Feeling Overwhelmed…?

Image “Falling Leaves” courtesy of stock.xchng user Mattox.

It’s late September. The leaves are turning yellow, the days are getting shorter, and… you are lost in your classes. You start to slip behind in one. No big deal, you’ll catch up on the weekends. Of course, hanging out with friends, playing video games, or getting drunk at frat parties are much more interesting than studying. And so you don’t catch up. Then more assignments start popping up. You procrastinate more because you’re behind and slip even further behind. That affect another class, and then another, and then another. And before you realize it, your prof starts to speak Martian. And soon, too soon, your first round of midterms are here.

While you can always dream about making the perfect cheat sheet or trying to do damage control after failing a midterm, your time might be better spent studying now. But how? How do you catch up if you are way behind in your classes?

Step 1: Start somewhere.

Choose a class to start with. It might be your most important course. It could be the one you’re most behind in. It could be the one you’re least behind in so you can quickly catch up and move on to classes you’re more behind on.

Step 2: Figure out why you’re behind.

Have you fallen so far behind that lectures no longer seem to make any sense? Does the prof have an accent you can’t understand? Is there another reason the lectures aren’t making sense? Is there a huge disconnect between what’s covered and practice problems at home? Do you always have trouble completing the assignments because they are too hard? Is there so much material you don’t know what to focus on?

List the top few reasons you think you’re behind in a course, then:

Step 3: Fix it.

Need to go over the material? Use an effective study technique and get through it. If your prof has an accent or you just have trouble understanding him or her the first time around, ask your prof if you can record the lectures. If the assignments seem to have nothing to do with the lectures, talk to your prof – there may be a connection you’re missing. Need help with the assignments? Go to office hours or form study groups. Don’t know what to focus on? Look for learning outcomes detailing exactly what you have to know or make it yourself.

Whatever the problem is, find one or more solutions and try them. 

Step 4: Reiterate

If your solution in 3 doesn’t work, don’t give up! Try another way to solve the problem. All caught up in one course? Repeat steps 1 through 3 for another course.

Step 5: There is no way to get around actually studying.

No, there is no magic bullet. And if you’re looking for an instant fix… well, please tell me when you find it. Because I would love to know! For now, nothing beats taking the time to actively learn and understand the course material. However, you can learn to be more efficient at learning. Really work on figuring out what study techniques work the best for you and how to minimize the amount you need to spend on a topic to understand or master it. In other words, judge how well you’re doing based on your progress and accomplishments, not by how much time you spend! In other words, don’t pseudo-study!

Quickie: 5 Things to do this Summer

It is finally feeling like summer! I know most of the country has been experiencing heat waves and forest fires, but where I live has just begun to heat up – yay!

If you’re heading to post secondary education in the fall, this is your last “huzzah” summer before you have to worry about jobs, tuition, and even summer school (unless you have lots of money and/or are really good at school and so don’t have to worry about these trivial things). So… what to do with your last few precious months of freedom? Consider these suggestions.

1. Travel. I know it’s a terribly cliché suggestion, but most people don’t travel a lot during university. And that is probably because of the afore mentioned jobs, tuition, and summer school. So if there is somewhere you really want to go… go now, or hold your peace for another four years.
2. Do something fun. Maybe travelling isn’t your thing, or you are stuck flipping burgers at McDonalds have to be in town for whatever reason. Don’t despair and take the time to fully relax. Don’t worry too much about university and don’t try to pre-study the material. Clear your head, do something different, and recharge for the school year.
3. Try something new. ‘Nuff said.
4. Crash a class. If you are near a university or college, even if it’s not the one you’ll be attending in the fall, consider attending a couple of classes. Look up their class schedule on-line and find an introductory class into something you’re interested in. I know I said above to not worry too much about school, but if you’re curious about what a university class is like, go check it out. Do not show up to every class and frantically take notes. Rather, observe. See how the prof teaches and how the students learn. Note how different the class is from a high school class and how easy it is to lose track of what is going on (yes, you’ll be lost because you probably don’t have enough background knowledge, but notice how many other students seem confused)! Don’t worry if you feel overwhelmed – you’re already leagues ahead of your classmates who have no idea what’s coming (unless of course, they read this blog :P).
5. Get your finances in order. This is the inner economics geek in me speaking, but how will you pay for university? Who’s paying for tuition? Living expenses? Travelling costs? Figure out the deadlines for student loans, scholarships, and bursary applications. If you are applying for loans, know the terms! If you get approved for a large amount of money, don’t feel pressured to spend it all. You will have to pay it back (you’d be surprised at how many students don’t figure this part out until they’ve already spent the money). If you don’t think debt will be a problem (and if your family/trust fund isn’t going to bankroll everything), check out this article in the Globe and Mail. The average Canadian student will come out of university with $15,000 (Quebec) to $35,000 (Nova Scotia and Newfoundland) in debt. That’s a lot of money and it is absolutely worth your time to figure out how you can minimize it. If there is interest, I will do an article on money management in the future (let me know in the comments).

If you still have time, check out some more things to do before classes start and read some of these other blog posts to prepare for your upcoming academic journey.

Happy belated Canada Day and Independence Day!

Review Sessions Anyone?

Review sessions from profs or TAs are useful for revisiting tough topics, obtaining answers to difficult questions, getting a feel for what the profs or TAs consider important, and gauging how well you’re prepping for a particular exam. So you’d think that everyone would attend and pay attention at these sessions… right?

Nope. Yes, lots of people come to review sessions, but then spend the entire time on Facebook, twitter, or 9gag. Others don’t look at the board or take any notes, and some don’t even come with a pencil or pen! If you’re one of those people, you might be thinking “oh, but I’m still there and listening, so it’s all good”.

Sure… Maybe (and that’s a pretty big maybe) you’re paying attention, and perhaps being there at the review session is helping you more than sitting at home. BUT you could get so, so, so much more out of a review session by doing the following:

1. Come prepared (or at least know what you don’t know).

Did the prof or TA give out problem set or sample exams before hand? Were there problem set questions that you were stuck on? Are there topics you really didn’t understand from lectures? Are you uncertain about whether a topic will be covered on the exam? Figure these things out before the review session. If you’re pressed for time, at least skim your notes or textbook and figure out which areas you’re weakest at. What are you most confused about? What’s most important? Prioritize so you know what you need help with the most.

2. Ask questions or steer the conversation. 

There are always moments during a review session when the prof or TA asks for questions… and nobody says a word. Don’t be shy! Jump in, ask your questions and clear up your confusions. If you don’t, someone else will, and there is no guarantee that their questions will be the same as yours. Do not hesitate to steer the conversation towards areas you need help with, especially if no one else is asking questions.

3. There are stupid questions… but you should ask them anyway. 

Sometimes 5 other people have the same question as you and are too afraid to ask. Other times, your question might be so bizarre that the prof or TA looks at you like you have 5 heads. Ok, so maybe that’s just me. Even so, getting the answers to these questions saves me bucket-load of time later on. So don’t be afraid to ask questions that are a little bit out there or that seem stupid. You might look silly at the review session, but when you ace that section on the exam, no one (not even yourself) will remember your embarrassment.

4. Use your brain.

Take notes, ask questions, highlight areas you still need to work on, or write down any hints the profs or TAs give. Actually try to understand the explanations and and solutions, not just copy them down. Ask for clarification when you need them and mark down any explanations you find confusing. If you’re shy about asking questions and just can’t bring yourself to do it, at least pay attention to what the profs or TAs say or do. The people on Facebook, twitter, 9gag, etc. aren’t using their brains. People who blindly copy down solutions have to spend time later trying to understand what they wrote. Time is precious, so get your brain into high gear, understand things then and there, don’t procrastinate.

5. Pay attention to hints!

Some review sessions are basically question and answer periods. Other times the profs or TAs will throw mini-lectures in. Pay attention to the little hints they are prone to give out while delivering these lectures or when answering questions. If they emphasize something over and over, make a note of it. If your prof keeps saying how he does not believe in the lipid hypothesis, he’s probably going to ask for evidence against that hypothesis. If the prof presents review questions, look at what kind of questions they chose. If they say “don’t worry about it”… don’t worry about it. If there are many questions on the Stanford Prison Experiment, you can bet your rear end that’s going to be on the exam, possibly multiple times.

6. Don’t get too happy or too freaked out.  

After a review session, you may feel ready to take on the world… or you might feel that you’re going to fail. Those feelings are not to be trusted. At a review session, the prof may answer questions about a very narrow range of topics or focus on the toughest areas. The things that he or she covers may not be entirely representative of the actual exam (especially the distribution and weighing of concepts and questions). Breathe, go back to your learning outcomes and your class notes, and refocus. If there are some important topics that weren’t covered in the review session, make sure you brush up on those. Don’t focus your studying entirely on the review session or you might be blindsided on the actual exam. Of course, if you feel like you’re going to fail, that’s always a good kick in the butt to work harder.

The take home message? Pay attention. Get answers to your most pressing questions, note all the hints the prof throws out, and figure out what else you have to cover to be fully ready for the exam.

Good luck on the rest of your exams! Summer IS right around the corner.

Quickie: Making the Most of Extra Time on an Exam

One question I get a lot goes something like this:

I finish an exam with 5 or 10 minutes left. I’m really tired and don’t have the energy or time to check the entire thing over, so what could I do in these few minutes?

Before you get to this stage, on your first run through the questions, annotate your exam. Put these symbols besides each question.

–: for questions you have no idea how to do.
+: for questions you aren’t sure about or that are tricky.
nothing: for questions you are fairly confident about.

When you only have a few minutes left, go back and try the “-” questions first. Always try to write something, even it’s just the questions rewritten as an equation, a equation that has something to do with that question, or a relevant key word, time period, or person. You might luck out and get some partial marks.

While you might get a few extra marks, “-” questions are pretty much hopeless at this point because you don’t actually know the answer (and there may not be enough time to come up with one). Spending a lot more time on these questions won’t raise your grades a whole lot. On the other hand, the questions you left unlabeled are thing’s you’re pretty comfortable with already and there isn’t a whole lot you can gain from revisiting these questions. Thus the “+” questions are the most important questions you can revisit. Really dissect these questions, try to figure out why they’re hard or tricky, and get as many marks as you can. The reason this might work well is because you might be very close to the right answer. Giving it some more thought may allow you to get the full (or most) marks.

If you still have time or energy left over, look through the unlabeled questions and see if you can get a few more points here or there.

Of course, this technique works better with certain question types and marking schemes. It works best with things like multiple choice (where taking those few extra minutes to really dissect a question may get you to the right answer) and tests with benevolent markers (who’ll gladly give you the few marks). It might not work so well for results-centric and nit-picky markers, but nonetheless, if you’ve only got a few minutes, give this technique a try.

Happy Easter!

End of Term Reminders

Ahhh! It’s almost April! It’s hard to believe with the crappy weather, but as year comes to a close, here are some things to keep in mind as you head into the (very stressful) exam period:

• Quadruple check your exam schedule. Be paranoid. A couple of years ago, I had a biology exam on a Tuesday. But for some strange reason, I thought it was on Wednesday. Luckily, I was being paranoid and checked the schedule on Monday night. If I hadn’t, I would have missed my exam. So yeah… check the schedule (multiple times), just in case.
• Don’t forget any last minute assignments. It’s easy to get caught up in the parties and the fun stuff right now, but don’t forget those last minute homework assignments, reports, or papers that are usually worth a good chunk of marks.
• You can do it! You can ace that exam/course, even if you didn’t do some well on the midterm. Have confidence in yourself, figure out why you weren’t doing right, change your approach, and keep on trying. You’ll be surprised at how successful you can be.
• De-stress or take a day off! It’s been a looooong year. So take some time off, relax, and de-stress. This is especially crucial if you feel ready to burn out!
• Save the major partying for later. Although you should take some time off, now is not the time to get drunk everyday for a week. Sure, go out for a drink or two if it helps you relax, but don’t kill all of your brain cells now, ‘k?
• Get (somewhat) organized. 
• Find some balance. Exams are stressful and it’s decidedly unhealthy to be solely focused on that one thing for the entire 1 – 2 weeks you’ll be studying for/writing exams. This doesn’t mean you have to keep doing everything or carry a full social calendar, but it does mean finding something that you can turn to to relax when you’re tired or stressed out. Whether it’s meditation or getting together with friends, find something that works.
• Remove distractions. Yes, it’s important to maintain some balance during the exam season. But remove any major distractions that are huge time sinks. Yes, that means you have to stop playing WoW, LoL, and Pokemon (or whatever your vices are).
• Get a life-line. During exams, your entire world revolves around whatever you’re studying. Sometimes it’s easy to lose perspective and get really stressed out. Find a family member or a friend who could calm you down or present a new perspective. This will keep you sane.
• Take care of yourself! You can’t ace an exam nearly as easily if you’re sick or if you’re desperately trying to stay awake. Eat well, get enough sleep (NOT at the library), and exercise a little. Your body and brain will thank you.
• If you’re feeling lost about how to study, check out the exam prep series. Also check out some things you should not be doing this exam season.

New posts on SotN will probably be far and few in between in April. Hey, I’ve exams to not fail ace too! Good luck!