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Jay Willingham writes a college advice blog at CampusByte. His site’s main aim is to help people develop Study Skills by incorporating new technology.

Are you the type of person who starts every semester with that little promise to yourself – “I’m going to make this my best semester ever!” Do you start the semester strong, get lazy during the middle then cram when it comes time for finals? Maybe you’re the type of person who feels like they do everything right but just can’t seem to make the grades they desire.

If you can relate to any of the above questions then this article is for you. Most students start the semester strong because they have a fresh slate to work with. Then, as the semester drags on, apathy kicks in and students loose sight of their goals.

In this article I want to address the 5 main reasons students fail to make the grades they desire. I hope these points help you see where you might be going wrong. Keep reading »

One of the best benefits about going to college nowadays is the option to take notes using a laptop or netbook rather than handwriting it. Typing out your notes can offer many distinct and huge advantages:

• Speed. If you know how to type, you can usually type much faster than you can write. The less time you spend writing, the more time you spend listening.
• Convenience. If all of your files are saved on your laptop, you don’t need to worry about losing your notebook for that class, or checking to make sure if you have the right one.
• Organization. You have a lot of control over how you take notes — you can make lists, you can bold/italicize/underline words, you can highlight important topics, you can make headings, and so forth.
• Ctrl+F. If you’re trying to find a specific topic, you can use the nifty shortcut ctrl + f to find the topic quickly rather than hunting through many handwritten pages.
• Easy to share. If a friend needs to look at your notes, it’s easy to just copy the file/text, rather than lending out your notebook or photocopying a couple of pages. Plus, it’ll always be neat and legible!

If you want to take notes with your laptops, there are some things to definitely think about beforehand: Keep reading »

More and more, students are relying on their laptops and netbooks to take notes in class. Most students type far faster than they write, so taking notes through typing definitely seems preferable.

Although some classrooms will have wall outlets nearby for you to plug your laptop into, many will not, and if you have several classes in a row, you might find yourself in trouble if your laptop battery starts to run low. Running out of battery juice mid lecture could be a nightmare, so preventing that from happening is definitely important.

Here are some tips to getting the most juice out of your laptop’s battery: Keep reading »

Ever since the recent surge of costs for public education in California, there have been precious few signs of relief. Even the protests have died down a lot, and as the new semester/quarter begins, students are being hit with record-high student costs. Many have begun to accept that this is just the way things will have to be.

However, during the protests, one common argument that I heard a lot was that California spends more money on prisons than on higher education. Currently, California spends about 10% of its general fund on prisons and about 6% on the UCs and CSUs.

Luckily, Governor Schwarzenegger announced a proposal that could fix a lot of this: Limit the percentage going towards prisons to a maximum 7%, and set a minimum funding of 10% for the UCs and CSUs. Keep reading »

More and more, the idea of a “gap year” is becoming more common. Instead of going straight into college after graduating high school, some seniors are taking a year off from schooling to participate in other activities.

What are some ways to spend a gap year?

Many students use a gap year to take a break from schooling and experience the real world. For many, this means finding a job and working a standard week. The idea here is that it gives you a taste of what your life could be like if you don’t attend college. If you dislike what you’re doing, you’ll probably be more motivated in college (and you’ll have saved up some good money to help cover the cost). If you’re happy with your job, perhaps college isn’t for you.

Other students spend gap years participating in unique activities. Some travel abroad, volunteering their time to various causes. Others will try to take their lives down a few different paths to see what feels best, such as starting a small business or participating in an internship. Keep reading »

Seeing as it’s not just the end of a month, it’s the end of a year (and a decade, for that matter), I’m going to take a post to show how things went in 2009:

• Search engines provided 126,886 hits this year — 51% of total traffic. Referring sites provided about 41%.
• StumbleUpon was by far the biggest referrer, with 84,000 hits giving about 84% of referring site traffic.
• The most searched-for keyword was “funny google searches”, with 11,000 visits. The post that those terms refer to has only been around for half the year, so you can get an idea how much more on top it could be. 3 of the top 5 involve college dorm necessities, and the last is about Fantastic Contraption solutions. Keep reading »

If you thought your GPA stopped mattering once you entered college, I’m sorry to tell you that you’re wrong.

Colleges themselves will use your GPA for a variety of things — you’ll need a good GPA to stay in good academic standing, and your financial aid and scholarships will probably have a minimum GPA that you need to stay above. Sports may require a specific GPA, and other awards and bonuses will be given out according to your GPA. At graduation, different honors may also be assigned to you as well.

After college, your GPA may be used to help employers decide whether or not to hire you. A strong GPA shows that you were on top of your game, while a low GPA shows that you did the bare minimum. Graduate schools also require a GPA, just like your undergraduate applications did. Keep reading »

Colleges use GPAs for a variety of things, such as determining academic standings, and so it’s important to know how to calculate your GPA as necessary. Calculating your GPA in college is a little bit different from calculating a high school GPA, so it’s important to know the differences.

The pluses and minuses matter in a college GPA.

In high school, you could normally round off your grades to the letter — an A- counted as much as an A. But in college, you have to factor those in.

A “+” adds 0.3 to the number for that grade, and a “-” subtracts 0.3 from that number. So if you have a B-, the B counts for 3, but you subtract 0.3 for having the minus and you count the grade for 2.7. Likewise, a B+ is considered as the original 3 plus 0.3 for the plus, counting for 3.3 in all. The only exception is an A+, which counts the same as an A: 4 points. Keep reading »