The Techniques of Learning:

From the outside, learning looks like one single process. In fact it is not. When we learn, we use a combination of techniques which, beause they don't belong to any particular subject, can be applied to all subjects.Benjmain Bloom in his book 'Taxonomy of Educational Objectives' identifies five techniques of learning. These can be summarized as follows:

• Comprehension: Take as an example the statement "All human beings are either introverts or extroverts." You almost certainly know what it meant by the terms "introvert" and extrovert" and understand that the statement is generalizing from them. In other words, the assertion means something to you. You comprehend it.
• Application: It is possible comprehend statements (or ideas, or arguments, or books) that are untrue. "All cats are green" is a false statement, but that does not stop you rom comprehending it. How do you know it is false? By application. the statement does not match up to experience: Cats come in a good many colors but never in green.
• Evaluation:
  To evaluate something is to judge its value for a given purpose.
• Analysis:
  When the sentence is short, it is easily comprehended. Longer works, like Shakespeare's Macbeth, need to be broken fdown. Structure, concepts, themes, patterns, language, character, and style (to name but a few) each become separate subjects of comprehension and evaluation.
• Synthesis:
  Molding of ideas into a single argument is a process of synthesis."Of making many books, there is no end," concludes the writer of Ecclesiastes glumly, " and much study is a weariness of the flesh" (Ecclesiastes 12: 12).He is right on both counts. Like it or not, knowledge is passed on through books. Since you can not possibly read all of the books available on any given subject, you must be selective in your reading. This changes the impossibility of reading everything on a given subject into the possibility of reading what is most imprtant on the subject. Also, you need to read in the most efficient manner possible.

  Efficient Reading:

• Overview: Use the book's own entry system-te contents page. Browse over chapter ehadings, illustrations, photos, and tables. Skim it to get a long range impressions./div>
• Preview: Zoom in on the chapters relevant to you. Concentrate particularly on opening paragraphs (of chapters or sections), since most writers tend to summarize ideas here.
• Inview:Move on from relevant opening paragraphs to follow th ideas further. Aim to comprehend the argument of a complete section or chapter without getting bogged down in complexities. get a feel for the place of this section in the wider sweep of the book.
• Review: Now move back to work through the difficult passages (you should know by now whether this is worth the time). Make notes summarizing the writer's ideas. make quotations short, apt, and memorable, not forgetting to note the page number. At ther end-or in the margin as you go-jot down your evaluation of what you've read.

The TOP Student:

• TRUST: If you feel overwhelmed at the prospect of studying, remember this: Committing yourself to learn is always an adventure of faith. No one else can learn for you; the contest is between you and the subject you're studying. It is in the nature of learning that mastery comes with time. Einstein didn't discover the theory of relativity when he was in diapers. In other words, trust-in God and yourself-operates in the long term.( Incidentally, don't be too trusting of people on the other side of the lectern, since it is also in the nature of learning that nobody gets it right all the time.)
• ORGANIZE: Study is basically a process of organizing facs and ideas. Therefore the skills that help you organize-skills of thinking, reading, evaluating, assimilating, and relating-are of prime importance. Cultivate efficient ways to record, memorize, and retrieve information.If your impossibility is financial rather than academic, try turning your academic skill toward your practical problem. Keep focussed on the vision you have for your education, and keep reinforcing your resolve in order to make the sacrifices necessary to realize your goal.
• PERSIST:
  "If any of you lacks wisdom," writes James, " Let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given him." (James 1:5). It is not stretching the text too far to sugges that part of the wisdom James is talking about has to do with education. certainly, as with prayer, the rewards of study do not come immediately. They have to be worked for, unearthed,slowly amassed. But never lose heart. Persistence will get you there, and you will find some pleasant surprises on the way.Every now and then in the process of study come moments of enlightenment so dazzling and satisfying they make many hours of work worthwhile.

Be encouraged. "BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU CALL IMPOSSIBLE".