How to get better grades

First of all, if you are looking for a way to avoid having to actually put some effort into learning I would suggest you stop reading right now. Also, this is advice and should not be substituted for professional services that can identify and mitigate learning challenges and other issues that need to be addressed.

All learning, real learning, requires some effort. Now, the degree of effort changes. It is much easier to learn something you enjoy and when you have a good instructor. Then there are those other subjects or instructors that make you want to run screaming from the classroom. Those take a lot more effort. There are some things that can help, even in the case of a subject you detest and an instructor that infuriates you. Here are the things that help me.

1. Attitude: sometimes having a positive attitude about a class, subject, or instructor seems impossible. Perhaps sometimes it is impossible. The fact remains that the better your attitude when you approach a class the better your chances are of doing well. A positive attitude can be faked and oddly enough after a while sometime your attitude will actually get better in reality. It's like some kind of psychological magic. A positive attitude that is, or appears, genuine communicates to your instructor on a non-verbal level. Most educators want their students to be active learners. You are more apt to have questions answered and get the benefit of the doubt on essay questions if your instructor believes you are really invested in learning from them.

2. Attendance: yup, you really will do better if you actually go to class on a regular basis. This seems like a no-brainer to me, but I have seen students actually act puzzled when they get a D in a class they only attended occasionally. The interaction between instructor and student and between student and classmates is a huge part of learning. Most professors, in my personal experience, use about 80% of what they lecture on in class as the material for tests. It is also been found that sitting at the front of the class can increase your grade. This probably is due to several things such as behaving better because you can be seen and can't get away with texting or blogging during class or being closer and more interactive with the professor. In any event, sitting where you can see and hear is critical.

3. Take good notes: This is especially true, at least for me, when I am unclear on what the instructor is talking about. If I can get the main points down I can google it later or have a better idea on what type of questions to ask next class. If your instructor makes outlines available for you online it is worth your while to use them. My best notes are when I use the outline as the basic 'skeleton' of information and then 'flesh it out' as the instructor lectures. This can mean a lot of printing if you don't take notes on a laptop or netbook. If you just can't get the hang of note taking make an effort to find a classmate that takes good notes and learn from them. Don't just copy their notes, use their style as a template and then modify it to make it work for you. Effective note-taking requires practice.

4. Do Homework: Most instructors assign homework to give you practice doing the thing they are trying to teach you. Some instructors may be lazy and just give busy work and some are sadists who just like to ruin every holiday and spring break. But, most of the time they are trying to help you practice what you need to know. So do the homework. Also, stay on top of assignments and don't let yourself get behind. If you are behind in one class chances are you may be in others as well and the snowball effect will bury you as the semester progresses. Better to take an hour or two every day or couple of days than to have to drink multiple cups of coffee/redbull and spend the last week of the semester in homework hell catching up on overdue assignments when you should be studying for finals.

5. Ask for help before you get too far behind: For me, in classes like statistics, this seemed to be every class period. The point is, don't wait. Many subjects, especially science and math, build upon concepts already learned as you go on. If you miss the foundational learning you are toast. Go to the teacher's office hours, use tutoring services, or whatever (legitimate) help is offered and get clarification. Don't forget that your textbook often contains appendices, indices, and definitions and other information that can sometimes help. Often all it takes is having something explained a different way or with examples that you can relate to.

So, that's it. Did you notice that all the advice requires you to do something? Sorry, but that is just how it goes. It really comes down to being responsible for your education and not thinking it is someone else's job to make you learn. Instructors teach. Students learn.

Peace and God Bless!

why did I change the name of my blog?

I have always, jokingly, said that my perfect job would be as a consultant. I could give people my opinion and get paid for doing it. One would hope that my opinion would be an educated one, especially in the area or discipline in which I was pontificating.
To avoid all that messy and tedious education stuff. I have decided to just pontificate on whatever  I feel like. I may even, if asked politely, answer questions any readers may choose to pose. Notice I said "may" and not "will". Answers will depend on my knowledge of the area and whether or not I feel like bothering to google an answer to something I am totally clueless about.
So, to answer the question that is the title to this blog, I changed the title because I wanted to change the format to Q and A, or at least just A, in order to give myself more focus in what I may write.
Peace and God Bless

blah blog

I am a technological dufus. I have no clue how to make this blog "pretty". Oh, sure, I can use the basic templates, but beyond that I am helpless. This would be even more irritating if I actually had any pictures I wanted to post. I don't even know for certain how I would style this blog had I the acumen to do it. There are many things I find lovely:
fog
lightning
wind
mountains
trees
the moon
some flowers
vines
old maps
books
So, please picture these things decorating this page in some dynamic and breathtaking way.