I welcome you to buy me a cup of coffee using the link to the right if you like what you've read.
P.S. If you want to share this with your friends and classmates you can, but do so by sending them over to http://www.succeedatuniversity.com/
[ add comment ] ( 4 views ) | permalink
On my favourite report card from high school, my maths teacher accurately wrote “David has demonstrated a unique ability to calculate the absolute minimum work he needs to do to pass.”
Don't let this quote discourage you, you are not about to receive sub-standard advice. This particular ability, once you hone it, can make your life extremely easy. I fortunately did not give up on my education, and went through to finish my degree in 2008. I used the skills I had to figure out the system and notice what works, and now I’ve written it all down to help others.
This book is about how you as a person and the university as a system can work together to get the best result (or the intended result!) for you. University is neither a good nor bad experience unless you make it so, and I encourage you to enjoy the abilities to “use the system” that this book will give you in a positive manner.
Wait: Read the following chart carefully. You’ll see why I spend so much time in this book developing YOU instead of your marks. This chart says your chance of succeeding in your future job does not rely on your GPA. It relies on your general intelligence, personality, and how well you can apply your degree.
Interpretation: The ratings are statistical measures. Take a look at how relevant your GPA is as a prediction of your future job performance. Think about developing you & your IQ & EQ… Success at University is who you are when you emerge…
Source: adapted from a lecture by Dr Terry Engleberg-Moston, James Cook University.
This book and all of its contents © David Swayn, 2008. Unauthorized sharing & reproduction will probably result in a lengthy and costly court case.
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
In the following 17 chapters you will learn powerful strategies which will maximize your free time and minimize your effort while you go through your degree.
I believe studying is an art, but more than that, it's a skill that can be streamlined. Think about it. When you first went to high school, did someone hand you a manual that told you how to get the best out of your schooling experience? Chances are they didn't. The same goes for University.
When I started at University, I had no idea what to expect and I had to learn while doing. While that's a great way to learn, it forced me to lose ground and marks figuring out the system. More, I along with all my peers, like it or not, were busy figuring ourselves out too.
This book therefore addresses two points. Firstly, I will teach you how to maneuver the “system” to maximize your results with less effort and time spent, and secondly I will teach you how you can think, be, and act to maximize your influence on the system.
You must have the skills and qualities that will get you the results from other people, as well as from yourself. So many people do things the hard way, mostly due to lack of information. You must learn to study smart, not hard, and I hope I will be able to teach you this art.
I will start by talking about people, and alternate “nuts and bolts” advice and information about smart study skills and study tools. I will finish by teaching you my tripartite system for learning, which incorporates the 'best of' strategies for ultimate information retention & success at University.
Please just skip to a chapter that resonates with you. This book is designed so that you can start almost anywhere. It also doesn’t matter if you are only just turning 18 and walking into a University for the first time, middle aged and starting a degree for the first time, or a professional returning for a refresher course. You will find something of value in this book.
For the young ones, before you skip to the chapter on Drinking & Partying, I must insist you read chapter 1. The first few weeks of university are like a short distance sprint. If you get off to a false start you are unlikely to ever catch up. If you do somehow catch up, you'll be exhausted and collapse before you reach the finish line.
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
Believe it or not this is probably the single most important lesson I can teach you. University is not a popularity contest. In first year, the people primarily concerned with partying and social status, I guarantee you, will drop out within a year, or spend the following years cycling between depression and mania as they struggle to keep up. I watched them drop like flies, and I watched what types of people dropped. Here's how to avoid being one of them.
It doesn't matter what type of person you are outside of uni, when you're at uni you're there to learn. Choose your peer group wisely from day one, even if it means “cutting off” some individuals.
Every lecture room will establish certain clusters of personality types, and you'll be able to gauge who's there for what quickly enough. Sit up the back with the intellects who prefer not to be seen, or sit down the front with the furious note takers who enjoy being seen to be taking notes (these people are often more quirky and geeky, choose a group that fits you).
The old stereotype that those who sit up the back are bad students is not necessarily true at university, although feel out the crowd. If they are acting like fools before the lecture starts, avoid them and pick a modest, quiet group with folders laid out, diaries in hand and their lecture slides printed. All you need to do is sit down, smile & say “hi” - chances are they're just as nervous about their first day as you, and will welcome new friends.
Where you sit may determine who you will become.
Who will you sit with this year?
You want to know people who have dreams, goals and objectives that directly relate to their degree, meaning they must do well to achieve their desires. They must care about themselves, be organised and positive. If you sit with them for four years, chances are some of them will rub off on you. As the saying goes, 'you become like those you spend time with', so be VERY careful who you sit with. Talk to them about what they want, why, listen, and make friends. Help them when & where you can, and you will grow relationships that will last for the following years.
If you make friends with those who don't show up AND don't do their own work, you will have leeches sapping your time and energy.
If you make friends with self motivated achievers, you will have a group of like minded people who will watch out for each other and give information when you miss it. This is imperative, as you will realize, university is never a lone- soldier activity, especially with the focus on group work and team work becoming popular culture.
You want people who you will make rapid eye contact with when the mention of group work comes up, and you will want to quickly form into a group with the people you trust. These people also know the perils of getting stuck with lazy and incapable students in group work, and will happily take you on board if they think you are organized, know your content and are capable.
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
This is a fast collection of tips which will save you time, money and energy. Don’t skip this chapter. The last point is probably the best point in this book. It’s what I call “The holy grail of assignment writing”…
Get off on the right foot when writing.
Always buy the writing guide relevant to your degree, and use it EVERY time. Do NOT lose small marks for formatting errors you can easily avoid. It all adds up. For my degree, it was the APA standard, however for you it may be Harvard. Find out. If you can't afford the book, Google “Apa style” and someone will have written a great webpage with everything you need. Bookmark it or print it!
Money Saving
Don't purchase the textbook unless you need to. Some lecturers will only assess you on the slide content. Pull them aside and ask how well you'd do without the book. Be aware that a lot of the lecturers have friends who've written the books, or have written it themselves, so tread carefully. If you have to purchase the textbook, see if you can get a second hand copy first. Student bulletin boards are full of them! Make sure you get the right edition. Negotiate on the price; it’s already a dead investment in most people’s minds when they’re going to sell. I know of people who have actually GIVEN it away when I’ve offered a lower amount. I believe their exact words were “F…. it, you can just have it” – 2 minutes of talking saved me $126.
The golden “past example”
Always ask your lecturer for past examples of HD submissions, and then just model your structure on them! You won't get done for plagiarism, they'll appreciate the initiative and you'll win, because you have a winning structure. Most lecturers keep copies of the highest achiever's submissions from the previous year. They’re like nuggets of gold. All you need to do is get your hands on one, read it, practically imitate it, and the lecturers will have no choice but to give yours a HD too I can’t believe people don’t do this... it amazes me…
The Drafting Process
Submit a draft early. This proves you're serious, willing to learn, and you respect the lecturer’s opinions and expectations. All of this will go a long way to you getting the mark you want. Further, psychologically, a lecturer is likely to give you a higher final mark if he/she has already read and suggested fixes for the paper – after all, it's now part their work. You have transferred some ownership. Long story short, you will win if you go through the drafting process.
Online Journals
Make extensive use of online Journals. They're more useful than books, because they typically have articles which are finely researched versions of the essay you're trying to write. It's great to have a whole folder full of PDFs that will buff out your reference count and give you accurate, well researched information. A tip – when you download the journals, immediately retitle the filename to the structure of Author(s), Date.pdf, to conform to your in-text referencing. This makes it very easy to find later! Your library manages the subscriptions to online journals. Find out how they work and how to access them ASAP.
Having great strategies is like being able to lay golden eggs…
People will wonder how the hell you do it.
The Holy Grail of help with assignments
I’ve been bursting at the seams to tell people this one. I didn’t tell a soul for the years that I did it, because I didn’t want to get “busted”. I didn’t even tell my friends what I was up to. I used to finish assignments quickly, damn quickly, and here’s how. For every essay you write, go to the library, and search the Thesis library. I never saw anybody in that section at any point I visited it. People consider theses to be long boring prose. Boy, are they dead wrong. Somebody will have written a huge, well researched, amazingly well edited extremely well referenced longer and better version of what you’re about to write. While it’s technically cheating, but not really (they can’t prove it if you’re careful), you can borrow the thesis (DO NOT borrow it on your student card, just take it from the shelf) and simply copy their references and the information they’ve garnered from the references, rewording it sufficiently so it isn’t plagiarism.
What this means is, you DON’T NEED TO READ thousands of references, and you don’t need to sift for relevant information. A hard working thesis student spent a year of their life doing it for you! They even referenced it all properly in-text and in their reference section. This is the holy grail of assignment writing. The golden Egg. The bean that grows and grows. Do this and you will finish your assignments in a matter of hours, and it’ll look like you spent weeks on it. So that one’s out there, I apologize for the day when it becomes ineffective and the Thesis section is crawling with marks hungry undergrads.
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
You need to know them on a first name basis, and they need to at least respect you in some way.
Since you'll probably skip some lectures throughout the semester, be sure to show up and sit in on lectures as often as you can without impeding your ability to self teach. I went to about 60% of lectures, picking the ones that I found engaging.
However, in the interests of achieving a result, go, offer a friendly hello on your way in/out, and if you are the first to arrive, don't ignore the lecturer: they're people. If you acknowledge that, you will gain their respect on a human level, and then you can worry about proving yourself academically. If they think you're an asshole, professionalism aside, they will struggle to squeeze extra marks out of your exams come finals.
Basic lesson: go every now & again, be polite, friendly and ask a question you genuinely need clarification on if you get a chance. If you get caught out about not attending, it's better to make up an excuse or lie. Do not insult their teaching. This is academic suicide. Do it on the confidential forms you'll get given at the end of the semester, and use different handwriting (seriously).
The most important fact here is that lecturers are people too. You might’ve listened to Randy Pausch’s last lecture. That was the epitome of what it is to be a lecturer. Professor Pausch demonstrated humanity, and spoke of living. Sometimes we forget that these people have lives, complications, husbands, wives, children, family, and emotions. Imagine if you were treated like a marking drone and an audio visual apparatus. You’ll be amazed at the results you get if you interact with them as you would any other person.
Randy Pausch (a person) delivering his last lecture.
Find it on YouTube if you haven’t seen it.
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
When you're trying to learn a new concept properly, you need a chunk of time and a focused mind. To be blunt with you, a lot of lectures are boring, whether it is that the content has been arranged with poor imagination, or whether it be that the speaker is not engaging: either way you will come across lectures in which you find it impossible to focus. Given that lectures stack up to 20 hours a week in some cases, your time is being stolen from you, and it's partly your fault for not taking action to remedy the situation.
Make informed decisions about which lectures to attend. This can free up approximately 20-24 hours a week of real learning time, which you then must use to your advantage. You must learn to teach yourself. You must become an adaptive learner, able to interpret and make information interesting and relevant to you. Two hours of solid tuition and revision in your own stimulating environment will yield exponentially larger learning results than listening to a lecturer drone away.
Further, if you teach yourself, you can do it in about one quarter of the time. You can read faster than your lecturer can speak. You can also make information relevant to you on the fly. Read all the lecture notes and scribble out a mind map (chapter 8) of the subject on a whiteboard or a large sheet of card and decimate an entire semester of work in an afternoon.
This process will help you later. Your mind learns through repetition. When the time comes around for final exams, you've already covered all of the content, and your mind will strengthen the memories upon further repetition. Your mind rots when you daydream and pretend to focus on what someone is saying. It grows when you stimulate and challenge it. You must therefore take action and control of your time, and use it wisely.
Classes
Most classes will just go through the end of chapter revision questions. If you are struggling and need clarification on something, its worth attending and taking up some of the tutor's time with your questions – that's what they are there for. However, if you have a keen grasp of the topic, it’s sometimes OK to simply not show up. Use the time to answer the end of chapter questions yourself. Or, use the time to earn some money.
This being said, always attend at least the first class. It's much like every situation in life you will encounter. You must be in it to win it, but if it can't be won, change the playing field. If you feel that it will hinder rather than help you – skip it! Eliminate the wasted time and use it for something worthwhile.
People feel naughty for 'cutting class', but this isn't high School any more. You pay them to put on the class, and you are perfectly within your rights to justifiably not show up, and use the time to your advantage. Got a job? Get shifts at the same time as the class, and then you have plausible excuse should you need something that was handed out in the class. If you ever get asked about your attendance, any lame excuse said with a smile will do, but as mentioned before, never ever insult someone's profession by saying their classes are wasting your time.
Essentially, skipping lectures and classes can both help and hinder you. You must make informed decisions about which sessions are wasting your time, and which sessions are interesting, informative and worth attending.
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
These are the six most powerful steps you will ever learn to follow. These steps are based on scientific research which demonstrates powerful improvements in learning. Try them for one semester without fail, and you will never look back!
Step 1. Read all the content surrounding the topic once – books, lecture slides, references – everything.
Step 2. Skim the chapter summaries and construct a comprehensive mind map of concepts, see mind mapping (Chapter 14).
Step 3. Try the exercises at the end of the chapters, skip the ones that look like pointless busy work, and the ones you know you can answer well. Choose the most challenging questions. You’re trying to make your mind work here.
Step 4. Hand write your own notes from the chapters, following the structure of your mind map. Glue relevant pictures in amongst the writing and personalize it. This helps with encoding the information into your long term memory. If you’ve cut, glued, highlighted, drawn, scribbled and related information, it encodes much better into your memory.
Step 5. Develop Acronyms for key concepts and link them to something dirty or funny. For example, to remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs (SELSP): S: Sometimes (Self Actualization) E: Elliot (Esteem) L: Loves (Love/belonging) S: Sucking (Safety) P: … …… (Physiological) While this is a bit crude, you’ll never forget it if you link it to something funny and dirty. And people will wonder what’s so funny when you’re stifling snorts in the exams.
Step 6. This is critical. Record yourself TALKING about the subject in your ipod/iriver/whatever. Run through your mind map verbally and explain to yourself each of the concepts. Play it while you go for your daily run/walk/gym/sunbake. Play it in your car while you drive. Multi tasking is brilliant. As you listen, try to picture your notes – what pictures did you glue near this key word? Imagine your mind map branching out. Remember, each branch has a key word, and that key word will trigger the recall of more information relating to it. Finally, go over your mind maps, answered questions, notes, and tie it all together by looking at the map as you learn about a certain section of material. All of these steps will take you much less time than sitting in lectures and classes, and will force you to learn as you have read it, written about it, talked about it, reconstructed it and thought about the content.
These steps are simple, and cover all the bases. Sell the notes, maps and recordings to the next year of students via the student bulletin board if you like.
To recap, The Three Keys to successful learning are:
1. Mind Maps
2. Structured Personalized Notes
3. Verbal and Written Revision – Talking, listening, writing, reading.
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
Most of the time you'll get to work with your friends, however there will always be situations where you have to work with people you don't like, people who are lazy (and subsequently stupid), and people who are disagreeable know-it- alls. Here's how to deal with all of the above.
Firstly, when you sit down with your group, do not attempt to establish dominance immediately. This is a common mistake made by people who want to be high achievers. Being the group leader has only two potential bonuses: social respect, and practice leading. However, if there's somebody else at the table who is just as capable or more capable than you to lead the group, let the poor sucker do it. They'll have to chase, berate, edit, stay up late and be a general pain in the ass to keep the group motivated and on track.
Your focus in group work is to get your section(s) done faster and of a higher quality than everybody else, demonstrating your direct worth to the group without having to be a mediator or cat herder. If you have a particularly rude person in the group, don't confront them immediately. Find a time when the two of you can be alone, and get to know them. Usually there's a personal conflict within the group. Use your people skills to resolve the conflict quietly: it will pay off in total marks later.
Don't allow group meetings to be scheduled without a purpose. They typically turn into gossip sessions and waste everybody's time. Even if I’m not the official leader of the group, I always suggest direct goals for the meeting: contributing is fine. An example of this may be, “I'll have my part finished by the next meeting, I want to go over it with you, John, because I think yours and mine are fairly related and I want to see if I've just repeated what you've said!”. This subtly forces John to have something prepared, and everybody else will feel guilty if they come empty handed (Groups are typically 4-5 people).
Be diplomatic, friendly and useful in group situations.
It sure beats being the cat herder.
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
A lot of degrees have a large focus on presentation skills. Even if your degree isn't so group and presentation focused, chances are you'll get electives that require you to jump up in front of the class and talk on your chosen topic.
A lot of people are paralyzed by fear at the very thought of public speaking, however there are a handful of skills you can develop and tools you can use to make this experience more enjoyable for you. Always, always practice your presentation. I used to video record myself on my laptop at least twice, taking note as to what sounded awkward and noticing any nervous body or hand movements I did. Self awareness is the key to good public speaking. Monitor your body language, keeping it in tune with the pace of the presentation, and avoid awkward repetitive anxiety reduction tics such as swaying back and forward.
Marks are often awarded for eye contact. The challenge is, if you make direct eye contact with your audience it can distract you from your thought train. The solution is to glance around the room, directly staring at people's hair lines. To them, it looks like you're looking directly at the person behind them, and vice versa. If you can make use of power points and it’s appropriate, use a short funny video clip to ease the topic in. It breaks the ice in the room and puts you at ease as well.
I’m going to share a very personal strategy I use in a lot of situations. When I first started working for a friend of mine, a very wealthy man, we were sitting at the computers working on a website late one night. We were tired. All of a sudden, he jumped up, punched the air, and screamed at the top of his lungs. The room rattled. At first, I thought he’d run over his foot with his chair… He was just standing there yelling, and I was staring up at him like he had just stumbled out of the asylum.
Then, all of a sudden, he started producing solutions to challenges we’d faced all night. This is called ‘shocking your central nervous system into action’. Sure, you’ve practiced your presentation, recorded it, read it a thousand times… but do you have blind faith and a crazy level of self confidence that will allow you to just step up and deliver? It’s easier to achieve than you’d think.
You must visualize the presentation, run through it in your mind, and imagine that you cannot fail. But visualization isn’t enough. You must combine thought with action, always.
That day, while you’re driving to university… wind the windows up… find a nice patch of traffic-less road (or do it in traffic, who cares?) and yell at the top of your lungs how awesome the presentation is going to be… how much fun you’re going to have, how it will feel like you’re lecturing infants… literally go ballistic for as long as you can until you’re out of breath and tired of hearing your own voice. The tip here is to shock your adrenal system and your mind so heavily before you present that your body doesn’t flood you with anxiety when you stand up to present, instead it floods you with feelings about whatever you told yourself while you were yelling. How can this work you wonder? Just try it… it’s another of those ‘you won’t look back’ tips.
Finally, whenever you give a presentation, always arrive early and test the computer – make sure your PowerPoint loads. Always take a backup copy, and email yourself a copy of both your assignment and PowerPoint. Get used to the room. Pace up and down a few times. Say hello to everybody you know in the room, this puts your mind at ease. Get into a sociable and happy frame of mind, if you were unable to “power talk” in your car, this will prove a little more difficult. Remember, if you do what everybody else does, you’ll get what they get. Dare to be different, and reap the rewards it produces.
Practice and Self Awareness enhances your presentation skills.
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
Don’t go down the doctors’ certificate aisle unless you really have to. Your GP will question you more intently when something serious pops up, and lecturers will raise an eyebrow if you're always “sick” but never visibly ill. It will drag you into a situation where you have to lie, and honestly is generally the best policy.
What I can suggest firstly is to have your work done and on time as often as you can. Aim for about 95% consistency with this, as it gives you huge negotiating leverage when you need to drag out a few extra days without being penalized. Lecturers are people too. They understand social dilemmas, family challenges, work commitments and all of the factors that influence all of our lives. What they don't understand are lazy unapplied students who want a free ride, and haven't demonstrated that they are worth the time.
You'll probably know if you're going to need an extension on something. It's a feeling you get. I suggest for the particular piece of assessment, submit an early draft to demonstrate you haven't left it until the last second, thus allowing plausible use of your excuse (demonstrable deviation from your otherwise studious manner). The draft can be relatively dodgy, just outlining your ideas and concepts, submitted to see if you are on the “right track”. Then, you can leave it and start prioritizing elsewhere, safe in knowing your groundwork has been laid out.
As an example, I only needed an extension once, and it was in the most hilarious of circumstances. It was my third year in the middle of the second semester, and I was in Europe on holidays. I had calculated the time I could take out of semester without severely hindering my marks, and I took a little holiday.
My brother and I had decided to rent a car and drive from Positano, Italy all the way up to Milan and then fly to Paris. I'd forgotten about an essay I was meant to submit in two days, and I emailed the lecturer carefully explaining my circumstances, letting him know I would be writing it in the car but I would not have access to the internet until I got to Florence (a half-truth, but justifiable).
The subject was an ‘external subject’, which means I hadn’t personally met this lecturer before. I also let him know that in 3 years of studying, I'd never asked for an extension before, and I apologized for leaving it so late to ask. I outlined that it was a family trip. I was upfront, honest, and courteous.
While this sounds far fetched, and you're probably thinking “You had no chance...”, I had laid out the groundwork! I had made contact via email with this lecturer before, clarifying a point and my ideas for the essay, and so had a report with him: he knew I was studious and applied.
I then sat in the car while my brother drove and wrote it. I looked at the past example supplied by the lecturer (chapter 2), and my mind map (Chapter 14) of the topic every now and again to make sure I was on the right track. Needless to say, a few extra days of fun for me in Italy!
I got a Distinction – not bad. Key points: submit drafts, make contact, and be polite, courteous honest.
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
Whatever you do, don't go in steaming about how unfair life is and how you've been victimized. I'm not kidding, I’ve heard of students 'setting the lecturer straight' and yet dismal about their mark not being changed. The amusing thing is, they couldn’t understand why.
Try this approach. Politely schedule a time via e-mail, and show up exactly on time. When you get to the door, politely and respectfully re-introduce yourself, and tell them exactly why you're there, thanking them for taking the time to see you. If it's an exam, ask to see the paper, and very quietly (in front of them) with a very deliberate look on your face, slowly scrutinize the exam.
It's important to stay extremely calm, friendly and focused in these situations, as if you succeed in these negotiations all the time. Take a pen, and place a dot next to every point you think they missed for a mark. This is a negotiation, and you must play a certain role to get the result you want.
After you've found the marks you think they've missed, ask them if they'd be 'open' to awarding marks for them, and explain how you believe these points deserve marks. Be sure to do a huge cram session before the meeting, so you know the topic like the exam was yesterday. This will make them curious as to why you didn’t get a higher mark – you seem like such a knowledgeable and applied student!
Keep in mind that in some instances they may have overlooked an entire section of your paper, as lecturers often stay up all night marking papers endlessly, and mistakes are bound to happen. I have heard of one particular case where half the exam wasn't marked, and the person failed, didn't contest the mark, and almost re-sat the subject before the mistake was found. Always check if you aren't sure they're right. Educators are just as human as you, and likely to be under more stress!
The way you present yourself will dramatically affect the result you get.
When it comes to essays, things can get a little more convoluted. At my particular institution, there was a re-marking policy which had another lecturer of equal status mark your paper if you contested the mark you got. I believe this is fairly standard procedure, and gives you no negotiating leverage. Only do this if you are sure that some bias or ignorance on behalf of your lecturer has definitely effected your mark, or you may end up with a worse result overall.
The way to avoid this is by preemptively submitting a draft to feel out the angles the lecturer would like to hear, and to see if they will accept your arguments as substantiated or, conversely, ridiculous. Remember, lecturers are not automatons. They feel emotions, and once an emotional reaction to your work has been formulated (typically in the first paragraph) they will have a hard time reframing their opinion.
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
Being a strong, happy and confident person is an art form. It helps you when you meet new people, it helps you take on challenges and new situations, but most importantly, research shows good self esteem will help you with your marks.
In fact, a study showed that students who received positive feedback from teachers, regardless of the quality of their work, got better at their tasks over time comparative to students who received neutral feedback.
In other words, consistently telling yourself you're good at what you do makes you good at what you do! It's an upward spiral. Whether or not you ascribe to the ideals of personal development is irrelevant – you must develop a positive mindset about yourself to get positive results from yourself.
There are simple daily actions you can take, which, over time will help you. There's no magical process to developing self confidence except to practice it, practice it, practice it.
Every morning, you must get straight out of bed, and read something positive and informative to set the tone for the day. Every day, go into every situation with a smile and an open mind, and expect the best from everybody and everything, consistently.
If something goes wrong, and it will, learn from it and move on. Make these simple processes a life-long habit, and you'll succeed more often than you fail: the definition of a successful person!
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
One of the first jobs I ever had was working for a self made multi-millionaire. He asked me to convert all of his tape collections to mp3 – a tedious, thankless task.
The equipment I used didn't let me mute the audio from the various speakers who lectured endlessly about personal change and development. One of the speakers who still rings clear in my ears is a father of the personal development industry, Zig Ziglar. Zig, in his Texan drawl, clearly outlined what I needed to tweak in my life to ensure I had a brighter future.
I listened to audio tapes covering how to build property empires, how to self publish, leadership, achieving happiness, increasing your efficiency, planning for your future, building self confidence, sales strategies, influencing others, body language, self perception, and the list goes on and on.
A great deal of my cognitive structure and decision making skills were shaped from these audio tapes. Personal development will help you if you know who to listen to. There are thousands of titles, topics and authors to choose from. I suggest just starting with the below first.
1. Anthony Robbins – Personal Power II, Get the Edge, Unleash the Power within (Printed and Audio Books)
2. Stephen Covey – The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Get the book)
You may have heard negative comments about personal development. You may have never been exposed to it. I suggest you get your hands on one of the above, and give it a try. You won't look back.
As a final thought on audio books, never drive in your car listening to the top 40. That’s just wasting your valuable time. Always, always listen to something positive, informative or mind expanding.
I commute about 40 minutes a day, and I once calculated I spend a good 133 hours of my life each year driving to and from uni. One hundred and thirty- three hours of self education? Yes please! As I mentioned before, if you aren’t listening to personal development, listen to your home made recordings of your notes!
Personal development’s value is heavily underestimated
by most University students. Learn from winners not losers.
Setting and kicking Goals
To many people, a goal is an objective they would like to achieve. To me, and now to you, a goal is an objective which you must achieve, at whatever cost.
The difference between a good goal and a bad goal is how tangible you make it. By this I mean: a bad goal is something like “I want a sweet job after uni” A good goal is, “By August 2010, I will have at least 9 HDs and 2 Ds. I will have made 3 contacts which I know will help me get a job later.”
You must set an exact quantifiable amount for exactly what you want, and link a date to it. By doing it in this way, your mind knows exactly what to reach for, and it gives you a sense of direction. There's no hard and fast rule as to how many life goals you should set, but I believe you should set something that is both challenging and achievable.
Goals should be progressive, in that you have yearly targets, and monthly targets that accumulate to achieving your yearly result. Also, the yearly result should help you reach your long term goals. For me, I plan only 5 years ahead.
Finally, build a vision board. This is a board of all the things you will achieve in your life. You must cue your mind to focus in the right direction. You know, for a fact, that if you get a great GPA you will be highly employable (as long as you have decent Emotional IQ!).
So make the pictures relevant to the job you want and the items it will get you. The below picture is one of my friend’s vision boards. It’s a great example. It keeps him focused and heading in the right direction every day.
Warning: If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there…
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
Exams are a really frustrating concept. They're quite frankly an outdated and monolithic way of assessing people’s understanding. However, there's a way to ace them every time, given practice.
You must remember and understand about 8 weeks of work, and condense it into some form of coding system which allows your mind to recall it with ease. By the time exams roll around, you’ll have customized notes, audio recordings and mind maps – the most powerful encoding systems you can use. Here’s what to do when you get there…
Always allow significant “stuff up” time in getting there. If you use public transport, aim to arrive an hour early. If you're driving, and you're certain of your route and times, arrive 45 minutes early. Regardless, I always got to the location an hour early with my notes and maps, and sat down near the room to become calm and familiar with the environment.
I see so many stressed, panicked people rush into the room at the last minute, claiming to have “crammed” until the last second. I know that they won't be able to concentrate until their mind slows and grows accustomed to the new environment, AND, the information has last been encoded in a separate environment.
The reason you must study in the exam environment is, your mind will recall information easily in the same environment it was encoded in. This can be achieved by associating a smell with your particular subject. For example, you may soak a tissue in strawberry essence and sniff it occasionally whilst studying. Take it into the exam with you, and sniff whenever you reach a mental block. You'll be amazed at how effective this is.
So, arrive early, re-encode the information in the environment it is to be recalled in, and calm down. Walk into the exam room and pick a spot at the very back, preferably in a corner. You do this because you can't be distracted by noises behind you, which are more distracting than noises in front of you. Also, you can watch the rest of the room and amuse yourself while you take a writing break. Don't sit anywhere near low achievers. Sit next to the aforementioned highly motivated and intelligent types who will work consistently throughout the exam. This keeps you adherent to social pressures, as you will try to keep pace with them.
Structurally, exams follow 3 typical forms. Usually, there are some multiple choice, some short answer questions, and some essay questions.
To do well on multiple choice only exams, all you need to do is be certain of the facts in the textbook. This is achieved by reading it over, and over, and over again. Multiple choice exams are designed to trick you in most instances, however lecturers typically use similar wording to that seen in the assigned texts. Always go with your first answer, unless you find inconclusive evidence in the rest of the exam (Say, another question contradicts a previous answer you’ve given). Guessing, contrary to popular belief, actually gives you a 50% chance of being correct (demonstrated by research) so ‘educated guess’ away if you don’t know.
Never forfeit marks. In short answer and essay questions, the key is to jam as many keywords and concepts into the allocated space as possible. Don’t worry too much about witty prose, you’re demonstrating that you can recall and understand the content. Go nuts jotting down random facts you know in the margins, scribble dot points, and if you have time at the end of the exam go back and buff it out more.
I’ve seen many marks allocated to my weird offside facts surrounding the topic that I’ve scrawled in the margins in the final seconds. In fact, I know that if you’re one mark below a HD, good lecturers will re-read your exam looking for an excuse to give you the mark you deserve. Make sure you give them plenty of excuses to mark you up!
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
As I've mentioned repeatedly throughout this book, University is more about people and less about the institution. Lecturers have ambitions, goals, dreams, and personal beliefs, all of which you can use to your advantage in obscure ways. Tread lightly when you use this, as you'll notice that nobody likes a suck up.
Basically, if you want easy marks, you have to write what the lecturer believes is correct. You can take the high road and argue for a different viewpoint, but you'll want to be an outstanding and well researched writer to do it and get a reasonable mark. Ignore what they say if they claim to be impartial, and will ‘gladly award high marks for a well reasoned argument’. They’re human – they will form emotional reactions.
It's a whole lot easier to simply ask them what angle they think is the best, and then go away and write from the recommended viewpoint. While this doesn't subscribe to the anti establishment ideals of a university student, it sure gets the marks.
Once you've got a draft ready, take it to them and ask them if you're on the right track. Take careful note of the ideas they offer, and go back and work them in. You've transferred some ownership of your work, given them some emotional responsibility, and gotten it “right” without the guesswork. Easy.
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
Nearly all subjects grow in an exponential and progressive fashion. Lectures will begin with an idea, and expand them. For this reason, mind maps are a useful tool to understand an entire topic at a glance.
Mind map takes a basic “starter” concept and expands into all of the sub sections and ideas relevant to that concept. Your brain creates memories by linking one concept with another, in exactly the same form a mind map takes. For this reason, you can study all of the background information about the concept, create a map with a trigger word, and your mind will unravel all of the memories in a progressive fashion as your eyes cast over the map.
I memorize maps so that in an exam all I need to do is close my eyes and I can see and explore the entire map. As I think of sections, my brain recounts all the facts I need. This is due to neural connections formed when the map and memory was formed. It’s physiological. It's an extremely simple and extremely powerful way of encoding information in a format your brain understands. Don't feed your mind cat food when it can have caviar.
Below is just a random example I found online. As you can see, it starts with a central theme, in this instance this man himself. It then branches out into subsets of information (categories) and further branches in a logical and sequential fashion through all the relevant information. Try it, print it for each topic, and put it up on your wall – they’re fantastic.
;)
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
This chapter will address a real issue. If you don't like reality, skip it. I'm going to give you practical, scientifically proven and intelligent advice. Perhaps you and your friends partake in some pretty heavy drinking. If you don't, let me be the first to congratulate you. This topic may seem a little “taboo” for a book that aims to develop your university skills, however, for some, drinking is a university skill, and so I will discuss it.
Firstly, going out and having fun is fine. This is life and you have to live it. If you don't, you won't be socially well adjusted, your networking skills will be poor, and you will most likely be lonely. I went through a period of drinking heavily every weekend, and most do in our age group: much like hippies, peace and weed were popular in the seventies; the destructive activity of drinking heavily is our generation's crux.
The challenge is ensuring this cultural phenomenon does not become a destructive force in your studies and the rest of your life. Here's some advice that will preserve your brain: Only drink once a week. Don't pre-drink heavily before you go out. Let everybody else do it, and just have a couple slowly. When you're out, drink only single shot drinks, or if you like beer, drink midstrength or lights (XXXX Gold was my staple). Nobody will notice what you're drinking if you buy pots off tap, it'll be cheap, you'll have a good night, and you won't suffer. You'll wake up fine in the morning, and only be short a few thousand brain cells.
Be warned that every time you consume more than four standard units in a sitting, you will permanently damage your brain. That's a fact. Your mind is your biggest asset. It will produce your income for the rest of your life. Drink enough to be happy and sociable, and then stop. Better yet, don't drink at all; but as I love a beer or two, I followed the aforementioned strategy.
As for drugs of any sort, I personally do not touch them and will not touch them, for the potential havoc they can wreak on your mind. Everything you do in life has a risk and benefit ratio, and in the instance of drugs, the risks far outweigh the benefits. Google 'contents of ecstasy' for a reality check about what you'd really be consuming. It's frightening.
It’s all fun & games until he needs a job.
Lastly, do not cut margins, and do not risk a hangover or lack of sleep on a short burst of fun, in exchange for marks. If somebody is trying to convince you to “come out and have fun” give them a definite day when you will be joining them, expand the idea in their minds as an exciting event, and then get straight back to work. This way, you show your friends you are willing and open to going out and having fun, you have quantified and qualified what you will do and when, and you aren't at a social loss for being studious.
Learn to delay gratification, and you'll be the most employable and useful person imaginable. As an afterthought, having inserted the above picture – don’t let people take incriminating photos of you and post them online. This can severely damage your employment prospects (really).
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
Most lecturers just take the exercises in the textbook and vaguely reword them for final exams. This is easier on them and if you've already answered them and thought about the questions, it's easier for you too. A nice, quiet, untold win-win. Your mind learns by doing. Chances are when you just read it; it will flow right through you. Don’t fall into the lazy trap of pretending to study just because you read the textbook.
Lesson: Lazy people lose. Don’t be one of them.
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
People love to strike fear into your heart at university. They sadistically enjoy talking about how 'hard' things are going to be, and how they heard about the fail rates, or that they heard the lecturer is evil.
Learn to disregard everything and go into everything with an open mind and a big smile. If somebody is feeling bad, chances are they will attempt to bring a few suckers down with them. Don't be one of those suckers. Stand on your own two feet and make your own judgments.
When it comes to exams, take study advice only from those who consistently do well, and do not form study groups with people who are of a less skill level than you. Work with people who are better, smarter, more organized, and be polite and courteous when you ask for their help. People who are well studied get value from talking the subject over with people, and teaching others, as it solidifies their own knowledge.
Position yourself as the talk-to-person, and benefit greatly from it. Further to this, there are a lot of people who are actually misinformed about what percentage the exam is worth, what questions are on it, or are just plain guessing and will tell you as if it is fact. Confirm everything about exams via email with the lecturer if you are unsure.
Gossip and worry sessions are worthless.
Don’t participate.
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
There are so many small strategies you can apply that will increase your chances of getting great marks at Uni. I’m glad you’ve taken the time to read this book.
As you’ll notice, a great deal of the skills you must develop are personal skills. I’ve seen a lot of ‘smart’ students entirely unable to apply their knowledge, and a lot of ‘dumb’ students go ahead to make many millions of dollars. There’s a balance: you must study smart, not hard, work well with people and know your degree back to front.
Be the person who knows it so well you can regurgitate it in your sleep – this helps with making friends, doing group work, speaking to the lecturer, and if you ever get randomly asked a question, be able to answer it and answer it well.
Lecturers notice who doesn't show up, and they do like to make sure you at least know what you're doing. They will check, if they are a good educator, so be ready.
Thanks for reading and I sincerely hope I’ve given you lots to think about. If you have any suggestions for additions to this book, or if you believe you can contribute, please email me at david@succeedatuniversity.com . I’d also love any general feedback you can give – I want this to be the best book it can be!
Have a fantastic day and best of luck with your studies.
Don’t forget your free update:www.succeedatuniversity.com/freeupdate.html
Warmly,
David Swayn
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
“David has always been an observer of the system. I watched David coming to grips with the systems & concepts surrounding higher education in his first year, and he very diligently began to formulate strategies that worked. We often talked of “playing the game”, and this book is all about the game that is university. This is his system, and it works. This is like a “pocket guide” for the university student, and it's a must-read for everybody involved in higher education.”
My Parents (thanks for everything)
“David has produced an outstanding & useful guide to University. I'm a firm believer in developing the self first, and David has incorporated this into this book. Remember, it's not what you learn, it's how you apply it. Don't forget to apply what you learn from this book. Happy reading.”
Michael Prichard, Friend & Mentor
www.michaelprichard.com
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink
Random Entry
