Study Prof

~~The “100 Words (or Less)” series gives you a super-short summary of what you need to know about the subject at hand and does it in 100 words or less. Check the link at the bottom for more detailed info about the topic.~~

Break it Down. Take a big task and divide it into smaller sub-tasks. Sub-tasks should be small enough that you won’t procrastinate about them.

Assemble Your Materials. Then there are no excuses not to get started.

Schedule the Sub-Tasks. A date. A start time. An end time.

Commit Publicly. Tell everyone who will listen how you WILL have it done by time X.

Do it. Putting it off? The sub-task was too big. Go back to step one.

Reward Yourself. Small rewards for completing a sub-task. Bigger rewards for a series of sub-tasks. Huge reward for total completion.

See more on beating procrastination.

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Cody Blair has spent over a decade helping students and teachers discover the secrets that make learning simple! His ebook, Secrets Smart Students Know, reveals how the best students use powerful study skills, maximize their memory, avoid procrastination, and maximize their focus to achieve fantastic grades with much less work! Click now to find out more about simple methods to maximize your study skills.

© Cody Blair, All Rights Reserved. You may reprint the above article as long as you include the above bio/resource information in full, including the functioning links. Do not make any changes to the article or bio. If you can't include clickable links, please ask permission to reprint.

~~The “100 Words (or Less)” series gives you a super-short summary of what you need to know about the subject at hand and does it in 100 words or less. Check the link at the bottom for more detailed info about the topic.~~

Superior Notes do four things.

C – They Capture the information you need AND none of the fluff.

O – They Organize the information, making it easier to see the structure and easier to understand and recall.

P – They Process the information going beyond the information to it’s implications and the questions it raises.

S - They make it easy to Study the information. Superior notes are laid out in such a manner that they can easily be used to self-quiz, without having to make flashcards, retype, etc.

See these posts on better note-taking for more  on each of these.

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Cody Blair has spent over a decade helping students and teachers discover the secrets that make learning simple! His ebook, Secrets Smart Students Know, reveals how the best students use powerful study skills, maximize their memory, avoid procrastination, and maximize their focus to achieve fantastic grades with much less work! Click now to find out more about simple methods to maximize your study skills.

© Cody Blair, All Rights Reserved. You may reprint the above article as long as you include the above bio/resource information in full, including the functioning links. Do not make any changes to the article or bio. If you can't include clickable links, please ask permission to reprint.

Take a look at Unforgettable, a short pdf ebook on memorizing vocabulary easily and effectively. A quick read will give you the inside scoop on…

• The quick and simple way to learn vocabulary for language classes and standardized tests like the GRE and SAT.
• How to soak up that tricky vocabulary like a sponge! Save time. Slave less.
• How to make those memories uber sticky. Memorize it once and it sticks for days (without more review).

A few short excerpts …

Does rote memorization work?  Yes … eventually, but compared to the other type of learning we’ve been talking about—“car wreck memory” we might call it—it’s like cooking steak with a candle.  Let’s learn how to turn on the gas.

We’ll look at four different keys to making the most of your memory…. If you apply these four keys, you will be a memory master … a black belt in brain fu … a wizard of wiles … a (fill in your own cheesy alliteration here).  Let’s get to it.

___________

We know that “car wreck” memory occurs when something is emotional and unusual.  We also know that it’s multi-sensory.  So how do we take something, like the definition of the word “turbid,” and make it multi-sensory, unusual, and emotional?

You aren’t going to believe me when I tell you.  It’s actually very easy, and it doesn’t seem real, but it absolutely works!  Here it is in a nutshell.  Ready? …

The short ebook will set you back $2.00 US. You can take that two bucks and buy a sugary drink and a bag o’ Funyuns and what do you get? Temporary taste bud titillation and diabetes.

OR you can take the same two bucks and purchase this handy quick guide to maximizing your memory,  and make studying easier for the rest of your life! Oye! Such a deal! Click the link below, pay via Paypal, and you’re off to the races…

Unforgettable .pdf eBook

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Cody Blair has spent over a decade helping students and teachers discover the secrets that make learning simple! His ebook, Secrets Smart Students Know, reveals how the best students use powerful study skills, maximize their memory, avoid procrastination, and maximize their focus to achieve fantastic grades with much less work! Click now to find out more about simple methods to maximize your study skills.

© Cody Blair, All Rights Reserved. You may reprint the above article as long as you include the above bio/resource information in full, including the functioning links. Do not make any changes to the article or bio. If you can't include clickable links, please ask permission to reprint.

Holy-frikkin-mooses. I just read three paragraphs in my Whirled History book, and I don’t have clue one on what it was about. How can I fish the beefy info chunks outta the steamy cesspool of facts that is my reading assignment?

If that’s your main pain, then consider this simple drill to make your mind into a magnet for important points in your reading.

First, mark up a (disposable) copy of your reading assignment. Take a red pen or marker and start eliminating non-essential words. Get all guvmint-censor/evil-english-teacher on it. Your goal is to mark out as much of each sentence as possible while still retaining the overall meaning. It should look like you tapped a vein and bled all over the paper. (more…)

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Cody Blair has spent over a decade helping students and teachers discover the secrets that make learning simple! His ebook, Secrets Smart Students Know, reveals how the best students use powerful study skills, maximize their memory, avoid procrastination, and maximize their focus to achieve fantastic grades with much less work! Click now to find out more about simple methods to maximize your study skills.

© Cody Blair, All Rights Reserved. You may reprint the above article as long as you include the above bio/resource information in full, including the functioning links. Do not make any changes to the article or bio. If you can't include clickable links, please ask permission to reprint.

Anyone who has ever tried to bulldoze their way through a narcolepsy inducing SAT or GRE reading comprehension passage will know just how hard it is to maintain focus when reading. No matter how hard you try to feign interest in scintillating topics like “The History of Corn Prices in 19th Century Dubuque” or “An In-Depth Look at Catatonia in Clams” we just can’t seem to keep our gray matter engaged. We end up like that dog in the movie Up. “Squirrel!”

I’ve got an easy fix to help keep your wayward brain on track and boost your comprehension.

Don’t be like Saint Ambrose.

Saint Augustine noted that when he went to visit Ambrose–then the bishop of a hoppin’ 4th Century Milan–he often found him reading silently. No lie. The guy read without saying the words out loud! I know. Weird, right? “When he read,” (more…)

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Cody Blair has spent over a decade helping students and teachers discover the secrets that make learning simple! His ebook, Secrets Smart Students Know, reveals how the best students use powerful study skills, maximize their memory, avoid procrastination, and maximize their focus to achieve fantastic grades with much less work! Click now to find out more about simple methods to maximize your study skills.

© Cody Blair, All Rights Reserved. You may reprint the above article as long as you include the above bio/resource information in full, including the functioning links. Do not make any changes to the article or bio. If you can't include clickable links, please ask permission to reprint.

The library at the University of Minnesota has provided a nice tool for helping you schedule out all the steps in larger projects such as term papers and presentations. As you may recall from earlier posts, breaking that monstuh project into bite-sized bits is a key way to give procrastination a swift kick in the put-offskies. Take a look here.

P.S. Pay special attention to the different template choices at the bottom of the page that allow you to tailor the results to the type of project your working on.

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Cody Blair has spent over a decade helping students and teachers discover the secrets that make learning simple! His ebook, Secrets Smart Students Know, reveals how the best students use powerful study skills, maximize their memory, avoid procrastination, and maximize their focus to achieve fantastic grades with much less work! Click now to find out more about simple methods to maximize your study skills.

© Cody Blair, All Rights Reserved. You may reprint the above article as long as you include the above bio/resource information in full, including the functioning links. Do not make any changes to the article or bio. If you can't include clickable links, please ask permission to reprint.

Thank you, Engineering Student Services & Academic Programs Office at Texas A&M University! They have taken over the hosting of my Wired Study Tips podcast on iTunesU. If you haven’t already done so, bop on over to Wired Study Tips on iTunes and take a listen.

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Cody Blair has spent over a decade helping students and teachers discover the secrets that make learning simple! His ebook, Secrets Smart Students Know, reveals how the best students use powerful study skills, maximize their memory, avoid procrastination, and maximize their focus to achieve fantastic grades with much less work! Click now to find out more about simple methods to maximize your study skills.

© Cody Blair, All Rights Reserved. You may reprint the above article as long as you include the above bio/resource information in full, including the functioning links. Do not make any changes to the article or bio. If you can't include clickable links, please ask permission to reprint.

Thas’ right, net denizens. The much-touted, new, improved, ultra-spiffy revised GRE has finally gone live. “But why,” you may ask, “would they bother releasing a kinder, friendlier GRE when the old one was oh-sooo splendiferous?” A good question. According to a recent email I received from the friendly folks at ETS–makers of the SAT, the GRE, and the wildly-invasive and test-taker friendly colorectal exam-o-scope*–

The GRE revised General Test:

• is more aligned with the skills needed to succeed in graduate and business school
• provides more simplicity in distinguishing performance differences between candidates
• is more test-taker friendly for an enhanced test experience

Well, garsh! Who wouldn’t want an “enhanced test experience?” These statements are the standardized-test-world equivalent of “nice personality” in a singles ad. I’m betting the real reason behind the makeover is marketing. Since clear research existed showing the old GRE was about as good at picking out potential grad school divas as Lady Gaga is at choosing an elegant yet refined evening ensemble, ETS was seeking to duck the data. This is much akin to my greet Aunt Dawn (and “greet” refers to the misspelled tattoo on the hairy knuckles (more…)

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Cody Blair has spent over a decade helping students and teachers discover the secrets that make learning simple! His ebook, Secrets Smart Students Know, reveals how the best students use powerful study skills, maximize their memory, avoid procrastination, and maximize their focus to achieve fantastic grades with much less work! Click now to find out more about simple methods to maximize your study skills.

© Cody Blair, All Rights Reserved. You may reprint the above article as long as you include the above bio/resource information in full, including the functioning links. Do not make any changes to the article or bio. If you can't include clickable links, please ask permission to reprint.

On my study skills video and in my study skills ebook I discuss the importance of taking frequent breaks during study sessions to boost recall and focus. Studying for 30 to 45 minutes and then taking a short 5 to 10 minute break can really boost your brain power.

Try this handy FREE online focus booster app to help you make sure you’re taking regular breaks and squeezing the most out of your brain’s capacity. Click on the “i” tab in the upper right to change the timing.

Improve your study focus with this free app

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Cody Blair has spent over a decade helping students and teachers discover the secrets that make learning simple! His ebook, Secrets Smart Students Know, reveals how the best students use powerful study skills, maximize their memory, avoid procrastination, and maximize their focus to achieve fantastic grades with much less work! Click now to find out more about simple methods to maximize your study skills.

© Cody Blair, All Rights Reserved. You may reprint the above article as long as you include the above bio/resource information in full, including the functioning links. Do not make any changes to the article or bio. If you can't include clickable links, please ask permission to reprint.

Take a look at this spiffy infographic to see oh-how-many-ways sleeping more can make you into the man, woman, or non-gender specific being you you always knew you could be!   Sleep Infographic

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Cody Blair has spent over a decade helping students and teachers discover the secrets that make learning simple! His ebook, Secrets Smart Students Know, reveals how the best students use powerful study skills, maximize their memory, avoid procrastination, and maximize their focus to achieve fantastic grades with much less work! Click now to find out more about simple methods to maximize your study skills.

© Cody Blair, All Rights Reserved. You may reprint the above article as long as you include the above bio/resource information in full, including the functioning links. Do not make any changes to the article or bio. If you can't include clickable links, please ask permission to reprint.