You are here.
You are might be someone who is either ready to go to college or you are thinking about college or you are in college, but you need help fast.
If you are any of the people that I’ve described here, you are definitely in the right place at the right time.
You recognize that college is an extremely important time in your life.
The way you go about it will dictate how the rest of your future will go.
You want to know how to go about college so you do not screw up your life and you are not stressed out come finals week.
Guess what?
Your concerns will end right here at the end of this blog post because I will show you the 85 tips that you need, with in depth strategies and secret hacks that top students use, to come out ahead of the competition.
I will also show you completely new tips that are guaranteed to blow your mind like how to handle your tests to ensure that you get A’s (or at least prevent failure), study techniques so you don’t burn out, and even tips that can save you tens of thousands of dollars and even hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long run with just a few pieces of data at your disposal.
Now I must warn you, this post is LONG.
It is over 25000 words.
But it contains almost everything that you need to know in order to succeed with college.
If you are thinking about clicking away, ask yourself this:
Do you want to ensure that you don’t screw up college?
Do you want to end your constant searching for answers after finishing this article up or if you are not in college, do you want to eliminate about 80-90% of the mistakes that freshmen make?
Then read on to know the exact tips for doing so.
Now before I begin, I must mention to you something you might be interested in.
You like free stuff right?
Well you’re in for a treat if you conquer the challenge I am going to throw at you:
In this article, there are several typos that I made on purpose for you to find.
They are hidden in here and if you want the exclusive mystery prize that’ll be worth your weight in gold, you MUST find them all and be the first person to post the correct number of typos in the comments below along with what they are and where they are located in the article.
So if you are up for the challenge AND you want to get the absolute most out of college, let’s begin right now!
Taking Care of Business
Tip 1: Think Like an Investor
I want you to understand this point very clearly from the get go:
College is a business decision.
It is not a picnic and it is not something that you just do willy-nilly like everyone else just because it’s the thing to do after high school.
Let me explain what I mean.
When you go out in the marketplace (whether it’s an employer or a client), you are providing them a service with the skills and credentials that you have in order to receive an income.
You are in essence exchanging value with a group of one or more people in return for something that you value.
This is trade and it is exactly what you are doing when you get a job or you land a client. In fact, you are doing it right now.
I am providing you with information that you value in exchange for something that I value, which is your time and attention and down the road, money.
The real question with college is to assess whether or not this venture is going to allow you to add value in the marketplace somehow with skills and credibility in exchange for something that you value, which I would assume is more money and a career that you love.
You can do this without college and there are many vocational options that support different paths which I talk about here in this 5500+ word post about making the most out of college.
And this is exactly why you need to look at the opportunity cost of what you are doing instead of the benefits themselves.
You are secretly paying money that you could be earning if you did not go to college.
If you still choose to go, you better make sure that you are willing to pay the opportunity cost of going to college instead of just the tuition.
You can watch this video here that fully addresses this concept and you will see that there are other options for you.
And this lends itself to the next tip:
Tip 2: Don’t Use College To Find Yourself
Many bloggers will tell you that you should use it to find yourself, but given the high cost, the potential for wasted time and the importance of work experience AND an increase in the opportunity cost as a result, this is simply not the case.
In university, you have what is called an excess credit surcharge where if you take credits hours over a certain limit, you are bound to an extra charge of your tuition that can be double what you would normally pay.
This does happen from students changing majors and failing classes.
The primary reason for this is not because of study habits, but because they don’t know what they want to do in life.
As a result, they take more classes and they exceed the credit limit or they were completely demotivated and focused on other things and failed the classes.
Believe me, if you are motivated about your studies, you will find a way to pass. I promise you that.
You can read more about the consequences about going to college to find yourself here, here and here.
Numbers 1 and 2 in the last article will be particularly striking to you about the importance of knowing before you go.
That’s the real life opportunity cost for you.
And both tips bring us to the next tip, which is
Tip 3: You’re Not a Businessman (woman), You’re a Business, MAN (WOMAN)!
And that is exactly what you need to know before college.
You are a company. A brand. A producer.
The question is, how will you leverage that reality for yourself?
This is how you do it.
First, realize what you want in life.
This is the essence of your internal motivation that will drive you to success in anything that you do. If you don’t know that, you’re not ready for college, even if you got into Harvard.
If you’d like assistance in finding this desire of yours, read this blog post here and I show you how to do it.
Second, thoroughly research what educational options are appropriate for achieving that desire and also the demand for what you want to provide. You need to balance it so that you can “harmonize” with the marketplace.
And harmonization doesn’t necessarily mean college. It might mean you need a skill that you can use to generate value and then get the reputation necessary to pursue your real desire.
Third, make a general plan of how you envision everything happening based on the data that you have collected.
Fourth, commit and do what you need to do in order to achieve what you want.
And that tip is for any endeavor that you take on, not just college. So I would argue that this is a tip for life.
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
And that’s reality.
Now turning back towards college, if you do the required steps of planning that I just mentioned AND you know that college is needed for what you want, then you will follow this 4th tip that I’ll outline for you.
Tip 4: Every Extracurricular Activity MUST Be Calculated With a Desired ROI
This might sound ridiculous and people will tell you to be spontaneous, but if you’re forking over thousands of dollars in money, time and opportunity cost, you have to know what you plan to get out of every facet of college.
And extracurricular activities have a lot to do with that.
Before you start college, you want to take a look at the extracurriculars within your prospective majors and determine what extracurriculars will be the most beneficial in obtaining what you want.
And on top of that, I would recommend that you interview employers from different companies and get their take on what they look for in a successful applicant to their companies and tailor your entire college experience towards satisfying their demand.
Their answers might dictate how you proceed with the extracurriculars and could result in greater earning potential upon graduation with that 1 maneuver.
Now do you see what I mean when I say that college MUST be calculated based on the business environment?
You can have access to the skills that they want and what they want to see and plan for that before you go.
And I would go on to add that you SHOULD master these skills before entering college so you generate even more wealth of time to do other things that will help you make your college venture awesome and make you number 1 in the marketplace for whatever you’re majoring in.
And by the way, I will discuss all of these strategies and secret hacks in detail for everything related to college, whether it’s academics or career, later in the post so read on all the way to the end for that.
And now for tip 5, which is
Tip 5: Avoid Student Loans At All Costs
Whatever you need to do to avoid them, do it.
These are the only type of loans that you can’t discharge in court.
Additionally, if something were to go out of whack in the job market and you have those loans, you’re screwed for life.
Seriously.
Whoever tells you to take on student loans has no freaking clue as to what they are talking about.
If you are 17 or 18 and have no business acuman (which is pretty much every 17 or 18 year old), you have absolutely no business making these potentially life destructing decisions.
And even if someone tells you that they are worth it based on your major, they don’t know what they’re talking about and they still lost out on many years of their life as a result.
Do you want to trust that or do you want to live your dream life and ROCK THIS PLANET BABY?!
I thought so!
And the added benefit to this is because you would need to work, you are already establishing the work experience component of getting a job and taking the time to find out what you want to do before you go to college that will save you years of your life and your career.
All of these things are extremely necessary for getting a job that requires a degree.
Hell, if I were to go back to 17, that’s what I would’ve done!
Work, plan and execute.
It’s that simple.
And now to arguably the most important thing on this list which is:
Tip 6: Your Skills Are Your Greatest Asset
Have you ever heard the phrase “Skills pay the bills?”
This could not hold any more true in today’s world where your ability to produce and drive value depends on you having these skills to do so.
In fact, take a look at this article right here with information about the skills gap across multiple industries across the world.
That’s pretty fascinating right?
With that data and using that data to your advantage in this world, you have a leg up over everybody else.
And chances are if you are reading this post, you’re about 18 years old or maybe a bit older.
Imagine your potential when you master these skills and the next tip that I’m going to tell you right after this one.
Man, you are going to be very powerful if you simply implement it along with the correct planning.
If you do that along with the next tip, you will be unstoppable.
I guarantee it my friend.
And now for the next tip.
Tip 7: Master Sales and Copywriting
These are the skills that school doesn’t teach, but you MUST know if you are going to get anywhere in life.
In fact, I could argue that the school system intentionally doesn’t teach these, but that’s a story for another day.
Let me introduce you to what these skills are.
Sales (and closing) is the process of effectively articulating why someone should buy your product in a way that will solve their problem.
Read that sentence again.
Let it sink in.
It’s the truth.
If you can do that, you will have an incredibly powerful weapon in your intellectual arsenal that you can use to shoot right through the competition while everyone else is on their phones.
Think about what can happen if you can literally control the minds of everybody and get them to exchange money for what you provide.
And the most ridiculous advantage is that very few people can do it.
Why?
Because they don’t take the initiative to seek out the information.
But you will.
And you will prosper.
Now let me introduce to you what copywriting is.
Copywritting is the process of using the written word to do sales.
Basically, sales in print.
And it is an extremely valuable skill regardless of the path that you choose in life.
In fact, take a look at this article here that shows you the power of this one skill for your business (you’re a business, not a businessman).
Pretty powerful right?
Well, if you didn’t click through it, let me explain what I mean.
The design of this blog post was intended for one purpose only.
That is:
To get you to read the 1st sentence.
And then the purpose of every other sentence was to get you read the next sentence.
And the next sentence and so on.
The first sentence was short on purpose.
The reason: It is the best tool to get you sucked into the post.
That’s right.
They tell to do these long sentences all the time for school, but that’s not true.
They tend to bore the reader out and you move onto something else.
Now let me tell you something else that I did to get you here.
Did you realize that I used the phrases “let me explain” and “read on?”
Those are known as seeds of curiosity and they are deliberately used to force your subconscious mind to read the rest of the blog post.
Did you get compelled to read the rest of the post when you saw those phrases?
If so, that’s why.
And imagine if you had the power to do that to your classmates and employers and clients.
The ability to control their minds so you can get what you want.
For this reason, learning and mastering sales and copywriting is listed as the 7th tip for any college freshmen going into college.
One book that I definitely recommend is “Advertising Secrets of the Written Word” by Joseph Sugarman, who wrote a hell of a textbook for what he’s charging.
It does cost around $70.00, but the information in there is worth at least $10 million. I do recommend that you take some of that summer job money and invest in buying the book right here via my Amazon affiliate link. You will learn every secret that I know that got you down here.
And there is one thing that you shouldn’t do in copy that I am doing right now.
Do you want to know what it is?
Get the book and come back to the post to find out.
And please note that I am an affiliate for Amazon so I do get a commission for your purchase at no additional charge to you.
So now that you’ve made the business decision to go to college and you are extremely sure of the ROI associated with it, it’s time to move onto the next section of the college tips that you need before you go off to college. This section is a very important one, so stick around as this will be the big difference in how you execute your game plan.
Discipline
Now before I get into the tips, let me talk about how important discipline is.
Discipline is the big difference between winning and losing.
Period.
Why? Because it affects your consistency and your focus, the two most important ingredients to successful execution of any project.
If you are not consistent and if you are not focused, you will never make any progress in your life.
And this is the same with college.
If you have ups and downs, you will get up and down results.
If you don’t believe me, read these articles here and here and it will show you how powerful being disciplined really is and how you can control the world if you are disciplined.
Yes, you can achieve anything that you want in life if you are disciplined. It turns you into superman or superwoman over time and it makes you a beast.
And if you are asking “How do I not get stressed before a test or quiz?”
The answer is to be disciplined and to follow your system of doing things that works. As a result, you control the circumstances and you can create the outcome. Speaking of that, I will show you the exact system that I created myself to consistently score at least a 3.8 GPA every semester after developing this system.
So let’s get right into the tips.
Tip 8: Find YOUR Schedule and Stick With It
This is very important and it works very differently for every student.
You must find what works for you and you must abide by it throughout your entire time in college.
This is the foundation of this system that I am referring to.
Once you find your schedule, you will be able to control it to achieve what you want to achieve in college.
In other words, you can use this system for self-control to give yourself peace of mind when you are working.
Now here’s another point that’s important:
Start by following another successful student’s system before going with your own system.
Why?
So you can know what works and what doesn’t work for you.
You can start with my system because I can assure you that this will work out in some capacity for you, but for your major, I would reach out to the most successful students from your program or other programs and interview them about what worked and what didn’t work for them and incorporate that information to what you are doing.
This is known as your specialized knowledge and it will equip you with the nitty gritty details of what makes a successful game plan for your situation.
At that point, just get to work with what you have and improve as you go.).
You’ll eventually find a system of studying that works for you and one that gives you the best results.
Once you do this, then you can use your own system on the basis that you know what you are doing.
Now this next tip might disappoint you a bit, so get ready to be disappointed.
Tip 9: Get Rid of the TV And Video Games
I’m not sorry for disappointing you, but they are a waste of time and money.
They will distract you and you will steer off course if you use these things.
In fact, read this article here that will show you the truth behind the negative consequences of TV and how you will ruin your life by watching it and playing video games.
And also read this article right here about how watching TV affects child and adolescent learning. Yes, it’s not really geared towards college students, but in every way, it is because the behavior carries over into adulthood.
Look my friend, it’s an epidemic and if you get sucked into it, you are going to regret it for the rest of your life.
And adding onto that point comes the next tip on the list, which is
Tip 10: Get Rid of the Smartphone
I know, you hate me now and everybody is going to tell you that I am nuts for telling you this.
But I want you to be honest with yourself.
Do you use your phone to be more productive?
And if you do use it to be more productive, do you still find yourself mindlessly scrolling through it?
Exactly.
Even if you use it to your advantage, you still waste time on it.
What does that mean?
It means you are wasting your life on the phone and the wisest thing that you can do is to exchange it for an old flip phone.
That’s what I did and my results skyrocketed afterwards.
I became more focused, disciplined, my grades went up, my problem solving skills went up and I don’t rely on the TV anymore.
I can conduct an experiment for you to prove my point. Look at everybody around you. What do you see?
People on their smartphones.
Pull out the phone of every person and you will see a smartphone along with no results to show for it, even if they got a high paying job; they still didn’t get results.
Now look at me. I don’t have a smartphone, but what am I doing?
Creating the content for the smartphone people to consume so that I can influence them and get into their pocket.
And I will tell you for a fact, getting rid of the smartphone was the biggest reason for being able to do that on top of being the most consistently excellent student at my university.
Now you might think that I’m bragging, but I’m not.
I’m showing you what is possible if you just develop good habits and avoid terrible habits like TV, video games and smartphones.
If you are still not sold, read these articles here and here and you’ll be sold in a heartbeat.
Believe me, you will not regret getting a flip phone.
Just one thing though. If you are in a club, they will typically use Whatsapp instead of email to communicate events. You need to persist and be proactive in getting that information if you need to.
That’s really the only downside, but it is really an upside because you develop the hustle to do what you need to do to get things achieved instead of sitting around waiting for others to tell you stuff.
And now here comes one where you are going to say “What?” in your head, but it will make a lot of sense when I explain it to you.
Tip 11: Be The Big Bad Guy
This is actually the nickname that I give to LeBron James because he left the Miami Heat and he lied to us when he said that Miami was his second home when in reality, it’s Los Angeles!
All jokes aside, he dominates the league every year and he is scientifically and statistically proven to make any team that he’s on a championship contender every single year.
And that’s a fact in the NBA.
And that’s also a reality when you step up to the plate and decide to become this dominant beast while in college.
You have to understand this reality very well:
You either win or you lose.
There is only one winner in this world and that is the person who is going to get everything he or she wants for the rest of his or her life and everyone else will be left with the scraps.
You don’t want scraps!
You want a big feast waiting for you on the other side and you just want to take it!
That’s what the big bad guy does to everyone in the paint when he drives it to the basket, and that’s what you will do when you take charge of the material on the tests and when you participate in the extracurriculars; you’ll just charge while everyone asks “How is he/she doing it?” and just stare at disbelief while you dominate.
Heck, you’ll even get the professionals and hiring managers perplexed by what you are doing.
Remember this: Brilliance is a choice, not a gift like most people tell you.
You just have to tap into that power and when you implement it, the magic will follow.
Well I should say the heat should follow because the magic aren’t doing too well!
But seriously, you have to just put your foot to the petal and accelerate from 0-60 seconds in less than 1 second.
That’s how aggressive you must be to really succeed in college.
In fact, let me tell you something very interesting.
In many cases for job openings, there are about 1000 applicants who apply for a job and only 1 gets selected.
What does that mean?
You need to beat 999 people in order to get the job.
That’s a lot of people!
But fear not because there is a hack to that.
999 people are not aggressive, but 1 is.
And do you know who the 1 aggressive person is?
It’s the big bad guy who gets the job.
And I rest my case.
Now this brings me to my next tip which will completely and utterly upset you and every blogger and college student will tell you to not listen to me.
But it is the truth.
Tip 12: Don’t Have Fun
Yep. You can punch me in the face.
Go ahead.
Let me say this again:
College is a business trip.
It is NOT a vacation.
You cannot go into it being naïve to what you are doing.
You HAVE to go there with purpose and you CANNOT get distracted by any means.
It is evil disguised as good stuff.
Now this is very different from enjoying yourself because to have a winning college venture, you must enjoy what you are doing.
But fun, hell no my friend.
You can save that for when you win the championship.
If you haven’t won your championship, no fun.
Work, work, work.
And don’t look back.
Now here a tip that you must follow at all times.
Tip 13: Don’t Deviate From Who You Are
This is the ultimate lie detector test to see who really belongs where.
If you lie about this one, there is no hope for you.
You will be confused and you will suffer for your entire college career and put it to waste.
And this is why I say that you should plan before going to college so you come in focused and determined to rock it.
Trust me when I say this, you will look like a dummy if you come to college without knowing who you are and what you want to be.
Employers will notice, your classmates and professors will notice and your reputation will suffer.
In fact, take a look at this article here that reflects on those who went to college without knowing themselves first.
That pretty much seals the deal doesn’t it?
You NEED to know what you want before going or the results will backfire.
So don’t lie or else.
Now having said this, there is one tip that must be addressed very clearly and that tip is this:
Tip 14: Classes Are First; Period
People will tell you that you must slack off a bit and do some extracurriculars to boost your résumé.
While they do have a point, they are missing a big point.
That big point is control.
You need to be certain and fully confident in your abilities to answer every possible question that comes your way before doing any extracurriculars.
Why?
Because your professor can put any question on the test and you are expected to answer it fully.
And if you participate in an extracurricular and it results in missing only one concept, but that 1 concept shows up on the test, you’re hosed and you will pay dearly in the form of lost money and opportunity cost.
Ouch, especially if you are interested in medical or law school.
I also relate this scenario to an important rule of investing which is this:
Protect the downside and the upside will work itself out.
In an academic context, this means that you must protect the most important asset to survival in school, which is academics, before doing other things that can add onto it, but not compromise it.
Does that make sense?
And also know this: You can have bad extracurriculars and great grades and still be eligible for jobs, but if you have great extracurriculars and bad grades, you will not get any jobs.
And by jobs I mean jobs that require a degree of course.
So take that into deep consideration and you will thank yourself later versus the many students who did not take that advice well.
And we are coming up on the academics tips, but let me address one in class thing that I feel belong in the discipline section.
Tip 15: No Computers In Class
They don’t work in class.
It’s that simple.
Not only are you going to get distracted, but the material you retain decreases drastically compared to writing notes with a pen and paper.
In fact, take a look at this study right here that proves my point.
Actually, let me tell a story about this article’s points that completely validates it.
In one of my classes, there were a group of students who constantly used to computer to “take notes.”
However, every class, the professor always had to say “Students in the back, do you have a question?” or something to point out their lack of respect for everyone else trying to learn.
And this was nonstop for the entire semester.
Now I don’t know about you, but if a professor has to do that every class, I think it’s safe to say that the laptop is more of a distraction in class than a tool.
Of course, the exception to this tip is if you are in a computer based class and software is involved with the instruction.
In those classes, using the computer is extremely important in understanding the code you are writing.
However, in every other class, the laptop can stay in your apartment or in the dorm.
Pen/pencil and paper is the way to go.
So implement this tip and you will be off to the races when it comes to lecture and test time.
And now for the next category of tips for you before you go off to college for your freshmen year revolving around your favorite part of school and that is:
Academics
Yeah, I knew that it really wasn’t your favorite part because let’s face it, most teachers suck.
BUT, in this section and in the hacks and strategies section, I’m going to show you how you can take control of the classes, the quizzes, the exams and even the professors to get the grades you want.
So, here comes some mind controlling magic, read on to know the secret academic tactics to kick your classes to the curb.
Tip 16: Always Go To Class
This one seems obvious, but it is extremely overlooked, especially when you might want to hit the snooze button instead.
Here’s the deal. Going to class is the ticket to ensuring you play this game right for many reasons:
- You can ask questions about the material and get immediate feedback
- You can completely control the lecture and hence the class (I’ll discuss more about this later in the post)
- You can get hints on what will and what won’t be on the test and study accordingly
- It might be required for your grade
- You can leave an impression on the professor who can recommend you in the future as a result
And many more benefits that I can’t think of at the moment but are there.
The bottom line is if you skip class, you are missing out on a lot of benefits that can affect your grade.
Sure, Elon Musk might tell you diffrent, but even if you are at his level of intelligence, you should still go to class.
It can only help you and not hurt you.
Not going to class might make things a lot harder than they should be, which is something that you clearly don’t want.
If you are not sold, please read this article here for a list of extremely worthwhile advantages of going to class, even if your professor sucks.
I’m not joking. I can attest to every one of those advantages.
If you don’t go to class (unless you are terribly sick), you are missing out.
So go. You won’t regret it.
And this next tip is the cornerstone of going to class.
Tip 17: Take Great Notes
You must do this.
No excuses.
No going to class without a pen/pencil and paper for writing your own thoughts about the material.
Like we’ve discussed before, using a pen/pencil and paper for notetaking beats everything else and it’s because you train your mind to understand the material in your own words.
And this is the key to learning anything.
Writing in your own words that makes conceptual sense allows you to recall the information when you need to at the most critical times.
You do not want to have to read the book and internalize the information for a long time that you could be spending doing more productive activities.
And this stems from taking great notes inside and outside of classroom time.
And as an additional step in this tip, ask well thought out questions when you need to because the last thing that you want is to go back and say “Why didn’t I ask this? It was on the test!”
Regret is the last thing you want in life, so take advantage of it when you have the opportunity to avoid major and minor mishaps.
And this next tip might sound crazy, but it will take you over the top when you do it, so check it out right now.
Tip 18: Say Your Thoughts Out Loud
This is a crazy good option because you are teaching yourself the material and you are recollecting the material in a way that will pop out so many holes in your understanding that will immediately send you back to the text or your notes to clarify those points.
This is also good when you are checking your work so your brain is actively paying attention to what is being written down.
In fact, here’s a study of its effectiveness in studying and you’ll be surprised and fascinated by what you find.
Are you shocked?
I was by the results, but I don’t regret it.
I can attest to the fact that reading aloud to yourself forces you to pay attention to what you are doing.
As a result, you eliminate mistakes.
Of course, you shouldn’t do this every time you study, but do it when you feel like you need to find any gaps in your knowledge. It’s the best way to find the gaps. A lot of times, you will figure out the answers by just thinking out loud. It will “click” all of a sudden like a light bulb moment.
And now for the next tip that will give you a lot of relief when you read it.
Tip 19: Don’t Have Study Marathons
That’s right, you don’t have to study 4 hours straight in order to do well!
In fact, it will backfire tremendously when you do that.
The way to go about this is the following:
Work for 90 minutes straight and then take a 30 minute break afterwards.
That’s right, a 30 minute break.
It’s quite long, but believe me, it works.
And you just repeat this process over and over again throughout the entire semester and your retention is going to skyrocket without burning out.
And that’s the consistency that will lead you to greatness when you do your academics.
Now as for the specific schedule of 90-30, try it for yourself and see if it’s for you. Like I said before, different people have different routines that work for them, so definitely try other techniques like the Pomodoro technique of studying for 25 minutes followed by 5 minute breaks.
You can read about the Pomodoro Technique here.
Now here’s a tip that’s going to surprise you.
Tip 20: Study Alone
Here’s why.
When you do this, you are forcing yourself to become independent of anyone else for your knowledge and for doing what you need to do in order to do well in what you are doing.
Additionally, you are reducing distractions since you don’t have to deal with the chit chatter of the group around you.
This will make you focus efficiently.
And on top of the additional focus, you can make the other tips work much more easily since you don’t have the group’s schedule to respond to.
As for study groups, do it if you absolutely need to when you have a project or you have tried doing problems by yourself, but it’s going nowhere.
Start with as few classmates as possible, but then if you need to work up to more, do so.
But keep this in mind with groups:
The goal is to get you to do everything by yourself.
And you know why.
Now this next tip is crucial if you need it and beneficial in the long run if you use them correctly:
Tip 21: Go to Office Hours
This one is very underrated because most students believe that their professor is above them and cannot help you.
WRONG!
The office hours are there for them to help you in an individualized setting catered to you.
If they don’t do that, they’re not doing their job.
At the very minimum, a good professor will do their job to assist you.
However, please keep in mind that they will not teach you the material in office hours, but rather, they will clarify points for you provided that you did the problems.
So this means you must do your homework before going to the office hours and you must have thoughtful questions ready to go on things that didn’t make sense so you can make the most of the office hours.
Also, if you feel like you can get something else out of the relationship, you can ask questions about something that they are interested in like their research so you can get them in your network and so you can later ask for a recommendation once you’ve built trust with them.
And if you have a particular liking for any professor, remain in touch with them and they will come in handy later on down the road when you need their help the most.
Now here’s one that is going to make a lot of sense when you first crack open the books:
Tip 22: Defeat Everybody 500-0
That’s five hundred to nothing if you were curious.
In short, blow them out.
You cannot afford to lose on any one point because if you do, you can be unpleasantly surprised come test time when you have to show everything that you’ve got.
Again, let’s say you miss only one concept but that one concept was the one that showed up on the test.
Ouch.
You just got your butt spanked.
So with that, let me tell you the really difficult part of academics.
It’s not the test nor class nor quizzes.
It’s practice.
In practice, you are constantly working your brain to get used to the concepts and you keep getting answers wrong over and over again because you are learning it.
But once you’ve mastered the material in practice, the test is really easy provided that you have the correct strategies and tricks, which you will have once you finish this blog post.
And here’s another tip that will make a lot of sense once you start studying and will make it a bit more enjoyable, especially if you’re a sports fan.
Tip 23: Treat Academics (and college) Like it’s a Sport
Just like they do when they talk about game plans, coaches, players, etc.
Except there’s one thing here:
You are the player, the coach, the executive who’s responsible for building the team and you are also the one who has to come up with a game plan to win every single game, in this case acing every single test.
If this doesn’t make any sense, imagine this:
Let’s say that you go into a test without any idea on how you will answer each question.
You’ll produce so many turnovers just like a team who doesn’t prepare for their opponent and loses the game by 50 points.
Do you know what happens to a coach who can’t produce a game plan to win games and loses too many games (or fails/ get C’s on so many test)?
They get fired.
Now let’s say that you come in with a game plan, you understand your opponent and you know that your opponent is going to do the same thing over and over again because academics just repeats itself.
You’ll win every game.
The only differences are the course content and the professors of course and there are specific strategies to throw in some tricks towards those things.
But in general, it’s basically the same opponent over and over again as you will see.
And usually, when the opponent runs the same plan over and over again and you have mastered it, there’s no chance that they will win.
You will always win and you will have an easy time during the game (aka: the test).
And speaking of tactics, I’m going to drop some of them right now in this blog post, so read on for all the fixin’s.
Tip 24: Stay Ahead of the Material
This is a super hack that will buy you more time than you can ever imagine and protect you in case something goes wrong during the semestar.
When you stay ahead of the material, you are creating a buffer in that you can feel comfortable knowing that you will master the material with ample time to do other things beneficial like extracurriculars and internships without worrying about failing.
Additionally, when you do this, you have the potential to cut your study time per day by upwards of about 30-40% since you will not be required to study as much material per day as you would if you read on pace with the class.
Imagine what you could do with the 30-40% of extra time on your hands. That’s really powerful.
Let me prove it to you here.
Imagine that you would need to study 10 hours per day on an on pace schedule with the class.
If you study ahead and you are consistent with it, you can drop the 10 hours to 6-7 hours, leaving 3-4 hours for extracurriculars and internships, which is more than enough time to efficiently do them assuming that you don’t have a learning disability.
And not only that, your grades will not get affected because you are already ahead.
In this case, you have no downsides and only upsides to what you can do.
And if something were to happen like you get sick and you can’t study for a week, that’s not an issue because you have that buffer to protect you and you can still do extracurriculars and internships with no problems whatsoever.
I suggest that you study about 1-2 weeks ahead (preferably 2) to give you this buffer and in a way in which you won’t study too far ahead to the point where you’ll forget the material and it’ll backfire against you.
Because if you study 3-4 weeks ahead, you have to go back and refresh everything from scratch and that will burn up too much time and it’s not fresh in your head.
Now here’s another trick that will get you outsmarting the test in very little time.
Tip 25: Do Your Homework Again
This is your opportunity to face off against your opponent with no penalty whatsoever.
Here, you will get the opportunity to polish up your mistakes and correct them with confidence before you walk into the test.
Basically, when you do the problems again, try it with what you know first without using your notes and if you can do it confidently without using your notes, you know that you are ready for the test.
If you need to use the book and/or your notes, do so, but keep in mind that you must understand what you are doing without your notes even if you are allowed to use your notes on the test.
Repeat this process until you get it all drilled in your head and you will be good to go.
Definately implement this strategy when you get there and you will fully master it when you prepare for the test.
And by the way, speaking of open note/open book tests, those are the biggest traps in college.
They give you the illusion that you can feel comfortable knowing that the book and your notes are there to save you when in reality, they are the biggest time wasters since you have to flip around the book like crazy to find what you are looking for if you aren’t adequately prepared.
To combat this, follow the do your homework again tip without your notes because if you can do it without your notes, you’ll feel confident with what you are doing.
Now, if you are allowed to use an aid on the test, understand how to use it with respect to what you are doing instead of just having it there.
For instance, if you are allowed to use a textbook script for a question, understand how to use the formula provided and the corresponding information.
That’ll help you avoid the professor’s attempted trap on you when you take the test.
And this leads me to my next tip:
Tip 26: Learn the Professor
As much as you need to learn the material, you need to learn the professor and how he or she thinks and their tendencies.
This information can greatly affect how you prepare for the test and can serve as an insider’s clue as to what will be and what will not be on your tests.
Additionally, you might use this information to learn about any “curveballs” that the professor might throw at you during the test that wasn’t on your homework nor in the reading.
For instance, say the professor has an additional resources page on their course website and they highlight in class that students should take a look at it for their own “amusement.”
If you have time left over after finishing your required homework (that’s first) and no other classes need your immediate attention, a wise move would be to look at that resource and go through it in its entirety if possible to know about anything that might be suspicious.
And by suspicious, I mean something that wasn’t covered in the main text nor in class.
When you see those suspicious things, practice them and understand what they mean.
These are the curveballs that the professor might put on the test.
Now here’s another trick about learning professors that might serve you well.
Pay attention to their personality levels and their energy.
If they have a particularly energetic personality, this is a clue that the test will be 1 or 2 things:
- A test straight from the homework or powerpoint slides
- A test where the professor will ask ridiculous questions that he/she is passionate about
Typically if the professor is noticeably nicer, it’ll be A).
Otherwise, if they are energetic but not noticeably the “nice” guy, you’d want to pay attention to those additional resources if they have them and what they are harping on in class.
Those are the main clues for your test questions.
Now, let’s say your professor is low energy and just wants to get out of there.
This could mean 1 of these 2 things:
- The test will come straight from the homework (or similar questions to it)
- They’re going to do something crazy to trick you
If you look at Rate My Professor reviews and talk to students it’s A), you know your game plan and you are good to go.
However, if you get B), I suggest you talk to students who took that professor about what kind of questions are there and any appropriate specific knowledge about what the professor will do based on prior tests.
Also, I would attempt to do every problem in the book if you get a B) professor to know everything possible OR if it’s something like a history class, look over every minute detail and letter in the book to know what possible curveballs might come on the test.
Chances are, that’s what they are going to do in that situation.
Now my next tip for you will dive deep into another learning loophole that you can use to conquer the professor’s tricks.
So let’s get to it.
Tip 27: Use Lateral Thinking to Relate Content
In case you don’t know, lateral thinking is the process of taking information that is not directly related to the problems that you are solving to solve the problem.
This was a learning hack used by many of the world’s great geniuses to come up with their greatest innovations.
You can read more about it here, but let’s get right into what you came here for; using it to master the professor.
I’m going to present a few different scenarios so you can cater it to your specific situation.
Let’s say you have an essay to write and you are trying to come up with concepts to talk about in response to your essay prompt.
The way to go about this is to understand what you need to do and not think about what you need to write about for as long as it takes to come up with an idea that will come out of nowhere which you will relate information in your brain or in the world around you to answer the question.
If this sounds confusing, I’ll give you an example.
In a post that I wrote some time ago, I talked about why people should learn math and they could avoid a lot of problems in their life as a result of learning math.
Knowing that directly mentioning math’s helpful benefits will not work, I stepped away from the task for a while and then all of a sudden, my mind told me to use a kids show that I watched growing up called “The Big Comfy Couch” to reel them into the blog post and to get them to pay attention.
And it made perfect sense with respect to what I was doing so that the reader’s sense of urgency could be aroused enough to get them to listen to how math can get them out of the problem that they are in.
You can read the blog post right here and you’ll see the big punchline.
If you read it, you see how it connects to their life and gets the reader to understand the concept of how their math deficiency can cause many problems in their life.
And that’s what you need to do when you are writing an essay.
Step back and let your mind pop out the answer and you will have an easier time writing everything.
Oh and also, start with the body instead of the beginning of the essay because I’ve found, along with many others, that if you start with the body, your thoughts will be more fluid and you will not have to struggle with getting words on the page. Hence, you’ll build a lot of momentum as a result.
Now if you are dealing with problems, like in engineering, computer science, math and science, one trick that I did recently worked really well and got me the A in the class and the trick was to use information that you learned in previous classes to solve the problem.
Think about it for a second.
Why do professors ask for prerequisites?
Because the information from previous classes are (typically) needed to solve the problems associated with the class.
Now sometimes, the book will make it easier for you to solve a problem without using information from the other classes. But what if you forget that piece of information?
That’s where your prerequisites come in to save the day.
The easy tips that the book or professors give you come from formulas or concepts used in other classes.
So if you are able to use prior concepts and relate them to the task at hand, you will have a handy play in your playbook to use in case you forget a formula.
You’ll thank yourself later.
Now this next tip will save you even more time and help you really make these prior tips work and that is:
Tip 28: Write Everything In Your Own Words
This will get you to be independent of the professor when you are articulating your thoughts on a test.
When you do this, you are making sense of the information that’s being presented in a way that you understand and that makes conceptual sense.
This builds your confidence to the point where you know you can do the problems and/or write down your thoughts on an essay with complete ease.
And writing everything in your own words is the only way to acheive that.
And not only that, this is the only way in which you can see the gaps in your understanding and the ways in which you can fix them super quickly without compromising your grade.
You’ve seen the science earlier in this post. It is extremely powerful and you know it.
So use it superman or super woman, use it!
Now here comes a tip that everyone is going to disagree with, but I stand by this one 100%.
Tip 29: Don’t Drink Coffee OR Anything With Caffeine
That’s right, no coffee.
Now this one is my personal opinion and for you it might be different. I haven’t had a sip of coffee in my life and I am doing just fine if not better than everyone else soaking up on the coffee.
From the way I see things, coffee has more downsides than upsides because even if it’s decaf, it is still caffeinated to some point. And because of that, you will get addicted to it and that addiction can lead to some bad stuff happening like the things featured in this article right here.
Long term risk of heart disease, trouble sleeping, spending too much money on lattes if you could spend it on investing in yourself that can yield true dividends, etc.
Not a good plan!
Now there might be articles like this one here that say you should drink a bit of coffee before the test, but from my personal experience, students end up being more stressed out later in the semestar and they sleep way too late which affects their health.
Now you might be saying “Oh, I don’t see the downsides now.”
Again, it’s my personal opinion because it varies from person to person, but believe me, you’ll eventually see that the downsides outweigh the good, especially if you get a kidney stone one day.
No joke.
This next point might be intuitive to you or not depending on your habits, but it is a tip that must be drilled into your head if you want to do well in your classes and it’s this:
Tip 30: Read the Book
It is THE THING if it’s a good book.
Everything that you need to pass the class, regardless of the professor, is in there.
All you have to do is read it, understand it, and you will pass.
Now to get an A in the class, you need to do more than just read the book unless the book is exceptional.
But to pass, provided that it’s a good book, this is the tip to go with above all others.
Let me give you some data to prove my point here.
Here is an article mentioning professor testimonials about students not doing the reading.
It does sound obvious, but a lot of students don’t do it and underestimate its value and that’s why it is on this list as tip 30.
So if the book is good, read it; just don’t overpay for it!
Now what if your textbook isn’t good at all?
This is a good question because this is the case for some classes and there is a way around it.
The workaround is this.
Tip 31: Watch Appropriate YouTube Tutorials
YouTube is very underrated and it contains a lot of channels dedicated to helping you succeed in your classes.
But before I list the strategy regarding YouTube, let me say this clearly:
If your book/professor is good enough, you don’t need YouTube.
Just read the book or listen to your professor if it does the job.
If neither completely do the job, then YouTube is your next stop to learn the material.
With that said, here’s what you should do to plan before the semester start on what YouTube channels you’ll watch.
1st: Type in the class name on YouTube and see what channels pop up. Write them down on a sheet of paper.
2nd: Take those channels and look up reviews about them online. These could be on Reddit, blogs, Quora, etc. Pick the channel, or channels, that seem the most promising.
3rd: Watch your selected channels.
4th: If your selected channels under deliver or don’t present a concept you are looking for, go through the list that you made and watch those channels instead.
That’s it.
Now I can help you with this a bit if you are taking a math class.
I encourage you to read this blog post here where I list 3 YouTube channels that I feel are the most qualified to help you along with the 1 channel that is fail proof when it comes to math classes.
Now the next tip is a scheduling hack that can save you from unwanted misery later on down the road and that tip is:
Tip 32: Overload Your Schedule For the First Week of Class
This will allow you to sample each class, risk free to your transcript and your (or your parents’) wallet, and determine for yourself what classes you’ll be able to handle and what professors you can tolerate.
Remember, during the first week of classes, you can add and drop classes with no tuition liability.
Just so you understand, universities do this as their “tryout,” or a free trial for you the tuition paying student, to determine if the class is a fit for you.
So use this to your advantage and “fire” them if you need to.
Now this doesn’t mean take 21 credits the first semester (or your future semesters if you aren’t a first time college student) because that’s a recipe for failure regardless of your intelligence level.
But, definitely drop classes in the first week that don’t fit you and add those that do fit you and you can bear for the semester.
Now for planning these classes, I have another tip that can solve this problem instantly and it’s this:
Tip 33: Speak With a Great Advisor
In college, you will have someone known as an academic adviser who will guide you towards completing your degree in a timely manner and assisting you in choosing what extracurriculars to participate in.
If you get a great adviser, that person is an asset and will assist you tremendously from almost all of the headaches associated with scheduling classes and knowing what professors to take. This is the first person to go to when you are scheduling your classes since they know the road ahead.
However, if you get an adviser that doesn’t have the knowledge to assist you or you don’t get along with him/her, scheduling your time with respect to the curriculum can be problematic.
To combat this, there are many things you can do like speaking to the advising head or to other professors or students who are at least approachable and have the knowledge to assist you.
But the short answer is to persist until you get an answer that seems right.
And once you get that answer, stick with the schedule (or make very few changes depending on how things go like a great professor left and a bad one is in).
But if you do get a great adviser, stick with their word because they will not lead you down the wrong way.
That was a lot of information you just went through. Read this again if you need to and perhaps print it out and write notes on it and ask me questions in the comments if you have any questions.
But we are not done.
Up next is the extracurriculars section and this section can mean the difference between getting a job or not getting a job depending on how you approach it, so stay tuned to know exactly what to do to get the job!
Extracurriculars
Extracurriculars are very important to getting a job depending on the field you are majoring in since this could be a sign to employers that you are passionate about your field of study and they show your potential for doing well in internships.
Now before I get into the tips, let me address it again:
Participating in extracurriculars is strictly a business decision.
If it doesn’t make business sense to do extracurriculars, don’t do them.
They are time wasters at that point.
Second, these extracurriculars MUST be related to your chosen major and have proven ability to assist other graduates in getting a job at graduation.
If they don’t do that task, don’t join them.
For instance, if you are debating about joining the chess club, you must network with employers before going to college with a question like “What activities in college should I participate in to develop my skills enough for employment?” that don’t directly reveal what you are thinking.
There needs to be an ROI associated with the activity.
Many other students will tell you to pick one based off of your interests, but in a business world, that’s incorrect.
Why?
Again, this NOT a vacation. It’s a business trip.
You can adjust accordingly, but only after extreme scrutiny regarding the idea.
Now like I’ve mentioned, there are ways to make time and multiply the time while you are in college as I’ve discussed so far in this blog post and this should be your focus.
But when it comes to investing your time, you must know before you go since the reality is that you are on a time budget and you must optimize it to the fullest extent possible.
You will play offense and defense in this game of college (and special teams if you’re a football fan; especially on tests).
So with the preface for extracurriculars said, let’s dive into the tips to knock these extracurriculars out of the park!
Tip 34: No More Than 2 Extracurriculars
Here’s why:
You want to maximize your profile from the crowd.
Think about it.
You have maximized your academic schedule and you do have a lot of money (in the form of time), but what if you over diversified your time towards different activities?
The answer is that you will not maximize your efforts since you are focused on too many tasks that you will not excel in any of them.
The best way to stand out is to focus on 1 activity (2 at the most) and give all of your time to excel in those so you can get the best results possible and to strengthen your profile when you go out to get a job.
If you don’t believe me, let me show you an article that proves my point.
Granted, this article is by a college admissions officer, but the premise is exactly the same for what an employer might look for.
It’s attached here.
Quality beats quantity every day.
That’s why you shouldn’t do more than 2 extracurriculars.
Know that for your college career and reap the rewards later on.
Now the next tip gives another reason as to why you should do no more than 2 extracurriculars and it’s this:
Tip 35: Rise to a Leadership Position In the Extracurricular(s)
This will establish your reputation amongst your classmates and amongst employers if you excel in this position.
You will show most, if not all, of the attributes that the employers are looking for and you will demonstrate your ability to take initiative to accomplishing things (aka: results), which is what organizations REALLY want to see from every single college graduate.
That is a winning recipe if your academic schedule allows it AND you don’t have to go into debt for university.
In fact, let me give you testimonials of students who became leaders in their organizations and got tremendous results from becoming leaders in their student groups. You can see these testimonials here and here.
Now if you read those two articles, you’ll notice the parts about “making an impact” and “What do you have to lose?”
Understand this clearly: You are in college for YOU only; no one else.
The only impact you should care about making is to yourself and making yourself more valuable in the marketplace to boost your income and live out your desired career. That’s it.
As for what you have to lose, it’s lost time on a potentially worthless activity or an activity that didn’t deliver enough value as promised for those that took full advantage) and possibly jeopardizing your grades and hence, future opportunities in your chosen field.
Remember, play offense and defense. Protect the downside and the upside will work itself out. No out of the blue stuff. Make your extracurricular choices cold and calculated like a billionaire investor.
Don’t recklessly jeopardize 10-20 points on a test that could mean the difference between getting into medical school or not.
Now having said that, if you choose your extracurriculars correctly and you take full advantage of them without compromising academics, they ARE extremely worth it as I’ve mentioned in this blog post.
So do the math for yourself and plan wisely BEFORE you start university.
Take advantage of the club fair if there is one at your university and meet with your great advisor to plan these extracurriculars out.
Now this next tip will help you excel in every aspect of not just your college life, but your entire life as a whole and it will set the course on how people perceive your brad in the future, so pay close attention to what I’m about to tell you.
Tip 36: Be Kind To Others
This a cornerstone trait of almost every successful person out there today.
At one point or another, they had a kind heart for someone and had a genuine empathy for helping others in some capacity.
This is how you influence people in today’s world, especially if you have a genuine interest in what they do.
If you genuinely assist people without feeling the need to take something away from them, you will flourish greatly and you will be regarded as a role model to others.
Of course, in some cases, you’ll have to take their money, but the core of it all is the same:
A genuine interest in helping others.
This is what I learned in a book called “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” which is the bible for knowing the ins and outs of dealing with people and reducing the stress associated with dealing with them.
You can get it right here from Amazon via this link here; and yes, I do receive a commission off of your purchase, but the price that you pay won’t change.
And now for a tip that will set you apart from the pack in a hurry if you do it consistently:
Tip 37: Network With the Pros
Understand this phrase very carefully:
Your network is your net worth.
Read it again and internalize it.
Here’s the thing:
Most students do not network at all and think just because they have a degree, they are going to get a job.
Wrong.
That is the recipe for graduating with disappointment and regret.
The best way to go about it is, assuming you have a genuine interest for your field,
- Reach out to them and say who you are and if you can meet with them or ask for things that they look for in a prospective employee
- Do what they say and tell them that you did it
- Stay in touch with them often
If you do that, you will be ahead of everybody else.
As long as you do this strategy genuinely and consistently, you will kick the living butt out of your competition.
Mark my words.
Now to give you another tactic for your tool belt to make this tactic really work, I suggest that you do this next tip and it’s this:
Tip 38: Go to Industry Events and Club Field Trips
These can definitely help in your networking efforts in many ways, most notably the following:
- Your face can become familiar to the employers
- They can give you action steps to take and report back
- You can build an outgoing reputation amongst your club members which will make you noticeable
And there are many others that I can’t think of at the moment but are there.
This goes in line with your game plan for bumping up your extracurricular profile. If done consistently, people (including employers) will notice since most people are inconsistent with this type of stuff.
Now I have another tactic that I want to show you that can elevate this even further and make you stand out even more, but I am going to save it for another part of this blog post.
But this next tip is the savior of them all.
Tip 39: Be Passionate and Dedicated Towards What You’re Doing
Without these two things, don’t go to college for any major.
It won’t work.
To get a job nowadays, you need these things because I can tell you for a fact, every single hiring manager will not hire you if you don’t show these things.
In fact, let me give you a testimonial that proves my point.
A student chapter for the professional organization that I’m I brings in a hiring manager pretty frequently to do presentations about what an employer is looking for and what the industry expects from graduates.
This guy is very hard to please, but his criteria is simple and it’s:
“Have attitude, aptitude and passion.”
I can tell you for a fact that this is secretly every hiring manager’s criteria, whether they work at Boeing or at Goldman Sachs.
Now it seems simple, but not everyone does it.
And that’s an advantage for you because if you are committed to what you are doing, you have a well- defined goal that you want to achieve and you have a genuine interest in your desired field and you follow this entire blog post right to the tee, you will not have trouble impressing hiring managers come graduation time.
In fact, I can contest that they’ll be chasing you come graduation time since you’ll position yourself as the number one prospect in your field (or at least the top 5 in the entire country).
And if you doubt me, I encourage you to try it for yourself.
After all, the entire post is free and you have nothing to lose by following what you have at your disposal right now.
That concludes the tips for extracurriculars, but in short, I leave this section with this:
Plan wisely, don’t mishandle them and adjust this post to your particular situation.
Now the next section encompasses the all-important topic of health and well-being, which will make or break your college experience.
Some of the tips that I’ll mention will disappoint you a bit and make you cry, but they will make you stronger and give you the focus necessary to dominate this college scene, so read on to know what they are.
Health and Well-Being
Tip 40: Stay Physically Active
This one is obvious, but not so much actually.
Why? Just take a look at people on their smartphones or on forbidden study marathons and it will become completely obvious as to why this needs to be a tip.
It’s understandable that you might not have time to go to the gym since it’s a process that can interfere with your studies, but you definitely have time to exercise in some capacity throughout the day.
What you do to remain physically active will depend on your preferences and what your body is telling you, but I’ll give you a simple exercise that will not drain you and take a few minutes to do.
All you need to do is go outside for 30 minutes and take a walk.
You will reduce your chances of getting heart disease and you will reduce your risk for diabetes as a result and increase your chances for a long-lasting life.
You can read more about walking outside here if you wish.
But whatever you do, stay physically active no matter what.
Now that’s for your body, but what about your mind?
Tip 41: Read a book (not your textbook) for at least 30 minutes per day
You cannot skip this.
It’s a crime and you’ll be found guilty of it eventually (even though you won’t go to jail).
Seriously, this is the one that will set you apart from everybody else since you are gaining knowledge about different things that will only open doors for you and expand your mind.
Additionally, it’s a great recourse for your brain to actually “take a break” from all of the hectic chaos that college and life brings.
Plus, there is a lot out there that you can learn and use every day from doing this one activity that you can benefit from instantly.
You can read testimonials here if you are interested.
The bottom line is this: Reading books (not just textbooks) AND implementing what the author is telling you, provided that it’s a good book, WILL make you happier, healthier and wiser.
You mark my words on that one.
And here’s another thing about classes:
You should always go to class just like we’ve talked about, but do you realize why some students just do better than others if everyone is working hard?
It’s because they implement information that is not from the classroom.
Chances are, that information comes from books.
So do yourself a favor and pick one up right this second; you won’t regret it.
And now I’m about to piss you off so get ready to smash your screen especially if you enjoy being around your loved ones.
Tip 42: Do NOT Remain in Touch With Your Parents
I knew that I was going to piss you off.
Here’s why you shouldn’t remain in touch with your parents.
You are an adult now.
You are responsible for your own choices.
Unless your parents are paying for something that you need in order to live, you have no obligation to them whatsoever.
And if you are so concerned about them, you are distracting yourself of what’s really important, which is your future.
You might feel the urge to talk to them because you love them, but here me out straight to your face.
If you weren’t their child, they wouldn’t give a damn about you and you know it deep down.
And unless they have good business acumen, they did not give you the correct perspective on things regarding your future and they are not telling you the tactics that I am telling you now because.
Might they be misinformed? Yes, but it was their job to tell you all that I’m telling you right now and the fact that you are here reading this blog post indicates that they failed as parents to prepare you for the real world.
And you are a business now.
As a business, you need to get rid of those whose advice are destructive to your future and can be emotionally distracting, in this case being your parents.
So if you can break off contact with them, do it.
It will suck, but you will eventually realize that what I’m saying is correct.
Business before family at this point in time; always.
And understand what I am about to present to you next:
Families
Think about it and you will forever be grateful that you followed tip 41.
Now for the next tip related to your dental hygeine because let’s face it, a big fat dental bill means big trouble for your wallet!
So let’s go!
Tip 42: Brush Daily, Floss Daily and Chew Xylitol Gum After Every Meal
Brush daily and floss daily are givens; your mouth will be in terrible condition if you don’t do either of them.
Chewing sugar free gum is actually really good for you if done in moderation, but only if it has Xylitol in it.
In case you didn’t know, Xylitol is a sweetener put in gum to provide mouth cleansing effects for your mouth when you chew it. This washes away acids and bacteria from the food that you eat and is proven to actually prevent future plaque build-up.
Take a look at this study here if you are not sold on what Xylitol gum can do for you.
Now as far as other gums are concerned, they are simply put, really bad for you and you should not chew them nor eat any other candy because they will really damage your teeth if you use them.
I don’t think you need to see a study about other candy to know that they’re bad for you.
Just know to take care of your teeth because damaging them can cause A LOT of problems.
And when those problems come, you will have a lot of regrets about not taking action to prevent them from happening.
Now here comes number 43 for really creative mental stimulation!
Tip 43: Listen To Your Favorite Type of Music A LOT!
Music is the only acceptable drug that exists.
All joking aside, music will enhance your creativity and motivate you.
In fact, there are plenty of studies that show how listening to your favorite type of music can boost your creativity and develop your thought processes to be an outside the box thinker, which as you are aware, an extremely important skill to develop in today’s day in age. You can see an article with those findings here.
Now to clarify what to do and what not to do with the music, you should listen to it if you are on a study break. This is the period when your brain relaxes to absorb new information.
You should NOT listen to music while you are studying because it will distract you from the task at hand and leave you far behind in your studies.
This is a great productivity hack that can yield dividends if you are wise with it, but sometimes it becomes too amusing that it is a detriment to your success. So please be careful.
And please do yourself a favor and not listen to anything while you are driving because you will increase your chances of getting in a car accident as a result and you definitely do not want that.
Multitasking never pays off, so don’t do it.
And now for a tip that you must do in order to get a job, period.
Tip 44: Work
And this means getting a job and/or doing a side hustle.
Employers want to see work experience above anything else because this shows that you know how to handle responsibility in the workplace and that they don’t need to hold you on a leash versus someone else who can deliver value since he/she knows the ropes of what they’re doing.
And not only this, but you have to eat.
And you are not borrowing for college because we already talked about how destructive they are to your future, regardless of what those ads tell you about how good they are.
Ideally, this work experience should be related to your field of study (you will get experience in your field of study eventually if you follow this post to the tee), but employers are ok if they see that you’ve worked at the Smoothie King for some time before applying for an internship at their company.
In fact, you will bump up your chances if you get work experience before you apply for an internship since the employer will see that you at least have a basic knowledge of the workplace and that you are trainable and that you are grounded in the real world instead of academia.
Trust me when I say this, companies are TIRED of seeing applicants who don’t have work experience.
They simply won’t hire you if you don’t have any work experience.
So whether you are rich or poor, you must at least work a job.
No negotiations about it.
So start finding one if you haven’t.
Now here’s a one if you are in trouble and need to get out of it NOW!
Tip 45: Get an Attorney
This one is definitely out of the park, but it could make you really powerful in a business sense of you do get one.
If you are accused of an academic violation that might affect your future career path AND you know that you are not guilty, an attorney can come in a defend you properly to ensure that you are not found guilty of an academic violation.
This move can save your future career if done correctly.
Hopefully though, you know by now not to ever cheat in college and you must check every paper for plagiarism after you write it with a faculty member who knows what they’re doing when it comes to that.
But provided that you do all of that, if they are still causing you trouble, don’t just rely on faculty, get a lawyer. You will be glad that you did.
On a second note, if you ever feel uncomfortable in any situation and your gut tells you that you need to seek legal help to assist with that issue, it doesn’t hurt to talk to one because if you both determine that you need help, you will save yourself a lot of misery and regret down the line.
You might not use this tip often, but it is definitely a handy one because when you need a lawyer, it’s cheaper to have one than to not have one. Mark my words on that point.
And now here’s a tip that you might forget to do often.
Tip 46: Eat Healthy Consistently
You might feel tempted to pick up the Ramen Noodle box and heat it up, but before you do, you must heed this warning very well.
Studies have shown that if you eat a diet consisting of snacks and inconsistent meals, you do risk early life heart disease.
You can see one of the findings here if you wish.
Additionally, if you eat unhealthy foods consistently, I think it goes without saying that you are going to regret it very dearly and you know it deep down.
So before you start college, if you struggle to pay for food, see if you can have a fund ready to go or develop a skill with enough earning potential to pay for healthy food and not have to worry about needing to save up for food.
You’ll worry a lot less if you plan for that reality.
So do yourself a huge favor and follow tip 46 at all costs (except more loans of course).
Now here’s a tip that’ll help you get a head in life.
Tip 47: Have a Positive Attitude and Smile A Lot
Let me ask you a question.
Do you remember people who smile a lot?
Are they particularly noticable?
If so, it’s because it works provided that you’re genuine about it.
Now let me ask you this. If someone had a great attitude towards things, did you ever feel compelled to tell them about it?
If so, it’s because it works.
A great attitude and a huge smile can go a long way in life and can open many doors for you that you didn’t even know existed.
Almost everybody goes through life with no cheerfulness and no sense of enjoyment to what they are doing and as a result, they don’t get anywhere.
That’s why you see concerned faces all of the time.
But when you see that one person who lights up the room and you sense their contagious energy, you cannot help but get sucked into what they are doing and support them in whatever they want to do.
That is when you know that you have it made in life.
Pessimist thinking will get you nowhere my friend because your mindset about things dictates everything that will happen in your life, much more than you can ever imagine.
It’ll dictate your habits, your lifestyle, what you say to people and eventually how your career goes.
So tap into that positive energy of yours and live it out! You have nothing to lose!
And here’s one that will make your day when you do it consistently:
Tip 48: Laugh
This is the ultimate medicine!
Don’t you have a better time when you are laughing?!
It’s like you’re taking an instant vacation from reality!
And it’s really healthy for you as well.
Studies show that it provides notable health benefits on top of the instant enjoyment that you get in the moment. You can read about these benefits here.
You can’t help but do it from time to time. You won’t regret it!
Just be disciplined about it and don’t let it distract you from your studies.
Now that was quite a bit on your well-being. It is really important that you keep it in check before and during college so you do not have to endure unnecessary consequences down the road.
Now you might be in the dorms when you begin college so we are going to address that in the next section of this blog post so hang in there!
Dorm Life
Now let me address something before we begin with the tips:
I actually didn’t stay in the dorms.
I stayed in my mom’s house!
BUT, I can elaborate on a lot of things regarding dorms that I know for a fact are true and I can definitely guide you to living in them with as little headache as possible if you move into them.
So with that said, let’s get right into the tips!
Tip 49: Learn How to Cook
This is a must if you want to eat healthy.
If you don’t know how to cook, you will need to resort to snacks and unhealthy items, which are not good for you!
This alone should motivate you to learn how to cook.
Additionally, you will slash your grocery bill by a substantial amount if you learn this one important skill because you will not have to rely on someone cooking the meals for you, which costs a lot more money.
What’s more is you will learn the importance of self-sufficiency when you learn how to cook because you’ll begin to develop the confidence that you need in order to survive.
And self-sufficiency is the first step in breaking away from your parents and making your own choices in life.
Because it’s your own choices that will dictate the world around you.
So make your first good choice today and learn how to cook.
You can start with YouTube tutorials on cooking the 3 basic foods for survival, which are eggs, steak and pasta, but the best source is to learn it in person.
So if you can find a cooking class near you or if your parents want to show you, definitely take that opportunity to avoid a lot of unnecessary and unwanted costs later down the road!
Now with all of that cooking (not just food), there might be some noise in the background while you’re studying and you might wonder whether you should study in your dorm.
Here’s the answer:
Tip 50: Study Elsewhere
Let’s start with this:
Your dorm is your living space.
It is designed to make you comfortable, not to work.
If you are near your bed, you might be tempted to go to bed when you are tired and you are studying.
This is not a good situation and can result in a lot of wasted time.
If you are disciplined, you can try this, but I would advise against it because when you study, you want to remove as many distractions as you possibly can so you go uninterrupted from the dorm hall noise and the comfort of your dorm’s surroundings.
I recommend that you go to the library or some of the university’s “quiet zones” across campus where you know you will not get any noise and you can expect to be uninterrupted.
This will maximize your studying productivity and you will not procrastinate.
If you don’t believe me, try it for yourself the first few weeks of classes and see how it goes or read this article here that completely proves my point.
Now here is a tip that’s a great discipline tactic and very necessary:
Tip 51: Do Your Laundry Once Per Week
Don’t slack off with this.
No one but you will do this so you might as well schedule it.
Here’s a great way to do this:
Pick one day of the week and know that you have to laundry that day.
Discipline your mind that it’s the day that you must do laundry or else your schedule will go out of whack and you will give up time on more important things with college if you don’t do this one task.
Because let’s face it: There IS an opportunity cost to not sticking with your schedule and that cost is VERY large.
So get this chore out of the way and get on with your college life. Don’t waste time! Create it!
Now I’m going to wipe out a major distraction really fast so get ready to see it vanish right before your very eyes!
Tip 52: Don’t Decorate Your Dorm Room
You might want to punch me in the face again after this one because you were waiting to decorate your dorm room the moment you got in there like this guy here decorating the mall before Christmas!
Seriously though, decorating your dorm room is an unnecessary distraction since over time, you will get too comfortable in there and you will lose sight of what’s important: the business.
And this is your first lesson in not overspending on stuff.
Minimize to maximize.
You only spend time on something when you determine that the activity is worth it.
Not on stupid stuff like decorating the dorm.
Not to say that you are stupid of course because if you were, you wouldn’t be reading this!
But understand the point very clearly: This isn’t Chevy Chase decorating the house for Christmas and making a fool out of himself for a Christmas bonus.
This is a business trip and you cannot get distracted at all costs.
Now here’s another useful tip that you must address immediately if it’s a problem.
Tip 53: Have a Helpful and Cooperative Roommate
If you sense at any point throughout your college career that your roommate is being difficult and causing problems, you need to get rid of them ASAP.
How would I go about it?
I would first report the problem to the Resident Assistant (the RA) of your dorm hall who will then do whatever protocol they must do to resolve the situation.
If he or she doesn’t do their job, you need to talk to next ranking officer above him or her and see if you can resolve the issue there.
Keep going up until the highest possible officer does not resolve the situation.
If housing and student affairs do not fix this, you must go to another department (like the health and well-being department or even your academic advisors and professors) and address it with them.
Believe me, someone will address this if you persist enough because the last thing that they want is a persisting problem that will get them in trouble with their bosses.
Now, what should you look for in a roommate to avoid problems (even though you typically don’t get to pick them)?
They must be professional and they must respect your presence.
They must agree to house rules that will maintain order between the two of you (or all of you if there are more than 2 people in the dorm).
And that’s it.
Also know that they aren’t your friends. You are not buddies with them.
Therefore, you MUST lock up anything you might find valuable to avoid their possible mischievous activities.
Here is an article that explains what I’m talking about with additional clarification if you would like to read it along with other useful tips for navigating dorm life with bad roommates.
Now what if you get a good roommate?
Nothing but advantages.
In fact, you might’ve found a friend for life if you’re lucky.
Usually, a good roommate is a great first step for any college student to build their network of people.
They can help you out when you need it the most and provide so much support and encouragement that you can’t even believe until you see it.
Plus, you can have a lot more enjoyable experiences with them than you can possibly have living with your parents!
You can’t beat that ROI (and yes, that is a good business decision if you can afford it)!
You can see some more amazing benefits of having roommates here.
Now you might be wondering about drinking on campus.
The next tip will settle the debate once and for all.
Tip 54: Don’t Drink At All
That’s right. Absolutely no alcohol whatsoever, even in small parties.
This is an unnecessary risk that you’d want to take because there have been way too many instances where drinking even a modest amount will turn you into a completely different person and begin a really bad habit that will negatively impact the rest of your life.
In fact, take a look at this article here that highlights what really happens when you drink and why you MUST avoid it at all costs. Pay close attention to point number 6.
You keep drinking and keep drinking until all of a sudden, it’s an addiction.
Addictions are bad and once you get on it, it’s extremely hard to get off of that ever so speeding up treadmill of doom.
And this goes for smoking and any other type of drug out there.
Avoid them like the plague because you WILL pay dearly later on down the road of you do them; even if it’s just 1 puff.
Now for a very important point regarding dorm life.
Tip 55: If You Get Distracted, Live Off Campus
This one depends on your financial situation because in some cases, living on campus is actually cheaper than off campus.
But if dorm life is distracting you, leave.
The last thing you want is to compromise your entire college plan to a needless distraction that will cost you more money down the road.
You need to find what works for you, and if dorm life doesn’t work, you have to ditch it.
Some students do not find it useful for their future and that’s ok because sometimes, the best business decision is to not be in the dorms.
It all comes down to you and your situation.
Here is another article that can help you straighten this housing situation up with a complete pros and cons list to help you out.
Dorm life can be a very great experience for you and can lead to more money down the road, but if used unwisely or without discipline, you might unnecessarily be cutting your own arm that’ll require a lot of sticches.
So with that said, definitely consider dorm life and all that it has to offer with the tips in this blog post.
Now this net section deserves a section on its own because it is an important consideration to a lot of people and is college’s version of a gun. If used wrong, it’ll shoot you dead, but if used right, you’ll get a lot of meat at the table for supper time.
It’s Greek Life.
Greek Life
This is a hot topic regarding college and rightfully so.
Greek life can make you or break you depending on how you go about it.
On one hand, you may have the opportunity to develop an unbelievable set of relationships that will take you far in life and will only benefit you in the long run.
On the other hand, you may have a ticking time bomb on your hand with loads of wasted time and a lot of trouble fitting in and possible detriment to your academic career.
There is a way of sorting out all of this information to make the correct decision for you and the tips for Greek Life will greatly facilitate your decision making.
Take these tips as the guideline for evaluating Greek programs.
Now this checklist will focus on social fraternities/sororities since this is the fraternity/sorority group that most students join, but keep in mind that there are professional fraternities that focus on a particular field of study, so definitely check out those if they meet your goals.
But be very wary of them, just like social fraternities/sororities, whose tips will be discussed right now.
Tip 56: Don’t Feel Pressured To Join
This is the most important tip of them all.
You will see every freshman on campus try to join one of these fraternities and sororities in herds like it’s a social contest.
Don’t fall for that.
This must be an individualized decision based solely on the facts and not from opinions.
If it is not the correct decision for you, you shouldn’t do it.
It will do more harm than good.
With this one brief tip in mind, let’s dive into the rest of these tips known as the criteria for them to earn your hard earned money.
Tip 57: Make it a Business Decision
We go all the way back to why you went to college in the first place; because it was a business decision based on facts alone.
This is no different for fraternities and sororities.
When you decide on whether you do Greek life or not, you must make sure that you are going to get something out of it that will justify the time and money that you could spend on Greek life.
There are no presents for these people.
You better make sure that they work like crazy to earn one penny of your hard earned money.
This is how you get their very best performance or at least it’ll tell you who they really are as people, which will then tell you whether or not to trust them.
That way, you will see right through their every little sneaky lie that they try to throw at you.
Now here are some additional tips that can catch them off guard and help you even more.
Tip 58: Ask to Attend Their Events/ Meetings to Get a Feel For What It’s Like
They must comply with this or don’t join them (meetings might be hard to get into though).
Remember, they have everything to lose and you have nothing to lose with this tactic, even though a more established fraternity or sorority might not have anything to lose by not complying with you.
Either way, this rule goes for everybody. Why should you do this? Because you have to peak into their hood and see every little detail of what might go wrong with them (and what the positives are).
You’d want to get idea of how everybody connects together and if you feel like you can have good chemistry with them.
Additionally, you’d want to use your investigation to develop your gut feeling for everything that they’re doing.
Some questions might pop up in your head like “Are they doing something suspicious?” “Do I feel like I can be with these people?” “Are these people enjoyable to be around?”
There are many more questions that’ll pop into your head that I can’t think of at the moment, but the bottom line is to go with your gut based on what you’re feeling because if you don’t go with your gut on this, you will regret it.
Guaranteed.
Remember, deep down, these Greek people don’t care about you. I can argue that although they’re in the same organization, they really don’t care about each other.
So please know this reality when you’re dealing with them.
Now because we are going to take as much downside as we can, particularly with hazing, I am going to introduce a unique tip that’ll really catch them off guard and will allow you to determine for yourself who they really are.
That tip is:
Tip 59: Have Them Sign a Legal Contract With Your Attorney
This will wake them up.
If they see that you have a lawyer, they’re going to calm down on their power antics pretty fast.
The reality about hazing is it’s a prevalent activity across almost every Greek organization, whether they want to admit it or not.
You need to protect yourself from all of these activities that they might do in a forceful and authoritative manner and in a way where you’ll get the respect that you deserve.
Let me tell you what most of these organizations really see you as if you are rushing one of these organizations.
They see you as a punk who has proven nothing and is worth kicking over.
They feel it is appropriate to, figuratively, smash your face on the wall and rub it all day on it without any regard to what your condition might be like.
This legal contract will ensure they don’t do this egregious behavior to you and they will be forced to see your leverage in the game.
Of course, not every organization is like this and those organizations are definitely worth taking a closer look at, but for the most part, they suck and under deliver.
They won’t tell you this, but it’s true and they know it.
Take control of the deal and I can fully assure you, you will be just fine either way.
Just don’t screw this decision up.
And that is your Greek Life criteria.
Overall, if it’s a good organization after running them through these tips, it CAN be worth it, but you will be fine if you ignore it in the first place. But I do encourage you to investigate it though.
Now here comes the part that you might be drading a lot, but it is necessary to tackle; the money.
Finances
Finances are SOOOO underrated.
Just take a look at the number of people borrowing money for college without realizing that money needs to be paid back.
And a lot of times, they don’t even use the student loans for school. They use them for living expenses, Spring Break trips, buying clothes, a down payment on a house, etc.
And also, most people don’t even take into account the expenses in their daily lives, so this catches everyone off guard when the bill comes in.
Trust me, you do not want that to happen.
Hopefully, these things have never happened to you.
Now I’m not going to magically fix your financial situation with this blog post; that’s for you to do and it’s your responsibility to make it happen. However, I will lay out a lot of useful tips that you can use starting today and will eliminate a lot of confusion about what to do and what not to do with the money.
With that said, here are the tips for the college finances section of the blog post.
Tip 60: Watch Your Income and Expenses At Least Once a Week (or every day of you can)
At least once a week is being generous; it should be every day.
But maybe you are doing for the first time and you want to get used to looking at the balance sheet.
A good way to go about this is to make an Excel spreadsheet of what is coming in and what is going out and to input those numbers as you get the money and spend the money.
You can also list in the spreadsheet what you monthly expenses are and what portion of your income must be allocated to each of those expenses so you can plan your immediate financial future.
This will expedyte your financial planning process and it will make investing in many things, including college, much more organized than to just say “I want to wing $150 on the football game” like some of the guys who go to college to party.
This activity of creating a spreadsheet will also allow you to see what you must make in order to maintain the quality of living that you desire and what amount of money will give you a buffer in the amount of cash that you have at the end of the month.
And of course, with research on living expenses, you can widen this gap even larger and have more money at your disposal to live on and to invest.
In short, this activity will make your life much more manageable.
Keeping track of your income and expenses is what’s known as basic accounting, and is by far one of the most important skills you will ever develop.
If you can keep track of your money and finds ways to produce additional income via jobs or independent of jobs, you will be far ahead of even most people who make 6 figures and are in debt to their eyeballs.
Additionally, you will become mature and you’ll become grounded, conservative, professional and independent in everything that you do.
And those traits alone mark the essence of a real adult.
Also, you might come up with certain percentages of where the money must go.
Stick with those percentages if they are working for you, but change them accordingly if you can optimize your circumstances.
Now you don’t have to just worry about saving money. You can do this next tip to ease your worrying and that tip is:
Tip 61: Find Ways to Earn More Money
This is what’s known as a side hustle.
Basically, you are using additional time at your disposal and using it to earn more income.
This can be in the form of additional jobs, doing surveys online, freelance writing for clients, blogging, making YouTube videos that provide value, doing research studies, etc.
Basically anything that can put more money in your pocket.
Many college students do this to offset a lot of the expenses associated with living and to create this “buffer” that I allude to.
If you can take advantage of these side gigs and create an additional “buffer” for yourself, you will have so much relief in your life like you can’t even imagine.
You can read this blog post here for creative ideas that you can start using today and reaping the rewards of persistant effort with the side hustle.
Now here is the most valuable tip yet:
Tip 62: Time Is the Ultimate Money
And understand that really clearly.
You do have 4-5 (or even 6) years at your disposal in university.
It is your duty to make the most of that time.
Most students do not use this time efficiently and they just waste it like it’s nothing.
But you, with this blog post in hand, you have the power to make a fortune out of what you are given.
You can literally create anything you want out of your college experience. The investment of time that you have at your disposal can put you deep in a hole for life or catapult you into superstardom.
The question is, how will you use it effectively?
And this goes back to my point of knowing what you are doing in college because if you don’t know what you are doing, you are putting yourself in the hole.
Guaranteed.
And wasted time equals a whole lot of wasted money that could be used elsewhere and could be obtained in a more efficient manner.
Remember the concept of opportunity cost and it will save your skin when you need it the most when you launch your career.
And know this other tip that I will give you:
Tip 63: Money Isn’t Everything Because Money Is the ONLY Thing
Anyone who tells you otherwise is straight up lying to you.
Money is what makes the world go round.
It is up to YOU to master it and to use it to create the circumstances around you.
Sure, the people around you definitely give you a sense of fun in your life, but do you know what funds it?
Money.
Without it, you don’t get the fun times.
Do you remember the time that your parents got divorced if they did?
If so, what do you think the root of the divorce was?
Right.
There were money problems.
An issue with the money creates tension between everyone associated with it.
You don’t want to mess with the only thing that matters because if you do, it will kick you in the behind and tell you good bye for good.
And this leads me to my next tip in the finance section.
Tip 64: Understand Physics and Money
Do you know Newton’s laws of motion?
In case you didn’t, there are 3 of them, but 2 of those laws are of particular importance when it comes to handling people and money.
Newton’s first law revolves around inertia, which is the tendency of one object to resist a change in velocity from the action of another object on in.
In other words, if you are a weaker force, you are not moving objects out of place or slowing them down or changing their direction.
But if you are the stronger force, you can influence whatever forces are weaker than you.
I can give you an example.
Let’s say that you have a lucrative skill in the marketplace and you are the only one with that skill with many companies demanding it.
You are the greater force in the room because you are the only one that possesses something the other parties needs.
Because of this, you can charge as high as you want because there are so many people wanting you, so you can pick and choose who to work with.
And not only that, you are the only way out of their problem.
So because of this, you can use the 1st law of motion to put them in the box and say “I’m the only one who can solve your problem, so you must do what I say or you will be trapped forever.”
In this case, they are the weaker force and must pay you a large sum of money to move you to the point where you can do work for them and hence the greater force/
Now let’s turn our attention to Newton’s 3rd law of motion which involves the concept of an equal action receiving an equal reaction.
This is the root of the law of reciprocity, which is a powerful concept in business.
Let’s see what you can do with this.
Suppose you are graciously giving your time to one organization on campus and not asking for anything in return.
What you are doing is intentionally putting yourself in a “hole” that the organization will dig you out of eventually.
You are digging this hole to let them see that you add value in their club and because you don’t ask for anything in return, they feel a natural obligation to repay the favor to you somehow.
As you can see, you are using the 3rd law of motion on your club to give you whatever you desire.
You just genuinely add value and add value and add value and add value until one day, they will come to you and say “What would you like?” or “We have a surprise for you.”
And low and behold, you get what you want.
If you give enough value without asking for anything in return, you will get something in return in proportion to the value that you bring.
And if you understand the Physics behind it, your power is unshakable in this world.
Because let’s face it, Physics governs EVERYTHING on this planet.
Make it work for you and not for someone else.
Now with that said, the next two tips will go hand in hand with what I’ve just introduced to you right now, so pay close attention.
Tip 65: Don’t Burn Bridges
This costs money in the future.
If you destroy relationships, you lost the money!
No one will trust you and your reputation will crumble!
In this case you are giving them all of the power to not do business with you!
What kind of move is that?
A move that will backfire as I have just explained.
If you treat someone with disrespect, you will get disrespect right back at you.
And no respect means no business and no jobs!
Don’t let that be you for your own safety on this planet!
Now here’s a useful tip to make your college investment a little more worthwhile AND will give you tremendous power in the game!
Tip 66: Negotiate Your Tuition
“What?!” you might be asking.
That’s right, negotiate your tuition.
Let me lay this out to you so you can understand.
Colleges are businesses.
They will do anything to attract students if they don’t have the leverage to do so.
And that does mean bargaining with tuition.
Now personally I didn’t do this one because my entire tuition was paid for and if that’s you, you can skip this tip OR refer to it if you go to grad school.
But if I ever needed grad school, trust me when I say that I will do this.
But if they are in a situation where they are having trouble getting students to enroll and you have a compelling business case that compromises their cash flow and reputation with the data that you have, you have a realistic chance of lowerring your tuition.
Now let me tell you some of the things that you could present.
If you have acceptance letters from multiple schools and those schools are offering you lower tuition, you can take these letters to the school’s financial aid office and you can start bargaining from that point.
Now what would happen is you would need to meet with a representative from the school to explain your case. Many articles on the internet like these two articles here and here go in-depth into the process, but I’m going to add what I would do if I had to foot the bill myself.
First, I immediate recognize that these arguments are missing several vocational options outside of college that can be used, particularly trade school, real estate investing, sales, digital marketing, online business, etc. that could yield better results than what any college graduate could obtain.
Additionally, almost or all of these options are a lot cheaper than the university’s tuition.
Because of the fact that I could document better results with these options and the fact that typically people who go for these options don’t do as well in school as those who go to college, I can, in a way, say to the colleges, in a more professional manner, this:
“Look, for the value that you are delivering, you are charging too much. Aside from the fact that I have discounted tuition from such and such schools, there are numerous vocational options that do not require your services where I have documented proof that I can obtain better economic results than attending your university at any price.”
“For instance, I can become a plumber and earn 6 figures in my lifetime without incurring your cost and with less schooling. Additionally, all of these trades are more in demand than college graduates (I would pull out a chart and testimonials from companies to prove this).”
Basically, this is what my thought process would be like.
I would raise the following thoughts in their head during my pitch:
- We can just fill in the seats with other students
- You might need to come back to our institution someday
- Don’t you want to work in a pleasant environment?
- Don’t you know that future careers, including the ones you mentioned, might require 4 year degrees in the future?
- What if your ideas don’t work?
These are known as objections and typically they are stalls and mental excuses for not taking action on your request.
That’s where Newton’s 1st law of motion comes into play.
You expose their disadvantage with respect to your options and you say, again in a more professional tone,
“Nope. I’m not going to do that. I have options and it’s my market now. I’ve substantiated my earning potential with these options and I have the power to walk away without complying to your demands. If you want a deal, take my offer or leave it. Otherwise, you get nothing.”
Of course, if you say it like that, you’ll get kicked out immediately. But you should be thinking like that so you can be aggressive and persistent in what you are doing.
And before you get to the close, I would, well, I won’t give that one away. You will have to buy Advertising Secrets of the Written Word to know the answer. My affiliate link is right here again if you want to buy it.
And that is the end of the finances section.
A lot of stuff for sure.
If you take this information and run with it, you will do just fine in the money part of your college career.
Just don’t rob the big bank or a big fat whammy will be coming your way pretty soon!
Speaking of which, outside of this blog post, you can see some of those whammys right here in this link. It’s an old game show but a fun one to watch, especially, well, you’ll see.
Don’t be like the guy who had to “file his important financial documents.”
I told you it was good to laugh once in a while!
Now we will move into the career part of this guide where I’ll dive into some tactical strategies that can get you ahead over time, so let’s go!
Career
Picking a career is a pain in the rear!
If you do it wrong of course.
Most students do not do this part correctly for one of two reasons:
- They lack passion in what they are doing
- They just don’t know the correct tricks
You need those two ingredients to make any career an awesome one.
Now assuming that you have A) down, you just need the correct vehicle to get that passion to the correct people.
We will address that in this section.
You will have at least a basic understanding of what you need to do to make your unique and awesome career plan work. Of course, this post isn’t enough because you need to tailor these points to your situation, and that’s where practice comes into play.
If you don’t practice, you will not be successful with your plan.
Now having said that, let’s get into the tips.
Tip 67: Go to Career Services Starting from Day 1
You’ll find this out eventually, but I’ll tell you now so you have a head start.
Career services is the department responsible for guiding you through the professional arena, specifically with resume critiques, mock interviews, career workshops, career fairs, etc.
Basically, anything careers on campus has something to do with these guys.
I would say that this is the most underutilized resource on a college campus.
Why is this?
Probably because they don’t know about it, but because most students don’t want their careers badly enough to seek the help that they need.
And that is your advantage.
Before I get into specifics on how to approach career services, let me tell you something about the job market.
It is true that most people can’t find jobs after college even though the press will say otherwise.
HOWEVER, there is a BIG factor that they are missing in their analysis.
That factor is people who want their careers badly enough to do what they have to do in school to get it.
These people who do extracurriculars and do well in school and make the correct career moves get placed 100% of the time, typically at the companies that they want to work for. That’s a fact and every student who falls into this category will tell you this.
This is a controlable outlier that you can take advantage of.
Career services can definitely assist you in this regard because if you show up consistently for help with your resume and interviewing skills and anything related to careers, they will notice and they will be ready to place you because you have taken initiative towards what you want.
And that is the key to bumping up your chances.
Ask anybody on campus where career services is and make it a point to visit them the first day of classes if possible, or sometime during the first week at the latest and consistently show up to the office.
And I’ll say it again because it’s an important point, your passion and commitment to getting whatever career you desire will bring you to this office since you have no option to lose.
Just do what they tell you and you will be well on your way to at least your first internship.
Now I will give you a tip that you can address in your first meeting with career services so you can have an idea of what to get out of it.
Tip 68: Begin Practicing Your Interviewing Skills the Very First Day You Meet with Career Services
This is the thing that makes or breaks your job search.
When you meet with a company to do your interview, the way you present yourself and the way you answer questions will be a difference maker in you getting a job or being passed on.
If you wait until near the end of graduation to prepare, you are going to risk going into the interview completely unprepared, cocky and you will underestimate the task in front of you, which is the worst thing you can do for preparing in anything.
However, if you start sooner, you will find every single mistake that you are making when you’re answering questions and you’ll avoid the traps that most students fall into when answering interview questions.
And with career services, you get complimentary guidance for this task, which you really cannot beat.
This article here lays down some of the critical benefits of this office and just how underrated it is and how big a difference it can make in your career, not to mention that this office is available to you after you graduate!
It really is that powerful of an office and I highly encourage you to use it to your advantage.
BUT, you might see that they can help you pick a major.
If you don’t need to pay to talk to them (or if you need to pay a little fee), they CAN help you in picking the major and give you data about job placements with those majors, but you have to do your own math on each major before you commit to one; don’t just take their word for it even though they can provide some incredible insight.
You have to verify their data because they also want to get you to enroll.
Now this next tip will greatly facilitate your networking efforts when you engage with people in your school, so pay close attention.
Tip 69: Get to Know Your Professors as People, Not As Teachers Handing Out a Grade
Professors get irritated when students go to them to complain about their grade. They can’t stand it.
However, they do not get irritated when you go to them and ask about something that they’re interested in like their research.
They get really excited when they hear a student talking about this since no one talks about this in a genuine nature.
When you do this, you instantly become memorable to them.
In fact, it might even lead to numerous research opportunities and if you are consistent in what you are discussing with them and actively engage in that discussion, they might even write you a recommendation letter and/or set you up with an interview with a company.
A lot can come out of this relationship if you do it right, so definitely take advantage.
BUT, don’t bother engagging with the bad professors because they will cause you a hard time.
In fact, I wrote an article about how you can deal with bad professors right here if you want to check it out.
In a nutshell, just don’t criticize them and do what you need to do to succeed. If you ask a question and they’re not helpful, ask others to assist you and keep your mouth shut in class.
But for the good professors, get to know them. They’ll be more than happy to help you.
Now with that said, here’s a point that must be taken very dear to heart because almost no one is going to do this next point.
Tip 70: Hustle Hard
That means you must put your foot on the gas 24/7 and don’t take your foot off of it.
Persist, persist and persist until you get everything that you want and more.
Many people are going to criticize and hate you for the success that you have as a result of your initiative.
Well understand this: Initiative is part of the game.
You are being the leader of your life and there is NOTHING wrong with that.
In fact, that’s what you are supposed to be doing.
Additionally, if you are not hustling hard, you are not going to get anyone’s attention to help you.
Let’s face it, they have their own lives to live and they are comfortable doing those things.
Your job is to do more than enough to get them to pay attention to you.
This includes employers, your fellow students, faculty and anyone you feel is in a position to assist you.
If you don’t get in their faces, they will not notice you and you will be there just like a ghost.
You don’t want that.
I will show you ways to get in front of as many people as possible later on in this post, but the idea is you need to focus on working your tail off to get in front of a lot of people to increase your chances of becoming employed.
And when you understand this tip very clearly, the next tip will happen and that is:
Tip 71: KNOW That You Will Get What You Want
Mindset is everything in whatever you do.
The power to envision everything that you do and to actually create it is really mind blowing when you hear about it, but it is more possible than you think.
All you need to do is believe that you will do it and to see yourself at the end with the result to show for it.
The possibilities that you can have will make the process more doable and it will motivate you to cross the finish line without thinking that you can give up.
In fact, this is another reason why students do not make the most of their time in college.
It’s because they don’t believe in themselves enough to dominate the game for what they want.
That’s drifting away in the air; you don’t want that!
You want to get everything that you desire and then some.
And it all starts with choosing yourself to get what you want.
Once you believe strong enough, you will find a way to accomplish it. I promise you that.
These tips are nothing without self-belief combined with the action necessary to make everything happen.
So it is up to you to make everything that you want happen or you will suffer the consequences.
Now this next section involves something particularly delicate and must be handled extremely carefully so they don’t distract you. If you do this incorrectly, you might regret it, so read on to know what this is and how to handle them.
Relationships and Dating
If you’ve ever been in a relationship, you know that this can ruin your life if you do this wrong.
In fact, the consequences of getting relationships wrong are huge. Take a look at this article here for a full breakdown of the consequences of unhealthy relationships.
The consequences are really bad as you can see!
Therefore, you must take extreme precaution when you handle possibly romantic relationships to ensure that nobody is trying to trick the other person.
And trust me, trickary happens more often than you think.
Now let’s get into the tips.
Tip 72: Talk to Women (or men) From Time to Time
Let’s face it, you don’t want to be lonely and chances are, you definitely want a good relationship.
Also, it’s nice to get outside of your comfort zone from time to time.
However, notice that I say “from time to time.”
This means you should NOT do it all of the time.
Some students do it all of the time and there are negative consequences to that so you’d want to avoid doing it frequently.
But once in a while, you should at least see someone you like and engage in conversation with them.
You will grow confident as a result and you will actually become more of a professional from doing this.
Imagine if you need to walk into a boardroom full of executives for a big company. Might you feel intimidated?
Or would you feel more intimidated approaching a guy or a girl that you like?
Believe it or not, I wouldn’t be surprised if you chose the latter one because it can be more uncertain with how you will be perceived compared to executives where it’s more professional and more based off of your knowledge (even though the implications are large; don’t get me wrong).
But if you can approach an attractive girl or an attractive guy with confidence, you can definitely be comfortable approaching a future boss or a future client with a big proposal since you’ve taken the first steps of becoming comfortable presenting yourself. And that’s what this approach thing can do for you.
Now having said that, the next tip is extremely crucial to staying true to yourself and not diverging away from it and that tip is this:
Tip 73: Don’t People Please
People hate this SOOOOO much.
It’s like you are trying to seek approval for something that you are not.
You’ve seen politicians right?
They cater their words to the voters when in reality, they intend to do something different from what they are saying and eventually, the voters catch onto what they are trying to do and get kicked out of office.
The same thing happens with people pleasers. They lie and lie and lie to seek approval until one day, the real world discovers that they are not the person they proclaim to be and that person suffers the consequences big time.
If someone tells you to be something you are not, don’t listen to them.
You are your own unique person and that is what is beautiful about you.
No one can take this away from you and you should be proud of that.
So for instance, if you have an intense love for art and that is what motivates you, show it off and be proud of it. The beauty and your value will come across and people will feel the energy from you and your work.
In short, don’t be someone that you are not.
And if you want a great relationship with another person, this point is critical.
If you are fake, the other person will eventually not want to be with you and you will be lonely all of the time.
If you are fake, you will be scamming yourself out of a great life.
So don’t be fake if you want to get that great girl or guy.
You will instantly turn them off.
Now here’s another point that I want you to know regarding relationships:
Tip 74: Don’t Get Too Serious With Someone
This will distract you.
If you fall in love way too early, you run the risk of ruining your entire business plan off of something that wasn’t a necessary obstacle.
Falling in love should come later in life when you are established in your career and your finances.
You cannot afford to fall in love now.
Additionally, if you fall in love, you cannot get that person out of your head and it will disturb your focus in accomplishing things.
This consequence alone is extremely dangerous ad you MUST know about this before committing to a relationship.
Remember, a relationship is a commitment between the two of you and both of you will be responsible for any fall outs.
These fall outs can be positive, but the vast majority of the time, because you don’t know what the other person’s intents are, these fall outs are terrible for everyone.
Therefore, the best thing to do regarding relationships is to avoid them in college to ensure that you focus on getting the job done.
You will not have any fall outs from not having a relationship. That’s a guarantee.
Now here’s the most important relationship:
Tip 75: The #1 Relationship That You Have Is With You
You are your own worst nightmare or your own best dream.
It starts with how you view your life and what you choose to bring into it.
If you choose to bring in toxic relationships, you will have a toxic life and you will have toxic results.
If you think that you’ll fail, you will fail.
It is that simple.
You MUST control yourself first before you can engage with anyone else.
If you have no self-control, you will shoot yourself in the foot pretty quickly.
How will anyone choose you if you don’t choose yourself?
It doesn’t make sense for them to choose you if you doubt yourself!
So if you are on a date and you have a gut feeling about a girl or a guy being bad, but you are still hanging out with that person after time, you are succumbing to their agenda.
They don’t deserve you!
You need to choose to get out of the relationship or you will suffer the consequences!
It’s always YOU first before anyone else; don’t lose sight of that.
If people ask you for homework help, but you have another assignment to do, finish the assignment first. Those guys can wait.
And this brings me to my next point.
Tip 76: If You Don’t Have a Good Feeling About It, Don’t Do It
And this goes for your college decision making to.
If you don’t feel like college is a fit for you, don’t do it.
Your parents should have NO influence on whatever path you choose in life.
Don’t feel pressured to do something just because it is the cool thing to do.
I said it earlier in the post, but you need to hear it again so you don’t fall for the trap that almost everybody falls into.
Your gut is a very powerful tool when it is well informed about things as I’ve discussed in the blog post attached here.
You should listen to it very often because when you go back in time after the process has gone through, you will realize that it made the right call.
So if you are out with a girl and your gut tells you she’s not the right fit, you already know what to do. Finish the date up ASAP and just leave.
Don’t bother seeing her again.
Because if you do, you are in deep trouble.
Mark my words there.
On the flip side though, if you’ve got to know someone for a very long time and your gut tells you that they a great person, you should keep them around in your life because they will provide you support when you need it.
Of course, you shouldn’t get too deep with them because that will backfire either way, but as a friend, yes you should keep them.
Allies are REALLY powerful for you and the more you have, the more you will prosper.
Just be careful that they aren’t too “sketchy.”
You’ll see what I mean by “sketchy” if you don’t know once you implement this tip.
Now apart from yourself, here’s the 2nd best relationship that you must have above all else:
Tip 77: Your 2nd best Relationship is Being a Winner
That’s right, always think that you are going to win, no matter what.
It’s that winning mindset that keeps you going all of the time.
You want those A’s?
Think that you’ll get them and you will naturally work for it.
You want a hot and awesome girlfriend/boyfriend later in life?
Think that you’ll get him/her and you’ll naturally work for it.
You want a hot body?
Think that you’ll get it and you’ll naturally work for it.
For every one of these scenarios, you have to dream it up in your head and keep your eye on the prize.
And combined with action, you will win.
It doesn’t take genius to do this.
You can do it right now if you wish.
And once you harness this ultimate power, you will become unstoppable in everything that you do.
You can take that one to the bank.
And that does it for relationships.
Be smart with them. They can serve you well or they can break you for life.
Now you might be wondering “I’m going to college soon. How do I take a test? How do I know that I won’t burn out? How can I make the most of my classroom time? How can I ensure that I’m ready for the test?”
All of these questions will be answered coming up in the Academic Hacks Section so keep on reading for all of the free and exclusive tricks!
The Academic Hacks
OK, this section will save your life.
Guaranteed.
Just do everything that I will tell you and you will never fail any college test.
Ever.
So let’s get started.
The first academic hack will tell you exactly how to study and for how long you should study to expect your best performance.
Tip 78: Focusing on Concepts Rather than Memorization
This hack will make you see everything very clearly without relying on the solutions manual.
When you focus on the ideas instead of the step by step procedure of the problems, you will find that everything will make sense to you when you sit down to solve any problem or recall any concept brought upon.
For instance, say you are studying an advanced engineering topic like Fluid Mechanics and you need to know how much pressure needs to be applied at the center of an underwater gate so that the gate can stay closed.
I will tell you right now, you cannot solve that problem from mere memorization.
You would need to know every concept of hydrostatics and rely on knowledge from basic statics to solve it.
And you cannot memorize this stuff. That’s the real reason why people flunk out of engineering; they don’t know how to understand concepts and how to apply these concepts to solve problems.
And also for something like history. You want to know why each event happened and what led to certain people being there along with the roles of certain people and their significance.
This could help you in answering essay questions and even multiple choice questions where you can easily deduce from the question what the answer is.
This is how I got through my engineering curriculum with relative ease compared to everybody else and it’s also how I was able to ace every test that typically involved traditional rote memorization like multiple choice tests that wouldn’t involve engineering concepts.
And also, rote memorization kind of feels like a chore when you do it because you are constantly drilling information in your head without actually knowing its significance. This is the real reason as to why information slips out of your head along with no practice.
But if you conceptualize the material, not only will you have a more enjoyable learning experience, but you’ll retain more knowledge over time.
And that is always a good thing.
On top of that, you’ll learn how to create things instead of following rules and protocols that can lead you down the wrong path come test day and in your job in the future.
Now here’s another trick that can let you control the class.
Tip 79: Read Ahead and Dominate Classroom Discussion
Here’s what you do:
Earlier, we talked about reading 1-2 weeks ahead of the traditional pace. This is what’s known as your buffer. During this buffer, you can prepare questions about things that didn’t make sense when you first read the material. Compared to everyone else, you will have read a lot more, so you will be able to get more out of lecture time.
While everybody else is confused at what the professor is saying, because you read ahead, you will understand those points and you will get to ask the questions that you prepared.
You and the professor will discuss the material and you will have an active discussion about it.
Here’s the thing.
The professor will always stop the lecture when any student has a question.
Because you and maybe 1 or 2 more people have questions, it’s basically going to be the three of you and the professor talking about the material while everybody else are really not there even though they are there.
So when you have a question, you can stop the professor and allow the professor to clarify points in ways that you understand because all you have to do is say “Could you repeat that again please” during the lecture and it’ll be catered to your own words.
In most cases, the professor will repeat the point. Worst case, you go to his/her office to clarify the points.
Now with this tactic, you can control the pace of the lecture because when you get to certain points, the questions that you have or could have in the moment can come up, and because everyone else is clueless about the material, it’s only you asking these questions.
When you do this, you are getting the most out of your classroom time and you are figuratively dragging everyone else in the mud to go at your pace, which compromises their understanding of the material.
That’s right, you are controlling the class to go along with you, hence, you are dominating classroom discussion.
Does that make sense?
In a nutshell, you are asking questions when you need to and being persistent with it and because almost everyone else didn’t read, they can’t ask questions since they don’t know what’s going on, so you force them to cater to your pace in class or they’ll spend a lot of time outside of class catching up without the luxury of the lecture time.
I actually got a few complaints about this tactic from my professors even though I didn’t tell them that I was doing this. That’s how effective it is in getting everyone confused and going along with you.
But if your professors complain about it, don’t worry about it. It’s a fake complaint and they are really scared to complement you for your performance.
Now here’s a cool little trick to ensure that the material is silky smooth come test time!
Tip 80: Do Your Homework Twice
They say that repetition is the key to mastery and it cannot ring any more true for mastering school work.
When you do the homework again, it gives your mind the opportunity to practice what will come up without the possibility of the material slipping out of your head.
Some professors might think that this idea is ridiculous and that you should just review the notes.
But if we are creatures of habit, we should do the activities again so that the process is engrained in our heads with absolute certainty.
In fact, here’s a study that proves this exact point.
So say that you are assigned a math homework assignment and you have to do 20 problems for the section.
You will finish the homework assignment, but then about a week before the test, you’ll do the problems again to refresh your brain and see what your mental gaps are. This will wake your brain up in a way to get back into old habits of doing the problems and then reciting them perfectly.
This is how you effectively get your brain to be confident in the skills necessary to pass and ace your classes and how you will feel comfortable knowing that you will not slip up in a big way.
And if it’s a memorization test, drill every day for at least 2-3 hours per day on average and you will be set on test day.
Start this process the very first day that the material is available to you.
Let me give you an example on how I’d go about this.
Say I was given a test in, I don’t know, project management and the content came from PowerPoint slides.
I would grab a sheet of paper, or sheets of paper, and I would write every little detail down on that paper the moment that the PowerPoint slides are available to me.
Once I finish writing the study sheet(s), I would drill the information on the paper going forwards and backwards, reciting the information out loud in a quiet room and also truly understanding the concepts on the sheet.
I would do this repeatedly for 2-3 hours per day up to test day.
And once test day comes, I would ace it.
It’s that simple.
Whether it was written response or a multiple choice test, because I was consistent with my own system of studying, I knew that the test couldn’t stop me.
Of course, some professors might word questions in a tricky way that I might interpret to mean different things, so I might put an answer or two that might get marked wrong, but never less than that.
I would always get the A.
But for something like Calculus, the process is to do the homework twice until you get it right.
There is no other way to be truly prepared for problem solving tests in math, engineering and computer science.
Because let’s face it, practice makes perfect.
Even this guy here agrees.
We’s talkin’ about practice!
Not the game, not the game!
We’s talkin’ about practice!
And it’s true.
It’s all about practice.
As you will see, the test is really the easy part of college.
Practice is the devil that must be dealt with.
Speaking of the test, what if I told you there’s a systematic way to go about it?
I’ve got it for you in this next tip:
Tip 81: How to Handle the Test
First, breathe and relax. There is no pressure.
Now for the real first.
Step 1: Create the game plan starting a week before the test
This game plan is composed of how you will answer each question, what to do when the wording of the question is one way or another, how to use your time on the test, etc.
Basically, you will organize everything that you have learned that’s applicable to the test and you know how to approach each situation.
You’ll also account for what the professor told you will be on the test if they told you that information.
You will follow this game plan religiously throughout the test with extreme discipline.
If you don’t follow it (provided that you accounted for everything), you run the risk of not finishing the test on time.
So stick with the plan and of course, depending on your situation, adjust as you go if you find discrepancies.
Step 2: Go through the test once
Read each question as carefully as you can. Do not forget to use correct units if you are in a class that involves them and do your very best to avoid sign errors on any test involving math.
If you can, talk silently to yourself since you will force your mind to pay attention to what you are doing and you will minimize your mistakes.
Now, on the test, even if you are very careful in what you are doing, you might do what’s called a “typo.”
A testing typo is just like a typo on a computer except you did it during the test. These typos might include putting a negative sign when you meant to put a positive sign, writing a 4 when you meant to write a 3, accidentally writing the wrong units, etc.
I will give you a process in the next step for removing these because they are very hard to catch when you simply read them. Plus, they are very costly if you don’t catch them.
Step 3: Do the Problems Again and Compare Your Work to the First Attempt
What you’ll do is if you have time, do the problems again from scratch. Go through it just like you would in the homework and do it very carefully, but quickly. Likewise in a memorization test, do the questions again from scratch on a separate sheet of paper.
After you go through the questions, you will stop and compare your first answer to your second answer. You already know what needs to go into the answer, so what you’ll do is check for noticeable flaws like the ones I’ve described as typos. Once you find these, correct them immediately.
You might find some conceptual mistakes as a result. Just like with typos, correct them immediately.
Now after this step, you can do the problems for a 3rd time or do the next step to quickly scan for more potential mistakes.
Step 4: If you don’t have time to redo the problems, budget your time equally to scan for errors.
Basically, you carefully read your answers and compare your answers to what you know needs to go on the answer sheet. Once you notice a mismatch between your thoughts and what’s there, fix it immediately. Do NOT erase your work though; correct and them get rid of old work since you don’t have time to make it look pretty.
Chances are, your professor will understand what you were doing if you didn’t finish. They might not reward you full credit, but they will ABSOLUTELY give you partial credit if you could not finish your corrections on time.
And these are the steps to handle your tests.
Now there is one more point that I’d like to make regarding test taking.
Sometimes, your mind will be fixated on answering a question a certain way based on what it has seen in the past, but in reality, it was supposed to be answered in another way.
When this happens, your mind is assuming a constraint that is not there.
This is dangerous for you.
You must read the question carefully and ask yourself “OK, do I have what I need to fully answer the question? And do I really need to follow the homework process verbatim to write down the correct answer?”
If you have what you need to answer the question, even if it deviates from what you did in homework, use your given information as you answer.
I’ll give you an example to clarify my point.
On one test, we had a multiple choice question where there were 2 noticeable options, one had a unit of volume of (ft^3*hr/s) and the other had a unit of volume of (ft^3).
On the test, the answer from the given information had the (ft^3*hr/s) unit since it was asking for volume and that happened to be the unit for an area under a graph that turned out to be the volume of what we were analyzing.
Here was where I made the mistake.
In the past, I was accustomed to only seeing units like ft^3 and m^3 to be volume without anything else being considered as volume.
On the test, I was like “OK, it has to be what I knew from the past, so let me convert and mark the converted unit as my answer.”
And because I assumed that the homework units had to be the correct units, I fell into the assumed constraint trap and got the question wrong even though I had the right answer.
So what’s the moral of the story?
If you get an answer that makes sense with respect to what’s being asked and you know it is conceptually consistent, break out of the homework box and answer what you got as your answer, even if you’ve never seen it before.
If this doesn’t make sense, it will when you go to the test. Recall this tip when you get to it and it’ll make much more sense then.
But with all of this information, you should be all set for your tests and you shouldn’t fail any of them.
Now, even if you read this blog post, it is inevitable that you will make mistakes come test time and many of them, you will learn “on the job.”
But this next tip will give you one important realization in mind:
Tip 82: Accept Responsibility For Your Mistakes
Yes, your professor might make bad calls.
Yes, the material might be confusing.
But what led up to these points?
Assuming that the professor was fair, you did something wrong.
And it is your responsibility to figure out what went wrong and to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.
In sports, this is what’s called “watching film.”
What professional athletes do is they take the game film from prior games and analyze it to identify mistakes and things that they did right.
They also use game film to analyze opponents and to see what their strengths and weaknesses are so they can design a game plan that’s strong enough to win the game.
And this is exactly what you need to do with academics.
You need to go back to your memory bank and identify what mistakes occurred in your study habits and in test executions that you must remove so you can come back next time and win.
This technique is also used when preparing for the test to know what your opponent (the course content/professor) will bring at you so you can create a plan that can effectively take them on with as little problems as possible.
Doing this consistently and taking this “sports approach” to it will ensure that you develop a no excuses mindset that will give you the discipline you need to win in academics.
And that does it for the academic hacks.
Now this final section is for those with learning disabilities. If this doesn’t apply to you, please skip past this section to the end.
If you do have a learning disability, please pay close attention to the next section because I will give you separate instructions from the rest of this post that specifically apply to you.
What To Do If You Have a Disability
I do have a learning disability.
I won’t say what it is, but I know exactly what going on in your head.
Let me start with this:
Your brain works differently from everyone else’s.
In fact, it might work so differently that you might physically be unable to do everything in this blog post.
And that’s OK.
That is how your brain works, so let’s not bite off more than we can chew.
Now of course, please attempt to implement as much of this post as you can, but realize to take what is important first and then worry about everything else.
Let me give you some tips on how to go about college right from the beginning to avoid as little issues as possible.
Tip 83: Just Focus on Academics to Start With
Don’t overdo it.
Let’s take this one step at a time.
If your brain needs to spend all of the school time on academics to succeed (excluding your breaks of course), please do yourself a favor and do that.
Do not put yourself in jeopardy over something that really is too much for you if you know it’s too much for you.
If you find that you have additional time, try implementing the rest of the post and see what happens.
If it is too much, then you know what to do. Just focus on academics.
Don’t worry about employers telling you to do this or that if you need to focus exclusively on grades while classes are in session.
You can do what the employers are asking outside of the semesters or when time permits during the semester.
Now here’s the next tip to ensure that you don’t fall behind.
Tip 84: File for your Testing and Class Accommodations and Document Your Disability
This is an important and overlooked step by many because they assume that just because they have a disability, they will magically get their accommodations.
That’s wrong.
You need to go to the Disability Resource Center and ask what documentation you need to bring in order to receive your accommodations.
If you don’t do this, you will not receive your accommodations.
So please do what they say and don’t miss a step.
And this last tip is if you are eligible, but if you are, they will pay for your entire college education.
Tip 85: See if You Are Eligible for Vocational Rehabilitation
In case you didn’t know, Voc Rehab is a program run by each state that assists eligible individuals with disabilities gain employment.
They do pay for school if you are eligible.
One of the first things that I would do if I had to go back and do it again, I would hire an attorney right from the start to ensure that I have all of my options available to me and that the counselor would not screw me over or cause any difficulties.
There are stories of counselors giving people on the program difficulties with obtaining their benefits, so this is where an attorney will come in to make sure that they don’t stomp all over you.
Basically, consider the attorney expense as a big discount to your college education.
You might be able to attend a private school like Harvard at no charge under Voc Rehab if it’s done correctly, but this is where you would need to talk to an attorney to sort this out for you.
Sometimes, the counselors might refuse to approve your college education to save the government’s money.
They cannot do this. They must fulfill whatever you plan to become provided that you show proof of potential employability upon graduation and you show that it is indeed in your best interest to go down this path.
Again, an attorney is an extremely wise investment of money to ensure that this goes correctly, so please consult one to make sure this goes through.
If done correctly, you’ve just paid for college.
And that means tuition and books and part of your transportation expenses.
You might want to negotiate living expenses because they can interfere with your progress, so bring that up when you meet with the counselor and your attorney.
And that’s that for Voc Rehab. Just about it correctly so you don’t run into problems with them.
Final Notes from Me To You About College
You just got through a really long blog post about college.
It was a lot of information and contains (almost) everything that you need to know to succeed in college.
I leave you off with this:
College is a very delicate object that you cannot mishandle.
It can do you wonders if you do it right or it could slap you in the face if you do it wrong.
Ultimately, it’s up to you whether or not you want to do college or not.
It is an investment and you must treat it as such to avoid going about it the wrong way.
Because let’s face it, picking a major that has no job prospects is not a very wise move at all.
If your parents are pressuring you to go to college, do not listen to them.
They need to understand that this is a business decision for you and that if they don’t have the correct information at their disposal to assist you, they are not qualified people to take advice from when it comes to college.
Remember, if you come to the conclusion that college is not for you, that is perfectly OK because you have numerous vocational options at your disposal.
There is trade school (make sure they are accredited though), coding boot camps, real estate investing, sales, digital marketing (training can come from well-organized courses) and many more that I can’t even think of at this moment.
Of course, investigate these options in great detail before committing to them, but the right ones are out there.
This is more of a buyer’s market than the universities want you to believe.
In fact, I highly encourage you to take a look at this article here to have a glimpse at the trade shortage. It is focused on Miami, but I can assure you, this shortage is occurring across the entire country.
It was pretty fascinating when I read that article and it is definitely worth your attention.
With these numbers verified, you can definitely use it if you negotiate tuition with universities. Just raise the objection of working conditions to get them to pay attention to you.
So go through your options and make the decision that is best for your interests and goals.
You’ll be glad that you did.
And don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it.
It will save your life when you take the initiative to do so.
Thank you very much for going through my really long blog post regarding college and if you want to receive more insightful content sent straight to your inbox, please make sure you subscribe to Join the Island in the action box below with your email.
Also feel free to leave a comment about what you will do after reading this post and any questions that you might have. I am more than happy to answer them.
Until next time,
This is Evan signing off.
PS: Did you catch all of the typos? Comment below if you think you did!
PPS: If you REALLY want to know how to study for a test like a Greek God, make sure you check out this post here where I outline EVERY SINGLE study strategy successful students use to get ahead of everyone academically and how you can follow those strategies to become an academic superstar in a short period of time! Read on now!
Evan Cruz
Evan Cruz is the founder of Join the Island, the website committed to helping young adults become massively productive and reach their full potential.
He has been featured on Vox, OnlineU, and UpJourney. He has also a cited human relations expert and college expert.
He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering.
Read more about Evan and Join the Island here.