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College Tips?


Gamerdude5448
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That isn't comfortable? I pick the most comfy spot I can find.

If you pick a spot that is comfortable, you'll get sleepy easier and end up not studying as well. My teacher said "Think about it, why are the chairs in classrooms so uncomfortable?"

  • Use RateMyProfessor.com to find the best teachers for your classes for next semester or for future semester

I second this.

 

  • Don't drop out, no matter how hard/stressful college will get.

Agreed, never just drop out of college. But, dropping classes can be a good idea. At my college, if you drop by a certain date, you can get a half-refund, if not a full one, and not have it count against your GPA. If you know you aren't going to pass, and you are still within a full-refund period, I'd feel it's better to drop and try again. Most of the time, if you're struggling early one, you're going to struggle later because concepts frequently build on from ones you learned earlier in the class.

 

Another one: Don't overload yourself on classes. The phrase "Don't bite off more than you can chew" applies here.

 

They also say for every hour you spend in class, you should spend 2 hours studying.

 

(I'm actually in college right now so I'm going through all this right now)

Edited by Ceris
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Well, here's all you need to know. Classes: nothing before eleven. Beer: it's your best friend, you drink a lot.

 

Typical lazy college student viewpoint on classes, lol. I take an 8am everyday because:

 

A) I don't see what's so bad about waking up early...you do it for a couple weeks and the body and mind adapt to that change and before you know it, waking up early isn't "annoying."

 

B) You get your classes done with earlier...

 

And drinking beer...a lot? Lol, yeah good luck with your liver in a few years. I hate those college kids that do nothing but party while their hard earned scholarships or parent's money go to waste because they're too wasted/stupid to show up to class the next day and end up failing a course.

 

Agreed, never just drop out of college. But, dropping classes can be a good idea. At my college, if you drop by a certain date, you can get a half-refund, if not a full one, and not have it count against your GPA. If you know you aren't going to pass, and you are still within a full-refund period, I'd feel it's better to drop and try again. Most of the time, if you're struggling early one, you're going to struggle later because concepts frequently build on from ones you learned earlier in the class.

 

Same here. If you aren't doing well/don't have any interest in the class, most colleges allow you to "withdraw" from the course within 2-4 weeks and it will not harm/count towards your GPA. You'll be 3 (or 4) credits short if you end up dropping, but at least you won't sit there all semester dreading an awful class and potentially failing it.

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Want some advice?

 

Well, yeah.

 

Well, here's all you need to know. Classes: nothing before eleven. Beer: it's your best friend, you drink a lot. Women? You're a freshman, so it's pretty much out of the question. Will you have a car?

 

Uh, no.

 

Someone on your floor will. Find them and make friends with them on the first day.

 

 

 

Isn't this basically a direct quote from PCU?

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Correlation does not equal causation. Bogus studies. Sleep is overrated.

 

Typically I wouldn't waste my time responding to idiotic statements made by morons on the internet, but in the off chance that the OP may actually take you seriously I'll just leave a link to one such study.

 

Study by the Jane and Terry Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.

Edited by ReaptheChaos
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One thing I did in some of my classes (where taking notes was like running a marathon with my hands) is use my iPod to record a voice memo of the lectures. Then, later, transfer the audio into Word documents, and then print. Made life soooo much easier.

 

I was trying to find a way to do that but I have no idea how to turn the audio into a Word document.

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As a second semester Freshman at James Madison University who earned a 3.625 his first semester I can give you some good advice. First, as everyone has said, time management is key. Get a planner and write down your tests dates and homework. Most professors mark due dates in the syllabus you get the first day of class. Make sure you plan when you will study and when you will go to activities. If you can, study at least 5 days in advance for a test. This helps your brain remember better. Also, as previously mentioned, sleep is essential. It is better to sleep than cram. Try to get at least 7.5-9 hours a night. Also, do not let the party atmosphere of college get in the way. There will be a ton of peer pressure, but most people will respect you for being unique and independent. I have experienced this due to my personal choices. The best advice I can give though is work ahead, plan ahead, and manage your time. If you take notes, go to class, and do the assigned readings you will do fine. Make sure that you take active notes during lectures and when you read. Professors will quiz you on readings without ever discussing them. This means take pages of notes on readings, this goes beyond the bold word method that was viable in high school. Good luck!

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as a guy on the internet who dropped out of pretigious Hudson County Community College and maintained a rad 2.2 GPA in highschool, my advice would be to play video games and drink beer and also to party hard. another good thing to do is have fun and do youre best. make sure to learn how to wright properely, and also how to use good grammer. I, in my personal opinion, find that not sleeping was a good idea and to take adderall to study was a good idea. many people will try to peer pressure you into partying, and the best thing to do is to party with them because college is all about connections and its not what you know its who you know has herpes and can get you a job for keeping quiet. people have no respect for nerds who don't party and in the real world, all the rich people are cool and not smart but they have great personalities. don't take notes, just get them from upperclassmen because professors teach the same shit every year and if you can just blow smoke up their ass, you'll prolly be good.

 

good luck and party on garth

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as a guy on the internet who dropped out of pretigious Hudson County Community College and maintained a rad 2.2 GPA in highschool, my advice would be to play video games and drink beer and also to party hard. another good thing to do is have fun and do youre best. make sure to learn how to wright properely, and also how to use good grammer. I, in my personal opinion, find that not sleeping was a good idea and to take adderall to study was a good idea. many people will try to peer pressure you into partying, and the best thing to do is to party with them because college is all about connections and its not what you know its who you know has herpes and can get you a job for keeping quiet. people have no respect for nerds who don't party and in the real world, all the rich people are cool and not smart but they have great personalities. don't take notes, just get them from upperclassmen because professors teach the same shit every year and if you can just blow smoke up their ass, you'll prolly be good.

 

good luck and party on garth

 

I'm so glad you're mocking me. I bet you're all the rage with your friends. Now I remember why I don't use this board anymore. It's probably because of all the ignorant disrespectful pricks who populate the boards now like yourself.

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Correlation does not equal causation. Bogus studies. Sleep is overrated.

 

^THIS

 

Typically I wouldn't waste my time responding to idiotic statements made by morons on the internet, but in the off chance that the OP may actually take you seriously I'll just leave a link to one such study.

 

Study by the Jane and Terry Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.

 

 

Ignorance at its finest, you are trolling us right? Or are you pretending to be stupid?

 

Firstly, it's one study.

 

secondly, quoting from the article:

 

"Fuligni said the study's findings do not suggest that teens should spend less time studying overall, but that those teens who give up sleep to study more than usual are more likely to have academic problems the following day."

 

This shows that it is not Cause and effect, it was just a relationship. If it was cause and effect the result would always be the same.

 

Thirdly:

 

"

For 14 days in each of the 9th, 10th, and 12th grades, 535 students from several Los Angeles-area high schools reported"

 

 

The study was 14 days. - Snapshot, not a lot of data gathered.

Only for ages in 9th, 10th, 12th grades - Age bias, data gathered is only applicable to those ages, other aged people may act differently.

535 students - how is this even generalizable? 535 people researched out of 7 billion people and now your statement of "sleep more = smarter/do well" is automatically valid and true? I think not.

Los-Angeles - Ethnocentric bias, results are also only applicable to the Los-Angeles area.

Reductionist - As stated before, it ignores other factors, eg Individual differences.

 

 

 

Come back with a better study, what is this garbage? A little correlation is not causation. They teach you this in standard biology lessons.

 

 

EDIT:

 

Good lord, just read this:

 

"they were surprised to find that diminishing sleep in order to study was actually associated with doing more poorly on a test, quiz, or homework (the opposite of the students' intent)."

 

RELATIONSHIP.

 

Good lord, that should be all from me.

 

 

 

EDIT 2: Can't keep my word, sorry.

 

Read another one of these "factual" articles about sleep. Here's the opening sentence:

 

"Getting more high-quality sleep is associated with better academic performance, according to a research abstract that will be presented on Wednesday, June 10, at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies. The positive relationship is especially relevant to performance in math."

 

 

Game, set and match?

Edited by Jakez123
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Self Control is key. I had great success scheduling time to work on assignments. Set goals and don't give up on them. For example, I would set a target that Monday after classes I would research and find references for my paper. Tuesday I would put together the paper's skeleton chart of what I wanted to say. Wednesday I would create rough opening and closing statements for each section. Thursday, reinforce the statements with the references, and add a couple of rough sentences to add meat. Friday, reword sections and completely fill out paper. Saturday, smooth out the wording so it flows. Sunday, proof read for writing errors and ensure the argument is logical, send copy to a proof reader. Monday, make final adjustments and submit. The only day this will take longer than 30 minutes is the first day. If the paper isn't due for a couple of weeks, then you can spread this out a bit more, but the sooner you get it done, the sooner you can do fun things stress free. That being said, you can do this process in a day if need be, but I find breaking it up into very small segments allows you to balance a heavy and often conflicting work load in college/university. I did this and I was a Dean's List student while playing a varsity sport.

 

Sleep is insanely important, but also don't underestimate the importance of having fun and meeting people. Engaging in social elements at school can help you feel more fulfilled, connected to your surroundings, and help you get through the hard times. School isn't just a place to study, but also a great chance to start building your network. You never know who might have that connection that will land you an awesome job, so don't neglect the social element of school.

 

Good luck!

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That PCU quote cracks me up :)

 

It's been quite funny to read through most of this.

 

From experience sleep is not overrated. Unless you happen to be the type of person who can function reasonably well on no sleep. I know I'm not. Without sleep I might as well shamble along mumbling "Braaaaaiiiiiiinnnnnssssssss...." rather than try to be productive.

 

Get sleep at home when you do get some, if you don't, classrooms during a seminar are a poor substitute. You can't write a paper or an exam properly either when half of your brain is in la-la land day dreaming about your pillow and counting sheep.

 

That whole don't procrastinate thing? Yah. 100%. I'm a bad procrastinator and it didn't work out too well in college for me :p Even if something is easy, it will take time to finish so take that time.

 

Not practicing what I preach myself at the moment, on course right now and already a week behind on an assignment :o

 

If you're taking public transit to and from school it's a great opportunity to catch up on reading or a nap. Either works.

 

Eat healthy, it's hard to do when on a starving student budget but if you're eating well the rest of you will function better, including that brain thingy. Get those damn veggies in!

 

Frozen veggies

Bag of rice

Rice cooker

 

Voila

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1. Since you're going to start college next year I will assume that you won't be able to chose your classes for the first semester. In that case, I recommend that you go to your college several days before the semester starts, so you can identify the buildings and classrooms your classes will take place. In my first semester I didn't get to choose my classes and only had 10 minutes to go from Spanish to Geography, for example, in two different buildings. So what I did was learn where each building was at and what floor my classrooms were in. I kept doing that until my second year when I already knew all the buildings and the quickest way to get to them.

 

2. I recommend that you write everything in the class. Well not everything, no need to write your professor's trip to X country when he was X years old. Write doing everything relating to the class, even the smallest details. I found that I learned best when I wrote everything down and I didn't need to study for tests because I memorized mostly everything.

 

3. Identify the best method of learning that works for you. If you're like me, and the best method is by writing, then write everything down. Write it again for a test, verbatim or organize it better. If the best method for you is to study in groups then go for it. Or by reading, then do it.

 

4. Avoid groups. This might be because I hate people, but I hated groups. Usually they distract you and don't work. Avoid group work since there will always be at least ONE person who doesn't do anything and will take credit for the work. They will not respond to phone calls or emails and will come up with a cheap excuse for everything.

 

5. Try to always be early to class. It's a good habit and it avoids problems. If you drive to campus you will avoid traffic. If you live in campus then being early to a class gives you more time to prepare. Instead of trying to arrive on time, you can wake up earlier eat something, read or study or do the homework and not be stressed before class. Not to mention that the professor will notice your punctuality.

 

6. Always try to go to class. Some professors deduct overall points for tardiness and absence. I seldom didn't go to class and when I didn't everyone noticed. This proved to help me since professors were more likely to cut me some slack or be more willing to write letters of recommendation. This is especially good when you're taking classes with professors of your department.

 

7. Always try to do the homework, reading, assignments, etc. early. When reading for a class I recommend you write down the important parts of the paper/book/ article/ etc. so you remember them during discussions. The more time you have to read and do assignments the better they will be. IF you have to do a term paper I recommend you start early. It will be hard since you will procrastinate: "Oh it's due in December! It's only August, I have time!". You should keep in mind that the last month of the semester is usually when you have to hand in all paperwork and have most of the exams. The sooner you finish your term paper the more time you can dedicate to other classes. Most of my classes were graded by a term paper(usually 20+ pages) (50%+ of the class total grade, some times it was 100%). Once you have guaranteed your 50% or 100% of the grade you can genuinely enjoy the class, stress-free.

 

9. If you plan on staying in academia after BA, I suggest you think of what program you'd like to do afterwards. If you follow the above tips professors will be more willing to help you and guide you after your degree. You should choose one topic and work it really well for your postgrad work or have on topic you want to work out. The more concrete the idea or topic the better chances of being accepted.

 

10. Don't trust professor rating systems. A LOT of students are lazy and will bitch if the professor gives a lot of reading or work or if they're strict. When choosing classes, look for the best professor in the field. I regret not having taken more classes with two professors, one because everyone told me to avoid him (he was strict, the class was hard, etc) the other because I chose classes because of schedule. The better the professor is in the field, the more you will learn and enjoy the class.

 

11. If you're a lazy person or tend to procrastinate I suggest you choose a heavy schedule. By heavy I mean that you are forced to stay in campus for long amounts of time so you can stay in the library and do all the assignments the same day or work on term papers. This way you will have less stress and more free time in the long run. While everyone is stressing out in May you can sit back and enjoy early summer.

 

12. Study everyday. Try to take out an hour of your day to study, review everything that has been discussed. Some classes will give a final-final exam which will cover the whole course. If you take language courses I recommend you dedicate one hour of study to that language by itself. If you study everyday you can relax and enjoy the weekends.

 

13. Self discipline: Even though you're not old enough to drink it would be best to have discipline. Friends might offer to have a drink or hang out or do something, and while I'm not telling you to not do them, keep in mind what you have to do in the classes. In my case the legal drinking age is 18 and when I started college I could buy drinks. Heck, I could have gone out of my class, walk ten minutes and enter a bar. The best thing to do is to leave all the partying and hanging out to when you've finished most of the class work. I personally left all the partying to my last year when I only needed 5 classes to graduate. I divided them 3-2 so I could graduate in May. The stress load was significantly smaller and I had a lot of free time. While everyone worried about the work they had to do I had fun. In my last semester I took 5 classes and only needed 2 to graduate; I could have failed 3 classes and still graduated.

 

14. Sleep! It's better to sleep 8 hours and wake up early in order to study or do an assignment than pulling an all nighter. You will remember and memorize more work by sleeping and pay more attention in class.

 

15. Try to find books for a cheap price. In my experience we didn't use much books, mainly papers or pdfs. When we did buy books, I waited for a bit and try to find them cheaper or erm...free :)

 

Follow these tips and you should be okay. I graduated magna cum laude (3.78 gpa) from my university and had a blast. My gaming wasn't affected and I didn't have to do many changes to my habits. I didn't do great in my first year because I had to take classes I didn't want or like (General Education) but once I started taking classes in my faculty and major it was great. That's where fun begins, studying something you love. If you can afford it and have the time, take more than 5 classes (15 credits). I would often take 18 credits per semester which allowed me to have a lighter load in my last year (I finished in four years with like 24 extra credits) and took classes I enjoyed like German.

 

Edit:

 

16. In summer or winter break take some time to read something about the classes you're going to take. Once you have some knowledge in them the class will be a lot easier. If you take language courses keep on practicing during the summer or winter.

 

17. Don't trust people in the classes. Try to get a couple of people's emails or phone numbers in case you're absent one day. But, overall, people will try to use you or take advantage of your help in a class. It was funny how I was the popular guy during a "hard" course and everyone wanted to be my friend, but once the semester was over they moved on. Thankfully I trolled most of them in one of my last classes :)

Edited by Darth Odan
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