Academic Success
This is for a website i'm working with. Needs to be edited but you get the idea.
After achieving an academic feat in my life, friends and acquaintances alike will approach me and ask, "Andrew, how exactly did you manage that work load with everything else you do?" The question is a difficult one because what may come naturally to one person can be extremely difficult for another. The following is a guide designed to help you achieve in any academic setting. Some things will be more important than other depending on where you are in your academic career, but all are skills that will help you conquer the educational institution known as school.
Show Up – Participate Actively
Actor Woody Allen once said, "80% of life is just showing up.” There is a lot of truth to that statement. Believe it or not: most of the questions on a test are from a professor’s notes and very little, if any, are directly taken from the book without having been mentioned in class. Participation is also essential. The more you participate, the more the professor gets to know you and the more you get to discuss the information you’ll eventually have to memorize. By repeating phrases and applying them in a class setting you will be more inclined to remember it when you decide to sit down internalize the material.
Time Management
We all have found ourselves in a similar situation: you have a large paper due on Monday, but decide to go out with friends on Friday and Saturday and have to hammer out a paper on Sunday at 9 PM. Depending on your speed or level of procrastination; this may take all night and leave you extremely tired. The paper you create may also be of poor quality, which is why time management is so important. Sit down and plan out your weekend if you have work to do. For instance, maybe you work 7 to 3 on Saturday; instead of procrastinating, start the paper after getting home so that you have time to revise it and make proper edits on Sunday. If you social life is anything like mine, save the weekend for fun and relaxation and instead write two pages a day through out the week so that you are finished by Friday and can spend the weekend casually revising it. Time management is crucial for success in any task you take up in life. Sit down, figure out what you can get away with and stick to it.
Did you also know that most instances of plagiarism are committed because students procrastinate? Students often feel as if they have to plagiarize in order to finish their paper which is an extremely dangerous practice. Do not plagiarize under any circumstances! The consequences are incredible and will follow you for the rest of your life. Remember, it’s only one letter grade, not the rest of your life.
Do the Homework!
Your favorite subject is English and you have a great level of contempt for mathematics. The algebra teacher assigns problems 1-12 for homework tonight, but he never checks anyway, so what’s the point, right? Wrong. It is crucial that you do the homework especially if you are unfamiliar with the material. Homework is an excellent way to reinforce the ideas you learned in class and prepare you for future tests to come. Some teachers even pull questions directly from homework problems for their exams! Whether the teacher grades you for homework or not shouldn’t matter: do it for yourself. Working on homework will make studying for exams a lot easier, especially if it is a class that relies on mathematics and equations. For liberal arts courses, reading the material before class and participating in class will help you understand the concepts better.
Programs/Professors that Help
Having problems with a certain part of the class? Visit the professor during their office hours or go to a writing lab/math lab if one is offered at your school. The professor has office hours for a reason and if they are a reasonable person they are sure to be an invaluable source of information. There are multiple ways to explain something and I bet they only used one in class. Not only will you master the information you were originally confused about, but the professor or person helping you will get to know you better which does affect how they grade you.
Studying
Perhaps the least favorite of any student, studying is perhaps the most stressful because a large portion of a final grade is dependent upon how well you study consequentially, how well you do on the test. Below are several study tips which will help you ace any of those pesky exams coming up.
Study in Advance
I can’t tell you how much this helps me when it comes to large quantities of material. If you have a test on Wednesday, start studying three days in advance. On the first night, skim the material and become familiar with it, I’m sure you’ll find some familiar phrases. Try to internalize what you can in an hour or however long you wish to spend studying and get a good nights rest.
The next evening, do the same exact thing. You’ll notice that remembering things will come to mind a lot faster and easier. Finally, the last night should be a full review and the material should be internalized by the end of the session. Studying in advance in little bursts is a sure fire way to owning your exams and your professor. You’ll also get to enjoy watching all the other kids sweat bullets as they attempt to cram 25 pages of typed notes for a biology course.
How to Memorize Information
Below are some ways to memorize information quickly and effectively.
Pneumonic Techniques
If you have to memorize the four disciplines of geography, why not make a pneumonic? A pneumonic is a clever play on words in order to help you remember material. The four disciplines are physical, human, socio-environmental, and historical geography. Instead of trying to cram all of that in your head, why not learn a clever phrase to help you remember it? Playful Humans Sometimes Eat Hummus. By taking the first letters in each of the disciplines I have managed to create a quirky phrase that may not make sense, but is certainly so odd that I won’t have any problems remembering it.
The Science of Association
Instead of looking at the material you have to memorize and something so incredibly boring and disconnected from modern society, try and find out what similarities it has instead. Taking a biology course on plants? As your walking down the street, observe plants going through photosynthesis and try to remember the steps involved in the process. Trying to remember John Stewart Mill’s arguments in On Liberty? Try to compare the differences between our system today and his vision of what it should have been or how he influenced the evolution of American democracy. By associating the material with something meaningful to you whether it be through a song you love or how it affects you today; you’ll find memorizing the information a lot easier.
Misery Loves Company
Find people who are reliable and have good study habits. Studying in groups of 2-3 people have its benefits. If you missed a piece of the material or were absent one day another person can aid you in filling in the gaps. However, realize that you will need to sit by yourself and study the material alone at some point, but studying in a group can make things fun and enable you to remember material easier.
Learn From Your Mistakes
So you bombed the last test and are feeling down about it. Don’t! This is an opportunity and a chance to improve. Find out what worked and what didn’t. Did you work on review problems before the test? How did you try to internalize the material? Different approaches work for different people and I encourage you to do your best and own the next test. Set a realistic goal. For instance, on my first physics exam I got a 74. I was feeling down at first, but I realized it was one test out of three and said to myself, “you can do better than that, shoot for a B next time.” Sure enough on my next test I adapted my study habits and got an 88. Suffice to say I finished the class with an A. Find out what your weaknesses are and concentrate on your strengths. By doing this you will most likely come out with at least a C in any course you take.
Grades are Grades, Not Life
In summation, I would hope that you would remember that a bad grade here and there is not the end of the world. The grade in a subject you hate is not any indication of what kind of person you are or the worth of your life. I know plenty of people who have actually dropped out college at some point only to return, graduate, and become the CEO of their very own company. If you don’t have an interest in college, that’s okay too! Instead you want to develop a trade so that you can build houses, do plumbing, or perhaps sell a product for a company. There are many paths in life, just remember to do your best and never give up. Be the best at whatever you set out to do, whether that is running a multi-million dollar company or managing a department store. I hope this guide has provided some useful information and wish you the best of luck in life.
After achieving an academic feat in my life, friends and acquaintances alike will approach me and ask, "Andrew, how exactly did you manage that work load with everything else you do?" The question is a difficult one because what may come naturally to one person can be extremely difficult for another. The following is a guide designed to help you achieve in any academic setting. Some things will be more important than other depending on where you are in your academic career, but all are skills that will help you conquer the educational institution known as school.
Show Up – Participate Actively
Actor Woody Allen once said, "80% of life is just showing up.” There is a lot of truth to that statement. Believe it or not: most of the questions on a test are from a professor’s notes and very little, if any, are directly taken from the book without having been mentioned in class. Participation is also essential. The more you participate, the more the professor gets to know you and the more you get to discuss the information you’ll eventually have to memorize. By repeating phrases and applying them in a class setting you will be more inclined to remember it when you decide to sit down internalize the material.
Time Management
We all have found ourselves in a similar situation: you have a large paper due on Monday, but decide to go out with friends on Friday and Saturday and have to hammer out a paper on Sunday at 9 PM. Depending on your speed or level of procrastination; this may take all night and leave you extremely tired. The paper you create may also be of poor quality, which is why time management is so important. Sit down and plan out your weekend if you have work to do. For instance, maybe you work 7 to 3 on Saturday; instead of procrastinating, start the paper after getting home so that you have time to revise it and make proper edits on Sunday. If you social life is anything like mine, save the weekend for fun and relaxation and instead write two pages a day through out the week so that you are finished by Friday and can spend the weekend casually revising it. Time management is crucial for success in any task you take up in life. Sit down, figure out what you can get away with and stick to it.
Did you also know that most instances of plagiarism are committed because students procrastinate? Students often feel as if they have to plagiarize in order to finish their paper which is an extremely dangerous practice. Do not plagiarize under any circumstances! The consequences are incredible and will follow you for the rest of your life. Remember, it’s only one letter grade, not the rest of your life.
Do the Homework!
Your favorite subject is English and you have a great level of contempt for mathematics. The algebra teacher assigns problems 1-12 for homework tonight, but he never checks anyway, so what’s the point, right? Wrong. It is crucial that you do the homework especially if you are unfamiliar with the material. Homework is an excellent way to reinforce the ideas you learned in class and prepare you for future tests to come. Some teachers even pull questions directly from homework problems for their exams! Whether the teacher grades you for homework or not shouldn’t matter: do it for yourself. Working on homework will make studying for exams a lot easier, especially if it is a class that relies on mathematics and equations. For liberal arts courses, reading the material before class and participating in class will help you understand the concepts better.
Programs/Professors that Help
Having problems with a certain part of the class? Visit the professor during their office hours or go to a writing lab/math lab if one is offered at your school. The professor has office hours for a reason and if they are a reasonable person they are sure to be an invaluable source of information. There are multiple ways to explain something and I bet they only used one in class. Not only will you master the information you were originally confused about, but the professor or person helping you will get to know you better which does affect how they grade you.
Studying
Perhaps the least favorite of any student, studying is perhaps the most stressful because a large portion of a final grade is dependent upon how well you study consequentially, how well you do on the test. Below are several study tips which will help you ace any of those pesky exams coming up.
Study in Advance
I can’t tell you how much this helps me when it comes to large quantities of material. If you have a test on Wednesday, start studying three days in advance. On the first night, skim the material and become familiar with it, I’m sure you’ll find some familiar phrases. Try to internalize what you can in an hour or however long you wish to spend studying and get a good nights rest.
The next evening, do the same exact thing. You’ll notice that remembering things will come to mind a lot faster and easier. Finally, the last night should be a full review and the material should be internalized by the end of the session. Studying in advance in little bursts is a sure fire way to owning your exams and your professor. You’ll also get to enjoy watching all the other kids sweat bullets as they attempt to cram 25 pages of typed notes for a biology course.
How to Memorize Information
Below are some ways to memorize information quickly and effectively.
Pneumonic Techniques
If you have to memorize the four disciplines of geography, why not make a pneumonic? A pneumonic is a clever play on words in order to help you remember material. The four disciplines are physical, human, socio-environmental, and historical geography. Instead of trying to cram all of that in your head, why not learn a clever phrase to help you remember it? Playful Humans Sometimes Eat Hummus. By taking the first letters in each of the disciplines I have managed to create a quirky phrase that may not make sense, but is certainly so odd that I won’t have any problems remembering it.
The Science of Association
Instead of looking at the material you have to memorize and something so incredibly boring and disconnected from modern society, try and find out what similarities it has instead. Taking a biology course on plants? As your walking down the street, observe plants going through photosynthesis and try to remember the steps involved in the process. Trying to remember John Stewart Mill’s arguments in On Liberty? Try to compare the differences between our system today and his vision of what it should have been or how he influenced the evolution of American democracy. By associating the material with something meaningful to you whether it be through a song you love or how it affects you today; you’ll find memorizing the information a lot easier.
Misery Loves Company
Find people who are reliable and have good study habits. Studying in groups of 2-3 people have its benefits. If you missed a piece of the material or were absent one day another person can aid you in filling in the gaps. However, realize that you will need to sit by yourself and study the material alone at some point, but studying in a group can make things fun and enable you to remember material easier.
Learn From Your Mistakes
So you bombed the last test and are feeling down about it. Don’t! This is an opportunity and a chance to improve. Find out what worked and what didn’t. Did you work on review problems before the test? How did you try to internalize the material? Different approaches work for different people and I encourage you to do your best and own the next test. Set a realistic goal. For instance, on my first physics exam I got a 74. I was feeling down at first, but I realized it was one test out of three and said to myself, “you can do better than that, shoot for a B next time.” Sure enough on my next test I adapted my study habits and got an 88. Suffice to say I finished the class with an A. Find out what your weaknesses are and concentrate on your strengths. By doing this you will most likely come out with at least a C in any course you take.
Grades are Grades, Not Life
In summation, I would hope that you would remember that a bad grade here and there is not the end of the world. The grade in a subject you hate is not any indication of what kind of person you are or the worth of your life. I know plenty of people who have actually dropped out college at some point only to return, graduate, and become the CEO of their very own company. If you don’t have an interest in college, that’s okay too! Instead you want to develop a trade so that you can build houses, do plumbing, or perhaps sell a product for a company. There are many paths in life, just remember to do your best and never give up. Be the best at whatever you set out to do, whether that is running a multi-million dollar company or managing a department store. I hope this guide has provided some useful information and wish you the best of luck in life.
