Study Prof

How far in advance should I start studying for a test?

You should be studying for the test at the beginning of the semester.  Every time you read a text or take notes in class, be thinking, “how will this look on the test?”.  Here’s what an optimal study schedule will look like. Study those notes…

• After each class, study the notes for that class within fifteen minutes of walking out the door, maybe while walking (more…)

Smiling at the right time can actually improve your grades!  So brush those choppers and start grinning. Here’s how …

1. Come to class a few minutes early to avoid being part of the herd.
2. Make eye contact with your professor as you walk in.
3. Smile warmly (Hint: imagine s/he’s your long lost cousin.  If you don’t like your cousin, imagine it’s your long lost cousin being attacked by rabid ocelots.) (more…)

In the past, I’ve talked about exactly when to study for each class you’re taking. Follow that schedule and you will spend less time to get better grades!

But don’t make the mistake of blindly following anyone’s schedules or methods (mine included). It’s all about strategery, people.

Not all classes are created equal.  Some classes you can cut that schedule in half and still get an A.  In other classes, you may have to double up. Treat your schedule like a strategy game; carefully decide where you will get the most payoff and act accordingly.

Example; I took a class in (more…)

Taking a prep course is really an ideal first step for most students.  If you’ve never built a house before, it would NOT be smart to go out and start pouring concrete and putting up boards on your own for a couple of months, and only then go talk to an architect/builder to find out exactly how to do things.

You normally start by getting with an architect to plan the building and by talking to a builder who knows something about exactly how to procede with each step of the process.  Taking a prep course is like talking to an experienced builder and architect first.  Although their services can come at a premium, they can help you make sure that none of your time and effort is wasted.  In fact, they will more than pay for themselves!

A GRE prep course can raise a student’s combined score an average of (more…)

If you think that excellent students read everything they are assigned for their college classes, think again. The best students know what material to read thoroughly, what material to skim, and what material to skip altogether. That saves them a lot of time and a lot of mental effort, since they aren’t focusing their attention and studying on materials that won’t be on the test.

Think about readings from the prof’s perspective. In general, it costs a professor very little to assign you a given reading. As they assemble their syllabi, it takes them all of thirty seconds to type “Read War and Peace, by Tolstoy, for the March 2nd class.” Doing the reading, however, will take you days! Assigning it (more…)

First–full-disclosure–I teach a GRE prep course and an SAT prep course for Texas A&M University.

Expensive courses can be worth it if you actually get the increases they claim. They could easily make you ten times as much as they cost, in the form of scholarships, fellowships, or better jobs!

What little independent research there is on the effectiveness of such courses shows little or no increase in score for those who buy the prep books (although buying the books is not the same as reading the books). Those who take prep classes show some improvement, and the greatest increases are among those who get personal tutoring. This research was specifically on the SAT, but the two tests are very similar. On the other hand, GRE students tend to be more self-motivated students than SAT students, so they might get better results from the books.

Pricier doesn’t mean better. Most courses teach pretty much the same stuff, because they all read each others books and integrate any new techniques they find. For the price of a classroom course from Kaplan or Princeton you can get live, one-on-one, GRE tutoring via the internet. That link is for my tutoring, but I’m sure there are lots more tutors out there. (more…)

Jeffrey Ellenbogen, a sleep research fellow at Harvard Medical School in Boston, found that those who studied and then slept on it did much better on a test the next day than those who didn’t sleep. In fact, sleepers got an average score 76% correct while the all-night crowd got only 32% correct! Find the full story here.

PSAT/NMSQT stands for “Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. It is the precursor to the SAT and, most importantly, it’s used to qualify for those coveted National Merit Scholarships you hear so much about.

Colleges pay attention to National Merit Scholars; that means they will come looking for you, instead of you having to try to get admitted! Even better; they will often actually pay for you to go to their school! As a National Merit Scholar you may be awarded additional scholarships to cover tuition, room and board, and even extra pocket money so you don’t have to work at all during college. In short, landing that National Merit Scholarship can make you tens of thousands of dollars AND make you look really good!

What is it? (more…)

Taking chemistry, biochem, physics, calculus, or their ilk? These courses are light on information to be memorized and heavy on problems to be solved and concepts to be grasped.

That takes time, effort, and repetition, just like learning to play the violin or to draw realistically. Here are some steps to make these sorts of courses much more manageable.

1. Don’t wait to get started. You can’t cram for these courses, so start studying on day one of the class.
2. Study regularly with frequent breaks. Your brain needs time between each study session to process new concepts, so study a little in the morning, a little in the afternoon, and do it each day. Research shows that marathon study sessions tend to be less effective.
3. Don’t substitute learning-about for learning. It’s very tempting to just read through your class notes or the textbook repeatedly. You feel like you are studying, but you really won’t get any better at solving the problems. To get better at the violin, you play the violin; you don’t read about playing the violin. Do practice problems, starting with easier ones and working to harder ones. Please log in or sign up to read the rest of this content. Find out more.