Comments on: Q & A: Taking Biology Notes, Switching Between Tasks, Deconstructing Crappy Papers, and More…

By: Study Hacks

Study Hacks — Mon, 11 May 2009 13:31:00 +0000

How can I turn this around?

Read all 6 articles on the right hand column under the label “Next, Read these Important Posts.” Let it stew. Then feel free to shoot me an e-mail.

By: sara

sara — Mon, 11 May 2009 03:25:47 +0000

I think I am so stressed out about the amount of work I have to complete that I’m frozen. I’ve been trying to study all day and have not accomplished anything. Also I’m in an undergrad at an ivy and I think the pressure to perform is crushing me. I’ve completely lost my intuition, which makes it impossible to write, and I feel like I’ve become a worse person and student than when I started here. I had dreams of becoming a scholar and now I’m not sure I know how to tie my shoes anymore. How can I turn this around?

By: JJ

JJ — Fri, 01 May 2009 05:00:20 +0000

>>It’s better to get less sleep on a regular schedule, than more sleep on an erratic schedule. During the week stick with a common sleep and wake-up time.

By: Wilhelm Scream

Wilhelm Scream — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:19:53 +0000

I find that clearly separating work and play helps a great deal. For example, I never work on my bed or while watching TV – instead I go to the library or somewhere were I *have* to concentrate. That way I’m never doing half one thing and half the other.

By: Study Hacks

Study Hacks — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:12:27 +0000

Could you talk more about this? I’m curious to know your thought process.

I probably have half-a-dozen study locations hidden around the MIT campus. I’m not exactly sure how I assigned different work to different locations, but the consistency seems to help. For example, I like to work on proofs in the dark dome room of Barker engineering library, whereas papers I often tackle in front of the picture windows of the humanities library.

By: student

student — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 01:50:01 +0000

the specific library depends on the type of work required.

Could you talk more about this? I’m curious to know your thought process.

By: rcas

rcas — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:58:38 +0000

Just a word of advice on the moving from one place to another, make sure you don’t get in the procrastination mode and just go from one place to another to avoid working. I think its often better to stick in one place and study all the time

Also for people who work on computers and get distracted easily by checking emails/facebook too often, a good way out of it is to completely disconnect from the net and remove the icons from the computer. This avoids the big temptation of chatting or facebook loitering that is a COMPLETE waste of time. Completely switch your computer off and keep it away from you if you can in any way avoid working on the computer