Happy Holidays!

Phew, I'm finally done exams. Some went well and some not as well as I had hoped but I tried my best and will now hope for the best. More importantly, I am now going to enjoy my break! Putting textbooks aside, I'm going to read some fun books and watch some movies.

What are your plans? Whatever it is, I hope you have a fun, relaxing and safe holidays because I know we all deserve it!

Don't forget, winter term starts up on Monday, January 5th, 2009! See you then!

Cheers,
ACE

les examens finaux

Hey guys! Just practising my French in my blog title ... that means "final exams" (in case you couldn't figure it out) ... I have my first exam in French next week-- so I'm just trying to get ready for it! I was browing online and found a great link: http://www.calss.utoronto.ca/Learning/lslinks.htm

The website is from U of T's Counselling and Learning Services website; I just thought there may be something there to help you for your upcoming exams. If you scroll down on the website there's actually a whole section on writing exams ... check it out!

Well I hope your studying is going well ... feel free to ask me a question on facebook if you need any other advice. Time to etudier pour le francais!

Au revoir,
ACE

Assignment Calculator

Last research assignment I completed was a disaster. I procrastinated and didn't start the assignment until the week the assignment was due.

I have an assignment due at the end of the semester. To get a head start, I used the Assignment Calculator to break it down into manageable pieces. The great thing about this tool is that, I plugged in the assignment due date and it created a step-by-step process to complete the assignment. When you use the calculator, you’ll get lots of suggestions and resources that will help too.

To drop or not to drop a course???

I'm not doing so well on my first year calculus course, and the last date to drop the course from academic record is this Sunday (November 16). I went to the "Should I drop this course or not?" seminar today and here are some questions that helped me to make a decision.

• Is this course a pre or co-requisite for a course I'm registered for the winter term?
• If I keep the course, will it affect my academic standing?
• What kinds of resources can I use to improve my mark?
• I'm falling behind in the course, will keeping this course prevent me from spending enough time on my other courses?
  
• If I drop this course how will it affect my GPA (use the GPA calculator)?
• Will this course affect my chance of applying to Professional or Graduate school?

If you are having difficulty deciding, drop by the AACC (Room AC213) and talk to the staff. I'm sure they can help.

Introducing the Premack's Principle

So many of you have given me the feedback that you would like for me to blog more about study tips so here I am to tell you about the Premack's Principle.

Many of you who are in psychology may have heard of this but for those of you who have not, the Premack's Principle basically suggests that we should tackle a list of tasks in the order of most challenging to least challenging. This way, the "easier" task becomes a reward for the more challenging tasks we have to do. I know I know, the "easier" task is not really a reward like ice cream but it's still a good way to motivate ourselves.

Like grandma have always said, "you have to eat your veggies before you can have your dessert!"

So far, this little trick has been doing a good job in motivating me to tackle my calculus homework. I hope it does the same magic for you.

Also, do you have any good study tips to share? Be sure to leave me a comment. Thanks in advance!

Good luck studying,
ACE