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Study, study, study… it’s what students do almost every day of their life. And, if they aren’t studying, then they are worried about when they have to start studying again after their short break. Unfortunately, that is just the way of the student. There are good and bad ways to study though. If you are a student who wants to improve your grades, then there are simple tricks and tips to keep in mind that will not only improve your grades, but possibly make your own studying habits a little simpler on yourself.

Overall, it comes down to planning. Think ahead a little bit and try out these 7 things to help improve your study skills and, ultimately, your grades.

#1 Get Rest

Although this has been gone over many times, it is never said enough – Get enough rest before you go to school. Showing up to school tired means that you are not focused on the material that your teacher is lecturing or on what you are reading. If you are having trouble focusing in class while you yawn every ten minutes or more, chances are that you are not getting enough sleep during the night. If you are still skeptical on the importance of getting sleep, there is an entire blog on Eduify that is dedicated to the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation.

#2 Eat Before an Exam, (but don’t drink much)

Food is fuel. When people do not eat properly they become tired, weak, and grumpy. None of those symptoms of hunger are conducive to proper concentration while you try to study or attend class. If you are in class and you stomach is grumbling because you skipped breakfast again, you are going to end up daydreaming about food rather than listen to the lecture. Do yourself a favor and eat something that will tide you over while attending class. However, you may not want to drink anything in excess. The feeling of a full bladder and needing to run to the bathroom in the middle of class can be just as distracting as an empty stomach.

#3 Arrive to Class Early

When students are showing up to class late they are often out of breath or are interrupting the instructor’s lesson. A late entrance not only distracts the students, but it distracts the teacher, which is no way to get on a teacher’s good side. Being late also means that you have missed some material that was first given in the beginning of class, which may leave you a bit frazzled and possibly missing even more information as you ask a fellow student, “What did I miss?” I recommend showing up five or ten minutes early to class, so you have time to take your seat and set up your books without disturbing anyone with your backpack’s zipper or adjustments of your chair. An early student is prepared and in a ready state-of-mind to be taught.

#4 Make Flash Cards

Many students make flash cards when they are preparing for a test. I suggest making flash cards even before your test. Make early preparations for your test. If there is some information that you feel will be difficult to remember, you should put it on a flash card, that way when it is time to take your test, most of your flashcards will already be set for you, which should make you more relaxed than having to prepare cards last minute for your test.

#5 Record Lectures

If you happen to have a teacher who goes over material quickly or does not seem to stay on a topic long enough for you in class, ask the instructor if he or she would mind that you record the lecture. With a copy of the lecture in your pocket, you can later rewind and listen to any important parts that you may have missed jotting down in your notes. Most teachers do allow students to bring a recorder in to class, as long as they are warned ahead of time. It is not ethical to record a person talking who is not aware of it, so be sure to ask your teacher for permission before doing so.

#6 Read the Material after the Lecture

It may seem simple, but there are far too many students who only listen to the teacher lecture over a subject, but never actually read the material in the book. After the lecture, make time to read over the same material your instructor went over. Going over a lesson twice will help solidify the information in your memory better.

#7 Discuss Material with Friends

Although most students do not want to talk about their homework, having a discussion about the material you are studying is a great way to help remember information. If you are reading something confusing or interesting, relay that exact information to a friend or family member. When you force yourself to repeat the material and think about the topics in a conversation, you help yourself remember the information better. Since I had trouble remembering dates in history, I used to spout off facts to my brother with, “Did you know…?” He would usually roll his eyes or ignore me because he didn’t want a history lesson, but I just continued talking at him and it was a lot of help for me to remember the facts easier.

As the man in charge of tweeting a memorable daily quote from @EduifyQuotes I scour the internet in search of brilliant quotable gems.  Many quotes I save come from beyond the grave.  The German Author Fredrich Nietzsche has some of the most famous of all time. Nietzsche is perhaps most famous for his bold declaration that “God is Dead” from the novel The Gay Science.  Benjamin Franklin is responsible for many famous quotes, that often find themselves as tweets.  One example is “If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.”  Mark Twain was another famous author, very skilled in diction, with such insightful quotes as “Truth is more of a stranger than fiction.”  Many great quotes such as these live on Twitter, and I tried to accumulate some of the more memorable ones below.  Follow our Cool Quotes List for quotes by the people below, and other quotable people who will be added as we discover them. Enjoy!
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By: Garin Kilpatrick

Sonnet 76 is a Shakespearean Sonnet that shares a striking thematic semblance to his much longer poem A Lover’s Complaint. The Theme of Sonnet 76 is youth and in within the Sonnet Shakespeare does a candid job of confronting his ability to spin his own style by Spending again what is already spent.

Sonnet 76 mirrors Shakespeare’s A lover’s complaint by touching on the themes of youth and love. Despite sharing the same themes as A Lovers Complaint, Sonnet 76 has managed to do so without quite as much controversy. A Lovers Complaint was so controversial that Slate.com Author Ron Rosenbaum even questioned should “A Lover’s Complaint” be kicked out of the canon? I disagree with Ron and the idea that abolishing any of Shakespeare’s work from the Shakespearean canon could be a good thing.

My impression of the impact of Shakespeare is more along the lines of this quote attributed to Ben Johnson:

“He was not for an age, but for all time.”

The sonnet below is no timid example of Shakespeare’s timelessness.

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Just because Eduify is a productivity tool doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate the plethora of websites out there that aid procrastination.  Everyone procrastinates, and our philosophy is that sometimes you have to work hard (and use things like our quote capture, our easy editing, and our plagiarism check) because you procrastinated so much in the last week. In a strange, circular way, we all keep each other in business. So, without further ado, here are 10 websites we’ve been using to procrastinate lately.

10. Facebook. It goes without saying that Facebook needs to be on this list. Of course everyone in your life cares about your ‘5 favorite cheeses’ on LivingSocial, so why don’t you go ahead and waste more time by announcing this crucial piece of information? Stalking your friends (as well as random strangers) is such a good way to kill important time.

9. FML. Schadenfreude, right at your fingertips. These remind me of the “embarassing stories” section of trashy magazines like Cosmopolitan, except way more trashy and way more funny. You think you had a bad day? Check out some of this site and you’ll feel a whole lote better. And then, after you feel better, you will continue to procrastinate.

8. Post Secret. This site, which posts user-submitted secrets on postcard format, is not only interesting to look at, but it’s actually thought-provoking, unlike some of the other counterparts on this list. No wonder it became such a hit on the internet. It’s actually compelling. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll procrastinate.

7. StumbleUpon. If mindlessly surfing the web is your cup of tea, StumbleUpon is here to help. This site brings you personalized recommendations from all over the web, as you click through each site. I’ve actually discovered some pretty amazing websites through StumbleUpon, and it’s worth checking out if you desperately don’t want to get anything done.

6. Texts from last night. It’s the new FML. It’s FML, except meaner. TFLN include some amazing gems, most of which were written while obviously inebriated, and promises to suck many hours of productivity from your life. Don’t click the link unless you want to still be glued to your same spot in front of the computer, at the same website, an hour from now!

5. YouTube. YouTube will suck not only hours of your life, but days, weeks, months, years. Use at your own discretion. If someone sends you a link about David at the Dentist, Sneezing Panda, a video about some little girl talking about Star Wars, Evolution of Dance, or any other mindless minute-long clip, avoid with every fiber of resistance in your body, unless you want to enter the YouTube’s wormhole of procrastination.

4. Orisinal. If you’re into games but are sick of playing Solitaire on your computer, check out Orisinal. These are some of the most beautiful games I’ve ever seen, with adorable names like “Morning Sunshine,” “Bum Bum Koala,” and “These Little Pigs.” So, so, precious. But don’t let the gorgeous exterior fool you. These are just procrastination tools shrouded in lovely disguise.

3. This American Life. I have spent innumerable hours of my life staring off into space, letting my adolescent crush on Ira Glass sprout and flower, as I listen to his radio show This American Life. NPR is the only reason to listen to the radio, and luckily for us, it is now possible to listen to NPR on the web. Procrastination has never been classier.

2. Cute Overload. LOLCats were so three years ago. Now, we’ve evolved past having to see caption to just being able to appreciate the wonderful simplicity of things-so-cute-you-want-to-squeeze-them-until-they-die. My god, who knew baby pigs were so amazingly cute? What about little tiny chickens? Oh my god, chihuahua puppy!

1. FreeRice. This site helps you procrastinate, but you can justify it because your time wasting goes toward a good cause. Structured like a vocabulary test, FreeRice asks you to answer multiple choice questions on word meanings, donating 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program for every question you answer correctly.

For those who wan’t to do the opposite of procrastinate – that is, be more productive – check out our tips on how to stay productive and avoid procrastination, here!

Creative writing is often thought to mean fiction or poetry writing, specifically the kind of creative writing taught in workshops at liberal arts colleges where people sit around and ask each other questions about character motivation, symbolism, and whether you’ve earned your cliche.

Actually, creative writing is so much more than that. You can approach any writing creatively, be it a research paper, an essay, a journalistic article, or even a blog entry. I like to think that I’m approaching this blog, even now, from my own creative angle. All ‘creative writing’ means is that you are infusing your writing with your personal creative spirit. That the creative energy of your writing comes from you and you alone. Not only is creative often confused with ‘fiction,’ but it’s also confused with the false idea that in order to be creative, what you are doing has to be a completely isolated work that lives on its own, outside of what anyone else has ever done. That’s simply not true. Writers are often influenced by other writers, and part of being creative is letting yourself be inspired by the work of others. There are many myths to being creative, and the purpose of this post is to encourage students to find their own routes to creativity. We are all endowed with the creative aspect; it’s just up to us to access it!

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