Monthly Archive for November, 2010

Speed Reading Advantages

Published on November 27, 2010 in Speed Learning, Speed Reading, Study Less and Study Tips. 6 Comments

If you’ve ever wondered about the difference between reading and speed reading, here’s a quick comparison table for you.

Average Reader Speed Reader
Words Per Minute 200-300 600-1,200
Comprehension Needs to re-read the same text several times Reduced need to re-read, if required with new material, does it FASTER
Memory recall Poor due to lack of focus and attention due to the long time it takes to read Excellent BECAUSE of laser-like focus for short periods of time
Boring and Banal Material Puts you to sleep Get it over and done with quickly
Theoretical Textbooks Can’t get to the core issues without losing focus Get to the central points quickly to understand them better
Dyslexic Students Struggle to read – avoid it as much as possible Proven to improve reading speed by 200 to 500%.
Lazy Students Read half as much as they should Read everything they should because they are 2 to 3 times faster
Top Students Read instead of going out with friends Can still get top grades AND have a social life
Mature Students Get inundated with pre-requisite material they need to read to get the background to the current material – always struggling to keep up Get through the background material in a fraction of the time to focus on learning the stuff that’s on the exam!
Athletes Usually don’t get good grades because they spend so much time training for their sport Can get through ALL their reading material WITHOUT compromising their athletic performance
Business People Usually skim and skip their reading material – often missing key principles Can not only read ALL their course material, but save valuable time so their career doesn’t suffer while their ‘in school’
‘Bad Students’ Never quite get the consistent As and Bs Gain confidence because this makes them ‘smarter’ than their friends!
Parents Don’t know how to help them get better grades This is a quick and easy skill to learn that is PROVEN to work and improve students’ grades

Great Study Tips Site

Published on November 21, 2010 in Better Grades, Memory Skills, Note Taking and Study Tips. 3 Comments

Even though there are countless great sites on the Internet, often it’s hard to find them. That’s why, as an Exponential Growth Strategist, I come into contact with thousands of people every year and many of them forward interesting and useful links, sites and blogs that are valuable and worthy of bookmarking. The Khan Academy Site is one such example.

David Pitts, a participant at a recent corporate “Super Session” let me know that.

The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere.

http://www.khanacademy.org/

The Khan Academy has 1000+ videos on YouTube covering everything from basic arithmetic and algebra to differential equations, physics, chemistry, biology and finance that have been recorded by Salman Khan. Read a recent San Francisco Chronicle article about Salman Khan and the Khan Academy.

Listen to a recent interview by Salman with NPR’s All Things Considered

Interested, download the Khan Academy fact sheet. You can also read more about the Khan Academy vision in this document.

The Khan Academy and Salman Khan have received a 2009 Tech Award in Education. The Tech Awards is an international awards program that honors innovators from around the world who are applying technology to benefit humanity.

Sal has just launched the alpha software version of the old web app. Try it out if you’re interested in practicing some of the concepts in the videos.. It requires a Google account (not the login from the old app). The old, slower version is still available here.

To keep abreast of new videos as they add them, subscribe to the Khan Academy channel on YouTube.

Get Excited About School Again

Published on November 18, 2010 in Better Grades, Study Habits, Study Less, Study Psychology and Study Tips. 2 Comments

Emahuja is lacking a little motivation to get into studying…

HELLO DR. MARC,

EMAHUJA here, I am about to complete my 11th std and will be starting with my 12th std which is very crucial and important for me as a science student. Till 10th I was very much interested in studies. My grades were very good, but now I don’t know what’s wrong. I don’t have any intrest in studies and very tense regarding my studies. So, can you please suggest some tips to get my interest back into my studies?

Regards,
EMAHUJA

Everyone gets into a rut from time to time, so if you temporarily lose interest or motivation, don’t panic.

I have a blog called the Mindset Of A Champion that is devoted to high performance athletes who want to improve their results. One of the problems they come across is over training.

In your case you may not be over training, but you may have the same symptoms. Chances are you’re just bored. That simply means you need to mix things up a little. Change a few things you’re doing to make it fresh and new. You might even consider taking a break from studying for 1 or 2 days – just to interrupt your pattern.

Other things you can consider doing include: Continue reading ‘Get Excited About School Again’

Why you need to do your homework

Published on November 13, 2010 in General, Study Fun And Humour and Study Mistakes To Avoid. 3 Comments Tags: .

Today’s post is funny, but then again it’s not really. I come across people everyday that can’t spell let alone put a few words together. Andrew Powell from Montreal Canada found this original article on Yahoo – America’s educational system captured in a single photo.

Well here’s something to make your old English teacher gasp in horror: A road contractor hired to paint the word “school” on a freshly paved stretch of highway near Southern Guilford High School in North Carolina rendering the traffic area in question a “shcool” lane.

But fear not for the surely confused area youth! The contractor, an area company named Traffic Markings, has already corrected the error.

This isn’t the first such mishap on record. Last year, for instance, a Miami area road crew offered the variant spelling of “scohol,” while in 2007, a Kalamazoo team managed to do the same “h” and “c” reversal.

Chalk it all up to a bad day’s wrok.

Today’s lesson – especially for high school students is this: You’re in school for a reason – to learn skills and develop aptitudes like reading, writing, math, research and now typing (properly) on a keyboard which is no longer something you can avoid. I know most high school students think a lot of what they do is a waste of time, but here’s the thing most don’t fully realise – you’ll NEVER, EVER go back to high school.

That means if you don’t pick up and DEVELOP those study skills and aptitudes, you’re #$@%#$ for the rest of your life and career. You won’t get the best promotions, job offers and certainly won’t get the biggest paychecks.

I see it every day – people who would like to write better, but just can’t. For whatever reason, when they should have learned the skills, they didn’t. It’s sad to see – because it’s a handicap. They have to hire other people to write for them. When they send email correspondence, the errors and poor grammar reflect poorly on who they are. Often, a prospect will lose confidence in them just because of that.

That’s painful to see – especially when there is NO QUICK FIX. What you DON’T learn in high school can take 10 to 20 years to learn as an adult – partially because of the lack of time, partly because adults don’t learn as quickly and mostly because trying to UNLEARN something is harder than learning it in the first place!

Anyway, those are my thoughts for the day – I am not sure why I understood this in PRIMARY SCHOOL, but I can remember vividly my classmates in high school who didn’t take it seriously and can now see the definite (wide) chasm between the successful and not-so-successful. It can all be traced backwards to high school and sometimes primary school just like CSI determining who committed a murder – all the clues are there.

The only question is – if you’re in high school or university, will you start to take the basics more seriously?

School In 1957 Versus 2007

Published on November 7, 2010 in Parents Of Students and Study Fun And Humour. 1 Comment Tags: , .

Things have changed in the last 50 years – especially in schools. Today’s blog post was sent to me by Gavin Buckett, The Gourmet Guardian, Australia’s Food Safety Specialist. Is this really progress?

Scenario: Jack goes rabbit shooting before school, pulls into school parking lot with rifle in gun rack.

1957 – Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack’s rifle, goes to his car and gets his rifle & chats with Jack about guns.

2007 – School goes into lock down, Star Force called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his ute or gun again. Counsellors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.

1957 -Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.

2007 – Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it. Continue reading ‘School In 1957 Versus 2007′

Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?

Published on November 5, 2010 in General, Student Jokes and Study Fun And Humour. 2 Comments

You have to be careful when you ask 5th graders questions. They will actually be too honest for their own good, like these examples:

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TEACHER:    Maria, go to the map and find North America .
MARIA:         Here it  is.
TEACHER:   Correct.  Now class, who discovered America ?
CLASS:         Maria.
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TEACHER:   John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor?
JOHN:          You told me to do it without using tables.
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TEACHER:  Glenn, how do you spell ‘crocodile?’
GLENN:      K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L’
TEACHER:  No, that’s wrong
GLENN:       Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it.

(I  Love this kid)
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TEACHER:   Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?
DONALD:     H I J K L M N O.
TEACHER:   What are you talking about?
DONALD:    Yesterday you said it’s H to O.
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TEACHER:   Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn’t have ten years ago.
WINNIE:       Me!
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TEACHER:   Glen, why do you always get so dirty?
GLEN:          Well, I’m a lot closer to the ground than you are.
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TEACHER:     Millie, give me a sentence starting with ‘ I. ‘
MILLIE:         I  is..
TEACHER:     No, Millie…… Always say, ‘I  am.’
MILLIE:         All right…  ‘I am the ninth letter of the alphabet’
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TEACHER:    George Washington not only chopped down his father’s cherry tree, but also admitted it. Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn’t punish him?
LOUIS:           Because George still had the axe in his hand….
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TEACHER:    Now, Simon, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?
SIMON:         No sir, I don’t have to, my Mom is a good cook.
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TEACHER:     Clyde , your composition on ‘My Dog’ is exactly the same as your brother’s.. Did you copy his?
CLYDE :         No, sir. It’s the same dog.
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TEACHER:    Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?
HAROLD:     A teacher
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