Could use some encouragement

shoot4moon
Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:20:17 +0000

Honestly, I had the same issue in college. Every semester I started with new goals and objectives, did the work consistently, but then faded in motivation after the first few weeks, and ended up struggling with both the midterm and final. To give you hope, my GPA went steadily UP as I acknowledged my procrastination as you have, as well as my difficulty making myself study. Here are 4 completely ridiculous strategies that turned me from a 3.0 or below to a 3.9 student by the end of graduate school. (there’s your encouragement

1. I never ever studied in my room or apt unless it was for an allnighter (as a woman, I did want to be in my room and not walking around campus alone/on public transportation by a reasonable hour) Room time was for casual review, reorganizaiton, typing papers, and playing around.

2. I never returned to my room between classes. I tried to schedule my classes back to back when possible. When they were done, I headed for the closest, least popular place I knew. In undergrad, it was the 10th floor of our main library. I was smarter in grad school - I went to the beautiful and well lit law library, the funky and fabulous architecture library, or (wish I had found this space before the last semester) the INCREDIBLE alumni space overlooking Lake Washington with giant unused tables. I came home an hour or so before dinner to hang around with my friends, repack my study bagk, and arrange dinner plans. I took my evening study materials WITH me to the dining hall, which was about 200 yards from my dorm. That step alone saved me an hour a day - it is amazing how packing before dinnner takes 15 minutes, and packing after dinner means you get to the library an hour or more later because everyone is messing around not wanting to study. I didn’t do this EVERY night as I could often be efficient during the day, but if I did have studying to do, I never went back to the dorm.

3. I aligned myself with smart people in each class. There are always OCD people who are already getting consistent As, and want to do even better. Those are the people (often the same person, as she was in many of my classes) who I cut a deal with. I borrowed theiir notes, compared them against mine, and wrote in ideas in my notes that were unclear, and (occasionally) wrote in their notes concepts that were mentioned in mine. Since I have ADHD, I would find “pockets” of time where I had clearly phased out. In addition, the active comparing of my notes to theirs was an effective way to learn the material.

4. When studying, I wrote out a schedule in 30 minute increments. I would even write specific pages I would read. If I finished earlier than 30 minutes, I would allow myself an extra break. This kept me plugged in and focused.

I know these seem “lame” but I did notice that a book I bought for my DD which is excellent guide called How to Be a Straight A Student had many of the same techniques, and even more similar suggestions. In terms of the test taking, I would bet that if you try the other strategies, your confidence and knowledge would soar so much that your anxiety about testing would diminish. If not, consider a university test taking workshop in the study center. BU had an incredible number of resources in this area - I am sure your school is similar.