Apparently, I have become really bad at studying, well I usually just coasted and got by on natural aptitude, but being out of the system seems to have made me academically incompetent. Any tips/techniques for better learning, you bright, non-burnout PDers?
After leaving college (which I just coasted through on natural aptitude), I entered the workforce in the profession for almost 2 years, took some 'me time' and started university last year. After being out of school for 3 years, school that I didn't need to really work hard at in the first place, I found uni to be very hard. I saw pretty quick that I wasn't going to be coasting on natural aptitude. I had the enthusiasm and all, but more importantly at that time I was taking the bus to campus for the duration of the day. All of the time in between classes I would spend in the library studying and ended up doing quite well. The worst thing was actually moving on campus; I would go back to my room, nap, and watch TV in between classes. It was just to convenient and natural feeling to resist going back to my room instead of forcing myself to go to the library. When I'm there for the day I'm forced to study. That's the situation I have now, off campus, forced to spend gaps in class studying; it works. If you can find yourself in a situation where going to your living space is between classes is inconvenient; I highly recommend it.
I'm representin' Massachusetts now.
My first post from my new dorm room in Boston. %) We just got internet access. I'm so excited to learnnnnn things. Also, maybe I'll stop being completely antisocial, and make some friends? That would be lovely.
Holy shit, do we have a budding Harvard snob on hands?
Kudos on the drastic lifestyle change, it's tough moving to a new city (especially if you don't know anyone there and aren't used to city life in the first place, but that's just me).
Funny thing, in all of my first year here I only met fleeting acquaintances, but in my second year I've actually met my first actual friend (well, met last year, cemented when reuniting this year). I found my first year to be very isolated and lonely, being a bit more accustomed to the city and at least having one real friend with similar classes is a huge plus. If that first year wall happens, just stick with it, you'll eventually meet people and be less anxious. If you get put in a dorm where they organize you to be in proximity to people you have similar classes to, then it's going to happen a lot quicker.
Just don't spend too much time in your room between classes. Like I said above, the best grade improving thing for me is being stuck on campus for the day and having nothing better to do than study.
One thing I miss about campus; the internet connection. Oh god; reliable 4 MB/s (yes, Byte) download speeds. Here I'm throttled to a 4 kB/s crawl. Talk about being spoiled and going through internet withdrawal. No more MASH until I switch ISP's or they take out the traffic shaping equipment; which they're being forcibly legislated to do so
