Experience Counts
(1988 - 2015)
"Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those
who prepare for it today." (Conrad Hall)
Proven Record of Success:
• University Faculty lecturer, College Professor, Laboratory Instructor, Research Assistant, Science & Math Teacher
• Developed curriculum's, evaluated student progress, and incorporated educational technologies
• Provided organized feedback with parents to improve student's academic achievement
• Familiar with the Ministry of Education Curriculum
• Incorporated Growing Success Assessment into lectures and class material
• Rated as a "Very Good Teacher” in multiple course summary college reports
• Supervised research projects, published papers and a university textbook
• Active participant in educational workshops and conferences
• Received awards for teaching and research excellency
• Provided academic support for low-income students (since 2000)
• Expertise in preparing students for Medical, Dentistry and Pharmacy Schools (MCAT, DAT, PCAT)
*Assisted students with test preparation skills, motivational learning, time-management practices, laboratory and lecture note organization, and secondary resources for course material (e.g. videos, PowerPoint presentations, model demonstrations).
Teaching and Research Experience:
University of Toronto
Teaching Assistant,Research Assistant, Laboratory Instructor
York University
Teaching Assistant,Research Assistant, Laboratory Instructor
Ryerson University
Tutoring Chemistry,Organic Chemistry,Biology
Azad University
Faculty lecturer, Laboratory Instructor
Shiraz university
Research Assistant,Laboratory Instructor
Chamran University
Research Assistant
George Brown College
College Professor
Selected as the Best Professor by College students (Course indicator report)
Teaching: Chemistry, Biology, Pharmacology & Physiology, Math
Centennial College
College Professor
Teaching: Math,Chemistry
Toronto's High schools& Educational Institute
Science & Math Teacher (since 2000)
(Blythe Education, Princeton review,Academy of Math and Science, Future skills, Oxford learning, etc.)
Teaching & Tutoring: Chemistry, Biology, Math, Science
Instructed Courses:
High School Courses: Int. Baccalaureate Chemistry, Advanced Placement Chemistry, Gr. 11 &1 2 Chemistry
Int. Baccalaureate Biology, Advanced Placement Biology, Gr. 11 & 12 Biology
Math (Grade 9-12),Science
College Courses: Chemistry,Biology, Pharmacology & Physiology,Math
University Courses: General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Biology, Biochemistry
Test Preparation: MCAT (Medical College Admission Test)
PCAT (Pharmacy College Admission Test)
DAT (Dental Admission Test)
OAT (Optometry Admission Test)
Tutoring University Students:
Ryerson University, York University, University of Toronto, McMaster University, University of Waterloo
Tutoring College Students:
George Brown College, Seneca College, Humber College, Centenial College
Tutoring High school Students:
Bayview Secondary School, St. Robert high school, Richmond Green Secondary School, Jean Vanie Catholic High School, Eva Jackson,Secondary School, Earl Haig Secondary School, ............
University Preparation
(Successfully Offered Since 2001)
The first year of University can be very overwhelming for high school graduates. To make the transition smoother, understanding the key differences between high school and University is essential.Teachers in high school take a pro-active approach in their students’ lives. They provide a comfortable stepping stone for students by ensuring deadlines are met, homework is complete, and personal concerns with class material are dealt with. However, university adopts an entirely different system that requires the individual to be responsible for himself/herself. That means, managing heavy course loads, clubs, research, volunteering, and assignments simultaneously. This can be very burdensome. Preparing for university with the assistance of an experienced educator can help you prepare and manage your time, establish long-term study habits, develop good reading skills, and most importantly, ease the transition on your path towards future endeavors.
Course Outline:
- Prepared readings ahead of assigned schedules
- Solving challenging chapter problems and reviewing fundamental concepts introduced in high school.
- Offering past tests and exams for reference (150$ value)
- Prepared review summaries for chapters assigned for readings
- Reference to external sources other than academic readings (videos, lab manuals, articles etc.)
- Arranged exam review sessions during both academic semesters
- Consulting for research positions requests in university and hospital settings
- Preparing students for Medical School exam (MCAT), Dental School exam (DAT), and Pharmacy School (PCAT)
- Feedback and recommendations will be provided on a regular basis
MCAT/DAT PREP
(Medical and Dentistry School Preparation)
(Offered Since 2001)
Course Outline:
This course covers various content surrounding both fields of study. Experienced teaching will evaluate the format of the test, the tactical approach to solutions, exam time-distribution, and recommendations for preparation. Further, the course will also help students maximize their score by: constructing a s.m.a.r.t preparation outline, practice diagnostic tests, comprehensive feedback, and self-management skills. Students are provided exercises on a daily basis to increase their likelihood of a successful outcome on the MCAT/DCAT exam.
- Customized lectures according to the individual needs of each student
- Train effectively strategies for tackling changing questions under timed conditions
Self-Development Workshops
(High schools, Colleges, Since 2002)
These workshops place emphasis maximizing effectiveness by defining your expectations and helping you to improve confidence. The following topics are covered in the workshops:
Course Outline:
Communication Skills (Communication challenges, Styles of Communication,...)
Creativity (Develop creatively, pursuing projects, having ideas,...)
Critical Thinking (Manage an environment of creative people, elements that contribute to creativity)
Goal Setting (Attitude & Belief Set Goals, Passion,...)
Organizational Skills (Managing Information, The INFO Process, Time Management Planning)
Positive Thinking (Experience the enormous power of positive thinking,...)
Presentation Skills (Establishing a clear purpose, Using relaxation techniques,…)
Self-Confidence (Presenting yourself with confidence, Professional table manners,..
Self-Esteem Low (self-esteem is a thinking problem not a chemistry problem,...)
Stress Management (Cope with the Stress of Work Overload, Effective Planning,...)
Time Management (Prioritizing their To-Do's, Limiting Interruptions, Use Time Blocks )
Highly suggested articles
10 Tips for Making a Tough Decision
Sometimes in life we’re faced with decisions that seem truly impossible to make. Whether they're the kind of decisions we dream about or the kind that we dread, research on decision-making has uncovered a number of useful strategies for gaining clarity.
1. Do your homework. The first and most obvious strategy is to gather as much information as you can about the options in front of you, and then to lay it all out in an organized way. Even if you want your decision to be gut-driven rather than fact-based, educating yourself is an important first step. Gut feelings tend to be more accurate and helpful when they’re made by experts (link is external), research shows, so becoming an expert on the topic at hand can make your intuition more reliable.
2. Talk to people who've made similar choices. If possible, try to talk to a range of people who've taken the various paths you’re considering—and are willing to speak honestly about them—to learn about their experiences. Research suggests that this approach can help you make more accurate predictions (link is external) about your own reactions to potential future events. Of course, people have different personalities, interests, and values, so your experience is not likely to be exactly the same as others’. But we tend to overestimate these differences, and as a result we fail to trust others’ experiences as much as we should.
3. Take post-decision dissonance into account. When seeking others’ advice, keep in mind that a phenomenon called post-decision dissonance (link is external) can keep people from consciously recognizing or openly admitting that they may have made a mistake. Research suggests that people tend to automatically view a chosen path more positively once they’ve embarked on it, presumably as a way to avoid the cognitive dissonance that can result when they feel that they’ve done something that isn’t in line with their true attitudes. Post-decision dissonance can also affect you as the decision-maker if already you’ve taken any steps in the direction of one decision or another, like investing time or money, or announcing your tentative decision to others. These actions may bias your attitudes in the direction that you’re already moving.
4. Ask yourself what you would choose if no one else cared. It’s understandable to let the needs and desires of loved ones factor heavily into your decisions. For many decisions, these are central concerns that should carry weight. But often we’re unduly influenced by external factors that are less likely to matter in the long run, like what will give us the most status and prestige, or what “people” will think. If you suspect that these types of factors are influencing you, try imagining a scenario where no one else knows or cares what decision you make. This approach can help you identify intrinsic goals (link is external)—that is, goals that are aligned with what you really want, not just what you think you should be doing.
5. Don’t let fear drive you, but don’t ignore it either. If we made all of our decisions based on fear, we would probably never leave the house. To create the lives we want, we inevitably have to take risks, sometimes big ones. But to say that you should never make decisions based on fear is overly simplistic. Fear is there to protect us from danger and harm, and often it does this job well. When it comes to major life decisions, though, what we fear needs to be balanced with what we want. We have to decide whether the costs are justified by the benefits. Focusing only on avoiding what we fear, as opposed to pursuing what we want, is associated with a host of negative outcomes, including loneliness and insecurity, according to research on approach and avoidance motivation (link is external). To gain more clarity on a decision, try framing it in terms of what you want and see if that changes your feelings about it. For example, you could think of a decision about whether to stay in a romantic relationship in terms of what you want in a relationship, and in life, not just what you fear and want to avoid (e.g., being alone).
6. Look for alternatives. Our natural tendency is often to focus exclusively on the options we’ve already considered and neglect potential alternatives (link is external). To counteract this bias, ask yourself whether you have truly considered all of the options available to you. Are there variations on any of your current options that could address some of your concerns? Are there totally different paths worth investigating? If you’re trying to decide between two risky medical treatments, maybe it’s worth getting a second or third option on safer alternatives. Or if you’re trying to decide between two potential romantic partners, maybe it’s worth considering choosing no one—if you’re majorly conflicted, it might be a sign that neither option is right and there’s someone better out there for you.
7. Stop thinking about it for a while. Not only can ruminating over a decision drive you a little crazy, but getting too bogged down in the details can also interfere with your ability to gain clarity on what you really want. Research suggests that distracting yourself (link is external) from a decision for a little while and then coming back to it with a fresh eye can help you make the right move (provided you are already well-informed—simply avoiding a decision altogether because it’s too stressful is unlikely to help).
8. Give each option a test run. Imagine that you've already made the decision—in one direction or the other—and then sit with that for a few days. This strategy allows you to observe how you feel about the decision when you’re in a range of different situations. Research suggests that people tend to make decisions differently depending on a number of transient situational factors, including whether they happen to be in a happy or sad mood (link is external). You want to make sure that the decision you make isn’t just the product of a fleeting state of excitement, for example.
9. Consider how your future self may feel about your decision. In a 2014 TED talk (link is external), psychologist Daniel Gilbert argued that “all of us are walking around with the illusion that...we have just recently become the people that we were always meant to be and will be for the rest of our lives.” In his research, he has found that at every age from 18 to 68, people tend to underestimate how much their values, personalities, preferences, and hobbies will change over the next 10 years. This “end of history illusion,” (link is external)as Gilbert calls it, can bias our decision-making towards what’s best for our current selves rather than our future selves. Although it’s difficult to predict exactly what our future selves will want, it can help to at least consider the possibility that they may want something different than what we want right now.
10. Accept that there may be no perfect decision. Making a tough decision can be especially stressful when you imagine that there is only one “right” choice and you just need to figure out what it is. But the truth is often that each option has good and bad sides, and that whichever way you go, it’s possible that you will feel some degree of sadness, loss, and regret—and that doesn’t mean you made the wrong call.
By Juliana Breines Ph.D. on May 05, 2015 in In Love and War
10 Techniques to Successfully Overcome Procrastination
1. Link Filtering
Don’t click on the links! Once you start clicking and digging deeper into a topic, you lose focus and energy. If you feel a link is incredibly valuable, bookmark it. I find that I rarely go back to most of the links that I bookmark, which means lots of time saved!
2. E-Mail Naps
Take care of your e-mail program — turn off its constant buzzing and even the number that appears on your desktop of unread messages. Let your email rest. When I am working, I quit my e-mail program and write e-mails that I would like to send in plain text documents saved with the subject of the e-mail. Then, I send the e-mails all at once when I complete a chunk of my work.
3. Focus
Focus on one task at a time. If the task you are working on is part of a larger project, define a specific goal for that period of time (e.g., read 10 pages or brainstorm ideas for book title). I write the goal on a post-it note and leave it next to me while I’m working.
4. Clear you’re Desktop
Clearing your desktop allows you to focus on one project without distraction from piles of papers or other nicknacks.
5. Take Mini-Breaks
When you begin to lose focus, take a 5-15 minute break away from your work area. Do something totally unrelated to work (e.g., take a quick walk, create a cute label, eat some fruit, listen to music, stretch).
6. Do what you DON’T want to do FIRST
It’s yucky — I know. But afterwards the feeling of success is enough to energize you through the rest of your day.
7. Be Enthusiastic
When you were in school, did you learn the most from teachers who were enthusiastic about the subject matter or the teachers who fell asleep while talking about the same math concept for the 4th time that day? Even if you are counting pennies, bring positive energy to the task. Use positive self-talk and convince yourself that what you are doing is fun. If you’re writing, use a favorite pen. I use a bright colored sharpie when I’m writing and it does the trick! The key is to cognitively trick yourself into thinking what you’re doing is just wonderful. (Now you can see why I want to go into psychology!)
8. Reward Yourself
Sounds wonderful, but most of us probably don’t do it on a consistent basis. It’s a great incentive to push forward with a project. Create a reward system and you’ll be a bit more motivated to put one foot in front of the other.
9. Relabel “Procrastination”
We all find ourselves procrastinating and it makes most people pretty upset with themselves. It’s important to switch your mindset to something more positive. For example, you've been surfing the internet and browsing different online bookstores. You went online to find one book and then an hour later you haven’t found the book and feel as if you've been roaming aimlessly. You can get upset with yourself OR you can label that time as a break that you needed so that you can re energize and move forward. You have the power to take control of the negative emotions you feel brewing and re-assess the situation from a positive mindset.
10. Let go of Perfection
Embracing imperfection is a struggle. We often delay acting on something because we want to do it perfectly. Rationally, we know nothing is perfect; however, it’s difficult to find the balance between doing something perfectly and not doing something at all. We need to leave our comfort zone and be okay doing something “good enough.” That in of itself is probably the largest hurdle to overcome.
By Carolyn L Rubenstein on Jul 20, 2009 in Now Is Everything
Regret - 8 Ways to Move On
You behaved in a way that negatively impacted you, a situation, or the people you love. You can’t let go of the guilt and self-loathing for what you did. You believe you must be a bad person. You’re feeling stuck, undeserving of love and happiness, and downright fraudulent. You’ve convinced yourself you’re a monster.
The negative thoughts and feelings that accompany the memories of that-thing-that-you-did are creating more problems. You’re damaging yourself – your low self-worth causes increased stress and depression. You’re damaging your relationships – believing you don’t deserve to be loved actually builds walls between you and the people most important in your life – it blocks genuine intimacy. You’re damaging your career, health, spirit, and future happiness by holding onto those negative thoughts, opinions, and judgments about yourself.
So how does it benefit you to continue the daily self-deprecation? Well… it doesn’t. Consider eight ways to move on.The Past Impacts the Present and the Future:
since we can’t change the past, we can focus on transforming the present moment and positively impacting the future.
1-Accept that humans are fallible creatures. If you are reading this, you are part of the species. You will make mistakes – some big, some small. Your regret demonstrates that you care. This is a good thing. Prolonged regret however, can interfere with all areas of your life – relationships, career, health, etc. Find your mantra. Believe in it. It might sound something like this, “I am a fallible human. I make mistakes. Nevertheless, I am loving and lovable.”
2-How am I benefiting from self-hatred? If you, the situation, or the people you love are not benefiting from your self-loathing, then stop it. Do something else. What would be better? Consider what you really want – happiness, love, acceptance, achievement, belonging, generosity, gratitude. Focus on that. Stop “should-ing” yourself. Stop rehashing the unchangeable past!
3-Catch the negative self-talk in action! It can seem so automatic that it’s not noticed consciously, at first. Slow down those negative messages. Hear your internal monologue. Do not accept those statements as fact. Deliberately challenge them and change them to positive statements. Perhaps even the opposite thought is closer to the truth. When I say to myself, “I’m an idiot! I never should’ve done that!” the resulting feeling is shame. When I say, “Whoa, I could’ve done better. I’ll try something else next time.” The result is empowerment to strive harder in the future.
4-What triggers those negative thoughts? Do certain people, situations, or memories trigger the negative self-talk? Prepare ahead of time with your mantra and affirming statements so that you are empowered to stay strong when confronted by them. Practice deep breathing, positive imagery, or take a time-out to regroup and rebuild your inner core. “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” – Alice Walker
5-How do my thoughts affect my feelings and behaviors? Buddha, Norman Vincent Peale, Gandhi, Lao Tzu, William Shakespeare, Miles Davis, Steve Jobs, Carl Sagan, and Albert Einstein all recognized the power of thoughts! They shape our intentions, feelings, motivations, and behaviors. Make your thoughts work FOR you, not against you.
6-Focus on gratitude. Start a journal. Write about three things each day that you value and appreciate. Spend more time and energy thinking about the positive than the negative. You’ll notice a gradual shift in feeling calmer, freer, and happier.
7-Who am I and how do I want to be? Embrace your positive qualities. Pause and take stock. How did you get to where you are in life? What attracts people to you? What makes you funny, loving, reliable, smart, interesting, or a multitude of other desirable things? Own up to your values and contributions. They exist. Cherish what makes you special.
8--Genuinely apologize and forgive yourself. Regret and resentment keep you a prisoner of negative thoughts and emotions. Allow yourself the freedom to accept your imperfections, mistakes, and lapses of better judgment. Apologize to those affected and trust that you will be a stronger, wiser person going forward. “To err is human, to forgive, divine.” – Alexander Pope
Learn Something Useful:In regards to that-thing-that-you-did… well, without mistakes, you aren't living life. Without mistakes, you aren't growing, stretching, and changing. Without mistakes, you aren't trying new things and exploring new ideas. There is no perfect human being. Let it go. Allow it to be part of your past. Start fresh now. Focus on the future and the life you want!
The Value of Mistakes – Four Teachings:
1- “Mistakes are the portals of discovery.” – James Joyce
2- “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” – Mahatma Gandi
3-“We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here NOW with the power to shape your day and your future.” – Steve Maraboli
4-“Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.” – Rita Mae Brown
By Mark Banschick M.D. on May 01, 2015
Effective study strategies
Most people, when asked, can recount an experience that undermined their confidence in their own learning. Negative comments when we are young can have a very long-term effect upon our view of ourselves as bright, capable learners. However, self-confidence has a major impact upon our ability to perform well.
General tips
Spending long hours studying is not necessarily productive. It is possible to gain better marks by studying more effectively rather than for longer. Most of this resource looks at ways of studying in more effective ways. To study effectively, you can:
Identify what is really needed
Study assignment titles carefully. Work out exactly what is required for assignments. This saves time in re-writing assignments later. Time spent in preparation is well spent.
Work strategically
Set yourself clear goals and work towards these.
Make the material meaningful
Looking for 'the meaning' or how things work, rather than focusing on remembering information. Work with the material, looking at how it fits together and applies to different circumstances. If you develop your understanding of the subject, it will help you to take in future material more easily. This makes reading easier. It also improves your memory for the subject.
Look for links
Be active in searching out links between different aspects of the programme. Look also for links between what you are learning and the wider world. This helps to develop understanding and memory.
Work with others
Work with other students so that you share ideas and gain mutual support. You may be able to share some research tasks and clarify your lecture notes. Studying with others makes study more interesting, as you gain a different set of perspectives.
Set yourself SMART-F targets
Targets should be:
Strategic: they assist you to achieve your goals
Measurable: you can tell when you have completed them
Achievable: you are likely to succeed in meeting them
Realistic: they fit the circumstances
Time-bound: you have a set time to meet
Flexible: you can adapt them if the circumstances change.
Look for shortcuts
Look for reasonable short-cuts that do not compromise your studies. For example:
· Avoid unnecessary tasks such as writing notes out neatly
· Use abbreviations in your notes
· Write assignments onto a computer if possible rather than writing them out by hand and then typing them up
· Focus your notes around themes and questions rather than making long notes that you do not really need.
Use the word limit to focus your energies
Most assignments have a word limit. Use this as a guide to how much you need to read and how many examples you can include. Plan out in advance how you will divide up the words available to you. Often, you need to be very concise about each topic. This means you may not be able to include very much of what you have read if you have undertaken a great deal of reading or made very extensive notes.
Take care of yourself
Take rests when you are tired. Study takes longer and the brain is less effective when you are tired or stressed. Plan your time so that you get breaks. A change of scene stimulates the brain and helps creative thinking.
How to get good marks
There is no magical formula for getting good marks. Each lecturer will look for different things, depending on the subject and the nature of the assignment. However, there are steps you can take to increase your chances of good marks.
Read assignment titles very carefully
These usually contain a question that the assignment must address. You will only get marks for answering that question. Other information just uses up your limited word allowance.
Find out the conventions
Each subject works to a set of conventions or 'rules'. These will apply to such matters as the methodology to use, what counts as 'evidence' and the style of writing to use. Spend time finding out what these are. Guidance may be given in the programme handbook or web pages. Otherwise, look at the language and style used in books you are recommended. You will have a clearer idea of what is expected if you look at material from a different subject and see the contrast. Some subjects prefer creative or subjective approaches; others prefer objective and logical thinking; some require both.
Structure your writing
Make sure that you follow the basic conventions for writing reports, essays or case studies. Ensure that readers can follow a clear line of reasoning and can see how every example and piece of information contributes to that line of reasoning.
Give evidence and a few good examples
Avoid opinions and feelings unless these are backed up with evidence available from sources open to others (books, journals, internet, etc.). Choose good examples that illustrate the point rather than loading the reader with too much detail or too many examples.
Reference your work
Make references to source materials (books, journals, paintings, web-pages, etc) within your own work. Write a list of all references at the end of the work, following the conventions required by your programme.
Proof-read
Proof your work for typing errors. Read it aloud to check that it makes sense. Listen carefully as you read it aloud. Check that the computer hasn't accidentally swallowed half of a sentence or some paragraphs you though were there.
Learning from lectures
Lectures are an opportunity to find out how one lecturer makes sense of the wealth of information and research that has been undertaken on a topic. A good lecturer will use the lecture to give you an overview of the main themes, develop your understanding of the issues, guide you on how to find out more about the subject and the reading you need to undertake. You may also gain details of relevant current issues, explanations of complex material or questions to answer that develop your own thinking and research. The aim is not usually to give you a definitive and comprehensive set of 'facts' on the subject. You are expected to supplement the lecture with reading and interpretations of your own.
Lectures that develop understanding
The finer details of the subject should be available in lecture hand-outs, web-pages or in the recommended reading. This should mean that you do not have to spend the time in the lecture making detailed notes. If you have lecturers like this, your best strategy is:
· 1- focus on listening to the lecture
· 2-note how the different themes or issues interconnect, so you gain a good overall grasp of the subject
· 3- make a brief note of key themes
· 4-note any additional references
· 5- read about the subject of the lecture before and after in order to pick up details.
Information-rich lectures
Some lecturers will use the lecture to bombard you with information and expect you to take this in at speed. If so, most people will find it difficult to listen and take detailed notes, and it is unlikely that anybody will have a complete set of lecture notes. If you have lecturers like this, your best strategy is:
1-Browse through relevant text books before the lecture. This will give you an idea of what information is in the books and which you may not need to note in the lecture. You can come back to this after the lecture.
2-It is hard to make sense of lectures where information content is high. Reading something about the subject in advance will help to make more sense of what is said.
3-Listen carefully for topic headings and references so that you can chase missing information after the lecture.
4-Resist the temptation to write everything down if you can avoid this. It is very hard to catch a complete set of lecture notes.
5-Form a group and go through the lecture notes so you can fill in gaps. Between you, you will have most of the information you need and discussing the notes will help you to understand the subject.
Top tips for learning from lectures
Before the lecture
· prepare for lectures - find out what is in the books on the subject so that you are aware of what you do not need to note in the lecture
· form an opinion about the subject of the lecture
· set yourself questions and leave spaces to have these answered during the lecture.
During the lecture
· listen to 'make sense' rather than to make notes
· listen for 'signposts' about what is coming next or for summaries of key points
· listen for answers to questions you set in advance
· write yourself questions so you can trace answers and information after the lecture
· make brief notes of essential points.
After the lecture
· read your notes and fill in any gaps
· discuss the lecture with other people
· consider how the lecture changed or developed your opinions of the subject
· label and file your notes.
* Study Skills, by Stella Cottrell.
Time management
1-Blocks of study time and breaks
As your school term begins and your course schedule is set, develop and plan for, blocks of study time in a typical week. Blocks ideally are around 50 minutes, but perhaps you become restless after only 30 minutes? Some difficult material may require more frequent breaks. Shorten your study blocks if necessary-but don't forget to return to the task at hand! What you do during your break should give you an opportunity to have a snack, relax, or otherwise refresh or re-energize yourself. For example, place blocks of time when you are most productive: are you a morning person or a night owl? Jot down one best time block you can study. How long is it? What makes for a good break for you? Can you control the activity and return to your studies?
2-Dedicated study spaces
Determine a place free from distraction (no cell phone or text messaging!) where you can maximize your concentration and be free of the distractions that friends or hobbies can bring! You should also have a back-up space that you can escape to, like the library, departmental study center, even a coffee shop where you can be anonymous. A change of venue may also bring extra resources. What is the best study space you can think of? What is another?
3-Weekly reviews
Weekly reviews and updates are also an important strategy. Each week, like a Sunday night, review your assignments, your notes, your calendar. Be mindful that as deadlines and exams approach, your weekly routine must adapt to them! What is the best time in a week you can review?
4-Prioritize your assignments
When studying, get in the habit of beginning with the most difficult subject or task. You'll be fresh, and have more energy to take them on when you are at your best. For more difficult courses of study, try to be flexible: for example, build in reaction time when you can get feedback on assignments before they are due. What subject has always caused you problems?
5-Achieve "stage one"--get something done!
The Chinese adage of the longest journey starting with a single step has a couple of meanings: First, you launch the project! Second, by starting, you may realize that there are some things you have not planned for in your process. Details of an assignment are not always evident until you begin the assignment. Another adage is that "perfection is the enemy of good", especially when it prevents you from starting! Given that you build in review, roughly draft your idea and get going! You will have time to edit and develop later. What is a first step you can identify for an assignment to get yourself started?
6-Postpone unnecessary activities until the work is done!
Postpone tasks or routines that can be put off until your school work is finished!
This can be the most difficult challenge of time management. As learners we always meet unexpected opportunities that look appealing, then result in poor performance on a test, on a paper, or in preparation for a task. Distracting activities will be more enjoyable later without the pressure of the test, assignment, etc. hanging over your head. Think in terms of pride of accomplishment. Instead of saying "no" learn to say "later". What is one distraction that causes you to stop studying?
7-Identify resources to help you
Are there tutors? An expert friend? Have you tried a keyword search on the Internet to get better explanations? Are there specialists in the library that can point you to resources? What about professionals and professional organizations. Using outside resources can save you time and energy, and solve problems.
Write down three examples for that difficult subject above? Be as specific as possible.
8-Use your free time wisely
Think of times when you can study "bits" as when walking, riding the bus, etc. Perhaps you've got music to listen to for your course in music appreciation, or drills in language learning? If you are walking or biking to school, when best to listen? Perhaps you are in a line waiting? Perfect for routine tasks like flash cards, or if you can concentrate, to read or review a chapter. The bottom line is to put your time to good use. What is one example of applying free time to your studies?
9-Review notes and readings just before class
This may prompt a question or two about something you don't quite understand, to ask about in class, or after. It also demonstrates to your teacher that you are interested and have prepared.
How would you make time to review?Is there free time you can use?
10-Review lecture notes just after class
Then review lecture material immediately after class.The first 24 hours are critical. Forgetting is greatest within 24 hours without review!How would you do this?Is there free time you can use?
* Study Skills, by Stella Cottrell.
