Getting to Sleep Faster

Getting rest is an important part of being productive the next day but sometimes when you're up late and know you have to get to sleep soon for an early morning exam you realize that trying to get to sleep early is easily said than done. Here are some tips to getting to sleep quickly.

Tips For Getting to Sleep Faster & Sleep Better [via To-Done]

Surviving a Pop Quiz

The dreaded words of any classroom, Pop Quiz! Everyone's been caught off guard before but how can you get through one without failing? StudentHacks has a great guide on surviving a pop quiz even if you have no idea what's going on.

How to Survive a Pop Quiz (When you Don't Have a Clue) [via StudentHacks]

Getting Good Sleep

Getting good rest is a vital part of being energized and focused every day to tackle studying, club activities, and any other errand you have to run. I ran into a great list of ways to get better sleep and I'm glad it pointed out the Power Nap method. The Power Nap is a great way to get a boost of energy without wasting too much time sleeping or money on energy drinks. I use this method whenever I feel sluggish but still have a lot of work ahead of me.

Top 10 Ways to Sleep Smarter and Better [via LifeHacker]

Staying Focused in Class

Let's face it, lectures are boring but paying attention is important towards doing well in any class. I have been guilty of nodding off, spacing out, and even skipping classes and I did horrible. When I finally realized that I needed to deal with my academic probation I knew that staying focused in class was vital part of being being successful in classes.

Taking Notes

If you find yourself just nodding away when the professor is lecturing, I would recommend taking notes regardless if the notes are posted online. Writing notes forces you to pay attention to your professor and keeps you awake in class. Additionally, you may pick up on material that aren't on the posted lecture notes and could find itself into a midterm or final.

The Front is for Achievers

People say that the front of the class are for nerds but I say the front are for those that want to excel and pay attention in class. If you really want to catch some sleep in a class you'll find a group of companions in the back, trust me I've been there. Sitting in the front of the class puts the pressure on to stay awake. You don't want the professor spotting you sleeping so it'll be harder for you to not pay attention. This is an even more effective method with small class sizes.

Leave the Laptop at Home

With so many distractions on the internet how can you possibly stay attention in class. Just by browsing the endless lecture halls on campus you'll notice that most people that have their laptops with them during lecture are either surfing the web, IMing their friends, or playing solitaire. The pen and paper is your friend when it comes to note taking so leave the heavy laptop at home and save your back some trouble.

How do you focus in class?

Time Management

Let's face it, studying with all the distractions that are on going at college can quickly become a waste of time. This is where time management can help you organize your day better and forecast your schedule better for the rest of the month.

Time to Succeed

Typically, to be successful in a class, you will need to study 3 hours for every unit of a course ever week. At an average of 18 units of classes, that is 54 hours of studying every week. With 168 hours between Monday and Sunday, studying will end up taking 30% of your time during the week. This is of course an extreme case but this should make you realize how much time you need to commit too studying on a weekly basis to be successful.

Planning Your Day

With so many hours in a day, it is important to take the time and figure out your schedule every week. If you studied everyday, its about 8 hours a day of studying and if you take out time to sleep, eat, and go to classes, you'll end up with anywhere between 5 and 10 hours depending on how much you sleep of course. This still leaves plenty of time to do extra curricular activities and goof off. Using programs such as Google Calendar, you can map out your day and view it in a week or even month format. Here is a sample:

You Can't Do it All

In the best case scenario you can do it all in college but realistically, you'll have to remember to say no. The best way to know when to say no is by prioritizing your day. Got a midterm quickly approaching but have some club activities coming up? It is probably realistic to skip out on club activities if you need additional time to study.

How do you manage your time to study?

How NOT to Study for an Exam

There are probably a lot of different good ways you can study for an exam but I figure it would be much easier to list all the ways NOT to study. I have tried every one of these methods and can be the first to say that these methods don't work out so great.

Cram All Night!

Studies have shown that the human brain can retain more information if saturated over a long extended period of time. Needless to say, craming won't get you an A on your next midterm. I have tried cramming before a miderm and I barely able got a C-, though I'm sure some of you are thinking, that's still better than failing. True a C- is better than failing, but a C- minus is not going to help you get a job. My rule of thumb is always to start preparing at least one week in advance to give yourself time to cover more material with more detail. Pulling an all nighter to get a C is not the most rewarding experience you can have.

Study Only the Practice Exams

A professor's favorite tactic to ensure a good grade distribution is the old "bait and switch". Give the students a couple practice exams and then pull a fast one on the real exam with material covered only in lecture. Granted, all professors aren't so evil but this kind of of switch are not that uncommon. Practice exams are a good way of gauging how well you understand the material but you should never assume that this is the only material the professor is going to cover. If you can, ask older classmates for their practice exams so that you can have a better spread of questions and materials to prepare from.

They're Only Homework Questions

Why bother looking at old homework questions? Three to five weeks of homework questions is an ample supply of material to study from. Professors pick out the homework questions for a reason as they feel that they represent the material of that week. Review old homework assignments and look for similar ones to flex your brain before an exam. You never know, but professors have been known to use homework questions as exam questions before.

You Get a Cheat Sheet, Why Study?

Cheat sheets are great for classes that require a lot of reference material. But what's the point of using them if you don't know how to use any of the material you put on the cheat sheet? Cheat sheets can become a false sense of security for many students when the true intentions of the cheat sheet is to study your material ahead of time and understand everything you put down on the cheat sheet. Making a cheat sheet is actually a great study method as long as you can use everything on it.

If you have any do NOT study techniques to add to this list, please leave a comment below.

School Started - Now What?

As students return back to the college lecture halls and freshmen begin a life long journey getting acquainted in their new dorm rooms, a common question always comes up, “Now what?” For the upper classmen, they’re halfway through their college career and the idea of getting a job is finally sinking in. For the lower classmen, they’re wondering how they get started and where college might take them. Below is a great way getting started for every level.

Freshmen

In retrospect, freshmen year is really the time for student to explore their options and have some fun. Now just don’t let it get out of hand or you’ll end up where I was trying to play catch up for the rest of the year. Transitioning from high school to college can be quite difficult since for many of you it’s your first time on your own and like I had mentioned in a previous article, high school study skills are sub-par. This is also the time to back track and make sure the major you have chosen is the right one for you. Take classes in other fields that interest you as a way to explore other majors. If you want to switch majors this is the best time to do it as you haven’t taken many classes and transitioning from one to another will be quite simple. The most important thing that a freshman can accomplish is to establish steady study skills and get your GPA up. If you’re really ambitious, go visit a career fair and just orient yourself with companies that show up. There’s no pressure to talk to recruiters and it’s a great way to get some free stationary items.

Sophomore

Now that you’re back from your first year of college and finally ready to take the world on, you’re wondering what to do next. My suggestion? Start networking! Join a professional club related to your field on campus and start socializing with other students. It never hurts to get started and you can even get a leg up on the competition. Another great way to begin networking is meeting recruiters. Now many companies don’t tend to hire interns who have only completed their sophomore year, but sometimes they’ll find the need for someone to complete less glamorous jobs. But hey, job experience is job experience and any recruiter can see the effort you’re putting into your own career. Even if you can’t find an internship with a particular company it never hurts to ask more about their company and what kind of steps you should take between now and when you’re looking for an internship to better secure one.

Junior

To me junior year is where your career really begins to take off. Now that you’re going to complete some upper division course work, you’ve finally qualified to play in the big game of internship hunting. This is the year to get serious about your resume and hitting the career fairs hard. As the job market gets flooded with more and more graduating students, the harder the competition for securing a full time job. Job experience is a big indicator of your skill set and your potential, so obtaining one is very important. Just as important as internships are research positions as many companies see research as the future and if a candidate shows interest, it’s a very big positive. Networking opportunities from this point on will become very important so attending more professional events is a must.

Senior

It’s the last year of a long and wonderful journey and regardless if a full time job or a slot in graduate school is at the end, you should all congratulate yourself for getting this far. Hopefully you have some job experience tucked away and you’re ready to take on the world. Access your network that you’ve built up for opportunities you’re interested in and try to have some fun your last year. If you’ve been successful thus far, you’ll know exactly who to ask and where to look for any opportunity. Most importantly though, go on vacation! You’ve earned it and it’ll be a great way to unwind before moving on to the next part of you life.

Dealing With Failure

Preparing for failure is not an expected requirement in college and tends to take many undergraduates by surprise. For many of you, high school was a breeze, where last minute studying for exams was more than enough to do well. Unfortunately, most high schools have failed students in regards to preparing them for college. For the average college student there will come a point, regardless of major, where failure is a reality.

I received my first failing grade on my first midterm of Chemistry and the panic started to set in. Not being accustomed to the reality of failure, I continued with my bad study habits and had to retake the class. I now realize that there were steps I could have taken to have prevented me from going down a troubled path.

Fist and foremost setting an appointment with your professor is an important step to take when doing poorly on a midterm. This gives you the chance to meet face to face with your professor and discuss the results of your exam. Always remember to review the exam answers in advance so that you have a several topics about the material you can concentrate on discussing. If your professor can see your concern and improvement in their class, there is a good chance that they will take that into account when giving a final grade.

One of the most important steps you can take to begin improving in your class is to attend your class’s office hours. Most TAs will take the time to explain the subject material and it will get you motivated to work harder on the material. Even though you may know the material on a certain subject, it is still beneficial to attend office hours as other students may bring up questions that you might not have thought about.

Now I know homework can be a drag and copying from a fellow classmate is the easy way to go. I can’t stress enough the importance of doing your own homework. More than likely you will run into questions where you may not have the slightest clue to answering and group work at that point is warranted. By attempting to do the homework on your own will help you build the foundation in terms of learning the material. If worse comes to worse you will always have the option of attending office hours.

Bouncing back from a failing grade in a class will not be an easy task, but I believe with determination and taking the steps I have mentioned will give you a much better chance of improving.

How High School Failed You

For those of you out there who are about to start your new college career, I have this to say: you don’t know how to study for college classes. Period. High school has never prepared students well enough for the rigors of college courses. Lectures are boring and the material is simple enough to start your studying the night before a test. Unfortunately, that’s not going to cut it in college. Here are five study tips that I feel will get you better prepared for a successful college career.

Studying with distractions isn’t really studying at all and the biggest distraction that all students have is their computer. Though some professors post studying material on the web, most of the time old fashioned reading and taking notes is all that is required. Even if your computer is turned off and it’s still a big temptation then I would suggest going to the library.

Now I know that professors are all different and some are just horrible lecturers. Regardless of this, reviewing your lecture notes every week is a great way to absorb material at a steady pace. Reading the text book along side your lecture notes can help round out the material and give you insight into what the professor may test on.

When it comes to studying for test always give yourself at least a week in advance to prepare for midterms. Seven days should be enough time to review lecture notes, textbook notes, old homework, and sample midterms. Keep in mind that sample midterms are never representative of the midterm you will be taking.

Though I didn’t learn this study tip until much later in my college career, doing your homework is actually the best way to understand any course material. Since homework is typically assigned once a week, it allows you to slowly absorb material. Copying your buddy’s homework is the easy route but when it comes to midterm time, your buddy is going to blow you away with their score.

The appeal of group studying is that two brains are always better than one. I do believe that group studying can help when everyone in the group doesn’t understand a certain problem. Unfortunately most study groups consist of people at varying levels of understanding and those at the lower end always seem to be left behind. Group studying can also be a distraction in itself and can hinder you since breaks become more frequent and socializing is inevitable. Study individually before venturing into a study group, this will give you a chance to catch up to speed and contribute productively.