Archive for the 'Study Psychology' Category

Do you dread exams?

If you dread exams, you’re not alone. I don’t know anyone who likes exams, but there are people who get very anxious and dread midterms and finals.

Chances are, you dread exams because you’re not prepared – or more likely you don’t “feel” like you’re sufficiently or adequately prepared.

Exam Stress, Exam Anxiety, Study Anxiety, Test Stress

We’ve all been there at some point – taking an exam knowing we didn’t study enough. We’ve also all been sitting there thinking “I am going to ace this exam!”

The challenge we all have as students is to be able to gauge how much preparation is enough. In my study book – Get The Best Grades With The Least Amount Of Effort, I explain several tips on how to learn HOW you learn.

When you acquire that skill, you can quickly and easily apply it to exam preparation and then exam execution.

Preparing for an exam is NOT the same as taking an exam. In my study book, I highlight exam taking strategies that can relieve a lot of the anxiety and stress you might have.

Quack Or Genius Idea? You Decide

I get a lot of emails from all over the world on an on-going basis. I had never heard of this technique to reduce stress for students who are under pressure to get better grades. I have no idea if it works.

Since it can’t hurt, if you feel stressed about school or upcoming exams or tests, I’d like to suggest that you give it a try and let me know if it works for you.

You just never know where the next breakthrough will come from. Since I’m not stressed, I can’t really be an objective test subject.

This would be ideal if you’re under severe stress or have anxiety about tests and exams. From what is described, it takes time for it to “work”, so start now and see if it prevents the next anxiety attack.

Try it and let me know by placing a comment below!

The Cortices Technique Video Demonstration

According to Dr. John Veltheim who demonstrates why and how to do the technique in the video above, the brain is the core of the human body it controls the way the body communicates with all it’s various parts. This in turn controls our amazing healing abilities. When the brains function is compromised the Body cannot properly heal.

The Cortices Technique allows for increased brain function and connectivity between all the parts of the Body. Since the body communicates using electricity and quantum energy this technique has an amazing effect on the body by allowing the body to reconnect broken or overloaded circuits.

The technique is has been demonstrated by EMS Response teams to bring trauma patients out of shock when at the scene of accidents. The basic idea is to hold the point of injury and to preform the technique on the patient. This has the effect of allowing the body to address the injury and to do what is necessary. In the case of a trauma victim they could be bleeding to death and the brain is so overloaded that it doesn’t send the healing instructions to clot the blood. The victim then dies due to the fact that the body can’t respond. By preforming the Cortices Technique on the patient the Brain is able to address the problem and allow the body to re-engage in the healing crisis and to clot the blood. If you ask any EMS worker they will tell you that the first thing they need to do is to address shock in a patient. You can use this Technique in any situation mental or physical.

Dr. Veltheim recommends that in the day and age where we have so much electromagnetic radiation. That this technique can be preformed twice a day for 2 or 3 months as a general maintenance routine. The person preforming the technique will notice many changes in their body due the increased ability of the brain to deal with the daily stresses of student life.

Puppy petting party soothes stressed students

Following up a successful “puppy day” from last spring, GMU law school enlisted volunteer animal rescue organization A Forever Home to bring a batch of puppies that needed attention to its campus as a treat and a stress reducer for law students leading up to final exams.

Studies Got You Down?

We’ve all been in that place when we wonder if all the hard work and sacrifices are worth it. Click on the hyperlink to have a look at this Infographic on US Education statistics.

If that doesn’t convince you, maybe you need to know the real value of a degree. <- click here for a more uplifting perspective.

One of my very first mentors wisely explained to me that any investment I made in myself, I took with me wherever I would go, for the rest of my life.

I know when you’re young a week or month is a long time and a year seems like forever.

Just think about how quickly the LAST YEAR flew by and that should convince you that it’s a lot shorter than you’re currently thinking!

Don’t ever give up on yourself -
you are your best investment!

Get Better Grades Now… Help Spread The Word!

I recently had someone in Boston write this on a few blackboards for me… That’s when I thought I might as you to do the same – spread the word to other students.

If you do, take a photo and send it to me and I’ll post it here on the blog.

Thanks in advance for helping us get the word out to more students. Sometimes all it takes is one idea to transform a mediocre student into a ‘genius’. By doing this, you’re engaging in a concept called ‘paying it forward’. Engaging the Law Of Attraction is something special that once you set it in motion, good things will start to happen, almost like magic.

Do it because you want to help and then see and tell me what happens!

Get Better Grades, Student Tips, Study Guide, Student Guide

Help Spread The Word: Get Better Grades Now.com

Hard To Read = Easier To Remember!

A PARADOX of education is that presenting information in a way that looks easy to learn often has the opposite effect.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that when people are forced to think hard about what they are shown they remember it better, so it is worth looking at ways this can be done.

A piece of research about to be published in Cognition, by Daniel Oppenheimer, a psychologist at Princeton University and his colleagues, suggests a simple one: make the text conveying the information harder to read.

Speed Reading, Get Better GradesDr Oppenheimer recruited 28 volunteers aged between 18 and 40 and asked them to learn, from written descriptions, about three “species” of extraterrestrial alien, each of which had seven features. This task was meant to be similar to learning about animal species in a biology lesson. It used aliens in place of actual species to be certain that the participants could not draw on prior knowledge.

Half of the volunteers were presented with the information in difficult-to-read fonts (12-point Comic Sans MS 75% greyscale and 12-point Bodoni MT 75% greyscale). The other half saw it in 16-point Arial pure-black font, which tests have shown is one of the easiest to read.

Participants were given 90 seconds to memorise the information in the lists. They were then distracted with unrelated tasks for a quarter of an hour or so, before being asked questions about the aliens, such as “What is the diet of the Pangerish?” and “What colour eyes does the Norgletti have?” The upshot was that those reading the Arial font got the answers right 72.8% of the time, on average. Those forced to read the more difficult fonts answered correctly 86.5% of the time.

The question was, would this result translate from the controlled circumstances of the laboratory to the unruly environment of the classroom?

It did.

When the researchers asked teachers to use the technique in high-school lessons on chemistry, physics, English and history, they got similar results. The lesson, then, is to make text books harder to read, not easier.

Why my study tips work

I think you should watch this video, it’s only 3 minutes long and explains…

How and why my study techniques work

Frustrated With School?

One of the ironies of the world is that in under developed countries, young people are dying to get to school – in some cases that’s literally true. I don’t want to get on a political soap box because that’s not what this blog is about. Others can do a much better job of promoting that agenda than I can.

I, however, can change the world one student at a time.

If you’re frustrated with school, ask yourself why. I mean really ask yourself the question honestly. Is it because you’re lazy? Tired? Bored? Scared (being bullied)? Not doing as well as you’d like? Not in the popular crowd/group?

Ask yourself the question until YOU KNOW the real reason.

When you do know the absolute real REASON, deal with it.

Deal with it because it’s what’s preventing you from getting the RESULTS you want and dream about.

We’re REASON or we’re RESULTS.

It’s as simple as that.

It’s as complicated as that.

Complicated because UNLESS you’re honest with yourself, you’ll never deal with the #1 obstacle in your path. That means you’ll never achieve your true/ultimate destiny.

That’s enough for you to think about for today, or not.

Most people won’t give much thought, but then again most people (as many as 80% of 8 out 10) end up unhappy in their lives as adults, with regrets.

Regrets that go all the way back to their school days when they KNOW they could have made a shift that would have changed their lives forever.

If only they had know then what they know now.

Well guess what?

You are young enough NOW to make the change.

Make it and I guarantee you that in 20 years from now, you’ll remember this blog post when you meet someone who has regrets and is unhappy. You’ll realise that YOU made the effort when it counted… RIGHT NOW.

And they didn’t.

Don’t be that person — I know too many of them.

Lives lost and ruined because of lack of discipline, self esteem and self worth.

But also pure, sheer laziness and lack of will.

You can achieve ANYTHING you want in life (or school), you just need to WANT IT BAD ENOUGH and then do WHATEVER it takes to make it happen.

I know -

  • I have 5 university degrees, including an Engineering degree, MBA, Law and PhD degrees.
  • I can solve a Rubik’s cube in less than 4 minutes
  • I am a top 20 world-ranked squash player
  • I speak 2 languages fluently and understand a 3rd conversationally
  • I retired from the rat race at age 42
  • I’ve been to 36 different countries
  • I’ve had 6 BMWs, 2 of them convertibles
  • I’ve been in the same committed relationship for more than 27 years
  • I haven’t had a sick day in more than 20 years
  • I can speed read 1,800+ words/minute

I’m not superman – I just have great strategies, but most important of all, I have passion and drive to make things happen.

Learning Paradigms Video

This incredible video was sent to me by Ray Keefe of Successful Endeavours in Melbourne, Australia. What amazes me about it is how so much information can be captured in such a short period of time in such a compelling and dynamic way – its’ absolutely mesmerising don’t you think? It’s why my MindMapping course is so popular with students who want to cram for exams at the last minute.

New Testimonials Just Published!

Have a look at our testimonials page – I guarantee you it’ll motivate you to improve your study habits. So many of the students are not native English speakers – so if English is your primary or ONLY language – imagine how hard it is for someone to learn in a foreign language… And yet they do!

Simply amazing – click here -> to read a few inspirational student stories.

Teachers As Mentors

There is a dialogue in the comments to a recent blog post I wanted to draw your attention to… Click on the hyperlink to read the thread. You can add to the discussion!

http://www.get-better-grades.com/blog/being-smart-can-make-you-stupid/

Floatation Tank Helps Improve Grades

If you’re really keen to tap into the limitless potential of your unconscious mind, you’re going to want to have session in a floatation tank. In this day and age of constant interruptions, time slicing and multi-tasking, research reflects it’s having an effect on our ability for deep thinking.

The changing nature of work, study and leisure is rewiring the human brain in such a way that deep reading the concentrated pursuit of linear stories and thought – is being trained out of us.

A University Of California (San Diego) study found that the amount of information the average American processed in 2008 was triple what it was in 1960. This has turned many into pancake people – spread wide and thin.

A series of psychological studies over the past 20 years have shown that after spending time in a quiet rural setting, close to nature, people exhibit greater attentiveness, stronger memory and improved cognition (learning). Their brains become calmer and sharper.

Underwater Reading

Floatation Tank Improves Your Grades

Now it may not be quick and easy to head out to the country, but a 1-hour session in a floatation tank can do you and your grades – real wonders.

It’s inexpensive and easy to do. The feelings of weightlessness have to be experienced to be fully appreciated.

You should test various approaches to using a floatation tank as a study aid:

  • Try to study before, using the floatation tank to resolve problems, or just do a mental review of what you just studied.
  • Try to start studying before, float and then attack your hardest assignments or problems, reverse the process and see which combination works best for you.

Using a floatation tank as a pattern interrupt will stimulate your creativity and innovative thinking by tapping into the subconscious part of your brain, unleashing the Exponential Potential™ that resides within in.

All you need to do is trust the process and “release yourself from the expectation of the outcome” as Dr Deepak Chopra extols. This is not something you can force. You need to ‘let it happen’ and then marvel in its quasi-magical powers as you become the genius you always knew you could be!

Why business people are buying my student study book

If you’re a high school or college student who hasn’t yet bought my bestselling study book, you’ll be interested to know that business entrepreneurs and executives are buying it to enhance and accelerate their careers. The study habits, tips and skills I teach are universal and make a difference regardless where you are in the academic system or in your career. We are all life-long learners and those who learn faster, get ahead and stay ahead. It’s survival of the swiftest – the fastest learners!

Why most students struggle in school

Simply stated, most students struggle in school because they don’t know how they learn, In Chapter 1 of my worldwide bestselling study book, I explain step-by-step how you can determine what learning style you have so you can stop wasting countless hours staring at your books, frustrated because nothing’s making sense and you can’t remember anything you tried to memorise the previous day.

If you don’t know HOW you learn, you’ll keep struggling in school. Knowing your learning style can be a life-changing revelation.

Let me put it this way – if you’re one of these styles and you don’t know it, chances are, if you’ve just started high school, you probably won’t make it to college.

If you do get to college, you’ll get kicked out within the first year.

Not because you’re dumb, but because you weren’t smart enough to learn HOW you learn.

I know how harsh this sounds, but it’s better that I tell you the truth NOW when you have a chance to fix the problem once and for all.

PreMed Student Work-School Balance Tip

Pre Med Student Tance asks some great questions about how to get better grades while holding down a job.

Hello Dr. Dussault,
As a matter a fact I have read your book twice already. It is truly insightful and I am truly glad I purchased it. The only dilemma I have and I hope you can help me with this – I am currently in college, in premed, and I work a full time schedule and the only shift I can work is the midnight shift. There are many nights I feel exhausted and sometimes can’t concentrate on my studies. I need the job to support me and my wife.

The only good part is my job gives me quite a bit of money to pay for school. But do you have any suggestions as far as how I can study better with this schedule?

Thank you so much.
Tance

This is a common issue students grapple with, combining work and study. In my study book, I explain in chapter 4 a 5-step system to get everything done effortlessly. So the first suggestion is go back to that chapter and re-read the suggestions. Once that’s done, I think your challenge has more to do with stamina and endurance than time management. Continue reading ‘PreMed Student Work-School Balance Tip’

You Get The Grade You Deserve

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before but had once failed an entire class. That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism. All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.

The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.

The second test average was a D! No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. It could not be any simpler than that.

What a profound short little paragraph that says it all :-

“You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for,that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply or create wealth by dividing it.”

Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931

Get Excited About School Again

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’

It Pays 77% More To Get Better Grades

A recent study in the United States revealed that 2007 graduates earned 77% more per hour than those with only a high school diploma. Click on this hyperlink if you want to know the value of a degree.

That’s why a small investment in a study book is a great investment. There, I’ve said it. If you haven’t bought my study book what are you waiting for? It’s comes with an 8-week money-back guarantee, tons of bonuses and has been purchased by thousands of students from all over the world. It’s even been translated into 4 languages, English, French, Romanian and Chinese.

What more proof do you need? Maybe that’s the problem – you need absolute certainty to make a decision.

That’s not going to happen. There is no such thing as “perfect knowledge”. In fact that is one of the many concepts and ideas that I share with you once you buy my study book. Get it now and start improving your study habits.

Get Better Grades Success Story

Today’s post is a testimonial from one of my clients who bought my study book, his name is Abel.

Hi, Dr Dussault.

All I can say is wow. I’m studying ACCA (online) but my main problem was lack of motivation to study. Like you explain in your study book, what was holding me back was my comfort zone of past success with my studies. What bother me most was the fact that my constant thought was to study but in reality I wasn’t studying! The more I thought about it, the more I ended up sleeping without even reading for a minute! In a nutshell, your study program made me realize that I will never change my life until I change something I’m doing (or not doing) daily.

Now slowly but surely I’m following through. With my study to do list, I know if I follow it I’ll get better grades otherwise… I don’t even want to think about it anymore!

I hear myself now saying… “Abel bear in mind that you never plan to fail your exam but merely fail to plan to pass!”

That’s my best shot.
Regards,

Abel

Parents Help Your Kids Get Better Grades

As you know from my study book, I am a big supporter of identifying a student’s learning style so you learn HOW to learn. If you don’t know what learning styles are, just answer these questions:

  • Are you frustrated with your child’s low grades or lack of motivation?
  • Is your home life stressful due to homework hassles and poor report cards?
  • Have you tried absolutely everything to help your child get higher grades?
  • Do you have a bright child who seems to know information, then forgets it during the test?
  • Are you truly serious about doing something different to help your child succeed?

If You Answered “YES!” then keep reading to find out how you can help raise your child’s grades just in time for the very next report card…

I promise your situation is not unique. What you also need to know is that your child’s situation is NOT hopeless.

The problem is that children who suffer from learning challenges have been mis-lead with the 4 biggest myths by well-meaning teachers, other parents and even some learning authorities.

Here are the 4 biggest myths about learning that will never get you the results you want:

  1. The first is that you must teach TO your child’s preferred learning style, because schools who teach TO every child’s learning style produce better results. (This statement is so misleading that a recent article in the Washington Post said the theory of teaching to multiple intelligences was just that – a theory, and not working in the real world at all). More about this later…
  2. The second is that kids with low grades are lazy and unmotivated and simply do not take tests well.
  3. The third is kids who cannot sit still and pay attention are most likely to have attention deficit disorders of some kind.  ADD or ADHD can very often be something else in disguise.
  4. The fourth is that some kids who struggle in school simply don’t like to read, or spell, or do math, etc. (This is one of the worst.  It’s only when children constantly experience failure that they don’t want to read or do their schoolwork).

The plain truth is, kids love to learn when they are successful.

But sometimes, they just don’t know how to “win the school game” because no one has taken the time to show them “HOW TO LEARN”.

Think about it. Every day, your child is given assignments and told what to learn. This is like a baseball coach giving a player a written test to see if he or she can make the team. No one is showing your child “how to learn”. You can’t just tell a child, “learn this for the test” and then if they don’t do well, blame them.

Wouldn’t you agree that it’s crazy to think you’ll get different results if you keep doing the same thing over and over again?

That’s why you need to do something different… That’s where this learning toolkit comes in.

Click on the hyperlink -> to help your child get better grades in school.