The moment has finally arrived. The first giveaway in our Delicious Dorm Giveaway series is here!
Our first prize comes courtesy of Brookstone and their Ultimate Dorm Room Sweepstakes. Three lucky DormDelicious readers will win an e-Pad Laptop Desk.
Students are always on the move—lecture halls, student lounges, campus lawns. The Brookstone(R) e-Pad(R) Laptop Desk makes it easy and comfortable to work on a laptop anywhere. Sturdy surface keeps laptops stable. Padded base keeps your lap cool. Built-in handle makes it good to go.
We're excited that we get to offer up not just one prize, but three to kick things off. And what better way to give away three prizes than to do it in three places? Facebook, Twitter, and right here on DormDelicious.
Since you'll likely be using your e-Pad to study (right?) we want you to give us your best study tips. There are three ways to enter:
- Post a study tip as a comment on this blog
- Tweet your study tip to us @DormDelicious
- Post a study tip to our Facebook wall
You can only enter once by commenting, once on Twitter, and once on Facebook but feel free to send as many study tips our way as you want. We could use the help! And the best study tips will be used in a future blog on DormDelicious.
This giveaway begins now and runs until 11:59 Pacific time on Friday, August 21st.
A Few Good Rules
- Study tips must actually be study tips, and not just random comments on this blog, random tweets mentioning us, or random posts on our Facebook wall. Tips can be whacky and humorous, but they should still offer advice (even if it's not that great).
- Tweets must be sent as an at-reply to the DormDelicious twitter account, or else we won't see them! Click here to automagically tweet us your tip.
- One tip will be drawn at random from each source: Comments on this blog, Twitter, and Facebook.
- There will be three (3) unique winners in total. You may not win more than once.
- In order to receive your prize, you must respond to us with your address when we contact you, either via e-mail, Twitter, or Facebook.
Questions? Post a comment and we'll answer as fast as we can.
If you are addicted to the internet, or just plain like it a lot, use programs that block your most visited websites during certain times of the day. If you have a class that ends at 3, and you have a big project to do that week, block your favorite websites from 3-4, or whatever you see fits best. One of these programs include the LeechBlock application on Firefox.
Do NOT procrastinate is the greatest tip I have... If you are a true procrastinator and you can't seem to help yourself:
1. Set some rules up... "I cannot leave this chair until my project/essay is done".
2. Do NOT bring a cup of coffee/tea/juice/any liquids to your work area unless ABSOLUTELY necessary... You're desire to drink something will allow you the determination necessary to finish any assignment in a timely manner.
Don't procrastinate, but that doesn't mean you have to do a project right away if you have 2 months to do it. If you're a horrible procrastinator (like me) start to change your habits by starting the project when you have half the time left, if you cannot bring yourself to do it earlier. Obviously this may not work in certain situations, but it will help you learn to begin your homework sooner and hopefully help break the procrastination cycle. :)
For effective studying, read over your material first, and then tackle the hardest/most challenging info first. It's easier to overcome the hard, so the easier stuff will be a piece of cake to retain.
Make friends with your teacher! They will have more respect for you and may go out of their way to help you! Sending a quick email will be answered quickly!
When you finish reading an assignment, give yourself a short quiz. Thus will help you review and makes remembering more fun!
You're our winner! We sent you an e-mail but please contact us if you didn't get it.
How To Do Well In Class
1. Just damned listen to what your teacher says!
This will normally be so efficient that it will cut down on your personal work a lot. Some people can even understand it all properly just by listening, which means less to do later.
2. Think, don't just listen and write down notes, try to understand it, even a little, on the spot.
Again, this is for the best. Trying to understand right away will make it simpler because your mind will be into it. And on top of that, the moment you understand, writing it down and remembering it will be much easier.
One thing I like to do is, right after class, I rewrite the notes I just took in a concise and easy to read format, in my case I use bullet-points. This really makes it easier to study later on.
3. Do your freaking work.
Do I even have to tell you why?
4. Do MORE!
By getting into it and trying to get a bit further in each topic by yourself, not only will you kill some time, but you will learn a lot more. The key to learning is to enjoy it, no one really likes to work, but if you find a way to use your lessons for something, do so, it'll be much better for you than just learning without getting it.
5. Get in touch with the professor/TA the second you have a problem.
This is a hard part, no one likes to ask for help, especially from teachers, but it'll be another way to learn well.
My ultimate study tip: To maximize the effectiveness of a study session, it is important for students to stay fueled.
Keep a basket of healthy snacks near you for a constant supply of energy. Some of my favorite brain-foods/drinks are walnuts, matcha (green tea), blueberries, and acai berries.
Make sure you are hydrated - dehydration is often the cause of fatigue. However, do NOT drink anything with too much sugar, as it will make your body's sugar levels spike and drop in too short a time.
While you are on your snack break, walk and stretch for a couple minutes and rest your eyes from the glare of the computer screen.
Definitely agree with taking a break from the computer! Always good to get a stretch in and rest your eyes.
My Study Tip: Create a to-do list or schedule for the day. It's not going to be possible to study for everything if there isn't some organization to what you need to learn. Prioritize your studying by what tests/quizzes you have coming up and/or what is going to take the most time for you to learn :) Spend the most time per day/week on these items.
Thanks for the tip!