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Belgium9950 Posts
On August 14 2009 20:59 FR4CT4L wrote:I read a book on underachieving at one point. The most common form of it was massive procrastination on school work and study to avoid responsibilities and moving forward in life. Basically the idea is that you like the status quo of your life so much you don't want it to change so instead of doing well, you do average or whatever is needed to maintain your lifestyle. Mr. average means things don't progress much. You also make up tons of excuses around denying that this is your motivation. "I'll do it tomorrow" "It'll be fine later" "but this came up" "I forgot" "The deadline just you know, came up and then I couldn't get it done...I'll do better next time" etc. I'm not sure about you but this has me pegged. The way around it is to, and this is important Draw Up a Schedule and Stick To It. After that's done make sure you follow it and get it done day after day. If you don't do a day properly then there's no bullshit. You just say, It was on my schedule, I did not complete it, there is no excuse. I've been trying this out with a running schedule and it's been working really well. If I ever miss a day, even for legit reasons like work calling me in I feel real bad and work harder the day after  Also I wouldn't run straight in to 10 hours a day, even if your problem is different to mine. That is still destroying how you live right now. It'll burn you right out. I would try to work towards that goal being done by September rather than tomorrow. Good Luck.
fuck my exams are in 4 days
couldn't you have posted this earlier
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The point of life is to be happy ^^
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Sometimes you just gotta grind through the work, bite the bullet you know?
Everyone knows it's soooo much easier said than done though...
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On August 15 2009 00:57 HuskyTheHusky wrote:
The point of life is to be happy ^^ Really? Is this why schools are a center of suffering, torment and pain. :p
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exams are there to see if you understand stuffs, repetitive doing the same practice problems will not help you beat your "exams", your understand of the materials will. Grinding in starcraft will improve mechanic to a point where Artosis can beat rekrul, but there is no mechanic to grind in testing. You don't gain understanding from repetition of solving the same kind of problems again and again.
The strategy I used through out my undergrad and graduate exams are just practice few relative problems the night before to refresh the solving process, but i make sure I have metacognition on whatever subject is being tested up on, that is, one has to know the why, the what, the how, and the when on whatever material that's being tested. Talk to your book, there are times when your text seemed hard to understand, ask google or wikipedia what your book means by such and such. This is mostly a motivational problem for most people. Sometime it is hard for some of the more abstract concepts in sciences and math
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IMO 10 hours/day is a healthy chunk of time, but I wouldn't consider it excessive. You can take multiple breaks to eat, talk to friends, go do some activity, etc. and still have time to fit 10 hours of study in (within reason of course).
However, I think it's more important how you study. You could study all day, but if your methods aren't effective, it won't matter.
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I've just passed the university exams, the most important exams for an asian student. I was procrastinating like hell, only actually started studying about 1 month before the exams. IMO it's how you study, not how long you spend on studying. A quote that I really like from the "Shut up, stop whining and get a life" book: "Time management is a joke!".
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On August 14 2009 20:53 Shauni wrote:
I'm also afraid to fail, but I react differently. The final weeks of school when there was a lot of important tests I didn't want the pressure so I just skipped everything and escaped. It might be an extreme approach to this kind of problem but I actually do not regret it at all. I don't have any dream to realize and I don't value social status as much as many people in my surroundings do. It's a self-destructive behaviour, most of the teachers said that the essays I actually wrote were very good and that I'm one of the few students who could analyze things well from different perspectives. I recieved the highest grade on almost all my essays, but I failed most courses and even had to redo a year because of my attitude toward graduating and the school system in general. I believe this has to do with my inability to have dreams. I admire people who work hard to achieve a dream of their own but since I don't have them myself I don't know what I want to do with my life.
"To all you douchebags who are going to post your douchebagness, just watch how I win." What does this mean exactly? Watch how I win? Win the test? Win life? Win in Starcraft?
"Dreams" are generally for people that have been heavily indoctrinated by the system. "When I will be a doctor, I will be happy" is bullshit. It's not any particular dream you should be striving for; it is peace of mind. Peace of mind can be achieved by being in complete agreement with yourself at all possible moments. You will not have peace of mind if you continue throwing your life away, because ten years down the road, there will be something you will want and your lack of dedication to anything will be a huge obstacle that you will kick yourself for.
Strive for a lightness of being; you are not who you are being.
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I totally feel the same way sometimes. I think the whole "try your hardest! it's ok if you fail as long as you try" business is complete bullshit. For me at least, the worst feeling is trying hard and failing anyways.
Props to you for swallowing your pride and grinding through. I wish I had your resolve
Oh, and good luck. Hope you do well.
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I also have the same problems, I keep on getting angry at myself, wondering why on earth I'm not studying harder and wasting way too much of my time (part of that on TL lol)
I also have my medical preliminary exams on tuesday/wednesday, it'll be really really close, whether I succeed or fail, only because I've been way too lazy the last 6 weeks that I had time to study.
Like the others said though, 10 hours a day is too much - what we were recommended in a session about how to prepare for the exams was 8 hours a day max and 2 free days a week where you don't do any studying whatsoever.
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On August 15 2009 02:00 rei wrote:exams are there to see if you understand stuffs, repetitive doing the same practice problems will not help you beat your "exams", your understand of the materials will. Grinding in starcraft will improve mechanic to a point where Artosis can beat rekrul, but there is no mechanic to grind in testing. You don't gain understanding from repetition of solving the same kind of problems again and again. The strategy I used through out my undergrad and graduate exams are just practice few relative problems the night before to refresh the solving process, but i make sure I have metacognition on whatever subject is being tested up on, that is, one has to know the why, the what, the how, and the when on whatever material that's being tested. Talk to your book, there are times when your text seemed hard to understand, ask google or wikipedia what your book means by such and such. This is mostly a motivational problem for most people. Sometime it is hard for some of the more abstract concepts in sciences and math
Did you fucking have to do that?
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On August 14 2009 20:53 Shauni wrote:
"To all you douchebags who are going to post your douchebagness, just watch how I win." What does this mean exactly? Watch how I win? Win the test? Win life? Win in Starcraft?
You know, just like in the Powerthirst ad.
He wins at sports, life, and arts.
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omg, i hate people who overdue it and have no life because they are studying every damn minute of their days. Take everything in stride and you will do fine, I am in a good college and can honestly say that I almost never studied for any test, quiz or exam in high school. Relax you will be fine, if you are that worried then you wont be able to think straight.
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I spent a LOT of time just smoking weed and hanging out with friends.
failed ALL of my year-end exams from 8th grade and up, including my O levels.
Then i decided 'there'll be plenty of time for drugs and laziness in college'
took my o levels again, aced em, then took a levels, did fairly well
took SAT and got like almost 2200 and got a full score on the TOEFL got into a fairly good american uni with a 50% tuition scholarship, and then realised i still have a month left before i need to leave.
Now I'm high again. Feels good man
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On August 15 2009 02:28 Chromyne wrote:
IMO 10 hours/day is a healthy chunk of time, but I wouldn't consider it excessive. You can take multiple breaks to eat, talk to friends, go do some activity, etc. and still have time to fit 10 hours of study in (within reason of course).
However, I think it's more important how you study. You could study all day, but if your methods aren't effective, it won't matter.
In engineering school this is an expected time to study every day, so you are right.
I think the key to getting good grades and not "F-ing your life" (which is not what you are doing by the way, no matter what you do in life you cannot fuck it up...) is to put in at LEAST medium level effort EVERY DAY in classes. That way when it comes time for the exam you can just review what you should already know, you should not have to learn material as if it is new for an exam.. If you are so worried about the test than you need really need to look back at the semester and see where you went wrong.
Not taking notes and not studying in college is almost 100% fail because the classes are designed to knock people out and make them re-take the class. That translates to more money for the university. There are a few exceptions to that obviously (cough cough music school first semester/**)
I suggest you go read Fanatacists recent blog and then decide how bad you are "fucking your life up"..
It seems many people on TL are extremely insecure about their futures' lately. Maybe because the semester is about to start?
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On August 15 2009 06:31 Hypnosis wrote:Show nested quote +On August 15 2009 02:28 Chromyne wrote:
IMO 10 hours/day is a healthy chunk of time, but I wouldn't consider it excessive. You can take multiple breaks to eat, talk to friends, go do some activity, etc. and still have time to fit 10 hours of study in (within reason of course).
However, I think it's more important how you study. You could study all day, but if your methods aren't effective, it won't matter. In engineering school this is an expected time to study every day, so you are right. I think the key to getting good grades and not "F-ing your life" (which is not what you are doing by the way, no matter what you do in life you cannot fuck it up...) is to put in at LEAST medium level effort EVERY DAY in classes. That way when it comes time for the exam you can just review what you should already know, you should not have to learn material as if it is new for an exam.. If you are so worried about the test than you need really need to look back at the semester and see where you went wrong. Not taking notes and not studying in college is almost 100% fail because the classes are designed to knock people out and make them re-take the class. That translates to more money for the university. There are a few exceptions to that obviously (cough cough music school first semester/**)
I'm also in Engineering, and I have to completely agree. Whether or not you pay attention in class can pass or fail you. The top students in my class make sure they pay attention in class no matter how boring it is and, like Hypnosis said, review rather than cram. It goes a long way in understanding the material as opposed to trying to learn it all in the end.
Unfortunately, I learned that the hard way. Days upon days of cramming couldn't save me from my Electronic Devices (Semiconductors/FETs/etc.) final.
EDIT: Phrasing.
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On August 14 2009 20:53 Shauni wrote:
I'm also afraid to fail, but I react differently. The final weeks of school when there was a lot of important tests I didn't want the pressure so I just skipped everything and escaped. It might be an extreme approach to this kind of problem but I actually do not regret it at all. I don't have any dream to realize and I don't value social status as much as many people in my surroundings do. It's a self-destructive behaviour, most of the teachers said that the essays I actually wrote were very good and that I'm one of the few students who could analyze things well from different perspectives. I recieved the highest grade on almost all my essays, but I failed most courses and even had to redo a year because of my attitude toward graduating and the school system in general. I believe this has to do with my inability to have dreams. I admire people who work hard to achieve a dream of their own but since I don't have them myself I don't know what I want to do with my life.
"To all you douchebags who are going to post your douchebagness, just watch how I win." What does this mean exactly? Watch how I win? Win the test? Win life? Win in Starcraft?
that is so me 
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Thanks for the recommendation. I grabbed a used copy for 5 bucks shipped. Now the question is whether I'll procrastinate reading it. 
The comments in this thread nail me dead on. I'd love to do something about my problem, but I just keep procrastinating and managing to coast anyway. I'm 26 and out of school so I've been keeping this charade up for longer than most of you. It's incredibly hard to change when I've been successful for so long without managing to fuck my life up, but obviously I'd like to avoid that ever happening. If I manage to succeed without even trying, how could I possibly fail when I give my best effort towards something? It's completely illogical, but even so, I've never been able to overcome it completely. It's like every time I'm faced with something new, I think this is the time I'm going to screw it up and everything is going to come crashing down, so if I don't try too hard, at least I'll have an excuse when it happens. Every day that I procrastinate some task and the world doesn't end gives me more encouragement to procrastinate further. I've procrastinated important 30-minute tasks for months because of this; that's essentially what I'm doing right now! This is probably the most pathetic thing I've ever posted on the Internet, all in the name of procrastination.
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Too harsh. You will probably burn out @ that rate after a day or two. Do like 4-5 hours a day instead of 10, @ least that's achievable. 10 hours is ridiculous.
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Alright, Day 1 Begins.
Scheduling Tool: Google Calendar (You can set up events with descriptions and view them easily)
Schedule:
12-3pm: Princeton Review Class
4-5:15pm: 2 Verbal Passages
5:15 - 8:15pm: G-Chem Passages 18-32
8:30-9:30pm: O-Chem questions 38-64
9:30-10:30pm: O-Chem Passages 5-10
10:30-11pm: O-Chem Passages Review
Tomorrow, my schedule will begin at 8am.
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EPT
