Whether you’re a school or university student or an adult learner, and no matter the subject you’re tackling, you obviously appreciate the value of learning. But if you’ve picked up this book, you also understand that there’s value in a kind of meta-learning, i.e. learning how to learn.

Isn’t it strange how many of us simply take for granted the processes by which we learn new information? Maybe we think that good intentions, a bit of intelligence, and enough hard work are all it takes to succeed at our chosen study. While nobody would argue you don’t need these things, the truth is that becoming good at learning seldom happens by accident—we need to have a proven, practical strategy for exactly how we’re going to get the most out of the study process.

This is what this book is about. We’re going to cover all those study skills that you weren’t taught at school but should have been. There will be a few familiar ideas in the chapters that follow (like how best to tackle tests, boost your memory, or draw up a study plan), but be prepared for a few unexpected ideas, too. The best thing is that even once you’re done studying or aced your tests, the approaches and techniques that you learn here will continue to be useful to you all throughout life.

Let’s start in the most obvious place: the classroom. One of the greatest study skills you could hope to master is listening. You’ve heard it all before, but listening is not a passive process, and it’s definitely not the same as merely hearing. If up until now you’ve simply turned up to classes or lectures and sat down without a plan, well, you’ve been missing out. Listening is really a multi-stage process in which we receive, digest, and respond to the information that we hear.

So, how do you become a better listener? Well, that depends on how well you’re currently absorbing and processing information at each level.

Practicing Effective Listening During Class

For our purposes, we can imagine that there are five stages in the listening process. Rather than sitting in the classroom and hoping that some knowledge will somehow magically float over to us, we have to see ourselves as engaged and aware information receptors.