Posts tagged as:

college

Passion in College, where do you find it?

March 18, 2010

I was speaking with quite a few students lately who have been experiencing a lack of passion with their degree. I recently spoke to two students in particular that were both facing the same problem in my program. A feeling that they had lost the desire they once had in their subject matter and didn’t know how to get it back. Here are the three main suggestions I gave them so they could regain the passion they once had in college.

Remember why you started this degree

After a few years of readings, papers, exams and labs many students forget why they actually started their degree. I asked one of my students this exact question and he couldn’t answer it. If you’re lacking motivation in your degree I suggest you go back to your last year of high school and find out why you chose your subject in the first place, did you really want to become a doctor and decided to enter premed? Did you have a passion for ancient history and decided to become a historian? Were you constantly intrigued with human interaction and wanted to become a sociologist?

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The Basics Of Editing In College, 5 Step Guide On How To Edit A College Paper

March 11, 2010

I just finished editing my buddy Stefan Knapen’s free ebook he’s giving away. For a guy who learned English from watching ‘Friends’ episodes I’m thoroughly impressed that he runs a completely English blog on study hacks. As I was editing I thought I’d quickly share with you the fundamentals of editing college papers or any paper for that matter.

1: Before you start:

Before you even start, make sure you know what you’re writing about or editing. I can edit a social science paper in less than 5 minutes (correcting thousands of undergrads papers will give you superhuman editing skills!).  Editing a paper on mathematics or chemistry on the other hand is a much slower process. I’m not saying that you couldn’t edit a paper on a subject you’re not familiar with but it is much easier/faster if you do know the content. This brings me to my second point; make sure you have enough time to do the job. Many students don’t give themselves enough time at the end of the day to properly edit before they have to submit their paper. Editing is the most overlooked step in paper writing but crucial to secure a top grade.

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Why Killing College Procrastination Is A Team Sport: Overcoming Procrastination

December 31, 2009
Students of Nan Hua High School gathering in t...
Image via Wikipedia

I’ve spoken at length about procrastination in previous posts however I had a recent conversation with a student who got me thinking about a new aspect of procrastination and how to conquer it. My student started out with a B- average and went to an A- average in a single semester based on what I’m going to share with you today.

But first a little history…

Historically I had always attacked procrastination the way most people do. I’d keep telling myself to ‘get shit done’ and when I didn’t get said shit done I would wonder why I wasn’t capable of getting said shit done. This followed me for years and years. I’ve also spoken to hundreds of students about this particular issue. I’ve also found a solution that works for me and most of my students but it’s more complex than you think. You see ‘and this will be difficult for quite a few of you’ I’m going to share with you a cold hard truth that very few students realize but nonetheless is central to your overall productivity and long term success.

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Spark: How to improve your IQ by 20% in 20 minutes

July 23, 2009

sparkbookcoverSo in doing my monthly education readings as a tutor, I’ve recently had the pleasure of  reading Dr John Ratey’ ‘Spark‘.  I believe that every student and educator should read this book.  Ratey lays out the connection between physical activity and mental acuity and gives educators and students action steps to take to become better students through physical activity.

What Dr John Ratey Suggests

His findings suggest there is a correlation between physical activity and becoming smarter.  He suggests 20 minutes of aerobic activity at 65-75% of your maximum output will result in improved recall and comprehension.

In the VTA Method, one of the central cornerstones of academic success is the use of exercise to improve recall and comprehension.  Anyone who is interested in a quick way to boost your recall almost instantly should give his book a look.  Here are some links to help you out.

If you’d like to check out his book go here: Spark Book

If you’d like to get a sneak peak of his book here: Sneak Peek

If you want to help pay my bills go here: VTA Method

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Parkinson’s Law: Why extra study time is your worst enemy

June 2, 2009

parkinsonslawHello students.  I have a post today about something that really pushed me into productivity through the end of my undergraduate degree and graduate school.  Let me premise this post with a small case study.

Two people are given an assignment to complete.  The first is given 2 days to complete the assignment and the second is given 2 weeks.

Student 1 freaks out over only having two days to complete the assignment and starts researching immediately.  He gets the assignment in but literally with only a few hours to spare.  He spends the whole two days working on the assignment.

Student 2 doesn’t freak out as he has two weeks.  He thinks about doing some work on the project right away but puts it off until 3-4 days before the due date.  He then proceeds to hold off the assignment till the last minute and ends up spending less time working on the paper cumulatively than student 1.

What can we learn from this?

Very simply, ‘work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion,’ the quality of an assignment doesn’t really differ if you have two days or two weeks to accomplish it.  This is the core premise of Parkinson’s Law.

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