than the minute it takes.

Is everything within arm's reach?

Pens, paper, maths equipment, reference books. Getting up to find something is how a session ends early.

Settle those and you give yourself the best chance of getting properly into it.

Once you sit down

  • Decide what you want to achieve in this session. A goal keeps you pointed at something.
  • Work in blocks of 15–20 minutes. Nobody studies hard for two hours straight, so don't try. Short bursts with a short break keep you alert.
  • Skim the contents or index first. Work out which sections need careful reading and which you can move through quickly.
  • Keep a dictionary to hand and look up anything you don't understand.
  • Make sure you understand what you read. Understood information is far easier to remember than memorised information.
  • Be interested. Can you connect it to something you already know? That's what makes it stick.

Reading techniques that save time

Scanning

A useful first pass before reading properly. Run your eyes down the page to:

  • spot new ideas or vocabulary, so you can check the meaning before you start
  • find information on a specific topic
  • look for keywords that tell you the scope of the passage
  • read the first and last paragraphs for the main points
  • read the first sentence of each paragraph for a feel of the content
  • note the key points in any summary

Skimming

Handy when you're hunting for something specific, or deciding whether a text is worth your time at all. For Hamlet, skimming gets you: what it's called, who wrote it (Shakespeare), when it was produced (1605), who for (Elizabethan theatre-goers), and why (entertainment) — in under a minute.

Active reading

  • Underline or highlight keywords and phrases as you go.
  • Make notes in the margin.
  • Read critically — ask questions of the text.
  • Test yourself: read for half an hour, put the text away, and write down the key points from memory.

Five steps to better reading — SQ3R

Scan, question, read, recite, review. A comprehension method built to help you keep as much as possible of what you've read.

Scan

  • Look at the chapter quickly — headings, images, keywords.
  • Flick backwards and forwards through the pages.
  • Glance at the first sentence of each paragraph.

Question

  • Ask questions of the text: who, what, where, when, how, why.
  • Read any exam questions you can find on the topic.

Read

  • Read in a relaxed, focused, fairly quick way.
  • Don't make notes yet.

Recite

  • Test your memory — but don't worry if you can't remember much.
  • Jot down some points without looking at the text.

Review

  • Read it again, taking brief notes.
  • Use your own words. Look away and imagine explaining it to a friend.

Mind maps

Mind maps — spider diagrams — help you get ideas onto paper when you can't think where to start. They show connections, and they give you the whole shape of a topic on one page.

Try one for Hamlet, with branches for family, revenge, corruption, love and death, filling in as much detail as you can under each.

None of this is difficult. It's just rarely taught — which is why a student who does it has a real advantage over one who doesn't.

Where you study matters too

Every skill above assumes somewhere quiet, comfortable and free of interruption. If that doesn't exist at home, that's precisely what supervised evening study is for.

See also: Leaving Cert study tips and how to make a study plan that works.

Written for our own students. First published 2020, reviewed August 2026.

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