Studying

day 7 december 10th, 2015

after two pretty low days, today was a high one! i finally presented and handed in my physics project worth 10% and then received a test back in maths which i did well on (96% yay!) so i’m quite proud of myself.

We’ve all been there at some point, and it especially sucks if you’re interested in the subject. Sorry this is long but I really hope it helps!

These are some things that bad teachers have in common, in my experience.

Qualities of a crappy teacher

relies entirely on videos to teach lessons

rarely, if ever, gives notes

doesn’t give reviews for tests either or any clues as to what is actually on the test

if they do give notes, they are disorganized, scrappy, and ultimately meaningless

doesn’t give straight answers when asked questions / answers questions with questions that don’t even make sense

loses your homework/essays all the time

they are genuinely surprised when their students actually do well

tells students not to study a certain thing because it won’t be on the test. Then it’s on the test and you’re screwed.

when showing how to do a problem, they only do the easiest examples ever. Honestly. You would be blessed to get a problem that easy on the actual assignment, where there are now super complicated problems that you have no idea how to do!

the homework assignments they give don’t help you understand the lesson better, it’s just a bunch of busy work.

they hand out a sheet, no explanation whatsoever, and say “alright. go do this” what? Go do what? Rip out my hair? I don’t even know what stoichiometry is and now I have 55 minutes to do it. Fabulous.

if someone does something wrong, the teacher just makes them do it over again and again, without helping the student understand or explaining anything

they hand back your tests five decades after you actually took it. What was the test even on? Same deal with homework and worksheets

They often have a condescending behavior towards students and make students feel stupid when they get something wrong or ask questions

Now that you’ve verified that you indeed have a crappy teacher, here are some tips to actually do well in their class. Impossible? Nope. But it will take more effort to get a good grade in this class and understand the material because you are now both the teacher and the student. (Sorry I talk about Khan Academy a lot, but at the same time, not that sorry because it’s a life saver).

Teach yourself lesson by lesson. If they won’t, you will. Make sure that you are learning the right material, so that you can ace your quizzes/ tests. Yes, it takes time, but it will be worth it once you can finally understand the class, I promise. You can teach yourself by relying on other sources to learn the material, such as the textbook you already have for the class, Khan Academy, and other online resources and study aids.

Don’t rely only on their notes, study materials, or worksheets to study off of or understand the material. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use them, you should definitely pay attention to them, as it might give you a clue as to what is on the test. However, you should probably invest some time into making your own notes and study materials outside of class, whether the material is from your class textbook or online resources. 

Khan Academy!!! (It’s completely free and amazing) I honestly can not stress how many times Khan Academy has saved my life and my grades, especially in math and science subjects. If there’s a lesson (or, let’s be honest, an entire class) that you’re having difficulty understanding, just go to KA and find the lesson and they will have videos that take you through it step-by-step. Also, you can pause and rewind the videos if you need to understand something better (unlike crappy teachers) and they do plenty of examples (unlike crappy teachers). I swear I’m not sponsored by them or anything, it’s just a life saver! You can take classes on there in your free time too. For example, I couldn’t fit a personal finance class into my school schedule, so I’m taking it on KA.

Use online sites and resources to help you understand the material. Quizlet is an app for creating sets of flashcards. In my opinion, they are way more helpful than notecards, because they have games using the terms you put in and different methods of studying the material (by spelling, term, definition, etc). Duolingo is great for learning languages and maintaining your vocabulary in a language you are taking in school. You can use SparkNotes to better understand literature and poetry (they also have great studying/ test prep materials). Shmoop is another great resource for poetry. Khan Academy has lessons on math, science, art, music, history, and economics. The Purdue OWL is a life saver when it comes to writing essays; it has everything you need to know about grammar, writing techniques, format (especially MLA format), and mechanics. Basically, it has all the info your crappy teacher failed to give you. 

STUDY. Good teachers go over the material enough to ensure that their students understand the material and they make sure the students are familiar with it. They will also usually go over the same materials in different ways, so that students with different learning styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) can benefit. Crappy teachers? Not so much. Therefore, the material is not ingrained in your mind, so you need to work harder than in other classes to familiarize yourself with the material and make sure you understand it enough to recall the information and be tested on it.

Practice what you’ve learned. Try to find practice quizzes and tests online on the subject and material you are learning. Sometimes there will be mini quizzes at the end of chapters in class textbook. Also, some of the online resources above have quizzes on the specific material.

Talk/ study with other people who are taking the same course or people you know who have taken the class in the past. If your friend is taking the same class as you but they have a different teacher, study with them and ask them for help and notes. If you know someone who has taken the class a previous semester or year, as them for help with the material and advice on tests and passing the class with a decent grade. You can also study with other people in your class, because it is likely that they are in the same position as you and you can all help each other out.

Script.

Troubleshooting basic software and hardware issues is something that you can put on your resume. So is rapid skill acquisition, for clicking around in a new program until you know how to use it. These are what we’re good at, Millennials. Don’t feel ashamed of it.

My mom and I hear a song on the radio with a female singer and the chorus is something about lilies growing on a hill. The radio doesn’t identify the artist.

When we go home, my mom will google, “Who sings the lilies song?” and if the song is popular enough the answer will be somewhere on the first page, maybe. 

The Google thing especially is a skill that will carryover into the workplace and potentially bring you praise from your supervisors and certainly help you out at home, like in the lyrics example above. I work as a reference librarian in a public library, which means all of my coworkers are information experts and spend a huge chunk of their day looking things up. And despite only working their a year, I can find the answers to “simple” questions almost instantly, whereas it may take my coworker a few minutes or more to find the same thing. This isn’t to say she isn’t smart or good at research—she’s probably the most skilled person I know in that area—it’s just that I understand modern keyword search terms better. We Millennials (and Homelanders) just understand the best way to formulate a search, because it’s something we do all the time and have always done.

It’s the same thing for computer troubleshooting. It’s not that we’re all computer experts, it’s just that we have knowledge of what “usually” works and know the different little things to check. This is something we grew up with, figured out along the way, or, depending on how old we are, maybe even learned in school. Personally, I was lucky enough to be in the weird middle ground when basic computer skills were actually taught in schools, right in the sweet spot where computers were just popular enough that we might have one at home and just before they became normal and common knowledge. That wasn’t an option for our parents or anyone older, because the technology just wasn’t around for them to be familiar with early on. 

“life is tough, but so are you” //

4 more days to my final year exams, 16 more days to freedom! all the best to those taking their exams soon too! it’s the final lap, press on and don’t give up!

So many people want friends on Tumblr, but let’s face it, Tumblr’s messaging system sucks. So I’ve decided to create a group on Facebook for those of us that want to make some friends. Just keep reading to find out how to join! :)

Don’t have to be following anyone, but following me would be nice since this is a lot of work to keep going

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How to study like a straight A student

I did really well during my first year of college, and aside from a B+ in statistics (which was really good for me, haha! I’m not good at math), I had A’s in all of my classes. I’m certain that the reason I did so well was due to the way that I figured out how to study, so here are some tips I have based on what I did to study this past year!

1. Sit in the front row.

This isn’t high school anymore, it’s not embarrassing or nerdy to sit in the front row. By sitting in the front row, you won’t be tempted to check your phone and you won’t be distracted by looking at the people around you. I focus best in the front row. This also gives you a chance to easily ask any questions you have.

2. Show up to class a little early.

Show up to class about five minutes early every day, if possible. During the time it takes your professor to get set up, read through your previous notes. If you do this every day, you’ll begin to memorize info that you certainly wouldn’t have learned if you spent those five minutes before class just scrolling through tumblr. 

3. Type your notes and print them out.

If you prefer to spend a lot of time on hand written notes, then go crazy. However, I don’t really have time to make aesthetic notes, so I prefer to just write my notes by hand during class, then copy them into microsoft word so I can organize and print them out. This makes the notes much easier to read, and it’s much easier on the eyes. 

4. Do every assignment. Yes, EVERY assignment.

I don’t know why there’s advice floating around on tumblr telling people that it’s okay to skip a ton of homework assignments, because I definitely wouldn’t recommend it at all. Of course some assignments might be stupid or seem too small to matter, but if you’re being graded on them, you need all the points you can get. Trust me, just because homework assignments only account for 10-15% of your final grade, that doesn’t mean that they won’t be the difference between a B+ and an A-. Think about it: if your homework is 10% of your grade and you didn’t do it, you would literally have to get NOTHING wrong on your exams just to get the lowest A- possible. 

5. Don’t skip. Don’t skip. Don’t skip. 

Don’t skip if you can help it. If there is a serious emergency and you really can’t make it, try your hardest to get the best notes you can from someone who was in class. There’s nothing worse than sitting down for a test and realizing that a ton of the questions are about content you missed when you were absent. 

6. Go over material in your head when you’re not busy. 

If you’re in the shower or waiting in line at the cafe, go over class material in your head. Think about what you learned that day. If you do this often, this will help significantly with retention. 

7. Make flashcards throughout the semester, not the night before the final.

Don’t be one of those students who has to relearn an entire textbook the week before finals. If you’re studying right, studying for finals should be relatively painless. Throughout the semester, make flashcards of class content and regularly go over them. The easiest way to do this is to use quizlet.com and fill in definitions and other things you need to know, and use their helpful games and quizzes to memorize the info. It even keeps track of the definitions you rarely get wrong, so you know what you don’t need to study as much. 

8. Makes specific agendas for what you need to study and get done. 

When I study, I need to have a very specific to-do list detailing exactly what I want to get done. This will motivate you to keep going because you’re able to check off what you’ve already done. 

9. Don’t get discouraged by a bad grade- take it as motivation.

22/May - 2015