Study Hacks

The Return of Gideon

Earlier in the fall, we were saddened to see one of our favorite student productivity blogs, Scholasticius, go silent due to a dispute over the name. I’m pleased to announce that the blog’s patron, Gideon, has returned under the new and improved name of Mindful Ink, and has already started posting up a storm. Welcome back Gideon!

To all my new readers, I highly recommend checking it out.

Best Blog Awards

I was flattered to learn that Study Hacks was recently nominated for Best Education Blog in Performancing’s annual Reader’s Choice Best Blog Awards.

If you enjoy this blog, please consider taking a few seconds to vote for Study Hacks. All you have to do is click on this link, select “Study Hacks,” and then click “vote.” (No registration required.)

If you don’t like me, but do like Hack College, Gearfire, or That College Kid, then go vote for them. As they’re also nominated, and are also excellent, and above all, it would be great to see a student productivity blog win the award!

As always: Thank you for your support.

Interesting links from around the web to help you through your weekend Study Hacks withdrawal…

A Stocking Full of Holiday Productivity

• Bad career advice: Do what you love | Brazen Careerist
  Penelope slams a cherished piece of career advice. And I couldn’t agree more. Worried about post-graduation? Read this…
• When Are You Happiest? | Scott Young
  Scott Young asks his readers to report when they feel most happy. The answers might surprise you…
• How I Gained 5 50lbs in One Week | I Will Teach You To Be Rich
  Ramit ruminates on his recent efforts to gain weight. In doing so, he derives some powerful insights on how to actually achieve goals (hint: don’t sweat the small stuff).
• GTD Mastery 100: Step 5 | GearFire
  Chris over at GearFire explains his souped up Gmail configuration which he uses to run his GTD universe. As a strong believer in the “GTD in e-mail” school of productivity thought, I’m dutifully impressed.
• Learn to Recognize When Multitasking Goes Too Far | Employee Evolution
  Ryan Paugh provides a good, link-rich summary of everything we now know to be bad about multitasking.
• Academic Writer’s Block | Ask MetaFilter
  The hivemind over at MetaFilter has been tackling the challenge of overcoming writers block when working on a paper. Though the thread was motivated by someone sweating their dissertation, the advice is applicable to any student facing a blank screen.

A Humble Holiday Suggestion

Do you know a student who could benefit from a study skills makeover? Consider buying him or her a copy of How to Become a Straight-A Student for the new semester. This book, published by Random House earlier this year, details the study system that motivates all of the advice you find here on Study Hacks. Its chapters cover everything from time management, to note-taking, to paper writing — all based on my extensive interviews with over 50 straight-A students from a variety of majors and colleges.

To find out more, check out the 16 18 five-star reviews on Amazon or read this excerpt.

Still not convinced?

Here’s what reviewers at student newspapers across the country had to say about the book:

• “This book was surprisingly realistic and easy to read. I read the entire thing within a few hours — I couldn’t help myself…Lately, my homework is getting done faster, my reading quicker, and my comprehension clearer. I haven’t had a headache yet, and I’ve been able to get at least six to eight hours of sleep a night.” (full review…)
  – Regis University Highlander

• “The student-friendly mind-set is what sets this academic success manual apart from the countless others…The defining characteristic of this book is it does not ignore the fact that college students have an overwhelming tendency to procrastinate, sleep and have a good time, often putting grades at the bottom of the totem pole…How to Become a Straight-A Student equips the college student with an attainable, hands-on guidebook to do well in all classes, without becoming a caffeine-addicted recluse.” (full review…)
  – The Daily Texan, student paper of the Univeristy of Texas

• “Newport’s words are a must-have for students…The book targets students’ weak spots and shows them how to improve. In fact, it’s already helped this reader.” (full review…)
  – The Battalion, student paper of Texas A&M

• “Every college student should read How to Become a Straight-A Student.” (full review…)
  – The Central Connecticut State Recorder

How to Purchase

Click here to buy the book from Amazon. While there, check out my first book, How to Win at College, a newly-minted college advice classic, now in its 7th printing!

The Best of Student Productivity Blogging

As I head off for my Internet-free European vacation, I want to leave you with enough content to keep your mind humming. Accordingly, I bravely dived into my blogroll and pulled out my favorite student productivity articles. Read all 25: they will change the way you think about being a student. See you in 11 days!

Study Hacks:

• Five Study Traps I’ve Seen Others Fall Into | The University Blog
• How to Write a Fascinating Thesis Statement | Student Hacks
  
• How to Ace Your Finals Without Studying | Scott Young
• Living with Microsoft Word | Academic Productivity
• Taking Notes that Work | LifeHack
• Four Ways to Use Wikipedia (hint: never cite it) | GearFire
• Don’t You Dare…in a Formal Paper | That College Kid
  
• How to Memorize Anything | Hack College
• Top Four Reasons People’s Study Management Systems Fail | GearFire
• How to Take Notes on Power Point Slides | Study Hacks
• How to Use a Flat Outline to Write Outstanding Papers, Fast | Study Hacks
• How to Build a Paper Research Database | Study Hacks
  

Practical Hacks:

• The Burnt Toast Method (Hang Over Cure) | Hack College
• How to Talk to a Professor | Life Hack
• Seven Steps to Creating the Perfect Course Schedule | GearFire
  

Mindset Hacks:

• Thinking Like an Entrepreneur in College | Ben Casnocha
• Four Easy Ways to Improve Your Brain Health | Student Hacks
• Reading is Productivity | ProtoScholar
• The Unconventional Scholar: Ignore Your GPA | Study Hacks

Productivity Hacks:

• Nine Tips to Stay Productive in a Spontaneous Life | Scott Young
• My Graduate Student Planner | ProtoScholar
• How to Keep a Laser Focus Without Burning Out | Scott Young
• The Art of the Finish: How to Go From Busy to Accomplished | Scott Young
• Pseudo-Work Does Not Equal Work | Study Hacks
• The Einstein Principle: Accomplish More By Doing Less | Study Hacks

Interesting links from around the web to help you through your weekend Study Hacks withdrawal…

A Productivity-Addled Aggregation of Austere Advice

• Student Tool: Citastic | GearFire
  The folks over at GearFire review a simple but absurdly useful new web tool. Enter in information about a source and it spits out the citation in the official format of your choice.
• Study Tip: How to Find a Hidden Bias on a Test | LifeHack
  Scott Young has an interesting article at LifeHack about how to figure out the type of test your professor is going to write. A little pre-test scouting of this sort can really help focus your preparation.
• Ask the Readers: What is Your Dream | ZenHabits
  Think you’re alone with your big ambitious plan for life? Think again. Over at Zen Habits, readers write in with a description of their dream and, more importantly, the first concrete step they could take toward its completion.
• The Three Pass Process for Writing Efficiently | Complete Your Dissertation
  Dr. Jain over at Complete Your Dissertation describes an efficient, three-part process for producing good writing fast.
• Develop a Momentum Maintenance System | The M.A.P. Maker
  A series of articles at The M.A.P. Maker blog about how to keep making progress on your difficult, long-term projects.
• Why You Should Talk to Yourself After Studying | StudentHacks
  Over at StudentHacks some more evidence for why the quiz-and-recall method really is the most effective way to ingrain information before a test.

Interesting links from around the web to help you through your weekend Study Hacks withdrawal…

A Liquidation of Productivty-Scented Links

• How to Register for Classes | Hack College
  The Fall semester is rapidly tumbling toward a conclusion. Might be time to start pondering your winter course load. Here’s a great tutorial from Hack College on getting through the registration process unscathed.
• Does the color red really impair performance on tests? | Cognitive Daily
  Maybe your lucky Red Sox jersey is doing more damage than good during test taking. Cognitive Daily reviews some research on the insidious effect of this color on our mental ability. (Interestingly enough for Red Sox fans, the colors actually seems to help athletes.)
• Career Planning | Steve Pavlina
  Self-development guru Steve Pavlina outlines an interesting approach to planning your post-college career. Start with the little things, then work your way up to the big questions.
• Reading IS Productivity | ProtoScholar
  Rebecca over at ProtoScholar makes a well-intentioned plea about the importance of reading. I couldn’t agree more.
• Looking for Unique Vintage Jewelry?
  Allow me a slight digression. My ever-talented wife, Julie, has just launched an online store for her popular line of hand-crafted jewelry featuring vintage watch parts. Looking for a gift, or want something interesting for yourself? Check it out!

Welcome to the November edition of the Student Productivity Blog Carnival. Presented below are a collection of outstanding articles submitted by top bloggers from around the web. Before jumping into the content, I want to first thank the team at Blog Carnival for hosting and promoting the submission form, and GearFire Student Productivity for originating the idea.

Student-Specific Advice

• Living with Microsoft Word: Tips for Survival
  A post from Academic Productivity provides a master class in the advanced features of Microsoft Word.
• How to Write a Great Term Paper in One Evening
  Mike over at Student Hacks gives a nine-step process for cranking out a term paper, fast. Whether or not you can actually hit the time limits he sets for each step (2 hours for research!?), the decomposition of the process is exceptionally insightful.
• How to Ace Your Finals Without Studying
  Student blogger Scott Young introduces the concept of holistic learning — if you learn how concepts connect, you don’t need to re-learn them come test time.
• 7 GPA Killers to Avoid in College
  The team at the College and Finance blog provides some common sense advice on how to prevent your grades from plummeting. If you’re a video game fan, be forewarned, you’re not going to like what you read here…
• Better Grades With Less Study
  The Fruitful Time blog introduces some fruitful tips for reducing the time you spend hitting the books.

General Productivity Advice Relevant to Students

• 10 Tips for Highly Effective Mindmapping Sessions
  Our friends at Gearfire Student Productivity provide some advanced tips for creative brainstorming.
• How to Maintain a Healthy Brain
  The We The Change blog describes direct, research-driven advice for keeping your brain healthy and focused — something many undergraduates chronically neglect.
• 5 Rules of Writing Effective E-mail
  Edith Yeung sketches some exceptional advice for reducing your e-mail load by responding more intelligently.
• Getting Things Done…Faster
  For those students who follow the GTD methodology for keeping on top of their obligations, this article at the Organize It blog provides advanced advice for churning through those next actions lists with greater speed.