Another option is the U.S. government. I took an internship with the IRS last spring and it was great. The pay was excellent, there were vacation and sick leave and flexible hours. Given the chance, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Government Internships

• National Institute of Health
• Central Intelligence Agency
• Secret Service
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Department of Commerce

For more opportunities, click here.

1. Figure out what you need to know.

This is the most important step. Don’t try to force feed your brain information that isn’t important. If you have a hard time figuring out what your professor will test over, ask someone or go through the book. Most chapters have key facts, a summary, etc. that outlines the most important things.

2. Timing: Give yourself enough.

It’s best not to start at 2 am the night before a 9 am test. Cramming works best the night before, but with a good amount of sleep. A foggy brain doesn’t recall well. Make sure you have enough time to cram, depending on the material, at least a few hours, and enough time to get a decent sleep.

3. Mood: Be in a good one.

If you’re upset, distracted, pissed, whatever, it’s going to affect your cram session. Try to relax, forget about the outside world. Do whatever you need to, even if that means *gasp* going to the library to find yourself a nice, quiet place. Personally, I hate the library. Something about the incredible quiet bothers me. Plus, it always smells like an old lady.

4. Make a plan.

Know how you’re going to go about this. Do you mostly need to learn vocab? Do you need to learn theories? Do you need to know formulas?

Memorization
For classes where you need to regurgitate definitions, try creating a matching test at Easy Test Maker. It’s free and is easier and cheaper than flashcards. There’s also flashcard software available if you’d rather do that. Either way, this is a great way to memorize.

Multiple Choice
Most professors have two very possible, one could-be and one completely off choices on multiple choice. By the time you’re in college, you should be very familiar with this format and very good at taking them. So, study important facts, but focus on details. Anything bolded or reiterated in lecture and anything that might be related. Multiple choice is when you’ll be asked who passed the Emancipation Proclamation.

Essay
If your professor provides possible essay prompts, definitely take advantage and at least get all the information you’ll need. I don’t recommend actually writing the essay out, just write it in shorthand, get all the info out and how you’re going to answer the question. Read over this a few times afterward and then once again before the test and you should be set.

If you’re not lucky enough to be given the question ahead of time, you’re in for a little more work. Learn the big picture and a few things to fill in the lines. Once you have that down, bullshit is your best friend. Don’t make things up, just surround your facts with fluff.

How do you get straight A’s and still be a campus butterfly? It’s hard work and impossible for some students. If studying is difficult for you, put more emphasis on school work. Some people can pull it off and those are the kids everyone loves to hate. But is it worth it? If you feel like you’re always preparing for the next step in your life, you’re actually hurting yourself. If you never have time to stop and enjoy yourself, you’re the busy squirrel always storing acorns, but never getting a chance to eat them, then you definitely should stop worrying so much and take a breather. Look at your life and see if that is really what you want.

Which student are you?

A’s without breaking a sweat
If you’re able to make A’s with little to no studying, try for a few student organizations that do community service and volunteer work. The extra activities will help fill up time and fill out your resume. Potential employers DO care about things other than your GPA. Your 4.0 may get you an interview, but if that’s all that sets you apart, you may not get the job.

B’s are no problem
This is the middle ground. If you’re the student who can walk in on test day and walk out with a B, not having studied the night before, then you definitely need some extra curriculars. Try joining a club that has a moderate level of outside work. A few hours a week to buff up your resume is worth it.

C’s are a struggle
Students that need to study all the time, just to ensure a B or a C need to find a group that will help them academically as well as round them out. Try the science, math or biology club. Academically-based organizations are often filled with top students who can help you out with tutoring, notes and studying.

All around tips

• Instead of joining the largest club, try for a smaller one that you can potentially become an officer in down the road
• Join an academic organization that will benefit your grades
• Try for a club that does community service, kill two birds with one stone
• Don’t join a club you’re going to hate – you can spend time with friends while filling up your resume
• Become an officer – especially if you don’t have that much extra to do
• Can’t find a club for you? Start your own. Seriously, it’s a win-win.

accept – to receive: “She would not accept my proposal.”
except – all but: “Everyone went except John.”

access – admittance, a way of approach: “No one had access to the room.”
excess – amount larger than needed: “He had an excess of paper.”

accent – particular way of speaking: “She had a New York accent.”
ascent – upward climb: “The mountain has a long ascent.”
assent – to agree: “The teacher assented to accepting a late assignment.”

advice – recommendation: “His advice was to study.”
advise – to make recommendations: “He advised me to study.”

affect (verb) – to influence: “Her actions will affect the rest of us.”
affect (noun) – an emotional response: “Even when his dog died, he showed little affect.”
effect – result: The effect of his good grades helped him get a scholarship.”

alter – to change: “She had to alter her plans.”
altar – platform in a church: “The priest stands at the altar.”

capital – 1) city/town that holds government seat: “Austin is the capital of Texas.”
2) supply of wealth: “You need capital to start a business.”
capitol – 1) U.S. Congress building in Washington D.C.: “You can tour the capitol.”
2) a building where a legislature meets: “You can go to Austin to see the capitol.”

conscience – sense of right or wrong: “Some people seem to have no conscience.”
conscious – aware of: “He made a conscious decision to help us.”

eminent – well known: “He is eminent in the field of psychology.”
imminent – about to happen: “The storm was imminent.”

stationary – unable to move: “I rode the stationary bike.”
stationery – paper for letter writing: “I bought new stationery.”

Research outline

This will be the guts of your paper. Once you’ve figured out your topic and the general direction of your paper, creating an outline is pretty straightforward. You really need to know your thesis before completing the outline and my suggestion if you’re confused, is to not worry about the thesis until the end. Start with the information.

Once you’ve gathered your research, you generally know the idea of what you want to talk about first. If you’re completely lost, choose the idea that would be a great opener – something that’s controversial, interesting or your audience would agree with. To choose what’s next in line, ask yourself, “After idea A, what is an easy transition?” If you’re going from dogs to VCRs, there’s probably not going to be an easy connection. Transitions between different sections can be made very simple if you choose topics that seem to flow well together. Also remember that nothing is set in stone. If later you realize you should have put topic B where topic F is, change it.

Because this article is so long, I’m going to cut it off here and allow you to view the rest of entry if you choose to do so.

Depending on what your professor wants, sometimes you include your thesis and sometimes you don’t. Make sure you ask. Here’s a sample outline for an academic research paper:

United States’ policies on the War on Terrorism
I. Introduction
  1. History of United States
  2. Examples when U.S. gave up rights and negative effects
II. War on Terrorism
  1. Modern terrorism
  2. Compare modern to previous
  3. Where is the end?
III. Legislation
  1. PATRIOT Act
  2. Domestic Security Enhancement Act
IV. Policies
  1. wiretapping
  2. illegal search warrants
  3. enemy detainees
V. Current laws
  1. Constitution
    A. 4th Amendment
    B. 5th Amendment
    C. 6th Amendment
  2. Geneva conventions
  3. International Humanitarian Law
VI. Conclusion

Chapter outline

Basically, this is just notes from the chapter(s) in an organized form to make digesting the information much easier. Take one chapter at a time and realize that if you outline it properly, this will be the last time you read this chapter. You’re making your life easier when the test comes.

All chapters have headings, sometimes they are listed at the beginning of the chapter. In this case, I create a short outline of the chapter headings and then fill in the information as I read. It works the same as online headings – h1 is the main, h2 is underneath that and so on. Here’s an example:

United States Bill of Rights
I. First Amendment
  1. Freedom of religion
  2. Freedom of speech
  3. Freedom of the press
  4. Freedom to assemble peacefully
  5. Right to petition the government
II. Second Amendment – Right to keep and bear arms
III. Third Amendment – Soldiers shall not be quartered in houses of citizens without permission
IV. Fourth Amendment
  1. Protection against unlawful search and seizure
  2. Warrants to search/seize only issued with probable cause and affirmed by judge/magistrate
  3. Warrant must give detailed description of place being search and item(s) being seized
V. Fifth Amendment
  1. Right to a trial by jury
  2. Protects against double jeopardy
  3. Protects the right against self incrimination
  4. Right to due process
VI. Sixth Amendment
  1. Right to a speedy and public trial
  2. Right to impartial jury in district where crime was committed
  3. Right to confront witnesses against oneself
  4. To have a defending attorney
VII. Seventh Amendment – Right to trial by jury in civil matters over $20
VIII. Eighth Amendment
  1. Prohibition of excessive bail
  2. Prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment
IX. Ninth Amendment – Protection of rights not specifically enumerated in the Bill of Rights
X. Tenth Amendment – Powers not granted to the federal government or denied to the states are reserved for the states

Don’t you dare…

• Use a contraction (don’t, couldn’t, etc.)
• Use “things” or “stuff”…be specific
• Use “nice” or “some” – too vague, over used
• Use “a lot” or worse – “alot”
• Use “bunch”
• Use slang
• Use “this, that, those, these” as pronouns, only use them as adjective before a noun or pronoun
• Put a comma before “because”
• Use “different than” – correct usage is “different from”
• Use “irregardless”- it’s a not real word, use regardless
• Use “off of”
• Use “plus” instead of “and”
• Write in passive voice when your sentence works in active voice.
• End a sentence with a preposition (to in, at, etc.)

Cal’s suggestion for power point lectures is to download (if available) the power point and simply take your notes in the notes section of the slides instead of printing them out first. That way, after the lecture, you can print out the slides and your notes together. See his post for more details. This is a great idea, even though this semester I don’t have any professors that actually use power point. The only notes I take are for political science, the class I stopped going to (I just read the chapters and take the tests, it’s a ridiculous class).

My personal suggestions for great notes:

• If the lecture is over a chapter, read the chapter first (seriously), outline it in Word and print it out. Bring this to class and in a colored pen (blue or red stands out the best), write notes, questions, and comments.
• If it’s a simple lecture, use different colors. I use black for main ideas and then for any comments/questions, I use a blue pen. This way it’s easy to tell what’s what. Color is also a great tool for memorization. Brains remember color distinction.
• If you like to handwrite your notes, type them up later. This is a great way to study for the test because you’re going over the material again and making it easier to read. When I do this, whatever was in blue, I keep in blue on the computer to further distinguish comments.
• Use lots of color. Sometimes switching pens while writing notes can be distracting, but during study time, highlight and draw pictures. Color really helps, even if it seems pointless.

These things work for me, but they might not work for you. What does? Do you have any strategies or tips you’d like to share?

I’ve always thought people who did this sort of thing were idiots, but now that there’s better alternatives, I don’t find it quite as moronic. Immoral maybe, but not stupid. There’s not really an easy way for teachers to tell you haven’t written the paper, it’s much the same as bullying the class nerd into doing your homework (or paying them), which is pretty common practice actually.

Most people think of this as cheating and it is – but are you okay with cheating? If you look at life as a game, people always cheat. Whether it’s cheating on taxes or not telling the cashier you ate half the grapes while you were shopping (they’re usually charged by weight so you’re not paying for the ones you’ve eaten). Most people I’ve talked to about this have been afraid of getting caught. They aren’t worried about morals, but about getting in trouble.

So readers, what are your views? Would you use a service like this if you knew 100% you weren’t going to get caught?

To calculate your GPA you’ll need to know your average and the weight (number of hours) for each class. You get a certain number of grade points for each class, depending on your grade. Points are awarded according to the chart below.
A=4 points
B=3 points
C=2 points
D=1 point
W/F = 0 points

Multiply the grade points by the weight of the class. For example, if your biology class is 4 hours and you made a B, you get 12 points for that class. Find all the points for every class and add them up. Then add up the total hours of all classes. To find your GPA, you divide total grade points by total number of hours

Here’s an example transcript:

GPA = GRADE POINTS / TOTAL HOURS
3.3125 = 53 / 16 –> This student has a B.

If that’s just too complicated and time-consuming or you’re lazy (like me), here’s a GPA calculator for you provided by Back2College. It makes everything wonderfully simple.

Genius is a flashcard-based application to help you memorize things. I use this, especially for political science in memorizing hoards of vocab words. It organizes info using the “Leitner “learning cardfile” system, and it quizzes you using a spaced repetition method.” Based on performance, it repeats certain words.

Schoolhouse is the homework manager for Mac. It sorts and organizes assignments, tests and projects. The smart notebook feature introduced in other Apple software is there, as well as classcasts so you can publish subscribable assignments on the web. My favorite thing about this software is the grade calculations. You can input all of your grades for each class and it keeps track of your average. It’s much better than trying to do it myself. Schoolhouse integrates a calendar/GTD program with keeping track of school work as well, which makes this an excellent tool for students.

Skim is a PDF reader (yes, I know, Preview is wonderful!) that lets you write on them so you don’t have to print out notes to take notes. I use this for my political science class (well, when I actually went to his class, I haven’t in over a month.) The professor gives us a copy of the powerpoint in pdf format and I use Skim to write all over it. It saves me from the cost of ink and paper.