Studying Motivation? (1 Viewer)

[Dome Vongvises]

Excellent advice from Leila.

 

[Ryan Wishton]

Actually, teacher and atmosphere can play a pretty big role in how you feel about a class... I took College Algebra as a summer class in 8 weeks... I was dreading the class and was nervous... I never would have figured I would enjoy going... Well, I got an excellent teacher and the class was actually worth going to... I am still in shock... Anyways, I then went on to Calculus with the same teacher the next semester (a class I never thought I would take)...

I had a horrible math class and teacher my first semester in college... This kind of scared me off I guess... All 3 math classes after that were actually more enjoyable and easier believe it or not... I think it became easier because I was more motivated and liked the classes and teachers more...

If you dread a class or hate a class, look at it as a goal... Dont let it beat you... Just think about getting done and then never having to do it again... If you dont pass, all that happens is that you have to take it again... Might as well get through it as soon as possible...

The smile that it puts on your face when you are done with the classes you hate is priceless... It's over and you dont have to do it again...

If you are having some difficulty, look outside the box... In my opinion, most textbooks suck... I would supplement them with other materials... There are great materials out there... Much better than what the schools offer... My grades really showed the difference and I caught on while others were stuggling through the lousy textbook...

Anything is possible... You just have to do what it takes...

Another thing you can do is reward yourself... Say there is something you want... Tell yourself you cant have it unless you pass this class...

 

[Mike_Ped]

Unless you're planning on going to graduate school, just remember D's = degree!

I used to be an 4.0 student in high school, but now that I'm in my last semester of college I've turned into a 2.5 - 3.0 student because I've realized one very important fact. I will get the same degree with a 2.0 as I will with a 4.0...

But as for studying...Take frequent breaks. I find that if I find a nice comfortable place to study, have some snakes nearby and take frequent breaks (one every 15-30 minutes) then I breeze through stuff...

And if you really want to do the studying in a group, make sure you know yer material going it and pick a group of idiots. Teaching the material to someone else will help you to udnerstand it 110% better...

 

[Dome Vongvises]

I wish I was in that situation. I have a 3.49 which is awful for med school.

 

[Chris Tsutsui]

Here's the cycle...

If you start missing a class and not doing your work... You'll get an "F", and then have to retake the class next semester and try again. Then when you retake the class, and you still lack motivation, you will get another "F". Repeat this until you realize that the reason you are going college is to earn a degree. That is what the money you are spending is for. There are cases where people will repeat and fail a class several times before deciding to change majors to something they think they will like.

You will not earn a degree by getting "F"s so if you find yourself getting repeat "F"s then why are you even going to college at all? Just save your money for something else in life. Get the best job you can and work there, I know plenty of successful people that never went to college...

However...perhaps you do not become successful. At this point the motivation for getting a degree will be because you want a better job.

So either you force yourself to become motivated now and reap some benefits later in your life. Or just skip the torture, get a job and wait until you do become motivated.

Some people will take a "Break", and work for 1 year just to see what their life would be like without college. Then they decide to go "back to school" with some motivation and money they earned.

 

[Philip_G]

This thread scares me. I'm starting my MBA but taking a lot of the classes online, I hope I can stick to it and get through the classes.

 

[Scott L]

It just depends on if you like the subject. I hate doing things I don't like which is why I got a lot of Ds and Fs so far in college. I changed my major a good number of times and finally settled on web development because it's so damn easy. I'm good with computers but for the MIS degree (for systems analyst or db management) I had to take a sh*tload of econ courses as well as accounting. What a waste for me.. I hated those courses as well the money I wasted for 2 semesters.

I did take a "year off" as Chris said, doing construction with a friend at my church. It was actually fun albeit hard work. The winters sucked and there were no college chicks on the construction sites. I pinched my pennies and went back.

Try to find something you like.

 

[Patrick Sun]

When you get in the real world with a real job, exactly how opportunities will you get to undertake tasks you don't like doing? Plenty. But if you can't complete them because you simply don't like doing them, you won't last long in the job. Just about every job has aspects you won't like doing, but need to be done to keep the business running.

I doubt every student in college loves every single class they take. Their success or failure in those classes where the subject matter is of little interest to them comes from a lack of attention, and not seeing the bigger picture of rounding out one's education in their chosen academic pursuit. It's also a matter for the college to maintain some academic standards in order to not dilute the attainment of a college degree in a specific discipline. A college degree demonstrates to prospective employers that you had what it took to get through a specific curriculum, and it shows a certain level of maturity in graduating with that degree.

I know someone whose undergrad GPA wasn't good enough to get into that particular grad school for engineering, so he enrolled into another department's grad school (at the same college) for management, but took all the required courses needed for the engineering grad school degree (on top of the management grad school requirements), but the engineering grad denied the application for the graduate engineering degree because he wasn't accepted to their engineering grad school because he had not met their admissions GPA requirement. The engineering graduate program was protecting the worthiness of their degree by turning down the applicant whose undergrad GPA was too low for their standards in pursuit of maintaining the overall program's level in academic excellence by setting a minimum GPA for entry.

So if you have post-graduate plans, you need to make sure you have your ducks in a row and present yourself as a candidate worthy of admittance to a grad school program, or as a prospective employee that can handle not only the topics they like, but the willingness to get the job done even for the tasks don't interest them but are required for the success of a project or long-term goal.