Category — Study Tips

Producitivy is something I struggle with at times. Calculating your church will determine if you are busy and unproductive or busy and productive.

By calculating your own churn rate, you can determine, precisely, how effective you are and how this effectiveness changes over time and different types of projects. The details of this calculation are as follows:

1. Make a list of active projects that are important to you to complete. These should not be projects that have deadlines. Instead, make them the optional work that would really help you get ahead if completed. Each should require around 1 – 2 weeks of fairly regular attention to complete. If it requires more, break it up into smaller chunks. If it requires less, don’t include it — it’s a task, not a project. Overall, you should have between 4 – 8 projects on this list.

2. Over the next 3 -6 weeks, try to work only on the active projects on your list. You’ll still have to complete deadline-driven work, of course, but don’t get seduced by a new idea and add it to your list until you’ve completed what is already there.

3. After around 3 weeks you can start calculating your churn rate as often as you like. The formula is as follows:

CR = [(number of completed projects from list)/(days elapsed since start of list)] * 100

Source

If you are looking to pick up some free education in order to improve your mind skills. Look no further than the online education databases massive collection of 100 free podcasts from some of the leading universities in the nation.

Downloadable Firefox toolbar 8aweek tracks your wasted hours on the computer and tells you where you spent them. I always have trouble taking a "few minutes" to surf the net while I’m writing, and then a few minutes turn into an hour…you know the drill. Procrastination is not my friend! Once you figure what websites you are wasting your time on, you can block them with the toolbar, and set a timer where you can only spend a set amount of time on that particular site.

Source: MakeUseOf

Another gem from Study Hacks that I totally agree with–before starting your Monday-Friday school week, it’s imperative to take some time on Sunday to organize, schedule, catch up, and prepare your mind for the upcoming week.

A good Sunday ritual consists of the following (from Follow A Sunday Ritual):

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We begin the quarter with the best of intentions. We’re going to be on top of things this time, have regular study sessions, review our notes on a daily basis, not miss class, start writing papers in advance of 24 hours of their due date, and say “buh-bye” to the roller coaster of stress, shame and guilt that goes along with our old foe “Mr. Procrastination”.

Then, before we know it it’s 2am and we have a major paper due in 8 hours and we’re scurrying to the finish line again! Or it’s the weekend before an exam, and it’s like “What? How did this sneak up on me?”

Does this sound like a familiar scenario? Unfortunately for most of us it is . Take heart–even the most organized, productive students sometimes fall prey to the procrastination monkey jumping on our backs. Mere mortals that we are, it seems like we’re constantly in danger of falling into a downward spiral of avoiding things that we know we should be doing.

Sometimes it helps to sidestep the dreaded procrastination monkey if we understand why it’s there in the first place. JohnPlaceOnline lists the top 11 causes and cures of procrastination as being:

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Remember back in the day when we used to have to hand write our class notes? I know, what an archaic thought . The dark ages! (Or just earlier this decade.) Nowadays though we have those paper thin laptops we tote to every class making it oh so much easier and cooler looking to be studious and take notes.

Taking online notes is super easy with NoteSake, a free app that lets you take notes, save them, organize them, search them and print them in a handy dandy .pdf or .doc. One of the coolest features is that you can easily share your notes with a group (as big as ya want!) so that they’re easy sharing of info between classmates.

NoteSake makes staying organized easy even for the most absent-minded of students. This equates to less time searching for notes, allowing you to spend your time doing more important things, such as getting actual work accomplished.

Source: Lifehacker

I know–as if you needed another list of information to digest with all the other tidbits of knowledge floating around your head. But you need to perk up for this–the tips within this post may just save your life (and sanity) as you prepare to walk into the exam room.

These 6 tips come from the College Scholarships blog, with my commentary:

1) Lay off the stimulants! Red Bull, cocaine, ephedrine, and other performance enhancing or stimulant drugs can make you feel frazzled and unhealthy. (Do we really need to specify cocaine as a no-no? Eeek!) You know what we mean. If you normally drink Red Bull or Mountain Dew or your high energy drink of choice, drink what you normally drink, but don’t ingest any substance with the intention of staying awake for an entire week to study. You will not learn the info you need to learn in that state.

For optimal study performance you need to take care for yourself–eat healthy meals at regular intervals, drink lots of water, exercise, and get a full night’s sleep every night.

2) Choose your study setting carefully. Everyone has their own preference for where they concentrate the best. Some of us like to lie on our beds and sprawl out, while others prefer a desk in our dorm rooms, and still others feel the need to go to the library to cram. If you have roommates that might be noisy or keep interrupting your studies, you might want to go to the library (duh, right?). That is my preference. It’s so peaceful and quiet there, and if you find your own study carol it’s really hard to get distracted.

3) Take a chill pill. We have all freaked at one time or another when exam time rolls around. I know I did this for one history class I took–I was just terrified for some reason. I had studied and was worried about what the questions would be or if I was even studying the stuff that was important. Don’t let this happen to you! There is nothing good that comes from worrying about what will be on the test. You just need to believe in yourself, believe that you’re adequately preparing for the exam, and proceed with confidence. Talk to a friend or your mom if you need some reassurance, but try not waste too much energy freaking yourself out.

4) Get a game plan. Make a list of your studying priorities. You only have so much time and your brain is only so big, so you need a plan of attack. Make a list of which classes need your attention the most and study for them first. For each class, write down the main things you need to cover, so you don’t waste time learning stuff that is really not that important.

5) Create a studying schedule and stick to it. Yes, we’re getting kind of obsessive here, but it’s called for and will relieve a bunch of stress. You’ve developed your game plan, now plan out your day to determine when you will study, what you’ll be studying and for how long. Having a structured schedule will help you relax and stay focused on your mission.

6) Don’t study with your Crush. This is not the time to make headway in the romance department, even if that sweetie you’ve been dreaming about from your PSYCH 310 class asks you to help her cram. You gotta pass on this one–it’s hard enough to concentrate without puffs of delicate perfume wafting across your desk. Just tell her you already have studying plans, but would love to take her out to dinner after the exam. Above all, do not invite her into your sacred studying cave–RESIST!

Photo credits:
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Sweet Lips!

I was never much of a consistent studier in school–I seemed to always like to save the studying until the last minute and then do a blitz session right before the big test moment. It worked for me, but everyone has their own tactics. If I had to list my absolute best study tip it would be this:

Take regular breaks. I know, it sounds counterintuitive. You have papers due, exams coming up, presentations to make (eek!), plus class, plus studying. It may feel like the only way to get everything done is to cut back on leisure time, but that’s simply not the case. Your brain needs time to rest, and you’ll actually accomplish more if you work less.

The Strategy: For every 45 minutes of work, take a 15 minute break. Get up, walk around, talk to people, watch TV, eat something, walk outside–whatever, just get away from your desk, your books and the computer.

This is a little of a mind trick–if you sit down at your desk and think “I’m going to study all night long” your mind will rebel, and you will have trouble concentrating. But, if you know in your head that you will be rewarded with a break in 45 minutes, your mind will kick into high gear because it sees the finish line in sight.

In addition to taking regular breaks during study time, it is also essential to take a day off once a week. That’s one 24 hour period of time when your brain can relax and have fun.

After a break or a day off, you will come back to your work with fresh eyes, and you’ll find learning so much easier. It also helps when you go to take your tests–you will show up refreshed and energized, which beats stumbling in unshaven with wrinkly clothes and a frazzled look on your face after pulling an all-nighter .