Besides the sights, food, and sense of adventure that comes with the appeal of studying abroad, there are other elements to the program that can be beneficial to a student’s future. If you are a student, and money is not the main issue that you consider before studying abroad, perhaps you should think about these other facts about studying abroad that will help broaden and nourish your education. You will notice that each point builds off of another.

#1 Become Cultured

Being cultured does not mean that a person becomes snooty. It is becoming well-versed and knowledgeable with other’s surroundings, becoming aware that there are other cultures and people who live different lives than your own. Being cultured is a form of education because you are learning about other people, which actually make you also learn more about yourself.

#2 Learn Independence

This may actually be the immediate appeal of studying abroad for some people – getting away from authority figures. Depending on whether it is a foreign exchange or a group study abroad program, there are still people who you have to check-in with and answer to. However, being without your ordinary care-givers and learning the rules of another chaperone actually forces you to depend on yourself to deal with the changes around you. You may need to go shopping for yourself, get used to the foreign transportation, and learn to communicate with new people. Adjusting to the different lifestyle and regimen makes you depend on your own ability to mature with an ever-changing life, whether it is in a foreign country or when you eventually go back to your own home soil.

#3 Become a Better Student

Learning independence can greatly improve your study habits, which in effect creates a better student. Although there is much to offer with the surroundings in a foreign country, a study abroad program forces students to study hard. If you believe that you are traveling to a foreign country to slack off, you are under the wrong impression. Study abroad programs keep their students busy with classes and homework. A friend of mine told me that his trip to Spain kept him so busy with his school work that he only had time to sight-see on the weekend. And, having spent the money as well as the effort of getting into the program, students feel more inclined to do a good job, and learn to depend on themselves to get a good grade since there isn’t really anyone else to force you to do your homework except for you. But, with all of your new friends around you studying hard, you can feel inspired to try just as hard as everyone else.

#4 Learn a Second Language

Usually, students who study abroad visit with a country that speaks another language. Although this is not always the case, since students could easily study in England, Ireland, or Scotland where they speak English, if you do go to a country with a different language, you are forced to pick up some of it. Even if you do not become fluent in the language, you will at least learn enough to have broken conversations or get by. Knowing a second language is extremely beneficial in regards to your education since schools want students to learn a second language anyway, and speaking at least two languages is even beneficial to your career since most jobs are impressed with applicants who speak more than one language.

#5 Improves Resume

Learning a second language, earning independence, and become cultured are all parts of studying abroad that impress employers. Everything that you can gain from a study abroad program will help you be a better worker in the future, and employers recognize that. Putting your study abroad program on your resume is a great addition to the skills and education you have earned.

Salmon

People used to think that tuna fish was the ultimate brain food, but some experts have found that the high content of Omega-3 fatty acids in salmon are what really juice up your brain by helping your brain matter, helping your arteries, and even improving your mood. Other fish contain great nutritional value for your brain, too, but salmon (particularly wild salmon) was the top pick for experts because there are less contaminants than farm bread  fish (http://www.brainready.com/blog/thetop5brainhealthfoods.html).

Eggs

These are just another reason to eat a good breakfast in the morning. Eggs not only contain protein, but they are an amazingly common food that is great at providing your memory. Choline, which is found in egg yolks, is what help your brain cells continue building upon themselves (http://www.webmd.com/balance/brain-food-quiz-results?redirectUrl=brain-food-quiz-results&x=35&y=3).

Walnuts

You don’t have to be a squirrel to enjoy this healthy snack; it turns out that walnuts also contain a high amount of those Omega-3 fatty acids that improve your brain‘s strength. And, if you ever have a hard time remembering what they are good for, take a close look at the weird lines and shape of the walnut, and see if it doesn’t remind a little bit of the pictures you’ve seen of your brain in biology class.

Berries

The growing popularity of the acai berry is not without its merit, but we should not forget the blueberry, blackberry, or cranberry. It is interesting how much nutrition these little guys can hold. Full of antioxidants that help preserve brain cells over the years. But, these berries also contain the Omega-3 fatty acids, as well as the protein we have already mentioned the benefits of. These berries not only make a sweet treat, they may actually help your brain cells through your whole life.

Curry

It’s not just for spicy food, it may be the spice of life that keeps your brain in good health. Helping to clean away the plaque that tends to slow down our brains and cause the Alzheimer’s, curcumin is the chemical that acts as that cleaning agent for our brain. Just like drains need be clear of build up to run smoothly, our brains need to be clean to continue thinking clearly.

Step #1 Prewrite

Yes, you hear your instructors tell you all the time to prewrite, but do you ever listen to them? Prewriting (which is listed in another blog) is not just a way to organize your thoughts and get down ideas, it is another way to look at your writing project and force yourself to write. Getting past your writer’s block is often just a matter of looking at your task from a different perspective (or looking around your writer’s block, if you will). If you can brainstorm or outline some ideas for your writing, then you have a better chance at feeling confident and putting your pen to the paper to start writing. With all of the different methods of prewriting, there really isn’t any reason not to use at least one of them when you’re stumped.

Step #2 Write Backwards

Even after the prewriting is finished, you may still feel uncertain how you want to word your thoughts exactly. If that’s the case, jot down your ideas out of order – write the end first and the beginning last if you must. Sometimes your ideas may be scattered, which is why you are having trouble focusing on just one idea. Maybe your mind is blank with your introduction, but you know what you want to write for your body paragraphs. If that is the case, then just skip ahead. Write down whatever good ideas you think you have and reorganize them later.

Step #3 Take Your Opposing Side

If you are really uncomfortable with your topic and feel you have absolutely nothing to write about, then you may want to take yourself out of your own head and put it into someone else’s. This has nothing to do with cheating. You are supposed to write the opposite of what you really feel. Or, think of what other people would say about your subject. It may be easier putting down what you think other people feel or believe than what you actually believe. Your confidence in your own ideas may be what stops your writing. Do not use this technique all of the time though. There are some assignments where you need to give your honest opinion, and this method of breaking writer’s block may not always be suitable.

Step #4 Just Write!

It may sound harsh, but sometimes you just have to force your pen to move on the paper or to have your fingers move across the keyboard. Often people refuse to write anything because they don’t think their ideas or words are good enough. Well, when you’re struggling, writing something is better than writing nothing. Put down whatever comes to mind whether or not you think it sounds good. You can always fix it later, which is how we come to Step 5 in breaking the writer’s block.

Step #5 Walk Away… and Come Back

Sometimes students are just not in the right state-of-mind to write. If there are a bunch of things running through your head, you may need to just set up your writing assignment as best as you can and walk away from it for a while. When you come back to whatever writing you have put down, you may feel more inclined to fix your ideas and even add more ideas down on paper. Depending on how much time you have for your writing, walking away from your assignment for an hour or a full day may be just what you need to come back to your writing and look at your project with a clear head. When you come back to your writing, look it over with a critical eye, as if it were someone else’s paper, and see what you do and do not like about it. And then, take your writing from there. Unless you are taking an in-class essay, this method can be a great way to clear your mind. Otherwise, you’ll have to rely on a different method of break down that writer’s wall.

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.

So you need to pull an all-nighter because you’ve played video games all week instead of writing your term paper, plus you have four tests tomorrow (none of which you’ve studied for), and it’s now 8PM and you’re in a daze, freaking out, and feeling like you’re going to have a heart attack because you have no idea how to tackle the intense studying and writing that await your attention the night ahead and you have no idea how to get out of it alive?

Put away the coffee, sugary snacks, Domino’s Pizza, and Red Bull. You can do it without the aid of substances! There are lots of tips to staying away and harnessing your mental powers to get what you need to get done, done. Here are 5 tips on how to get through a hellish all-nighter without stunting your growth with caffeine and losing your teeth with sugar.

5. Cold, ice cold.

Do not study or write in a warm, comfortable climate unless you want studytime to turn into naptime. Keep your room cold and don’t wear any layers. Drink cold water constantly and let it rush right through (you won’t fall asleep if you frequently need to use the restroom). If you feel really desperate, put an ice cube down your shirt. No one falls asleep when an ice cube is running down the inside of their shirt.

4. Head bang, don’t head nod.

You know why sleep mixes are always full of soft, croony acoustic music? Because that kind of music puts you to sleep. Conversely, no one has ever fallen asleep at a Norwegian Death Metal show, nor will anyone, ever, because it’s impossible. When you feel your head nodding to your chest, raise it up and head bang to crazy music. It’ll keep you dazed and awake enough to make it through just a little longer.

3. Spice it up.

Warm, soothing chamomile tea puts you to sleep. Conversely, cayenne pepper jolts you to your sense. If you feel like you’re about to fall asleep, stick a jalapeno in your mouth and feel the burn. Sometimes pain is a good thing. Drizzle some cayenne in your mouth, or drink Sriracha from the bottle. Whatever it takes, soldier, whatever it takes.

2. Wear constricting and highly uncomfortable clothes.

PJs are soft, wooly, comfortable, because soft, wooly, comfortable things make you sleepy. A really tight uncomfortable outfit is the perfect ensemble for studying, because in no way will you associate your dad’s old scratchy polyester pants with a pair of flannel PJs.

1. Get on your feet.

If you feel you need to sleep it off, shake it off instead! Get up and do some jumping jacks, run around the block, or stand up and slap yourself across the face (but don’t hurt yourself). Snap out of it! You have to study. You did this to yourself by procrastinating. So you have no choice but to suck it up and do what it takes to stay awake. So if you feel like you need to climb in bed and forgo your grade entirely, get on your feet and shake it like a Polaroid picture instead.

Memory is a tricky instrument. Every day we forget more information than we store, and it seems life is a constant process of learning and then forgetting. Memory is a difficult tool to master well, because we’re not naturally programmed to remember everything we come across. While it can’t be developed or grown organically, the memory you do have can be improved by learning certain habits and tricks that can hone your existing memory into a sharper tool.

Easy memorization doesn’t come naturally to everyone, though some people are better are memorizing facts, figures, dates, names, and procedures than others. Students for whom memorization comes easier to have an advantage in schoolwork, since so much of test-taking is memory driven, around facts, or given in the form of essay tests for which students have to cull detailed information quickly. Luckily, even for those whose memory retrieval doesn’t arrive at the drop of a hat, there are certain tips and tricks you can use to access your memories faster and more easily.

The following are 5 great mnemonic devices and tools that can help you grow your memory.

5. Write it out.

To better remember a piece of information, it helps to write it out. Writing down the fact establishes familiarity of it in your mind. Then, going back and reviewing the fact, after you’ve already written it out, establishes it further. The more linkages you can put in your mind – when it comes to a focused piece of information – the more likely it will be that the information will be retained. Furthermore, by writing the information out, the more likely it is that you are integrating that information into muscle memory. It definitely helps, in the arena of written essay-type exams, to teach yourself to write out select information, because you will be asked to do it later on, when your memory is really put to the test.

4. Rhythm and Rhyme.

Making rhymes and rhythms may seem childish, but it is a surefire way to put something into memory. Remember the ‘30 days hath September’ rhyme? Making rhymes can help you retain information, because rhymes are a novelty that make dull information (how many months have 30 days) more interesting. Writing your own rhymes to match with information can help you greatly, not just by remember the rhyme later, but even in the act of coming up with the rhyme, which re-familiarizes the relevant information in your mind.

3. Acronyms and acrostics.

An acrostic is a sentence where every first letter (”My Van Exploded, My Jeep Stopped Underneath New York” can help you remember the order of the planets) of every word in the sentence is associated with another specific message. An acronym is a word form where the each letter of the word is associated with the first letter of another word. ROY G BIV is a useful acronym that helps students remember the color spectrum. Acronyms and acrostics are fun and useful mnemonic devices that have been known to help many people remember key information.

2. Meditation.

Now, meditation is an odd one to throw in here. Why meditation? Meditation can help improve memory ability in many ways. First, concentrating on information, or paying detailed close attention to information, during meditation can help hardwire that information into your brain. But not only that, studies have shown that meditation or practicing mindfulness has helped people focus better, have longer attention span, and retain stronger memories. Meditation increases blood flow to regions of the brain that help store memories, and in doing so, it can really help exercise your brain in the art of holding on to information.

1. Review.

Review is a given in any memorization technique. Like everything, memory takes practice. Just as you can’t expect to become a piano virtuoso overnight, nor can you expect to remember information at any given moment, just on the basis of mindpower alone. Memory has nothing to do with intelligence. It has everything to do with the ability to focus your brain to remember key details, and to get your brain to the point where it can do that requires almost daily practice. Before memory can be retrieved, it has to be encoded in your brain. Think of reviewing information as a way of encoding that information. You are putting it in your brain through practice, study, and review, to be pulled out later during memory retrieval. Unless you encode your information into memory, there is no way you can store it for use later. So practice is the single most important aspect of having a strong memory.

School may be out, but for some of you, the summer doesn’t entail going to the beach with your friends every afternoon. Some of you will still be taking classes this summer. Groans all around. I know it really, really is not fun to take school during the summer, but think about it as a trade-off. By taking an AP class now, you won’t have to take that same class in college — granted you get a 5 or a 4 on the exam. Think about how much time and energy that saves you in the long run! So don’t sweat the small stuff. Do your best in your AP summer class, and learn these general study skills that are sure to raise your AP test score.

5. Memorize key facts.

There’s much information that AP classes cover that do not find themselves into the tests. AP tests cover very specific takeaway facts, ones judged by the AP committees to be the most important general facts that students should know and understand from the classes. The best way to figure out what key facts the APs test is to go over practice tests from past years. You will begin to notice trends indicating areas of concentration. Focus on these areas of concentration rather than attempting to know everything. The AP tests not only require analytic thinking, but also strategy on the part of the test taker to sift through the wealth of knowledge to find the most pertinent information.

4. Muscle memory.

It’s important to concentrate during test-taking, but it’s also important to train your body to take tests on auto-pilot to make the critical thinking easier. For instance, the AP tests are timed. You can train your body to instinctively keep track of time by taking timed practice tests, so you memorize approximately how long you should spend on each section. This really works. Have you ever found out that, by waking up at the same time each morning, your body begins to naturally wake up at that time, even without aid from an alarm clock? Your muscles can do the same thing during test-taking. If you take practice tests, your body starts to register what it’s doing. The test itself no longer comes as a surprise. You can significantly raise your score by taking away the novelty value of taking the AP test. By becoming familiar with the tests, and by utilizing muscle memory, you can become a more efficient and effective test-taker.

3. Don’t freak out about what you don’t know.

Freaking out during a test wastes precious time. So don’t freak out. Teach yourself effective stress management techniques. There are three important ones to remember. First, if you don’t know a question, skip it. Stalling will only waste you time and no amount of waiting around will magically send a right answer into your brain if it isn’t already there. Second, use your powers of deduction if you believe that you know the answer. Cross out answers you know are not correct and focus on the ones that you are half and half on. Finally, take your test one question at a time. Think of it as climging a set of stairs. Don’t worry about getting to the top of the staircase; focus on each step along the way.

2. It’s only a test — no one is going to die if you don’t get a 5.

Knowing that the AP test is only a test really helps you put things in perspective. High school students beat themselves up over test scores and stress themselves out until they’re experiencing gray hairs and baldness at the age of 17, and that is definitely not healthy. Really, it’s only a test. And by putting things in perspective, you really will score higher, because you’ll be in a calm and centered state where you can perform better by quelling your negative energy and your stress. Why do you think philosophers like Sun Tzu advised meditation and zen before warfare? Because performance really does increase significantly if you put yourself in a balanced mental state.

1. Test yourself.

Practice practice practice. Take practice tests, take after school classes, quiz yourself with study cards and group study sessions. I know I sound like I’m repeating myself, but you can never get enough practice, which is why testing yourself beforehand is the numer one general study skill that will raise your AP score.

The Internet has become integral to the way that students research and write their papers, but in terms of procrastination, the Internet can be a frightening black hole. A quick jaunt over to Wikipedia to look up the Battle of Waterloo can quickly degenerate into three hours wasted reading about everything from brain-eating amoebas to unicorns to Kim Jung Il. Students often waste more time procrastinating and stressing out over their enormous to-do lists than they actually spend accomplishing their tasks in the end. Luckily, you can train yourself to avoid procrastinating by understanding your tendencies as a procrastinator and subverting them. Here are five helpful tips on how to curb procrastination and get your schoolwork done.

1. Stop Surfing, Start Working. Don’t surf the web when you have work to do. It can be extremely difficult to get things done when you have your favorite websites right at your fingertips. My own web-surfing addiction got to be such a problem, that I decided to take matters into my own hands and downloaded LeechBlock. LeechBlock is a Firefox add-on that blocks specified websites from your browser while you are doing your work. If I don’t have access to my “go-to” websites while I’m working, I’m a lot less likely to procrastinate.

2. Deal with Stress. Sometimes, I freak out so much about my work that I end up paralyzing myself to the point where I’m incapable of doing anything. Don’t freak out. Take a deep breath. Handling stress effectively is a habit that everyone should develop.

* First, if your stress is completely out-of-control, take a break. Don’t take the kind of break where you go and watch six episodes of Arrested Development instead of doing your work, but take a short break to regroup and refocus so that when you return to your work, you can handle it with renewed energy.
* Try to stay optimistic. It’s late, you have to turn in a paper first thing tomorrow morning, and you haven’t even started it yet. Be optimistic. Instead of telling yourself you can’t do it and giving into failure and procrastination, remind yourself that you are capable of doing your best.
* Talk about your stress. Even if it’s just a quick phone call to a friend or a family member, discussing your feelings will help you deal with your anxieties.

For more tips on how to deal with stress, check out this great article in Stress Management Blog about student stress.

3. Work with Others. It really helps to work with other people. Eduify gives students the ability to work with one another and get help from their peers, as well as from our team of certified experts. If I don’t know the answer to something or if I have trouble finding research, it’s a lot simpler just to ask for help than to spend hours trying to find a solution when I have more important things to be focusing on — like writing my paper.

4. Make a List. List making is essential when framing your mindset toward getting things done. According to this great NPR feature on procrastination, a full 70% of college students are procrastinators. They note that procrastination, for students, seems to “spawn a lot of homework eating dogs” and “sick grandmothers,” but that making a list is a great way to avoid the stress of holding things off to the last minute. Experts advise structuring tasks from order of most importance to least. In Structured Procrastination, an essay by John Perry, “Structured procrastination means shaping the structure of the tasks one has to do in a way that exploits this fact… With this sort of appropriate task structure, the procrastinator becomes a useful citizen. Indeed, the procrastinator can even acquire, as I have, a reputation for getting a lot done.”

5. Reward Yourself For Meeting Deadlines. Instead of treating work as “all work and no play,” approach your work with a reward system. Make a deal with yourself. For every task you cross off your to-do list, reward yourself with something you enjoy, be it a coffee or snack break, or some leeway to surf YouTube for a while before heading to that next task. Though you may be stressed while you’re finishing your work, when everything is done, the biggest reward is the sense of accomplishment you will feel at setting a goal for yourself and reaching it!