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Give Your Brain a Break!

A key to get a good study in and to retain the information is to give your brain a break from all the hard work. (This is explained in my previous post.) There are many different things you can do to relax and give your brain a break. Here are some of the things that I do:

1. draw/ color
2. do a jigsaw puzzle
3. listen to some music

The first two things on my list are a couple of my favorite things to do in my free time and they relax me.

For this finals week I have one everyday besides Thursday so I will be doing these things periodically throughout the week! I am also lucky enough that my work gave me the week off for my finals so I will have no extra stress of finding time to study. Just one last push until summer! Who else can’t wait?!

Finals Week Studying

In one of my previous post I talked about good studying tips and gave some of my most common ways to study. There are many different factors that go into studying and many different ways that can affect how effective your study habits are. Since finals week is coming up I thought it would be a good idea to revisit some of these tips and suggest a few more ways and ideas on how to make studying most effective for you! Many studies have been done on studying and what seems to be the trend for a successful study session.

1. Don’t Cram: Although it may be tempting, you are less likely to retain the information you need.
2. Take good notes: this can be a challenge for some because you need to know the key points to write down but this is important when studying so you don’t overwhelm yourself with useless information.
3. Don’t over-study: just make sure you are studying the key ideas and if you need help on what they are, ask your professor!
4. Take a break: about 10 minutes for every hour will do! it helps to keep your mind rested so its ready to learn.

These are just some more useful tips about studying and here is the rest of the list and a more in-depth reason on why these tips are helpful!

With finals fast approaching it is important to take these tips into consideration now and to start studying for your finals! Did any of the previous tips help you with your last test? How about these new tips?

Summer Fun!

With summer quickly approaching it’s time to break out the flip-flops and get ready to relax in the sun! Over my summer break I intend to do quite a few fun things that don’t cost a lot of money. There are many things you can do in the summer for fun for little to no cost. Here are a few things I’m planning to do with my free time,

• Go swimming at the beach and lake
• Go to the drive in movie theater
• Going camping
• Playing soccer

These few things are my favorite things to do over the summer and they don’t cost that much to do either! When swimming at the beach or lake this can be cost-free if you eat before you go. The only thing that you would have to pay for would be gas and if you are lucky like I am, you may even have a lake right down the road that you can walk to. While the drive ins and camping does cost money, these things are usually done with friends and when you split the cost it ends up not being that much either! Soccer can either cost you money or none at all depending on what you like to do. You can either play in a league or just play with friends at a local soccer field! Also worked into all my fun I tend to work a little more over the summer which is a great way to earn more money to save for school or to have extra money for all your summer fun!

Summer Fever

With the Spring semester coming to and end and warm weather starting to come upon us many people are going to start getting, what I like to call,  “summer fever.” This is when as a student you get excited for the summer and tend to push school off until last-minute or start to slack off a little. I can say that I am also a victim of this and need to try hard to stay on track. You must stick to your schedule and do your homework in a timely manner. A few tips to get this done that help me out would be,

1. get your homework done early!
2. Don’t start skipping your classes
3. Make sure to study for your finals before finals week!

By getting your work done early it will give you more free time at the end of the week and over the weekend, which will give you time to enjoy the time off from school. Also don’t start skipping class towards the end of the semester because it will just give you more work to make up in the end and can really effect your grade! Also studying ahead of time will cause less stress around finals week and make the end of the year that much better.

I feel that the farther along in college you are (like being a junior or senior) the worse the summer fever gets and the harder it is to stay on track. What do you think?

Spring Cleaning

It’s mid- April and the weather is getting nice out. This is the time of year for cleaning and yard sales. If you are like me you have let stuff pile up in your car and around you apartment/dorm during the winter months at school. I was awaiting the warmer days so that it would be more enjoyable to clean. Here are a few Spring cleaning tips on what to focus on while you are cleaning.

1. Clean your car on a nice day
2. sell old text books
3. clean your apartment with open windows
4. Go through your food stash
5. Go through your clothes

These may seem like simple things but they are a easy way to make more room in your dorm/ apartment and even a little extra cash if you can get some of those text books sold! I have already started with my Spring cleaning by going through my food stash and cleaning my car. Up next on my list is cleaning my room. Here are a few more tips on Spring cleaning. Yard sale season is also coming up and it is a great place to find some cheap furniture and stuff for a new apartment if you are upgrading next school year!

 

puurrrfect!

This week I got some very exciting news. I am able to have my cat at my apartment up in Plymouth now! Our apartment complex just got a new owner this last month. With the previous owner I was not allowed to have my cat but when I found out we were getting a new owner I wrote a letter along with my monthly payment and sent it in. Within a couple days I got a call saying that I could absolutely have my cat at the apartment.

She is a small cat with no tail. She is only about 8 lbs and I have had her for three years. My best friend got her for me for my birthday and it was a rough start because neither one of my parents wanted another cat. (We already have one and she is 19 years old now). Luckily my parents gave in and I was able to keep her. Today I am going home to get her and drive her over an hour back to my apartment. Hopefully she likes her new home!

My mom told me some helpful tips for moving my cat into a new home. According to her you are supposed to keep them in a small space with there litter box and food and gradually open the house up to them. I am excited and a little nervous about having my kitty in my apartment with me. I will keep you all updated on how  she likes her new home!

Snow Day = Movie Day

Ever since I was little whenever there was a snow day that meant building a snowman and then coming inside for some hot chocolate and a day full of movies. Even being in college snow days are still great to just relax and have a movie day if you can afford taking the day off from school work! There are many great movies out there and many great series to binge watch on Netflix and here are a few of my favorites:

1. Dirty Dancing
2. The Walking Dead
3. The 100
4. Harry Potter series
5. Supernatural
6. Django

I love watching movies and will watch just about any kind of movie here is a list of the top 100 movies of all time I found. I agree with a lot of these movies (like the Shawshank Redemption) but there are also a lot that I haven’t seen and plan to watch on my next snow day.

Another way to spend a snow day is by watching your favorite television series. I listed a few of my favorites above but here is a list of some more great TV shows that are oldies but goodies.  The good news is that many of these movies and TV series can be found on Netflix which many people have or know someone who does have it. What is your favorite movie and series to binge watch?

Relaxation is Key

This week is spring break week and no matter what you are doing, this is a great time to relax and take a break. Luckily for this spring break I don’t have any work assigned in my classes so I truly get a week off from school. I think it is very important to take time to relax and catch up on needed rest or catch up with friends you don’t get to see often. I am not going anywhere extravagant for the week but I will be doing some fun things close to home!

Although I still have to work I still have plenty of days off and I am able to go home and relax away from where I go to college. My parents are actually going on a cruise so I will be hanging out with my younger sisters for most of the vacation. We are planning on going out to dinner and heading to the movies sometime this week and then just staying home and relaxing watching movies and painting nails. These are just a few inexpensive things you can do over vacation that are also a blast!

What are your plans for vacation?

Learning to Study

For me, one of the hardest parts about adjusting to college life was adjusting to the study habits in college. In high school I rarely had to study unlike in college where it has become an important part of my education. You will find out quickly in college that the lessons and the teaching is more dependent on the student and less of the professor so learning to learn on your own is an important asset to have. This upcoming week I have a test in each one of my math classes ( I am currently taking three) and I have some studying tips on how to handle a busy test week whether it be from multiple test the same week or a finals week.

There are many types of ways to study for different subjects and some that I have found that work best for me are flashcards, write and repeat, and making what you are studying the last thing you do before getting a good nights sleep. I prefer using the flashcards with math equations that I have to remember while I like to use the write and repeat for definitions and vocabulary. I was told by an old high school teacher of mine that making what you need to study be the last thing you do before bed, affects how easily you will retain the information. Also sleep is very important when trying to learn new material or remember new things. This is because all your memories get stored while you are sleeping and all the facts will get stored in a more permanent area of the brain.

These are a few more tips on how to become a study master:

1. Study in a group
2. Change up the study spaces
3. Test yourself
4. Participate in class, don’t just sit there!

For more details on these tips and a few more helpful ideas on studying check this out.

There are plenty of different types of study techniques and not all of they may work for you, or some just might work better than others. There is no easy way to test out which ones will work for you so just trial and error until you find what works. For me studying in a group isn’t the best because I always get sidetracked by talking about other things but, like I mentioned earlier, flashcards and write and repeat works best for me.

How to Pay for College

Paying for college can be a big source of stress for parents, incoming students, and students that are already making the journey through college. If you are like me you have spent many hours looking into scholarships and grants to keep your cost down to a minimum. Compared to others I have kept my college dept down quite low. I am a junior now and I plan on having less than $20,000 worth of debt to pay back to the state. In comparison my friend will have over $100,000 worth of debt and many of my other friends will have close to the same amount.

What I have done to keep my debt down to a minimum while being able to pay for college at the same time would be;

• Apply for financial aid (This I have to pay back in my case but the government also gives out grants!)
• I attended a community college for my first two years
• I applied for as many scholarships I could
• With the money I stilled owed to the school, I set up a payment plan

For a few more ways to help save and pay for college check out this site from Forbes.

By going to a community college I saved thousand and thousands of dollars and also by going to a low-cost school like Plymouth State I saved a lot of money. My education was never hindered by going to these schools and I am still getting a great college experience. Another big suggestion from me to make college more affordable would be to live at home while you still can and if you are going to an out-of-state college get into an off campus housing as soon as possible. A group of friends I know now are paying $1,000 per person per month with the given rates from the school living and that is not including a meal plan. There are four roommates so for $4,000 a month they are getting a sub-par apartment. I am off campus and I have one roommate that I split the rent with and I do not go over $500 a month. So, as you can see off campus housing is still cheaper and I am still two minutes away by car and 10 minutes away walking.

 

Saving money is very important while considering college and if you are a parent of a future college student I would suggest starting a savings account strictly for paying for college. Another friend of mine had this done for him and is leaving college debt free! There are many ways to get into college and afford it without having the debt hang over you for the rest of your life, you just have to look into the options.