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september 11,

Features

 

2062

 

A Daily Stud
Schedule

by Tom Mellish
OP Contributor

If you want to be a kick-ass student, you have
to work the equivalent of a forty-hour, nine-to-
five grind. A full course load should be a daily
eight-hour endeavour. For all those students
stuck on the frontlines without a plan, this
schedule’s for you.

Putting good study habits into practice is of
course harder than it sounds. It’s a matter of
getting to your study space, and staying there
all day. A next to impossible, Herculean task.
Wherever you decide to study, a schedule is
needed for you to organize your time more
effectively so you'll have a better chance of
achieving a higher Grade Point Average, or
GPA. The best possible scenario will resemble
something like this:

8 AM: Wake up. Shower, get dressed and all
that jazz. Eat breakfast, make lunch and take
your smart drugs. The herbs Ginkgo Biloba and
Panax Ginseng are recommended for mental
alertness, and the herbs Kava Kava and St.
John’s Wort will help liberate your mindset
from anxiety. Yerba maté stimulates the neuro
receptors in the brain. Stir in a sprig of sage,
rosemary, and skullcap. Add a pinch of
Huperizia Serrata, Gotu Kola, and vitamin B6,
which is vital for the body to stimulate neuro-
transmitters. These can all be found in the vita-
min section of any pharmacy, or health food
store.

9 AM: Establish a productive setting to study
in. The actual study setting cannot be just any
old place. Rare is it that anyone can actually
study at home where a nap-inducing couch, or
a mind-numbing TV is beckoning. Distraction
is everywhere, and we students are creatures of
erumpent curiosity. What is needed is some-
where that is static, the inviolably private place
of a sanctum sanctorum, which will be present
and uncluttered every day of a semester. An
empty basement, with the heat turned off, a
bright light and a little window, is a prime study
area. The DC library is another option. It is
close to classes, but it’s not perfect: it has muf-
fled music on the north wall, with students
conversing, and cell phones going off. But, if
there is nowhere near as structured, the library
is still a boon for the textbook inclined.

When you arrive at the library, stake out a
space, and take a seat in a cubicle. Those new to
the DC library will discover that the main floor
of the library is not a quiet area. Upstairs are
cubicles for true study, where towards the back
hang signs reading “Absolute Silence”. There
are also study rooms to further separate you
from the morass of library socialization.

When youre all set to do homework and
study—do it. Do eight hours of studying each
day, regardless of whether you get up at nine 0
clock or twelve o’ clock. Don’t leave the cubicle
except for classes or breaks. Memory retention
requires studying one subject at a time, and rep-
etition over time. Stress and fatigue and a lack
of interest are your enemies. Keep on target, set
priorities. When you have a focus, a goal, it
makes it easier to learn. You can concentrate
more easily when you sit down to work if you

have a place set aside specifically for reading

and studying. Read at a time of day when you
are most alert. Make sure your reading environ-
ment is the right temperature, as some get tired
in a warm room. Take regular breaks: apparent-
ly the human brain's capacity to absorb infor-
mation will max-out every 2 hours.

The rule of thumb by which one stays in the
library is the same as staying in a workplace.
After finishing homework, and studying—
there would be the process of “make-work”.
Find things that need to be done. Read ahead.
Go so far as to visit the instructor and find out
what you need to do to get an A+.

Avoid reading when youre full or hungry.
Technically, one is not supposed to eat in the
library, so snack. Coffee is a dead giveaway, but
water or pop is cool. Keep it all in your bag
because they do spot checks.

If you read when you are tired, you are less
likely to understand and retain the information.
When cat napping in the library, hang onto
your bag, or use it as a pillow. Make sure your
wallet is on your person, in your pants pocket,
or jacket pocket. There are thieves lurking in
the aisles of books that won't think twice of lib-
erating you of your valuables.

5 PM: Go home. If there is an evening class,
the homework has already been done, so it’s just
a matter of attending the class. With this sched-
ule, of three, eight-hour segments, you end up
with a total of eight hours for yourself. Beyond
time management, studying is all habit.
Conquering bad study habits takes only a day.
Dont tell anyone that you are becoming a wun-
derkind. Not telling others that you are creating
a study schedule is a great way of affecting
change; if there are no expectations, then the
burden falls on one’s own shoulders.

Exercise is great for keeping one’s mind
sharp. Nine out of ten kinetics majors recom-
mend getting out for a 40-minute walk or a 20-
minute jog, minimum, three times a week.

Sticking to a schedule will free up time so
that a social life can be possible. Or even just to
free up time to go home and watch TV at the
end of every day, knowing that a full day’s work
has been accomplished. It also means that when
it comes time to study for an upcoming exam,
evenings will be available for cramming—free
and clear.

12 PM: Be unconscious, hopefully at home
in bed. Don't drink coffee or other stimulants
in the evening or youll be up all night. You
need eight hours of sleep. Memory retention
goes best along with plenty of sleep.

Repetition is the sure-fire way to make some-
thing a habit as one’s mind creates a pattern that
eventually becomes second nature. Ifa day can
be planned and executed, then it can be done
on the second day, and then on the third.

If you stick to the program of taking it, “one
day at a time”, there will be a pattern set in
place, and the foundation of a daily routine will
be lain. Beyond space, time management, and
putting it into practice, there are still the actual
studying techniques to learn. But that’s for
another article.

 

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