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studyhack

General Tips for Academic Success: Where’s the “ANY” Key?

June 15, 2009
D,oh, sometimes I'm so concerned with advanced methods, I forget the basics

D,oh, sometimes I'm so concerned with advanced methods, I forget the basics

I’ve unfortunately committed one of the cardinal sins of critical thinking….

I can’t believe I haven’t addressed this earlier but unfortunately I sometimes don’t see the forest for the trees.

I got an email from a student today, she asked me for some ‘general tips for academic success’. I was just about to throw her an email saying “well, uhh… why don’t you just check out the ENTIRE BLOG, WEBSITE and BOOK!

But I then took a look around the blog and realized I haven’t actually given any of you the basic tips for academic success! I suppose I’ve always just thought that anyone who wanted that info should just check out the VTA Method and consult an online tutor. But I want this blog to be a resource for any student, not just ones that have bought my program (although it’s awesome).

So with that in mind I’m going to start a recurring series of the general tips for academic success. Here is what I’m planning on talking about:

General college study tips

Exam study tips

How to study for finals

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The 90% principle: How to regroup after a bad mark

May 19, 2009

The VTA Method has placed a large amount of importance on how to maximize your academic potential.  However, I have been talking to some students about what happens to them after they get a bad mark back.  Quite of few of my students lose faith and start to self defeat themselves when they get a bad mark back on an assignment or test.

What is the 90% Principle?

One thing that I picked up on with successful students was how they regrouped after a less than satisfactory mark.  I’m going to call this the 90% principle.  Very simply the 90% principle is a way to look at your marks from a completely different perspective.  Instead of looking at marks as adding up to 100%, look at the marks you lose in comparison to your overall mark.  Check out the example below.

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What it takes to be Talented: 10,000 hours and a little luck

May 15, 2009

Hello fellow students.  So after taking an incredibly long train ride I finally finished reading some Malcolm Gladwell and was particularly interested on what it takes to become talented.  So I thought I could share my insights with you.

Unfortunately for most of us, the news is a little depressing.

How to become Talented

Gladwell says there are in general two main components to becoming talented.  He states that to become a master at anything you must apply approximately 10,000 hours to it.  That means if you spent six hours a day on the violin each day every day, you’d become a master in a little under 5 years.  This is a depressing concept in itself but you didn’t even hear the worst part!

The Components of Talent

Becoming a master at something also requires a large amount of luck.  Having the right parents, being placed in the right school, reading the right books, hanging with the right crowd etc, all add to whether you will make that magical 10,000th hour and truly become a master at something.  A silver lining to all this is what makes masters different from regular people.  The making of a master is not necessarily natural talent but the ability to stay committed to a goal.

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