Mind games we play: Academic Challenges and Study Strategies

Mind games we play: Academic Challenges and Study Strategies

By Victor Alatorre

The following is a compilation of ideas I generated through my experience as a student at UW Oshkosh over a 20-year period  (only a portion of those years as a student).  Most of this advice came from my father (a college professor) and/or personal experience.  While we attend college, we tend to believe that certain indirect actions towards a goal may lead to success.  Only true and tangible efforts can lead through a path of measurable success. 


Have you experienced behavior like the following examples?

• Going to the library to study, but spending the night socializing with the pretty girls in the second floor lounge.
• Going to the Union to do some reading, only to spend the time drinking coffee and checking out facebook.
• Going to a retention group like ALMA with the assumption that attending the meeting will help your grades by your mere presence.
• Joining a club for your major and putting all your energy on club activities with the assumption the experience alone will improve your grades. You become the member of a certain club or fraternity, only to find out your energy is spent on managing meetings and group process. Do you get home exhausted?
• You have to study tonight, but to get on “the zone” You have to clean your room, do your laundry, organize your sock drawer, work out, go for a run, socialize, etc.

Mob Mentality (Herd Behavior)

• Externalizing an internal problem: If everyone else is struggling, then it’s OK to do poorly.  Don’t be a one eyed king in the kingdom of the blind.
• You receive the scores for the last test and you find out everyone else did poorly.  You all agree that the teacher made the test too difficult, so somehow you will remedy the outcome of the test through extra credit or curving.  Assuming that a curved-grade will somehow carry you through the next test. You fantasize that the average of two numbers is higher than the highest number of the two.  
• You talk to your friends and they all tell you that the teacher doesn’t know how to teach, the tests are ridiculous, the teacher didn’t cover the material, etc.  You go home thinking there is nothing you need to do to remedy the situation; it is an externality beyond what you can do.
• Your fraternity brothers are also struggling, so your brain tries to make you believe that the normal state in academia is a C average, because we all agreed that the professor is an idiot.

Sensory Overload
You get to your room, your door is open, your laptop is on, your internet connection is on, and Facebook is cranking away with the events of the day, your twitter and messenger clients are blinking with requests to chat, your cell phone is vibrating every other minute and there is a really good show or game on your TV.  Your girlfriend calls you and wants to know what is the plan for tonight… The test is tomorrow, and you have not read like you were supposed to last night and/or the night before.  Your roommate is playing with the PS3 console the new game he got last night at target… He has not slept in 2 days.   You chat with neighbors to try to figure out what to do tonight… You should have enough time to read a couple of chapters before dinner… Dinner time comes about and you have not read a thing, but you say to yourself, I’m going to grab some grub and come back for a couple of hours and then I’ll go see my girlfriend and/or meet my friends.  You come back with food to your room, and your friends are playing games with your roommate, they ask you if you want to play or go out …  What do you do?

Working and other time consuming activities

• Money and Employment: Some of us have to work to pay for our education.  Grants and loans are not enough.  Some of us have jobs to buy things that we feel we need like computers, phones, cars, and/or clothing.    Whatever the reason may be, you need to make a conscious effort on priorities.  Some of us could use fewer things, less work, less debt, more sleep. You have full control of those factors.  The proper mix of those factors will determine your long-term success.  For every credit hour you need to put an average of 2 to 3 hours of effort (reading, reviewing, re-writing, etc) out of class work. If you are taking 12 credits, you need at least 24 to 36 hours of effort minimum. Some classes are easier than others, but the running average to be successful is at least that much.  If you add sleeping, socializing, gaming, working, working out and so forth, there is simply not enough time in a week to accomplish everything that needs to be accomplished. Extracurricular activities need to be identified and prioritized.
• Working out: What is good for the body is good for the mind; however working out prior to studying gives you a false sense of accomplishment.  Physical fatigue leads to sleepiness. Running 3 to 5 miles will trigger endorphins and euphoria, keeping you from prioritizing the workload required to finish the chapter reviews.  After a good work out, you get home, you are hungry and simply want to sit down and watch TV.  You feel sleepy and you go to bed without reading the chapters.  Schedule studying before workouts, not vice versa.

Self-fulfilling prophecy:  

You need to take a class for your major that is extremely hard, but you keep telling yourself that due to the nature of the course, no matter what you do, it is hopeless, so you focus your energy on the other classes you enjoy a little more.  You neglect the very class you need to continue your progression.

You have a learning disability clearly documented for some time.  You are told you cannot achieve with major help or breaks from others.  You start believing that no matter what approach you take, you will not succeed.   This self-defeat leads to believe no action is the appropriate action; why try, you have been told you will not succeed. You have to provide tangible action to receive tangible results.

Other non-academic factors affecting your performance

• Single:  You spend a great deal of energy trying to meet tentative partners, so you put all your energy working out at a certain time or going to social events or parties with a certain group in an effort to meet that special someone.   You go visit friends or friends of friends; you try to be at the right place at the right time.  The energy equivalent varies, but your academic focus is not there.
• Dating: You are with someone for a prolonged period of time for this or that reason, things do not work out.  What do you do?  You immerse yourself in depression, exercise, heavy drinking, seeking out reasons or contact, you find yourself spending a great deal of energy seeking out others, fighting, and/or communicating with others about your grievances.  The energy used to cope with the loss keeps you from putting energy on the actual effort of studying, reading, writing, etc.
• Responsibilities with kids: You get home and your significant other or family requires your attention… Your kid(s) is (are) sick and need attention, etc. Whatever the case may be you need to plan ahead and stick to a plan.  
• Family Issues: Your parents call to tell you that a serious personal event has taken place; your siblings are fighting, your girlfriends is pregnant, one of your parents may have cancer or your parents are getting divorced, your dad has been laid off, etc. What do you do?  Family tends to be the most important thing for college men, so the priority shifts. If you find yourself in this situation, it is difficult to compartmentalize your life.  However, you need to communicate with your professors and advisers that your current personal life may impact your academics, go to the counseling office and speak to a professional advisor about cutting back credit load, etc.   You need to seek professional counseling if needed.  Assuming that you can take care of things on your own may lead you to denial and overwhelming stress.

Strategies for Academic Success

1. Math, Physics, Chemistry, Accounting, Ops Management, Computer Science course work requires analytical exercises, so you cannot succeed if you try to memorize analytical process without actually connecting the mechanics of your hand and mind.  Doing a problem in paper is not the same as reading the problem and assuming the process can be repeated in the test fast enough to be completed in the time allotted.  Our minds are all different, some of us can do math easily, some of us struggle with memorization, using the right strategy is instrumental.  You will not use the same strategy to study for a math test as you would a history test.  Contacting the professor prior to the exam may allow for taking the test at a different time.
2. Divest yourself from non-value added activities.  Extra curricular activities provide you with a sense of accomplishment, but they may not directly improve your chances of success.  It is important to realize the impact extra-curricular activities may have on your success.  
3. Giving time to process the information is also important.  The brain cannot process information if is all reviewed for the first time an hour or so before the event (exam time).  So, chopping the information in digestible chunks and then allowing your brain to digest during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is the only way you will retain information.  Sleep is an important factor of mental decompression.
4. Not one learning strategy works for everything you have to accomplish academically. However the following ideas are not absolute but a good start:

a.      The most basic of them all: GO TO CLASS! Talk to the professor as issues arise, do not wait until the last minute or the last test in the semester to acknowledge issues, etc. Sit in the front, take notes, minimize temporary use of social networks, use your gadgets to enhance your retention experience not your distractions.

b.      Use cards to write important facts: writing summaries of important elements may allow for a flexible way to self-test.   This method is successful in subject work that requires some memorization (History, sociology, political science, etc). Have others quiz you with those ideas collected in your cards.

c.      Rewrite class notes while adding elements of missing information from the book or Internet.  Ask others in the class to share their notes with you if you cannot keep up with note taking. Develop relationships other individuals in your classes in order to develop awareness of common issues.

d.     Connecting your mind to your hand allows for memorization.  If you can write accurately or fast enough to keep up, then you need to use a digital recorder to review the information at home and on your own.  Using your senses to process leads to retention.  Reflecting on the material allows for active learning.

e.      Using mind maps to map out the information you need to understand can be also very helpful.  Connecting facts and figures in a mind map may be helpful to your learning process. It is especially helpful on connecting facts and figures within subgroups of ideas like in history, political science, international studies, geography, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map

f.       Proper posture for reading is also important, away from distractions such as people and technology.  Your sitting position has to be comfortable, but not so comfortable you fall asleep.  Never study in bed, lying down on your couch or on your pillow.  It simply doesn’t work. You have to have a 90-degree angle from the position of your legs to the position of your upper body.   Your feet should be on the floor allowing for proper blood circulation.

g.      Seeking help like tutoring is very important, however it has to be done weeks before the test. It may be a useful strategy for coursework that requires attention to logical process and sequencing i.e.: Math, Physics, Programming, Accounting, Stats, etc.  The mind needs time to react.  The process of knowledge gathering has to be given internal effort.  You cannot assume that the tutor will transfer all his/her knowledge by osmosis.   Retention requires personal contribution like working the problems before or after a visit to the tutor.

h.     Writing skills are not birth gifts, they require constant exercise and practice. Papers are the product of several iterations and compilations of ideas.  The more you write, the better you will be.  Students that have learning disabilities should seek out electronic mechanisms (software like Kurzweil 3000, etc) for writing, reading, idea collection, idea generation, and process. The more your practice, the better you get.  Even if you think your writing is so terrible; no one should see it, you need to allow others to provide feedback for rewrites and improvements. Seek out the resources available at the writing center and the Center for Academic Support and Diversity

i.       Our brains handle information through short and long-term memory process. Short-term memory allows for information processing for short-term decisions; once a decision is made with the information, the factoid becomes a lessen priority.   A long-term memory process requires active reading/listening and processing time.  Processing and fact decompressing can only take place when you sleep.  If you do not sleep or limit your sleep through extra curricular activities, the knowledge gathered through the day becomes a short-term entry on your mind. Active reading requires the full attention of the mind; the full attention of the mind is achieved through the removal of sensory distractions.

j.       Like physical exercise routines, study habit forming requires a three-week commitment minimum. So, if you maintain a routine of studying at a certain time of the day, every day, the habit will allow you to develop a routine of commitment.  A commitment to making time to study and review chapters.

k.      Read ahead:  the effort of reading ahead can be a daunting task, however it is the most successful way of keeping you aware of your unawareness.  Knowing the areas of weakness prior to class review can help you in the long run.

Conclusion:
This document is organic in nature. The information provided here is based on personal experiences.   If you identify other factors affecting your academics and/or have ideas for the improvement of academic performance, let me know.  Every mind and/or situation is different.