Excel in School. Excel in Life.
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So it’s test day, and you’re beginning to freak out, even about things that didn’t even occur to you yesterday. Before you’re in a full-blown panic, take a deep breath, and follow these three steps before you sit down to take the test:
Have you ever found yourself reading and rereading the same paragraph a dozen times, but still not absorbing anything? It happens to the best of us so don’t feel bad. Sometimes it means you should take a break or go somewhere quieter or you’re thinking about too many things while you’re trying to read. But for those times when you’re on the clock and really need to get this read, don’t let your brain trick you into reading the same thing a hundred times over, because if you do it right, you’ll only need to read a section once.
This article, “Continue Your Education the Easy Way by Finding a Discussion Buddy” was posted on www.lifehacker.com. It’s a great website, geared toward technology buffs (that’s us!) and definitely worth exploring.
Have you ever explained a concept to a friend? If so, you probably learned that teaching someone else can be the best way to reinforce your own grasp of the material. In fact, discussion-based models are used all the time to help students learn. Have a look at an earlier blog post, “Take Charge of What you Learn…” Continue reading
This is a scenario we’re all familiar with: you’re getting ready to study, but you decide to clean up your room first, so you don’t get distracted; or run an errand, so you can really get studying without potential distractions; or any number of things that’ll get in the way of your actually finishing that assignment or prepping for that test. This is procrastination—the bane of every student’s existence, the scholar’s constant temptation, and the wrench in the gears of academic progress!
Here’s the thing: procrastination does you no good. Even while you’re doing it, it’s not like you’re enjoying yourself, because the whole time you’re anxious about the work you should be doing but aren’t. So let’s deal with this thing.
There’s a very important difference between notes that make sense and notes that are all over the place and clearly only taken to look busy in class. If you’re careful about your note-taking, they’ll be lucid and helpful references to everything that was said in class.
It’s easy to just tell someone to focus, just focus, and you’ll get straight A’s. But what does that even mean? It’s a big word for only five letters, and we’re going to explain it.
Were you on the verge of total and debilitating panic before the last test you took? Would you have given anything to calm your nerves? Those ten minutes of freaking out before a test take a toll on you, whether you realize it or not. It takes longer than you might think for anxiety to ebb away entirely, and any residual anxiety can adversely affect your work.
Here are some tips to help you work through some of those eleventh hour jitters—they just might be the difference between an average or a great score.
It’s that time of year when you feel like you need all the brains you can get and are feeling the pinch. We’ve got some ideas that’ll help you get into prep mode and whip your brain into shape. You can overclock your brain with some small adjustments to your routine and diet. Here’s a quick little primer on how to get your brain working double time.
For those of you who want to go to college, the competition has never been more fierce. For that, we heartily apologize—there are some scary statistics out there. This article, “Why Has College Admissions Become So Competitive” illuminates what’s going on. In 2008, Harvard’s admission rate for the Class of 2012 was just 7.1% and for UCLA, the admission rate was less than 23%. These are not inspiring statistics for the millions of students who are applying for University admissions each year. If you are feeling a little daunted by the whole process, we don’t blame you.
Nobody wants to be called a teacher’s pet, but the bottom line is that when you are in school, the teacher is the boss. If you want to get paid in the real world, you have to do what your boss says. If you want to get an A in school, you have to do what your teacher says. It’s just the way it goes.
Here are some things you should always do in order to get an A in any class. Continue reading
