Does Your College Major Suck?

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It’s one of the biggest mistakes you can make in your life. Yes… not only in college. Picking a bad college major can end up costing you for the rest of your life. While it may look like you only have to invest 4 years in a bad major, many students end up having to spend decades of their life trying to pay off the debt of that major mistake.

Do you remember those advisers telling you to “do what you love?” I’m sorry to have to be the one to inform you of this but they’re full of crap. Now, if what you love happens to be engineering or medicine then maybe they’re right. If you’re like most people, those advisers can end up costing you a good portion of your life.

How do you know if the college major you picked sucks?

The Market

That philosophy degree is probably a bad idea.

The first thing you need to look at when considering a college major is the jobs available after graduating. There is an exception to this rule though. If you happen to have the money to pay for college in cash and don’t expect to get a job after graduation then you can consider a major without looking at the market. Unless you happen to be rich, money matters.

College can end up costing over $30,000 a year. We’re talking about over $100,000 in debt. It doesn’t matter how good a college degree you get, that’s going to take a damn long time to pay off. College can be an investment or it can be a luxury.

If you don’t look at how marketable your skills are after graduation then it’s sure as hell not an investment.

There are two major pieces of information you need to gather. What do the jobs you can practically get out of college pay? What are the odds that you can actually get one of these jobs?

Many people look at salary websites alone to research their job options. “Oh, a philosophy teacher gig pays $xx,xxx a year. That’s plenty!” It’s absolutely essential that you take that information and consider it in the terms of competition. How many jobs are opening in the field every year? (How many people are going to be graduating the same year as you? Sometimes those numbers can be disturbingly close when you consider all the colleges in the country.)

If college is a luxury then sure, skip this step. If it’s an investment then it’s the most important step.

The Competition

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Do you want to get into law school or medical school? Maybe you shouldn’t…

You’ll notice that most of the issues this article deals with can be kind of painful. That’s the point, plenty of people will tell you what you want to hear. You don’t need to read an article on that stuff. The important stuff is the stuff people don’t want to tell you.

You need to look at how skilled in school you are before going into certain fields. A small minority of students make this mistake but it can be a very costly one in the long run. You need to go into a major that you can practically compete with the other students in. If you’re a mediocre student, don’t go to college expecting to compete well in the hardest fields.

I know. You may be able to succeed in the harder courses. That’s very possible. It’s much more likely that you’ll suck. At the very least, you’re going to be struggling to keep your head up. Just because a school lets you into a major, it doesn’t mean you should want to go there.

Ideally, you want to be in a college major that you can do amazing in. At the very least, you should be looking at college majors that you can comfortably compete in.

Sure, it doesn’t matter the grades you get in school after you get your degree (in most fields,) but getting the degree shouldn’t be a surprise to yourself or anyone else. That’s just risking years of work and tens of thousands more dollars. Constant failure and struggle is the cause of many high debt drop outs.

Your Preference

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You should not be getting a college major in a field that you don’t love without a damn good plan. Yes, I used the word love. If you’re thinking, I kind of like math, I guess I’ll go into math, then you’re not listening.

This can seem like a pretty high bar to have to jump over because it absolutely is.

The majority of high school students aren’t ready for college. Most students going to college right out of high school might as well be jumping out of their plane before they grab their parachute. You should love any field you want to get a college degree in unless of course, you planned it that way.

What’s that plan I’m talking about? Let’s face it. Some people are never going to find a college major they love. Colleges don’t cater to everyone’s preferences. That being said, college can be an investment if treated like an investment. You don’t need to always love your investment, you just need to be willing to pay the price. I would argue, unless you’re talking about a 6 month or smaller time investment, is usually not worth paying, personally. If you’re thinking about a 4 year degree at a nice university as your investment then you’re being downright crazy.

What if you like a certain field but aren’t sure if you love it?

That’s one of the best places to be short of finding a subject you love. If you have any doubt about how much you’d enjoy a particular field then get a job in it before college. If you’re thinking about becoming a nurse, become a CNA. Sure, it’s not exactly the same but you’ll get to watch nurses work. If you want to be a math professor, become a math tutor for a while. If you want to run a business then heck, why not run one before you go off to college too.

You don’t need a college degree to get started in most fields. As long as you don’t make any foolish decisions, you will be able to go to college in the future.

I know it can be scary to head out in the real world when everyone is telling you college is the only smart option but just imagine how much more scary it’s going to be after college. Imagine spending another 4 years in school and building up tens of thousands of dollars in debt that you have to worry about. (You can’t afford to work minimum wage then. You better hope you made the right decisions in college.)

College can be an amazing investment but it can also be a costly mistake if you’re not careful. Don’t let other people push you into something that you’re not completely comfortable with. You know that “peer pressure” your parents talked about? It’s real and it’s exactly what everyone is trying to get you to succumb to. If you go to a bad college major then you might as well be walking off that bridge the old cliche talks about.

Do you want to know how to study fast? Check out the archives for all the secrets your teachers won’t tell you. Also, check out the sidebar for all the details in three convenient ebooks. 

7 Test Taking Tricks: Increase Your Score Dramatically Without Wasting More Time Studying

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Despite the constant onslaught of advice provided for students, virtually none of the information provided is good. Sure, there is a lot of advice that can increase your grades a little but really, who cares? I do not want to stare at my textbook 3 hours a day to see my score increase by 5%. It’s just not worth it. I want to see my grade shoot up without investing a ridiculous amount of time. That’s what this whole blog is about.

While this blog focuses a lot on test preparation, there is actually a fundamental factor that can often be overlooked. This factor can easily increase your test scores by 10% without even investing another second. With a little time, crazy increases can happen. That factor is test taking skills.

Let’s face it. We all think we suck at test taking but if there is one thing worth buckling down to learn its this skill.

Using these test taking tricks you can see a dramatic increase in your final score while investing the bare minimum amount of time.

1. Last Second Cram

The amount of time required to study is significantly dependent on the amount of time you have until the test. The human brain has long term memory and short term memory. Long term memory is the strategy employed by the vast majority of students. Long term memory is what you’re using when you study days before the test (or weeks before it.) Using short term memory is often neglected.

By studying within 20 minutes of taking your test, you can maximize the value of your short term memory. The closer you are to test time, the better you’ll remember the information you’re studying. While it has some severe limitations, those limitations mean nothing compared to the huge score boost you’ll get.

Certainly, you shouldn’t rely on the last second cram to provide you with your whole test score but it can definitely be used to give your test score a shot of last minute points.

2. Early Test Notes

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This next step is so powerful that it can feel almost like cheating.

So, after your last minute cram, ideally when the teacher is starting the class and before the test is handed out. Put your study material in your bag. You won’t need it and it will just make it harder to do this next step. As soon as the teacher hands you your test to start, use the margins to write down everything that you’re afraid you’ll forget.

Yes, any of that last second cramming information you’re worried about losing because of the heat of the test, write it right on the test. It can’t get forgotten now.

Will a teacher ever ask a question about it? Sure, but just tell them the truth, you were afraid you’d forget in the heat of the test. (Your books were away and you were allowed to start to test.)

I’ve actually received compliments from teachers for that strategy.

3. Quick Run

Once you’ve got everything prepared to start taking the test, it’s time to maximize the accessibility of the information you just last minute crammed. More importantly, you’ve also got to find a way to use your memorized information without letting the stress take over. One of the best ways to do that is to pick up the pace.

Go through the test as quickly as you can possibly do it. Skip every question that isn’t easy for you to complete. Do that until the end of the test. In an average college test you can expect an easy 50% of the test to be completed at this point. (Of course, every class is different. That’s just a guideline to look for. If you don’t reach it, consider the possibility that you need more test prep.)

This helps in the two goals mentioned earlier.

First of all, you’re utilizing all of the information you just memorized as quickly as you can use it. Since it’s only in your short term memory, it’s essential that you get it out fast.

Second, this is a relatively stress-free process. If you’re stressing out then you’re doing it wrong. If you can’t answer a question without breaking a sweat then you shouldn’t be trying to answer it in the quick run.

After you finish your quick run through the test, you can focus on going back through for the tougher question. (I recommend you skip questions you need to guess on until after you answer every answerable question too. This can help you not twist your brain into too many loops before you finish the important stuff.)

4. Critical Reading/Common Sense

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I’ve taken more tests without any prep than I’d like to admit. This is not a very smart practice but it teaches you some important things about test taking.

A significant portion of test taking is reading and paying attention to the test. I’ve repeatedly taken tests where the answer to one question can be found looking at a later question on that same test. By reading the later question, I can logically extrapolate the early answer.

That being said, there is an even more common problem with many tests. Oftentimes, usually poorly written tests, actually give away most of the answer directly in the question. Using a little common sense you can figure it out.

Sure, it may be intimidating to look at some of the questions you’re sure you don’t know the answer to but by taking a few minutes to dig into them, you may find they’re actually some of the most obvious questions around.

Worst case scenario, by reading carefully, you may be able to figure out enough to make an educated guess.

5. Stress Free!

One of the easiest ways to ruin your grade by at least 10% is to get stressed out.

The human brain is not designed to remember things when it’s significantly stressed out. If you’re curling yourself into a ball of worry while taking tests then you’re killing your own grade. You need to change your strategy.

Controlling an emotion like stress can seem almost impossible but it can be done. There are tons of strategies for doing it. You only need one of them to work for you.

Personally, I accept my fate before the test is even handed out. Honestly, after you’re finished studying, you either know the information required to kick-ass on the test or you don’t know it. There is no more possible prep time. It’s over. The grade might as well already be written on the test. No amount of stress will positively impact your test score from that point on.

6. Early Test Scoring

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This following test strategy doesn’t directly increase your test score at first but it’s actually one of the most interesting tricks you have. By using the information it provides, you’re able to cater the time you invest in the test to however high you want your score to be.

Go through your completed test before handing it in. Next to each question, mark it with one of three symbols. Use one symbol for the questions you know you got right. Use another symbol for the ones you think you got right. Use the final symbol for guesses you made. Count the total number of each type question on your test.

Assuming your test gave 1 point per question, give yourself 1 point per sure-thing answer, and give yourself half a point for every maybe answer.  Using that total number, you can estimate (usually a lower end) of the score you can expect.

Simply put, estimate the score on your own test before handing it in.

If you’re satisfied with the score then hand it in.

If you’re a little disappointed with it, keep working on the details until you can pump it up a few more points.

The best part of this is that you leave the test knowing whether or not you completely bombed it or did amazing.

7. 15 Minute Test Prep

Using these quick test taking tricks you can increase your scores a ton. Just learning to use a few of these tricks can easily boost your score by a single grade level. That being said, they are not more powerful than what can be done with an effective study strategy.

Notice the word effective.

While the vast majority of study strategies people are taught these days are virtually complete time wasters, there are alternative strategies that can show massive score gains with virtually no time invested in studying.

Personally, I recommend my 15 Minute Test Prep Strategy. You can learn more about that by checking out my article on this blog.

By using this test prep strategy, you can ensure that failing doesn’t even have to be on your radar. Heck, A’s will sometimes come on accident (not that I’d complain.)

Test taking skills can take you far but proper test prep strategies can take you all the way.

Do you want to know how to study faster? Be sure to follow this blog, check out the archives, and maybe even read the kindle books in the sidebar. 

How To Actually Learn A Subject

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Learning gets a really bad name. Just imagine you’re trying to convince everyone that you’re completely awesome, and then having public schools representing you for a decade of their life. Sadly, most people are forced to “learn” from public schools for the vast majority of their formative years. Of course, most people are going to hate learning. They’re forced to sit through boring classes for over a decade and they’re told that’s learning.

Phew… I got the rant out of my system.

My point is that learning is actually a pretty awesome thing. I know… you may not completely appreciate it because of the experiences you’ve had with what most people consider learning but give it a real chance and you’ll fall in love.

What I’m going to be going over in this article is not “how to get good grades in any subject.” That’s what the vast majority of this blog is used for. Go look through the archives for that. This article is for the people that actually care about learning a subject. Yes… there is a major difference.

Becoming thoroughly proficient in any subject is one of the most fulfilling things you can do with your time. That being said, in my experience, there is one very useful thing you can do to help to learn any subject.

Get It Out Of School

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School is one of the most inefficient ways that anyone can learn anything. If you want to learn a subject, you shouldn’t count on getting educated in school. Sure, there is absolutely nothing wrong with trying to make the best of the school you have to go through but do not expect that to teach you well. The first thing you should do to actually learn a subject is leave the traditional schooling environment.

At first, learning outside of a school environment can feel a little crazy. You never know exactly which direction to research in. You could research forever in books, on the internet, and from millions of other sources. In most subjects, it’s a complete overload of information.

To get through the jungle of assorted information you need to find a guide. If you’re literally trying to learn a subject for school then use the information from school to get you started. After that, you can use resources that are highly regarded from a large selection of sources. (If 10 places say, this is the go-to-guide then you’re probably on track to finding a good resource. Of course, look for other verifications like author credentials too.)

For example, if you’re researching World War 1, you’ll be able to find thousands of potential resources. For a broad resource, google best books on world war 1. You’ll probably get led to at least a few different opinions on the subject. If you see a book mentioned a number of times. Check out the book’s Amazon page. Is the book well-reviewed?  Repeat until you find some good sources.

BUT THEY’RE NOT ACADEMIC!

Most of the best sources you’ll find on the internet are not academic. That can sound like a disadvantage but in most cases, it’s actually an advantage.

Academic sources are designed to be completely accurate and non-offensive to the status quo. Sure, they’re not perfectly accurate but serious embarrassment can come to an academic that gets a bit too loosey goosey with his or her fact checking. That is good for an accurate source but it’s damn unproductive when you’re trying to be entertaining.

Guess what? Sources that will actually entertain you will use information in a more entertaining and less perfectly accurate way. History books, for example, that aren’t written for academic reasons are actually designed to provide entertainment value while remaining mostly accurate. (If you want to see a major difference. Compare a math non-fiction book to a math textbook. I hate most math stuff but there are some amazing books written on math.)

So what is better for learning, an unread textbook that’s 95% accurate or a read book that’s 90% accurate?

Even if you manage to force your eyes across the words of the average textbook, odds are, you haven’t put a quarter of the thought into it that you would have put into a book for entertainment.

As soon as you start reading, non-academic sources on a subject, the information involved in that subject becomes a natural part of your thinking processes.

Taking Learning Into Your Own Hands

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I realize that most of the readers of this blog aren’t going to spend hours a day reading into their school subjects from non-academic sources. If I thought you’d do that then I probably wouldn’t have mentioned this point in the first place.

It takes a whole lot of time investment to learn any subject. Considering, (assuming you’re in high school) you’re forced to spend 6 plus hours a day sitting in a boring classroom, I wouldn’t expect you to want to spend more to truly learn the subjects in school. That being said, there is always something worth learning.

Just because you don’t want to spend hours studying school subjects after school, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t spend some time looking into subjects that you care about. Don’t let the way school pretends to teach you interrupt your ability to truly learn. I know the word learning may give chills down your spine but spend a few days studying something you love and that chill will be gone.

Find somethings that you want to learn and dedicate some time to learning it.

The information I teach on this blog is meant to help you get school out of the way so you can actually learn what you care about. I teach tricks that mean you don’t need to invest much time in your classes. That leaves you with two options. Option 1, waste your life watching TV and searching the net. Option 2, become a better person.

I write this blog with the hope you’ll choose option 2.

Do you want to know how to study in less than 15 minutes a night? Check out the archives of this blog. Also, check out my books in the sidebar to get the whole shabang.

Where You Study Matters

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Student after student has been told the same piece of bad advice time and time again. The empirical studies on this subject have shown how stupid this piece of advice is but teachers, parents, and everyone else with a complete lack of creativity seems to spout it out like gospel. If you're looking to improve your grades they tell you to “work harder.”

I know, you probably don't think that sounds stupid at first thought but there have been repeated studies on this. Working harder is absolutely awesome in some aspects of life.  If you're looking to dig a hole in the ground, it helps to work harder. If you're looking to bang your head against a wall until you can use that hole as your own final resting place, working harder helps again. That being said, if you're trying to do something that requires more than a handful of brain cells, working harder is probably just going to screw you over.

A conscience effort to work harder almost always leads to increased stress hormones. Increased stress hormones are useful when you're running from a bear but they're detrimental if you need to think creatively or are trying to remember something. There are much more important factors that need to be considered when looking to improve your grades that don't run that same risk of stalling your study progress completely.

It's much more effective to focus on the mechanics of your studying to improve your grades. After that, you can worry about optimizing your “effort.” One of the  most important of those mechanics you need to worry about is the environment that you're studying in. (If you want to learn more about those other mechanics then be sure to check out this blogs archives.)

Your Personal Study Bubble

The human brain isn't designed to plop itself into isolation from the rest of the world to study. You can't sit down in the middle of Times Square with your textbook and expect to be capable of learning the information you need to learn effectively. Your brain is designed to be easily “distractable.”

Just look at it from an evolutionary perspective. Which brain is more likely to survive and breed, the one that hears a branch break and looks in that direction, or the one that thinks it's studying is more important than a potential predator? Of course, studying means nothing when a tiger can eat you alive. You've, thankfully, inherited that easily distracted brain.

With that, you need to learn to work with it instead of constantly trying to fight it. To help you work around it, I recommend thinking about your need for “your personal study bubble.”

You should only be studying while in your personal study bubble (or possibly in a group personal study bubble, but I've never been able to appreciate the benefits myself. I always felt unnatural studying in groups but if it works for you...)

In the ideal world, your personal study bubble would be a completely safe and quiet room without any distractions from your studying. That means no phone, no people, and virtually no entertainment short of the textbook. If you can make that happen then I highly recommend it. That being said, I've virtually never been able to make it happen for more than a day or two myself. People generally need to work at it.

Working Out The Kinks

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If you're not privileged to complete silence, complete seclusion, or even a safe place, you need to find a way to make the bubble work.

For example, if you don't have a completely silent place to study. A library may be an acceptable alternative. While it's not completely silent, the quiet voices and environment will reduce distractions. Let's say you don't even have a semi-quiet place to study.  Perhaps you can only study in your frat house or something. What do you do then? While leaving would be ideal, you may be able to block out the background noises with music (or white noise on repeat in your headphones.)

Students regularly complain to me that they struggle to study because of interruptions from other people. People say that their friends or parents “won't leave them alone!” This brings two thoughts to my mind.

How could they possibly interrupt you? Seriously, turn off your phone, lock the door, or run away into the forest if you have to. When I'm setting up to study, there is virtually no way someone could possibly interrupt me. That is the ideal scenario. (No... do not play the “emergencies” card. Emergencies don't happen every 10 minutes you've turned off your phone.)

Even when people find a way to interrupt my studying, they don't do it more than once or twice. Why not? If I'm interrupted, I start by politely (but harshly) asking them to value my study time and leave me alone (perhaps with an expletive if we're close.) If I'm interrupted again, I respond coldly and accept that they're not going to help me study so I need to get away from them to study. They're no longer to be trusted. The evidence has officially shown that they disregard requests to be alone to study. Accept the evidence and find a way around it. (Maybe a new place to study will help.)

By consciously changing your environment to be your personal study bubble, you do more than just improve your immediate study environment. You also signal to yourself, and other people, that you're in your study bubble and your damn well taking it seriously. That improves studying in more ways than you can count.

Constant Improvement

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The most important point you can get from this article is not the specific study recommendations. It's realizing the necessity for improving your study environment. Most students give up almost immediately when their study environment gets compromised. Maybe the library they're studying in gets filled with loud people. Instead of getting up and leaving, the student will sit there and stew in their frustration for an hour praying that the loud people will get run over by a truck. That strategy isn't helpful (especially since trucks rarely drive through libraries.)

Students always need to be looking to improve their study environment because the world is constantly changing, and, of course, there is always room for improved study efficiency. While it can seem virtually impossible to change your ability to focus, everyone has some control over their physical environment. Use it.

Do you want to know how to study in less than fifteen minutes a night? Check out the archives of this blog for details. (Also, be sure to check out my ebooks on Amazon. Check them out in the sidebar.)