This is similar to previous day email but it’s related to you.

If you looked at the right side of this page, under the comments and discussions
section, Charlene would like to know the exact strategy to scoring A’s.

Today, I’ll just share with you something that will improve your grades tremendously.

Let me ask a few questions.

1) How much should you study?
2) What should you study?

I have taught many students before and when they answered these question, none of them had the same answer!

Although many of them have started preparing at least a month before their examinations, many of them do not know how to study. They only revise with only a few ways (between 1 to 5).

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After learning the powerful studying strategies, I began thinking the difference between me and the average students.

Even before I learned these powerful strategies, my school had many different educators that came to motivate and teach us “how to excel” in exams.

Things like being consistency, using flash cards, study before we play, were taught to us.

I’m not saying some of these things are not effective, but the fact is I did not do well even I learned all these stuff.

You can say that it’s mainly my fault. I did not follow them at all. The motivation of doing well lasted only a few days and I’m back to my old habits of playing and have fun.

Another reason is some of these things are just not powerful enough to simulate the brain. Perhaps you can score ‘B’s by using the things but it’s not effective enough to help you excel.

Let me share with you this theory.

Let’s just say you are business owner and you are opening up a fruit stall. You wished to earn $1000 from it every month. If you open this fruit stall at a wet market, you should be able to earn this amount of money.

What if you want to earn $100,000 from fruit stall. Can you do that by opening this type of fruit stall?

Of course. However, you definitely can’t stick with the same strategy.

It’s an entirely new game.Businessman would probably need to think of ways like franchising the fruit stall out or set up a chain of fruit stalls. They may even need to advertise with hot-air balloons.

I don’t really know how but you get the idea.

Coming back to studies, if you just want to score a ‘B’s or a ‘C’s, just like opening up a fruit stall, you can just use lousy methods. But if you want to excel in your studies like a report card full of ‘A’s, it’s a completely new game.

You need powerful strategies that will shorten your learning curve, improve your efficiency, and motivates you to excel in your studies.

I’ll leave you to think about this. If you want to know about the powerful strategies, sign up for our email course at the right of this site.

I have prepared many useful strategies and things which students always overlooked.

So what are you waiting for?

You may have already gone through the process of creating a list of lifetime goals – the next step is to actually start the process of achieving them.

This involves creating a list of smaller goals that you plan to achieve over the next 25 years preparatory to reaching your lifetime goals. After creating a 25-year plan, make a 5-year plan, then a 1-year plan, then a 6-month plan and then a 1-month plan. Get the picture? Each plan is founded and contributes to the lifetime plan.

The 3^rd step is to make a To Do List that are tasks that you should do everyday. But be realistic: you might have to do your research first by reading material that will help make your daily goals more realistic. By doing these tasks, are you living a life that is worth living or do you just exist from day to day?

Stay motivated everyday by assessing your To Do List then examining your longer term plans to see if there is any need to make changes due to the experience and priorities that you have imbibed. You may find the following general guidelines useful for this purpose:

1. Is each goal stated positively?
2. Is it precise? This allows you to measure achievement accurately.
3. Have you set priorities among the goals that you have listed down?
4. Did you write down your goals? You will be surprised how much more forceful the goals become.
5. Are the low-level goals small enough to achieve?
6. Can you control the outcome of your goals?
7. Are your goals realistically low?
8. Did you make your goals high enough to pose a challenge?

It is important to reward yourself somehow once you have accomplished a goal. Absorb the feelings that come with goal achievement and rank your progress among all the plans that you made earlier. What is a good way to reward yourself? It depends – some people find it sufficient to treat themselves to a sweet treat. Others like bigger rewards. Just make sure the reward’s worth is proportionate to the magnitude of the task.

You will find that assessment of your goals is an ongoing process every time you achieve a goal. If you found the goal to be much too easy to accomplish, maybe you should make the next set of goals more difficult. If the task took much too long to accomplish, maybe the goals should be a bit easier. Learning is an ongoing process as well so maybe you should change other goals too to reflect this. For example, perhaps your skills might need adjustment so this will, in turn, affect your goal setting and assessment.

Should you find it difficult to meet goals or outright fail, do not think that this completely derails your plans. So long as you learned from your performance, that is what counts.

Your maturity will be reflected in the changes you make in your goals. Some goals can be let go if they are not suited anymore to your short term and long term plans. Do not be a slave to the goals you have set. Maintain a degree of flexibility.

Imagine this situation: you have a test in two days that you should be studying for. Problem is, the weather outside is perfect, you cannot focus on your work, and if that were not enough, you just do not feel like studying right now. After all, you have two days to prepare for the test.

How hard can it be? Almost everyone has been in this situation at some point in their lives. While some actually work better at the last minute, it is not a habit that you should practice.

Like all things, procrastination in moderation is a way for the brain to re-energize and refocus. Too much procrastination, though, and you could find yourself over-worked, over-stressed and quickly burnt out.

How can you finish your work on time and still enjoy yourself in the process? The following are a few tips that should help you to get off the road to perpetual procrastination and help you get back on the road to effective productivity.

Step 1: Make a schedule for yourself of what is due and when it is due.

If you have a gage of when everything is due, you will be less likely to put it off until the last minute. Additionally, the presence of due dates on a calendar will serve as a reminder to you, as well as an organizational tool.

By breaking down your responsibilities and their deadlines into terms of what and when is due, you will be less stressed when you finally do begin to do the work.

When you are less stressed, you generally tend to be happier and more relaxed. Despite what you may believe, the relaxation experienced when you are procrastinating is a false one. Many people appear to be worry-free but subconsciously, they are concerned about the very things that they put off.

Step 2: Prioritize.

Separate your work into piles of “urgent” and “can wait.” No one likes to find themselves surrounded by excessive amounts of work and bills; however, by putting the most important ones first, you can eliminate some of the stress involved. Your “important” work should include items that are due soon and large projects that will time-consuming.

On the other hand, your pile should include items that are not conducive to you that do not need to be addressed immediately, such as writing letters to friends, finishing the latest pop culture magazine, or re-organizing your CD collection, all of which further contribute to your procrastination.

The use of Post-It notes or other organizational supplies are heavily recommended, as they provide a more vibrant and therefore more forceful reminder of what needs to be done and when it should be done.

Step 3: Focus.

All of the organizational materials in the world will not help you if you aren’t willing to help yourself. Sit down, choose one task to focus on at a time, and begin working on it until you are finished, then move on to the next task. Before you know it, your work will be completed, and you will actually be able to feel relatively stress – free without the looming worry of work owed.

Have you ever been in the middle of a thought and could not remember what you were thinking of? Perhaps you were about to take an exam and forgot all of the information that you thought you knew.

Maybe you were talking to someone and forgot entirely what his name was. If any of these situations sound familiar to you, read on to discover some relatively simple ways to jog your memory and keep everything in perspective.

Many scientists suggest that taking ginkgo biloba will improve your memory by releasing nootropic or “smart cell” properties into your system. If using memory supplements for the rest of your life does not sound appealing to you, perhaps something more hands-on might be more useful.

According to cognitive psychologists, learning and memorization is more meaningful when it is connected to your prior knowledge of something. When the information is presented in a manner in which it can move from your short – term memory to your long – term memory, where it remains so that you can use the information in the future.

One such method of committing material to your long – term memory is through repetition, verbal or written, of new information. This process will pull new information from your short-term memory, where it is temporarily stored to make room for new information, to your long-term memory so that you can remember and use it in the future.

Motivation plays a big role in this aspect of improvement of recognition. As with all aspects of life, if you do not desire to learn the information and commit it to memory, it will move no further than your short-term memory, as your brain will interpret this disposition as meaning that the information in question is not necessary for long-term storage.

Consequently, the use of interactive resources, such as flash cards (which aid in the repetitive process), and learning or memory manipulative make remembering information more interesting and personalized, thus drawing the new material to your long-term memory to be stored permanently.

The key in this particular aspect of memory improvement is that the new information be connected in some way to your prior knowledge of a related concept. Without this knowledge, the new information will make much less sense to you and you will be significantly less likely to remember it in the future.

For example, when learning a foreign language, it is important to connect the new concepts to ones that have previously been learned – that is, concepts that can be recollected and reused – or to concepts familiar to the learner, such as similarities between his native language and that of the target language.

Interestingly, scientists have determined that your memory can actually be improved and memory-loss diseases such as Alzheimer’s be prevented through learning of a foreign language.

The brain is a muscle, and, like the rest of the muscles in your body, must frequently be exercised or it will atrophy. If you follow these suggestions, you will be able to remember almost anything in no time!

Planning for college is never easy both for you and your parents. Perhaps, even before you were born, your parents were already pushing pencils and doing research to get you in the best school possible, while trying to minimize the potential risks and expenses.

There are infinite strategies to effectively prepare for college and a lot of agencies and consultants are now available to help you make the best choice.

Finances may be the most relevant consideration among parents, with university caliber at a close second. You need to evaluate different schools, so you can guarantee that it will best serve your interests and optimize your skills and talents.

It would be a waste if you entered a college that you cannot effectively adjust in socially, physically and most, especially, academically. A university education is pretty expensive; so the standards of your future school must be compatible with your goals for your future profession.

Choose a career. This is probably the most important factor. What do you want to become professionally? A question endlessly asked yet mostly left unanswered. Now that you realize you only have a few years or months to decide on your career path, you must select one that coincides with your talents, skills, and interests.

Also, have an appropriate reason for choosing that career. If you want to become a lawyer because it pays big, you must rethink the other factors involved because college is a long and rather costly journey toward a degree.

It is almost a matter of survival whether you can perform as much as your academe requires. But, hey, if you’re confident you can make it, then, by all means, go ahead.

Choose a college. Your future college is equivalent to your career option. After you select the profession you want, the next step is to find the school that can best educate you for it.

You may also want to find out if your course can be finished in a two or four-year program. Two-year colleges only require that you accomplish all the courses in a four-year program and they’d be willing to grant you even an Associates Degree.

Aside from considering the academic benefits of a college, also look at extra-curricular programs that may help you enhance your learning experience.

Are there clubs and organizations in the university that stir your interest? Is there a community that you think would give you the support you need to survive college?

If funds are your problem, there are available agencies willing to grant you a scholarship until you find a job after college. These study now, pay later programs will deduct your college fees from your salary once you become employed until you are fully paid.

Other quotes are also client-customized, so you can individualize your plan and negotiate with the agency. Better yet, strive to ace the college entrance examinations and get a full scholarship.

As most parents plan for college decades before the student is eligible for application, it is recommended that the student plan for it, as well. You must be physically ready for the big possibility of living away from home, mentally aware of the duties and requirements your college will ask of you, and socially competent to establish relationships that can support you in your future academe.

College is an exciting and rewarding experience. Do well and the gains will come.

Do you always find yourself having tons of school work at the last minute? Does the phrase “exams are around the corner” unfailingly give you panic attacks?

If you answered in the affirmative to any of the questions mentioned above, then you are undeniably guilty of wasting a precious resource— time.

Like most students, you may get a rush out of beating the clock and submitting your homework, although sloppily done, on time.

This chronic battle waged during crunch time invariably leads to the ubiquitous raccoon eyes and zits popping uncontrollably all over your face.

And as you continue to cope with the nerve wracking pressure of accomplishing so much in so little time, our once gentle personality mutates into a hideous monster.

While there may be no getting around job orders, here re some essential tips of managing your time efficiently:

1. Write a to-do list.

Keep a record of all your tasks such as school assignments, presentations and household chores. There is something about the written word that makes it harder to ignore. This list is also an easy way for you to keep track of what needs to be done and when the due dates are.

2. Prioritize.

Once all the tasks are listed already, prioritize them according to their sense of urgency. Arrange the tasks whether they are due in the next few days, weeks or months. It only makes sense that a presentation due tomorrow will be given more importance than one that is due a month from now.

3. Act. Do not procrastinate.

All your dreams, plans and goals are worthless if you don’t act on them. Your ideals, no matter how lofty, will not come to fruition if you remain rooted to where you are. While it is true that you have a tendency, like the rest of nature, to follow the line of least resistance in surviving this challenging world, you can evolve and turn out to be way stronger than you once were.

Say goodbye to stalls. Stop making alibis. Kick those enumerable excuses that hinders you from becoming a better person. Act now.

4. Tackle the toughest assignments first.

When you have two or more projects to finish, try to accomplish the more difficult one first before proceeding to the next. In that way, your mind will be clearer and you will get through it more quickly.

5. Remove distractions.

In order to maximize your time, you should remain focused on your tasks. This means that you have to minimize, if not totally remove, all the distractions surrounding you. Turn off the television, lower down the volume of the beat blaring from the radio, tell your little siblings to stop screaming at each other and keep your mobile phone outside your reach. Do not try sneaking at your incoming text messages and tell your parents that you won’t be receiving any calls for a few hours.

6. Use rewards to mark your progress.

A tireless 24/7 machine you are most definitely not, so don’t forget to indulge in life’s little pleasures. You can set a contract with yourself that after finishing a certain work, you can pamper yourself with a manicure or a short stroll around your neighborhood. For harder tasks, you can always treat yourself to your favourite restaurant.

Always remember that every project ticked off that list brings you one step closer to a more manageable schedule

Today, I’m proud to announce to you the birth of SecretsOfStudying.com Homepage. This home blog is created to help you, to provide you, and to push you to better grades and results.

Here’s a little history about SecretsOfStudying.com.

It’s a small website created because of me and my partner’s interest in the learning strategies and study skills. We were once students that did not do very well in our studies and it was our luck that we chanced upon powerful learning strategies.

It was after we excel in our studies that we thought it is a great idea to write a book about the powerful strategies we have learned. And as a result, we published it in this website.

On the 1st of August 2006, SecretsOfStudying.com was created.

And today, having 4000 students in our databases, we decided to create this home page to serve them even better.

In the next few months, this site would be full of information and strategies that will help you to score better grades in your studies.

My main aim is to help you in your studies.

All the best!