Study Prof

Can you imagine how far you could progress in a year if every week you did one, small thing differently and made it part of your routine? Can you do one small thing differently this week? Of course you can. One small thing is easy! But a year of one small thing per week gives you 56 changes. Next year you’ll be up to 112, then 168, and so on. The strongest cable is made up of many small strands.

Here are some possible small changes you might want to make for your physical, mental, and spiritual well-being

• Write your one small thing for the week on your wrist each morning and each night
• Review your notes immediately after each class
• Walk all the way around the building before going in
• Send a quick “hey, how are you?” email to someone you haven’t talked to in a few months each time you check your email
• Greet the prof when you walk into each class
• Make a to-do list each morning before classes or work
• Say a prayer before each meal
• Get the door for someone else whenever the opportunity arises
• Quickly think of three things for which your thankful each time you get in your car or on your bike
• Write a short blog post or journal entry each night before bed, even if it’s just to say, “nothing to say tonight.”
• Think of the names of the last three people you met each time you put your shoes on
• Brush your teeth one extra time each day
• Hold your breath for as long as you can each time you get in the shower…count…try to do it for longer each time
• Draw at least one picture for each major point in your class notes to help you recall
• Use three colors of ink when taking notes
• Carry flash cards and review them at every red light
• Every time you leave a room put at least one thing back where it belongs
• Always park at the far end of the parking lot so you have to walk further
• Pick up at least one piece of trash and throw it away every time you walk anywhere

What others can you think of?

Here’s a great site for learners at any stage.  I can personally attest to the effectiveness and time-saving qualities of these memory techniques.  They WORK!

The link between IQ and wealth is … non-existent!  That's according to a longitudinal study that's been going on since 1979.  Higher IQ individuals do tend to earn higher incomes, but that doesn't translate to increased wealth.  In other words, higher IQ people are just as likely to overspend and incur debt as their lower IQ counterparts.

Although the study isn't directly linked to academics it might lend credence to some ideas you might have read on this blog before.  As I've noted other places, sheer brain power has much less to do with academic success than other factors such as study skills mastery and self-control.

A recent study shows that we spend an average of 64 seconds to get back on track after reading an email.  That can add up to hours a week!

Solution? Check your email on a schedule, perhaps once every hour or two.  Maybe only once or twice a day, depending on your needs and how often you get really important emails.  I personally turned off my instant email notifier last year, because I had a tough time resisting the urge to check my email every time I received an alert. 

Obviously, this solution will not work if you have a boss who expects instant responses.  In that case, you'll need a new boss–preferably one who is smart enough to realize that having their employees drop everything every few minutes to cater to their latest crisis is probably not a very efficient management style.

Are you studying the wrong way? That will definitely cause you to work too hard.

Ever heard of the backwoods farmer who wanted to clear off an acre or so of heavily forested land? His sons, who were going to have to help in the back breaking-labor, told their father about a new invention known as a “chain saw” that could really speed up the process. The farmer went into town and purchased a chain saw. He returned home with the salesman’s final words still ringing in his ears. “This baby will let you cut down twice the trees in half the time!”

The farmer excitedly began cutting trees with the new chain saw, but by the end of the day he had actually cut much less than he could have done with his old hand saw. In disgust he returned the chain saw to the salesman. The salesman was flabbergasted. He couldn’t understand it. Perhaps this one was faulty. “Let’s take it out back and see what the problem is.” The farmer followed the salesman out to the back lot and jumped back hastily as the he fired up the chain saw. He yelled to the salesman, “what’s that noise?”

You can cut down trees with a chain saw, even when it isn’t running, but that’s definitely the hard way. In the same way, you can study for classes by doing rote memorization–going over your notes or flashcards again and again–but that’s definitely the hard way.

What you want is something like a cheat sheet. Sure it might take some time to make your cheat sheet and carefully conceal it, but it sure makes the test a lot easier. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to construct a cheat sheet that wasn’t really cheating? Something that the prof would be totally okay with?

I discovered something like that just before I began my first semester of grad school. It’s a way to make a simple cheat sheet that is actually stored on the inside of your school … the only truly OK place to keep a cheat sheet.

The first chance I had to try it out was in my human osteology class. Our first exam was on the bones of the human cranium–ethmoid, sphenoid, vomer, zygomatic, occipatal, etc. We had to be able to identify all the bones and know which bones each of these contacted. The ethmoid alone articulates with twelve other bones! That’s a lot to memorize for one test. In fact, just making a thorough, concealable, readable cheat sheet for the test could have easily taken me an hour.

Using an alternative to rote-memorization I memorized all the material–effectively storing a cheat sheet in my memory. I studied less than thirty minutes for the test and received a perfect score … the only one in the class! The class average was a 72 and most students had studied 8 to 10 hours. Needless to say, I was hooked! You can find out more about the technique I used here. There is also a nice overview of the technique in this college study skills video.

That experience set me on quest for other techniques that made learning more natural and easy. I’ve found many others including…

• Staggered review
• Using time you would normally waste
• Taking notes that aid recall
• Teaching others (whether real or imaginary)
• Taking frequent breaks

I’ve already blogged about many of these. Others I will be covering in upcoming posts so stay tuned!

By the way, my Wired Study Tips podcast on iTunes takes some of the most popular posts on this site and turns them into meaty, mp3 goodness. Check it out!

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Top Five Ways College Students Work Too Hard

1. Cramming
2. Taking too many notes on the wrong stuff
3. Reading more than you need to
4. Studying the wrong way
5. Not taking care of your brain

I've said it before, but you may not remember if you didn't take the hint, sleep helps your memory.  Here's a great blog that explains…

‘Kay, so far we’ve covered cramming (hint: don’t) and note taking (less is more). This time I’ll tell you why those of you who do all the assigned readings are probably wasting your time. Ever seen a syllabus with readings like this?

Poultry Lactation 101
COURSE SYLLABUS
…..
Class 12: Avian pituitary fluxions
Readings: MENSA for Dummies, F. Smoottinkler, pp. 119-827; Unabridged Transcript of Congressional Proceedings, 1806 to 2008, pp. 1-211; Latvian Journal of Yorkshire Terrier Psychiatry, May, 1972, pp. 23-117; Introduction to Poultry Lactation, K. Pootwhistle, et al., pp. 72-76
…..

Many of the assigned readings have a very tenuous relation to the actual class. Here’s a little known factoid for you; professors assign course readings using a page quota system based on astrological readings obtained from the Tibetan Book of the Dead. I’m speaking hyperbolically, of course, but don’t you sometimes wonder?

Some professors only assign you readings that you actually need to read in order to ace the exams. These profs get together at the Annual Profs-That-Don’t-Assign-Busy-Work Convention, held in beautiful Chappahiney, Indiana. Last year, both of them showed up. Most professors, however, seem to work with the assumption that if they read it at one time (or at least thought about reading it), you should have to read it too.