How to Study - Tips

How to wake up early?

2015-10-08T01:04:00.002-07:00

How to wake up early?

Waking up early is a challenge to most of us. We all know the benefits of waking up early but very few people actually do it. If I have to put it bluntly, sleep early to wake up early. It is as simple as that. But, is it really as simple as it sounds?

Why don’t we sleep early?

As a kid, I always slept around 9 O’clock and there are hardly any days when I was awake till 12 AM. It all changed once I got to my high school and the work started mounting. It continued through my teen years and even after marriage. I can now sleep early as I am in a job where I can come home by 7 and forget all about work. However, I still don’t feel like going to bed early. If I finish off all my chores, I would like to sit down in front of YouTube! and watch some mindless videos.

I have simply lost the HABIT of sleeping early.

Even if I try to sleep early, I usually end up sleeping later than usual. My body and my mind are not ready to lose that habit in a hurry.

How to lose the HABIT?

How many days does it take to change a habit? The usual answer is 21 days. However, for a habit that was with us for 15 or so years, it will take it more than few weeks to change it. Sleeping early is not just about finishing work early and hitting the sheets. It is mostly about the discipline to do so. Here are few tricks if you are lagging in the discipline department:

Don’t complete all your work before going to sleep. Have some work to do early in the morning. Eventually, you will find yourself waking up early to finish that task. You might fail a few times, but you will want to wake up early every time you fail
Do lot of physical activity in the day and that usually tires you up. You will sleep in a jiffy once you reach home
Eat out and come home only to sleep. Get so tired that you don’t feel like doing anything else and you just want to drop on the bed
Remove the cable and block all your distractions. Once you are bored to death, you will automatically sleep.
Don’t think about the white elephant. Similarly, don’t think about sleep. It has to be natural
Stop eating sugars, processed foods and drinking soda. It really helped me in sleeping early. I was not insomniac anymore. This is my true story. I have also dropped 3 pounds in a month and half without much effort. It also had my skin glowing. I will write a blog on this, but more about it later.
Unplug from the Internet and TV before you sleep
One horrible trick is to eat A LOT where you don’t even feel like walking and you will feel sleepy
Get your self a morning part-time job

Note that all these points are just to get you in to the habit of sleeping early. Use common sense and don’t stick to procrastinating and eating a lot in the long run.

Sustaining the new HABIT

Consider that you have formed the habit of waking up early when you can wake up with out feeling tired and without much effort. Congratulate yourself and if you can sustain it for a month, give yourself a pat on the back!

Don’t sleep late even during the weekends. To sustain the new habit, have a positive motivation to wake up early. Few of them are:

Learn to cook instead of eating out
Do some exercise
Learn something
Do a part time job and earn few extra bucks
Learn gardening
Go to work early and commit in office that you will be working early going for forth. This frees up your evenings to catch up with other stuff
Make a point to remember the benefits of waking up early

Enjoy waking up early and just love it! It is difficult to break a habit once you form it, remember?

How to Study - Maths

2011-12-27T04:52:00.000-08:00

Maths is perhaps the nightmare of many school goers. Even mine. However, I was able to overcome that and was able to secure good marks. I consider getting better at maths is something which changed my life forever. If I was poor in maths, I doubt whether I would have been able to complete my Engineering and be what I am right now.

I have listed down some tips that could help you in getting A+ in maths:

1. Regular Practice

Practice Maths regularly. Take an exercise and do it for an hour. Don't do too many exercises on the same day. Do problems from one section on a given day. For EG: In Geometry, just work on problems related to "Areas" on one day. Move on to another chapter like "Volumes" on another day. It is better to have a tutor. They will help you in doing problems regularly and you will not be overwhelmed.

2. Do not memorize all the formulae (May be some..but not all)

Yes! Don't memorize them all. Try to understand how the formula has been derived. That really helps you in understanding the IDEA and the APPLICATION behind the formula. Scientists actually derive them . So think yourself as one of them and see how you'll solve the problem if no formula is given to you.

Let's say that your parents are going to buy a new house! :) You have a measuring tape with you (A big one). The house's plot is not rectangular but it is some what irregular. How would you find the area of that house?

3. Learn your tables

You should know how to calculate fast. Maths is for speed. For a good start, learn the tables from 1x1 to 30x30. This should really make some difference. Try to make calculations mentally.

Also learn some short cuts. You can get them at

http://mathormagic.com/long_multiplication_reduced_to_one_line_shortcut

There are ofcourse many sites. Just google them.

4. Recollect what you have done

It is best to go through the work that you have done until it syncs in to your system.
Once it syncs in, you should be able to recollect any formula any time.

As it is maths and not Poetry, you should be able to answer a maths question at ANY TIME. i.e If you are given any surprise test, you should not think of secretly-open-the-book-and-go-through-some-problems. Yeah! It is maths..come on.. you should be able to solve it any time. That's the point I am trying to make. You don't open your book to find out the area of circle every time before the exam. It should be on your finger tips. (Not written on finger tips)

5. Be STRONG in your basics

I cannot stress this point enough. If you are already weak, there is nothing wrong in taking your previous classes books and going through it.

6. Use Maths in everyday life

Use it in everyday life. I bet you can use multiplication, additions, divisions, averages, areas , volumes,age related calculations etc in your everyday life

7. Know the importance of "PI"

8. Know the conversions from one unit to another

9. Form study groups and try to solve problems fast

10. Maths is fun! Think out of your book and find websites which really give you a different perspective of maths. Take IQ quizzes.

Hope these tips help you. If you have better methods, do post them in the comments.

Study Strategies and Tips

2011-05-03T01:16:00.001-07:00

When you study you should understand the concept to its depths. With concept oriented study work you need not memorize your papers. The concept will automatically stick to your memory. It is just like seeing a movie. When you see it and you understand the concept of the movie…. You can recall the movie and hey... You can also say the word-to-word dialogues from it!!! It is just the same with studies.

Step 1: Setting your mind and body to the STUDY MODE:

• Pick a brightly lit study room
• It is better if the room is calm.
• Gather all the materials that you need to study your paper. That includes study material, computer (if you need one)
• Cut off all the interruptions. Do not voluntarily message or send forwards from mobile. If you get any call from your friend /family member keep it short. Say that you are busy and will get back to them once you are done.
• Do not play any songs in the back ground. You can’t read for more than 3 hours that way.

Step 2: Study when you study

• When you read, understand what the author is trying to say.
• To understand it better challenge what the author is saying. Suppose if it is given that ‘Sun light takes 8 min to reach earth’… Challenge it. Question it. Then try to answer why the author would have written it that way. It is based on the calculation (speed= distance/time). But is the earth equidistant from the sun all the time? No. Earth follows an elliptical orbit. So, earth is not equidistant from sun. The 8min is just the average time.
• To understand the concept better, you need to think in different ways. Let us say that you are reading probability from math. Force your self to say five real time scenarios where you can apply the concepts. Try to think originally. If you are out of options.. Google always helps J
• Spend enough time while reading. This will enable you to understand the concepts better,
• If you are a very mean examiner, what kind of questions would you give from that section? Think...
• If you are a scientist where would you use that concept? What is the scope of that area?
• Collect extra material and see in what ways it can be used.
• If there are formulae that jumps in to the concept out of no where.. Memorize it. If you have enough time…. Collect some info on it.
• Take notes/ Scribble notes on the text book if it is yours. Highlight important points.
• If you have to memorize a theorem... Read it slowly first. That will help you in sticking it to your memory better. You should be able to memorize a three line text word-to-word by reading it for 5 times.

Step 3: How to bring your focus back to studies when your mind disturbs you?

• Take a break after reading for 45 minutes. They do give intervals in the movies. :)
• Treat yourself if you complete reading it. Say a cup of ice-cream or a show that you wanted to watch
• Always keep the goal in mind. Say getting an A will impress your girl friend/ boy friend. Your parents will be proud of you. Your friends will think highly of you. Your teachers will be less mean to you...lol. Or you can get a scholarship.
• Let us say you are reading a very dull topic and your mind is wandering… Take a paper and put a cross on it every time your mind wanders. Your goal is to reduce the number of crosses you get.
• Another way to read a dull topic is to read it fast. It will force your mind power to its peak. Remember how much you can cover just 1 hr before the exam? You make use of most of your mind power. However, the results are only short term. If you want to remember it for long term... When you read it.. also thing where you can apply it and this has a better chance for you to remember it longer
• Read fast to revise fast.

Step 4: How to improve in math?

• There is only one success formula to math: practice, practice and practice.
• The more problems you solve.. the better are the chances for you the score more.
• Be good at calculations. Join an abacus class. Or memorize all the tables till 30 X 30.
• Do math for at least one hour every day. This has improved my score well. I was a failed candidate in math and was able to get above 95/100 by solving more problems
• Have a study group
• Check how fast you can solve it. It is MATHS.

Step 5: Conquer the exam fever

• Try to cover all the topics. Have a study plan
• Go through previous exam papers
• Interact with your teachers and listen to their classes. They would usually stress some points or questions which are bound to turn up in your exam
• Have a cheat sheet which has all the important formulae, theorems, definitions, tough words, drawings and stuff.
• Be relaxed and calm. You have done your preparation well
• In the exam, as soon as get your paper.. do a memory dump. It means writing whatever you tend to forget or get confused on reading the paper. Ex: Formulae... (Is it x/y or y/x?),
• Be prepared for surprises. These tend to happen at times. See if the question is time consuming. If yes, answer it later. Do not waste your time on it.
• For theory papers, always write the answer that you know best first. This will give a better impression to the examiner. Be careful about the question numbers though
• Highlight important points. Try to answer the question to the point.
• Improve your handwriting.
• Before answering the question… plan what you are going to write.
• When the exam is over… estimate how many marks you would get and compare it with your results. This will help you in planning better for future exams.
• After the exam… Enjoy :)