Are You Stressed By Studying for Exams? Study More Efficiently!

Whether you are learning a new language or a subject like geography, these simple tips could save you hours of study time – and result in higher marks.

Photographer: Eli Francis | Source: Unsplash

Highlighting Fundamentals

You have probably used highlighters in textbooks and study notes; but are you getting the most out of them?

Photographer: Mitchell Luo | Source: Unsplash

To learn anything, you must repeat the material. You go over it again – and again – and again. Then when you are confident that you have learned the information, you progress to more studying. However, this repetition process also means that you are wasting time going over facts and information you already know.

Don’t do it!

After you have learned about 80% of the material, use a yellow highlighter to mark everything that has eluded you. Next time through, concentrate on only the yellow areas. Try the memorization process a few more times until you have absorbed about 80% of the yellow text. Then do it again, marking over top of the yellow with a pink highlighter. This produces an orange shade. Spend more time memorizing everything with orange highlights.

This highlighting process produces three sections:

  • Easy – no highlighting
  • Moderately difficult – yellow highlighting
  • Difficult – orange highlighting

The closer you get to an exam, the more time you should spend on the orange areas. They are your personal stumbling blocks. The 5%-10% of unknown material usually causes 95% or more of exam errors.

Magnetism – and not the Personal Kind!

A magnetic metal clipboard can be a useful studying tool. If you don’t have one, you can use a small magnetic dry-erase board and a bulldog clip. You will also need a small refrigerator magnet (the flat business-card type that is distributed by dentists and plumbers).

Photographer: Joyce McCown | Source: Unsplash

Clip a page of study notes onto the board and use the fridge magnet to cover the answers. If the telephone rings or you are distracted by raiding the fridge for a snack, the magnet will keep track of your place on the page.

Experiment to see how many pages you can clip onto the board at one time before the magnet refuses to stick. You might be able to work with a pile of 5 or more sheets. Go through the first one, put it on the bottom of the pile, and proceed to the next.

After exams are finished, you can recycle photocopies or printouts by turning them over and using the other side of each page. You might even want to make your own notepads.

Carefully line up a stack of paper. Lay the stack on the edge of a table or desk and set a couple of heavy books on top. Use notepad glue or white glue to paint the ends. Once the glue dries, remove the books and separate the pile into manageable notepads.


Note: This content was curated from a third party!

Review: 12 truths I learned from life and writing

Speaker: Anne Lamott
TED2017
Date: April 2017
Location: Vancover, BC

Description from TED website:
A few days before she turned 61, writer Anne Lamott decided to write down everything she knew for sure. She dives into the nuances of being a human who lives in a confusing, beautiful, emotional world, offering her characteristic life-affirming wisdom and humor on family, writing, the meaning of God, death, and more.

Select the image to go to the actual video.

My Review / Notes / Thoughts

Like all the TED Talks I’ve watched, this one was a great one … which makes it a bit hard to write about them since they are all so great! So excuse me as I say once again, you need to go watch this talk! By the way, I had to watch this one twice!

In this talk, she presents twelve things that she “knows” to be true, things she wrote down just before her 61st birthday. She presents them with a good bit of humor, and you will laugh as you watch this video. One of the lines that stuck out to me the most was from ner #10 item about grace where she said:

“Laughter really is carbonated holiness. It helps us breathe again and again and gives us back to ourselves…”

I know that this talk would be a great discussion starter, but I’m not exactly sure what field(s) of study this would be a good fit. What are your thoughts? What field(s) of study could you see this talk being used to engage students in learning?


Until next time … live long life-learner!

Why Online High School?

The number of online high schools is increasing at a steady rate as more and more schools offering quality, accredited programs online. With the presence of public, private, and online high schools, individuals are faced with a greater choice when it comes to their education.

Photographer: Nick Morrison | Source: Unsplash

You know about regular private and public schools. They’re located in your neighborhood and city. You know what they’re all about and the types of programs and services they offer. What about online high school? It’s a relatively new concept (and we aren’t talking about the online options due to COVID-19).

Online high school enables students to get an accredited high school education from their homes. It is just like its classroom counterpart – there are assignments, quizzes, and final exams. You simply access the class material through the use of your computer 24/7, 365 days a year. It provides you with an easy way to take summer school classes online, makeup credits, or get a jumpstart on the upcoming school year.

Photographer: Shayna Douglas | Source: Unsplash

Benefits of Online High School

Choose where to learn – You can take high school classes from your home or office.

Set your own pace – You can work as fast or slow as you need. You are in the driver’s seat.

Study when you want – You can choose when you want to study and arrange your classes around work, sports, and other responsibilities.

Avoid social pressure – You can work in an environment without the social issues that are present in a regular school.

Access class materials anytime – You can learn any time during the day or night.

There is typically an education support department to guide you with any questions or concerns you have along the way. They can be reached via e-mail, phone, or fax.

Most importantly, it’s easy to get started. You don’t have to wait until September to begin. Simply log onto the website of an online high school and follow the steps to start. You will soon be on your way.


Note: This content was curated from a third party.

Your Guide To Earn An Online Bachelor Degree In Nursing

You might be or you might not be aware that the health care industry is one of the booming sectors for the next 5 years especially in the nursing field with a projection of a 27% increase in employment. Hence, if you are interested and considering earning a nursing degree online, you definitely are on the right career path.

Photographer: Evan Wise | Source: Unsplash

There are many accredited online universities offering online nursing degree programs with an emphasis in various fields. You should spend some time considering the available options to decide which online nursing degree program meets your education & career goal. Here is a step by step guide to help you to earn an online bachelor degree in nursing.

Step 1: Determine The Right Online University

In the process of short-listing your online universities of choice, you need to select only the online universities that are accredited by the USA’s recognized and legitimate accreditation agency. The non-accredited online degree program will make your degree rejected by most employers.

Although there are many online universities offering bachelor’s degrees in nursing, the degrees might vary from one online university to another online university; they might be different in areas of focus. Be sure to review each nursing program you are interested in and determine that the program is able to meet your needs in courses and in budget.

Photographer: CDC | Source: Unsplash

Step 2: Determine What Is Required To Earn The Bachelor Degree In Nursing

Ask the universities to send you their information on their bachelor nursing degree programs; look at the curriculum, determine if the time frame will work for you as well as the course of study. You may want to consider several nursing schools and determine which offers more of what you are looking to learn. Many online nursing schools offer flexibility in terms of time. Most of online bachelor nursing degree will require you to spend a certain number hours in clinical assignments in order to earn the degree; if you are working while getting you online degree, you may want to ensure that you are able to fit into the clinical schedule.

Step 3: Determine the Financial Aid Available

If the tuition fees are your concern, you might want to consider an online university that can offer you flexibility in your tuition fee payment. Many online universities do offer scholarships and loans to their online students; you can get the information from the admission departments of these online universities.

Photographer: Hush Naidoo | Source: Unsplash

Step 4: Enroll in Your Selected Online Nursing Program

Once you have decided on the university and the online nursing degree program that you are interested in, ensure you meet the pre-requirements of your selected program. There may be many specific things that you have to do to qualify to get into the program. There may also be deadlines to consider. Look for the methods that fit your needs here.

Step 5: Be Prepared As An Online Student

Just like any other process of learning, you need to prepare yourself for your steps into learning. Get what you need, learn how the online nursing program works, and get settled. It is time to learn. Find your best method of learning, good time management will be a critical key to your success. Contact your professors with any questions that you may have. Follow what your curriculum says and dedicate yourself to taking on this new path to your new career.

Photographer: Rusty Watson | Source: Unsplash

In Summary

Earning an online bachelor’s degree in nursing is your right decision to start getting started with your career in the nursing field, one of the rapidly growing health care fields. And getting the right online nursing program that meets your career goal is equally important. You should spend your time considering the online nursing program that best suits your needs.


Note: This content was curated from a third party.

Review: The power of vulnerability

Speaker: Brené Brown
TEDxHouston
Date: June 2010
Location: Houston, Texas

Description from TED website:
Brené Brown studies human connection — our ability to empathize, belong, love. In a poignant, funny talk, she shares a deep insight from her research, one that sent her on a personal quest to know herself as well as to understand humanity. A talk to share.

Select the image to go to the actual video.

My Review / Notes / Thoughts

Brené Brown’s study of human connection led her to study the concept of shame and what was behind it. As she conducted 6+ years of research she found that there were two different groups of people – those that had human connection and those that didn’t. She decided to study the human connection group and labeled them the “whole-hearted” group.

Things she found that the “whole-hearted” group had in common:

  1. The courage to be imperfect
  2. The compassion to be kind to themselves first and then to others
  3. Connection via authenticity
  4. Fully embraced vulnerability

A lot of people, myself included, have a hard time embracing vulnerability. She states that we deal with it by trying to numb it, unfortunately, you can’t just numb one emotion! She brings up the facts that we are the most in-debt, obese, addicted, and medicated adult cohort in U.S. history (and this talk was over a decade ago)! These addictions are all the ways we attempt to numb, but then we numb all of our emotions.

She points out that we can use other methods other than addictions to numb the “bad” emotions such as vulnerability. Such as making things that are uncertain certain … in other words, the mentality of my ideas are automatically right, and yours are wrong, so shut up! In describing this, she said that this is what politics looks like today:

“There’s no discourse anymore. There’s no conversation. There’s just blame. You know how blame is described in the research? A way to discharge pain and discomfort.”

Another way that we attempt to numb our emotions is by making everything perfect … as if that were possible!

Instead of trying to numb our emotions, she recommends that we:

  • let ourselves be seen … to the point of vulnerability
  • to love with our whole hearts, even though there’s no guarantee
  • to practice gratitude and joy despite times of doubt and terror
  • to believe that we are enough and be kinder and gentler to those around us as well as ourselves.

There is a lot of great information in this talk and I’ve only summarized some of the points that really stood out to me. I highly recommend that you watch this video for yourself … I believe I’ll need to watch this one a few more times myself!

Thinking about how this talk could be used in the classroom I have a few thoughts for the types of courses this would go well with. I think this would be a great talk for an intro to research class since she talks about how her own research affected her and her need to seek help. I think young researchers need to know that it’s ok to ask for help. So I would really recommend this talk in that area. Of course, discussions are always an easy way to incorporate a video such as this into a class. Do you have any other ideas for how to incorporate this talk into a class?

I can also see this talk being good in psychology and social work courses. I’m pretty sure it could be used in other areas …but I would love to hear your thoughts on how this talk could be incorporated into your courses to encourage engagement in students!


Until next time … live long life-learner!

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