Tired of School

Ever thought independent study would be easy? It is. It’s easy to not go to class, it’s easy to not do the readings, it’s easy to procrastinate on the assignments, and it’s easy to go a full year and not complete the work. As I sit here I am finishing the independent study paper I am working on, I can’t help but think about how I had planned to finish it 2 weeks ago. Fine purveyors of this website know that I do not proof read my posts well. I do, however, take my time with my independent study classes. Here are some tips for taking an independent study class:

1. Make a plan of attack. It’s really easy to put off the independent study work. Make a plan on what you need to do to finish the work within 3 months of starting the class. You are more likely to finish your course if you do it up front.
2. Read the fine print. Sometimes you have to wait a couple weeks between turning in assignments, make sure you understand the rules before you wait too long to turn in assignments.
3. Don’t put off the tests. Most of these classes have 1 or 2 tests you have to take in person. I once did all the work on an independent study class except the final. I put off the final for about 6 months and ended up having to reread the whole textbook because I could not remember any of the material.
4. Do your best on the midterm. You should over study for the midterm because you do not know how tough the professor is on the tests. Since you will probably not know the professor, you can’t get a feel for how hard they are on tests. Make sure to read all the side bars in your assigned books. If it turns out you did not need to do all that work then you’ll know better for the final.
5. Check out the questions in the back of the chapters. If your tests include an essay question, then the best way to study is to prepare to get the questions in the back of chapters. The professor cannot expect you to know information from lectures so they are likely to take test questions directly from the text.
6. Learn all the words/definitions. As I so often say, if you know what the question is asking, then you can often come up with a good answer.

Good luck on your studies.

• Ok, most of you are back in school and going at it full force You’re catching up with friends, going for coffee, and perhaps some less savory things as well.
• One thing you probably don’t want to do is your school work. If your sitting at your computer and dreading finishing (or starting) your first paper, differential equation, or log for this semester then you’ve come to the right place. I’ve created 2 lists for you today: one to give you reasons to procrastinate more and one to motivate you to get busy. It’s up to you to decide which list is right for you.
• Reasons to procrastinate:

1. You need to practice for the upcoming dorm-wide Guitar Hero party.

2. You could work on your paper, but you should really order a book on the subject first.

3. Your room smells like a dead fish, you should clean it before you work.

4. A degree might not be for you, lucky you figured that out BEFORE you did all that schoolwork.

5. You’d do better with some sleep first.

6. You’d sleep better if you drained your energy first.

7. You’d drain your energy better if you went out with your friends.

8. Therefore, you’d do better on your work if you went out with your friends first.

9. You need to go buy an energy drink to concentrate.

10. You had an energy drink but now your too wired to concentrate.

• Reasons to get to work now:

1. You need to get the work out of the way so you are relaxed for the Guitar Hero party.

2. You are not allowed to read the rest of this list until you go finish one more problem/write one more sentence. Go. Now.

3. I don’t believe you did as I asked, but we will move on anyway.

4. You need that degree because the government gets really mad at doctors who don’t have a license.

5. You’re spending 5-10K a semester to be in school, do you really want to tack on extra semesters because you were surfing the web instead of working.

6. You need to finish your work so you can get back to your favorite activity: making up sentences that have never been said before (e.g., The yellow worm was into collecting heavy metal ephemera from the 1960’s.)

7. Not hearing another lecture from your parents is worth the effort.

8. You need to get done so you can get back to watching Star Wars again, this time backwards to look for hidden messages.

9. You might learn something if you into that sort of thing.

10. You need to get through this class so you can graduate. You need to graduate so you can go to graduate school and do it all again.

• I like #6 there. Feel free to make up you own new sentences and add them to the comments on this post.

My one tip for taking finals is to not worry about other things in life that you can put off for a week or two. For example: video games, organizing your sock drawer, using deodorant (you might have to go ahead and do this last one if you have a significant other).

I will now take my own advice and not worry about telling you how to prepare for your finals. Lucky for you the Office of Health Education at the University of Pennsylvania has made a list of 10 tips for taking finals. Enjoy.

This time of year can be overwhelming. Usually between now and finals week you have most of your work come due. Because professors like to put all your big-point assignments off until the end of the semester, you often do not really know what your grade will be in your classes, which means you do not know how to divide your efforts between classes. Finally, you are probably looking forward to the summer break so your mind does not want to focus on researching for papers or studying for tests. Here’s some things to do to help when you are…wait for it…tired of school.

1. Make a master schedule of when all your assignments are due. This way, you won’t have to flip back and forth between syllabi everyday to know what you have to turn in. Plus, if you notice that several assignments are due on or about the same day, then you can plan for that rather than finding out at the last minute.

2. While you’re making that master schedule, make a note about how important each assignment is to your final grade. A paper worth 5% of your grade will probably need less attention than a paper worth half your grade.

3. Get on a regular sleep cycle. I know this probably won’t happen for many people, but if you can force yourself to keep on a schedule until the end of the semester then your brain will be calmer because it knows when it is going to get rested again.

4. Figure out what time of day you work best and do your work then. You’ll get through work easier if you do it at your body’s prime time for working. Unfortunately, we tend to do the things we like during those times (exercise, meet with friends, hobbies). You can go back to using that time for fun when your work is done (hey, I rhymed, this must be my prime time).

5. Start a little early on assignments. You know those people who completed the final paper on the first week of class? Well, they hit some snags in completing the assignment and asked the professor/teacher for clarification. You, however, are not likely to feel that you can call your professor at 3 am on the date the assignment is due with questions. If you start a little early then you’ll at least have time to ask your questions during regular office hours.

–As a final note, don’t forget to schedule short (few minute) breaks a few times each hour to keep your brain running. Try not to turn on the TV for the break because TV shows are designed to keep you watching through the end (so they can make more money off the ads). Oh, and as of this writing no one has donated to this site to help pay the bills so feel free to:

I used to enjoy saving up my really big projects to complete during spring break… Let me try that again: I used to procrastinate on my big school projects until I realized that I had so much to get done that I had no choice but to spend my whole spring break in the library. For one week every spring, the musty smell of book stacks would be my home. I would search endlessly for the rare scrap of knowledge that would help me complete my projects. These were the days before Google Scholar and online pdf files of articles. Now I know you are tired of school and you have your work cut out for you, so let’s talk dos and don’ts on keeping you on your game while you are on “break.”

1. Caffeine: Caffeine is a double-edged sword…  For some people it helps increase focus and concentration. For other people, caffeine makes it hard to concentrate and hard to sleep. I’m even hearing about chest pains and other physical problems associated with caffeine intake. Consider not taking in any more caffeine than you already do so your body won’t get overwhelmed by the drug. I’m no doctor, so if you have any concerns about your caffeine intake (I’m looking at you rabid energy drink user), seek actual medical advice.

2. Sleep. Lack of sleep has been linked to weight gain and even can be a precursor to diabetes (click here for information about those claims). Spring break should be a time for rest and renewal, so try to get a good night’s/morning’s sleep if you can, even if you are spending the rest of the day working.

3. Eat better. It’s funny that during the times we need our brain to work the hardest–crunch time–we tend to order pizza or eat burgers. Instead of our brain thinking about your paper on the Psychology of Mathematics in Tribal Utah, you are sitting on the porcelain throne. At least make sure to get some fruit and vegetables to get that old bean up and running. Also, grab something for breakfast even if you aren’t hungry.

4. Make a list. Recently I was asked to write answers to a set of around 10 questions. These questions were worded so I thought I would have to write several paragraphs for each one. Imagine my amazement when I discovered a 300 letter limit on the answers. I saved myself a lot of work by understanding the assignment up front!  Go over your syllabus again and again until you understand what you need to do before you go through a lot of work that amounts to nothing.

5. Take breaks often. Every hour or less, take a few minutes’ break time to give your brain a rest. Listen to a song on your mp3 player, work on a soduku puzzle, count ceiling tiles–just do something different. Don’t forget to get back to work, though.

–I hope these ideas help, if you can:

Remember that “Life… is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”-Shakespeare