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The Virtual Teaching Assistant Method

How to study thirty minutes a day and get a 4.0 GPA

By: Liam McIvor Martin

2008-2009, All Rights Reserved

Introduction
I have spent four years collecting and refining what you are about to learn in this book. It is the product of 5 years of teaching assistantship and research assistantship experience where I helped over 2000 university students through various classes. It is also based on qualitative interviews of almost 50 university students who quickly moved from the bottom fourth to top fourth of the class within a semester. Unlike other books of this type I have not interviewed students that have always been successful for the simple reason that people who will be reading this book need real help. If I interviewed students that have always been successful this book would be filled with information that you probably couldnt implement. I have instead interviewed students who improved the most within the shortest amount of time. I learned that you shouldnt model yourself after the MVP but the most improved player on the team. This is the premise that this book is based on which makes it unlike any study guides youve read. Im also a sociologist; Ive made sure to interview students methodologically using what we call grounded theory. You dont really have to know the details of the method but it allows me to work from the ground up with no pre-conceived notions, getting to the core of what got my interviewees from bad to excellent students in the shortest amount of time. The book covers basic skills to stop studying and start enjoying university life to its fullest while getting high grades. I have cut this information down to the most crucial points so that you can get through this book quickly. You can go back to certain sections in order to reread and implement certain strategies. I have included a collection of scripts and forms that will help you implement these strategies and I encourage you to print them out. They are also available at the end of this book. On Adobe PDF viewer, go to the file menu, push print pages 164 to 167 and you will have all the forms printed and ready to use. The second major component that makes this book different from every other book out there is the support you get from the virtual teaching assistant. I have put together a team of teachers from some of the best universities in the world.

They are either masters or Phd students who are taking or have finished their degrees and they have all been teaching assistants at some of the most prestigious universities in the world. They have also gone through our training program where they have learned the ins and outs of how to make you successful in the shortest amount of time and keep you there. If you bought the full package we will be matching you up with a virtual teaching assistant within a few days. We give you some time to review the book and fill out the forms so that youre ready to maximize the time with your VTA and get them working for you as quickly as possible. If you havent purchased the virtual teaching assistant program, I highly suggest it. It is probably the cheapest way to hire a PhD student to help you study and getting help is the fastest way to get yourself on track. If youre serious about studying less and playing more, give it a look at www.virtualteachingassistant.com. If you are in any way unhappy with this book I encourage you to return it for a full refund within the first 30 days. Im not interested in making money off people who I do not help so please send me back the book if its not helping you. However I GUARANTEE that these methods will help you achieve greater success academically and beyond so please send me a reason as to why youre sending it back as I might be able to help you solve your problem. Also let me restate, dont start copying this book, if you want other people to get access to the book, send them to www.virtualteachingassistant.com and suggest they buy their own copy. Not only is this stealing from me and stopping me from paying off my grad school bills, its going to be bad for you because I will send my attorney Hes 6 feet, 250lbs, long blond hair, kind of looks like a Viking and he will sue your ass!

Copyright Notice
Copyright 2004-2009 all rights reserved. It is illegal to copy, distribute, or create derivative works from this book in whole or part. By purchasing this book you have agreed to the terms of conditions as listed on www.virutalteachingassistant.com at point of sale. I have a guy who I pay to search the internet for copies of this book. Each of these books has been imprinted with a tracking number which is linked to your individual copy. If he finds your copy out on the internet, you can be sure Im going to sick my big Viking lawyer on you. On a personal note, I have written this book and built this program to pay off my grad school bills which are now becoming quite significant. Understand that if you decide to steal my content, youre not stealing from a big corporation but a single person.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Chapter 1: Philosophy of this Book........................................................... 9 - My Story..10 - How this book is structured.13 Chapter 2: Mind Shift: How to Think like a Winner and Win even if youre not.. 10 - Belief 17 - On a micro level... 21 - On a macro level.. 22 - Approach anxiety. 28 - Appearing more intelligent.. 29 Chapter 3: Find your Learning Style ..........................................................33 - The main learning styles...........................................................................34 - How to improve each method ..................................................................36 - Integrating all these methods....................................................................37 Chapter 4: Organization..............................................................................39 - Where did working hard come from?.......................................................40 - Organization .............................................................................................43 - Your environment.....................................................................................43 - Study space vs social space ......................................................................46 - When you should study ............................................................................47 - Computer organization .............................................................................47 - How to think faster automatically ............................................................49 Chapter 5: How to be a Star in Class..........................................................53 - Different types of Profs you will meet .....................................................54 - Asking intelligent questions .....................................................................56 - How you should talk in class....................................................................60 - How Wikipedia and Google will make you look like a genius................61 Chapter 6: How to Take Notes Down like an Academic Ninja .................64 - Systematizing your notes..........................................................................66 - Three methods of note taking that will cover almost all your classes in university.....................................................................................................67

- Power point lecture...................................................................................71 - Spoken word lecture .................................................................................72 - Reviewing notes before and after class ....................................................73 Chapter 7: How to Read Smarter not Longer .............................................76 - Philosophy of reading...............................................................................77 - Speed reading ...........................................................................................80 Chapter 8: Time Management: Spend more time Partying and less time Working ......................................................................................................87 - The main components of time management ............................................90 - The big picture for time management ......................................................94 Chapter 9: Stopping Procrastination...........................................................97 - My personal story, a case study in procrastination ..................................99 - How to solve procrastination....................................................................103 Chapter 10: Why Professors are your Friends Or Should be...................107 - How to deal with professors .....................................................................109 - On meeting with Profs..............................................................................111 - The theory of rapport................................................................................112 - Before you meet up with the Prof ............................................................113 - During the meeting ...................................................................................114 - Differences between TAs and Profs ......................................................118 - A note on scare tactics..............................................................................119 Chapter 11: How to Take a Test .................................................................121 - Test preparation ........................................................................................122 - Three days before the exam......................................................................124 - How to code your notes............................................................................124 - Methods to remember notes .....................................................................125 - Before your exam .....................................................................................127 - Types of tests ............................................................................................129 - Final notes on tests ...................................................................................133 Chapter 12: How to Write an A Paper........................................................135 - The four stages of any paper ....................................................................136 - Research Stage..........................................................................................142

- Brainstorming Stage .................................................................................144 - Writing Stage............................................................................................148 - Editing Stage.............................................................................................152 - A note on plagiarism ................................................................................154 Chapter 13: Putting it All Together ............................................................157 - Review of all the chapters ........................................................................159 - How to use your Virtual Teaching Assistant ...........................................160 - The standard VTA package ......................................................................160 - Concluding points.....................................................................................162 Chapter 14: Forms and Activities ...............................................................163

Chapter 1: Philosophy of this Book

In this Chapter you will learn: - My personal story behind this book - How this book is structured - What you need to do to keep yourself accountable

Hello everyone, my name is Liam Martin and in the next few pages I am going to show you the secrets that successful students and graduate students at the best universities in the world have kept to themselves. They keep this info quite because the information Im going to share with you doesnt work if everybody knows it. Therefore, Id suggest only sharing this information with students that arent in your classes or a select set of friends. Im going to show you how you can change your grades from Cs to As in one semester while working a third of the time. You might think this is impossible but I hope you will stay with me as the book is quite short and concise (as all things should be). I have put the information down in such a way so that you can read it as quickly and easily as possible and go back to various sections for review later. Before I tell you about how this book is put together and the basics you need to succeed with this book please allow me to tell you my story (I swear this will be quick and its important). My Story I was a competitive athlete throughout high school and competed nationally and internationally in ice skating. Due to my level of competition, I was able to take time off from school to skate; I actually didnt really attend high school much at all. The last few credits I took online which was a huge mistake in hindsight as I only found my love for learning later in life. After high school I continued on with my skating career hoping to make a living out of it. I unfortunately broke my knee and went into a depression, spending six months on the couch. This was by far one of the lowest times in my life. I couldnt support myself, moved back home, started moping quite heavily, it was really REALLY bad. My parents convinced me to apply to university and I got accepted to a mid tier sociology program. This helped pull me out of my depression as I had a lot of fun hanging out with a new set of friends and enjoying university life until my first semesters marks came back. I started buckling down in my second semester and significantly improved. But, I was working part time and holding up my grades was becoming a full time job. I had friends who seemed to have ten times more fun than me while getting better grades than

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me, they also were being published in journals, getting early acceptance to grad school and generally kicking my butt academically. I was studying about twelve to fourteen hours a week and friends of mine were on three to four per week. I started asking the smart students about how they got away with high marks and little work but none of their explanations clicked with me. In my second year of university I decided that enough was enough. I was going to fix this problem as I had enough of studying and wanted to get back to the lifestyle that I enjoyed during my first semester and athletics career. I took an entire summer and applied myself to studying all the study books I could get my hands on, some of them were good but most of them didnt link up with what my buddies were doing to become successful. I finally had a epiphany that resulted in me getting an A average my last two years of my undergrad, getting published in my undergrad and getting into one of the best grad school programs in the world. I realized that trying to model myself after good students was the problem. The big shift happened when I started picking the brains of students who improved the fastest in the shortest amount of time. From those talks I made four fundamental shifts in my academic paradigm. I first studied what was absolutely fundamental to my learning. I became a teaching assistant. I started figuring out the easiest and quickest ways to get through papers and exams. I started talking with professors. These four fundamental shifts in my work ethic in combination with a few other secrets Ill show you later allowed me to go from a C/B student to an A/A+ student over a single semester. Dont believe me? Here are my transcripts If you want a better copy just email me.

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I also did this while getting a new girlfriend and starting a business, I spent about half an hour studying and the rest of the time hanging out and partying. I moved on to graduate school and have carried on the same study methods to succeed in the working world as well. Oh and here is the best part. This is by far the easiest thing to do when you have the right resources and teachers. The process was long and difficult for me but through this book and the virtual teaching assistant program Ive made it incredibly simple and easy to use. How this Book is structured There are a few rules that you are going to have to follow before reading this book. If you feel like you cant follow these rules you might as well get your money back right now as you wont succeed if you dont follow these general guidelines. First, I would like you to make a semester commitment to the study methods and tactics in this book. If youve purchased this book youre obviously not doing well or your hoping to do better, so what do you have to lose? Also studies show 1 that it takes on average three months for a new skill to become second nature. Therefore, if you spend three months applying yourself completely to the knowledge in this book, I guarantee your marks will go up. This seems like a long time to apply yourself but let me give you a few pointers that will make it easier to first start and then keep your new resolution. - Read this book straight through from cover to cover, if you dont have a few hours, put it down for right now and come back when you have some time to read all the information. - Get out a notebook or a few pages of lined paper. As you go through reading, take down notes, nothing complex just jot down central points. This will wire your brain to remember a lot more of this book and will give you some reference points to look back on later. - After you have finished reading the book, Im going to give you some activities to implement immediately. You have to implement these changes
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Google scholar skill attenuation if youd like to study this concept more.

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right away because it will start the mental rewiring process. Dont worry; most of the activities only take 10 minutes or less. Second, I want you to know that I will be making you accountable. I now have your email address which means your mine now! The virtual teaching assistant that has been assigned to you will be hunting you down and making sure you are accountable, not just in the first month but every month after that. If you dont email us, we will be emailing you to make sure youre not falling behind. This book is just the first step in a larger study shift so if you think youre just going to read this book and walk away, think again. We are now both in this together, you have backup and Im not going to leave you high and dry. - You will be getting an email from your assigned representative in a few days. Have the book read by then! - He/she will be reviewing some of the goals you want to set out and figure out the best way to achieve them. Have an idea of what you want to achieve with this program more on this later. - Youve heard the old adage, you can bring a horse to water but you cant make him drink. Well we are going to try to force you to drink! The representatives are professionals, they have teaching experience and/or grad student experience. They are an immeasurable resource and they are going to try everything they can to make you succeed. Third, tell me how youre doing. Send questions to updates@virtualteachingassistant.com and share with the community. I put out a great newsletter every month and the great thing about it is that youre going to get new, up to date info on the latest study methods absolutely free each month. You updating me and getting the newsletter acts as another accountability tool in your arsenal for academic success. I cant stress this enough, take the five minutes to read the free newsletters each month and update me, its really important. Fourth, you might be asking yourself why Im writing in such a colloquial style. Well everything in this book has a purpose, even my writing style. I could write in a more academic style such as:

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The incongruence with contemporary study methods in a neoglobalized study paradigm is inapplicable to the relations between present day student philosophies and the greater educational paradigm But Im here to teach you, not to impress you with how many big words I know. This book is simple to read, simple to learn and simple to implement. I write like Im talking to you directly, as life is too short to screw around with melancholy when sad will do. Fifth, keep practicing, keep implementing and keep evolving. Just because your getting As doesnt mean you cant get A+s. Just because you have more free time doesnt mean you cant have more. Do not settle for acceptable results, excel to extraordinary results. When you think something is impossible thats exactly when you should be doing exactly that. Now lets get started. - Reading time approximately 3-6 hours - Activity time approximately 1 hour

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Chapter 2: Mind Shift: How to think like a winner and win even if youre not
In this chapter you will learn: - How you are defeating yourself mentally in university - How to fix mental blocks - How believing youre going to do well, will actually make you do well - Specific techniques to make you mentally expect success

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Belief Im going to start off our little journey together with saying that the most important thing about success in university, (as in life) is the belief that you are going to do well. I dont mean some theoretical concept of success that you have in your head for a moment and then quickly leaves you. Im talking about a concrete belief that you are going to do well in quizzes, tests, papers, exams and university because you know you have the tools to succeed. Im going to premise this with a quick story. As I said, I had gotten into university after being out of high school for a few years. I remember sitting down in my first class with approximately 300 of my fellow students and thinking. This is crazy, Im actually in university what the hell have I gotten myself into! I had never been in a class of 300 before, I didnt know anybody in this class and I was seeing beautiful women everywhere! (This is also a big problem if not properly managed). I remember after that first class I took down 12 pages of notes with no method of selection, thinking to myself that it was impossible for me to get all this work done along with the four other classes I had. I more or less defeated myself right out of the box. The rest of that semester I had the idea in the back of my head that I was never going to stay on top of what I was doing so I might as well not even try. It was horrible. I just accepted that I wasnt going to succeed and then made it a reality by not doing the readings, not managing my time and not getting help. I never really consciously realized that I felt this way until I re-evaluated what was going on with my level of confidence and tried to change it. This resulted in a very interesting phenomenon that I believe most university students share. More than just procrastination, I sabotaged myself. I could have started to study for exams earlier but didnt. Why? Was it procrastination, did I have better things to do, was I just lazy?.. Obviously but it went a little deeper than that. Deep down inside I already believed I was just planning on doing alright in school. Sure I wanted to get straight As but a subconscious part of me believed I couldnt do it, or more specifically that I wasnt good enough and didnt deserve to get that A. So I proceeded to write my papers and study for my final only a few days

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before they were due, accepted the crappy marks I got back and ended up getting nice regular Bs. Write this down and underline it: The moment you shift from thinking youll succeed to knowing youll succeed your circumstances in university and life will completely change. Have you ever looked at how good students act? Have you ever seen how they carry themselves? What about successful people in general? Have you ever tried to sit down and think about what makes them different from everyone else? The moment I made this shift from thinking to knowing that I would succeed, everything changed. My marks magically went up, even if I had only studied a little. I became more confident in speaking to professors and opening my mouth in class. Students started coming to me for advice, me! At first I was confused but quickly took on the role of the smart student guru which only helped to feed my confidence in knowing I was succeeding in school. You can do this too in a short amount of time but it all starts with you looking inside yourself and figuring out whether you are sabotaging yourself. Lets first look at why we defeat ourselves mentally. Being a sociologist I know that everyone has that little person inside of them that keeps saying you cant really do that, or youre not good enough to do that. 2 This is based on lengthy academic research in the social sciences showing that we have been conditioned through nature and nurture to believe that some things are out of our grasps. At first this may seem shocking as your parents probably told you that you could do anything if you put your mind to it. Ironically however, the majority of parents do not follow their own advice. Many of them settle for the status quo. Whether in their jobs, their personal lives etc. Its a bit of a mind game to tell your kids that they can do anything. If the parents hate their job, bitch about their marriage and generally say the world is a crappy place.
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Anyone who is interested in looking at this subject matter, google goffmanian lense for further information.

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Now, your parents are not to blame. I may have some parents who have bought this book for their children. I commend you on taking the initiative for your children. But many parents and adults in general have been programmed to accept complacency. Its not their fault, and I suggest not discussing this section of the book with them. When faced with their own mental sabotage people usually put up defenses in the form of emotional outbursts and reasons why things dont work instead of suggesting something that will. These defensive mechanisms are usually hard wired in between the end of their formal education and the beginning of their first job where they settle for that job placement, or that relationship, or that life in general without going out for what they really want. What Im alluding to is what sociology calls cultural hegemonic micro level social interactions. Those are the interactions between you and your close family and friends. Poisoned micro level interactions are the most effective way of losing track of your main goal; which in this case is getting incredibly high marks in school. The majority of them are locked into the same mental box like everyone else in society. Macro level interactions are more broadly based. Like the media, institutions, and society at large. For instance, let me share a little secret with you up front that all university professors do in first and second year classes. Its called bell curving, its the process by which they take the average marks of the class and make sure they are distributed equally with the majority of the students getting Bs for instance and a smaller amount getting As and Cs on either side creating a bell shape.

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The marks are sometimes adjusted to meet the requirements of the university. If the class has done too well on a course, instead of investigating as to whether the class worked hard or if the professor and/or teaching assistants did a good job they will move the marks down in order to correlate with the average mark of previous classes. They do this without telling the students This is technically looked down upon, and is actually sometimes against policy in some universities. But if profs hand in marks that are too high they will not move on to get tenure which is unfortunately for many professors, their primary goal. Therefore they sometimes illegally change the marks without telling the students. This is a prime example of how the system is set up for the majority of students (those at the top of the bell) to settle for academic normalcy. Ill show you how to get out of this later in the book; this is just an example of how the university system screws students. Oh and yes, Ive had to bell curve as a teaching assistant, (I was ordered to) it sucks as I know many of the kids deserve higher grades. I hope that I can make up for that sin by educating students through this system. The majority of people accept both the micro and macro system of cultural indoctrination. This great academic and all round cool French guy Michel Foucault said in essence that a lone man cant be insane. People who do not take the road most traveled and attempt a mind shift appear out of the ordinary, particularly at the beginning as they have no evidence of real success. Also the little guy or gal inside your head will be yelling at you all the time to go back to what you were doing. Kick that little guy (internalized hegemony, conscience etc) out, he is an agent for your failure and he wants you to fail. He is a product of the programming youll be working on getting out of your head and Im telling you now, he will want to get back in. Dont let him.

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Your conscience, your family and society can be very VERY destructive towards your mind shift. So here are some strategies to help you mentally free yourself from this process of hegemony. On a Micro Level - Do not share how you are attempting to change mind wise until you see concrete progress academically. Only share your journey with people you believe can handle your new ideas and will not sabotage your mind shift. Many university students can deal with this type of information as they have not been hard wired into settling for the status quo. Therefore fellow students are ok but older people usually cant take it. - Be mindful of what friends and family are implying when they discuss not just university but life in general. For instance, people placing restrictions upon you are a prime example of hegemony. Some examples being: - You have to study more to get good marks (untrue) - You should really take that job, where are you going to find money? (If youve got a degree you can usually get something) - Get your shit together and get your head out of the clouds its never going to happen (due to) money, time, just because (Proper response: shut the fk up) You can usually catch people in their own programming using the Socratic Method of questioning. This is a process by which you answer every question with another question. It is very effective as it leads to the other party getting to the core epistemological truth (In combination with other methods Ill show you). For instance: Parent: Why are you majoring in philosophy, why dont you switch to business? You: Why would I want to switch to business? Parent: Well dont you think youd have a better chance at a job?

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You: Why do you think I would get a better chance at a job with a degree in business? Parent: Well, umm you just would, youd be more secure. You: Is it that you want me to get a high paying job? Parent: Yes You: Why do I need a high paying job? Parent: Well you just do! Whats wrong with you? (This will usually be met with frustration) You: Why do you think I would need more money? (This may be a little too far). I dont suggest you try this questioning until you figure your well into your mind shift. But this technique is really fun. Most people presented with their own fault in logic realize their own hegemony which only helps them realize their own bias. If some people are continually negative you have two options. Either cut them out of your life which is extreme. Or only interact with them in an environment where they are positive and not trying to mentally control you. As an example, if your parents are bitching about how you should change your major, when the question comes up, so how is school going? respond Oh its going great, how is (insert the favorite thing they like to talk about here) going. Keep deflecting and talk about things they like. People will talk for hours about things they like and usually forget about what they were asking in the first place. Dont talk to your parents about their jobs if they dont like their jobs. Dont talk to friends about classes if they think the class sucks. If they bring it up, change the subject. Fill your life with positive energy, positive subjects and positive people. On a Macro Level My next suggestion will kind of freak you out but stay with me here. Actually you better sit down for this one as your little guy will start yelling at me and calling me crazy so get ready to shut him up. Are you ready?

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Ok, I want you to not watch the news, read newspapers, magazines, blogs or listen to the radio for one week. Yes, even my blog (even though its awesome). Yes I know your freaking out right now. Just shut up your little guy for a minute and stay with me. Ask yourself the questions: - How much of the daily news that I take in effects me as an individual? - How much time do I take up each day looking at this stuff? Oh and here is a really counter hegemonic question - Why am I really looking at this stuff? When I first tried this experiment I had quite a bit of difficulty, particularly with blogs and facebook which I have now weaned myself off of using some tricks that Ill show you later. In a media study by Robert McChesney during the first Iraq war, he found that the more people watched coverage of the war on CNN, the less they new about the war. The truth is that the majority of coverage carries a system of propaganda that will indoctrinate you on a particular position. The more television you watch the more ignorant you can become. Just try it, dont worry you can go right back afterwards if you want. As a project, I want you to do a time audit of your daily activities. Find out how much time you spend on the internet, studying, going to class, eating, watching TV, reading, hanging out etc. The results will amaze you, I found out for instance I checked my email 9 times in one day and spent two hours emailing people. I cut this down to 10 minutes a day using some methods Ill teach you in later chapters and Ive never been happier. Youre probably asking why I want you to do this. Other than the obvious reasons that it helps you focus, can give you more time to learn and gets rid of some of the mental blocks implemented by society there is a much more insidious reason. By cutting yourself off from media I hope to show you that you dont actually need it in the first place.

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The first few days will be HELL, but pull through it, your virtual teaching assistant can help you with this. You need to do this because when you get rid of all the media suggestions and know you dont need them, you can then add them at your leisure. Instead of you being controlled by the media unconsciously you can begin to live consciously free from cultural hegemony. So, Im assuming that you have taken my advice and will implement, or are already implementing the suggested micro and macro changes to shift your mind. The next step is figuring out exactly what your goals are with this program. There is an exercise sheet you can print out at the end of this chapter. Ive also included a digital version of all these forms in an editable format which is the best option so that your VTA can have a look. This exercise looks at your university, degree and semester time lines. We want to figure out exactly what youve done in university and where youre planning on going. First thing I want you to write down is what you hope to accomplish at University, if thats have fun, go to grad school, make six figures a year, put it down. Put this down in the Long Term Goals box. Next, I want you to write down a few short term goals that you want to accomplish within the semester. Be incredibly specific, dont just write down get As. Outline what you think youre going to need to get an A. In the University box, write down the reason why you chose that university. Because it was my only choice, because it was close to home, away from home, because I liked it, because my partner was going there all valid answers. In the major box, write down the reason why you chose that degree. Because I liked the major, because my parents/friends were doing it, because I thought I could make money at it again all valid answers. Next ask yourself the question: Do I like what Im doing and ask yourself why or why not.

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Next lets look at your semester. Write down the classes you are taking right now, if you havent started the semester just put the classes down, if you have started the semester put down your current average. In each class I want you to answer three questions. 1. Why did I choose this class? If you had to take it thats fine, put it down. If its because you think its going to be easy, put it down. Be honest. 2. How easy do you think this class will be in terms of work load? If you think its going to be too hard, can you change, is this class important to my ultimate university goal? 3. What is the most important thing Im going to learn in this class and how is this going to accomplish my ultimate university goal?

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By now you should have a pretty good idea of what you want to get out of university and whether youre getting it. Have a quick look at what youve written down and reflect on exactly what you want out of the university experience. Ask yourself what action you should take to improve your university life. I have some suggestions. - If you dont like what your doing then investigate what you do like, put together a list of the three majors you would like to pursue and go to your academic advisor and/or professors in that major to ask them about the degree. - If you like what youre doing but find it difficult, write down the top three things that you find difficult about the degree. Im talking about specific things; writing down the readings are difficult wont cut it. A better answer would be I do not understand macro-economics use of keynesian theory to explain fiscal something or other. Youre going to submit this first exercise to your virtual teaching assistant when he/she contacts you in a few days. Keep in mind that it doesnt help yourself or your VTA to write down something that you havent really thought about so go over your answers and see whether you really want to answer each question that way. I suggest you spend 15-30 seconds on each answer and ask yourself, have I answered that question truthfully? Mental techniques to trick your mind into thinking you WILL succeed, or fake it till you make it paradigm. So the changes Ive suggested above are about 75% of the things youre going to need for your mind shift. Hopefully youre already becoming more confident and freeing your mind from thinking to knowing you can succeed at anything you do. Next, Im going to provide you with some quick tricks that you can implement today that are going to support and supplement these longer term changes.

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Approach anxiety The thing that most people dont realize is that many of the emotions we feel everyday are simply chemical changes in the brain triggered by social stimuli. For instance, when I was a skater before stepping out on the ice I would always get a bad case of nerves. Why do we feel nervous about public speaking, asking a person out on a date or talking to a professor about a lousy mark on a paper? I wont take you through the neuro-psychological explanations so Im going to provide you with a simple example to illuminate my point. If you go back and look at human society from an anthropological lens, we see that the majority of societies had no more than 100-150 inhabitants in a single tribe. So if Ooglack the caveman addressed his tribe, or approached a female and failed, it resulted in serious repercussions for his standing within the tribe. Although we all know consciously that we now live in cities with millions of inhabitants, our unconscious programming forces us to place ourselves in the same mindset of Ooglack the caveman. Fear of rejection is not a product of nurturing but instead a product of natural genetic programming. I propose a bit of an exercise for everyone that Im going to borrow from Tim Ferriss book The Four Hour Work Week, which you can buy here. Keep an open mind with this exercise. Next week during class I want you to approach five people of the opposite sex and ask them for their email address. Tell the little guy inside your head to shut up for a second and just do it. If you have a partner, just throw the contact info out after youre done. Here is a script you can use if it will make you feel less nervous, Ive used this many times and get a 90% success rate (Im also no Brad Pitt so it has nothing to do with looks). Hi, you seem cute and interesting, I knew I was going to kick myself later if I didnt come up to say hello, my names Ooglack, whats your name After a nervous laugh or pause Sarah

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Hi Sarah, (have a pen and paper ready) Do you spell that S-A-R-A-H (write her name down on the paper) Ya Great, I have to get back to my friends, put your email down so we can continue this conversation later (Give her the paper and pen, direct it towards their solar plexus as people will usually grab whatever is directed towards their chest as a defensive action). Why this works. - The very first thing you will say is your cute and interesting which makes your target understand your not just there to talk, this makes you look much more confident than if you beat around the bush. - Notice how I never actually asked for an email or phone number. Its a sales technique called assuming the sale which Ill show you in a later chapter. When you write her name down on a piece of paper it becomes more difficult for her to not give you the number as she already kind of agreed to giving you her number when you wrote her name down. - Get in, get what you want and get out. Most people can make a judgment call on others within 1-5 seconds so dont worry if you think this is too fast. Your target has already made up his/her mind about you the moment they saw you. Also the less time you spend talking, the smaller the chance of you screwing up. This exercise is important because getting a phone number is a great way to become accustomed to dealing with approach anxiety. Its free, its quick and there are literally an infinite amount of people to test this out on. Make the commitment to approach five people now and youll find that you wont want to stop! Appearing more intelligent A person, who appears in control, also appears more intelligent. Therefore Im going to show you a few mental tricks you can implement that will make you appear more intelligent which in turn makes you feel more intelligent. Again, knowing is believing, so write these down as single points in your notebook.

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- When you speak, speak in a slow, even tone. Do not speak quickly and keep your comments short and to the point. Attempt to stutter as little as possible (this was personally difficult for me and took a few months). The more you prattle on, the less intelligent you will appear unless you know exactly what youre talking about. - Move slower, this can be in terms of walking, eating and if you can; general body language. This is important because when you slow down your body language, you appear to have precise movements which oozes confidence. - Stop wearing contacts and start wearing glasses. This is the easiest and best way to instantly appear more intelligent. A study found that students found professors 10% smarter when they wore glasses as opposed to when they performed the exact same lecture without glasses. This also goes for your clothes. Dont show up in a power suit, but appearing well kept will also make you appear more intelligent. - Become an expert at a few rare things that you can use in conversation with almost all people. As an example, Im very good at discussing the concept of Agency and Structure which is the theoretical debate that humans are either programmed to follow a specific destiny or are able to act independently of their natural tendencies and make choices that cant be tracked, check out the debate here. If your able to discuss a few specific things intelligently then people assume that you can discuss other issues with the same level of astuteness. This is particularly advantageous when talking with fellow students in group assignments and with professors and teaching assistants because it may lead to academic respect, which is your friend. Now Im not talking about brow beating people into thinking youre a genius. When I talk about intimidating people, Im simply suggesting that when people find you intimidating you usually gain respect, and when youre humbly intimidating its even better. So dont be a dick, be calm, cool, collected and above all humble.

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The changes Im suggesting do not only apply to your university life but are also applicable to almost every other aspect of your daily life. These changes are really important as they make the next steps much easier for you to figure out.

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So in Review - Mind shift on a micro level - Only interact with people who are going to support you - If you have to interact with them, make sure you talk about subjects on your terms. - Mind shift on a macro level - Take a one week hiatus from media after doing a time audit on how much time you waste and answer the questions included in the activity page. - Make sure youve filled out your University Ultimate goal page and have it ready to submit to your VTA. - Approach five people youre interested in and ask them for their email. - Choose a week to speak and act slowly. - Start wearing glasses instead of contacts. - Become and expert on a few rare things that you can bring up in any discussion.

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Chapter 3: Find your Learning Style

In this chapter you will learn: - The different kind of ways you learn - How to maximize each method

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You might not be aware, but there is more than a single way to learn information. Your own learning style probably prefers a single method. In my research I have found that the literature suggests one of two possible strategies when trying to understand learning style. 1: They present the different learning styles and suggest you choose the one that you feel most comfortable with. 2: They present a different learning style and then tell you that their method is the best, telling you to throw out all the other styles and just learn their method. Based on my interview research I have decided to give you a third option. 3: I will show you the main ways people learn and get you to maximize EACH ONE. If you only used one of your senses and got rid of the others wouldnt that be really stupid? In looking at genius students versus improving students I found that the students who improved the fastest did not restrict themselves to a single learning style. Instead, they maximized them all and that is what I want you to do. The Main Learning Styles Visual: Visual learning is the most straight forward style. If you like learning off a blackboard, or if you have memorized notes off a page then youre probably a visual learner. Youre also a visual learner if its easier to make a picture of an idea rather than write it out. If youre good at solving rubik cubes, geometry, or any other type of visual puzzle your probably pretty good at visual learning. Auditory: Auditory learners are the people who are great at learning information through lecture or from audio-books. If you seem to be able to remember things after only hearing it once your probably a very good auditory learner.

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Categorization/Sequential: Categorization/Sequential learning is a style where you categorize variables in order to understand them. An example of this style would be when you take your notes and categorize them so that your mind can remember them. Here is an example. Dog, cat, ostrich, old man, elephant, baby. Things that walk on four legs: Dog, Cat, baby Things that walk on two legs: Old man, ostrich You can also just place things in order to remember them like this. The four stages of minority group integration: 1) Integration 2) Assimilation 3) Division 4) Normative Pluralism Kinesthetic/Active: Active learning is a method where you actively participate to learn the information. So having a class discussion, asking questions in class or teaching what youve just learned to your study buddies are all perfect examples of this method (this is my favorite method). So Id first like you to take a look at each method and think about how you learn. Im personally predisposed to active learning as I like to teach other people things the moment Ive learned them; by doing that I hard wire the information. After youve figured out which methods you like and which you dont, your job will be to become better at the other methods of learning. The goal is to integrate all learning styles into a single metamethod. This is by far the most effective way to learn. Ill be using specific examples throughout the book as to how you should be maximizing each method of learning but I wanted to give you this information right now so that you can start to frame your own personal learning style and begin to improve it.

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How to improve each method So if youre no good at a certain technique here are a few quick tips to help you work on each method of learning. Visual: Go to lectures! Watch the prof and draw pictures explaining what is going on. I personally like graphs and symbolization as they are the best way to get complex ideas in a simple easy to understand form. Also, make them as crazy as possible; the weirder they look the more you will remember them. Watch a youtube video of something youre trying to learn rather than just reading it out of a book. Auditory: Two words here. AUDIO BOOKS! They are totally awesome. Ive committed almost an entire chapter to auditory learning later in the book. Audio books are great as you can listen to them on your mp3 player and can do other things while youre learning. Categorization/Sequential: Start to look at the organizational characteristics of seemingly un-organized pieces of information. Get out a piece of paper and write them down. Rewriting your notes in this way can massively bring up your recall. Active: Begin teaching other people. Whenever I learn something new and interesting I usually call a buddy immediately. They actually find me kind of annoying as calls at 3 in the morning arent usually received that well. If you can teach somebody what youve learned, youll usually remember it for life. Take the method youre the worst at and choose two days to take every opportunity to learn in that style. Two days should give you enough time to work the bugs out and start to appreciate the learning style. After the two days are up try to integrate that style of learning into your learning method.

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Integrating all these methods Once you get a general idea of each method and have tried them all. Attempt to integrate them. For instance before an exam, Ill usually condense my notes (categorization/sequential), take those notes and record them onto my ipod (auditory), take any hard concepts and simplify them into pictographs (visual), then teach my notes to my study buddies (active).

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So in Review Review each learning style: - Visual (making pictures and watching lectures) - Auditory (listening to lectures and AUDIO BOOKS!) - Categorization/Sequential (Making categories and lists) - Kinesthetic/Active (Teaching what youve learned to others) - Take two days to improve your worst learning style.

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Chapter 4: Organization
In this chapter you will learn: - How people perceive work in North American Society - The fundamental problems with disorganization - The 5 ways to become better at organizing - How to keep on top of being organized

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So, the front section of the book has to deal with your mental game, the second step is to start to deal with the exterior aspects of study. If youve heard the old adage a stitch in time saves nine, then you know how important organization is. I was a horrible organizer; I spent my first year of university with a bunch of loose leaf binders with notes that resembled a creative version of chicken scratch rather than a sane thought. It was hell when finals came and I had to make sense of my notes. It was actually lets not talk about that, its a dark memory for me. I know that everyone has gone through a version of this during their school years. It creates so much unneeded stress in your life as you can usually take care of it really quickly if you know what to do. I had the same problems with papers. I looked over them for this book and wanted to puke on them they were so bad. A lot of what the hell was I trying to say and Wow, how did I manage to get a C on that were my general thoughts in looking down my own personal academic memory lane. If youre a fourth year student I suggest taking a look at your old papers, it will be hilarious I promise. Anyway, I know many of you have had feelings of anxiety being up at three in the morning on your twelfth coffee of the night. You are constantly checking the page count every 10 minutes and starting to wonder why you didnt start this thing a week ago like you were supposed to. You finish up the night at about 5 in the morning getting that un-edited conclusion finished before you have to submit your paper at 8:30 the next morning. What if I told you that I could make it so you would never be in the situation ever again? What if I also told you that by using my method youre going to actually get things done 50% faster (conservative estimate) and get better marks back? Well I have some great news for you. Ive done this for many students in the past and your about to learn my secrets. This is very important so pay extra attention during this section. Where did working hard come from? Ask somebody about their work and the vast majority of the time youll get an answer like Oh Im so busy, lots of things to do, or work is hell, Ive got (insert ridiculous amount of work to sound impressive here) to do and there arent enough hours in the day. If you ask me about work

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Ill usually have this response; Work is great (I then explain what Im currently doing). This really sends people for a loop when everyone has bitched about their jobs for 30 minutes. When its time for me to add to the pity party I dont add to that cultural hegemon, Im always amazed as to why people stay in jobs they dont like. Now, this philosophy of negative work environment is not a global phenomenon. There are places in the world where people actually like their jobs and dont see work as a badge of discontentment but more of a way of life. Take a look at Europe for instance or the Middle East and youll get a very different conceptualization of work. So the question is why does North America see work as being a negative and an unhappy process? A man named Max Weber was able to give us the answer. One of the most important publications in the social sciences The Protestant Ethic; explained in essence why Americans dont like their jobs today. The majority of North Americas charter immigrant groups were protestant. Protestantism has an ideology of hard work and sacrifice as central to the greater glory of god. Therefore, the harder you worked and the more wealth you created, the better your chances of being seen as accepted into heaven. Success in work equaled success in the afterlife. Also, if you werent working hard you were going to go to hell. This ethic has evolved throughout the years and lost its religious component but the same feelings towards work are present in North American society today. So what does this mean for you? Well as simple as I can put it, youve been programmed to think that work is the only way to achieve happiness but that work is painful and a sacrifice. Anybody see a problem in that? You have to first accept some fundamental rules about work. These truths go against most of the things youve heard about when people talk about the right method to work. So, keep an open mind and reflect on each of these rules for a moment before moving on to the next one. First, lets define what positive and negative work is for us. Negative work is anything you have to do more than once. Positive work is any work that is independently creative of its context. So creatively thinking about a paper is not necessarily work as your expanding your thoughts on a new subject. Writing the paper however is negative work as the actual

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process will be repeated throughout university many times. Maximizing positive work will make you a more intelligent and interesting person. The goal is to try to minimize the negative and maximize the positive. Second, repetitive work equals ignorance. The more repetitive work you do the more ignorant you will become. The more organized you are and less time you take to get work done, the better you will be. The more you waste your time doing things that you could systematize or replace completely with a different work strategy, the stupider you will become. If you take a look at materialism this is what they call intellectual materialism. Third, being lazy has nothing to do with working hard. Im really lazy, like REALLY lazy. I usually spend less hours working than any of my friends. The difference is that I organize my work in such a way and am so productive during the short periods in which I work that Im able to produce content that is quantitatively and qualitatively superior to most people I know. So for me, working for one hour can equal another persons full work day. I accomplish this goal through three main tenants, allostasis, outsourcing and thought mechanization. Allostasis: Very simply, the process of allostasis is the adaptive efforts of the body to maintain stability in response to stressors. A good analogy would be when youre exercising. If you work out hard for an extended period and eat properly your body achieves a point of healthy stability. This stability point (its called homeostasis) becomes your bodys new standard and it actually tries to stay at that set point. Thats why when youre in good shape for an extended period it becomes harder for you to get out of shape. When youre out of shape it takes a few weeks for your body to start to change. So if Im working out my mind and thinking creatively on a regular basis I will automatically stay creative. If I do a repetitive task that doesnt require thought, the parts of my mind responsible for creative thought will be suppressed and it will require a lot of work to get them working again. Outsourcing: I outsource as many repetitive tasks as possible to others: taxes, bills, filling out forms, marketing, research, shopping, reading etc. I try to either get rid of these jobs or I make them as quick as possible. For instance, I know how much of the basic stable foods I eat a week.

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Therefore, I get food orders every two weeks, exactly what I want every time. This food is delivered to my door and costs me nothing as the supermarket loves that I have a standing order with them and they actually give me a discount. Ive calculated that I probably save about 3 hours a week doing this. Thats 12 hours a month, 144 hours a year. What could you do with 144 more hours? Mechanization: The most complex thinking processes I have systematized so I know exactly what to do to break them down. My main method is critical thinking which you will learn about later on. I have a system of steps that I take for everything I do from writing this book to taking out the trash which saves me years of my life, freeing me up to do things I really want to do and getting more new experiences in my life rather than boring ones. Review these rules and reflect a little on each one in your notes. Think about what each ones means to you and where you are falling into bad habits of negative work instead of challenging your mind with positive work. Organization Becoming more organized is central to keeping yourself out of negative work and maximizing positive work. First off, note taking, research, essay writing and test prep are all separate from this chapter so we wont be touching on them all that much just yet. What I am going to be looking at is how to get your environment, your thoughts and your body organized. Your environment Here is a quick quiz question. Do you know when all your assignments are due in your classes for this semester? Like right now, dont look at the syllabus. Uhuh. I thought so.

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Dont worry, if you knew them all I would be both shocked and disgusted at how much of a dork you are. What you need to do is develop a system to figure out when things are due. Planners: You first need a daily planner, I like digital ones but paper does just as well. Here are my two favorite digital ones: Ical: Great calendar program for Macs and can be synced up with your ipod if youve got one. Its also bundled with any Macintosh you buy so its in essence free if you have a Mac. Check it out here. Google Calendar: Love this one, its free, it syncs up with a tone of other programs and most importantly its virtual. If you have internet you can access this program from any computer. Check it out here. You will also need a semester whiteboard planner. Here is an example of mine.

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Notice how each course is a different color? Get a different colored pen for each course so that you can keep your thoughts straight. I lovingly call this my battle map as I outline what Im going to do all semester. Notice how I wrote down start dates and end dates for each assignment. You must have a start date for each assignment that you absolutely follow, your VTA can keep you accountable as youre going to need to submit assignments to your VTA at least a few days before its due for review. You should be recreating the same thing in your daily planner. Create a to-do list for each day of work. I like to use sticky notes as they are the perfect size for writing down one to two things that you must get done. Do NOT do more than two things a day unless you have absolutely no choice. For instance here is an example of how to do and not do a list properly. Bad to do list: - Get my sociology assignment done - Talk to Greg about the group project - Clean up the house - Work out - Start researching my economics paper Good to do list: - Call Greg about when to meet for our group assignment, suggest Thursday at 3pm in starbucks his number is 555-5555 - Email my VTA the outline of what Id like to do for my economics paper before noon and ask that he source the top 5 articles for me. Our bad list has 5 things to do and each point wasnt described properly. List two has two things to do. Each point is properly outlined and to the point. Do not be vague, look at each thing youve written down and ask these questions. - Do I need any more information to accomplish this? - Do I have the time to do this, if so when will it be finished? - Are there any things out of my control that will affect me finishing?

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Study Space vs Social Space Keep your social space and your study space completely separate. I mean COMPLETELY SEPARATE, please write that down. I sometimes let my study space creep into my social space but usually there is a strict division. Why? Well, if you mix your work space and social space your brain wont know when to work and when to play. Here are some examples of work spaces that I have used. Work spaces My teaching assistant office: Concrete walls, no internet access, in a basement, more or less the most boring place you could think of which focuses me to get work done. In class: Im all about work when I sit down for class. You can talk my head off before or after the lecture but during, Im focused on paying attention. 24 hour coffee shop: I like to work at night a lot of the time, 24 hour coffee shops are great as they have internet access and they have the white noise of people walking around. I suggest you wear headphones and throw on some music as people will bother you less. The couch in my apartment: I have a small table that attaches to the couch and once my laptop goes on it and Im working everyone knows Im working and should not be disturbed. I also use headphones and put the TV on mute to recreate some white noise. My laptop: Usually when my laptop is open and my earphones are on, Im doing work on it. I use leechblock to keep me focused and have instructed people not to bother me. If people do bother me, I usually say Im just in the middle of something and only have a minute, how can I help you? Keep people to under a minute. If they do bother you, this will usually only happen once or twice before they get the message. Social Spaces The bar: Head out to my favorite bar and hang out with some of my buddies.

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My apartment except for my work spot: My entire apartment is a social space except for one spot on my couch. If Im sitting there, its for work. Any time Im eating: I try to make a division between eating and working as I prefer to enjoy my food. Also, if Im studying and eating at the same time I tend to eat junk food which only makes my studying worse in the long term. Whenever Im around my friends: I am usually focused on having a good time when Im with my buddies. If Im working while hanging out with them it makes me less fun and does not let me disconnect from work. When you should study This is a question that youre going to have to work out yourself. Data shows that young people need more sleep than adults. Therefore, you should focus your schedule around your own personal circadian rhythm. As an example I like to study from 10pm till 2-3am at my 24 hour coffee shop by myself or with my study buddy. I then go to bed for an average of 8 hours and wake up for my 11:30 class. I have scheduled all my classes for noon or later so that I can adjust to my preferred sleeping schedule. If you know you want to stay up late, dont schedule early morning classes. I know that sounds simple but many students do this and it hurts you in the long run. If youre going to sleep at 9 on the weekdays and going out till 4 in the morning on the weekends this is absolutely horrible for your circadian rhythm which studies show is connected with healthy brain activity. Look at your schedule and find out if you can reschedule classes so they all have minimum starting times. I like noon as I can get up around 10, work out, get a good breakfast in and get to school at my leisure. Computer organization Your computer is your main academic tool. If you dont have a good one that is reliable, go get one right now. This is probably the most important piece of equipment youre going to need for university so get something that youre happy with. A recent study has shown that monitor size is incredibly important for overall productivity. It was found that a 24

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inch monitor in comparison to an 18 incher enables you to get work done 52% faster when using programs such as excel and Microsoft word. I personally us a dual monitor system which I picked up through doing research for this book. You can place digital articles on one monitor and write on the other. This saves you a tone of time having to switch back and forth and a nice flat panel monitor can cost you 150 bucks. Once you have your computer, your next step is to organize youre your classes files. When filing course work on your computer you should have a very intuitive and easy to understand system. Below is a screenshot of how I organize my files.

Here is a cross section of classes in my Undergrad:

Here is an example of how I organize a class file:

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Each class gets a file; the file name should have the course code, and the title of the course (a complete stranger should be able to navigate your database). Each class should have a few standard files in it. - Your class notes file - Your main assignments - A digital copy of the syllabus - Any lectures the prof has posted, properly labeled You should make sure to log all files as you input them. This will save you a lot of time later on and will quickly become second nature if you keep on top of it. The ingenious nature of this system is that the more classes you add the bigger you database becomes which you can access in future classes. How to think faster automatically A great way to increase your thinking and organization skills is the strategy of putting like tasks together, what some people call batch learning. As an example, your not going to do your physics and english readings one after the other. Organize like tasks together and you will save a lot of time. Stay in good shape. People who are physically fit are proven to be received better by society. They appear more attractive, friendlier and most importantly more intelligent! Not only will this help you appear more intelligent it will also literally make you more intelligent as studies show that healthy bodies are able to think faster than unhealthy ones. A recent study showed that 20 minutes of cardiovascular activity three times a week significantly increased brain function. So, take the time to work out a couple times a week or do some kind of extra curricular activity. I did this and automatically got better results. Whether these were real or in my mind I dont know, but it doesnt really matter as this is all going to help you reprogram your brain. I would suggest P90X as I went from 18 to 10% body fat and got a six pack in 10 weeks. I can also suggest a free program here which I know is effective. I suggest taking a look at this later once you get the academic aspects of your life handled. However, a quick run before a test is quick, easy, incredibly effective and again free! Oxygenating is crucially important to higher brain activity and can also increase your productivity. A recent study showed that three different types of plants placed in different locations throughout your home can

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increase human productivity by more than 20% and increase blood oxygen levels. The three plants are: Areca Palm (removes co2 and converts it into oxygen) 4 plants are required per person. Mother-in-laws Tongue (converts co2 at night and should be placed in the bedroom) 6-8 plants are required per person. Money Plant (removes formaldehyde and other damaging toxins) 2-3 plants throughout the home per person. This option is very useful if you live in a cold climate and spend the winters inside. If youd like to take a look at the study go here. Eating properly is very important. Dont eat junk food, eat brain smart foods. Here is a quick rundown of the best foods to eat for increased mental acuity but a general rule is to eat foods that are high in protein, good carbohydrates, fats and fibre while minimizing simple carbohydrates and bad fats. - Bananas, blueberries and other berries are high in anti-oxidants which are linked with higher rates of mental acuity. - Dark green vegetables such as Kale or Spinach can provide you with most of your vitamins and minerals in a single cup with very little calories. - Drink a bucket load of water every day which can increase test scores by 20% in some studies. I try to drink 4 liters a day but I would experiment with different amounts so that you can find your optimum ratio. - Eggs are incredibly high in protein. I like to eat one full egg with 2-3 egg whites a day which you can buy separately. - Fish oil, flaxseed oil, avocados and olive oil are all positive fats that help you think faster and help you lose weight. I eat guacamole almost every day and its so easy and tasty to make, go here for a great recipe. - Eat 6 small meals a day instead of 3 large ones. This will help your metabolism which makes you think faster as well as keeping you in better shape than sitting down to larger meals.

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- Try to suppress your sugar and fat intake. Sugar and fat intake slows down your metabolism and blood flow which in turn slows down the blood flow to your brain. Ever notice after a large meal you feel sleepy and slow? Congratulations, studies show youve literally made yourself about 20% stupider (in terms of IQ) for 2-3 hours!

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So in Review - Review where working hard comes from to free yourself from that mental burden - Review the fundamental aspects of allostasis, outsourcing and mechanization - Get yourself a daily planner and white board planner to mark out all your assignments. Make sure you write daily to do lists to focus your day. - Define your study space and social spaces - Mechanize your computer filing system for easy access to course material and easy recall later in your degree - Review the tips on how to think faster

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CHAPTER 5: How to be a Star in Class

In this chapter you will learn how to - Become the smartest-sounding person in class - Specific strategies to differentiate yourself from everyone else

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Different types of Profs you will meet First thing you have to know about how most university courses are put together is that theyre built on a lecture not teaching paradigm. The professor is unable to interact with students on an individual level which is the best way to teach a student. The average first year class contains about 250 students with usually a small army of teaching assistants that are both underpaid and over-used. You also may think that these professors are making either a large amount of money or really enjoy lecturing. Again, this is wrong dead wrong. Most profs that are teaching first year classes got stuck with them. The majority of profs that get stuck with these large classes can be categorized into lecturers and researchers. Lecturers are the foot soldiers of university education. These are graduate students or professors that do not have a full time position at your university and do not do any/much university funded research. From the interviews that I have done, the average income for one of these people is approximately 4-5 grand per course. Yeah, thats not a typo. The $20,000 a year that youre spending for university is being used on an overworked and almost criminally underpaid prof that has to deal with 250 students per course for the entire semester. - These people are usually pretty bitter - These people are usually pretty stressed out - And, they usually dont really care about most students If theyre a graduate student they have their own research to deal with. Theyre usually doing this course for the money as they have tens of thousands of dollars in student debt and need to eat, or they are doing it for their resume. You should hope for the second option as the prof will care about the student reviews and will be more attentive. If they are full time lecturers they usually do 4-5 of these classes to make ends meet. Full time lecturers are either young profs who are trying to get full time positions, (which is again not a bad person to have teaching as they are VERY concerned about the student reviews) or they are a professor who has never gotten a full time position, does no research and just teaches classes. These profs you usually want to avoid as they are bitter about not getting full time positions and could care less about you.

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If you can get out of these classes, get out NOW! Im serious, get on the net to check out your options right now - just do it. Trust me on this, your life will be easier. Unless the class is incredibly easy or you really want to take it, drop it. Try to research whether the class will be given by a full time professor next semester, or if you have to take the class, see if there are classes which have a smaller student lecturer ratio. As a special note, go check out www.ratemyprofessor.com for valuable intel on profs. You get ratings and personal comments from students. The second group is what Im defining as the researcher group. These are professors who usually have full time positions at your university. They are teaching these courses because they are forced to by the department, straight up. They dont want to be there, they would much rather be researching full time. But, unless the professor has tenure, or is an upcoming star they usually have to deal with those big disgusting classes. This has advantages and disadvantages for you. These profs usually have more free time for office hours, they usually have their own office and dont share it with other professors. For anyone who is interested in graduate school, these are the people that should be writing your letters of recommendation. So standing out to them as early in your university career as possible is usually a great idea. Keep in mind that these profs are research minded so they usually offload most of the class work to their teaching assistants. They sometimes get the teaching assistants to give the lectures and you may only see the prof a few times during the year. Overall, if the prof is teaching the class, you can get more face time with the prof, and youre going to get better course content. Better content only helps you develop a better base later in your university career. So youve made your decision on which type of prof youre going to choose. Class is the usually the first place to impress the professor and teaching assistants. Your ability to appear intelligent is the best way to plant the seeds of a high final mark (whether youre actually intelligent isnt usually all that important). With that in mind, I have a few suggestions about what should be doing in class.

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- Dress for confident comfort. When I suggest that people dress confidently comfortable, that does not give you free reign to show up in your pajamas and that ripped spring break t-shirt you got on your trip to Jamaica. Would you meet a boyfriend or girlfriend looking like that? Dress up in what you feel confident in. This is often cheaper than you think. For instance, I usually dress in some dark wash slim jeans, sneakers or leather shoes and a plain t-shirt. My outfits usually cost me about 150 bucks, shoes included. All my stuff is clean and most importantly I feel powerful when I wear it. If you feel powerful youll project that feeling onto other people (which is the point). - Your laptop with a good battery. Some classes can last three hours; your going to need to make sure your laptop can get through all your daily courses without being recharged. Youre going to be taking down your notes on this thing all day so make sure its up to the task, and remember to back up as much as possible. Ive lost assignments, Ive had students who have lost assignments, and I know one guy that lost his thesis! There are some programs that will do it automatically for you but I personally use an usb key with auto backup. - A notebook for each class. Even if you have a laptop, notebooks are an excellent idea because they act as a backup for your laptop and are quite easy to use when writing graphs/equations. Do not use loose leaf pages, a single large notebook with divisions for different classes are fine but just make sure you can divide your class notes for study later. You can get a good notebook for a buck at any school supplies store. - Sit in the proper spot. Dont sit in the front of the class and dont sit in the back, Id suggest the second row as you have a great view of the prof and the board while still keeping your distance and not openly sucking up to the prof. Sitting in the back wont get you access to the professor and will not enable you to ask validation questions (Ill get into that later). Asking intelligent questions There are specific techniques that have been developed, primarily through debating that are completely applicable and crucial to asking intelligent and thoughtful questions in class. But lets first go through how you shouldnt ask a question in class.

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- Nobody wants to hear what Ill call your personal story question. You find these questions are mostly posed by adult students and most of the time the questions are just stories about something that happened to them that relates to the lecture. In a lecture on bureaucracy I was TAing, a student who put up her hand and proceeded to discuss how when she was working in a law office she had to fill out forms for her boss. She didnt really understand why they were necessary as the cases were already over and the court had already filled out the very same forms but the law office was. blah blah blah. This went on for a few minutes. We as TAs and profs do not want to hear this, this is boring, adds almost nothing to the course content and slows down the entire lecture. - Questions that are obviously combative are also not a good idea. You can challenge a question. You can even respectively disagree with a question. But under no circumstances should you be combative without offering constructive solutions or criticism of the statement. Example: Asking a question in this manner is ok - Well I dont really understand how - I dont understand how (this concept) works with (this concept) - Can you explain how (this) and (that) connect? Asking a question in this manner is not ok - What you just said isnt making any sense - Im sorry but that doesnt make any sense - How does this have anything to do with (point of lecture)? So what should you use to premise questions that appear intelligent and well thought out? Here are some general strategies that debaters call fallacies of argument. Im only going to review the main fallacies here but Ill have some more resources to follow up on this later in the chapter. You should be accustomed to recognizing these fallacies in lectures so that you can deconstruct them and be comfortable enough to recognize them in your own questions. Generalization argument: Extrapolating an assumption of an entire group based on a small sample. Another word for this would be stereotyping. So all blonde girls are dumb is a great example.

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Weak analogy: Comparing objects that have only a few similar characteristics or objects that have weak similarities. So marijuana and hemp both come from the same family of plants therefore they should both be banned. In reality, hemp has an insufficient amount of THC to get people high and should not be compared to pot in terms of getting high. This is a tricky fallacy to spot, try to look at whether the comparison being made relate to the same premise. Post Hoc argument: Assuming just because one action happened after another that the first action resulted in the second. So studying a lot results in a high mark is a post hoc fallacy. Their may be other factors that led to a higher mark such as reading this book. Chain reaction argument: If we start one action it will result in a chain reaction that will lead to an undesirable conclusion. Ive also heard this being called the slippery slope argument. For instance, marijuana being a gateway drug to harsher drugs is a popular chain reaction argument. Authority argument: Using a respected source to reinforce the evidence supplying the conclusion. Studies show that smoking pot leads to significant brain damage is a great example. Great way to challenge this argument is to investigate the source. I would ask which studies you citing and to explain the imprecise words such as significant. Ad populum argument: Everyone is agreeing with me so you should too, is the core of this argument. Just because everyone agrees doesnt mean you should. This argument is usually supported with statistics. For example, 90% of people polled in 2008 say that marijuana should be legalized. Just because 90% of people believe that, doesnt mean they are right. Ad hominem argument: This is where the person attacks a person rather than his/her argument(s). An example being, Ooglacks study has shown that marijuana does not create brain damage but I know him and hes the biggest pot head I know. The guy doesnt know the difference between a test tube and a Bunsen burner. Ignorance argument: The argument is premised on the idea that there is no conclusive evidence to prove the conclusion; therefore you should accept

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their conclusion. Even if we arent sure pot creates brain damage it shouldnt be legal because there might be a chance that it does create brain damage. Best way to break down this argument is to study the evidence that the conclusion is based on. As an example for the following argument I could suggest that the same risk factors for brain damage could be found in liquor or cigarettes. Straw man argument: When you build up a wimpy version of your opponents argument and then defeat it. An example being, pot heads want to legalize pot so that they can smoke all day and screw around. A defense for the straw man is to restate your argument in a stronger way. An example being, Actually, the majority of politicians and criminologists suggest that legalizing marijuana will lower the instances of crime and suppress higher marijuana use through taxation and regulation. Oversimplification argument: When an argument excludes the more complex premises that effect the conclusion. Whenever an argument is too simple, you should usually be looking for other factors that will be making the ideas more complex. If the United States leaves the Middle East we will help to breed terrorists. This argument does not take into consideration the social capital the U.S. is losing in remaining and the larger international variables. Hobsons choice: You are forced to choose between conclusions that the arguer has forced you into even though there are other possible avenues of choice to investigate. I use to pull this on a girlfriend all the time when we went to the movies and asked her if she wanted to see Batman or Spiderman for instance. Best way to get out of this situation is to think outside the question and suggest different solutions like watching The Notebook for instance (which I actually liked). These are the major arguments youre going to encounter. Ive found some excellent online resources here and here that have helped shape this section. Usually everyone uses a version of these arguments to prove their points so train yourself to recognize them and youll be able to respond in an intelligent way.

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How You Should Talk in Class Sometimes its not what you say but how you say it. Have you ever looked at speeches and tried to figure out how one person can produce a great speech and another guy saying the same stuff falls flat? Well its because its all about how you say things, not what you say. Im going to have you take a look at this video of Barack Obama giving a speech. He is one of the best contemporary examples of a great public speaker. He commands respect without being overbearing, he seems polite but still dominates most people he interacts with. When you ask a question or make a comment in class you want everyone paying attention to you. There is something about everyone paying attention to what you say that makes it much more important than if some people are busily tapping away at their laptops or whispering to each other while youre speaking. There are a few general tricks that many politicians use to engross their audience that you can practice to automatically demand more attention while asking a question in class. - Pause: When the prof asks you to speak, pause for half a second before speaking, almost as if youre thinking about what youre going to say. Ive used this in smaller classes and within that half second you get everyone looking at you immediately. They are all thinking why isnt he saying something? Oh, its going to be something really deep we better pay attention. I know it sounds dumb but it has to do with neuro linguistic programming (as do most of these tips). Trust me it works. - Speak slowly: Speak in a low, even, slow, calm voice. Do not speak quickly, take your time, keep it short and above all try not to stutter. - Lean back: Lean back in your chair when you speak, this projects a feeling of laissez faire and instantly makes you look more confident in your statement. - Wait for chimps: Let one or two other people answer that same question before you then answer it properly. If chimp one and two give really badly formulated answers to a question and you show up with a really good answer that is well thought out, you automatically look smarter than the others.

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- Your answers should be a gift: Appear kinda like youre doing the class a favor by answering a question or asking a question yourself. Be about 10% cocky and 90% inquisitive (warning: dont be an ass when youre answering the question). - Be selective: Dont answer every question, only answer questions you think you can answer. Only ask questions that you really think need to be asked. Dont prattle on and keep your statements to under a minute. Short, sweet and to the point will make the most impact without getting lost in the statement. I suggest writing out the main points on your notebook so that you have a clear concise idea of what you want to say. - Eye contact: Make eye contact with the prof. Make a connection, and dont worry about being nervous. By this point with the other exercises youve done, you shouldnt have a problem looking a prof or anybody for that matter in the eye. If youre still nervous, focus in on the left eye as its less intimidating (warning: dont stare the prof down, but the prof should be the one to break contact first). - Dont be a suck up: The main idea is to get respect from speaking in class. Dont suck up, profs dont like suck ups, they are annoying and we dont really like them. I know this as Ive sat down for beers with profs and they rip on students like that all the time. Dont suck up, get respect. How Wikipedia and Google will make you look like a genius The greatest tool to help put intelligent and thoughtful questions together is your laptop on the internet. Its the greatest library ever compiled at your fingertips. I want you to take your web browser out, I use Firefox because its fast and free. Go to www.wikipedia.org take the front page and turn it into a hot button that you can put right in your browser. Just drag the website address down into the grey area below the address. Do NOT use Wikipedia as an academic source in a paper. TAs hate this and will automatically remove marks for using it in papers. It is not a peer reviewed journal, it therefore cannot be used in an academic article. What you can use Wikipedia for is to get a general idea about almost any subject. It presents information in a quick and easy to read format. I suggest

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that before you ask a question just confirm that what youre basing your concept on is correct. You can also throw in some advanced knowledge which will undoubtedly impress the prof. Just remember to not literally read from your laptop, look them in the eye, put the question in your own words and you look like a genius.

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So in review - Figure out what kind of professor youre getting for each class (lecturer or researcher) - If you feel like the class is going to be too difficult and you can change, change right now! - Have everything prepared in class, dress, laptop, notebook, where youre going to sit. - Dont ask combative questions and review the classic argument fallacies - Its usually not what you say but how you say it, review good speeches and make sure you - Pause before speaking - Be calm - Lean back - Dont answer first - Be 10% cocky 90% inquisitive - Only answer the questions you know - Make eye contact - Dont suck up, get respect - Make sure you have Wikipedia or google available all the time; this automatically makes your questions and answers better.

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Chapter 6: How to Take Notes Down like an Academic Ninja

In this chapter you will learn: - How to figure out what you should and shouldnt write down - How to take down notes in half the time - The best note taking method

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Taking notes is more important than preparing for an exam, writing a paper or doing the assigned readings. The majority of exam questions come from lecture. Im always amazed at the amount of students that come to me for help and dont go to lectures. The professor is in essence pointing a big neon arrow at what you should be studying and what you shouldnt. Notes come in many forms and Ill be going over different methods that Ive encountered to take down notes for social sciences, arts and pure sciences. However there are some fundamental aspects of note taking that every student should implement if they want to be successful. First, lets look at the philosophy of notes. Notes are a reflection of the lectures, they are not a transcription. If you write down 10 pages of notes for each class, multiply that by 24 classes and you end up with 240 pages of notes! I know thats an extreme example but Ive had students who have done it and very quickly get lost when exam time rolls around. They are left with a textbook of notes and since you already have a text book assigned to you for the course, you really dont need to put together another one in lecture. Notes are only supposed to grasp the main ideas of the lecture. With that said, I want you to make sure you record your interpretation of the profs ideas, not the profs ideas themselves. This is a really important point to keep in mind while recording notes. The professor might talk about a concept and if you mindlessly record it, when it comes time to review it for the exam; youre not going to understand it. So, here is a sample of notes I took down in a course on religion.
1. Zoastriansim: human suffering explained by dualism in god, good god/bad god 2. Karma theory: your actions accumulate, when reborn these actions will affect you. 3. Calvanism: God is all powerful and transcendent that we cannot understand gods actions.

This is based on about 10 minutes of lecture. As you can see, all the information was boiled down, not just to a few lines, but to lines I could understand. This is crucially important for two reasons.

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- First, this presents the information in an easy to read way. Just like the way I write this book, write your information like you are talking to yourself. - Second, if the information is rewritten in your own words, you are in essence teaching it to yourself again. This will massively increase your recall ability; which brings me to my next point. Take down notes so that youll still be able to learn from them 20 years later. This is crucial. Everyone has been stuck trying to keep up with a prof who is teaching too quickly. You write something down and think to yourself, oh, Ill know what thats going to be about in a few months. You probably know that subconsciously, you wont. Therefore, write notes for an unforeseen future, not for the present. It is a pain to have to spend time re-reviewing a concept in your notes because you dont understand what you put down. I use the 40 year old rule. Ever time I review my notes I ask myself whether my 40 year old self will understand it. Systematizing your notes One of the most important goals for any student is to take down notes in a fast and efficient manner. Ive seen a lot of different strategies from the students Ive interviewed. Some students audio recorded lectures and didnt write a thing down. Some students restricted themselves to one page of notes per lecture. The most successful students however, developed a note taking shorthand and usually took down 3-4 pages per 1.5 hours of lecture. I personally use an easy to use short hand that you can apply to most classes. Very simply, any long words, you want to shorten down to a single syllable. So let me show you. You can shorten words used in specific courses Globalization- gbz Globalized gbzd

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Transnationalism- Tran Because- bc Difference- Dif You can also use symbols across all your notes Therefore- :. And- / Does not connect- -/ Correct- = This idea has three, four, components- 3 4 (the arrow symbol is made with two dashes - - followed by a right bracket >) I encourage you to go through your notes and pick out what words you use most often. Work on shortening them first and then see how far you can take your system. Remember to create a legend at the beginning of your notes with all these terms and add terms to the legend as you work through your notes. Dont assume your going to know what gbzd is going to mean in a few months. Two methods of note taking that will cover almost all classes in university Method 1: Sequential Method The first method Im going to define as the Social science method of taking down notes. The majority of students that should use this method are going to encounter a humanities or arts class in university. These are classes like Sociology Psychology Philosophy English If there isnt math in the class and youre looking at theories rather than hard facts, use this method of note taking. If you are using equations in lecture the same method can be used but I would suggest you use a notebook as I have yet to find an effective equation word processor. The majority of professors teaching these classes produce lectures with a few main points

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and supporting evidence in a sequential format. Here is an actual example that is directly from one of my lectures. I would be expanding on each point but for the most part Ive only put down the central points and then discuss those points in greater detail in lecture. Approaches to Ethnicity and Race: (Main title of lecture) Three sociological paradigms: (First main point Im going to discuss, which will have three components) Functionalism: (First main point) (Look at how I explain each paradigm in the same general format) Social reality as a whole a system made up of interdependent parts. Each has a function. Could be dysfunctional as well. Some social patterns and relations contribute to social solidarity. Some have unintended, negative consequences. Look at ethnic relations to see how it contributes to integration of society, consequences etc. Assimilation as a positive force. Conflict paradigm: (Second main point) Conflicts and struggles central. Traditionally, social class as the main variable. Power (a scarce resource) also central. Ethnic groups seen as actual or potential interest groups, and actual or potential partners in social conflict. Assimilation seen as negative. Symbolic interactionism: (Third main point)

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Individuals creating meaning within different social contexts, and given the existing social structures. Symbols important in the creation of meanings. Inter-group relations not defined by conflict, or by the needs of the system. Race, ethnicity as resources in defining situations and as bases of interaction. Ethnicity as an aspect of ones system of meanings, as defining ones identity. Conflict not neglected. It could be significant. Perception of our own group, and the others important determinant explaining how and why we act the way we do. Assimilation a negative process especially at the individual level. Ok so this lecture would take maybe 45 minutes to complete with many examples and questions from students. Here is an example of what my notes would look like if I were a student. Notice my use of PN (personal notes). This allows me to reorganize my thoughts in my own words which are particularly useful when you review. March 5th 2008 Legend: Soc= sociology/ical Soli= solidarity PN= personal note Pheno= Phenomenon Indi= Individual Approaches to Ethnicity and Race: Three soc paradigms: (Functionalism, Conflict, Symbolic Interactionism) Func: social reality is a system made up of interdependent parts, each with a function that may help or hinder the system - IE, some patterns may reinforce soli, some may have unintended negative consequences.

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- Assimilation seen as a positive force. PN: Like a black criminal seems dysfunctional to soc but also reinforces white social stigmas and solidarity. Conf: Struggles are central with social class and power as the main variable, Ethnic groups seen as potential interest groups or partners in social conflict. PN: Like the Asian American Group tries to push forward pro-asian ethnic issues and by consequence is doing this in comparison to other racial groups. - Assimilation is seen as negative Symbolic Interactionism: Individuals creating meaning in diff social contexts within the existing social structures with symbols important to the creation of meaning. Inter-group relations are not defined by conflict or the needs of the system. Ethnicity is a part of the system of meanings, ie ones identity. Conflict isnt neglected as it may determine why we act the way we do PN: Individual people, through symbols (of which ethnicity is one) inhabit and evolve the social structure. Conflict is just a large version of this pheno. -Assimilation seen as negative, especially at the indi level.

Method 2: Pictographic method This method uses pictographic representations to explain complex subjects. I personally do not use this method as it requires you to reorganize your notes from the stereotypical sequential format. This method is also a pain to digitize as you have to write it out on paper then scan it if you want it on your computer. From experimentation with the pictographic method, I found that I recalled more but also left out more information than the sequential method. But, if youre a visual learner or are learning complex or abstract concepts, this method may be useful to you. From the example below, you can see that Ive represented a lot of the complex concepts with pictures. For instance, functionalism is represented as two puzzle pieces and assimilation is represented by a pacman eating a pacdots. The pacman represents the dominant group and the pacdot represents the minority group. The more extreme you can make your imagery the better. Try experimenting with this method and see if it works for you. You may be surprised by the result.

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Power point lecture There are two fundamental ways in which youre going to get your lectures from Profs. The majority of young profs use powerpoints as they are an easy way to get the information out to students. Profs dont have to write anything down on the board and they can post the lecture before class so that students can download the presentation and follow along on their laptop. If your prof is going to give out lectures pre-emptively, youre in luck as this is relatively rare.

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Profs who dont give out lectures before class usually say its because students dont pay attention to the lecturer if youre staring at your laptop. This is half true; a lot of profs dont really know what they want to say or dont have a lecture prepared until the day before. Ive used that excuse a few times. Im going to assume the worst-case scenario, that the prof has not submitted the powerpoints before class so youre following along with your laptop. Powerpoints offer you a few great advantages. You can bet that they will be on the exam, or at the least the professor is highly considering putting them on a test. In comparison to lectures, they are very easy to read and understand. You can also review each powerpoint at your own pace as apposed to the prof just talking where you may lose some relevant points. Rewrite all powerpoints in your own words. Even if you have the powerpoints on your laptop, take your own notes independently of the powerpoints. You can always review them later but its more important you take your own version of the information that was written by you so you can interpret them easily later. If the prof keeps flying through powerpoints, tell him/her very politely to slow down, or better yet convince one of your friends to bug the prof instead. You dont want to look like your whining about not being able to keep up. I would suggest whispering to buddies stuff like this. Are you keeping up with the powerpoints? Is it just me or is he/she going way to fast? We should get him to slow down I wish he/she would slow down You can also use fellow students laptops as secondary note screens, if you miss a point, take a look at what your neighbour has written down and pick up a few points. Just make sure youre sitting next to people that know what they are doing. Its no use copying bad notes. Spoken word lecture Spoken word lectures are somewhat more difficult to turn into notes as its harder to figure out the most important points to take down. This lecture method is mostly used by older profs and you dont usually see much of this lecturing style in pure science classes.

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Even though this method of lecturing is quite a bit more difficult than the powerpoint method. You can still get great notes with a couple little tricks. Pay attention to what the prof says when he/she is speaking about a particular issue. Have a note pad where you can jot down a couple notes but dont break your concentration until he/she is finished with their point. Once they are finished reinterpret the point in your own words and put it down on the page. If you mindlessly try to write down what the prof is saying at a continual rate youre going to lose crucial points in the lecture. It is very difficult to write down the last thought while trying to interpret the next. Students have a desire deep inside of them to write down everything as quickly as possible which I understand as I did it myself. Fight this urge. Let me restate, youre not transcribing the lecture, unless its a class on transcribing then by all means knock yourself out :) If you cant keep up with the prof, you can always ask him/her to repeat points or just reuse the lines Ive given you above to try to get others to bug the prof for you. You want to appear like you know what youre doing, but dont sacrifice your notes for it. If nobody will speak up, you speak up. Profs sometimes get lost in the moment and dont watch the room for pens to go down before moving on. I always listen for keyboards and look for pens before moving on to another slide. Some profs do this but if they need to cover a lot of material or if theyve just run out of things to say for the current slide or point, they usually move on. Reviewing notes before and after class I learned this trick from an old professor of mine, he was a lecturer (not a researcher) who had been doing classes for years and he had first year sociology courses down to a science. He had no notes, but if you came back the next semester to the same lecture, his lecture would be almost indistinguishable from the last semester. He was old school, he just talked, no acetates, no powerpoint. But he did something that I havent seen any other prof do anywhere near as well. Before class started, he quietly walked into the room and made sure he had four to six clean blackboards. He would take one blackboard and write a short review of exactly what the last class

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was about. Main points only, what Id call the meat of the last lecture. He then proceeded to lay out the lecture on the remaining blackboards from beginning to end. He wrote maybe 20 points down on the board along with some graphs or pictographs which helped him describe his ideas. He would spend the first 10 minutes of the class going over what we had learned in the last lecture and then describe what we were going to learn today. This, what Ill call pre-post lecture layout method is a general trend that I found in most of the successful students Ive interviewed. Integrating this yourself will completely change your recall and review abilities during exam time; its also the simplest thing in the world to do! Before class starts I want you to read over your notes and write down a maximum of three points that were central to the previous lecture. Pop it down at the bottom of your lecture. This will not only help you remember the lecture before class but it will also help you when youre reviewing your notes for the final exam. Also, when you finish the lecture, take a quick skim (Im talking under a minute) and come up with the central point of the lecture, write it down. Dont worry about everyone jumping up and your friends wanting to leave. Its only going to take a minute and doing this will help hard wire the main idea of the lecture, it will probably save you at least a few hours of study time at the end of the semester.

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So in review - Notes are a reflection not a transcription - Notes are only supposed to grasp main ideas - Write notes so that when youre 40, youll understand them - Use a coding method, writing gbzd is faster than globalized - Review the methods of note taking and pick the method thats best for you - Use the pre-post layout method to hard wire lectures

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Chapter 7: How to Read Smarter not Longer

In this chapter you will learn how: - To read 200% faster in 5 minutes - To cut the amount of reading you have to do in half - To get your comprehension up by at least 50%

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Ah readings, they suck, if youre already in university and have done a few classes you probably havent done most of the readings youve been assigned. I know this as I usually didnt do most of mine. During my undergraduate degree I probably did 20% of the readings in the first few years (which is the average for university students in North America). Once I decided to figure out the keys to academic success I jumped my readings up another 5%. Nope thats not a typo, I almost imperceptibly increased my readings and went from Bs to A+s. How did I do this you ask? Well settle down Im going to tell you! First lets talk about readings in general and the philosophy behind them. Philosophy of readings If you think the amount of readings youre doing now is bad, try grad school. There are these things called comprehensive exams. You are given 3-6 months to read 200+ books and about the same amount of articles. Youre then given one question that you have 24-48 hours to answer, implementing all the works youve read. If you tried to read 400 separate pieces of work in three months your head would explode. Grad students dont do this, and youre making way too much work for yourself if you attempt to do this as well. They go through a process Im going to call the academic sift The first step in this process looks at how we can cut the fat which Ive broken down into the three Ts, throw, talk and take Throw: Look through the readings that you have, what is suggested and not required readings? Are there readings youve already done in other classes? Are there readings that will be covered in lecture? Get all suggested readings on the back burner, they are last priority, youre throwing them to the back of the line, if we have time we can get to them.

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Talk: What readings are either not central to you understanding the class or are incredibly complex. These go in the talk pile. Go to somebody that knows about these readings and ask them. Talking about a subject is a much better way to learn than reading (see kinesthetic/active learning). Fellow students or your virtual teaching assistant are best but TAs and even profs are good options as well. Take: Figure out which readings are the most important to you succeeding in the course. Not the ones that are the most interesting as those should be second priority. Make a list from most important to least important right now. I have a worksheet at the end of the chapter that can help you out with this. From this simple academic sift you should have cut your readings down to around 50%. We are half way there! If youre not at 50% thats ok, but Id take another look at your readings and try to cut a little more fat. The second step is to take these readings and turn them into different forms of media or increase the speed in which the information gets into your head. Many of the readings that are being distributed to university students today are available as audio books. A short qualitative audit of syllabi that I performed found that 25% of students readings in first and second year social science classes were available on audio book. Studies have shown that hearing information is much more effective that reading information for both recall and comprehension. With the use of mp3 players like IPods it becomes incredibly easy to get the info into your head without actually picking up a book. Think of this, instead of sitting down in your dorm room with your roommate nagging you and the TV blaring. You can grab your IPod, go for a run and get a few chapters of your reading done. Isnt technology wonderful! There is another option that I would suggest to get rid of a significant chunk of your readings without actually reading them. New technology has come along that can scan books automatically into pdf formatting. The equipment hasnt been around for a while but Ive tested a few of these methods and they are close to perfect. Ive recently tested a few of these

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machines with dictation software attached. So once your book is scanned it can be turned into guess what an audio book! Obviously this wont work for some readings like textbooks with lost of information boxes, but the technology is about 95% accurate and if you can afford it I highly suggest this option. As a bonus to readers I got you a 10% discount on my current favorite which you can take a look at here. If youd like the discount just contact www.virtualteachingassistant.com and once we confirm that youre a student with us we can send you the discount. Also I dont make any profit on passing the savings on to you. This option is expensive, but if youre starting university this is going to pay for itself many times over. Think of it this way. On average you have lets say 10 readings a semester Multiply your average readings per semester times four years. 4x20=80 readings scanned, divide that by the price of my favorite scanner (500 USD) and youre looking at 6.25 per scan. As an added bonus you could always make a little extra money scanning other students books for a price. Or do it for free and become the dorm hero! Print shops will also offer to scan your book for a price. If you find it cheaper to go this route than it may be a good option for you. Websites that carry audio books: www.Audible.com The first stop for audio books. They have a huge collection and can offer you discounts on larger orders. www.itunes.com You can download many audio books off the itunes library and pop them directly into your IPod. www.amazon.com The biggest book store in the world with a large collection of audio books. You can also buy textbooks here for cheaper than the campus bookstore. Take a look to see if your campus bookstore is owned by a large corporation, if its a mom and pop store, try to give them the business. If not, Amazon is better.

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Mp3 Players: www.apple.com IPods are great, I personally would suggest you go with this option first, you can get them as cheap as 70 dollars currently and if you are registered as a student go here for a 10-15% discount, shhh its a secret! Book Viewers: www.adobe.com Adobe Reader is the best pdf viewer and it will also dictate text to you if you get the professional version. They also offer a free version that I suggest you start out with. www.kindle.com This little guy can also dictate audio books. I havent tested it all that much but if you have one already, this could be a good option for you. Speed reading So hopefully youre left with something close to 25-35% of your readings at this point. I know it still looks like a lot of reading. But what if I told you that you can read this information twice as fast in 5 minutes? Step three is all about speeding up your reading. There have been quite a few speed reading programs and techniques out on the market for years; Im going to give you an overall breakdown of the best tricks to speed up your reading. Im also going to suggest a few programs that Ive looked at which will really help you double or even triple your reading speed. There are a few techniques on speed reading and I have tested them all. Included are a few speed reading packages you can buy below, so if youre interested go check them out. The three most useful tricks Ive come across are as follows. Eye Focus: As youre reading this line your eye is darting into various other parts of the page. For instance you might be reading this but also see other which is right above this line. This significantly slows down your reading speed. By using a pointer, your finger or a ruler for each line you can focus in on exactly what youre reading and cut down on interference. Another important thing to remember is that your vision has a hot spot of about the size of a quarter if you took that quarter and held it out as far as

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your arm could reach. This area is where the majority of your conscious reading takes place. Unfortunately when we move from line to line we usually start at the very beginning of the word. Notice the big white gaps on either side, popularly known as margins :) If youre seeing them with that quarter youre wasting valuable visual hot spot. Instead move your eye focus one word in from each line so instead of looking at either, look at side. Your hot spot will pick up both words simultaneously. It takes some practice but after a few hours of continual reading it will become second nature. Passive reading: This method is meant to speed up your reading rate while only losing a small amount of comprehension. Ill explain this through the example of highway versus street driving. Ever notice when you start driving on the street and switch to the highway then switch back to the street the street feels incredibly slow? You then end up unconsciously developing a lead foot. Same premise is found in reading. Read a few pages as fast as possible so that you are barely hanging on to your comprehension. Read the following pages for comprehension, not speed. You will actually read significantly faster than if you hadnt sped up in the first place. Expanding saccades: Most people dont read individual letters or even individual words. We dont look at apple as a-p-p-l-e, we see it as a single symbol. You do the same thing with words. Within your reading hot spot you dont just scan each-word-individually but instead look at a grouping of words and translate them all into knowledge at the same time. This process of grouping words is what speed readers called saccades. You can expand your saccadic movements and there are a few great computer programs that can train your eyes to improve the size of your saccades. A free option however is to try to train your eyes to take in larger amounts of words in a single look. So instead of just looking at (my dog spot), force yourself to look at (my dog spot ate), then (my dog spot ate a bug) and so on. You want to get to the point where you only have to make 2-3 saccadic movements per line to quickly understand the entire phrase. Here is a quick experiment you can try to test these strategies. Get a watch out and read 3 pages of a book. This will be your average reading speed. Next I want you to read 6 pages as quickly as possible applying the eye focus saccadic movements and comprehension reading techniques I just

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used. Right after you finish the 6 pages I want you to read another 3 pages while timing yourself. On average you should have increased your reading speed by 100-200%. Apply these methods to the remainder of your readings and you should be getting them finished in at least half the time. If youre still interested in speed reading and want to learn more, here are a few programs that Ive tested and found really useful. www.pxmethod.com The best one Ive come across. You can fire up your reading speed by 300% and dont lose any comprehension. Its pretty expensive but if you feel like you need a boost and have the extra cash. I suggest this route. Break through Rapid Reading by Peter Kump. Great cheap option for somebody who just wants to get started on speed reading, you can check it out here At this point you should only have a few of the readings left, with them either on your iPod or being read at 200% the regular speed. Now to make sure that this information stays in your head. There are a couple really quick things you can do to help remember readings after youve finished them. After completing a reading I want you to do a prcis. A prcis is a review of the articles main thesis, any crucial points you needed to put down and any quotes that youll need for papers later. I have an example and a blank prcis form that you can use as a guide. I suggest that these all be digital as Im going to show you how to turn these into a database in a later chapter. Try to keep the prcis short and to the point. Again use the same fundamental rules that you applied in the note taking chapter. Keep it short, write simply, and write for your 40 year old self. Regardless of what the prof says, try to do the readings in bulk, dont cut them up. This is really important because your recall rate will be significantly higher. If youre reading a book, read the whole thing, preferably in a single sitting. When you cut the readings up, you have to review what had happened before, you may be doing some readings in between which will lower comprehension and recall for your final exam. When youre finished a reading, talk to another person about it as soon as possible. This refers back to the teaching method of learning and the second T in the academic sift. If you can teach something you usually know it. My personal choice for discussing readings are fellow students,

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preferably students in your class as they can either add to the conversation or be incredibly grateful your teaching them the reading.

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Academic Sift
Throw: (Which readings are not important to complete to get an A on the course) _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ Talk: (Which of these books can I learn through discussion with VTA, TAs Profs, Students etc) Reading________________Who do I speak to?______________________ When can I speak to them?______________________________________ Reading________________Who do I speak to?______________________ When can I speak to them?______________________________________ Reading________________Who do I speak to?______________________ When can I speak to them?______________________________________ Reading________________Who do I speak to?______________________ When can I speak to them?______________________________________ Take: (Define which books you need to read in order of importance for each course) First Priority: __________________________________________ Second Priority: __________________________________________ Third Priority: __________________________________________ Questions to ask: Which of these books can I turn into Audio books? Which of these books can I simply skim through? Which of these books need my full attention?

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Prcis form: (This will also be available in a word file, feel free to shorten or expand on this form as you see fit)
AUTHOR: TITLE: LEVEL OF USEFULNESS FOR PROJECT/EXAM RANKED FROM 1 - 10. (Idea here is whether it is directly and highly related, or whether it might be tangentially related and or whether it might be useful in veering in another fruitful direction given the data/ideas being pursued.)

TOPIC AND THESIS:

DATA USED AND SOURCES:

KEY FINDINGS:

OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

REFERENCES OBTAINED FROM BOOK/ARTICLE:

IDEAS THIS BOOK/ARTICLE GENERATED:

THEORETICAL, HYPOTHESES, THINGS THAT RANG FALSE, ETC.

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So to review - Cut down your readings using the academic sift method - Step one, throw, talk and take - Step two, turn readings into audio books - Step three, speed reading techniques - When you finish a reading, do a prcis of the article or book so that you can use it later - Make sure to talk to somebody about the reading as well, if you can teach it, you know it

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Chapter 8: Time Management: Spend more time partying and less time working
In this Chapter you will learn how: - To use stress to your advantage - To focus your concentration - To focus other peoples concentration (Group work)

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Time Management is one of the most difficult skills to master in university but one of the best ways to free up time. This chapter is the a stitch in time saves nine masters course. I suggest you read this chapter over again if you find you havent gotten the concepts down or if you find yourself slipping (which will happen). We have already touched on the main concepts behind organization so Im going to concentrate on the management of your time. Keep in mind that organization is the base you need to properly build strong time management. Im going to present you with some outside the box thinking in this chapter that has only become available within the last few years with the rise of technology and globalization. I have always been challenged with time management. Constant procrastination led to me starting to write papers at 8pm for a 9am class the next morning, studying for tests an hour before I had to take them and not even opening books. I really started to become a great manager of my time in graduate school. I can remember sitting down and looking at a data set I had to program for a stats class and realized that I had 9 hours of me pushing the same keys on a computer over and over and OVER again. Ever 10 minutes I would stare out the window, do some pushups (it does help me stay on track sometimes), or many other things that drew the entire process out. All of a sudden, like a lightning bolt, I had an epiphany. The way in which I conquered time management was kind of counter intuitive. Get ready for this one. The best way to manage your time is NOT to manage it at all. Write that down. Students who cant manage their time properly can improve to a degree but dont get anywhere near those genius kids that always seem to have their work done and projects finished. So I suggest you dont manage your time at all, its foolish to think that you can keep yourself on the straight and narrow at university when you

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couldnt during high school and grade school. Your brain is pretty much hard wired at this point. You can improve your time management skills but a complete shift is doubtful. So youre asking yourself, Ok, what the hell am I supposed to do with this chapter. Well here is the second component, do not manage your time get others to manage it for you! Lets take an example of working out at a gym. If you just decide to start working out with a plan you put together yourself, your chances of success is pretty low. But, if you sign up for a trainer who teaches you the best techniques to work out effectively and every time your at the gym hes yelling at you to push harder and keep going, what do you think is going to happen? I think you already know Its amazing how we get experts to train us on so many things but one of the most fundamental skills you need help with youre left with no help or direction at all. Once I had this realization, everything changed. I used three main sources to manage my time. - Virtual Assistants: I hired virtual assistants to manage everything from helping me with research, proofreading papers, to managing my facebook profile (which wasnt all that successful). I went through a large amount of trial and error with these people. I got burned a few times with virtual assistants that didnt get me the results I wanted and didnt get work back to me on time. Ive worked very hard to take this idea and turn it into the virtual teaching assistant service that youve signed up for. They are all professionals who have had teaching assistant experience and are either finished or going through graduate school. How often do you get your own PhD student to look over your papers personally? The VTA program is the best option but if you dont want to go this direction Ill have a couple more options for you throughout the chapter.

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- Fellow Students: Other students will keep you motivated and are a huge resource. I made sure I had a buddy in each class that was interested in getting things done as efficiently as possible in each class. Study buddies are great for a few reasons. First, they are going through the same thing as you and they wont sabotage your time. A time sabotager is somebody who asks you about your weekend in class, they pass you silly notes all the time and they cant stay on task when you set up a study date. These people, you do NOT want to be around. If they are friends of yours, keep away from them in class. Hang out with them after class. As I said in the organization chapter, define your work space and your social space. The dorms are a social space; the bar is a social space. In class is not a social space, study hall is not a social space. Keep them divided and youll actually have more time to socialize. Second, you can share the load with fellow students on tests and assignments which can halve or even quarter the time youll need to get a great mark. - TAs and Profs: I started to make sure I was emailing and talking to my profs and TAs. First week of classes I came in to talk to professors and TAs about courses. Teaching assistants are this amazingly free resource available to all students. They are smart, they are easier to talk to then professors and they will be marking your tests and papers. They have also seen or in some cases written the exams. Some TAs will hand over exactly whats on the exam if you come to their office hours (when you ask the right questions). TAs are also starved for attention throughout the semester. In the five years I was a teaching assistant I got a line up out of my office door the week before midterms, papers and final exams. Other than that, I got maybe one student a week. Students who regularly see their TA get higher marks, period. Profs are also useful, they will take less time to talk to you on average in comparison to teaching assistants but, if you are interested in moving on past your undergraduate degree. I suggest talking to them soon and often. It never hurts to know the person in charge of your final grade. Main components of time management So what are the main components of time management and how can you outsource these responsibilities. Lets go through the main components of good time management.

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- Reading preparation - Test/Exam preparation - Paper/project preparation - Note preparation Reading Preparation: We already went over reading methods in the last chapter. But there are a few points you should keep in mind when youre trying to manage your reading time. If youre stuck with actually reading something that cannot be turned into another form of media, get it done as quickly as possible. Share the load with other students and get them to teach you sections that you havent read. Go to your TA and ask one or two questions about the readings. The majority of the time they will give you exactly what you need to know without asking whether youve done the reading or not. If youre absolutely stuck with reading, go to a work space, open the book and get lost in the book. Take one to two minutes before you begin, read the title and think about what the book will be about and what you are looking to get out of the book. This will focus your mind onto the task at hand and remove stray thoughts that may encroach on your focus. Ever read the same line 10 times over? If that happens, a very easy fix is to switch to the next page. It will launch you right out of your procrastination and get you back on track. If you absolutely cant stand the reading you have to complete there is another great strategy to get about 90% of the comprehension in a very short period of time. This method is to be used as a LAST RESORT as it will not replace full comprehension reading. Open up your book and look at the title. Spend 10 seconds trying to understand the title and theorize on what the readings going to be about. Go directly to the conclusion and read the last paragraph. Then go immediately to the beginning and read the first three paragraphs. From then on, read the first line and last line on every paragraph and any bolded or italicized text if present. After completion write down your prcis as you will not be able to retain this information for longer than a few hours. This method is also very useful if youre stuck cramming for an exam or have to quickly come up with something creative to say for a reading in class. Note Preparation: As I already reviewed note taking in an earlier chapter Im just going to throw in a few extra points. Make sure to develop good

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shorthand for your notes, putting an hour in to figure out a great system at the beginning of the semester will save you days worth of headaches and hand cramps. Make sure to review notes after each class. Anything you dont understand should not wait to be understood later as it usually is forgotten 5 minutes after the lecture until its time to prepare for the exam. Talk to your study buddy or the TA/Prof. A method I use which I find the most time effective is to just email them. Throw out a quick email and you usually get a response that is to the point and can quickly be integrated into your notes. Showing up to actually take notes is really important. Lecture is the most productive learning period during an entire course as you can successfully integrate all learning styles simultaneously. I would rather you miss the readings than the lecture. Exam Preparation: Exam preparation is an accumulation of your note and reading preparation. You are going to be spending 10 times the amount of time studying for the exam if you dont have good notes and havent done the readings. So just do them! Ill deal with procrastination next chapter but keep in mind spending a little time at the beginning can save you a tone at the end. Here are some steps I want you to take when exam time rolls around. Figure out when all your exams are. I want you to set them a day back on your calendar. Its important that you only move it back by one day. If you pull it back earlier, the system Im suggesting for maximum retention will not be effective (i.e. most of the information will leave you before you take the exam). Get a study buddy, or buddies to go over the test material with you. You should usually have two meetings. A meeting three to four days before the exam and a meeting either the day before or day of the exam. Your first meeting will be to go over what you have studied I have a specific exam study method later in the book. Figure out what youre going to be doing, figure out what your study buddies are doing, and see if they match up. If they dont; investigate as to whether youre studying the right material. Keep this meeting short, a half an hour would be best and have this meeting in a work space, dont socialize till you get to a social space. If people get off track, get them back on it. If the meeting is finished and you want to socialize, suggest you all go out to the bar for a drink, dont poison your work space with socializing. The second meeting is what I call the confidence meeting; this can be done the day before or the day of the exam.

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Youve gotten all the needed information in your mind. You know it forward and backwards and are ready to quiz each other. You shouldnt be learning anything at this point; youre just reviewing and building up your confidence. Nothing in a test is more powerful than knowing that you know all the material by heart. Paper/project Preparation: Paper and project preparation is one of the greatest black holes for time management. Again, Ive dedicated a whole chapter to papers and projects later in the book. For right now lets talk about how you can cut down the amount of time it takes to write these things. First, figure out exactly what you want to do. Get a clear idea of your thesis; pass it by your VTA or your TA/prof and class mates before going forward. This will help to make sure that the project is doable and will also get you an idea of what kind of research has already been done on it. Do not start a paper without knowing something about the subject beforehand. Im a sociologist, I could write a paper on migration theory in a heartbeat but string theory not so much. Usually choosing a subject that youre interested in and has been touched on in class is best. Let me make this incredibly clear research should be outsourced. Let me state first that this is not plagiarism to have somebody else do the research for you. If that were true then all professors would be liable due to their army of research assistants writing all their books for them. Your virtual TA will be able to do this faster and better than you. They can also suggest specific directions to take the paper that you probably didnt think of. Virtual TAs are also paid professionals, they are interested in you succeeding and dont care about bell curving, the university, your class or any other averaging behavior that TAs and profs are forced into. You can get the same kinds of help from TAs, Profs and other students but this is by far the fastest and easiest way. Dont spend more time producing bad research when your VTA can do it better than you in a fraction of the time. Try to write the paper in a single sitting, if you stop and start not only will this stop your thinking process you will literally lose time restarting a paper. How long do you think it takes to turn on your computer, get out your sources, re-read what youve written and get yourself in the state of mind again to write? Conservatively it takes 15 minutes, and it usually takes another 5 to put everything away. If you start and stop four times, youve blown an hour. Ill have specific procrastination strategies you can implement later in the book. But just try to keep in mind that if youre

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writing, write from beginning to end. Through using my method Ive had students write 20 double spaced pages of A+ material in two hours. Dont spend days writing when an hour will do. This brings me to my second point. Write first, everything second. Once you have made the decision to write stick with it, do not multitask. That means no instant messaging, no networking sites, no blogs, just you and the material. Your time audit that youre going to do or already have done should show you how much time you spend doing those things. This takes you off your main goal, getting the paper done as quickly as possible. Facebook will still be there after youre done, I promise. Ever think about how amazing a paper is going to be but when you actually write it all your ideas come out like verbal diarrhea? Its sometimes better to get your ideas out improperly than properly. I know that this seems like youll be creating more work for yourself. In some instances youre absolutely right as youll have to rework some of the sections that didnt come out quite right. But if you just write your ideas, they have moved from your head to the page which is the biggest step. If you get out of your writing zone, it sometimes takes a long time to get back in. Keep yourself on track and write dammit! Stress is sometimes the fertilizer of creativity. Ever just write a paper from start to finish the day before it was due and get a better than expected result back? Well that is the great phenomenon of allostasis which I discussed earlier. The assignment you have usually expands into the time you have to complete it. If you have two days to complete an assignment its usually just as good if you had two weeks. The way you can turn this into an advantage is to move your assignments back on your calendar and write everything in a pre-defined amount of time. Dont let them draw out. Finish that paper in two days, not two weeks. The great thing about our method is that you will be forced to hand in assignments that need correction by your VTA at least three days in advance of the actual submission date. So you wont be managing your own time, the system will do it for you. The big picture for time management The key to time management is to understand when youre working and when youre not working. Keep a strict division between the two. A lot of people today constantly have email, blackberries, computers and phone calls attacking them beyond the 9-5 day. The goal is NOT to work all the

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time. University time management can be conquered by getting rid of those distractions. As I have said in previous chapters. Try to mechanize and systematize as many repetitive processes as possible. If youre not doing something new, it usually isnt important and doesnt need your attention. Check email ONCE A DAY, check your social networking site ONCE A DAY, and check your voicemail ONCE A DAY! Those messages dont have an expiration date. Get that protestant ethic OUT and youll manage your time better than you ever have before. Remember, you want to get information in as quickly and richly as possible so do things right the first time and stay focused.

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So in Review - The best way to manage your time is to get somebody else to manage it for you. - Capitalize on Profs and TAs, fellow students and most importantly your virtual TA. - Review the management plan for the four components of time management - Reading preparation - Test/Exam preparation - Paper/project preparation - Note preparation - Remember, you want to get information in as quickly and richly as possible

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Chapter 9: Stopping Procrastination

In this chapter you will learn: -Why we procrastinate -Why procrastination isnt your fault - How to solve it.

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Ok Im going to give you another weird concept to get your head around so get ready I have become one of the most productive people I know and Im also one of the greatest procrastinators I know. I have also interviewed many successful students that are horrible procrastinators and are incredibly productive. Wait what? How can I be productive and a procrastinator? Well its simple, Im a procrastinator that realizes that Im terrible at being responsible for my own actions. I therefore have placed that onus of self regulation on other systems to force myself into productivity. I have read a mountain of books on how to become productive. Im going to include my version of those strategies throughout this book but the chances of you implementing all of those strategies are slim to nil (I know this from personal experience as I struggled with procrastination all my life). Instead, I would suggest you look at this process from the opposite point of view. Im going to get you to force yourself into being productive by removing most of the avenues of procrastination. Lets first go over why we procrastinate. I want you to first go back to a point in your mind when you were procrastinating. You might be procrastinating on something right now! I have my taxes on my desk which Im going to send out to my accountant this afternoon. Why this afternoon? Well because Ive set up a meeting with my accountant and if I miss it, Ill be charged for the meeting without getting anything done. Now, Id like you to pause for a minute and give me the reason why you procrastinate. Take a minute right now. Ill wait Ok now you should have fallen into a few categorical excuses. The most illogical reason is that you just didnt wanna. This is a valid answer but is based on some deeper psychological basis that I cant really get into right now. You are probably procrastinating for the thrill of failure or that you had an overly structured childhood and are rebelling against that structure. If thats you I would suggest you take a deep look inside yourself

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and ask why you just dont want to do things as you must conquer that form of procrastination to be successful throughout your life. You probably have mom/dad issues and I suggest you read a little bit on the psychological basis of these problems. Here is a great starting link. Another good reason for procrastination is that you lack the skills to accomplish the task. I have come across this reason quite a lot in my personal life and my research. Looking at the new skills you have to learn and the amount of work you have to do to accomplish a task can be daunting. Another reason to procrastinate is when you lack motivation. Dont fear the consequences or believe a project is not important. Stress and fear is usually seen as a negative thing but research has shown that in completing tasks, stress can actually be positive and can make you complete certain tasks faster and better than if you werent stressed in the first place. You can also have a fear of decisions. A student called it the failure to launch phenomenon. You know exactly what you have to do but you dont make that initial decision to actually do it. Keep in mind that procrastination is not about time management, its about making a decision to stay on task. Many procrastinators can manage their time perfectly, its actually implementing the program they have set up which gives them trouble. You can have every reason to start a project and then lie to yourself saying Oh, Ill do this tomorrow even though deep down you know you never will. Im going to be showing you techniques on how to suppress or force you out of these excuses but keeping yourself internally accountable for your success is paramount (read chapter two again if you need more help on this). My personal story, a case study in procrastination If youre interested in getting the highest marks possible and suppressing procrastination you usually must choose classes and projects that: you are interested in, have great content, are as easy as possible, are based off information you already know and that you have a good support group in. Now if you cant get out of the class that doesnt meet those criteria, what you need to do is break down the information as quickly and as easily as possible. As a personal example I had a statistics course that I had very little experience in but had to take. Here are the anti-procrastination steps I took to complete the course easily and with a mark that I was happy with (A-).

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1) I first had a meeting with the professor to have a chat. - I asked What is the course exactly about? (in this case the class was about statistics and regression analysis). - I told the professor exactly what I wanted to accomplish in the course and asked him how difficult it would be to achieve that. I said I wanted an A in the course and wanted to learn how to run and interpret regressions so that I would appear like I knew what I was doing during a job talk 3. - Next I asked him what kind of content we are going to have and what the best strategies were to learn them as easily as possible. The second part of this statement is crucially important because if you simply ask for extra content the professor will usually name off 10 incredibly complex books that you dont have time to read. Im also making sure he understands that Im looking for an A (See the chapter on befriending professors to understand why this is important). 2) The second thing I did was look over the content for the course to find out some shortcuts. - The internet had a lot of easy to use guides on regression analysis. I searched for the easiest and shortest guides; there is a great resource here that gives you notes on most subjects. - I emailed the prof and after reviewing the content asked whether certain pieces of content would be covered through lecture. At this point he actually told me that the textbook wasnt all that important as most of the stuff I would need to learn would be covered in class and that I should use the book as a reference tool. Another book on the not read pile Hooray! 3) I had a conversation over beers with upperclassmen who had taken the course already. - I asked them how difficult the course was and the main problems they faced with the content and prof.
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A Job Talk is a term used in academia for the interviewing process of new professors to a department. It is a good term to use with profs as it suggests that you are working towards the goal of teaching yourself one day (even if your not) which makes you more relatable than the majority of students.

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- I asked if they knew what I should do in terms of keeping on task and if anyone could help me out. (I got the best student in last years class to personally tutor me from this talk) 4) I got a Tutor. - As I said in step three, I convinced the best student in last years class to help me with the course. He helped me through all the assignments and practically handed over assignments to me when I couldnt understand them and coached me through the difficult theoretical concepts. I paid him in beer. 5) I got two study buddies - I got myself two study buddies who were at the same overall level as me. I used the rules from the group assignment chapter to make us all accountable for assignments being finished on time. - We shared content and in essence broke the work up three ways which enabled me to work a third of the time while still understanding the main concepts behind what was being taught. 6) I started assignments immediately - Most of the time the reason why you cant finish a project is because you cant start it. When an assignment was given to us I would spend 5 minutes opening up a new word file, writing the title and introductory paragraph with a general outline of what I wanted to accomplish. Getting your assignment started is the best indicator of completing it. The preparation is already done and all you have to do is open up the word file to start typing. 7) I made accountability meetings - When I had an assignment due or specifically when the final project was due, I made accountability meetings with my prof and study buddies. Here is an example of an email I sent to my prof. Dr Imnottellingyouhisrealname Im thinking of doing my project on resource based transnational statistical indicators using logit regression. Id like to take 15 minutes to ask you a couple questions on running logit through STATA and whether you

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think the subject will be viable as a final project. Im thinking about meeting you at your office hours on Monday. If thats not a good time, what other time can I meet with you this week? LM - So if you look at this email, there are some very important tips you should keep in mind. I first said exactly what I wanted to do. Next, I said exactly what I needed from him and when Im going to meet with him, plus whether he will be available at that time. If he wont be available, I restricted his options to meet with me to a specified period (in this case the remainder of the week). - During that meeting I had a few things ready. I finished my research and had a theoretical basis of what I wanted to do my project on. (I did a little of my own research in conjunction with my tutor and a few buddies who work on the same thing all throwing in some articles) I had a main statement of intent (i.e. what I wanted to accomplish in this project). I then asked him whether this would be viable as a final project (this is code for, is this project going to get me the mark I want). - The purpose of the meeting was to get me motivated to finish the first sections of the project. You will embarrass yourself if you arent prepared, its better to automatically make a meeting first then work towards that meeting through the fear of embarrassment. Remember that it doesnt matter if you have five days or one; youre usually going to produce the same quality of work. 8) I looked at projects in pieces rather than a single job - I broke every project I had down into its base parts and started grouping them together so that I could do like tasks together. This allowed me to start projects immediately as I usually could at least do a part of it without any prior knowledge - This is really one of the greatest problems for procrastinators in my own personal experiences and in interviewing students. Lets take a look at a classic example of an essay that has to be completed. If youre looking at a 10 page essay you might think, this is so much work; how much brainstorming, research, writing and editing is this going to take? Yet, if you instead look at it in terms of writing a thesis statement, figuring out the main components that support that thesis statement,

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researching each component, writing each component separately etc You begin to realize that the essay is not a single project but a multifaceted set of smaller projects, each being relatively achievable in a short amount of time. I dont want to get into the methodology of this just yet as we will be covering how to break down this process formally in future chapters using the critical thinking method. So you can see that there are many avenues that you can take to become more accountable without concentrating on consciously being accountable. A one minute email to a prof forces me to have half the project done, I have no choice. Talking to my tutor about an assignment forces me into an hour long discussion on the assignment. In group work, making a promise to be finished my part of the project three days before its due forces me to work on that part and allows the other parts to be done automatically for me way before the due date. How to Solve Procrastination Here are some important rules to take into consideration when dealing with procrastination. Just keep these idioms in mind and you should become more accountable to your work instantaneously. Break it down: Dont look at a project and get scared ever. Fear and stress is only useful at the end of a project, not the beginning (more about that in a later chapter). Take your project and break it down into chunks, once you break it down into its components its usually very easy to accomplish in a short amount of time. Just Start it Dammit!: Start everything, I know this seems like a bit of a waste of time as you might throw out that initial start but the point of starting a project is to make it less scary. The longest journey begins with a single step so step, right now! Set Study Times: You have to study every day, think of it like brushing your teeth or taking a shower (I hope you do that every day). I like to study from 3-3:30pm Monday to Friday. I can study at other times but that time is for me to lock myself down. This will be hard at first but it will get easier

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after about two weeks. You can expand on your study time but try to keep it small initially so you dont get frustrated and fall out of your new routine. Accountability Backups: There are a few accountability systems you can implement immediately to force you to stay on task. Your virtual teaching assistant can be your first line of defense. You can set up your VTA to email/phone you when you need to accomplish a goal. As an example, VTAs need a minimum of three days to turn a paper around. Its much safer to fail your VTA then it is to fail your prof. You can also set up accountability backups through your study buddies. They particularly like this as they get something out of it as well. Visual Reminders: I like sticky notes, you can post them anywhere and they are a great little reminder when you unconsciously fall off task. I have a buddy that had horrible posture; he solved the problem by writing down Posture on a sticky note and putting it on his monitor. Here are a couple anti-procrastination notes you could use to stay accountable that I use. - Is what Im doing important? - Stop playing and work for 5 minutes. - Work now - Dont procrastinate Study Space: Again this relates to time management but is central to procrastination as well. If you have programmed your mind to only do work in a certain spot, all you have to do is force yourself to that spot. How long do you think youll last in front of facebook, a couple friends and the TV blaring before you fall off task? Focus your environment and you will focus yourself. Make your tasks meaningful: If you have to do a task that youre really not interested in, try to make it interesting (even though its not). Just like you trick yourself into thinking that youll get that done tomorrow. Trick yourself into thinking that what youre doing is interesting and meaningful. Write down what youre going to do and do it: Make a list of what youre going to do and make sure it gets done. Write down achievable and specific points, putting down finish paper wont do. A better point will be Will research 5 articles on jewish immigration rates by 3pm tonight, go to

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Blackwell-snyergy.com to start search. This gives you a concrete completion date and a specific target that you have to meet. Get a timer: Get a timer for study or paper writing and set it for 5 minutes. For those 5 minutes do NOTHING BUT WORK. Anybody can work for 5 minutes uninterrupted. The trick is that after the alarm goes off youll be in such a great work flow that you wont want to stop. Keep the timer around for when you lose your focus and just reset the timer for another 5 minutes. Procrastination is hard, but failing is harder. Keep points like that in mind whenever you feel yourself falling back into the deep dark hole of time waste. Use the systems offered by your VTAs and this book to keep yourself from wasting time. Remember stopping the pattern is much easier when you systematize your success.

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So in Review - Review the reasons why you procrastinate so that you can figure out how to conquer it. - Review how you solve this problem by: - Breaking it down - Just starting it dammit! - Creating accountability backups - Using visual reminders - Using your study space - Make your tasks meaningful - Write down what youre going to do and do it - Getting a study timer

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Chapter 10: Why Professors are your friends, Or Should be

In this chapter you will learn: - How the university system is put together - How to deal with female and male professors - Why TAs are your friends - How to hold off taking your exam or test - How to change your mark after your test/paper has been submitted

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I have an unfortunate truth that Id like to share with you right now, your going to get a little depressed about this but dont worry, keep reading. Universities are not really interested in teaching students. They frankly could care less about the students. Universities primary concern is research funding. Research becomes increasingly important the more important your university is. Now, dont get me wrong, the advantages of going to a really good university offers you great advantages in terms of access to great professors and job opportunities after you get out of school. But, dont fool yourself; the universities main goal is making money through research and to raise their state/national/international ranking. If you doubt this take a look at the highest ranked universities in the world and how much they make from research. Unfortunately this same trend is becoming more popular with professors. Here are some points that will scare you. - Student reviews are becoming less important to profs getting promotions as the university accounts for them less and less. - More part time profs are being hired than ever before which saves the university money and creates two different types of profs, low paid teaching lecturers and highly paid research profs. - First and second year classes have a minimum and maximum average that the university sets and the professor cannot mark out of. Therefore, it doesnt matter how good the teacher is or how well the class does, the majority of students must get Bs. - Most university students rarely interact with a tenured professor during their undergraduate degree. - Tenured professors do not have to teach any classes. - School teachers have to get an undergraduate degree plus teaching college. The vast majority of professors have no formal training in teaching, whatsoever. These facts arent meant to scare you. I found university one of the best experiences in my life and there are many committed profs out there. I just want you to understand the way the system is set up. Once you know how universities work, I can show you strategies to circumvent these pitfalls and maximize your chance at success.

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How to deal with professors The following sections come out of my experiences from interacting with professors during my undergraduate, graduate and teaching career. During your undergrad you are mostly seen by professors as a student. However, graduate school gave me the opportunity to be treated more as a colleague rather than a student. You switch to first names with your profs, you work on papers together, you go out to the bars with them etc. Based on conversations with profs, Ive come up with some fundamental ideals that every professor and for that matter person, respects. Confidence: Being confident is probably the most important thing to be when interacting with any person. Im not saying that you should be browbeating people. Take Barrack Obama again as an ideal example of what you want to communicate. Chapter 2 should help you with becoming more confident in a very short time. Positivity: Negative people are generally much less successful in society than positive people. One of the main reasons why this is true is because they are generally received by people better and are able to convince people to their way of thinking better than negative people. The adage you catch more bees with honey than with vinegar can sum positivity up quite nicely. Respect: Having respect for your prof is crucially important. Respect is not sucking up. If you suck up and kiss his/her butt the prof will usually say to themselves oh another one of those and count the tiles on the ceiling while you try to tell him how much his paper meant to you. Instead, finding respectable, intelligent faults in a paper he/she wrote and asking him/her for clarification will get you a tone of respect if it reflects the subject of your class or an assignment you are doing. Passion: If youre passionate about what youre doing, you will usually get the same passion back. If youre not really interested in what youre doing, youre usually going to get the same responses from profs. You usually find this in class lectures as some professors can make the content really exciting, while other profs present the content in a flat and really boring way.

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Composure: If youre composed and calm, this shows everyone around you that you are in control of your environment. People who react sharply to a situation do not gain respect from others. They will see you as someone who cant keep it together. Preparedness: The last and probably most important ideal, being prepared in front of a prof is next to godliness in their eyes. I have had hundreds of students come and see me who wanted to talk about an upcoming test or assignment and have no preparation whatever. This wastes my time and unconsciously makes me place the student in a negative light. Be PREPARED, its important. There are also fundamental ideals that every professor and person does not respect. Trying to Hard: Most profs Ive talked to after a few beers have told me the absolute worst kind of student is a suck-up. Kids who are trying too hard infuriate professors as they usually waste their time. They waste time through asking questions that arent relevant and ask story questions rather than directed questions. If this is you, stop right now. JUST STOP! Your marks will go up by 5-10% just from doing this one thing guaranteed. Most profs are actually a little harder on these kids as they feel like they should be punished for wasting their time (every prof will deny this publically but its true, Ive heard it dozens of times). Nervousness: If you are nervous, chapter 2 will help you to get over this. Ive had students that have come to see me and been uncontrollably shaking. Ive actually told some to calm down and take a deep breath. It is ok to be nervous but use the strategies throughout this book to cut down on this. Also the more you do something the easier it will be. So just keep at it. Lack of focus: If you make an appointment about a paper with a prof and talk about 10 different things of which maybe one is directly related to the assignment, this bugs the hell out of profs. This relates to being prepared but more importantly it relates to being on task. Have a specific point to the meeting. Dont waste their time and they will thank you for it.

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Unpreparedness: Read the section on preparedness above. If youre not prepared to talk to profs they wont give you the time of day and will see you in a negative light. Ive had kids come in two days before an exam with loose leaf notes from three different subjects as their study material. If youre unprepared, its better to not even talk to the prof. Being Apologetic: This last point may seem somewhat counterintuitive as being apologetic would seem like a positive trait to have. It definitely is a positive trait to a point. This is linked to confidence and respect. If you completely crumble on the slightest critique of your work, profs will not respect you. Dont apologize for your work, embrace it and take the initiative to discuss and even respectfully challenge their critique of your work. It shows that youre thinking and that youre not willing to go down without a bit of a fight. On meeting with profs Ok, now that you have the general ideals down lets go through what you need to do to actually set up, prepare for and go to a meeting. A lot of students that read the first draft of this book told me they didnt understand the importance of talking to profs. Well here is another point you should right down. Meetings with profs are the easiest way to bring up your marks without study. Why is that? Well profs like any other human on this planet are open to persuasion. If you expect a prof to have a godly sense of equality, think again, they have favorites and you want to be one. This can be accomplished in many ways, whether through directly being impressed by the student, non-verbal communication, neuro-linguistic programming or low level hypnotization. I was a salesman during my undergrad and I learned a tone of tricks from the marketing and sales world that are applicable to convincing profs to do what you want. I have also found this trend in the students that I interviewed and in my own personal experience I believe it gave me approximately a 10% jump in my marks overall.

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The theory of rapport Lets take a look at the story of two students. Each have the same level of intelligence and have the same study habits. On the first quiz, both students get a B+ and arent happy with their results. Student one goes and bitches to his fellow students that he should have gotten a higher mark because the questioning was unfair and vague. Student two goes to the prof prepared with reasons why he should have gotten a higher mark and gets one of two outcomes. He either gets a higher mark on the quiz or he doesnt. Yet I will guarantee that he does automatically get a higher mark later on as the prof remembers him and doesnt want to go through the same process again. Many students are intimidated from trying this stuff but if you take the time to learn how to approach and convince professors your GPA will thank you. First lets break down what kinds of profs youre going to meet and how to deal with each type. Ive built this categorization system off Jungian archetypes and the Myers Briggs test for personality types. There are four types of professors youre going to see. Theorizer: This individual looks to come up with new and interesting theories all the time. They are usually introverted and are uncomfortable with the opposite sex. They are usually the smartest out of all the groups but have a very low emotional intelligence and lack significant socializing skills. They are also very intimated by confident people. Artist: The person who wants to be the life of the party. The archetypal extrovert, they like speaking and can go off topic very easily. They can adapt to different social situations relatively easily and can speak to anyone about pretty much any subject. Even if they know almost nothing about a subject they can still convincingly make a statement. Controller: Controllers always have to have a project on the go. They want to micro-manage students and will give you incredibly detailed notes for instance for an assignment. They are usually a little introverted and try to control situations in order to gain social acceptance and power.

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Analyzer: Incredibly analytical. Analyzers will look at an issue from all directions before coming to a conclusion. Unlike a theorizer however, this person is usually less creative and more matter of fact. They lack the ability to think outside the box which they secretly wish they could always do. They are excellent managers and are incredibly logical. Before speaking to your professor, you should try to place them in one of these personality types. You can use these personality types to decide on which strategies will work best with each professor. If you would like to study some more complex models, check out the Myers Briggs test which has 16 personality types. Before you meet up with a prof Warm the Pot: Do not have a meeting with a prof about upgrading a mark if you havent had a meeting with him before. This is a sure fire way to not get what you want. You must build rapport with your professor if you hope to get a higher mark. Profs like all people, will help students who work hard, are nice and dont suck up. Talk to other people: Talk to students and even other profs about the professor in question. They will usually be able to tell you quite a lot about the professor and what they are like. You can also go to www.ratemyprofessor.com which will give you a break down of what the professor is like and whether other students have found him/her easy to work with. Be Prepared: Do not walk into a meeting without knowing exactly what you want the meeting to be about. Write it out on a piece of paper and define exactly what the problem is and how you would like to solve it. Take into consideration that the majority of the profs you meet are going to be prepared for you, so you better be prepared for them. Loosen yourself up: Loosen yourself up before you speak to the prof. I would suggest talking to a few friends or the secretarial staff before going to see the professor. It gets your mind in the mood to converse and will calm you down if youre nervous. Also remember to speak and move in a slow

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calm manner. This non-verbally communicates that you are in control of yourself. Prepare good questions: Again take a look at chapter 5 for a full workup on how to put together a good question. Take the time to go over the strategies for compiling good questions and come up with a few main ones with some backups in case the primary ones are easily thrown aside. During the Meeting Befriend the professor: If you are speaking to the prof about a mark that you want upgraded you better have spoken to him/her earlier about the course to befriend the prof. If not, profs will look at you as a student who is simply coming in for a shot at higher marks, that isnt really interested in the class at all. Before the meeting, ask the professor how they are, this will loosen them up and help the befriending process. Mirroring: During the entire conversation you will want to use the method of mirroring to non-verbally copy the profs movements. For instance if the prof crosses his/her legs, you should cross the opposite leg creating a mirror image. Pay attention to their non-verbal communication and copy it. There are complex neuro-linguistic explanations as to why this works but very simply, by copying the movements you seem less combative and friendlier. Try this with friends, it really works! Using the word because: Using because is incredibly powerful in heightening your chance of getting a higher mark. A recent study showed that when people used the word because in a request they tripled their success rate in getting what they wanted. So here are some examples of what I mean. I need to hold an A average because Im applying to law school next year I think I should have gotten a higher mark on number 5 because I went through the entire equation and only got the last section wrong You can also use an if then statement. If/Then statements are not as combative as making a straight demand on a prof. The key is to walk a line between being demanding in your statement while only giving the prof a few select socially acceptable responses. Here is an example of an If/Then statement.

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If I dont hold an A average, then Ill lose my scholarship If I dont get a an A in the final I wont be able to play on the football team next fall Assuming the Sale: If youve ever listened to a great salesman they never ask you a direct question that you can answer no to. Salesman will never say so do you want to buy this product? Studies have shown that the majority of the time, even if they want to product, people will say no if you give them the option. The same premise can be applied to professors meetings. The assuming the sale technique requires internal and external preparation. Before going into the meeting its important to believe that you will get what you want. This seems kind of obvious but before going to the meeting take a minute to reinforce the idea that youre prepared and going to succeed. Youd be surprised how many times students dont take this step. The phone number pick up in chapter two is a perfect example of how you assume the sale. You dont ask a person for their phone number, you ask them your name (99% of the time they give it to you) then you write it down and hand them the page telling them to write their email down. So, saying something like You: I found many of the students I spoke to had a problem with this question Prof: Ya.. youre right about that one You: As you can see I finished the entire equation and only got one section wrong Prof: Yes I see that You: Great, I thought this would be worth at least 7-8 points (notice how you give a range so that youre only giving the prof two options) Prof: How about I just give you 8 points on that question Deal with each issue separately: If you want to speak to your prof about three questions that you think you should get a higher mark on, deal with each issue separately. Do not give them your entire story up front as you are allowing the prof to discount all the questions at the same time. Start with the question you believe is the most difficult to win over the prof with first. If he/she gives you extra marks, youre automatically going to have little problem with the other two. If he/she doesnt give you a higher mark on your first question you have two other questions that are easier to convince

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the prof of. Real-estate salesman do this ALL THE TIME, they will always show you the best house at the end of the day after youve seen all the terrible ones. Get rid of the Nos: So what do you do if the professor says no. You should be ready to figure out exactly why he/she said no. Most of the time a no response is a reflex reaction to a question. Do not just take a no as the end of the conversation. Here are some examples of what you can say after the no. Any reason in particular? Can you explain to me why this doesnt deserve a higher mark? (After the explanation be ready to discount it) This will usually stop about 25% of all nos. Again the better you get at it, the higher your ratios will go up. Try practicing this with friends in discussions as well to refine your own personal technique. Jonesing: Jonesing is a classic sales technique that has been around for more than 50 years and is still incredibly effective in convincing profs. Its based of a sales technique in the 50s where neighbours became increasingly competitive to get the next consumer product. Salesman would say, well your neighbour The Joness just bought this vacuum cleaner. This one technique helped to convince millions of people to buy worthless junk and it is still just as effective today as it was 50 years ago. Here are some examples you can use. Prof Jones is only giving us one long answer question for the final exam Prof Jones cancelled the final exam because he knew we didnt have the time to study Prof Jones gave me an extra week to finish my paper because he knew I had a lot on my plate. Yes sell: This is a low level form of hypnotization that you can use to get your professor to say yes to things he/she wouldnt have previously. Its used in sales all the time and is built on the premise that if you say yes to a bunch of easy questions (usually 7 is the best number), its much easier to then say yes to a difficult question. So for instance, you could ask questions like: Is the paper due next week? Is that a picture of your daughter? Did you go to school at Yale? Ask any question as long as you know the answer is

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yes. Then ask for an extension or a mark upgrade and you automatically will have a better chance at getting a positive response. The silence sell: This technique is best to push a professor or teaching assistant that wants to give you the mark but is apprehensive. The idea behind this strategy is to use silence to make the other party nervous. Here is an example: Prof: Well I really dont see what else we can do to move your mark up You: Look the prof in the left eye and BE ABSOLUTELY SILENT, DO NOT SPEAK UNTIL THE PROF SAYS SOMETHING. This can last 30 seconds to a minute. If youre feeling really nervous sing a little song in your head or sing the alphabet. Give this a try with friends first to refine your technique. Ive had multiple students try this and Ive gotten a full grade upgrade from this technique. Make it up later sell: This is quite effective if you have already tried all the other techniques. You can ask to supplement your bad mark in a test or paper with writing another paper to either replace or upgrade your low mark. Options sell: (WARNING) This is somewhat of an extreme technique that I suggest you only try at your own risk. Ive personally tried it three times and its worked twice. Most of the time, the person with the most options seems to win in negotiation. The options sell is an extreme If/Then statement. If I dont get what I want then Im going to drop the course. You have to be ready to quit the class if youre going to try this technique. I have gotten a 15% and 10% jump in my midterm using this technique and another prof called my bluff where I actually dropped his course. The reason why this technique is so effective is because the university tracks how many students leave a course and that information goes on professors permanent records. If they have a trend of students leaving their classes, it doesnt bode well for them. Also, if youre an active student, the prof usually doesnt want to lose you as they usually love students that answer and pose interesting questions. If youre interested in going on to a graduate degree, this technique is very important as you want to hold an A average. You can usually get 90% of your tuition back from a class if you drop it within the first few months and it is far better to get four As than three As and two Bs.

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Differences between TAs and Profs Think of teaching assistants as younger more overworked versions of professors. They usually are given more of the heavy work like marking tests and papers, test preparation and sometimes lecture preparation. They are usually graduate students but sometimes (like in my experience) they can also be undergraduate students. Let me get this out of the way first, if you have the opportunity to become a teaching assistant, you should absolutely take it. It is by far the best way to implement the rest of the strategies in the book. It will also show you how tests and papers are put together and marked which is very useful when you have to take tests. Teaching assistants are usually the ones that are marking your tests. It is useful to target the teaching assistant first rather than the professor. You can usually be more direct with them and if you fail in convincing the teaching assistant you can always go to the professor. I interviewed a student that went to the TA first, got a 10% upgrade on a paper then went to the professor and got another 10%. I suggest you do NOT try this at home as you can get into pretty big trouble but Im giving you this example to show you the options you have. Another option that I have found as a general trend in my interviews is befriending teaching assistants on a personal level. Students who befriend and/or flirt with their TAs have told me that they usually get a higher mark. Most universities do not have any rules against students and TAs dating but it is privately not encouraged. Ive had some students come in and try to seduce me throughout my TA career and I would say I have been somewhat biased with some of them. The ones that are openly trying to flirt with me I usually give out a lower mark to, the ones who are honestly interested in me however I have been somewhat more lenient on. Now girls, dont go in and wear a low cut top and start bouncing around the office. TAs will see through this in a minute. But try adding your TA to facebook. Ask them out for beers with a couple students. Be courteous and friendly with a slight undertone of flirtiness or friendship and you will probably help warm the pot for a higher mark. I cant believe Im writing about this stuff! It is a personal choice, if you feel that what Im suggesting is a little too far then dont do it.

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A note on scare tactics Professors and teaching assistants have some scare tactics they use to get students to not come to their office hours for higher marks. The vast majority of these are just a bunch of hot air. They are usually implemented about 10% of the time. A popular example is the suggestion that you might get a lower mark if you come to the profs office hours to argue a mark. Statistically your chances of trying are going to result in a much higher ratio of success then if you didnt try in the first place. I have known about 100 teaching assistants and Ive only known of two incidents where a teaching assistant gave the student a lower mark. If youve gone through all the other tactics in this chapter you wont have any problem with those scare tactics. The professor or teaching assistant has already defined you as a good student and you will usually get a higher mark.

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So in Review: Methods to convince profs: Before you speak to them: Talk to other people Loosen yourself up Be Prepared How to ask a good question During conversation: Befriending: Have a respectful friendly relationship with prof Mirroring: Move the same way as the prof Get youre because ready: I need an A because Im applying to grad school. Assuming the sale Deal with each issue separately Get rid of the Nos Jonesing: Dr Jones is only giving us one long answer for the exam (in passing). Options sell: Higher marks or I go (if then statement)

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Chapter 11: How to Take a Test

In this Chapter you will learn how to: - Prepare for an exam - Conquer the different types of tests

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Tests are really a horrible way of tracking how much information you have learned. Many students who have learned relatively little can do well on tests and other students who know all the material but arent good at taking tests do badly. In a perfect world we could each just learn. I personally believe (and this is backed up through research) that if we removed tests, students would learn much more than they usually do. However, the harsh reality of society is that we need to rank people. This ranking process usually has nothing to do with how much somebody has learned or their level of intelligence (so dont feel bad if youre no good at tests). In essence you dont have to be good at understanding the content; you have to be good at taking the test. I know that sounds incredibly depressing. I myself am a learner, I like understanding how things work and thinking critically about how ideas and arguments are put together. However, that has very little to do with the actual method of writing and being marked on a test. This chapter is going to concentrate on how you can become better at the art of test taking, which ironically, has little to do with the art of learning. Your primary goal should be for you to get an A on the test and the secondary goal is to hope that you learned something during the process. Test preparation Lets first review the two mental states during tests. A really interesting experiment by psychologist Alice Isen looked at the difference between focused and creative intelligence 4. She found that by giving candy to groups of people which made them happy, they were more creative in accomplishing tasks. So for instance, if you were in the beginning research stage of a paper, you might want to be as happy and stress free as possible so that you can come up with interesting ideas on how to put the paper together. Conversely, if youre stressed out and anxious, this stifles creativity but can focus your mind on a single issue such as writing the paper. So, when youre happy you do out of the box thinking, when youre stressed you can achieve a focused goal. Extrapolating from this theory, its best to be
4

Here is a great Youtube video reviewing the experiment.

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happy when taking a long answer question test. When youre taking a multiple choice test, that doesnt require much creativity, being stressed can actually be an advantage. If you think creatively during a multiple choice test your chances of success are probably going to be lower than if you were focused. Many tests are simply based on rote memorization and therefore creativity is the enemy. Thinking outside the box may give you an interesting answer but tests usually dont want interesting. They want correct. With creative vs focused mental states in mind here are a few questions you should ask yourself before you take your test. 1) What kind of test are you doing? This is important as some tests require completely different preparation than others (ie creative vs focused mentalities). 2) What content are we being tested on? Youd be surprised how often students study stuff they dont really need to know for the exam. Figure out exactly what you need to study from profs, TAs and students in that order. Dont just ask fellow students as they can often be wrong. Also upperclassmen can give you great intel on whether the professor is really going to have that chapter on the test or not. 3) Go to the library and get last years tests. This is HUGE! Wanna know what the profs tests are like? Most universities keep tests on file at the library. Very few students know about this, this is a good time to make friends with a librarian as well. Just go up, explain your situation and they will usually let you take a look at and photocopy the exams. 4) Review your plan of attack with your study buddies. Figure out when you should have your notes reviewed, when you should meet to review the content, whether you can cut up the work load etc. Get your army ready for battle. 5) Email your virtual teaching assistant about the test, outlining exactly what the test is going to be on. Your VTA may have some great intel or secondary sources that can make the content easier to understand. They can also make you accountable by keeping you on track with your exam preparation.

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Three days before the exam Most books on exam preparation suggest you start your studying a week to a few weeks in advance. This is a waste of your time. In some cases it might depend upon what kind of exam youre going to do but overall studying should be started at the earliest, three days before the exam. Before I go any further, Im not saying you shouldnt know anything about your notes up until three days before the exam starts. If youre reviewing your notes before and after class and asking questions on points you dont understand, you should already have a pretty good idea of whats going on. Plus you should know all the major concepts in the course. The majority of tests are based on multiple choice, or short answers which are worthless to memorize two weeks before the exam. Most rote memorization only lasts in our mind for three days. This is your study window for rote memorization. DO NOT memorize anything outside of the three day window. Instead of memorizing, it is much better to understand the content holistically before the three day window as this will stick in your head longer. I cannot stress the three day study schedule enough. Ive tried studying from weeks to hours before an exam and the three day window is by far the most effective method. Your three day study schedule can be broken down in three very simple steps. Day one you should be all about coding your notes. Day two should be your actual study day where you implement your favorite memorization techniques. Day three should be your review and confidence day where you review your material and prepare your mind and body for the coming exam. How to code your notes At this point you should have a good collection of course notes that have been reviewed and that you generally understand. All major questions should have been answered by the teaching assistant or preferably the professor. In general you should feel confident in the main concepts that the content is trying to communicate. When you wrote out your notes you were writing them well enough so that even your 40 year old self could understand them. When you code your notes for an exam you are not writing for your 40 year old self. When coding notes, information compression is your primary goal. In most of my

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classes I was able to boil down my notes to approximately 2-3 pages. This is important as you cut out the majority of redundant information in the notes, the new coded notes are much easier to review and the papers can be taken with you anywhere. I would suggest that you record a dictation of your notes with short explanations of the main concepts. You should then be playing it back for yourself over the three days. This will maximize both auditory and visual forms of learning styles and can significantly cut your memorization time. I have provided you with an example of how I code notes below (Ive used the lecture notes from chapter 6). Keep in mind that these notes are for my purposes only. So although I can understand them, others may have difficulty. Even if you sacrifice a few secondary points keeping the notes short should be your primary concern. The ability to quickly review and take all your notes in within a few minutes is really important to memory recall. One other note, if you think that you can get away with not coding your notes, you are dead wrong. In my own experimentation with students, the act of coding notes will cut your recall times down by at least 50%. Based on this coding Ive turned 22 lines of notes into 9 lines. Also notice how I bold certain terms so I can passively scan my notes and further increase recall, I suggest you do the same. Eth and Race: 3 soc paras (Func, Conf, Sym Int) 1) Func: soc reality system of parts, each part with function, may help/hurt system. Assi seen as positive. (ex: parts reinforce or hinder soli) 2) Conf: Struggle central with social class and power central. Eth groups seen as potential int groups in soc conflict. Assi seen as negative. (ex: AAG) 3) Sym Int: Indi create meaning in diff soc context within soc struct with syms to create meaning. Inter-group rela not defined by conf or needs of sys. Ethn is part of ones i.d. but conflict isnt negd as it may detrm why we act. Assi seen as negative, esp at indi level. (Indis through syms inhabit/evolve social struc) Methods to Remember notes Rote Memorization: The simplest and most basic form or preparation for an exam. You simply re-read all the content until you have it memorized. Many books suggest other methods to memorize information that I will review later. But do not discount this method as you should always have

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this as a backup method to remember things effectively. Try looking at a collection of points and going over them on the page, writing each one down in your minds eye. Now, put your hand over the content and recreate the same points in your mind. Try to remember each one in order. It is also useful to not memorize your entire notes in order. Randomly pick out sections so that you can recall your notes in any order. I suggest you make cue cards from your coded notes for this exact purpose. Mnemonics: Mnemonics is a way to link a collection of connected terms together into a compressed piece of information. For instance KISS is a perfect mnemonic device for Keep It Simple Stupid. Mnemonics are very useful for connecting like terms if you need to link random concepts. It is also simpler to remember a mnemonic device rather than directly memorize everything that is within it. You can open up the device during the exam and work out all the components. Quick warning here, dont just remember the mnemonic device and trust that youll remember the components during the exam. Picture linking: This method links pictures in your mind together through a mental rehearsal or play in your mind. It is usually used by people that are good visual, kinesthetic/active learners and is useful to remember information that doesnt have an obvious logical order. Let me take you through a quick picture linking exercise. Look at these words for 30 seconds then look away and try to remember them. Dog, apple, boat, ninja, fire, doctor, brick, toaster, flower Ok, now I want you to go over this story in your minds eye. A dog is walking through a field and finds an apple which starts talking to him about how his fellow apples are being held hostage on a magic boat. They go to the boat and the dog is immediately attacked by ninjas. Our dog hero uses a flame thrower and sets all the ninjas on fire. The ships doctor comes in to help the ninjas burns but is all of a sudden hit in the head with a brick by more ninjas. Our doctor is pretty angry about this so

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grabs his trusty toaster and beats up the remaining ninjas. The dog, doctor and apple place flowers on the dead ninjas and live happily ever after. Each bolded word should be the central part of each scene. Ive used this method to memorize everything from very complex sociological theories to numbers. The more extreme the story is the better; it forces your mind to remember all the components in an interesting way. You in essence, trick your mind to create links between random pieces of information. Kinesthetic memorization: This is where you literally connect movements of your body with concepts. It is very useful if you are an active learner. An example Ive remembered for years is the four different types of minority group vs majority group relationships. Integration: Each group exchanges cultural aspects (I take my two hands and interlock my fingers) Normative Pluralism: Each group does not share their culture but live in the same community (Two fists side by side) Division: The two groups are divided from each other, not exchanging culture and not living in the same community (Two fists apart from each other) Assimilation: The dominant group forces their culture on the minority group (One hand covers a fist) You kind of look a little stupid during exams but it works like a charm. Youre hard wiring your physical body to mental concepts and I have found it very useful in long term recall. Before your exam Go to an exam prep session if it is offered: I have given over a dozen of these sessions and they are the most useful way to understand what content is being presented. In preparation for this book I performed a quantitative analysis of students marks and found that students who attended my session had a 10% higher overall average on the exam than students who hadnt. Although their might have been a selector bias (only good students came to the session), by coming to the session you are statistically giving yourself a better chance at getting a higher mark. The session is usually offered a few days before the exam, if there isnt one offered ask your TA to put one together.

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Be satisfied with your studying: You must be confident in your studying as this will be the most important determinant of whether you will be successful in the exam. As I discussed earlier in the book, trick your mind into being confident. Visualize success and it will literally happen. Get a good night sleep: This means 8 hours for most of us. Your brain will work much slower if you dont get 8 hours of sleep if you are below the age of 30. Now, if for some reason you havent taken any of my advice up until this point and the exam is tomorrow and youre going to cram till three oclock in the morning for an 8 oclock exam its actually better to only sleep for 15 minutes instead of a few hours. There is quite a bit of research on why this works but its more or less linked to stages of sleep and how longer sleeping periods requires a reboot of your brain when you wake up. Dont go for the reboot and just take a quick cat nap. The caffeine nap is another popular option you can try which Ive included in the blog as Im not going to officially recommend that in the book. One thing I will officially recommend for cramming is chocolate, yep I said chocolate. Try eating some chocolate every half hour to hour as this will keep you on a quasi sugar high; make sure you have enough to make it through the night and exam with plenty of water. If you run out of chocolate you will crash which will undo the cramming. I think dark is the best as I can hold myself back from eating buckets of it. Never study till the last minute: This is really important as this is only going to make you feel less confident. Trick your mind 10 minutes before the exam starts that youre completely ready for the exam and that youre going to get an A. Its called positive reinforcement, and it works. Meditation/Visualization: Many Olympic athletes use meditation right before they go out to compete. Ive had the pleasure of being taken through this process with a few Olympic athletes and it allows you to do amazing things. These athletes get in a comfortable state of mind and visualize themselves completing the perfect dive or the perfect run. They actually time theyre visualizations as well, visualizing a 10 second 100 meter sprint in 10 seconds. The same concept can be applied to taking an exam. Keep your cool, sit down and take five minutes visualizing yourself successfully and confidently handing in a test that is absolutely perfect. Dont mentally

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sabotage yourself by allowing negative thoughts into your mind. If you are talking to students who are trying to sabotage themselves through negative reinforcement, get away from them immediately, there thoughts can easily infect your mindset. Types of tests Long Answer Questions: A longer review of long answer questions will be covered in the next chapter on essay writing as they are in essence the same thing. There are some tips that I can give you right now that specifically relate to essay type questions. - Read the Question: Some professors will try to trick you in the way the question is put together. You may also be tired from writing for the past two hours and not be paying attention to how the question is worded. Read the question over and ask exactly what is being asked of you. Pay special attention to adverbs and descriptors within the question as they can completely change the question. - Write out an outline: Although it appears as if this will waste time, an outline will actually save you much more time and get you a better answer. Have a scratch sheet available at all times so that you can quickly write down what you want to say, including mnemonic devices so that you can expand them on the page. - Figure out how long you have to apply to your essay question: You can usually write down a single page in 10 minutes. But, Id time yourself on your next exam so that you can get a general estimate of your test writing speed. Give yourself adequate time plus five minutes to review the material. Always look over your material. Multiple Choice: Multiple choice questions are usually the most popular kind of questions in first year courses for a few reasons. They are easy to put together as you can easily come up with 50-60 M/Cs in two to three hours. They require no marking as they are run through scantrons which do all the marking for the prof. The majority of questions on M/Cs are not made by the professor or TAs but come from the teacher copy of the textbook which comes with a database of 1000-2000 questions. Fortunately for you, multiple choice questions dont require you to learn any of the content in a significant way to get a high mark. However, it is very difficult to get a perfect mark on multiple choice tests as you must

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hold your focus through the entire exam. Statistically the chance of you making a mistake in many M/C questions is higher than a few longer form questions. Its also easier to argue long form questions. Keeping that in mind there are specific methods you can use to completely obliterate the M/C exam. You should be figuring out how many questions you have and divide them by the amount of time you have for the exam. Remove 20 percent of that time and that should be your average time per question ratio. For instance, if you have 90 questions to complete in 2 hours the equation would look something like this. 120(minutes)/90(questions) = 1.3(minutes) 20% = 1.06(minutes per question) This will give you one minute and six second for each question with approximately 25 minutes to review questions afterwards. The questions themselves usually have four to five options that follow this kind of general outline. - One answer is the right one - One answer is close - One answer has nothing to do with the question - One answer is loosely related Usually your first insight is correct 80% of the time. When you first look at the question note which one jumps out at you first, this is usually the right answer. What about the other 20% of the questions? Those questions can usually be answered through a process of elimination. I can usually cut this down to two questions and make an educated guess which I have a 50/50 shot at. It is important if you are still not sure about the answer to * the question for later review. Make sure to read the beginning of the test very carefully. Some profs are worse than lawyers using terms like circle the answer that is the most correct which is a way to cover their butts if one of the M/Cs are incorrect, they can just make a qualitative call. Ive had tones of students come in to argue questions I knew were correct but my boss told me NOT give in, so I didnt. It sucks, but you can usually break them down if you come in prepared to argue. Here are a couple ways profs usually cover their butts on these types of questions.

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- Many questions will have the statement As defined in class, or as defined in the readings This is there so that if lectures and readings contradict each other they can cover themselves by returning to the source they used. You can usually argue out of these questions if you can prove there is a discrepancy. - Some questions are half right and half wrong, for instance if I were to pose a question such as: Why did Adam Smith famously state that The workers of all lands should unite? A) Because he believed historical materialism was the only way for the people to gain their independence. B) Because he believed capitalism was the greatest option for social solidarity. C) I dont think he did D) Because he believed a revolutionary moment was inevitable. B relates to Adam Smith but he did not make the statement in the initial question, it was Marx. A and D relate to Marxist ideals and would be a great answer but in reality C is the right answer which seems like the stupidest answer when you first read through it. - Opinion questions are really horrible as there can be a few correct answers (which is where the whole most correct questioning comes from). Here is an example: If two coworkers have a disagreement between each other and come to you for advice should you: A) Go to your supervisor B) Tell your coworkers to go to your supervisor C) Do nothing; its not your problem D) Deal with the problem yourself Each answer is based on personal preference. These are ridiculous questions but fortunately you can usually argue them, especially if you have evidence to back up your claim. - Questions will sometimes switch between choosing the correct or incorrect answer to confuse the student. As an example, one question could be which one of these people were central to world war one I could reword it to mean something completely different by saying which one of these people were not central to world war one. This is especially frustrating if youre quickly reading the questions and miss the not. Keep your eyes open for these as they trick many students.

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- Comparison questions are where two separate issues are presented to the student and you are asked as to whether A is (like/compares/does not compare) to B. They are particularly tricky as they require you to think on the fly and make judgment calls. Here is an example from a test I gave: Compared to the cost of robbery, burglary, assault, and other street crimes, white collar crime costs about: A) One-tenth as much B) Half as much C) 88 times as much D) 14 times as much That answer had never particularly been given to the students. The answer was quite obviously C but professors can make these questions much less obvious which again makes them very difficult to quickly answer. True/False Questions: True false questions follow the same logic as multiple choice questions and are usually easier to answer. Statistically you can always get at least 50% on true false questions so your rate of success on these questions should be significantly higher than multiple choice questions. Matching Questions: Matching questions are usually found in first year classes and mostly found in the arts or humanities. Two groups of words or terms are presented and your job is to connect each term in the first group to a term in the second. There are sometimes mismatched amounts of terms in the two groups, so it becomes difficult if most of the answers do not automatically present themselves through intuition. The best strategy is to use intuition first, go back through the list and use the process of elimination to get the remaining terms. Equation questions: These are questions where you are given the answer to a question and are then given a collection of possible equations that will get you the needed answer. These types of questions are horrible for people that think creatively as they rarely use the prescribed methods to come to a conclusion. Ive found that students usually use the system of elimination when they do not get the answer through intuition. Try to figure out what methods will not work to get the answer and then discount those possible answers. You will usually only end up with one or two possible answers.

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Fill in the Blanks: These types of questions are found rarely in university but students have told me they have found them in history and language exams so Ill go over them really quickly. Take a look at the questions that are being posed and try to answer as many as you can through intuition. If the fill in the blanks are linked in a paragraph this should help you answer the other questions that you passed over. Ask yourself what the sentence is about and what it logically could be. Usually if your logic is good youll come up with the right answer or youll be able to argue the point later. Final notes on tests If there is a single point I need to hammer into your head its that 90% of the tests you will take in university have nothing to do with creative knowledge. Ironically if you answer a question creatively it will usually result in you getting a lower mark than if you just answered it legitimately in the first place. You probably wont encounter any questions that require creativity until your last year of your undergrad or graduate school. Remember that the exam has almost nothing to do with your learning; therefore the goal is not to learn the content but to get an A. Learning content should be done during the semester, NOT at exam time.

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So to Review Test Preparation: (Code your notes, memorize, reinforce) - Day one, Code your notes and make an audio tape - Day two, Use your favorite study methods to get all the info in your head - Day three, Reinforce and get confidence Types of test: (Review each question type you think youre going to encounter) - Long Answer questions - Multiple Choice - True False - Matching - Equations - Fill in the Blank Remember: The goal is to get an A, learning is secondary.

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Chapter 12: How to Write an A Paper

In this chapter you will learn how to: - How to read and code an article - How to create an academic database - How to use the critical thinking writing method

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The four stages of any paper Whether youre in physics or English literature, everyone has to write at least a few papers in university. I went from hating to loving paper writing once I learned how to break down the fundamental aspects of what a paper is. Although most papers look foreboding, realistically there are only four major components to each paper. Research: The first stage of any paper and the stage that sets the tone for the rest of your assignment. Brainstorming: The most important stage of your paper. If you dont have good ideas youre not going to be able to accomplish much of anything. Writing: This is the meat and potatoes of the entire process but probably only consists of about 10-20% of the actual work for the paper. Editing: A crucial stage that many students dont give the proper attention to and can seriously affect the quality of your paper.

Before we get into the steps, I want you to take a look at a paper that I wrote for a third year course. Im going to be using this essay as an example throughout this chapter so passively read over the essay to pick up the main points. Ive left all the mistakes intact to show you that even with the following paper you can still get an A+. I initially got a 95% on the paper and later argued it up to 100%, the next highest paper in the class of 130 was an 85%.
Barber, Wallerstein and Huntington: Globalized Avatar and Identity Dialectic In recent years the debate over how world politics and globalization should shape their ideology of the world community in the guise of international terrorism, consumerism, culture and other global issues has been at the forefront of the social consciousness both for society at large and in relation to individual identity. In this debate we have found that there are major disagreements as to how society particularly western society should react to and impact the issues globalization and identity. One side lead by Immanuel Wallerstein sees globalization as a long term process of capitalist appropriation of the weak and at the same time a reinforcement of the strong. Another

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side led by Samuel Huntington sees globalization as a system poised to force civilizations into a clash not based on economics, politics or civil society but on the fault lines of cultural religious/national ideology. Both Wallerstein and Huntington have merit, however in reality both capitalist appropriation and cultural shifts both impacts global society and succinctly individuals identity. To further define the previous statement that appropriation and enculturation both impact society and individual identity we must look at Benjamin Barbers Jihad vs McWorld which sees society in much the same way. Barber states that two forces are currently working in global society. The forces of McWorld wish to construct a single unified concept of society. Conversely, the forces of Jihad wish to deconstruct McWorld and revolt against its imposed singular view through mechanical systems of domination such as religious or tribalistic ideologies. Looking at these three concepts of globalization and the individual we can see many similarities within the three views. Each individual view has a component of global identity but no one theory adequately produces the concept so the purpose of this paper will be to combine all three views to conceptualize a complete theory of global identity. We will begin by looking at the main usable components of each theory: Wallerstiens concept of universalities and particularisms on the basis of classic worlds system theory provides an excellent basis to understand the homogenizing aspects of global identity. Huntingtons concept of religiocultural division provides an excellent basis for understanding the de-fragmenting aspects of global identity. Barber in Jihad vs McWorld provides an excellent frame to understand how these two forces work against each other on the macro scale but does not provide an adequate micro analysis which is central to understanding the dichotomy between society and the individual. Therefore, by using Huntington and Wallerstein as the forces of mechanical and organic ideology framed through Barbers concept of Jihad and McWorld we will hope to understand the crucial aspect of individual identity in globalization which is not given enough attention in all three articles. One can argue that Wallersteins concept of global society is not necessarily negative but arguably pessimistic coming from a Marxian perspective. In his work Cultures in Conflict. Who we are? Who are the Others? Wallerstein sees the global society through the eyes of world systems theory which sees globalization as a hierarchical, unequal, polarizing system, whose political structure is that of an interstate system in which some states are manifestly stronger than others. In furtherance of the process of the endless accumulation of capital, stronger states are constantly imposing on weaker states their will, to the degree that they can. (Wallerstein p.84) On top of this process he also sees separate ideologies of the interstate system which he calls universalisms, the major ones being religious, humanist scientific and imperialist. (Wallerstein p.87) In the same breath Wallerstein also sees particularisms as the response to universalisms. Together, both concepts produce a macro/micro concept of how society and the individual is shaped and counter-shaped by globalization. What is important to understand is that although there are various universalisms in play throughout the world stage each is seen as an absolute by the people who follow it, succinctly the particularisms which clash within this system do act on the individual to a

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point but are only shaped in relation to universalisms. Therefore, the model of universalisms and particularisms are a perfect way to understand how the individuals identity is shaped by universalisms and reshaped by what appears to be particularisms but in actuality a response to universalisms and therefore another form of universalisms homogenizing tendencies. An example of this phenomenon would be the universalism of religion being particularized by contemporary new age religion such as Raelian, Scientology, Western Budhism and other religious movements. These religions are only a response to universalism and cannot exist without its religion of context in the west being Catholicism. Another example of this concept would be Canadian culture being created in relation to Western and more specifically American culture. This is not simply an issue of dialects but more importantly new age religion and Canadian culture is a product of Catholicism and American domination which exists simply to redefine the individual rather then truly assimilate him/her as apposed to Wallerstein who sees particularisms as possible safe havens of identity. Huntingtons Clash of Civilizations looks at cultural division rather then economic or political division of groups of nations that have a culturally different way of looking at the world primarily based on religion. Due to this difference which Huntington believes is the base for conflict; civilizations which are groups of nations sharing the same language, history, religion customs, self identification (Huntington, p.175) will inevitably clash on the geographic fault lines where contrasting cultures come into contact. Huntington sees this clash happening at two distinct levels: At the micro level he sees violent clashes on the fault lines of civilizations like Israel and the Middle East. Also there is a clash at the macro level through states competing for economic and military power to promote their own civilizations cultural values. (Huntington, p.176) Before continuing we must look at Huntingtons argument in the contemporary context comparatively to the early 90s when this article was first published. The central critique of Huntingtons argument is primarily that cultural civilizations exist but that this produces micro level conflicts where the two civilizations come into contact. The classic argument to confirm Huntingtons thesis is Islamic tensions due to Israel which is backed primarily by the United States or Judeo-Christian ideology. Also one can see tensions between India and Pakistan Hindus and Muslisms South America and the United States etc. However, if one looks at civilizations in society closely we possibly find a very different story. Other civilizations that Huntington defines as ideologically apposed get along very well together or have recently settled their differences since Huntingtons publication. Protestants and Catholics in Ireland are producing one of the most peaceful and profitable countries in the world. Russians and Chinese are creating a trading block that may rival N.A.F.T.A. and the E.U. India and South Asia Hindus and Buddhists are producing supply chains along with China to produce the greatest export industry the world has ever seen. Finally, looking at the issue nationally, Canada has produced the most diverse religious nation in the world today and possibly throughout history with arguably some of the lowest rates of sectarian violence in the world as well. Although, there are some fascist backlashes against these unifications on a micro level, at a macro

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level, all these societies are working together in relative harmony in their singular desire for capitalist greed resulting in inevitable cultural and ideological exchange. We must now ask the question, if there are so many examples where Huntingtons thesis fails then why is this view at the forefront of the political sphere and is being implemented throughout the world?. To answer this question we must look at the second major section of Huntingtons work which is based not on how civilizations can end their differences and come together or on a relativistic basis, or where Huntington suggests possible tactics for all societies to reinforce their own culture but instead on how the west can combat these civilizations and remain the dominant power in global society the west vs the rest doctrine. This produces two large problems for the article. Number one; it produces a view that cannot be adopted by anyone who does not define themselves as belonging to the Western civilization. Number two; this further reinforces western ideology to alienate the west from other cultures. Looking at contemporary politics we find that Huntingtons views have become dominant primarily among the right. This struggle has been called a clash of civilizationsWe are fighting to maintain the way of life enjoyed by free nations. (Bush presidential address, 9/11/06) In understanding why right wing particularly U.S. politics implements Huntington we can look at Myra Hirds concept of Fact of the Matter. Simply put, by producing facts to appear as material reality one can produce a real material reality from a social construct. Therefore, by producing the perception that the west is in conflict with the Muslim world rather then simply being in conflict with extremism one can create the reality that the Muslim world is in conflict with the West and ironically not only the west but the Muslim world embrace this ideology and make it a reality. This fact of the matter is embraced by both sides because it reinforces both parties by creating a global identity of fear in the individual in relation to the world giving both sides a mechanical grasp on its people. Therefore, Huntingtons Clash of civilizations creates a stage for the deconstruction of global society through reproducing cultural conditions to appear material which succinctly allows individual identity to be shaped on a mechanical basis and impact social reality to combat the other on macro, meso and micro levels. In looking at Barbers Jihad vs McWorld we see what is arguably the most correct concept of global identity in comparison to Huntington and Wallerstein. Barber sees global conflict stemming from two major forces, the forces of McWorld and the forces of Jihad. The two forces of homogenization and upheaval work in dialectic to continually construct and deconstruct global society. The only major aspect that Barber is missing in Jihad vs McWorld is how this dialectic affects the individual. Primarily Barber looks at the forces of Jihad and McWorld as a macro process that can affect change from the societal level to the individual level but he sees this process as a one way process and not stemming from the individual. McWorld is seen as a macro process affecting the society and succinctly the individual, in conflict to this process Jihad is built on the micro level but produces conflict that is macro in scope. An example of this would be McDonalds coffee vs fair trade coffee. Although McDonalds goes from macro to micro and fair trade coffee started at micro and now goes to macro, not enough attention is placed on the individual identity of the consumer of the product; whether it is

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coffee, politics, religion or any other global issue or object. This is where the implementation of Huntington and Wallerstein are crucial. If the debate can be simplified, we can define Wallersteins world system theory as the forces of McWorld that wish to impose a singular concept of universal truth throughout the world whatever that may be. In doing this we create a Hobsons choice, we can choose whatever universal concept of reality as long as we make a choice rather then instead choosing not to choose (Barber, p.220) Conversely, we can define Huntingtons Clash of Civilizations as the forces of Jihad, producing through the fact of matter a global identity of fear. As Barber states Jihad Identifies the self by contrasting it with an alien other and makes politics an exercise in exclusion and resentment creating a world where belonging is more important then empowerment (Barber p.222). This produces a conceptualization of macro/micro identity much like Huntingtons west vs the rest perspective on society where one is defined by the society they live in rather then their own actions/identity. Creating a new model based on the three reviewed articles we can use the frame of Barbers Jihad vs McWorld to conceptualize the two major forces that shape our world today. Huntington being the ideal type for Jihad and Wallerstein being the ideal type for McWorld in the global typology construct. All three articles are missing, or overlook a crucial aspect of the debate over global society, that being the ability of the individual to shape society in relation to their own identity which will be discussed in the following section. All three authors see the world in context of society imposing its views upon the individual, whether it is through simplifying people as citizens, consumers, religious/nationalist/cultural pawns or choosing simplified universalities. In reality the individual is not only central but is the basis on which global society is shaped and can change the reality dependent on what we will call the identity dialectic and the globalized avatar. The identity dialectic quite simply is the conflict between homogenization and creativity, oppression and revolt, nationalism and cosmopolitanism etc. It is the individual conflict between organic and mechanical solidarity or the conflict between what we should do and what we want to do. A blatant example would be an individual working at McDonalds knowing that this adds to homogenization of society but on the other hand protesting against the world trade centre, the two actions are counterproductive and hypocritical of each other but are necessary to both try to change the world while still living within it. A more subtle example can be a student attending university and at the same time being a fundamentalist Christian or Muslim. Again, a secular institution and a fundamentalist religion are counterproductive to each other but in relation to the individual the student must attend school to gain secure employment but in doing this he/she is exposed to concepts alien and possibly destructive to religion. On top of the identity dialectic there is also the production of the globalized avatar as a result of individuals finding the medium between Jihad and McWorld. The globalized avatar is a representation of the false self enacting primarily in McWorld but also in Jihad as well. It is a production of the self a version of ones identity that is used in various spheres such as the business self, the academic self, the family self disconnected from the individual that helps to keep the individual safe from being completely dominated by the forces of Jihad or McWorld. An example of this may be

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the McDonalds employee and the protestor. Both are constructs that are due to globalization but both cannot exist within the same person at the same time so they are able to present themselves only in the right times and the right places. Furthermore, ones globalized avatar can also allow for the self to enjoy dialectically apposed concepts, products and ideologies at the same time. For instance, wearing a Che Guevra shirt that is manufactured using southern labour allows for the protestor self to make a statement and the consumer self to follow the logic of free market capitalism. Also, most people are unaware of the impacts of their global avatar on the world. For instance making tax contributions used for military pre-emption, investing in corporations that impose harsh labour laws on southern countries, reinforcing religious politics that gives politicians the social capital to enact policy that is in no way religious and protesting against working conditions forcing corporations to go to less developed markets where labour laws are more lax are all examples of the globalized avatar. The final aspect of the global avatar is that large actions like McWorld and their dialectic relation of Jihad are not just a macro action which is imposed by large corporations or religious zealots. Instead the power is handed over by the individuals global avatars. When an individual purchases a product from the southern world it is not simply just a purchase, more importantly then that it is reinforcing ones digital avatar in the south. Furthermore, when choosing a single way of thinking regardless of relativity one is again creating an avatar that gives that movement force. The major problem occurring in society today is the feeling that the individual is powerless in society and globalization is free to shape our identity. This is true to a point, globalization can shape ones identity but we can create a counter movement by taking control of our secondary selves and forcing these avatars into acting between the extremes of Jihad Vs McWorld. Wallerstein, Huntington and Barber have a good grasp of the macro concepts of identity but lack the micro concepts of identity. Through using the concepts of the identity dialectic and the globalized avatar we can produce a system of global identity that does not simply look at how society impacts individual identity but also how the individual identity can impact global society. Although micro identities can impact that of the macro identity in globalization one must also state that a bottom up process is arguably a much more complex and harder to reinforce then a top down process of identity; however, it is possible and more importantly it is going to become crucial as globalization increases its ability to shape individual identity. We must be able to create the identity dialectic and the globalized avatar to protect our true self and to produce counter identities to combat global hegemony from the bottom up not just for ourselves but for the rest of humanity.

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Research Stage I have spoken to dozens of students in preparation for this book and have personally gone over thousands of papers. Here is another counterintuitive point I want to make so write this down. Fundamentally, the first step to any paper is an appropriate and selective amount of research. One of the most destructive things you can do to your paper is researching too much content and/or researching the wrong content. So what is the appropriate amount of research? Well there are a few schools of thought on that, each of which has their own logic; the amount of research you should be doing changes based on what kind of paper your writing. For instance, if your writing a PhD thesis you should know pretty much everything about your subject, in comparison, a five page paper should probably only need a handful of sources to get a good idea of the subject matter. Im going to suggest a few methods for research that you can use to hopefully concentrate your time and effort. Your VTA: Your virtual teaching assistant should be your first stop for help on researching your paper. They will be able to collate the appropriate material for you in a fraction of the time that it will take you. They will also be able to point you in the right direction for further research. They have been trained in exactly this task and are an invaluable resource. By outsourcing research to your VTA you can cut your research time down by at least 75%. If you dont have a VTA: If you dont have a VTA you can take a look at professors, teaching assistants and study buddies as resources. However, they will not do research for you; they will only be able to point you in the right direction and possible suggest a few general readings. The meta sourcing method: If you have to do your own research the best method I have found is what Ill call the meta sourcing method. You start with 5 random articles on the subject youre interested in and figure out what the most popular sources are. Discard articles that are only mentioned once

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or twice and youre usually left with 5-10 articles that you can concentrate on. Dont waste your time reading an article unless it is central to your field of study or paper. You can also check for articles that provide an annotated bibliography which are an excellent resource to stop mindlessly walking through the forest of academia. Data basing articles: This is the most important step for long term success in paper writing. The vast majority of students have no idea that there is a vast collection of data basing programs for academic papers. Any student can use these to completely remove the sourcing and bibliographies from any paper. There are a collection of products out there and I have found Endnote to be the best and most effective. Most university libraries will give you this program absolutely free for your personal computer! Here is a quick run down of exactly what the program does. Endnote is a program you can install on your word processor that takes article you download and records all the reference material along with a pdf of the article. When you come to a section of the paper where you want to reference the article you simply click on the insert citation button, choose your sources and the source is placed in any format you want along with a full bibliographic reference at the end of your paper. You can see how a program like this can simplify your life. Your VTA will preferably be working in endnote when transferring you articles so I suggest you install the program within the next few days and review the main commands in their attached instructional booklet. Also, endnote just doesnt stop at articles, the program can database any book or set of notes you want. I have my main endnote database set up with all my undergraduate and graduate notes with all the fundamental books and articles I need for sociological research. Since I have written all my notes down on the computer and have scanned all my books I have my own personal library at my fingertips. If you start in your first year, by third year you wont have to pick up another book again, everything will be programmed into your endnote! Coding Articles: Coding articles is the second crucial part of paper writing. You need to create a quick to understand prcis that your 40 year old self can go back to. The goal is to create a great network of articles for you to constantly work from. Ive included a form that I use for breaking down

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articles and I suggest you use it to break down any academic work. When you have completed each prcis I want you to attach it to your endnote network. This only increases the speed in which you can create and analyze sources as now you only have to take a look at the prcis instead of the entire article. Brainstorming Stage The most important stage of your paper is trying to figure out exactly what youre going to say. Without a clear vision of what the papers about youre going to constantly tweak your papers construction taking twice as long to finish. First step is to get out the syllabus and talk to the professor and TAs about what they want. Pull every piece of information you can out of them so that you know exactly what the prof wants in the paper (many students skip this step as a rookie mistake and end up writing papers that dont relate to the assignment). Now here is something that is a little counter-intuitive but always works. Ask the professors permission to write something on a different subject from the assigned paper. This can automatically set you up for a good mark for a few reasons. The prof sees that youre taking initiative in what youre doing. Since youre choosing your own subject youll be more interested in it and it will hopefully relate to work youve already done. If youre enthusiastic about the subject matter you usually will always get to go ahead with your own project. Ive personally never been denied by a prof and based on my interviews; its an incredibly rare occurrence. Critical Thinking: Critical thinking is the ability to reason about a problem or issue and mount a reasoned argument for your point-of-view and the conclusions you come too. It is the process by which you can think your way through your paper prior to actually writing the paper. Even though I put research as the first step, a quick version of this critical thinking exercise should be used before starting research. In my experience this is the be all and end all of brainstorming methods. Many books on this subject are pretty complicated which has stopped critical thinking from becoming useful to the average student. Ive put together a step by step guide that will simplify the process. If youd like to learn more about these methods I suggest you check out Critical Thinking: A Concise Guide or

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check out the official website for critical thinking here. Question one: What is being asked of me? Some papers will be asking you to answer a question or to address an issue. Unless you are given completely free reign to answer an essay question this should be the first question you ask yourself. Lets use my paper on globalized identity as a model. The assignment was asking me to identify where I stood on globalization and how it impacted and shaped collective identities. Specifically, I was to answer whether globalization is creating a collective, mutually compatible and possibly identical cultural identities or whether globalization is producing antagonistic dichotomies, further differentiating collective identities. Question two: What exactly is the problem? Each paper has a problem that it must engage. You are not looking for a thesis statement. You are instead asking yourself what this paper is going to address and investigate. The problem for my globalization paper was that we didnt know whether globalization was moving collective identities towards a single globalized culture or further dividing us up into multiple identities. Although this seems kind of redundant its actually a huge breakthrough. Figuring out this problem led me to realize that I didnt have to choose whether globalization was making us the same or different but was actually making us both same and different at the same time. Question three: How can I simplify this problem? The next step is to take the problem and break it down to its simplest form. This is important because it allows you to get to the core issue being discussed. The globalization papers problem is that we dont know if our identities are coming together or becoming different. I wrote this up at the top of my outline. Whenever I got lost this would bring me right back to the focus of my paper. Question four: What information do I need to solve this problem? This is somewhat simple but a crucial question to ask. So for my paper I came to the conclusion that I needed two pieces of information. I needed to find evidence on whether globalization was making us all the same. I needed to find evidence on whether globalization was making us different. I also needed to find evidence on whether neither of these things were happening

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or a combination of the two. Through using my meta sourcing method I boiled this down to three central articles. Immanuel Wallerstein Cultures in Conflict. Who we are? Who are the Others? Samuel Huntingtons Clash of Civilizations Benjamin Barbers Jihad and McWorld in the New World Disorder Question five: How do the authors come to their conclusions? You should boil down each premise to its absolute conclusion. A premise is the general statement of truth or proposition that an author gives to base his conclusion upon. Anytime you see the special generative words such as therefore, consequently, thus, as such, because, this shows that, I suggest etc, look at the statement before the connecting word or phrase and you should find the premise followed by the conclusion. The special generative words that works well for premises are if, provided, provided that, if' only, only, then, therefore. Some of these words generate premises; others generate conclusions. In fact, a premise formula could be established with the two generative words if and then. Here is one as an example: Dogs hate me. Why do I hate dogs? If each dog I meet bites me, then I will hate dogs. So in your paper, take each article that you are going to use as an authoritative defense of your position in your paper and write out the authors main premises and their conclusion. For the conclusions just finish this sentence (This is true because). Question six: Based on the authors evidence, do you believe their conclusions? Question five asked you to find out what was the authors reasons for coming to his conclusions. Now I want you to break down the actual conclusion and ask whether it is valid. Write down why you believe or dont believe what the author is saying. You can usually quickly decide on whether you believe or disbelieve the authors conclusion based on their premise. As an example if you believe that each dog Ive ever met has bitten me then your either incredibly nave or dumb as bricks. In other words it is highly unlikely that every dog I have met has bitten me and therefore it is highly unlikely that I hate dogs because they bite me (I may hate dogs for other reasons but those reasons have not been stated). However, if it is true that ever dog I have met did bite me then it would be reasonable for me to hate dogs. To really get at the truth of an authors views and conclusion it is

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helpful to know something about the subject and to be able to reason about how likely the statements are to be true. Question seven: Are there any hidden bias or assumptions in the authors argument? This question tries to figure out where the authors coming from. As an example Samuel Huntington in his article Clash of Civilizations sees culture homogenizing into civilizations that will inevitably lead to clashes and that the western civilization should suppress this inevitability as long as possible to retain dominance over the world. A possible bias of his argument is that he is a staunch conservative and this article was central to the Bush administrations policies of international diplomacy. There are usually a few biases or assumptions for each argument that can be found in the premises that are untrue or lack sufficient evidence to support the conclusions. In other words an authors truths (premises) and therefore the conclusions can be questioned for their validity. Question eight: What are the implications if the authors conclusions are correct/incorrect? This is an important question because it will allow you to explore each authors argument to its logical conclusion. In my globalization paper I asked what the implications for a homogenized singular culture and a multifaceted set of different cultural identities would be. Question nine: Are there alternate ways to come to the same conclusions? If there are other ways to come to the same conclusions as the author, investigate them. You can use them to reformulate your papers argument to integrate or improve the authors arguments into your own. In my paper this led me to come up with the concept of the globalized avatar which my professor loved. At this stage you should have more than enough information to write as much as you would like. You should also have information that your professor will think is ingenious. Remember to work through these questions before writing your outline. Critical thinking is not an essay outline. It is instead a way to get to the core problems that your paper will address and the evidence that you are going to present. Only when you have this information can you put together an effective outline.

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Writing Stage If you have properly followed stages one and two, you should have absolutely no problem with the writing of the paper. I presume that you have written a paper before so Ill skip the breakdown of the three issue thesis paper as any high school has already taught you that. What most of those high school teachers failed to teach you was that a paper is completely qualitative. Youre coming up with your own subject, your own sources, and your point of view. Therefore your success depends on convincing the reader that your paper is worth an A. The writing stage like the brainstorming stage can be mechanized into a few key concepts to make your paper A worthy. Writing an Outline: Once you finish your critical thinking exercise you should put together a solid outline. Your outline will be your main thesis statement and the points you will take to support your statement. Put down the main ideas and their supporting evidence. Use the critical thinking exercise to guide your outline and it should be very simple to put together. Ease of Understanding: Making your paper easy to understand is deceivingly easy. One trend that I found in interviewing newly successful students paper strategies was that they made their papers incredibly easy to understand in terms of diction, but complex in terms of ideas. This may seem obvious but from my experience with marking thousands of essays, many students fail this first simple step. Im going to use a sociological term verstehen to explain the first step. Verstehen is a tool sociologists use to try to understand and interpret how people act in society by imagining how their subject acts. So lets use verstehen to take a look at your average teaching assistant while he/she is marking a paper. So its probably 2am, 150 essays have to be finished by tonight and your TA is on 113 which just happens to be yours. Take a minute and think about what he/she is going to look at first -Ok, first he/she is going to look at your title page. A few marks will be taken off for form errors like the class name being misspelled or the date put down in an improper format.

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-Next, they will usually passive read the first page until they find a thesis statement. If they have to look for it, thats more marks off. -They then look at what evidence youre going to use to support your thesis statement and underline each one so they can go back to it if they forget it (remember its 2am and he/she has been working for 9 hours). -They are then going to completely disregard all the information except for you answering the supporting evidence in your paper. -Any large style, format or grammar errors will lose you more points. -Sourcing incorrectly has lost you a couple more marks. -Next they look at your bibliography; if you have the minimum number of sources youll probably be losing a few marks. If your bibliography is not according to the prescribed format you lose massive marks. -Your TA will then take a look at the marking key and approximate what you should be getting, which unfortunately for you since you screwed up on the fundamentals is a B-. Congratulations you are officially ordinary even though you potentially had A+ ideas, have fun being frustrated and unsuccessful in university. What should you learn from this little exercise? Well your paper has very, VERY little to do with what youve done and much more to do with what you have not done. Here is something you should write down. The content of your paper is not as important as its context. When I figured this out I had a big wow moment. Its kind of harsh but an easy to understand, properly sourced and unimaginative paper will beat the overcomplicated, badly sourced imaginative paper almost every time. I cant tell you how many times Ive had students come in and talk to me about their papers after the fact. They have amazing ideas but since they cant communicate them onto the page they are doomed to failure. So how do we fix this? Well first, I could suggest you go check out a writing course to make your writing better. There are tones of them at universities and most offer some free programs for students. However, most of them suck. Ive sat in

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on a couple and they teach you how to make your writing more complex, not simpler. Save the complex writing for somebody else, simplicity should be your goal. One of the best resources I have found to automatically make your writing simpler and easier to understand is a program called stylewriter. This program is about 10 times better than the grammar and style check on Microsoft word. The program can completely revolutionize the way you write and can make it eloquently concise. It is a little expensive but there are some free trials available which you can try out. Formatting: The next step is to figure out exactly what kind of style youre supposed to be writing in and know it forwards and backwards. Most papers are either written in MLA style or APA style. There are a few books out there on the subject such as The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition by William Strunk Jr., which is my personal favorite. The great thing is that endnote will do all the formatting for you except for your title page so just by using endnote youre going to be cleaning up most of your source formatting. Make sure your VTA has taken a look at your paper. Your buddies will not help you here because they have no experience in marking exams. Remember, the GOAL is to get an A, not to have an interesting paper (although that doesnt hurt). Your TA can offer some broad suggestions but usually cannot guarantee you a mark as they need to cover their ass. Your VTA can be as harsh as possible and can offer suggestions to make the paper more streamlined and simple to understand. How to streamline your writing: When you sit down to actually write there are a few tricks you can use to make your writing flow faster. Make sure you know what your writing about, this ties back to being prepared with a good outline, if you are continually pausing to think of what to come up with next youre going to be wasting time. The paper should already be written up in your head (and in your outline). Put on some music, I like using ear phones as it cuts out outside distractions and if people start bugging you, you can pretend you didnt hear them. Im writing right now with a pair of JBL earbuds and listening to some techno. Why techno? It has no lyrics! Studies have shown that listening to classical music increases test scores. I have found in my experience through experimenting with different types of music that the determining factor to focus is the lack of lyrics. Remember that multitasking is bad, and when your brain is trying to write something and

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trying to understand what the hell Britney Spears is singing youre going to be pulling your mind in two different directions. I also like the random white noise of coffee shops as all the words meld into an indistinguishable mass. If you need sound, but music is too distracting, try a coffee shop or bar. If youre not using endnote youre going to be sourcing by hand. Do NOT stop to look up sources while youre writing. This gets you out of your flow and opens up opportunities to procrastinate. Instead just pop a little note in your writing. Here is a perfect example. (That guy who talks about transnational Trinidadian technology) states that, many of the social relationships between immigrants and the national project are tied to their translocal identity (Trini guy, P??). I later go back over my article and pop in the references during the editing stage. This is going to save you massive amounts of time. As the organization chapter states, make sure you batch your activities, it will save you time, I promise. Here is a good point thats worked for me at the end of my undergraduate and throughout my graduate degree. Whether you agree with what the prof says or not, when you write the paper do not completely support or deny his/her position. I have tried some different ratios and have reviewed other profs high grades after they have finished marking papers. I found that if you agree with what the prof has to say, agree about 80% of the time and disagree about 20% of the time. If youre going to disagree with what the prof has to say, agree about 20% of the time and disagree about 80% of the time in the paper. I really dont know why this ratio is so effective but Ive based this off my own personal experience and reviewing which students got As in papers from profs. It seems to work so give it a try if you have the chance. Provide many examples: Make sure you have provided examples for every concept you discuss. I would even suggest you provide a few different examples to explain the same concept. This is important because this only makes your initial point easier to understand. Here is an example from my globalization paper.
Simply put, by producing facts to appear as material reality one can produce a real material reality from a social construct. Therefore, by producing the perception that the west is in conflict with the Muslim world rather than

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simply being in conflict with extremism one can create the reality that the Muslim world is in conflict with the West and ironically not only the west but the Muslim world embrace this ideology and make it a reality. This fact of the matter is embraced by both sides because it reinforces both parties by creating a global identity of fear in the individual in relation to the world giving both sides a mechanical grasp on its people.

My main concept in blue is supported by three separate pieces of evidence that say in essence, the same damn thing! I could have written this in about half the space but by providing so many versions of the same concept the main idea is pushed through into the subconscious mind. Even if youre passively reading this paragraph you will grasp onto the main concept. A warning if your prof is correcting your paper: If you know your professor is going to mark your paper, I would suggest you tweak the preceding writing strategies a bit. If you read my globalization paper I kept the concepts very simple and obvious but my diction is complex. Im writing at a university level throughout that paper. Im also using specific terminology that only social scientists use. By using those terms I can make my professor believe I know what Im talking about, even if I dont :) Take the time to bump up your writing level a little bit for profs if they only have a few papers to read because they will take more time to review them. Editing Stage Editing is a pretty important step in the paper writing process but most students dont give it proper attention. Now, I have had some really badly edited papers. Ive had kids who have rewritten paragraphs, left a page of a different paper in their essay, misspelled the professors name etc. All these problems can be solved with a quick 10 minute review which you should absolutely be doing. Since youre going to have your VTA help you edit most of your papers, Id like to concentrate on the philosophy behind the editing process from the mindset of the prof and teaching assistant. Marking Keys: Knowing what youre being marked on is the most important thing to remember when editing. Knowing where to concentrate your time and resources is crucially important to getting youre A. Below me is a copy

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of a marking key I had used for a first year class that has been edited slightly to protect the class and the professor who wrote it up for me. Hey Liam, here is a general outline for the papers, give me a call at 555-5555555 if you need me to explain anything. Marking Key: 25% of final grade Style 5 marks: ASA sourcing, Title page intact, Proper bibliography. Proper amount of sources. Each mistake takes off one mark. Grammar/Spelling 5 marks: Each major mistake take off one mark, 5/5 must be perfect Content 10 marks: Clear thesis, reflects question asked, good evidence to support main point, clear concise content, Insightful conclusion, Each worth two points, if one section is particularly bad take off more. Overall Flow 5 marks: Is the writing of proper academic quality, are only the minimum amount of sources being used, Are the conclusions logical. Are you convinced of the thesis? Only perfect papers can get a 5/5. Mark the first 50 and give me an idea of where youre at. Im thinking we should be fine as long as you keep it around a 70 as they did a little too well on the midterm. So you can see very clearly that out of the three main categories of marks, only about half the paper has anything to do with the content of the paper. The rest has to do with the sourcing, bibliography, style etc. Keep in mind that a perfect paper has to actually be imaginative, but a paper that isnt technically perfect will have a hard battle to get up to the A range. Find your own biases and account for them: Once you finish the paper it is useful to apply some of the critical thinking steps for your own paper. The most important of those is to look for your own biases and account for them in your paper. This can be the difference between an A and A+ paper for many TAs and Profs. Most of your markers are going to be able to catch logical fallacies in your conclusions very easily; if you even just make attempts to account for them this can completely change your marks.

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Dont be ambiguous, be logical: If your ideas or evidence arent clear through convincing evidence or adequate examples, your marker will get confused and bored. The key is to make the main points as easy to follow as possible. Read over you paper and ask yourself if a fifth grader could understand the main concepts of your paper. If it isnt clear make it clear! A note on plagiarism Plagiarism is an increasingly difficult problem in university students and academia in general. With that said, DONT PLAGIARISE! Please dont do it. Its really dumb, and if you get caught you can have the class to your entire degree taken away from you. I have gone after people for academic plagiarism so Id like to take you through the steps. The TA or professor will first find a paper where academic plagiarism is suspected. They then give it to a second reader who confirms the plagiarism. At this point the prof can go the formal or informal route. 99% of the time they go the informal route and talk to the student. The student will be forced to take an F for the course, given an F on the paper or forced to rewrite the paper. If the student denies that they plagiarized it then become a formal matter. A board is formed (usually three profs, sometimes a student representative is also included) and formal charges are brought up upon the student. If the student is found guilty of plagiarism they can get anywhere from a suspension of their academic records for a few years to a full ban from the university and a black listing that will follow you to other universities. If you do get caught, I suggest you throw yourself on the mercy of the court. Profs usually understand and youll only lose a course or semester at the most. If you fight it, youre an idiot because I have not heard of anybody winning. Also, as an extra note, your VTA knows the difference between plagiarism and tutoring you so dont try to convince them to write your papers for you. If I find that you have convinced your VTA to plagiarize. You will be reported to the university and your VTA will be fired. This is harsh but I didnt spend the better part of a decade working legitimately for students to poison the system.

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Critical thinking Quick Guide: This is the 9 critical thinking questions you should be asking yourself during the brainstorming stage of your paper. For more detailed explanations for each question go to page 141 (You can also submit this to your VTA for quick review). 1: What is being asked of me?

2: What exactly is the problem?

3: How can I simplify this problem?

4: What information do I need to solve this problem?

5: How do the authors come to their conclusions?

6: Based on the authors evidence, do you believe their conclusions?

7: Are there any hidden bias or assumptions in the authors argument?

8: What are the implications if the authors conclusions are correct/incorrect?

9: Are there alternate ways to come to the same conclusions?

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So in review There are four stages to a paper (research, brainstorming, writing, editing) - Research Stage - Get your VTA to help you - Make sure you use your academic database (endnote) - Brainstorming Stage - Use Critical thinking to get to the core of your papers problem - Writing Stage - The content of your paper is not as important as its context - Editing Stage - Make it just as important as any other stage - Get your VTA to help out Plagiarism: DONT DO IT

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Chapter 13: Putting it All Together

In this chapter you will: - Review the major concepts of the book - Get everything together for your VTA - Learn how to use your VTA

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Here is a quick review of the content that we have covered. Please look over the information to see if there is any information you missed or would like to review. Make sure you are able to understand the micro and macro aspects of your mental mind shift. Fill out your university goal form so that you can submit it to your virtual teaching assistant. A fun activity is to try the approach anxiety script (if you feel nervous try doing it with a friend). Choose a week to reform your non-verbal communication and take a look at what may make you more confident in feeling intelligent. Take a look at each learning style and try to improve the styles youre not good at. As a review: Visual learners learn through pictures and watching things happen. Auditory learners learn from listening to lectures and audio books. Sequential learners learn by categorizing and putting points into lists. Kinesthetic or active learners learn through physically doing and through teaching others what you are trying to learn. Remember the reasons why society values hard work to further cement your mind shift. Look at the three main components of academic success: allostasis, outsourcing and mechanization. Make sure you have a daily planner, a white board and daily to-do lists to keep yourself accountable. Define your study and social spaces. Take an hour to mechanize your computer filing system. Review the main tips on how to think faster. Define whether you have a lecturer or professor in each class. Check your schedule and availability of other classes for possible options to rearrange your schedule. Make sure you are prepared for class with a laptop, notebook, study buddy and place youre going to sit. Review the classic argument fallacies. Review how to ask effective questions and how they should be presented. Make sure you have Wikipedia available to reinforce intelligent questions with hard facts. Notes are a reflection of the lecture not a transcription. Just grasp the main ideas in the lecture and write them for your 40 year old self. Develop a coding method to shorten notes, or use my method. Review the different

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methods of note taking to figure out what the best fit is for you. Remember to use a pre-post review method to hard wire lectures. Cut down on your readings using the academic sift method. Throw, talk and take your needed articles then investigate whether you can turn your remaining books into audio tapes. Read the remaining readings as quickly as possible through using speed reading techniques. Remember to do a prcis of the reading after you finish it. Also, talk to somebody about the reading after youve finished it, it will help your recall for the exam. I cant stress this point enough: The best way to manage your time is for somebody else to manage it for you. Get your VTA, TA, prof and fellow students to keep you accountable through mechanization. Review the four cornerstones of time management: Reading, Text/Exam, Paper/Project and Note preparation. Remember, you want to get information in a quickly and as richly as possible. Review your own personal reasons for procrastinating and how you can conquer it (this relates to your mind shift). Review the steps to solving problems by: breaking it down, starting, creating accountability backups, using visual reminders, using your study space, making tasks meaningful, writing down exactly what youre going to do and getting a study timer. Before you meet with a professor to argue a higher mark: Talk to other people to loosen yourself up, be prepared for the meeting and ask effective questions. When you actually meet the prof use the prescribed methods in order: Befriend, Mirror, Because close, Assume the sale, Deal with each issue separately, Get rid of the Nos, Jones, Options sell. Before taking a test, review the three day system for test preparation. Day one you should code and turn your notes into an audio book. Day two, use your favorite study method(s) to memorize the information. Day three, reinforce your confidence by reviewing notes and visualization. It is also important to review what kind of test youre going to take and apply the applicable strategy to each type of test. Remember that the goal is to get an A, tests are about memorization not learning.

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Review the four stages of a paper and use the step by step system to produce an A paper. The research stage should be run through your Virtual Teaching Assistant and your endnote database to quickly file and review each article. In the brainstorming stage, use the critical thinking exercise to problematize your papers main purpose and supporting evidence. The writing stage is a context, not a content rich exercise. Write clearly with supporting examples, remember this is not an academic article it is an undergraduate essay which are two very different things. During the editing stage make sure to spend just as much time on editing as you did on writing. Your VTA can help edit your paper as well. Above all, under no circumstances should you plagiaries. How to use your Virtual Teaching Assistant Your virtual teaching assistant is the linchpin that makes this program work. The VTAs can help you break down every chapter in this book and will be your academic guru you can turn to for anything university related. In a few days youre going to get an email from your VTA to submit your university goal form and any online syllabi you have. Make sure to have everything ready. You will then get a report from your VTA through email or by phone of what direction he/she thinks you should go. If youd like to speak in person, download a copy of skype which allows for free phone calls between users. The standard VTA package The basic monthly VTA package includes one full hour of service plus a free initial one hour assessment. You can choose exactly what youd like to spend time on with your VTA but general estimates of assignment times are as follows: - Reviewing an outline for a paper: - Researching 5 articles and databasing through endnote: - Reviewing a 10 page first draft with simple edits: - Reviewing a 10 page first draft with grammar edits: - General email inquiries (one question): - Time management reminders for a test or assignment: - Skype call for in depth explanations: 10-15 minutes 15 minutes 15-25 minutes 30-35 minutes 5 minutes 15 minutes by the minute

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Take into consideration that these are only estimates, dependent upon the quality of submitted work; some assignments may take longer or shorter than the general estimate. If you require more time with your VTA you can double or triple the allotted time. Just confer with your VTA to make sure he/she has the time and your VTA will make the appropriate changes to your account. To make the most effective use of your time I would suggest you email your VTA clear and concise emails that explain exactly what you would like and by when. Remember that VTAs require a 3 day turn around time for all assignments so schedule your papers and tests accordingly. Example of a good VTA email: Dear VTA Thanks for getting that last paper back to me so quickly. I need to write another paper on Chinese immigrant identity. Ive already written out an outline and would like you to look it over and give me advice on whether the thesis is A worthy. I have included a copy of the essay requirements. If there arent any problems with the outline, Id like you to research 5 articles on the subject and send me back the endnote file by the 28th. Please email me if you have any questions. Ooglack

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Concluding points I hope that this book has inspired you to completely rethink the philosophy of work and how you can maximize your university career. If youve gotten this far then I suggest you check out www.virtualteachingassistant.com/blog for free tips and information that me and my VTAs post. I would also suggest that you join my emailing list to get even more free tips and tricks and to keep yourself accountable to becoming a 4.0 GPA student. If you have any questions or success stories I want you to email me at lmartin@virtualteachingassistant.com. I love to hear your stories and use them to motivate others to become better students. Hoping for your continued success

Liam Martin

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Chapter 14: Forms and Activities

In this chapter you: - Will get all the forms, guides and activities in one place

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For a review of how to fill this form out go to the second chapter. Also for an interactive copy you can email to your VTA, check out the attachments.

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Academic Sift
Throw: (Which readings are not important to complete to get an A on the course) _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ Talk: (Which of these books can I learn through discussion with VTA, TAs Profs, Students etc) Reading________________Who do I speak to?______________________ When can I speak to them?______________________________________ Reading________________Who do I speak to?______________________ When can I speak to them?______________________________________ Reading________________Who do I speak to?______________________ When can I speak to them?______________________________________ Reading________________Who do I speak to?______________________ When can I speak to them?______________________________________ Take: (Define which books you need to read in order of importance for each course) First Priority: __________________________________________ Second Priority: __________________________________________ Third Priority: __________________________________________ Questions to ask: Which of these books can I turn into Audio books? Which of these books can I simply skim through? Which of these books need my full attention?

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Prcis form: (This will also be available in an interactive format, feel free to shorten or expand on this form as you see fit)
AUTHOR: TITLE: LEVEL OF USEFULNESS FOR PROJECT/EXAM RANKED FROM 1 - 10. (Idea here is whether it is directly and highly related, or whether it might be tangentially related and or whether it might be useful in veering in another fruitful direction given the data/ideas being pursued.)

TOPIC AND THESIS:

DATA USED AND SOURCES:

KEY FINDINGS:

OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

REFERENCES OBTAINED FROM BOOK/ARTICLE:

IDEAS THIS BOOK/ARTICLE GENERATED:

THEORETICAL, HYPOTHESES, THINGS THAT RANG FALSE, ETC.

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Critical thinking Quick Guide: This is the 9 critical questions you should be asking yourself during the brainstorming stage of your paper. For more detailed explanations go to chapter 12 (You can also submit this to your VTA for quick review). 1: What is being asked of me?

2: What exactly is the problem?

3: How can I simplify this problem?

4: What information do I need to solve this problem?

5: How do the authors come to their conclusions?

6: Based on the authors evidence, do you believe their conclusions?

7: Are there any hidden bias or assumptions in the authors argument?

8: What are the implications if the authors conclusions are correct/incorrect?

9: Are there alternate ways to come to the same conclusions?

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Other Resources that can help you study and resources that have been central to my own academic development. www.virtualteachingassistant.com/blog: Here you will find weekly articles on our newest research and get access to the mailing list. I would suggest you check out the site and register on the mailing list as I give out lots of free tips and tricks. http://calnewport.com/blog/: Great website on various forms of studying strategies. A nice resource for anyone that wants to stay on top of contemporary study methods. Fundamentals of Social Research: An excellent book on research. I was personally trained by one of the authors in graduate school and she completely revolutionized my study methods and how I break down my writing. www.leechblock.com: Here you can get a great program that will restrict your time on whichever websites you choose. I set the facebook for 10 minutes a day and I set entertainment sites like youtube for a full ban from 9-5 on weekdays. This makes sure you keep on track. Remember, if you have systems in place, time management isnt a problem. www.criticalthinking.org: The best site for everything critical thinking. Some of the concepts are somewhat complex and they dont offer any simple guides like I do but a great resource if you want to follow up on critical thinking. Writing for Social Scientists: The best, best BEST book for anyone that wants to improve their writing. Not just in the social scientists but for all academic writing. It is required reading for most graduate students and you should really take the time to give it a read. Elements of Style: If you have problems with grammar, read this book. It is a great read and is a better reference tool while you write. The book also includes a full formatting reference guide.

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Online Formatting Guide: Here is a free online formatting guide that reviews most of the popular formatting formats. I would suggest you actually buy a book for this, but if that isnt possible this is a great mobile tool.

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