The Mature Student's Study Guide - Catherine Dawson

The Mature Student’s Study Guide is straightforward and does exactly what it says on the tin: it’s designed to help people returning to education – whether it’s after a gap of 5 years or 50. The advice is fairy basic, but covers everything: the idea is to use the Study Guide as a starting point before referring to other books to tackle any problem areas. It is designed for both attending a college or university and distance learning, although the ...
...much confidence in their abilities. The advice is good, but it didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know and I didn’t feel that it applied to me.

The next four chapters are slightly more useful, but pretty much irrelevant to me. They are: “Getting The Most out of Lectures and Seminars”, “Developing Your Group Work Skills”, “Mastering Open and Distance Learning Techniques” and “Making The Most of Information and Communications Technology”. ... more

The Mature Student’s Study Guide is straightforward and does exactly what it says on the tin: it’s designed to help people returning to education – whether it’s after a gap of 5 years or 50. The advice is fairy basic, but covers everything: the idea is to use the Study Guide as a starting point before referring to other books to tackle any problem areas. It is designed for both attending a college or university and distance learning, although the content applies more to degree courses.

The first chapters are only mildly helpful. They are: “Learning How To Learn”, “Preparing for Study”, “Organizing Your Study”, “Enhancing Your Reading Skills”, “Enhancing Your Writing Skills” and “Enhancing Your Mathematical and Scientific Skills”. I suspect that they would be more useful to someone returning to education after a longer time or to someone who doesn’t have much confidence in their abilities. The advice is good, but it didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know and I didn’t feel that it applied to me.

The next four chapters are slightly more useful, but pretty much irrelevant to me. They are: “Getting The Most out of Lectures and Seminars”, “Developing Your Group Work Skills”, “Mastering Open and Distance Learning Techniques” and “Making The Most of Information and Communications Technology”. Again, these are more useful to those returning to education after a longer gap, especially if you’re not used to computers. There is a good level of detail within these chapters – the chapter on group work even tells you how to deal with disruptive people, (although I’m sure most mature students would have come across their fair share of disruptive colleagues, acquaintances and family members and will thus be able to cope).

The next six chapters are the really useful sections of the book. They are: “Producing Successful Assignments”, “Mastering Research Techniques”, “Developing Your Analytical Skills”, “Conquering Oral Presentation”, “Completing Your Dissertation” and “Passing Your Exams”. They include solid advice on revision, essay writing, critiquing and reviewing, problem solving and hypothesizing and theorizing. There are also some basic tips on things like the “Dos and Don’ts of making a presentation” and a lot of detail (not all of it needed) on how to take an exam.

At times, the Study Guide seems to explain too much and comes off as patronizing – you’d think it would credit mature students with some common sense at least – but I suppose it’s better to over-explain than to under-explain. However, this approach does make it more accessible to people who have absolutely no idea how to go about studying and makes it an appropriate book for most mature students. You can always skip through the sections that spell everything out in painstaking detail.

The book ends with “Coping with the Pressures of Study” and “Making the Most of Learner Support Services”. These were the only chapters that I felt could have been longer – the final chapter could have included some useful websites and recommended study books for further reading, for example, rather than simply providing the details of a few official organizations at the end (e.g. the NUS and the Basic Skills Agency). Details of some internet forums for mature students (assuming they exist!) would have been good too, so that prospective students could discuss their plans with likeminded people and perhaps feel more supported and less alone.

Nothing is written about the author, Dr. Catherine Dawson, and I had trouble finding anything other than reviews when I googled her, but Amazon says: “Dr Catherine Dawson has been a researcher specialising in educational research and a tutor working with adult learners for over fifteen years. She is passionate about enabling and supporting adults getting back into education, which is why she has written Returning to Education; Practical Research Methods and now this valuable handbook for adult learners” (written in reference to another of her books). Other reviews on the net suggest that she’s well-respected and her books are recommended. My only criticism of her writing (apart from over-explaining, which is excusable) is that it’s not very motivating; this book is information only.

I don’t know whether I actually needed The Mature Student’s Study Guide; believe it or not, I still remember the basics of critiquing, revision and essay writing from when I did my A levels, 5 years ago. However, it was nice to have that reassurance that I am capable of returning to education and I ended up jotting down several pages of notes “just in case”. I would have liked more inspiration and motivation – there are some quotes from mature students, but I would have liked more and with more detail. I suspect that, like me, most mature students are more worried about implementing the skills they have and ‘fitting in’ than learning to read a textbook exactly as Dawson prescribes. The Mature Student’s Study Guide is a great starting point for preparing to return to education, but I can’t see it being much of a help beyond that – borrow it instead of buying. I’m feeling slightly more confident!

ISBN 1-84528-124-1 RRP £9.99. Available on Amazon for £6.99. 

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