March 2nd 2008
Cramming has different views, some say it’s great, others disagree. Personally, I always cram at the last minute, especially for classes I don’t feel are pertinent to life or my career (classes like history or biology). Yes, it’s nice to know that stuff, but it’s not important enough for me to spend hours learning it all. So, I’ve devised a nice, easy way to fit as much info into my brain in a short amount of time long enough to be good for a test.
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.
Posted in Academic, Tricks with 5 comments
November 10th 2007
Surprisingly, a lot of students don’t actually know how to calculate their own GPA. I’ve included a small tutorial and a link to a calculator because it is much easier just to plug it in and be given an answer. For those of you who are seriously clueless, GPA stands for grade point average and is an important factor on your transcript.
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:
| Class |
Grade |
Hours |
|
Points |
Grade Points |
| Biology |
A |
4 |
|
4 |
16 |
| English |
B |
3 |
|
3 |
9 |
| Calculus |
C |
4 |
|
2 |
8 |
| Economics |
A |
3 |
|
4 |
12 |
| Speech |
A |
2 |
|
4 |
8 |
|
|
16 |
|
|
53 |
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.
Posted in Academic, Tricks with 8 comments
October 17th 2007
In Comp I we’re currently writing a research paper. (Mine is over the PATRIOT Act and how it violates our civil rights - go Libertarians!) A girl in my group, who is not a very strong writer, recently made some changes to her draft and later found she she had deleted a large chunk of her paper. Because she had been using Word, she was essentially screwed. So I told her, use Google Docs and this won’t ever happen again.
I’m not sure how many of you have ever heard of or used Google Docs, but it’s a very wonderful word processing application. Besides the fact that your documents would be available anywhere, it saves all revisions. When you click on a document, you can choose to see all the revisions you’ve made to it, which would allow you to fix anything you accidentally did.
The interface is very similar to Gmail and allows folders and starred documents. Although not entirely a replacement for MS Office, it does allow for spreadsheets and presentations at this point. The word processing feature allows for formatting, but some of the more complicated formatting isn’t available. It is great for a simple paper and especially to keep all copies of drafts. Some professors like to see the changes you’ve made and if you simply write over everything, it’ll hurt.
Posted in Tricks with 13 comments
August 27th 2007
I am a big user of Del.icio.us and I’m sure many of you are as well. Since I’m also a big Stumbler and Digg reader, I go through many new websites a day. Sometimes I like a site, browse it a bit and then want to move on. So instead of properly bookmarking it since I know I’ll want to find it later, but won’t remember where to look, I created a special category called “lookattheselater.” My personal favorite tag because that way I know I haven’t completely finished browsing those sites and they need further inspection.
When I’ve already read all the articles on Digg or Consumerist, have checked my message boards and blogs and I’m out of things to read, sometimes I go back through those websites. Here’s ten of those websites:
Posted in Tricks with 4 comments
