Perfect GPA Blog

Speed Reading Methods

Dave — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:54:27 +0000

Reading assignments are something you will have to endure during your college career. Some professors are lazy and test strictly from the book, and some are evil by testing for minor details found in the chapters. In case you did not know, such professors receive test banks from their book’s publisher and the questions are ranked based on difficulty. The “hard” and “specific” questions are usually the ones that are focused on the minor details. I personally tried to avoid such professors, but that did not always work out.

Majority of the time I did not enjoy spending an hour reading a chapter about TQM, FIFO, or some other eye sore boring topic, thereby I was determined to learn how to read faster and still retain the same information. Let me explain a speed reading technique that I have personally learned and saved hours if not days of reading time.

First, you must widen your eye span. Eye span is the critical point of any speed reading method. The second step is to refrain reading word for word. Between every blink of your eyes, you should have captured not just 1 word, but multiple words, and later even whole sentences at a time. This might sound hard for you to do, since we were all taught to read word by word, but in actuality your brain recognizes a word just by looking at it and you can train it to recognize two words and more. To clarify, in this stage of your mental development, you have probably seen the same words in different context thousands of times. Just by looking at a single word, you automatically know and associate it’s meaning. This works for numerous words just the same.

The third step is to practice your speed reading. Start with reading just two words at a time until you are comfortable. You have to read a chapter for one of your assignments anyway, why not learn how to speed read while you are at it. So next time you are sitting there and reading, remind yourself you are no longer reading one word at a time, but with your wide eye span you are taking in two words per eye focus. When two words becomes easy, try with three words at a time, and so forth. Personally I have not mastered reading full sentences per eye focus, but four to five words per focus is not a problem at all. Just keep at it and practice until it becomes natural to you.

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4.0 GPA

Dave — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:27:09 +0000

When you have to balance school, work, relationships, and a social life it can make it hard keeping your grades high, but trust me, it’s possible, I’ve have personally done it. While it takes is a lot of self guidance, and time management, it will be worth it at graduation time when you walk down the line with a 4.0 GPA.

The semester is about to start, or has already started, so here are some general tips for achieving that 4.0 GPA this semester.

Take a second and think about how much time you waste sitting around surfing the web or watching TV. Your grades would improve dramatically if you devoted some of that time to your course work. The Internet and the TV are not going to go anywhere, however, you only have one opportunity to go to college.
Do not ever procrastinate. Always keep up with the assigned work for all of your classes. Start your assignments as soon as you find out the due date. A lot of stress will be relieved from your shoulders when you complete your work ahead of time.
Make your best effort to attend every class. Participation counts, so go to class when you are sleepy, hungover, or tired. Only miss class if it’s a real emergency! If you do have an emergency and miss class, make sure to get the notes you missed from class mates, and email your professor to let him know why you missed. The professor will think of you as a “caring student” and you will benefit from his or her pleasant view towards you.
Make sure to take good notes. Even if you don’t miss class at all because it is not likely you will remember everything that was said during your lecture. There are several note taking methods and techniques discussed in this blog. Try them out, and stick to the one you are the most comfortable with. Furthermore, taking notes and staying busy in class will prevent your mind from wandering and day dreaming.
Try your best to get enough sleep. Every person is different with regards to how much sleep they need in order to function properly, so if you are falling asleep in class or not paying any attention, then you probably did not get enough sleep the night before. If that is something you can not really control, then invest in a digital voice recorder. Read more about the benefits of a voice recorder here.

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Highlighting

Dave — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:09:16 +0000

In order to make information much easier to remember, I always highlighted for study purposes. In fact, highlighting a document, be it a paper, book or notes, with a colored highlighter or pen and a notational method will drastically increase memory retention and the comprehension of concepts. Highlighting is usually used to enhance interesting details, similar concepts, vocabulary words, definitions or proofreading mistakes and errors.

Increased memory retention can result from combining several methods of highlighting and notation. Describe your thoughts about the text or a main concept by writing a few key words or phrases in the empty margins of your page. Indicate a list or series of supporting information in a section or paragraph by writing lower case letters (a,b,c…) or consecutive numbers (1,2,3…) at the beginning of each word or phrase.

When you are highlighting similar concepts, phrases, and key words with the same color highlighter or pen can make retention of information much easier when studying. For example, orange for one set of similar concepts and yellow for another. If you are highlighting to mark the mistakes you have made or corrections on your paper, different color notations also work well to show the difference between small and large errors. For example, yellow for small errors or corrections and red for large ones.

In closing, do not forget to use your highlighters on all of your books, notes, and study guides. In order to get that perfect GPA you need to utilize all methods and techniques available. Do not study hard, study smart!

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Perfect GPA

Dave — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 22:31:00 +0000

Have you ever had a professor who talks really fast during his or her lecture and you are unable to keep up taking notes?

How about a professor who speaks such broken English that you are unable to understand what he or she is saying half of the time?

Or how ever been in a situation where you are so tired, sleepy, hungover, or your mind is completely in another dimension and you are not paying attention in class?

I have been in all of the above situations during my college career. It very was frustrating taking notes, and I decided I needed a “crutch” to eliminate some of that frustration. The crutch was a digital voice recorder, and it was the second best investment I made in college following a laptop computer. I always carried the voice recorder in my backpack and whenever I had a professor that lectured fast, had broken English, or I was just not feeling good, I always recorded the lecture for later use. After class I skimmed through the digital recording of the lecture and finished the notes I was missing. Sometimes I listened through the whole lecture again, and it worked wonders. I was able to retain much more information, fast forward or rewind to concepts I didn’t understand, and even email the lecture to classmates when they asked for it.

Before purchasing the digital voice recorded I did a lot of research. Sony voice recorders seemed to have the best reviews, so I purchased an earlier version of the Sony ICD-BX800, which is pretty cheap now running around $40 on Amazon. You can check it out here.

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Cornell Note Taking Method

Dave — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 22:12:58 +0000

In a previous post I have discussed the mapping and outline note taking methods. The Cornell note taking method is another method that is popular among college students. It is officially called the Cornell System which was designed by Walter Pauk at Cornell University.

In order to take full advantage of this system, you need to have a large loose leaf notebook, thereby allowing you to insert handouts from class, remove, and rearrange your notes for study purposes.

The unique feature of this note taking method is the layout of the margins on the page. You’ll need to create a 2.5 to 3 inch margin on the left side of the page, and a 2 or so inch margin at the bottom of the page. The loose leaf piece of notebook paper should look like the diagram below.

Recall Area - is the vertical space on the left side of the margin. This column is not for writing notes, but strictly for review purposes. When you go through the process of reviewing your notes, you should write questions you could ask yourself in this area pertaining to the notes. By asking yourself questions related to the notes, and answering them, you will understand and retain the information from the notes.
Note Taking Area - this is the largest space on your notebook paper and is used for taking notes. In this area you will write what your professor writes on the board, or says in lecture. It is important not to write everything down verbatim, but enough keywords and information that you could understand later during your review. Furthermore, you should learn how to short hand and abbreviate as much as possible.
Summary Area - this is the area at the bottom of your notebook page. In this area you will summarize in a couple of sentences the information presented in your notes. It’s basically a quick review you could read to understand the broad meaning of the notes.

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Extra Credit

Dave — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 23:29:09 +0000

Some professors during your college career will offer extra credit assignments. The professors intentions for such assignments vary, but that should not concern you. What should concern you is doing every possible extra credit assignment available to you. Just because you already have a high A in the class doesn’t mean you should skip such opportunities. Depending how professors weigh their grading system, usually extra credit points can put you over the 100% mark. During my college career I’ve been put in a situation where I am above 100% in many different classes, and that meant when it came to finals time, I could fail the final and still get an A in the class. If you’re not sure a certain professor offers extra credit, make sure you ask them as soon as possible because majority of the time extra credit assignments have a rather wide time frame for completion, and just like with any other assignment you should complete it as fast as possible.

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Being Social in Class

Dave — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:59:20 +0000

I can’t even begin to explain the importance of being social in your classes. It doesn’t matter if it’s a huge lecture hall or a small classroom. You need to be “engaged” so that professors know you by your name. It might seem far fetched, but professors do care if their students are paying attention in class. They want to feel like they are doing their job well and students are actually listening to what they have to say. If they know you are a student who is genuinely interested in their class, and let’s say towards the end of the semester you are a little short of that A, you have the option to talk to your professor, and majority of the cases they will “curve” you up just because they know you! So here are some tips about being social in your classes for your benefit.

First chance you get you need to come up with any reason to visit your professors during their office hours. Introduce yourself and talk about some subject that was discussed prior. Have questions ready about a specific topic, assignment, or anything relevant to the professors subject of study.
Ask questions in class! Have you seen professors lecture then ask the students if anyone has questions, and nobody speaks up? They just stand there for a little bit with a dumbfounded look on their face. Guess what? You need to ask questions so you catch the professors eye as an “I care” student.
Be prepared for class by doing the assigned reading or homework prior to class. If the professor asks a question and you already know the answer. Raise your hand and speak up. Trust me on this, you will make a good impression on your professors.
Don’t miss class unless it’s some crazy emergency. Specially in smaller classrooms where the professor can notice you are not attending. There were countless of times I had to go to class hungover, without any sleep, and was barely staying awake during the lecture. Just showing up counts too!

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Start Strong

Dave — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:17:47 +0000

Have you ever been in the position where it is the end of the semester, finals time, and you need to make some crazy high A on the comprehensive final to get an A in the class? I have been in that situation my freshman year of college. I clearly remember those times due to all the stress that was put on my shoulders studying for the finals. What I have learned from those situations, was to start really strong in the beginning of the semester in every class.

When you put in the time and effort in the beginning of the semester and make A’s on all your assignments and tests, a lot of that pressure could be relieved when it’s finals time. I have had times where I could make a 50% or less on the final and still keep an A in the class. Having a stress and pressure free finals week and not worrying too much about the finals just because you have done incredibly well in the beginning of the semester is an amazing feeling to have. I suggest everyone who is reading the blog, when this next semester starts, start strong! Ace all those easy assignments, tests, and quizzes. You will thank yourself at the end of the semester when you breeze through the finals.

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Class Selection (Part 2)

Dave — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:40:15 +0000

I am assuming you have already read my post about selecting classes and professors that would benefit you the most as far as difficulty is concerned. This post I will generally talk about selecting elective classes.

I would strongly suggest any student who wishes to excel in their academic career to pick electives they are genuinely interested in. For example, if you are interested in psychology, but your major doesn’t have anything to do with the psychology field, take a 100 level psychology class that would fulfill a general education requirement. From personal experience, when I was learning topics that I was truly interested in, I retained information much easier, and actually learned a thing or two. There were numerous elective classes I took that did not have anything to do with my major, but I actually enjoyed going to those classes. Thereby, getting perfect grades in such classes was pretty much effortless. Whatever you do, do NOT take classes that are interesting, but don’t fulfill any credit criteria. Trust me on this, you surely don’t want to spend another semester or two busting your butt just because you took irrelevant classes. So on a final note, take electives that you find interesting, but do not take an elective that does not fulfill an education requirement for your graduation.

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Speed Study Techniques

Dave — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 01:45:14 +0000

Several speed study techniques exist, and smart students utilize them to their full extent. For example, let’s say you only have 15 -30 minutes and you want to digest as much information as possible in that short amount of time.

I have had tremendous success with one of the speed study techniques. This brief review of one the techniques is based on conceptual material such as definitions and lists.

Definitions – First you need to read the term and the definition. Then locate several key words in the term’s definition that you can associate directly to the term. Skim over the term and the key words, look away from your study material, and vocally say the term and the associated key words 3 times. Do this for every definition and you will amaze yourself how quickly you have learned them.
Lists – When I’m talking about lists, it is basically a category with several other topics of interest included in that category. A lot of tests require you to memorize these minor details. Obviously skim over the category and topics of interest in that category, but the quick and easy way to memorize such material is acronyms. Write down the first letter of every topic of interest next to the category. Turn it into an acronym and say the acronym out loud 3 times, then for every first letter say the topic that is associated with that letter.

If you are curious why you should speak to yourself when trying to memorize information, and that is because studies have shown when people think out loud, they retain a lot more information than just thinking the information internally. I will write more about speed study techniques, but if you are in a hurry and are interested in reading a book that I have personally learned these speed study techniques, then I suggest reading this book.

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