Favorite College Advice

People put so much focus on how to get into college that they sometimes forget what to do once they actually get there. There's so much great information out there but only some that have made an impact on me. So far I think the best advice actually lies in the chapter titles for Cal Newport's book, How To Win At College. These are the titles of my handpicked favorite chapters. I put a * next to the ones that I thought were most important.

• Create a Sunday ritual
• Drop classes every semester
• Start long-term projects the day they are assigned*
• Make your bed
• Apply to ten scholarships a year*
• Build study systems*
• Befriend a professor
• Become club president* 
• Read a newspaper every day
• Do one thing better than anyone else you know
• Avoid daily to-do lists
• Never nap
• Sign up for something your first week
• Always be working on a grand project*
• Blow the curve once a semester*
• Jump into research as soon as possible*
• Dress nicely for class
• Decorate your room
• Start studying two weeks in advance
• Write outside of class
• Don't study in your room*
• Join an honors program*
• Do schoolwork every day
• Attend guest lectures
• Exercise five days a week
• Take on a extra major or minor*
• Meet often with your adviser*
• Don't get a normal job
• Use three days to write a paper*
• Never pull an all-nighter
• Use high-quality notebooks
• Keep a work-progress journal
• Get involved with your major department*
• Always go to class
• Eat healthy
• Attend political rallies
• Find a secret study place
• Use the quiz and recall method
• Empty your inbox
• Start fast, end slow
• Spend a semester studying abroad

I can't wait to start using this advice next Fall! There's so much of it in the titles alone. I definitely recommend any college-bound students to go out and purchase this book if you haven't already. It's amazing how much you could learn in one sitting. 

- Arietta

I should be studying, but...

How do you resist procrastinating when it comes do studying? Cal Newport, founder of Study Hack, recommends asking yourself the 3 Hows:

1. How am I going to study?
2. For how long?
3. How do I know it will work?

Procrastination is not really the issue regarding your lack of studying. Rather, it is all about whether or not your plans for studying are actually going to reap any results. If the answer is yes to all 3 Hows procrastination will not be a problem for you because your brain knows that your plan to study is actually going to work.

Bottom-line is that anyone can overcome procrastination.

All you have to do is chose the studying techniques that work best for you. Whether that's active recall, making a visual, or playing a study game you created, make it so that by the time you take that exam you're relaxed, exceedingly confident in yourself, and have no doubt that you learned everything you needed to know.

Mental prepping is almost just as important as the actual study time. Make sure your relaxed and in a all-around good mood before any exam!

- Arietta

Studying 101 - Active Recall

I think the best way to start off discussing the topic of studying is to first explain one of the most effective studying techniques ever implemented. It is called Active Recall.

Now what is "active recall"?

• Explaining a concept out loud, in complete sentences, as if lecturing a class and without looking at your notes
• Explaining a concept with absolutely no help
• The only studying time that actually counts

Okay, so HOW do I use active recall?

• Look at each concept
• Look at each question
• Explain the concept out loud as if to an audience
• If good place (✓) mark next to concept
• If you stumble place (X) mark and come back to it later
• Study until you get a (✓) mark next to every concept
• Study less, get higher grades

Now what is "passive recall"? This is best summed up by an excerpt from an article by David Glenn:

Read carefully. Write down unfamiliar terms and look up their
meanings. Make an outline. Reread each chapter.
That's not terrible advice. But some scientists would say that
you've left out the most important step: Put the book aside and
hide your notes. Then recall everything you can. Write it down, or,
if you're uninhibited, say it out loud.

Why is passive recall not as effective as active recall?

"So you could say to yourself, 'Yeah, I know this. Sure, this is all
very familiar,'" Mr. Karpicke continues. "But of course, when you
go in to take a classroom test, or in real life when you need to
reconstruct your knowledge, the book's not there. In our
experiments, when students repeatedly read something, it falsely
inflates their sense of their own learning."

Passive recall gives you a false sense of what you know and what you don't know. On the other hand, active recall not only takes less time but it is more effective and thus results in higher grades and more time for all the other time consuming commitments to make room for in college.

I highly recommend this studying method!

- Arietta

Introduction

Over the past several weeks I have been trying to figure out: what is studying?

How many different ways are there to study and which methods work better than most?

What I found is that there are a million ways to study, but only a few will work well for the concept for which you are studying for. I learned about active and passive recall. I learned that sometimes it is better to take less notes, or at least a much more condensed version of your notes. I learned how to set up the right atmosphere for studying, how to resist procrastination, and much much more. 

Everything I have learned has been a combination of reading Cal Newport's blog, his books, and a few books I borrowed from the library such as How To Study by Ron Fry. All texts bear various amounts of academically life-changing advice. I will spend my whole summer learning the techniques from these books/blog.

My goal is to maintain a 4.0 GPA in college and to become what Cal Newport calls a "stand out student". During my last few months of high school I have surprised myself in many ways. First and foremost because I took up a major that has everything to do with the subject I fear the most - Math.  And I am actually looking forward to it. This fear I previously had was due to my lack of studying skills and now that I understand how to study this fear no longer controls me.

I am now ready for anything in college. 

This blog will be a combination of what I have learned about studying, and also what I have learned about being a successful student in college. 

- Arietta