Study Habits

This Weeks Quote #5

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:09:47 +0000

It’s time again for another (hopefully) inspiring educational quote. Today, the quote comes from a clinical psychiatrist who studied, lectured, and wrote about the connections between neurobiology and psychoanalytical concept.

Education, like neurosis, begins at home – Milton Sapirstein

It’s a shame that far too many parents view a childs education as something that takes place only at school/college/university. This is obviously not the case, the education process starts at the home and that’s why it’s so important to not only be educated outside of our homes but inside them as well.

That’s all for today, if you have anything to add please feel free to comment below!

Bringing Food to the Exam, A Good Thing?

admin — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:01:31 +0000

Some people do it, others do not. I’ve always wondered if bringing some snacks to the exam is more helpful than it is hurtful. Although I’m not entirely convinced to either side (yet) here’s my simple analysis of the problem (feel free give your own opinion in the comments).

As far as I’m concerned, bringing fruit & snacks to the exam has both positive as well as negative consequences. The obvious pros are.

Pros

Gives you energy. If you’re energized you can think more clearly, that’s why eating small amounts of sugar results in a energy rush.

The act of chewing itself can be beneficial. When we chew we are quite literally forcing our brain to be awake since the act itself requires the jaws to move.

Eating is good. We all know that. The reason that I feel so ambivalent on this issue has to do with the following.

Cons

Sometimes sugar gives the opposite effect. Ever eaten too many chocolate bars? Then you know how it feels to be overly stimulated by carbohydrates, you may even start dozing off in the middle of the exam!

There’s also the risk of getting preoccupied with the food instead of focusing on the exam.

In the end, I believe this is a decision that should be taken with great care. If you know that you eat way too much while taking the exam, perhaps you should consider discarding the food and bringing only water instead (bringing liquids is always a plus). I

Hurray For Our New Sections!

admin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 06:43:57 +0000

As some of you have noticed, we now feature a new page called “subjects”. I’ve planned to add a number of different educational topics (such as math, physics, chemistry, literature, social sciences etc) and list free educational videos, lectures, softwares and guides!

As you can see, the project is still ongoing and I felt like I had to ask you for advice before we could proceed.

Do you have any suggestions on what kind of topics or materials you want to have featured?

If so, please send me a comment below!

This Weeks Quote #4

admin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:15:04 +0000

It’s been a while and I feel it’s time to begin posting again. What better way to start the day than with a juicy quote. This weeks quote comes from a fellow by the name of Derek Bok, former president of Harvard University.

“If you think education is expensive – try ignorance.” – Derek Bok

Education may be expensive and time consuming but in the end of the day, wouldn’t you rather be knowledgeable in something that interests you? In Cost-benefit analysis you have to take into account not only how much you paid for something (e.g college) but also how much you pay in lost value by not paying for that thing.

Pareto’s Study Method

admin — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:22:04 +0000

I recently had an encounter with an old professor of mine. As an expert in Environmental Science she is always quick in to remind me to view the whole picture, never to look at a certain pollution as an endemic phenomenon but instead as intricate part in a bigger cycle.

Thus, she claimed that a student as brilliant as myself (her wording was a little different) would benefit more if I actually attended her classes (what an outrageous statement, don’t ya think?). She -much like most teachers- claimed that the best way to study is by engaging all senses into the process, the more the merrier.

Here’s where I disagree.

I prefer to view it from an engineers point of view, why differentiate and diversify when you can assimilate and optimize. If I learn more by reading lecture notes in the privacy of my home, then why on earth should I be forced to sit through long and tiresome lectures.

Here’s where the Pareto principle comes into the picture. The Pareto principle basically says that 80% of your results comes from 20% of your efforts.

So let’s say you were to try to study by using all your senses; attending lectures (hearing) and by reading (sight) and by taking notes (writing) and you were to discover that almost all of your results stem (only) from the reading that you did. If that is the case, I would recommend you optimize that outlet and allocate most of your (if not all) time pursuing that method.

It should be noted that my argument is not to say that you should leave lectures all together (some people learn best by mixing all outlets), I’m simply saying that if you notice that one method works a lot better than the rest, you should focus on that method. Always optimize, even if it means you wont diversify.

I am back

admin — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:06:56 +0000

As you might have noticed, I haven’t been around that much lately. Starting today, I plan to change that. You see, I’ve been a little busy at campus (it’s not always a smart idea to study more than the curriculum requires, that’s for sure ) and have thus not been able to update the site regularly. From now on, I plan to go back to the lovely old days where the blog was updated almost on a daily basis.

Oh and also, the blog now has a new theme, I felt the old one was more limiting and that the site needed some versatility.

Anyhow, feel free as usual to comment about anything you would like. I have some plans for some (hopefully) exciting topics and even plan to finish that new student community interface I was talking about. In other words, there’s a lot happening the coming weeks so buckle up and subscribe to our feed if you haven’t done so already.

Educational Quote #3

admin — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:03:13 +0000

Yes, you heard me right. It’s time for yet another installment of our Educational Quotes series. Today, I would like us to ponder this famous quote by an contemperary librarian at Yale.

“We’re drowning in information and starving for knowledge”

- Rutherford Rogers

These words were said a few decades ago and they are even truer in this time and age. We now have access to loads and loads of information, the indexed web alone is estimated to contain 40 billion pages! Considering all of this, one has to ask the question; has this overflow of information really made us more knowledgeble?

I personally do not think so, as knowledge does not equal information. Do you agree to the above quote or do you disagree? Please share your comments below

What’s Been Going On?

admin — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:28:21 +0000

Hello!

Believe it or not, I’m still alive and present. I guess you, my respected readers are allowed to ask… “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN THE LAST 4 MONTHS?” Good question.

I’ve been busy working…

Working with this site and changing it, BIG time. Basically, this site will together with a group of talented programmers & web designers face an extreme makeover.

So what new features am I talking about?

New stylish web 2.0 interface
Dozens of new (and free) guides, articles and reports.
Several video & audio lectures and screen casts revealing some top notch study techniques.
Lots of new free tools to help you improve your study results
Free Membership type site where you can track your results and how they’ve changed over time.
Professional tutoring staff; get answers to your questions and get help with your exams, assignments etc
Lots and lots of other things I really don’t want to reveal yet

It’s all going to be FREE, it will (hopefully) be sponsored by a few organizations that I can’t really name yet. Please, leave me suggestions for the new site if you have any. I am really looking forward to this (the deadline is around summertime, can’t be anymore specific).
Stay tune, and thans for all those who’ve sent me a message. Take care!

Why Studying The Day Before Is Bad…

admin — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 09:38:52 +0000

We’ve all heard it being said over and over again. Studying the night before the exam is bad! Never ever do it! But have ever pondered why it’s so bad as it’s often said. Well, here today, I am going to show you the major reason for it’s suckiness (is that a word, eh who cares…)

There are number of different reasons why starting to study the night before the exam stinks, such as:

“You wont remember squat!”
I couldn’t have said it any more simpler. It doesn’t work, no matter how good you can absorb information, it simply doesn’t work! A recent study by Jeffrey Ellenbogen of Harvard Medical showed that students who were given rest the night before could recall 76 percent of the test material while those who had gone without shut-eye only remembered 32 percent.

Statistics are very powerful and convincing.

“Oh, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. Forty percent of people know that.” H. J. Simpson

¤ How To Be Focused – Be more focused on your studies.
¤ Personal Life Coaching – Can you be your own coach?
¤ Reading Comprehension – How to stay focused when reading.
¤ Elearning Course – Is it really worth it?.
¤ How To Find Inspiration – Lost your inspiration for writing? Read this!

When To Quit A Course…

admin — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 09:59:24 +0000

I’m a huge optimist, there is no question of that, but despite this one has to acknowledge that sometimes there is no point in continuing…

You have to quit.

The problem is, how can you decide when to quit and when to continue?

I personally believe that there’s two major reasons that makes people quit a study course: a) You lose interest in the subject. b) It becomes too difficult.

In case a there is no real controversy, if you don’t like it or if you feel it’s wrong for you; then just quit it! But what about our second scenario?

It’s here that things get a little difficult. Normally I would say that should keep on until you reach your goals, no matter how much effort it takes. Nevertheless there are some moments when you know you can’t continue, what do you do?

1. Seek Advice

Always seek advice from wise people who know about your affairs before you decide to quit a course. The person your asking must have a genuine interest in your well being, don’t ask someone who doesn’t really care what happens in your life. That’s why asking close relatives could be a real goldmine.

2. Write A Comparison
If you’ve done step 1, I would advice you to bring a white piece of paper and write down everything -both positive and negative- that could happen if you decide to quit. Write them down on two different columns and notice which one outweighs the other.

What do you say? Do you have any way of knowing if should continue or quit, please share by commenting!