General Information

Have you already decided? Do you want to come to study in Spain? Good! Spain is a very popular destination among international students. It has a great history, cultural wealth and a warm climate. That is why many young people decide to come to study in Spain and they do so from very diverse backgrounds: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, the United States, Morocco or Iran. In this article you will discover important questions that you should know, and what steps you should follow depending on your age and your level of education. And if instead of reading you prefer to be told, you have to see the video we have prepared about all the steps to follow to study in Spain as a foreigner.

What do I need to know to come to study in Spain as a foreigner?

To start planning to come to study in Spain as a foreigner, there are certain things that we consider important for you to be clear about.

• The language: if you don't speak Spanish, you will have to start studying it before arriving in Spain. And what better place to start learning Spanish than in our Spanish school.
• Visa: if you are from outside the EU you will need a visa to come to Spain. You can apply for a tourist visa (90 days) or a long-term study visa. 
• Accommodation: sometimes students come to Spain to live in the house of a friend or family member. If this is not the case, we recommend that you look for accommodation before coming.
• Cost of living: you must bear in mind that large cities are more expensive, you must include issues such as accommodation, food, transportation, courses or study materials in your budget.
• Culture: Spain has a culture that may be different from that of your country of origin. It will help you a lot to know what we Spaniards are like.
• Transportation: Public transportation in Spain is quite good and can be a cheaper option than having your own car. Most cities have subway and bus systems that are easy to use.

If you already have all this more or less under control, we explain the steps to follow depending on your age and level of education.

I am under 18 and have not completed my secondary or high school studies

In this case, it will be recommended that you continue your studies in Spain, completing Compulsory Secondary Education (up to 16 years of age) or the Spanish Baccalaureate (up to 18 years of age). Generally, these procedures are carried out by the parents or guardians of the minor, for which it is necessary:

• That the minor is registered in the city of residence.
• If one of the parents is in the country of origin, they must send a power of attorney to the other parent, so that they can carry out the necessary procedures to enroll the minor in the school.

With the above already prepared, parents can go to a formal education center to be guided on the course that the student can join based on their age.

If you are of legal age and have not finished your secondary or high school studies, you can prepare the free tests to obtain the secondary school graduate degree in Spain, access tests to vocational training cycles (official technical teachings to learn a trade) or the University entrance exam for over 25s. These tests are prepared for students of different ages depending on their academic objectives.

I have finished my secondary or high school studies in my country, I can homologate them to the Spanish high school, and I want to pursue higher education in Spain

In this case you can prepare to access these higher studies through the homologation of the qualification from your country. This approval is a procedure that is carried out in the Ministry of Education of Spain, and you can do it from your country of origin or once you have arrived in our country. 

In Spain, two types of higher education are offered: vocational training and university degrees. 

👉Higher vocational training titles are technical studies, they last two years, and are offered so that the student learns a trade and can enter the labor market. In fact, in the last weeks of this degree you will do internships in a company. You can apply for a place in a higher level training cycle if you have your qualification approved to the Spanish Baccalaureate.

👉University degrees normally last four years. In addition to starting your process of homologation to the Spanish baccalaureate, to access the university you must check the admission conditions of the university you want to enter. These universities may require you to take an exam similar to that of students with a Spanish Baccalaureate, called EBAU or EvAU. However, other universities may require you to appear at UNEDasiss Specific Competence Tests. These exams are held in May-June in their ordinary session (July-September in the extraordinary one), and you already know that you can prepare them in Luis Vives.

I have started a university degree in my country, but I have not finished it

If you want to study at university in Spain as a foreigner and in your country you have started a university degree but have NOT finished it, what you must do is approve your high school diploma and carry out the admission process at the university you want. Once you have achieved access, you can request validation of subjects approved at the university in your country. You should know that the decision to validate the subjects will be reserved for the Spanish university to which you enter.

I have a university degree in my country and I want to validate it to study a master's degree or work in Spain as a foreigner

In this case you can request the recognition of your university degree at the Ministry of Education. You should know that this process takes a long time, as of the date this article is written. We recommend that you attend an interview with the Ministry of Education. They will inform you of the time and options you would have to homologate your university degree.

Hello, #Vivers! There are many methods to study, but not all are equally effective. If you are one of those who start studying when there are days or hours left for the exams, we have something to tell you: you are not alone. Many students have made this mistake, and for this reason, we want to explain the reasons not to do it again. The Selectivity exams are of a moderate level that will require a great effort. We must think about whether it is worth throwing away a year of study (or more) if we do not have determination and perseverance.

Methods to study. Why is it not good to study only at the end of the course?

For many reasons:

1. Lack of time to complete the entire syllabus. There is a risk of not being able to study 100% of what is on the exam, so luck may not be on our side and they will ask us about what we have not studied.
2. We work on short-term memory and very little on compression. Knowing the mechanisms of what an agenda is about and putting it into practice takes time. When we study or read something it requires assimilation and practice. When we practice with exercises we are placing them in our long-term memory and, most importantly, we can scale the level of difficulty and we will be prepared for the next topic. If we reduce the study time we will be in the hands of remembering that answer by trying our luck again and for inspiration to come to us and we remember it.

When to start studying?

Many students ask us about the weekly teaching load they should have. The first thing we tell them is that it depends on what the starting level is, how much time is left for the exams and how difficult the syllabus to study is. Starting from the normal case that the content is unknown or you have a basic idea and it is preparation for the selectivity or access to a higher degree, we recommend an average of 50 hours of study per subject. This number of hours depends on what was mentioned above about the type of subject, but it can give us an idea of ​​the distribution we should make.

Methods to study. Weekly schedule

The best thing is that, from the first moment, we have a planning of the study. In this way we will organize time to use it more efficiently. In this way we can have time for leisure, work, travel, etc.

Let's see the calculations if we want to prepare from September for the May/June exams:

8 months is 32 weeks. Assuming the number of hours we have described, 50 hours, gives us 1,3 hours per week.

This small amount of teaching load can assure us an excellent result if we comply with it from the first day.

If we wanted to start studying with only 2 months left, this weekly amount increases to 5 hours a week. It may seem affordable, but we must add that, as we have mentioned before, the compression can be altered, making it difficult for us to assimilate a higher level topic.

We must also not forget that we must have enough time to, at least, review what has been studied. One of the best ways there is is to plan everything to do 3 laps of the agenda. The first quick one to see which points we need to focus more attention on and have a map of what we should study. Another intense lap, memorizing and understanding the contents. A quick third to clarify concepts and refine those contents that cost us the most.

Conclusion

Studying with a plan will save us time, effort and trouble. They are all advantages. If you have never done it, we invite you to do it. Furthermore, if we want to study at university, we must know and understand the theory. Creating the base from the preparation for the Selectivity will ensure a good university start. 

We hope that this article is useful to you and that you get used to studying the different subjects from day one. You will surely notice it in the results. If you want to be up to date with the latest news about our school and the activities we carry out, visit our Facebook page.

Hello, #Vivers! Sometimes, the success of our academic life does not depend so much on the hours we dedicate to studying, but rather on the use of them. Any good study advice you are given will be based on this maxim.

We tend to be used to organizing ourselves in a certain way and are quite reticent about any proposal for change. José Pascual, pioneer in the use of Study Techniques and Personal Development and Human Relations tools, states that “one of the most common errors is to think that we already know how to study.” If until now we have not obtained the desired results, why not change?

Let's start by making a schedule with the aim of arriving at the exams with all the material assimilated. Try to always start your study session at the same time and stick to it every day of the week (yes, Saturdays and Sundays included). Start with the subjects of medium difficulty, continue with the difficult ones and end with the easy ones; Dedicate the time you deem necessary to each one (you'll see if it's enough or not). Every time you finish studying a subject, give yourself a few minutes of rest.

Don't forget to include leisure in your schedule. Think that making better use of your study hours means having more time to do those activities that you most want.

Tips for studying: the importance of reading quickly

Are you already seated and with all the necessary material on the table? Well let's start. Your goal is to read quickly and understand what you read. Pronouncing the words will hinder this task. Guide yourself with your finger or a pencil, too. There is a formula that will allow you to know if your speed is adequate or not:

Number of words in the text x 60 / Seconds spent reading

It is estimated that around 50% of what is read is forgotten as soon as it is finished. This should not worry us because, if we manage to repeat what we have studied with our words, the retention is much greater. Memorizing “like a parrot” is meaningless, it is proven that we remember more easily what we have assimilated or understood. The most important advice for studying that we can give you in this sense is that you do not try to retain everything in your memory (because, in addition to being impossible, it is useless): summarize and extract the essentials. To move away from traditional rote learning, there are methods of synthesizing and assimilating content that will be truly useful, such as underlining, diagrams, summaries or concept maps. Also use them for your revisions, they will be of great help in the days before the exams.

It is essential that you observe everything that does not work and change it. Keep in mind that you probably won't find your “ideal plan” the first time, but you will have to refine your method until you find the study mode that best suits your conditions. You should also know that the work plan is personal: what is very useful to one person may not be of any use to another. Everyone has to find their formula.

Improving our academic results is within everyone's reach, we just have to set our minds to it, establish a plan and be consistent with its execution.

We hope that this article has been useful to you and that these tips help you improve the way you study and, with it, your results. If you want to be up to date with the latest news about our school and the activities we carry out, visit our Facebook page