Choices. Meditation. Faith.

Many times, one is faced with difficult choices in life. Not long ago, I was a high school student faced with some tough choices in my education. I had to choose some universities to apply to - in the United Kingdom (UK) or in the United States of America (USA). At age 17, I was sad and very stressed out that I would have to leave my family and friends behind, and go abroad for studies for four or five years. My mom, who is very spiritual, had given me this advice from the Bhagavad Gita, the holiest of the holy texts of ancient India: "Better indeed is knowledge than mechanical practice. Better than knowledge is meditation. But better still is the surrender of attachment to results to the divine, because there follows immediate peace," this made it easier for me to come to BYU and also made me realize that once you leave everything up to God, He will take care of you in every way. I was reminded of this as I have been sick for the past few days. I rest my whole faith on Him, hoping to get better soon. Faith is necessary in everyone's life.

Finals week!! :(

AHHHHH!!! less than a week before finals begin!!!!
Finals week is the week we all dread and never want.... It causes excessive amounts of stress, lack of sleep and bad food eating habits.. :) Finals are the worst invention ever.. (not really but its too much work and stress)
My finals are biology, french and accounting... Student development's final is hiking the Y and a take home paper while for book of Mormon it is an essay..
Firstly, everyday I spend every hour working on the Book of Mormon essay..
Then everyday I will spend 5 hours on accounts.. (1/4 of the time is distractions, setting up and people passing by)..
For biology, I will study everyday for two hours... During this time I will go through the notes and look at the slides on black board. Also, will look at all the homework given it.. I will keep two hour each day for TA consultancy or research on the Internet..
Student development's take home exam I am planning to do it on Saturday... I want to sit and finish it all in order to hopefully get the 2 credit points..
French is a subject that requires a lot of work as we have to learn the vocabulary and also understand the rules. French will take me the rest of my time..... excluding eating time which is about 3 hours and also socializing which is required so as to take a break while blowing off steam... Socializing will be about 2 hours...
The most important thing is that I get 6 to 7 hours of sleep everyday so that I am not too exhausted to study the next day... This might just lead to me feeling tired and lazy on my final day which will be harmful...
This is my schedule for the next week til Thursday night....
Then I have french at 7am on Friday the 16Th.... followed by biology at 11am... Then will spend Saturday afternoon hiking the Y... therefore Sunday and Monday will be studying accounting... lastly will take the accounting exam on Tuesday and hand in the book of Mormon essay on Wednesday...
I really hope to get as much work done as I can before the finals... Being a procrastinator might just cause me the stress the night before the exam... That is why I am trying real hard to study from now on... Hopefully I will be able to do so and attain the best grades in my finals...

GOODLUCK TO EVERYONE!!!! :)

Stress!

Every college student undergoes stress. For me stress is when i have an assignment due the next day or in a few hours and i have not even started it yet. Also, for exams and finals or small grades that can affect my overall GPA making it harder for me to get into the Marriott school...
I deal with stress either by watching a movie, talking to friends or even taking a walk but the best way is to meditate and later on think about all that I have studied and try remember it. This helps me see what I do not know and what more I should work on. It helps a lot to meditate and calm myself before going back to study.

Reading

My concentration span is rather hopeless. I can sit and study for 45 minutes maximum then I end up taking an hour break. When the assignments are boring, I play maybe some good music or go sit out in the sun with just that book. This means i have to read it. Or sometimes everything I read I assume pictures or sometimes make up funny words to remember what i read. I first look at how much I have to read then I plan how long it will take. I will make plans(which can easily be canceled) for maybe an hour after so I take that as a reward. This helps as I will not leave till I understand it all so I will study hard so as to get everything the first time. Or sometimes I read through the material then make a small personal quiz and do it. Depending on how I know on that quiz will show me whether I need to study the material again or not.

Memory

I really do not believe in the concept having good memory. I just think the person either understands the subject or have memorized it. In my opinion, I believe that good memory is just when one actually takes in and stores what they want to remember. It is something that will take a lot of hard work and time. They have to train themselves as well as they brain to be able to store and remember things. People think that if they are forgetful that it is because they have bad memory but it is just because they did not really store that in their mind in order to remember.
Someone who studies the material over and over again and have understood it in depth is someone that is said to be having good memory. It is just their hard work and effort that helps them re-collect.
Images are the best memory technique for me. I will look at images and remember them later on. Therefore, for the information that I cannot remember I will draw pictures or even sometimes make up funny words that will help me remember it. Another technique is singing songs or making up rhymes about what you are learning. This helps as the tone could be from a favourite song so will help me remember all the lyrics made by me. Flashcards also help.
Most techniques like images. songs. flash cards are all short-term if they are not revised or gone through over and over again. If one keeps using this techniques to keep studying the material then it will help this will help them remember it as a long-term memory.

Oh noo...Exams! ((collapse))

Firstly I would like to juts put it out there "WHO INVENTED EXAMS?? WE HATE THEM!!!". :) Exams are the most frustrating, boring and tedious ever invented. Once someones talks about exams this sudden current of fear goes through my body. Exams have always been a weak point.
I am a procrastinator and am really trying hard not to be anymore. Applying this to exams is that I don't start studying till the night before the exams or a day or two before. This causes so much stress and pressure. But I have convinced myself that I work better under pressure. This is not good as I then usually end up sick or drained out. Therefore, I have now started studying everyday(rather trying to) which is pretty good. Unfortunately, most of the time I don't end up remembering what I read the day before the exam and so have to study again but in a faster manner as it is only to re freshen memory.
Nowadays, I started keeping reminders and a schedule showing the up coming exams and so I start studying for it whenever I have time. This has helped me a lot little by little. Even though there are days when I do not study at all maybe because of social activities, I make sure that when I get back I should at least read a chapter before bed.
By developing these good study helps a study achieve their goals and also help them be on top of class by not only achieving good grades but also a lot of knowledge.
When one prepares from before for an exam and doesnot procrastinate then this helps a person deal with anxiety or stress related problems.

Monitoring progress

Mmmm....I consider grades as a monitor of progress as if I get As in my classes then I know I'm doing well and have to maintain the grade. Also, by doing all my assignments and papers on time for the deadline shows me that I am doing well by doing everything. Except procrastination sometimes where I wait till the night before to do it(like this blog.. oops). These I keep in track on blackboard or in my planner. This helps me see what assignments I have due when or how much better I have to do in the next quiz or exam to get a good grade in a particular class. It is very important to keep in track of these so that one can know where to work harder and where they can devote less of their time.
I, personally, think that having a social life. Not having a social life makes your college experience the worst. This is why I love making friends all the time. I will always try make friends and remember them when I see them next. This helps to get to know people and not feel left out.
One thing I am bad at keeping is track with exercise. I am not a big fan of excercise even though clearly I need it. I usually plan to go but never end up going. Slowly, I have realised is that I need to keep a record of my excercise and also stick to the plan and dates for it. College freshman for sure caught up with me and I guess its time I work hard and make the exercise work. :) The best way to be able to motivate oneself is to put up, on your cupboard or fridge, picture of when you liked the way you looked or of your favourite top that you want to fit in. This helps you a lot in motivating and wanting to go and lose the excess weight from all the junk and Cannon Centre food! :)