How to Improve Energy

Hey, sweeties
We've talked a lot about our productivity and academic efficiency, but I thought it will be important to address how to get the energy to do it all. So, that's what we are doing today:

1. Nutrition
I think, we are all familiar with the statement "calories = energy". Yes, but we also have to consider where do those calories come from. Here is a list of foods that will give you cognitive energy:
1. Almonds: they contain Vitamin E, Magnesium and protein
2. Dark Chocolate: caffeine
3. Salmon: omega - 3 fatty acids (they prevent depression and elevate your mood)
4. Pop-corn (no butter): its a good source of carbohydrates, but does not contain a lot of calories
5. Leafy Greens: source of iron, which improves concentration levels
6. Blueberries: improve cognitive function, since they are loaded with antioxidants
7. Eggs: rich with protein and vitamins B
8. Water: in cognitive context, it helps relieve and/or prevent headaches
9. Oatmeal/Granola/Whole Wheats: complex carbohydrates, that will serve you with long-term energy

2. Exercise
Hopefully, I don't have to list all benefits of exercising to your health, but in terms of cognitive function, it will help you focus better and it will also increase the likelihood of you engaging in active studying. It is not necessary for you to go to the gym in order to exercise, but if you will spend 15-30 minutes in the morning and 15-30 in the evening it will certainly increase your overall energy! You could also spend your study breaks exercising, which will boost your energy levels and your mood.
If gym or regular exercising is a little boring for you, try dancing, swimming or even fighting (safely)!

3. Sleep
Sleep is essential for all cognitive functions and everything else too. Here is what will happen if you don't sleep well: weight gain, blurry vision, increased risk of cancer and diabetes, extreme fatigue, distractedness, memory loss, impaired speech, decreased libido (sexual drive), infections, heart disease etc. The conclusion is, YOU MUST SLEEP AT LEAST 7 HOURS EACH DAY in order to maintain your health. The optimal amount of hours would be 8-9, although 7 is an acceptable minimum!
Don't oversleep, though, it will bring you headaches and laziness.

4. Motivation
Doing anything requires some sort of motivation. Sometimes, it is hard to find, though. Motivation appears when one has a goal which one is seeking to achieve. It might be small, or big, but it will give you some motivation. So, make goals!

5. Know Yourself
You must know yourself well enough to determine the times of the day and places where you would be approaching your best potential. It is crucial, since without it, everything above won't be 100% efficient. So, learn what kind of learner you are and what atmosphere you enjoy being in, so it would be easier to concentrate your energy on actual productivity

6. Don't Waste Your Energy
That's self-explanatory enough, but not a lot of people are following it. Don't waste your energy on weird things like drinking or purposelessly arguing with someone, because it will only bring harm: fatigue, bad mood and stress, which causes a lot of problems.

How to Solve Problems (Case Studies)

Hey, guys!
So, we know that we will need to solve problems in life; and I'm rather talking about cases, not actual "problems". These skills will come in useful on an interview, or in life in general, dealing with difficult situations. In this blog post, I'll talk about a general way to approaching controversial cases:

Once you are presented with a case and given a question:

1. Identify what the actual problem is

If you are, lets say, given a controversial scenario, the PROBLEM itself might not be directly identifiable.
For instance, if you are a physician and you have a 14-year-old girl come in and ask for birth control pills and asks you not to tell her parents. Do you give the pills or not; do you tell her parents or not? Giving a pill is NOT a problem. The problem is: finding a compromise between her wishes (birth control + not telling her parents) and her optimal health.
So in order to identify the true problem, you must break the question up into smaller components. In order to do this efficiently, you have you be educated on that issue, or be capable of using deductive reasoning!

2. Gather information

Like in math, in order to solve a problem, you must collect all known variables after you've identified what the missing variable is. This task requires good knowledge of the topic for further analysis!

3. Use rules

There must be some sort of rules you should follow while proceeding with the solution of the problem. Utilising the above example, those rules would come from Canada Health Act, which talks about the best quality care, including all ethical principles.
You must fundamentally consider the laws, policies and ethical issues you might be dealing with, as well as any specific to your scenario rules.

4. Analyze Outcomes

There might be multiple outcomes to a certain solution that you come up with. Make sure you analyse all pros and cons of the outcomes, and even if all solutions might have flaws in it, refer to the rules to help you choose which flaw would bring a minor impact.

5. Identify your response

Once you've broken up the question into components, analyzed them, gathered all need information needed, have used rules, and mainly, have analyzed the outcomes, you could be ready to solve the problem. Of course, your judgement of the issue must be objective and mature, therefore once you will find and solidify your point of view present it confidently and CLEARLY to the interviewer (if there is one) and make sure you back it up with appropriate persuasive reasoning.

6. Be professional OR Interview Tips

If you are on the interview, use soft, calm and confident voice and gestures to communicate your ideas. Make sure you make eye contact with an interviewer and you should, of course, be very well groomed before presenting yourself to that person.
Never jump to any hasty conclusions, and analyse your thoughts out loud, since its a wonderful opportunity to expose your thinking skills in front of the interviewer.

Recognition vs Recollection + 1 Valuable Study Tip

Good afternoon, honeys

The concept of Recognition vs Recollection is important while studying, because it is a certain proof of whether you understood anything or not. Today, I will talk about the difference between the two, and give you a valuable study tip!

Recognition and Recollection come into play while a person is trying to read the notes or the textbook and then highlight it for study purposes. Highlighting key words and definitions is great, but...
If you, let's say, read the textbook, and while you read, you highlight the important terms, you then go back and you recognise them. That's NOT enough! We often confuse between recognizing the terms, and actually recollecting (understanding and remembering) information. The key to differentiate between the two, is to check yourself on the understanding of the subject.
How do you do that? You look at the highlighted word, and you reproduce its meaning or the concept that goes with it IN YOUR OWN WORDS without looking at the provided definition.
This technique makes us evaluate our knowledge and improve it further, since now we know, that plain recognition is not valuable because humans need repetition and reinforcement to learn.

Studying with Breaks

Hey, guys!
I would normally not use breaks while studying, because I'm not disciplined enough to actually return to studying afterwards. Today, in this blogpost, I want to talk a little bit more about why study breaks work, how to increase your productivity while having them, and finally, how will they actually look like:

Why Study Breaks Work?

So, it is suggested that an individual will study for 25-30 before the first break (usually, 5 minutes) in order to avoid exponentially decreasing productivity. What I mean by that, is if one studies for 5 hours straight, the amount of information remembered would be miserable, therefore, the time was wasted. On the other hand, though, when a person takes 5 minute breaks in between the 30min study sessions, the productivity stays at its level, and the individual accomplishes a lot more!

How to Increase Your Productivity While Having Them and How Would it Look Like?

It takes discipline to actually come back to studying after you've taken your break. In order to have an easier transition, I recommend creating a very detailed plan of your study sessions, and that way you have something to look forward to in term of breaks, as well as you won't waste a fraction of your study time to figure out what to do. Here is a sample plan:

30 mins: review definitions

5 mins: cuddle with my pet

30 mins: read 1/2 of the chapter

5 mins: make tea

30 mins: read 2/2 of the chapter

5 mins: listen to music

30 mins: answer end-of-chapter quiz

DONE!

Additional Information:

1. As you will get used to having study breaks, you will be able to go longer without them

2. You must be in a focus-enforcing environment

3. If your study session is divided into more than 5 study periods, make a big break (30mins) before proceeding forward to reward yourself for hard work

4. A good way to spend your breaks is to exercise or to meditate, because this is how we "recharge" our energy 

Life Update: Acceptances and Plans

Hi, sweethearts

Today, on a more personal note, I will be talking about the updates in my academic life!

I'M ACCEPTED TO MCMASTER'S LIFE SCIENCES!!! This is such a privilege to be accepted to this program and university. I was accepted on March 3rd, and I'm thrilled to start my studies in September.

Another good new for me, is that I'm 40 days apart from finishing high school, which is unbelievable!
In the summer, I'm gonna find a job, mainly, in order to hire tutors for Math and Physics. Reviewing in the summer, is wonderful to refresh the memory before starting Mac, since in LifeSci, it's going to consist a lot from review of Grade 12 material.

Here is something interesting about my upcoming university life: I will rent an apartment, since the residence is more expensive and my parents and boyfriend won't be able to come over to residence.
In August, I will already have to shop for office supplies and furniture, and as soon as the year starts, I will join a few clubs, since school involvement is very important for me!

Common Study Mistakes + Tips

1. Doing for the sake of doing

I've noticed that a lot of times I have to read or write something, I do it without even thinking about it. Weird, right?
Well, I'm not alone on this issue. A lot of people, when they have to read, prefer just to skim over the text, or what's even worse - pretend like they are reading. We can't do that! It's a waste of time.
Make sure, that whenever you read, you do it very actively, or at least MINDFULLY. Make sure that your brain makes connections while you read. Reading for the sake of reading is only somewhat useful in one instance - before the lecture of that particular topic. But other than that, don't just skim through the readings under any circumstances. Active reading techniques are very simple, yet super effective. Whenever you read, take quick, messy notes on a piece of paper or on the margins of the textbook, and after you're done, either practice answering questions or create an organized outline of the material.

Same with writing. If you gotta write an essay or something, make sure you've made an outline and after you're done, give it a day or two before you return to it and edit with a fresh look.

2. Highlighting as you go

I used to do it myself, but now I realise that highlighting as soon as I'm given a new title or word is not useful, since we lack the judgement, filter and overview of the material.
Highlighting is very useful to feature a key word or a formula, but we should do it only after the lecture is finished. Wait for 20mins-hour before the information settles in your brain (but so you can still remember it) and then, you can go ahead and highlight/review the material.

3. Not clarifying

Clarification is extremely important, although a lot of people just suppress it, due to their laziness or a fake understanding, like this:

As the level of education progresses, the questions on the tests are more based on thinking, rather than knowledge, and in order to improve in thinking, we must fundamentally KNOW the information really well. So, clarification is key.