Studying for Our Brains

The Texas A&M Wired Study Tips is a great resource for, well, studying! I've gotten used to hearing study tips throughout my college career. What I liked about Texas A&M study tips was that it expanded and went farther than the classic "studying in groups is better than studying alone". For instance, I listened to one of their podcasts named, "7 Ways Students Waste Time & Energy". It was interesting to hear some of the characteristics that I have never thought of before that was taking up unnecessary time. One example was putting all your classes together instead of spreading them out and taking large breaks in between. Although we do not physically go to a class in this program, we can apply this to wherever we are completing our online work. Instead of spreading it out, we can set aside a chunk of time or a day to sit down and work on all our classwork.

Some of the main tips I would share with my friends and coworkers are the ones regarding procrastination. Many of my good friends are my coworkers at the hospital I work at. All of us are full-time and many of them are nurses continuing their education. All of us will talk about how we get so tired and it's hard to just sit down and get started on important work. Since we are busy, the little time we have off we want to relax. Although it is necessary to have some personal time for our mental health, we just have to bite the bullet and get things done.

One of the most interesting things I learned this week regarding how people learn is how different people are. It seems almost silly to say that but it's very true. We are all unique in various ways, and learning is not excluded from those differences. (It almost makes you question how schools and curriculum work altogether). I was surprised when I got a Left Brain Dominant result. Although I believe I sit more in the middle of the two, it did make me see the way I learn differently. Whatever I really am, one trick I've learned is to listen to some kind of instrumental music while I do school work. It is a good way to block out environment noise, however it does not substitute it with lyrics that one might be tempted to sing along to. Either way, there are so many tips out there because not one of them can work for everyone. We can all take advice but we won't know until we experiment and find what is best for us.