Seven keys to motivate yourself to study

New semester series part three

How do you get yourself back up and running again in the new semester? Your exams were good, bad, indifferent or a mixture. You're happy, sad, or an unusually complex combination of both. Here are seven keys to help motivate yourself to get back into study mode again.

Study (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Start small

Start with baby steps. Don’t expect yourself to be able to dive right back into maximum study mode and volume. Plan a gradual build up of your study program in terms of time and effort. But don’t use this as an excuse to stay walking like a baby.

English: Students need sleep in order to study. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Work in batches of 15 to 20 minutes

Take 5 to 10 minute breaks. Study for 15 to 20 minutes. Learn in batches of between 3 and 9 facts. Take a half hour break every 3 hours.

Keep yourself well hydrated

It doesn’t matter if you need to run to the bathroom fairly regularly. Keep yourself hydrated. Only use coffee if your system is used to coffee (long-winded medical explanation forgone again). Use fruit as part of keeping yourself hydrated. This includes citrus, mangoes, pineapples, and watermelon.

Don’t study on a full stomach

Most of your blood will be re-directed to your gastro-intestinal tract in order to digest your food, especially if the meal was rich. Rather eat light meals such as salads with low-fat dressings, and tuna.

Make your study habits consistent

Do something every day for thirty days and it will stick for life. Well, almost. There is a truism in this. Be consistent. Discipline in study will serve you well in the real world in any case.

emotion icon (Photo credit: Łukasz Strachanowski)

Try deal with emotions before you study

I know this sound may sound a tad unrealistic, but the more emotional baggage you bring to your study desk, the less you effectively you will study. Find your study “Zen”, whatever that might be - go and rake some Japanese garden sand or something.

But use emotions in your studying

No, I’m not contradicting myself. What I mean is you must try bring emotion into the actual material you are studying to make it memorable. The difference is that the previous point was made to prevent you from letting outside emotion interrupt your studying. Do these help you focus? Please let me know if you have any others.... Some related articles 88 Surefire Tips for Succeeding in College 50 Tips for College Students College Dorm Checklist & More

The Noticeboard (17 August 2012)

In today's Noticeboard we look at some interesting links together. So you want to create your own app? There's a class for that. This post discusses the fact that there is a new course at Harvard Extension School on building mobile apps. Note : the link inside the post is not the correct one : this link will connect you to the page on the Harvard Extension School site. Over at the EdX website, they are now offering the following courses :

The Writing Class You Never Had. This is short, brutal and to the point, but it is excellent. Head on over there. How can I upgrade my brown-bag lunch? The Lifehacker crew have come up with some great suggestions again. I'm Caterina Fake and this is how I work. An interesting interview with Caterina Fake about her working environment (yes, you will get there one day if you are still studying) at Lifehacker.

Five secrets to kick start your college day

A gift from Sue, my wife, is a key chain that reads "Not a morning person doesn't begin to describe me!". Morning routine before university is crucial, and these five secrets helped me on many occasions during my studies. Start using them today (or tomorrow if you're reading this during the day...)

Astrolabe facsimile on a key chain. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Begin the night before

Prepare yourself the night before. Make sure you have all your books ready and packed before-hand. If you have homework or assignments due, are they completed? If you have a prac the next day, is there anything you need to take with you? Ensure you get enough sleep. Contrary to popular opinion, the optimum amount of sleep is about 7-8 hours per night for college-age students. I remember while studying at Pietermaritzburg University that Thursday night used to be Student Night at most night clubs - and Friday lectures and pracs used to show the attrition rate! So, even if you aren't a morning person like me, aim to be up early. Also ensure you eat well, and keep yourself hydrated. If you are on medication, have them easily available to take in the morning, or make sure you take your evening doses. Some people find they prefer to do their personal devotions in the evenings rather than in the mornings, and if you're like that, then, go ahead and have them in the evening before you go to sleep. There is an excellent book called Handbook to Renewal : Renewing your mind with affirmations from Scripture which is a great way to have passages of the Bible in your mind as you fall asleep.

Be up early

How early is early? Good question. Our Obstetrician is up every morning at 03h30, cycles from 04h00 til 06h00 and is in the office by 07h00. So, "early" varies from person to person! Here are some guiding principles :

English: Biking along the path Person making the most of the nice morning and riding along the footpath near Grove airfield (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Give yourself enough time to do the practical stuff. By this I mean breakfast, shaving, etc.
Allow yourself time to do your morning devotions if you didn't do them the night before.
Listen out for traffic and weather problems that may impact your trip to college.
Get yourself into a habit of getting up early. If you aren't used to it, it may take about a week to adjust.

Look after your health

I used to cycle to lectures every day while in Pietermaritzburg - in fact, I had to cycle everywhere - so my fitness was taken care of by default. However, for most college students, this isn't the case. So, pull out those running shoes, oil up that bike and go for a jog or a cycle. Eat a good breakfast. And that doesn't mean fried bacon and eggs and hash-browns every day! Yoghurt, muesli, fruit, wholewheat cereal, fruit-juice, and tea or coffee if you are used to drinking them. (Complicated medical explanation forgone.)

The Gutenberg Bible displayed by the United States Library of Congress, demonstrating printed pages as a storage medium. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Look after your soul

Meditation has been shown to be beneficial. Whatever your belief system, fit in soul care to your schedule. Personally I'm a Christian, as most of you are already aware, and personal devotions and prayer time are most often done in the mornings. There is Biblical precedent for it - Jesus himself often withdrew in the early morning hours to pray. Ensure you set aside an area of the house or digs that you know will be quiet, and keep a notebook handy. My preferred Bible translation is the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Carry a prayer-journal around with you. Or use an app on your smartphone. Often I also used to write a particularly meaningful verse on a 4x3 index card and keep that in a pocket during that day or that week and haul it out every now and then. Nowadays you can easily use apps like Byword on your iPad or iPhone to sync with your MacBook to keep that kind of info handy.

Be you

Seriously. This isn't me trying to be all pop-psychology on you. This is me being serious. Just be you. Don't try to be something you aren't. Arrive at college and be yourself. Don't try to impress. Don't try to gain peoples' approval. Just be you. Otherwise, as Ed Welch says inWhen People Are Big And God Is Small you "are in bondage, controlled by others and feeling empty". Don't let others control who you are.

Lyrical Time Wastr - The Way You Do the Things You Do (Photo credit: PuffinArt)

The Noticeboard

I am going to begin a fairly regular post where I will share interesting links with you from around the internet. And in honor of the good old days of school, I've decided to name it The Noticeboard! The Lifehacker Student Pack. Here the crew from Lifehacker have put together their list of the juiciest student Mac apps. I must say they are all good choices. Get Organised: Creating Workspaces that Work. Jane Genovese writes an excellent post on how she got her desk and herself organized. My Personal Campaign to Defeat Fifty Shades of Grey. Anything to displace that kind of distasteful literature from top spot. Especially when it's written by Jeff Goins. Please support him. For Back to School, Reimagine Classroom Design. I found this type of school setup incredibly fascinating. Envisioning the Future of Education Technology. According to this researcher, "65% of today"s grade school kids will end up in jobs that haven't been invented yet". EDIT : I've decided to ask you, the reader, to submit images for the weekly Noticeboard Post as the standard page header, and I will choose one winner out of all of the submissions. The rules are that the image must be non-copyrighted, they must be your own work, you must carry no copyright on them for yourself and you may submit more than one. The reward is my eternal gratitude, your name in small at the bottom of the image and the feeling of satisfaction that you've helped a fellow human being

No fee or freebies I'm afraid

Email me at dave@schooledforlife.com or dave1314@gmail.com. I will announce the winner with next week's Noticeboard.

3 Ways a Failed Exam Helps You

New Semester Series Part Two.

Failure by Saudi Julia at http://www.flickr.com/photos/31078766

One of the hardest things about getting back to university or college is having to deal with failed exams. How on earth can they help you? Fortunately, they can, and if you attack them with the right attitude, they will help you. I'm going to show you three ways that you can use failed exams to help you improve your grades.

Old Man with his Head in his Hands (At Eternity's Gate) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It forces you to be honest with yourself

I know, this one sucks and you are going to hate me for saying it! Sorry to hurt your feelings, but, a failed exam does force you to start asking questions of yourself. And this is a good thing! Don't view this as a bad thing! The only way you can improve is by learning from errors and correcting them. You will need to start asking yourself questions like "Were my study techniques for that particular exam and subject-type correct?" For example, I wouldn't be using pictures to memorize information when you are preparing for a practical Accounting exam where there are going to be doing a lot of calculations and formulae-application. So, ask yourself questions about your preparation for that exam. This includes an excellent revision timetable correctly formulated right from the start!

Take advantage of your professors

Contrary to what you may believe, your professors and lecturers (with a few exceptions) actually want you to pass and do well. And when a student shows up at their door genuinely asking for help, and showing diligence, they will be more than willing to help. You will be amazed at how few students do this, and you will also be amazed at how willing your professors are to help you out. Remember, they were once students just like you. They DO remember the stresses involved in studying and taking exams. Approach them. I can almost guarantee you they will be very glad to help you. BUT, don't expect them to just give you quick solutions - you are still going to need to work hard - but their help will be invaluable

English: German-born theoretical physicist Albert Einstein. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Take advantage of the "boffins" in your class

This has to be done very diplomatically. Identify those in your class who have done very well. Depending on how well you know them, see if you can glean any information from them about how they were able to do well in their exam. Some of the really clever student tend to down-play their marks, others deliberately hide their techniques because of their own insecurities and desire to be top of the class, so you need to "walk on egg-shells"! But try make head-way and see if any of them can help you. You never know! These are also the people that often don't think in the normal pattern of thinking. They truly do think "outside the box" and their approach will stretch you beyond what you thought possible. Go with the flow! It is well worth it! I hope these help you.I've got some more coming up in the next post. Any more suggestions?