No Cost College Prep Gifts for Teens & Adults Alike

 

by Katherine O'Brien ThD Candidate, Certified College Planning Specialist, Founder of Celtic College Consultants (KOB@CelticCollegeConsultants.com)

Improving our use of time, our memory, and our ability to learn new things, these appeal to everyone. These strategies might have odd names but they are easy to learn and will create cascading gifts in the lives of teens and adults alike. Both have been researched and shown to improve human abilities. The new field of neuroscience bears rich fruit yet again!

 

Chunking

 

Chunking is a tool useful both for time management and for organizing and recalling information. Basically, it involves chunking your day into periods of time and giving each of them a focus. Having a single focus for a given half hour, for example, makes it easier to complete the task assigned to that time. Chunking can also be used to organize information, in fact, many of us use some sort of chunking already. Learning more about it can increase our ability to retain new information.

More info and tips on chunking as information organization: https://www.talentcards.com/blog/chunking-memory/

and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29698045/  

 

 

 

Info and tips on time chunking (also called batching):

https://sites.rhodes.edu/academic-and-learning-resources/news/productivity-time-chunking-method

 

Interleaving

 

Per the University of Arizona, "Interleaving is a process where students mix, or interleave, multiple subjects or topics while they study in order to improve their learning. Blocked practice, on the other hand, involves studying one topic very thoroughly before moving to another topic. Interleaving has been shown to be more effective than blocked practice for developing the skills of categorization and problem solving; interleaving also leads to better long-term retention and improved ability to transfer learned knowledge. This strategy forces the brain to continually retrieve because each practice attempt is different from the last, so rote responses pulled from short-term memory won’t work. Cognitive psychologists believe that interleaving improves the brain’s ability to differentiate, or discriminate, between concepts and strengthens memory associations. Because interleaving involves retrieval practice, it is more difficult than blocked practice. It is important to remember that effortful studying feels worse but produces better long-term results."

 

More info and tips on interleaving: https://academicaffairs.arizona.edu/l2l-strategy-interleaving

and https://www.coursera.org/articles/interleaving  

and https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-interleaving-effect-mixing-it-up-boosts-learning/

 

Here's to your success!

 

For more information on Katherine's College Success Program, with its three pillars: Premier Student Preparation, Savvy College Selection, and Abundant College Funding, please visit her website here: https://www.celticcollegeconsultants.com/college-prep-services Her 2024 students were offered, on average, over $300,000 each in scholarships.