I've established five categories:
"what to do before your class", "what to do during your class time", "what to do after your class time", "How to be Neuro-healthy", and "Life changing strategies".
WHAT TO DO BEFORE YOUR CLASS
1) Read the material you're going to cover before the class even begins-
This takes a lot of time and energy, but the time that you spend covering it now will be time you don't have to spend doing it during the school year. Read the textbook and take some basic notes. Even if you learn something and find out that you didn't need to learn it, it's good that you do. In life, everything you learn is useful and you'll use it one day. For example, I use to read books on animals, books on coal, and books on ecosystems in elementary school; I passed my AP environmental exam with a teacher that didn't teach us anything because of this, and the information I learned also helped me in my zoology class in college.
Some material can be looked up on YouTube before hand, especially if it's difficult to get (such as genetics). Finding the right video may be a trial and error experience, but is worth it. It is essentially like reading the book- you are prepared to accept new information in class without information-overload. Science classes are the easiest to find YouTube videos on; this is most likely due to their difficulty and visual-learning characteristics.
2)Secret class
"Secret class" is going to a class that you aren't enrolled in. I use to do this for fun my freshman first semester in college. I'd always learn something or have a good time though. I went to an anatomy class one day, and that material was covered in my zoo lab the next! Secret class can be for fun, but it can also be used for studying.
Big classes are easy to sneak into. If you have a class that you want to get a jump-start in, then sneak into one of these classes during the school year, or go to your local university/college and sneak in there during summer sessions. If you have a really difficult class that you dread, then I highly recommend secret class-ing it. By doing this, you won't have to take a class and then make the grade you didn't want and say "I wish I could take this class again; it'd be so much easier the second time around."
This method is really easy for bigger classes, but what about smaller one's? For smaller classes, I'd suggest going to the professor that is teaching the class and introducing yourself. Then tell them that you're taking this class next semester and "want to get a feel for what the class is like". If the professor says "yeah, sure thing", then they are a normal professor that admires scholarly actions. If the professor says "no, blah blah blah", then kindly take your butt to another professor that is teaching it and ask them. The biggest pro to this technique is that you don't have to be enrolled in the college to do this. With this technique you could theoretically be Ivy league educated without spending a single dollar!
3) Read the material the day before the class-
You can get away with skipping the previous strategy, but you must do this. Read the material the day before the class session. Do you ever wonder why you remember everything about a person but their name? If you met a chef you'd instantly associate the chef with bread, a chef's out fit, etc. . On the other hand, you don't have anything to associate their name with but their face. The same goes for reading the day before class. If you read the day before you also can associate the material covered in class with the material you've already read. The more connections you can make with something, the more you'll remember it.
Again, You can also watch YouTube videos to either supplement your reading, or you can watch YouTube videos to possibly replace reading all-together.
4) Prepare questions from the material you covered before hand for the next class session-
Just write down questions to get clarified in class. If need be, ask the teacher so that he/she can answer them. Don't ask irrelevant questions to the teacher, and by that I mean questions that are for sheer curiosity. These questions are admirable and scholarly... learn them in your own time.
5) Get equipped-
By equipped I mean buy a recorder (covered later), plenty of note books, binders, anything and everything. I never thought I would need color pencils, but now I'm glad I brought them because they help me in my note taking- I now know why my anatomy classes in high school were so easy; we colored a lot.
WHAT TO DO DURING THE CLASS
1) Write notes as if you were explaining it to a reasonably intelligent individual-
Don't write notes that leave out points made. I use to write the bare minimum of notes and would over condense them. I'd come back to them and not understand what I meant by what I wrote down, because I super condensed the logic. Also don't write down every word the teacher says. Explain it in your own words, but do so in few words. Write your notes so another person could read them and understand them.
2) Record the teacher using Video/Audio devices-
I can't tell you how many times I wish I'd done this. If your skeptical about buying a $300 set then get a used one. My text book for one class cost that much, but I can use my recorder for every class. Not enough room on your computer to store all the videos? Store the videos on an external hard drive, or put them on YouTube- YouTube is a great place to store your videos. The state of Virginia allows recording in classrooms as long as another person knows that you are recording the lesson. You may also record with a laptop's camera and microphone. I'd suggest having a purchased piece audio equipment that will record the audio, since the quality of the audio is more important than the quality of the video. Also, sitting in the front would prevent distractions in your recordings, especially the audio recordings.
3) Create your own note taking language and format-
In my style of note taking, I put the chapter in the top right corner, I bullet the main points, and I go even further to sub-bullet . Don't be afraid to use paper; the $5 of paper you use will be worth more that the $200 text book. Use paper like it's going out of style. You can use acronyms or draw pictures in your note taking. You can take notes in whatever fashion you want; notes aren't just words- they're ideas!
You may also write down acronyms if the helps you while taking these notes. You may also take notes on your computer. The computer uses electricity to operate, and that means that trees are killed anyways. Sorry trees, but we gotta get educated.
WHAT TO DO AFTER THE CLASS
1) Research extra material-
Be a real scholar by learning more than expected. You may think this is extra work, but it's actually an easy way to remember material. An hour of doing this is like studying the material the traditional way for three hours. IF YOU'RE LAZY THEN DO THIS!
2) How to research extra material-
Those curious questions of yours that are "unrelated" to the test SHOULD BE SEARCHED UP, but search them up in your own time. Take control of your learning! You don't go to college to get a degree, you go to learn. If you want to be ahead of the curve, then research your questions and learn more than expected. Research by using sources such as YOUTUBE VIDEOS ON THE CONTENT FROM CLASS OR FOR SHEER CURIOSITY, KHAN ACADEMY, WIKIPEDIA, GOOGLE, ETC.
A site I found called education portal is like khan academy on steroids. YOU MUST TRY IT!!!
3) Get a serious scholarly study group-
Don't hang around people who seem to be doing "just fine" in the class but never study. These people cram information and don't actually learn it. Your freshman year will be full of these people. I'd say about half of the people in your major will change their major by the end of your freshman year. Most of the people who change are the individuals that procrastinate and cram. They will change their majors because they couldn't handle the heat, or they might just be too immature by not taking college seriously. FIND SCHOLARLY PEOPLE WHO AREN'T HERMITS!!! GET A SMALL GROUP OF RELIABLE PEOPLE (2-5 People).
4) HOW TO WORK TOGETHER
Live with someone in your major (same dorm or house!). Plan your class schedule together! STUDY together!
Know their schedule for your first semester before you start planning any study sessions. This will enable you to find a study time that works for everybody. If there is a person in your group that doesn't do anything in the group and is always distracting, then talk to them about it and tell them that you will kick them out of the group if they don't straighten up. It sounds harsh, but the distractors don't want to learn anyways (that's why they distract people).
IF YOU HAVE TIME AFTER CLASS, THEN STUDY/REVIEW the material right after that class. If my class ends at 10:00 then my group will immediately get together after the class to review the material while it's still fresh. This makes it so you don't have to hunt down each answer due to you forgetting it all when the information is old . I'd suggest doing this for no longer than an hour (an hour would be for a difficult class).
Having accountability for each other in your study group is great to do. Be accountable for others coming to study groups and keeping on topic, and have other people to account you too. You will thank your friends for looking out for you and they will thank you too. It's best to address that you'll be doing accountability, so your group will get the idea and hopefully accept it.
5) LEARN THE LATIN ROOTS
You may think that "oh I'm learning a Latin word to learn another word, why don't I just learn one word" LOL...NO! Learn the Latin; the English language is composed of Latin, if you learn one prefix/suffix then you can use it to learn many other words in the future. I can't tell you how many times prefixes/suffixes helped in my zoology class. I saw the suffix "stome" (meaning mouth) countless times. Every-time other people saw it, they would see it as if it were Chinese. They rote memorize... how dumb. Learning Latin will also help you associate words in a logical way, REMEMBER ASSOCIATION = MEMORIZATION like I've already stated.
HERE IS A LINK FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT HOW MEMORY WORKS
6) MAKE UP YOUR OWN QUESTIONS
Make questions that the teacher might ask. The guy who made high A's on my zoo test used this incredible technique. Try to read the teacher's mind while making up these questions. You may say "oh now you can read minds!?!" LOL ...get off your lollercoaster. You'd be surprised how good you can get at mind reading if you practice it. I can read people like books, because I create games and experiments to find out what they are thinking. Yes, I know, I can't actually read minds, I can only try, but trying is much more accurate than not trying.
Have a special note book for whenever you see a potential test-question in the class. FOR EXAMPLE I have a teacher that gives us hint-hint-this-will-be-on-the-test. I write these down as soon as I hear them, because they seem easy right now, but test-day I will miss them (question that I should've got right, instead of saying "yeah yeah, I got it")
Another clever trick is interrogating. This INTERROGATING ONLY WORKS FOR A FEW QUESTIONS EVERY TEST. The trick is to go up to the teacher and ask them if something is going to be on the test (YOU COULD EVEN ASK IF A QUESTION YOU MADE UP IS SOMETHING THAT WILL BE ON THE TEST). They might say NO, and relieve you of that responsibility. If they say Yes, then you know to study that. If they say "I can't tell you...", then it's probably going to be on the test (otherwise they would've said NO). IF you so happened to do this too often, then the professor will NEUTRALIZE any future attempts and dislike you.
Yet another clever trick is looking at test banks. Find out if the class you are taking (or will be taking if you are getting a scholarly head-start) has a test bank. Find the test bank for you class and you'll get a really fine idea of what will probably be on you exam.
7) DO PRACTICE QUESTIONS
Do practice questions. It's even better if another person also makes questions! You both can make up questions and then give the quizzes to each other. I do something like this for calculus. I search up a website with questions on whatever we're learning and I do practice questions from websites. If you decide to do this, then find a source that shows step-by-step how they solved/answered the problem.
8) FIND PEOPLE WHO HAVE TAKEN THE CLASS
Find people who have taken the class, especially if they had your professor. They can give you helpful information. Ask them for old notes, for tips about the professor, and what they wished they had done differently in the class. IF YOU WANT TO BE WISE without all the trouble, then ASK VARIOUS PEOPLE WHO HAVE GONE THROUGH THE TROUBLE ALREADY. OBTAIN THEIR WISDOM FROM THEM. ASK MORE THAN ONE PERSON WHO HAS TAKEN THE CLASS, THE MORE PEOPLE YOU ASK= THE MORE KNOWLEDGE YOU'LL RECEIVE. THESE PEOPLE WILL BE GLAD TO HELP YOU WITH THESE QUESTIONS.
9) MAKE NOTES AFTER CLASS
You can do this while in your study group and/or alone. Take some notes on the material. I take notes by drawing pictures with colored pencils sometimes. This is the time to search up those prefixes/suffixes and learn the new vocabulary too.
10) MAKE LEARNING AWESOME
Again, take control of your learning. You went on field trips in grade school to learn. College teachers don't have time for this because of everybody's schedules being different. AIN'T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT! Well, you have time for it. Go on a field trip with your small group. This will associate the information even more while having plenty of fun! You're in college and nobody's going to hold your hand, if need be look back to what your teachers did in grade school for some inspiration.
11) CHOOSE WISELY
Choose your professor wisely. Most people don't want a hard professor for a class that isn't oriented directly toward their major. The best resources for this would be people who have already taken the class with a professor and "ratemyprofessor.com". I'd suggest going to ratemyprofessor.com over anything. Use ratemyprofessor.com, it's pretty amazing. I'll put the link for it "ratemyprofessor.com" .
HOW TO BE NEURO-HEALTHY
1) LIVE AS NATURAL AS POSSIBLE
There are too many toxins in our world today. These toxins slow down your body and cloud up your brain. If you can, I'd suggest getting rid of as much un-natural things as you can. I use natural soap and shampoo. I try to eat food that is natural and not processed. I've learned to wash my fruits and vegetable, this will wash the pesticides/neurotoxins off of your food. All theses toxins make us tired. Have you ever eaten a big meal and felt sluggish afterwards? This is because your stressing out your liver and other organs. These toxins do the same, they slow down your body and make you tired. AND NO LAZY PERSON WANTS TO WORK EXTRA HARD AT REMEMBERING INFORMATION BECAUSE THEIR BODY IS TIRED. AIN'T NOBODY. AIN'T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT!!! Try wearing natural fabrics, eating natural food, do everything you can do natural! While changing your soap may only make a small difference, changing 10 things will make a significant difference and I feel that significant difference everyday. I enjoy studying this stuff all day, and that's why I want to become an osteopath. Trust me I know what I'm talking about.
2) AINT NOBODY GOT TIME TO BE SICK IN COLLEGE
Do the netti pot with distilled water. It's cheaper than not getting sick in the first place and the $5 you'll spend a semester doing it will save you on NyQuil, time, physical pain, missing classes that you pay hundreds of dollars for each day, and the wear on your body. I know plenty of doctors that swear by it and make their families do it. They get sick once every 20 years or so because of this. Also, it way be a little uncomfortable at first. It will not be uncomfortable if you use it correctly. Just use body tempature distilled water with the packets of salt they give you. Do it for a week and it will actually become somewhat enjoyable to do. It will also help reduce dark spots from your eyes and help reduce allergies problems.
3) VITAMINS AND SUPPLEMENTS
Take a multivitamin. Bring water around with you all the time in a BPA free water bottle. STAY HYDRATED. NOBODY HAS TIME TO DO EXTRA STUDYING BECAUSE THEY WERE STUDYING DEHYDRATED!!!
If you don't want to do the netti pot, it's understandable. However, a good idea is to get plenty of Vitamin C, and when you DO get sick, then take the following: ginger, golden root seal, Echinacea, and coconut. Also, eating fermented foods (kimchi, kefir, cultured yogurt...) also boost your immune system.
Here's an awesome way to hydrate yourself with a unique beverage
4) EAT HEALTHY
Eating healthy and preparing healthy meals can be done using little time, even in college. I bought a nice rice cooker for under $40. ITS REALLY NICE. It takes all the work out of cooking for me and I can use it for life. It cooks rice and can steam cook my meats and vegetables. I LOVE THIS THING.
Eat many meals and by that I mean "eat many smaller meals". You will beat tiredness by doing this, and it's very healthy for your body. This will put less stress on your body, which in return will cause you not to get tired. It reduces stress because your body doesn't have to process massive amounts of food when you eat small meals. Make up a dozen recipes that taste good, are in your budget, and you can do in your time requirements. I spend less than 30 min a day on cooking and I eat stuff like marinated salmon on butter with rice and frozen blueberries with a glass of fruit juice.
5) NATURAL STIMULANTS
I've taken Adderall. It's so good for studying but it's VERY UNHEALTHY FOR YOUR BRAIN. DON'T TAKE ADDERALL. Instead try something like a caffeinated beverage. I don't prefer caffeine, and I don't drink soda, but it's your choice. I drink cold coconut water, vitamin water, and Sobe life water. I also make my own vitamin water (don't put more than half your RDA of FAT SOLUBLE VITAMINS IN IT! FAT SOLUBLE VITAMINS CAN ACCUMULATE AND BECOME TOXIC OVER TIME!). You can put just about as much vitamin B and vitamin C in there as you want because it's water soluble and you'll pee it out easily. HERE'S A LINK FOR MAKING YOUR OWN HOMEMADE VITAMIN WATER: HomeMadeVitaminWater
6) GET APPROPRIATE SLEEP
Don't think you're beyond getting sleep just because you're young and in college. After cheating your sleep for a while, your cognitive ability to learn and remember will go down without you even noticing it. When you hit a point where you're questioning yourself "why can't I learn anymore or remember anything"...LOL I'll tell you why, it's because you aren't sleeping. I'd suggest going to bed on your back and on a firm mattress that doesn't sink. Flip your mattress if it starts sinking or if your bed starts feeling uncomfortable. You might also find a mattress pad helping you out, but I'll warn you on making your bed too soft- soft beds feel great for the first week but after that you'll start feeling uncomfortable and you'll start finding it very difficult getting to sleep.
I use an app called "sleep cycle" to help wake me up. It takes a couple weeks to calibrate but after you use it for a couple weeks it's algorithms will start to form. This app will make your transition of waking up effortless. I'd suggest also using an obnoxious alarm that wakes you up at the latest possible time just in case one fails, because you really should go to class. Also, turn off the WiFi on your iPod so there is no WiFi running on your head while you sleep. I'd also suggest putting your cell phone 3 feet away from your body. I don't know if the rumors are true about "cellular and WiFi radiation" but I do know that it keeps me from checking the time and texting while I'm trying to go to sleep. I also try to let the sun in the room to wake me up in the morning. sucks to be you if you have street lights though... if you do, then you know what I'm talking about.
7) Exercise
Exercise with friends. Friends will also motivate you to exercise and make it fun. I play volleyball and walk a lot. It's healthy for your brain to exercise. It's healthy for every part of your body. Exercise is shown to improve everything. Don't underestimate the greatness of exercise.
8) SUPER BRAIN FOODS
Balance your consumption on calories
About 55%-65% of calories from carbs (carbs are simple sugars and complex sugars... balance these too)
Around 25%-35% of calories from proteins
Around 10% of calories from fat.
NOW ON TO THE LIST OF SUPER BRAIN FOODS
- BLUEBERRIES and GRAPES
- Omega 3 containing things
+(FISH low in PCB and low in mercury)
+ NUTS also contain Omegas! Walnuts are great (AVOID BLACK WALNUTS THEY ARE DISGUSTING AND SOMEWHAT TOXIC)
- Vegetables such as SPINACH, BEETS, BROCCOLI, AVOCADO
- STRAWBERRIES
- DARK CHOCOLATE (put strawberries in dark chocolate!)
- Green tea and black tea (I'd use it in moderation)
- Curry
9)supercentenarian's secret
I've researched a few supercenenarians, and have talked to a couple people in the 100+ years old group about how to feel and stay healthy. This is what they'll all swear by- eat vegetables and don't stress (love instead). I mean it this is key stuff right here no joke, these people have been living for over 100 years! One of them is I think 112 years old! People don't get enough real vegetables and real vegetables are the things that will make you feel fresh and young. Eat vegetables ho-knee, they good-for-you!!
LIFE CHANGING STRATEGIES
1) FEELING FAT AND LAZY
Don't study after a big meal. A big meal puts stress on your body, which will make you tired and lazy. It IS APPROPRIATE to bring a small snack and a healthy beverage to a study session and to eat a small to medium sized meal before; this will prevent this lazy feeling. Also, balancing you complex-carbohydrate intake, simple-carbohydrate intake,fat intake, and protein intake with every meal will not only be more fulfilling, but prevent that lazy feeling.
2) DIVE REFLEX
If you want instant clarity then use either the "diving reflex" or the "longevity maneuver". Or if you're lazy then get either really cold water or ice water and stick a washcloth in it. Put the washcloth on your face and do some deep breathing for about 30 seconds.
LINK TO DIVING REFLEX
LINK TO LONGEVITY MANEUVER
3) Get a good study place.
Good lighting,
good seats with good posture (align that spine to increase clarity)
some quiet music (music if studying alone),
appropriate noise levels (some like it loud, some like it silent. I vary my noise environment depending on what I'm studying)
4) Take quick 5-10 minute breaks when studying for extended periods. And don't over study. If you study too much then you'll get little "bang for you buck" due to the rule of diminishing returns. You could nap for 10 minutes too (naps are covered in this study manual a little after this)
5)Do a quick review right before a test. It will help you, cramming massive amounts of information is not wise.
6) Get some good study music. I listen to piano music, because it's calming; it makes me feel warm and content. Other people listen to jazz or piano. Whatever helps you study the best. You just have to test this one out. If you listen to music a lot then it might be wise to get open-earphones or noise-cancelling earphones instead of ear-buds. I bought Sennheiser's 558HD headphone because it is very clear,high quality sound,great deal,not strong base- my cup of tea.
7) Have some free time everyday. This will keep you sane and content. I'd suggest having an hour or two everyday to do whatever you please.
8) Make your work space efficient
9) Don't Make BEST FRIENDS with people that aren't in your general major
Make friends with people that aren't in you general major, but don't make best friends with people that aren't in your general major (i'm majoring in bio-medical, and have close bio-type major friends). One of your years in college will most likely be hard, and you'll have to completely disregard these people to make it. They'll get mad at you and you both might have an uncomfortable relationship afterwards.
10)Napping
Another sleeping strategy involves naps. Naps can supplement your sleep, and they can also help you in other ways. Naps can quell stress, restart your mind to a clear state, increases ability to remember, allows you to "over-learn" without bad affects etc. Taking a nap that is 6 minutes long will give you a significant improvement, and taking a nap that is 15 minutes long will give you the biggest "bang for your buck". You can nap up to 26 minutes. You shouldn't take a nap longer than 30 minutes, because it will cause you to go into REM sleep; a nap longer than 30 minutes will cause you to be worse off than before you began the nap! I'd suggest setting an alarm to wake you up at the appropriate time (6 minutes long- 26 minutes long).
11) Wage quick wars with classes, not long- debilitating wars.
When you take an easy class and let it pick at you all semester because you're "BLOWING IT OFF", then it becomes a debilitating battle. Instead of doing this, I'd suggest taking the class online class, which usually will allow you to complete it at your pace (in this case, the pace is VERY QUICK). GET THIS CLASS OVER WITH ASAP. By ASAP, pull a 3 day intensive at the beginning of the semester and be done with it. When you've completed a 3-credit class in 3 days, you feel uber accomplished, and you also avoid putting the class off perpetually and doing assignments last minute (which usually isn't your best work, causing you to loose points on the assignments; this will drop you a letter-grade in the long-run). I knocked out my 3-credit comms class in 3 days; I pulled all day intensives fore each of the 3-days, but I did it, and now I have some free time this semester. Because of this, my 17-credit hour semester feels like a 14-credit hour semester. I also did this with my 3 credit Spanish class; i took Spanish for three years in high-school. I knocked out the homework for the year in 2 days! Now I just review Spanish for a total of 1 hour each week. My theology class is one of those classes that is not worth studying ahead, I just study for it two days a week for a total of an hour a week. My 17-credits, that started to feel like 14-credits, now feel like 10-credits (I didn't deduct all the credits from these classes, because I still have to do a very small amount of work each week). This 10-credit feel will make any semester much more liberating; I'm taking genetics and organic chemistry, and I feel just fine!
I think everyone should do this technique, because it will save you time, money, and stress in the long-run. Make sure your schedule isn't overloaded, because you don't want to burn out. Always leave some time for casual fun in your schedule.
12) Make your schedule.
Making your schedule is a pain in the ass. I'd completely understand why anyone would start groaning at this part, because you've heard it all before. Schedule BLAH BLAH BLAH. The problem is that these people don't tell you how to actually make one, and even if they did it would be so mind-numbing and time consuming. How do you schedule your eclectic life?!?! Take a deep breath *holy carrots*.
First, just trust me, I'm not going to tell you to make a religious schedule that chains your life to a...well...schedule.
SCHEDULE I THINGS YOU HAVE TO DO WEEKLY AND CLASS PROJECTS AND SECONDLY, THINGS YOU REALLY WANT TO DO (play volley ball)
First, get your things together that you HAVE TO DO WEEKLY (class times, sports, church). Put the "HAVE TO" on a weekly time chart (weekly chart here, this requires you to pen,highlight, and print this). Put those down right now before you proceed, you don't have to be exact in the placement of things on this schedule, just put down the gist of times; this isn't a religious OCD schedule. Find the projects that you have to do for your classes this semester. Write those names and dates on this schedule; you may want to add in a few "project" time-slots in your weekly schedule. Overdoing the "project" time-slots is recommended, because you can always skip project time slots if you are done with your projects. Label them something like "Project 1 time", "project 2 time"... The project 1 time should be at the most perfect time that you would want to do a project. the project 2 time should be a less perfect time for you to do your project. The project 3 time should be an even less perfect time for you to do your project in your schedule...
SCHEDULE II TESTS STUDYING
THESE THINGS SHOULD WORK AROUND SCHEDULE I, BECAUSE IT IS LESS IMPORTANT.
Okay, now you have that down.Get the dates of your tests written down ( probably found on your class's "syllabus" or your class's "class schedule"). Write down the dates of the test on a sheet of paper, the class's name, and how many days you want to extra-study it before the exam. Now the exact dates you are going to study for the class/classes (if multiple days run into each other then total the total amount of study days together and study both each of those days or somehow hybrid the studies).
SCHEDULE III ERRANDS AND SPECIAL EVENTS
Make one more schedule list for errands and miscellaneous things that are just randomly brought up in your life. THIS LIST SHOULD BE FOR THINGS THAT YOU HAVE TO GET DONE OR THAT YOU REALLY WANT . THESE THINGS MUST WORK AROUND SCHEDULE I and SCHEDULE II; THIS SCHEDULE IS SUBMISSIVE TO SCHEDULE I AND SCHEDULE II.
these things should still have a due date or an approximate due date next to them put the dead line next to the event/errand. An example would be "June 5th,Party, maybe go to it" or "September 30th- August 4th, Get more note book paper and groceries"
SCHEDULE IV EVENTUALLY
THESE THINGS ARE SUBMISSIVE TO SCHEDULE I,II, and III.
This should be things that you want to get done, but you don't have to. An example would be "I need to get some money for some new clothes" or " fix that squeaky door-it's annoying" or "maybe go to party June 5th"
NOT A SCHEDULE---A LIST OF WHAT YOU WANT TO GET DONE FOR EACH CLASS DURING YOUR STUDY TIME
make a list of what you want to get done during your study time, so that you don't miss something out.Nobody has time to just lolly-gag their study time away and then forget something too.
NOTE:The homework (if you have any) should fit into your study times for the week. If you planned enough hours then you should be able to get your homework done as well as your other studying.
Organize these four schedules either together, or you can just put the separate schedules near each other.
Now on a sheet of printer paper, space out the months in the semester your planning for so that you can list events in them (ie: September, October, November, December). Put those study days down first, because you're a scholar first and a crazy-person second (second, because you don't have to loose all fun when you have bomb study habits that catalyze your learning).
After this, you add in extra events on the monthly chart that you don't have to do (volunteer, parties, romantic time...) BE SURE TO CHECK THAT EACH ADDED EVENT AGREES WITH YOUR WEEKLY SCHEDULE AND THEN MAKE SURE THAT THE EVENT AGREES WITH YOUR EXAM STUDY SCHEDULE FIRST!!!
TADA! YOU HAVE A SCHEDULE AND HOW TO MAKE IT WITHOUT ACCIDENTALLY MISSING SOMETHING IMPORTANT OR SCREWING UP!
13) SAVE ALL MATERIALS, ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE PLANNING TO TAKE A PCAT,MCAT,...
Store everything that you've created (papers,assignments) on a flash-drive and/or cloud-drive. This makes it so you can always do your work, and you never have to worry about leaving your paper that you wrote at home on your computer. Search for cloud drives on the internet, they only store a certain amount of data, but enough data for a semester. You can always transfer this accumulated data to a hard-drive after the semester is over, which will free up your cloud-drive.
14) HELPFUL OLDER FRIENDS
Upperclassmen are your friends. Some of them are snobby about helping you, but you'll find a nice one that could help you out. Make them a legitimate friend, you don't have to fake it. I made friends with an upperclassmen, and I ended up receiving tons of information! He gave me a ton of BEAUTIFULLY typed notes (well organized and made), I trusted the notes as an extremely valuable resource (he made A's in his super hard upper-level science classes). You can get many tips from these people, and I know I put this in here twice, but it's essential!
15) SEGREGATION OF INFORMATION
Organize your notes. Some things you learn are purely memorization; other thing you learn require critical thinking. When you have to segregate the information between memorization, start logically. Critical questions that you thought would be memorization of facts would best be revealed by trying to make up a question that would require critical thinking-- "what is a difficult way I could organize this information, so that you'd have to apply it in a different way that just stating it"
Organize your questions that require memorization on one paper and the critical-thinking on another paper. This will make things more efficient while your trying to get the information down.
EXAMPLE: 1+4=5 (okay 1+4 is 5 got it, just memorize)
A difficult teacher would take the "1+1=2" and say "what plus 4 equals 5"
you see how the information was twisted up? this seems easy now, but when you take the test you will loose any logic you thought you had (due to stress and test-time constraints)
EXAMPLE: A gene initiates with an ATG sequence on the (okay gene initiates ATG sequence)
A difficult teacher would manipulate the formatting of this information to "what is the second type of base on the 5' ----> 3' strand ?" The information is just manipulated, the answer is T, (Thymine); I bolded the T in "ATG" above so you can clearly see this.
You will become very advanced at doing this after trying it for a few months. This is what will allow you to MASTER ANY SUBJECT THAT YOU ARE CAPABLE OF MASTERING (so if you think you're smart enough, but think you're not studying the right things then this is a GOD-SEND that you better pick-up ASAP)
16)THE LAST SLEEP ADVICE RULE OF 2
I'm going to tell you something that will cause a disgusted response from you- set an alarm for the weekend. I know, you want to sleep in. Okay, sleep in. The key is to not sleep in too long. Use the "rule of 2", which means that you will set your weekend alarm time for no more than 2 later than your weekday alarm. If you usually wake up at 7am on week days then wake up at 9am using your weekend alarm. If you use this rule then you won't wake up nasty feeling on Monday mornings and you will have much more of a weekend to be productive and have fun. It works magic, the two hours lets you get more sleep without getting too much sleep (which leave you feeling lethargic).
Another startling insight... make your alarm fun and make your start exciting
whoa... "fun and exciting with waking up? you must be crazy!". No, you're crazy. You're crazy because you have repeatedly trained yourself to stress out and do other negative things as soon as you wake up. People have trained themselves to negatively respond to waking up due to (procrastination, not getting enough sleep, allowing their lives to get too stressed, etc.). They moan and they groan and some people do this throughout their entire day! It's craziness, they literally make their lives a living hell because they have trained their brain to associate many things with "BAD!". You don't have to make your live a living hell. If you do this thing where you respond to things as "BAD", then you can still make a change. How do you apply this to waking up??? Easy, you train yourself to associate good things to waking up. A good thing could be a funky alarm song. I wake up to music that I have constantly associated with good-spontaneous fun. I associate it thorough out the day and when I wake up to the alarm song, I start dancing to it. I've did it so long that I don't have to even dance to it; I just feel happy when I wake up.
The secret here is, you can use this throughout your whole life. If you don't want to feel negative responses for things anymore then you can try this using whatever you need to train a positive response into your psyche.
Mornings are way better for me now, and I hope they become way better for you too.
17) SAVING IMAGES
Let's say that you're tired of pulling out you paper schedule or going to the internet for it. Let's say that you're tired of looking up the times for when "that restaurant" you always go to is open. Let's say that you're tired of trying to remember when the library is open, because you have no internet on your phone.
The solution here is to take a picture of whatever it is you are trying to remember. I'm not a retard; I don't carry a full-sized camera with me all day. Instead, I put the pictures on my iPod touch (small,light,multi-functional). You can take a picture with your phone or tablet and store it on there too. Any electronic that you always carry with you and that doesn't take 5 minutes to start up.
If you want to put in your paper written schedule, then scan it and send it to your electronic; transfer the image to your device.
If the image is too big to be scanned then take a picture with a full-sized camera. Send the image to your device.
If you Scan or take a full sized picture then I'd suggest making the image the appropriate size and keeping it that size so that it doesn't look like a blob when you zoom up on it using your phone/iPod touch/tablet...
18) Test day
brush up on your notes when the test day comes. It's very important that you eat well on test day. Don't over eat; if you over eat then you'll feel lazy and sloppy. Nobody wants to take a test and do worse because they ate too much and felt tired while taking the test. Eat a small to medium sized meal for what ever meal is before your test that day. If you have a test in the morning, then eat a small to medium sized breakfast. Eat healthy of course, but remember to eat extra neuro-healthy the day of the test. To boost everything make sure you're hydrated..duhhh. For the "no duhh" I'd recommend eating a handful of walnuts and a protein rich smoothie. Of course you could have a parfait instead of a smoothie and all that jazz. Main point- walnuts are brain food and eat healthy protein rich foods and drink some water. For the love of God, DON'T EAT A POPTART OR SUGAR SMACKS.
REMEMBER GET A GOOD GROUP, BE SCHOLARLY, BE HEALTHY, AND AIN'T NOBODY GOT TIME TO BE WASTING!
I just recently found a website with very helpful quizzes. This website has an eclectic range of quiz types that will help you practice. The website is called www.quizlet.com . Check it out; I even found things for organic chemistry, Spanish, and anatomy!
Some classes are very difficult to get good practice in. Sometimes problems from the book and the problems you made up just don't cut it. In highschool I'm sure some of your teachers made you organize your binders in sections. Doing this will not only organize, but it will give you material to refer to. A good way to label would be: Class notes, Personal notes from reading, completed practice problems, Completed quizzed/tests, Study guides, and potential questions that you made up. This will give you problems that you can refer back to. Cover the answers and try them out! White boards may also be very helpful for some people, because it is a fun way to draw out things. Classes that require a lot of visual thinking would be made easier for some by using a white board.
Making study guides doesn't only organize the information, it is great for long term memory. Even glancing at your study guide for a class 3 minutes a day will keep the material in your mind. Keep your study guides on you and a copy somewhere else. You can study for the three minutes while waiting in line. Study the 3 minutes somehow; this will make your finals really easy. Same thing if your taking the MCAT or whatever exam.
Keep the practice problems that you made up in your binder. This will prepare you for review even farther.
I've recently had a class with a lot of memorization. Now remember, I came to college to learn. Now that I'm in my second year, I'm starting to forget the things that I've learned. The study guides are great, but the study guides don't really prepare you to put the information in your memory. Call me crazy, but this next method may be one of the most important things taught on here. Flash cards. Before you laugh and associate flashcards with that one girl from highschool, let me enlighten you. Flash cards are a neat idea, but they haven't been optimally used by people. This new idea involves making flash cards that involve critical and unique thinking every time. You use the same flash card, but the flash card can have different answers! Different answers? How do I know if I'm right?
You put multiple questions on the flash card that deal with the same concept (this will be the front of the flash card). One question will be a defining question. This will be the definintion or the idea. The next question will involve "how is this useful/why am I learning this". The next "how does this work & why does this work". The last question will be "give an example of this working". All of your subjects you can do this technique with. I'd only do it with major specific courses, unless you have a thirst for other knowledge as well.
Based on the first questions, you'll be able to check that you gave a good answer for the "example question". The third question prevents you from just remembering the answer on the back as it forces you to think critically and realistically. This approach doesn't only keep your memory fresh on the subject, it also makes you think about the question so that you KNOW that you actually are still understanding the material. This is a fast and easy way to Ace tough subjects and keep your memory sharp on your subjects that your are studying now and have studied in the past. Who wants to stress about academics when there are simple strategies that take all the stress out of it?
If you want to keep your endurance, then create a mini study guide each day from what you've read, what you've studied, and what was in lecture. Translate these into these clever flashcards. Study them daily; you're going to college to better yourself and use what you learn in college to succeed in life. If you want to become a boss at what you do for a living then this will be great for you.
I'll give you an example of how this can make you a boss at your job. I'm going to use this method for medical school. My mission is to help everyone be healthy and get a proper diagnosis. Many doctors don't review their materials and only diagnose common things. I don't like this; why be a doctor if you only diagnose common things? That's what separates a doctor from a nurse. A doctor can think critically with their learned information to diagnose even the rare diseases. Many people will come to my clinic, because the know that I'm amazing at my job. They know that I'm above and beyond the pack. Being above and beyond the pack doesn't happen through magic. To become the top of the top you must have two things: special-ability and practice. Practice is MUCH more important to get to the top. With sheer practice and no special-ability, you can still become extremely good at what you do!
I've learned that I get the most work done alone. It gets me in the zone to concentrate. I don't like being in solitude, so I go to a place called "quiet study". Your college might also have one. It's basically a room sanctioned to be quiet with a bunch of people in it. I bring a white board (white boards are very quiet) and can get more work done there than anywhere else. I still use collaborative groups for some purposes, but the quiet study helps me a lot. Normally it would take me 8 hours to get through 4 chapters of biology, and by the end of those 4 hours I'd still be somewhat confused. In the quiet study I can get 4 chapters of biology done in 2 hours!
