xiaohuanzhang-blog

[xiaohuanzhang-blog]

How to improve yourself in College?

This is a introduction 

My name is Xiaohuan Zhang. I am an international student from China. The way of education in Chinese universities is completely different from that in the United States. In China the College is very hard to get in, you need to study very hard in high school. You have to put all your vacation day for study the exam. And you only have one chance for this exam. After you get into the College, it is very easy to get a diploma. However, the University in the U.S is not a easy job to graduated. So how to improve myself in the U.S as an international students? I read a book a few days ago, this book is very helpful for my college life. This book called “How to win at College”, author is Cal Newport. The author graduated from Dartmouth College as a member of the Honors Society in June 2004. In the "Wall Street Journal" and "Business Today" magazines, I published several articles about university life and the success stories of college students. Currently, he is pursuing a Ph.D. in computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and lives in Boston, Massachusetts. The book is the experience of outstanding students. You do not need a very high level IQ, or working very hard to study every day. The book tells us, anyone can be an outstanding student. You don't have to be a talented and talented person, you can have a healthy and orderly sleep, and you don't have to have a memory. In fact, what you really need is just the experience and guidance of people coming over. There will always be some people in college, good grades, good work for students, gymnastics, singing and dancing are stars, even playing games, playing mahjong, playing poker is also very good, and interpersonal relationships are first class... These seem incredible, in fact many people can do it. So using some good skills could help you improve yourself.

Successful students usually have some good abilities, such as self-determination ability, social skills, organizational management ability, practical ability and adapt to social ability. 

Make a schedule for yourself!

The first tip I want to tell is “Reasonable leisure time: plan your leisure time; first, determine the boundary of the day, second, determine the specific relaxation time of the day.” This tip tells you how to manage your time. The concept of time is very important for a College student, it influence your study or daily life. For example, learning in a reasonable working time will greatly improve learning efficiency. It’s rare to be late at a friend’s party and it will bring a good feeling to others. So create a schedule for yourself is very helpful. 

Start review two weeks in advance!

The book has a tip that is reviewing two weeks in advance: Once you realize that you are only doing what you have to do, and the total amount of tasks has not increased, you will gradually understand that this method is not only simple but very effective for preparing for the exam. I think no one want to put all the work into one night. If you not plan to review your work before the exam, it is impossible to study all the knowledge for one night. And second day you will lose many energy for the exam. You also can make a plan on your computer or on your paper for that. For example the five-day-plan is very good.

Extra-curricular pen!

This is also a very useful advice. More extra-curricular pens: For college students, writing is really very important. This is an irreplaceable basic skill. Only when you can express your thoughts clearly and forcefully can you succeed in your studies. The more words you get from your mind to the paper, the better you can master this vital skill. The exercise of writing ability, that is, organizational ability, speculative ability, and management ability, is very important. The only way to improve writing skill is reading and writing. For the students of our university, the writing ability of the post-work is very high. The writing training during the university will definitely help the development of the future career path.

Make up your bed!

This tip looks like very useless, but I believe this is one of the most important thing. A clean room can make your mind clearer, and a messy room will make your mind more confused. The orderly living space will reduce the dispersion of energy, making you feel that you are the master of the environment. If you can't keep the room tidy, you won't feel the orderly beauty of life. Boys should pay more attention to it. I have cleaned the office at least once a week.

Which place you want to stay?

Learning how to take notes!

Most of students know how to take notes on class, but it is more important to take a good note. The book tells us, when the knowledge points are well organized and organized, and easy to find, your thoughts can be concentrated on the synthesis of concepts rather than focusing on the search. Be sure to use high-quality, well-organized learning tools, which is an important way to reduce the stress caused by chaos. At the same time, it also helps you to effectively organize classroom materials and form a good psychological suggestion for diligent students to learn hard. Using a quality notebook does not guarantee that you will succeed, but it will provide good conditions for success. Now I am suggesting two good skills that are “informal outline” and “The Block method”

Maybe my hand writing is not good, but when I check my own note, I could review knowledge very clearly.

How to improve yourself to get succeed?

The gpa is not the only way to see if you get succeed. You have many ways to get succeed. When you have some good abilities, you are not far from success. I highly recommend reading “How to win at college”, this book have more details to guide you to get better. In my own opinion, having a good social skills, good study habits and good critical thinking is a great college student.