I think I'm in big trouble....

[LifeFirst]

I have waited for as long as I can before making posts like this because I believed that I can turn it around but right now it's not looking good. I have about 4 weeks left before the semester ends at my University and right now I'm struggling. I don't really know where to begin but I am getting stressed out. Right now, all I do is study, pretty much all day long. I stay at the library until 9 or 10 PM before heading home. And the worst part is that I feel like I haven't learned anything. It seems to take me hours just to read and comprehend a couple of simple paragraphs, and I have to repeat what I have just read again and again just to grasp the meaning. My major is Economics so there is a lot of math involved but it feels like I'm spending waaay more time than I should have.


Of course, I also have problems focusing, and sometimes during the weekends I tend to slack off and wouldn't study as much. And even when I study and do homework I still feel like my progress is slow and I still have to stay up late to study and tests, even when I do study on a regular basis. This is just frustrating because this is already my 4th year in this University, and I'm not doing well at all. On top of that, I don't really go out much, if at all. I have found that I have lost interest in just about everything and all I do is study because if I don't I will fall behind for sure. I have a couple of friends but sometimes I just get so sick of them and I don't even know why. For example, I went to a party last week and man I just wanted to get out of there as soon as I got there. I knew everyone there but they just sickened me....like I just wanted to smash their heads in....and I don't even know why I felt that way. And sure enough...I didn't have a very good time.

So, I think I'm definitely in trouble because of the mediocre grades I'm getting in school....any suggestions???

[joanmhe]

Just throwing out some ideas:
Talk to your advisor. Might be able to get some pointers or head off a bad grade.
Study with a friend in the same class.
Take short study breaks to take a walk, go to the gym, make a quick phone call to a friend.
Visit school counseling service for advice.
Talk to professors about difficult material.

Good luck.
Joan

[Radical]

I am planning on taking economics next year at uni, but your post doesn't exactly fill me with alot of confidence, lol.

Is economics really difficult?

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Radical

Is economics really difficult?

If you know what money *really* is, then the worst of your problems are over... The rest is vocabulary and math.

As far as studying... First, calm down. Take a deep breath. Let it out. Repeat a few times.

Public school gives people some really bad study habits... Instead of learning a topic in order to understand it, you typically learn a subject in order to pass a test at the end of the week, then forget about it. Because of the emphasis on tests, you get a lot of stress when you're studying... Now tell me, can you think well when you are stressed? No? Well, neither can I. Now that you're in college, you have years and years of practice with getting stressed out while studying, since studying leads to a test...

Here's something to practice... Stop worrying about the grades. I honestly did not know about my last three semester's worth of grades until last week, and I got almost all A's, except for two B's. When I was worrying about what grades I'd get, I'd average C's, simply because I would stress out about them. Study with the intent to learn the material for your own benefit, not so that you can pass a test that means nothing when you are actually applying your knowledge in the non-academic world. Forget about the tests, and let the fear of failing go with it... Just work on making yourself better. Will it help you on your test? Really, I'm not the one who can answer that... only experience can... It will, however, help your tremendously when you are out of school, which is worth far more than a grade on a transcript that nobody will see.

[LifeFirst]

^^^Man, why didn't I think of that. I've always had pressure put on me to get good grades and I would always fail. Always. That's great advice and I definitely thank you for that.


And Economics isn't really difficult if you understand the concepts. But I'm trying to do a Bachelor of Science so I have to take all the Calculus courses and Statistics courses.



And right now the only hobby I have left is weightlifting...I remember before I would do so many things other than that....but now....they all seem meaningless. Ha...it's ridiculous.

[FearlessGhost]

Ahh Economics.

First off, I was in your same shoes once. I went to a University and didn't learn much at all.

Second, it wasn't until I learned Austrian Economics that now I understand why.

You are probably learning either Keynsian Economics (heavy socialist based) or Chicago (a combination of both Keynes and Austrian). In the major universities today, professors are paid by the state and have probably progressed from bachelors, to graduate studies, to a faculty position at a University, bypassing any sort of real world experience an average person (forced to deal with his/her own business and the real world, a.k.a. 'how it REALLY works'). This leads to an armchair philosophy whereupon faculty teachers of the socialist sort tend to think that their ideas are 'revolutionary' and people should simply 'prescribe to them' because of the status of 'professor' whence these ideas came.

The type of education system that is currently employed in the United States is that of Prussia during the 1700's (please refer to John Taylor Gatto). During this time, Prussia (Northern Germany) didn't have many natural resources to exploit and trade to the rest of the world and had to find another means of economic attainment; this setback lead to the idea of training people from a very young age (say 4-5 years old) to follow directions and simply do what is told. A schooling system was then designed around this model to promote manufacturing and industry, and since a person who thought for his/her self would not be beneficial in this type of system, a method was devised to reduce this ‘independent’ tendency.

Because the United States adopted this type of system in the early 20th century, we can understand why today’s children have such a difficult time with education past High School. The public school system was designed to provide us with and answer instead of guiding us into figuring out an answer that is most suitable for ourselves.

Therefore, I would suggest that if you are truly interested in Economics, check into what is sometimes referred to as the Philosophy of Nature, or the Study of Human Nature or rather the Austrian Economic perspective. Most of the comprehensive, authoritative works can be found on Mises.org for free. In fact, from the extensive amount of materials available on the Mises.org website, you can give yourself a masters education in economics for free.

I would also suggest taking a deep look inside. Sometimes what we think (or others think) we need may actually not be the case. Maybe the type or study you are performing doesn’t interest you, or perhaps you may be interested in studying something altogether different, but the important part is finding something you enjoy no matter what it. If you find something you enjoy you will find it is much more easy to focus and remember the material because it is something you are interested in.

And if you find that you really aren’t interested in Keynesian economics (or Chicagoan for that matter) but you think you absolutely must finish your degree (and still cannot focus) I recommend using a technology such as Hemi-Sync or Pavlina recommended Paraliminal cd’s. This might make a huge difference.

Best of luck to you.

The following are links used in this post:
John Taylor Gatto
Mises.org
Hemi-Sync
Paraliminal

[Hsiang-Lin]

Hey LifeFirst,

Haha you sound surprisingly similar to me. I too love weightlifting! And I too was stuck in a state of spending hours on studying, but not being able to concentrate and make solid progress.

Here's how I overcame it:
1) If you do weightlifting, you should know about the concept "Mind in Muscle." You need to concentrate fully on the muscle and if it is being stretched and squeezed fully by the movement. Just like studying. Put your "Mind in Mind." This is a strange concept, but it works for me.

2) State your purpose for each reading assignment or homework. This will allow your mind to filter out the BS you don't need to know. I always remind myself when I'm reading a new chapter, "My purpose is to understand enough so I can understand the next lecture and get 100 on the next exam." Simple. Everytime you find yourself deviating in concentration, restate your purpose in your mind and bam it's like your subconscious mind takes over and starts absorbing the text.

3) I am definitely not at the epitome of work habits, but in terms of efficiency these techniques have allowed me to absorb tons in a matter of minutes.

You can do it!

[Andrew Brunelle]

All I can say is that I am not particularly fond of colleges as they do not usually offer the support you need to figure out these problems and they would actually prefer it if you did not pass all of your classes, so that you would have to take them over again, meaning they would get more money. You say you're stressed over grades, but grades don't really matter that much if you look at the big picture. And some professors are so damn intolerant to new ideas and will dismiss them, as it is convenient to do so instead of actually taking in these ideas. Not only that, they feed you things from a textbook and then expect you to know these things, even if they are in no way accurate or do not resonate with you. I don't know what it is, but when I was in college for about a year and a half, I felt completely and utterly restricted and every decision was magnified, as it would contribute to my future, and I don't want to say the college mindset is close-minded, but it sort of is. All these courses they MAKE you take for no real reason, where you don't learn anything, but still have to fork over the extra thousands of dollars to pay for them. Although a degree looks great in the external world, if it does not resonate with your internal world, then perhaps it is not worth pursuing any further, at least at this time.

[Deuz]

1. focus on passing exams, view previous exams & don't learn or look to much to the other stuff, I first studyed to "know" the subject, but for some courses there was to much to know & I learned to much. When I started looking at the previous exams I succeeded to pass without reading the whole book...
2. always take breaks, if you study every day that much, you'll start learning less efficient. I think it's good to have 1 free day
3. don't follow "sleep"-classes =) I'm going to +- 50% of my courses... & usually I have courses from 8.25-18h know I have 2 free days in wich I can study =) far more effective than sleeping 2 more days in the class =)

[LifeFirst]

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful replies


Well....I had my econ test today. I walked out of that room in disbelief. The test was a lot harder than I anticipated. I don't know how well I did. I seem to "blank" out on at least 2 problems. Just completely took me by surprise. I was just numb all day long because I was studying the last couple of days. I really had a feeling that I would do welll but I don't know WHAT happened. I don't know what to do now.

[Lotus]

Sounds like burn out.

How exactly are you studying? You might need a different approach; if your studying style doesn't match your learning style, then you're just beating your head against a wall... er, book.

A lot of people's "studying" involves reading the same material over and over. This is REALLY inefficient. You'll learn faster if you incorporate another learning style into your study time.

Some ideas:
-Auditory Learner: Read the material out loud into a recorder, then put on headphones and go to the gym. Walk or run around the track or get on a treadmill and listen to yourself read to you. (I used to tape all lectures and listen to them again while amending my class notes.)
-Go plague your professors during office hours. Ask for alternate explainations, spoken directly to you, for material you don't understand. Make it into a dialogue. This is gold for auditory learners.

-Tactile Learner: Start taking notes as if you were helping another student learn. One thing that I did frequently in my undergrad classes was to re-write all my notes and offer them to people who missed class. I quickly get a reputation for having the best "absentee notes" ... but I'm really doing it for me. If you can explain the material to another person, then you KNOW you have it. When I took gross anatomy, I frequently made study guides that I passed out to my whole class. The key thing is to *write out the material in your own words*.

-Visual Learner: don't just read stuff over and over; actually illustrate it into different visual forms, such as graphs, charts, timelines, hand-drawn and labeled pics, whatever. Sometimes visual learners do better if they are CREATING the visual materials, rather than just seeing them. Try drawing these things first aided ... then unaided. When you take the test, turn a page over and redraw your material from memory, then use it as a reference.

[Pat P.]

Sorry to hear that. But you have to remember, it's just a test.

I had my share of tests in the past (I am on the final stages of my doctorate), so I can give some tips that had served me well:

1) Separate each study session in small pieces, with their own goals. Instead of trying to swalow half a book in one day, set a goal based in sections of chapters. Usually, these are about ten pages that you can study in half hour. Then you stop, maybe stretch your back, and continue with the next section.

As you progress and get more confidence, you may increase the lenght of each session, but remember that if you are starting to fell overwhelmed by the task, reduce the size of it.

2) Write a 2 to 3 pages summary of the material you are studying. The idea is that you do it on your own words, and only on the key ideas. If you are studying from a textbook, use the table of contents as a reference to organize your summary. Start with the material you are working now and work your way backwards time permiting (do not start in chapter 1 if you are currently on chapter 10).

You may also consider doing a mind map of the material. This is more relational than a book (which is usually presented in a linear manner), so it can help you discover relations inside the topics you are studying.

3) Solve some problems for your Calculus and Statistics courses. By this I mean, pick some simple problems you already have solutions (examples done in class) and solve them by yourself. Then, pick harder ones and solve them also. As you go, your confindence with the subjects will increase. Math is a subject that you learn by doing rather than just reading.

4) If you own a tape recorder, or better, an mp3 player that has a build-in recorder, try making some "tapes" based on your summaries (or the ones included at the end of the chapters of the textbooks you are studying). Later, you can listen to them while doing other activities, like doing exercise, walking around the campus, preparing some food, etc..

A nice by-product of this process is that you will start a small library of the material you have studied, and that you can use in the future to refresh the material in very little time.

Pat.

[Cat Dancer]

Originally Posted by LifeFirst

I was just numb all day long because I was studying the last couple of days. I really had a feeling that I would do welll but I don't know WHAT happened. I don't know what to do now.

LifeFirst, the image that is coming to my mind is that you've been driving along pretty well, and then you've just got your first flat tire. You don't know what to do. Do you plow on, pedal to the metal, grinding forward? Nope, you need to fix your tire.

When it takes hours to read a few simple paragraphs, this means you're tired. You need to rest.

If you are taking stimulants such as caffeine, you need to stop.

You need to get a good nights sleep, every night.

You need to get some exercise, every day.

And no, you do not need to be going to parties

Then, when you're not tired, you will be able to study and learn again.

Now, it may be that you've bombed this class. OK. There are other classes. Or you can take this class again.

Once you are out in the marketplace, people will only care about what you know. Not what grades you got. Whether it took you 1 year or 6 years to get through college. They will not care. All they will care about is what you have learned.

So, you took this class, and there was more material than you could easily absorb, and you responded by valiantly studying long hours, until your eyes glazed over and you could read a paragraph three time without the information getting into your tired brain. You had a flat tire, and you said, "well, let's see if I can just keep driving by pressing hard on the accelerator". And you found out, nope, that doesn't work.

Thus you need a new learning strategy. You need sleep, because it is during sleep that your brain makes the connections and records what it has learned. You need exercise. When your eyes are glazing over, you need a break: take a nap, and then a quick fast run to get the blood moving, and then return to the material. And if you drink coffee or soda or take nodoz, stop! Caffeine disturbs your sleep cycle at night, preventing you from learning effectively, and makes you more tired the next day.

When you get up in the morning, take three deep breaths, and say to yourself out loud, "today I will learn this material in an easy and relaxed manner".

When you sit down to study, take three deep breaths and relax. Let all your muscles go floppy. Pick up your book, and skim through the material you're reading today. Don't try to read anything yet, just let your eyes skim along and pick up stuff if they want to. When you've come to the end, get up, stretch. Stretch up, up, up, fingers up to the ceiling as high as they will go. Stretch to the side, left, and right.

Now start reading the material. Gently. Easily. Your goal, your job, what you do in this activity, is to open your mind. It is not your job to force yourself to read, to bear down, to go hard. Your job is to relax, open your mind, and allow your eyes to read the material, to allow your brain to absorb. Your brain may not get everything the first time. That's OK. Read until the end. Put your worries aside. If you find your mind wandering, gently return it to the book, and continue reading.

Then, for the material that you didn't get the first time, return to it and read it again, gently, easily. Instead of forcing the material in, cramming it into your brain, let repetition do the job for you.

I hope this was helpful,

^_^

Cat

[stephencp]

Chect out "Quantum Learning" by DePorter and Hernacki. It will help you figure out exactly how YOU best learn. Most of the above suggestions are great, but you really need to figure out yourself by yourself for the best solutions.

Stephen
Power-Book Library: Free personal development, success, inspiration and motivational classics

[copla]

Practically no employers look at GPA, so focus on getting the information YOU need to succeed in your future job, not necessarily what is going to be on the test. Learn all the things you need, then learn enough of what the test needs that you can get by with a passable grade.