A wise man once said, "A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." This wise man was Albert Einstein, the father of modern physics.
When I was taking Organic Chemistry over the summer I kept referring back to this quote to gain inspiration (and keep my sanity). As those of you know who have taken Organic Chemistry, the amount of errors you make trying a problem is unreal. Even after countless times doing similar problems, discussing the problem in question with the teacher and asking the teaching assistants for help the solution is still vague. Then slowly the solution becomes clear. After all the hard work and time devoted the problem is finally understandable. Then the next chapter of problems is assigned and the process repeats itself..
I wanted to share my successes in dealing with difficult and seemingly impossible problems albeit in school, work or life in general. I noticed freshman year that several peers chose to not study for tests relying solely on their ingenuity to get good grades. Remarkably this worked for their first year until the tests started to become more and more difficult. After failing multiple tests while still trying to maintain their current "no studying" approach most of these peers switched majors or pursued jobs after the first year. This example brings me to my first point of study success; the amount of time spent on a topic will determine how well you understand that topic.
Someone who regularly spends a good portion of their day researching, practicing and critically examining a challenging topic will have a greater understanding than someone who puts minimal effort into learning the topic. For example, imagine a typical scenario of two friends studying for a test that is two weeks away. The first friend who is academically inclined and also knows how to study puts around 2-3 hours each day into learning the material. The second friend who is also academically inclined but relies on the "cram before the test" approach puts minimal work into studying and decides to do an "all nighter" the night before the test. On test day the first friend is feeling confident due to all the studying and performs well on the test. The second friend is an absolute zombie showing up to the test feeling sick, lethargic and mentally unsound. The second friend performs poorly on the test due to lack of sleep and low retention of knowledge. The point of this scenario is that in order to succeed at a seemingly impossible problem, one has to plan ahead and devote a small portion of each and every day to working through the problem instead of postponing until the last minute. This technique of "planning ahead to succeed" works well with schoolwork, homework and life in general.
My second point of study success is to be highly organized in regards to scheduling. This may sound seemingly impossible for a college student who has to balance work, volunteering, studying and exercise but in truth it is actually easy if you utilize your resources. Every person I know has access to a computer, smartphone or pencil and paper. On each of these electronic devices (or the more retro pencil and paper route) people can record schedules to help organize their lives. I personally prefer to use a hard copy day planner as it is provided for free by the University of Utah and can be easily carried to classes. The trick to becoming organized in regards to scheduling is to record every event in the planner or on the electronic device. When a paper or project is assigned, record the due date in the planner. When volunteering schedules are published record your times in the planner (likewise for a job).
If you are feeling overburdened by midterms, a job or the weight of the world try these points of study success and see if they help you. If they do let me know! Peace!
