Back from break, back to work!
It hardly seems fair. After a week-long break that many of us spent destroying our poor brain cells, we must now apply those valiant remaining few to the task of finishing the academic year. I know I certainly wasn’t prepared to face the tidal wave of work that happily awaited my return to UB, but I must deal with it like every other student.
Our cover story this week deals with the use of Adderall, a drug some students are turning to for help during the hectic times of midterms and finals. While the ability to study for fifteen hours straight can be a big help during crunch time, most students opt for old fashion medication: caffeine. Indeed, you will be seeing a lot more paper cups with cardboard rings being carried around in the coming weeks, ferried from class to class by bleary-eyed students.
The odds are good that you will end up trapped in some sort of terrible all night study session for an exam or paper at some point in your higher education career. Let’s face it, as students we have the tendency to put things off until the last minute (not that we would do anything like that here at Generation). When you finally do muster up the ambition (or are assaulted by sheer panic) to sit yourself down in front of your books, it’s best to make good use of the time you have.
Location is key. There’s no formula set in stone for this, but it’s reasonable to suggest you find a study area free from distractions. For many of us, that means getting out of the room you live in. If you do your studying at home, there’s a good chance the desk you will be studying on also holds a myriad of unproductive devices, including Instant Messenger. If you must study at your desk, do yourself a favor and sign off your IM program of choice. All it takes is one IM to sink your entire evening.
If you live in a house you might find solace in a living room or basement, but invariably housemates with nothing to do will come looking for entertainment. If you’re serious about getting work done, you need to pack up and head to the library. It’s a good way to remove all the variables that could keep you from getting things done. Hook yourself up with a quiet corner (preferably without graffiti to read) and get down to studying.
You’ll want to be listening to music while you work. Many believe that listening to Mozart or Beethoven helps you retain information, but I think that people who listen to classical music often are just smarter than those who have Britney Spears spinning in the CD player. I recommend upbeat instrumental music. Trying to listen to lyrics and read at the same time rarely ends with good results. Finally, make sure you aren’t listening to your favorite music. Your tunes should act as background noise to remove distractions, not cause you to start dancing.
As I mentioned earlier, a lot of students view coffee as the essential fuel for hardcore studying. I couldn’t disagree more. Caffeine is essentially speed, and taking a lot will whip you into a frenzy for a short while, and then leave you more drained than you were before.
Drink orange juice. Even better, grab some clementines and eat those as you work. Oranges never fail to revitalize the mind, and they’re also chock full of Vitamin C, which will help you stave off the cold you’re going to catch from sharing beer pong cups with twenty other people. You can’t go wrong with a steady supply of citrus.
Lastly, don’t just stare at a book. For some people, total comprehension can be achieved simply by close and repeated reading, but it’s far more common for people to learn better when they take notes. Physically writing out what you need to know will help you remember the information; it’s far easier to recall a page you wrote yourself than some page in a textbook.
Above all, the only way to get your studying done is to actually get up and do it. Unplug your television and grab a notebook. The sooner you start, the sooner you can get back to studying for Flip Cup 101.
Trapped inside O’Brian Hall,
Charles “Kamavhuk” Wiff
