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.

 

 

Top Study Tips: The Secrets of Straight A students!

 by Katherine O'Brien, ThD Candidate

The school year is about to begin again (or has begun, for year round schools). Another year, another opportunity to learn and grow and become more fully alive.... or to get discouraged, fall behind, and grow in self-loathing. That might seem harsh but, it's the reality for many of our kids. Here are a few tips that will help the year be one of growth and joy, rather than stagnation and sadness.

1. Be honest with yourself.

If a certain isn't your strength, you probably dread having to take another class in it. This is particularly true for those who struggle with math or with reading. (Spoiler alert - I know successful, happy adults who share your struggles - one lovely friend in her 80s has always struggled with reading - what a blessing audio books and podcasts are to her!)

In order to do well in a subject that's hard for you, do what all the professionals do (whether they are Olympic athletes, your parents, or anyone else...) - GET HELP! Nowhere is it written that each of us must be wonderful at everything. We need to develop our natural skills and abilities, absolutely. So, in whatever area you are lacking strength, get help - tutors, homework groups, peer mentors, accountability partners, a strict study schedule (to force yourself to put in the time, even when it's not pleasant), etc. Do whatever it takes. This is what everyone does. I am not good at car maintenance. So, I have a tire place and a mechanic, and an oil change place... I'm also only able to handle very, very basic plumbing issues. I have an expert I call for that, too. 

Use your strengths to offset your weaknesses. One young man I know was not very good at book work/typical high school subjects. He has phenomenal people skills. He has gotten himself into a career and built a network of colleagues and friends with those people skills. He is a wonderful networker. He is someone to know - if you need any kind of help, he knows someone... and can tell which personality you'll mesh with the best. In high school, this might look like partnering with someone with opposite strengths. Here are a couple of examples: I'll help you with your French and you'll help me with my math. I'll drive you to school and you'll help me improve my reading or writing.

2. Be prepared

This is the Boy Scout motto but this wisdom is not reserved to them! Be prepared. Do the reading ahead of time. Take good notes. Prepare your own study guides (then compare them with the ones your teachers provide... and use those comparisons, along with your test experiences and results, to hone your study guide preparation skills. Some classes have chapter tests. Some have pop quizzes. Some have comprehensive exams (typically called AP tests!) covering the entire year's material. 

The syllabus is your friend. Most students don't bother to read them. That's a MISTAKE! A syllabus is a treasure map.... here's the path to learning a lot and getting a great grade in this class. The syllabus lets you know what the teacher's goals are for your learning. It provides a week by week outline of the flow of the course. It describes the testing plan (tests/papers/projects, etc.) and the grading scheme. Knowing when these will happen or are due, along with how they will be graded is invaluable information.

3. Control your Thoughts

All sorts of things happen every day that we have no control over. Wonderful surprises and tragic accidents happen. Sunny days and stormy days. Finding a new friend and losing a special person in your life. We can't do anything about these things, can we? Or can we?

Certainly, we can't control everything that happens in life. We do, however, have the freedom to choose how we will respond. THIS IS IMPORTANT! Choosing to find the good, the joy in life IS possible. Learn to take time to consider how you respond. Watch those who are cheerful and friendly and joyful.... listen to them respond to things. If possible, ask them to break down their thoughts as they handle challenges and difficulties. Then copy them. 

When you respond positively, your mood will be better and you'll have more energy for living your life, for your studies, for building strong relationships.

Katherine works with high school students, developing their leadership, sense of self, study skills, life and college goals, and the rest of the journey to college. To explore her services, please visit her website: Celtic College Consultants or email her: kob@CelticCollegeConsultants.com

Summer: Time to Shine or Time to Recline?

 

Summertime and the living is easy! Or is it?

Those song lyrics reflect well the casual attitude most teens take to summer break. That's understandable. However, summer time is prime time for teens to shine, to prepare to take their game to the next level. Here are a few ideas:

1. Leading a club? Prepare to have the Best Year in Club History

Take time over the summer to create a vision for your group. How many members do you want to add to your group? What are some ways to attract new members? Brainstorm a few activities and events you can do to help students learn about your group, what you do, and how they can benefit from joining. Once new students join your group, what sorts of training, encouragement, and activities do you need to have in order to retain them? As you consider that, think about how you can develop new leaders, both to help you this year but also to take over once you graduate. What sorts of leadership skills do you need to develop? What resources are available at your school and in your community to develop those skills? Leverage businesses in your area for internships, to invite guest speakers, and host off campus events to deepen your members' knowledge base and to add a bit of pizzazz. 

2. Prepare to start a Club 

What are you interested in doing or knowing more about? If there isn't a club or group at your school or in your community that is doing that, start one. Starting a group takes planning, persistence, courage, and perseverance. Research similar groups and borrow ideas from them. Create a timeline. See what is involved to start a group. Schools typically have protocols and procedures which must be followed. You will need to recruit adults, find a meeting place, create a vision or mission statement, and schedule events. Your vision should include your group's purpose, how many students you hope to attract the first year, the officers/roles of responsibility you will have and the tasks each will perform for the group, your budget and fund raising plan, as well as activities and events for the first year. Your school's academic calendar will show when the terms end and what days school will be in session and which days will be holidays. If you homeschool, putting together a school calendar can help the family's school year run more smoothly. 

3. Prepare to Ace your Classes

In AP classes, as in college, students are expected to read the chapter(s) and assignments before the lectures. This rhythm, when followed, enables students to learn the material more deeply. Students arrive to class with some understanding of the material, perhaps even with questions about confusing information or ideas about how this material correlates with information learned previously. Students are then prepared to deeply receive the lecture, engage in interesting and meaningful discussion of the material, and ask pertinent questions, having identified material they found confusing. Take time over the summer to use  online and library materials to prepare for your most challenging classes. Even if the best you can gain is an overview understanding, you will be prepared to master the material more effectively and efficiently during the school year. In order to be successful, create a schedule for yourself. Otherwise, you are unlikely to get very far with the good intention of reading and learning ahead of the first day of school.

by Katherine O'Brien, MA CCPS, Founder Celtic College Consultants

For information about our holistic college preparation services or to schedule an initial family consultation with Katherine, please visit our website: CelticCollegeConsultants.com

Being Successful Includes Finishing Strong

 

by Katherine O'Brien, MA CCPS, Founder Celtic College Consultants

Follow Through

Among other things, it's a key element of one's golf swing and bowling technique, not to mention personal relationships, academic work, business projects, parenting, and more!

Follow through means doing ALL of the parts of a task well, even those "little bits" at the end of the task for project. These seemingly trivial tasks often mean the difference between good, better, and BEST.

How does a person learn to follow through?

First, one must become aware of these tasks, so often overlooked and ignored. At the end of a long effort, it is all too easy to get the main portion of it finished, look a the unfinished tasks, and, in fatigue, decide they aren't important enough to do. Once in a while we are right and nothing notable happens when we skip them. Many times, however, we only learn to notice these tasks after repeated failures. The consequences of skipping them might be lost time, money, or damage to our reputation. Unfortunately, many of us will suffer these consequences several, even many, times before we start to realize that our lack of follow through has not served us well.

Do you want your teen to fail over and over again because of a lack of follow through?

I don't, and I suspect you don't either. That's why I hold my clients accountable. Each of them schedules his or her own meetings, and deals with the consequences of missed meetings, last minute rescheduling, not being prepared for our planned discussion, and other mishaps. One of my many assets in your teen's life is that I am not the parent. I am an outside, trusted professional. I can, and do, say things to teens that parents can't say, or say a "million times" but are not heard. My best client families communicate with me well, which enables me to convey the parents' sentiments to their child, who either hears the message for the "first" time or, because I am also saying it, finally receives the message they have heard from their parents. 

There are countless more ways I hold teens accountable and teach them to follow through, complete their tasks well, fulfill their responsibilities, and begin to reap the rewards of a job well done rather than sort out the mess that happens when they fail to follow through and finish well.

I look forward to speaking with your teen when he or she is in 8th, 9th, 10th, or 11th grade. Summers are KEY times to do college prep work; don't lose out on those many rich opportunities!

Is The Pen Mightier Than the Keyboard?

Longhand v. Laptop Note Taking

A look at recent research by Katherine O’Brien, MA CCPS

In order for students to be academically successful, they need to be able to learn the material presented in their courses and perform well on exams.  With the nearly ubiquitous adoption of the use of digital devices for delivery of educational material and, in many situations, notetaking as well as the completion of assignments, the question of which is a more effective methodology for learning is of great import.

Dr. Pam Mueller & Dr. Daniel Oppenheimer published a paper in 2014 sharing the results of their research into this topic.  Their study was the first to focus on a direct comparison of the two styles of notetaking.  Other research has focused on the impact of the many distractions available on laptops and how well students could multitask.  Many researchers have shown that students tend to not be on task and to be less satisfied with their education than their pen wielding peers.

Let’s take a look at the head to head comparison of college student’s comprehension retention abilities when offline laptops and pen and paper  were the only options for notetaking during presentations.

In the past, some research showed that the processing of the information that takes place during manual notetaking improves learning and retention.  When a student takes notes during a lecture, s/he cannot keep up with the presenter so must sort and organize the material, as well as abbreviate it in order to record it.  Note taking can include summarizing, paraphrasing, and mapping concepts.  It can also take the form of creating a verbatim transcript of what is heard.  Other studies have shown that verbatim note taking predicts poorer performance than non-verbatim note taking, especially on integrative and conceptual items.  Integrating the new information with prior knowledge and with understanding new concepts are both improved when the note taker processes and records the information without taking a verbatim approach.

In this current study, it was repeatedly noted that students using laptops strongly tended to take more notes, and to take notes in the verbatim copyist style, rather than processing the information and creating their own re-presentation of it like the students taking notes longhand.  It was found that the students who took notes longhand and were afforded an opportunity to study them performed better on examination than any of the other participants.  The longhand note takers also did better than the laptop users when neither was permitted to review their notes.  Some of them even outperformed the laptop users who had been able to study their notes.

Although they recorded fewer words, those who used pen and paper outperformed their technology using peers for both conceptual and factual questions.  Selecting more important information to record may have enabled them to study the material more efficiently.  They concluded: “Although more notes are beneficial, at least to a point, if the notes are taken indiscriminately or by mindlessly transcribing content, as is more likely the case on a laptop than when notes are taken longhand, the benefit disappears.  Indeed, synthesizing and summarizing content rather than verbatim transcription can serve as a desirable difficulty toward improved educational outcomes…. For that reason, laptop use in classrooms should be viewed with a healthy dose of caution; despite their growing popularity, laptops may be doing more harm in classrooms than good.”

Raise.me - Scholarships or Sham???

Raise.me sounds great!  Who doesn't want to be rewarded for their efforts?  The idea of getting "micro-scholarships" for getting good grades, etc. sounds ideal.  A little too ideal, perhaps.  Let's take a look...

Raise.me was founded in 2012.  It's a site where students can create a profile and enter in their achievements.  Participating colleges (there are over 200 so far) promise students micro-scholarships based on their achievements (getting an A in a class, for example) starting in the 9th grade.  Of course, the students must be accepted at a given school in order to "receive" the micro-scholarships based on his or her raise.me account.

On the one hand, students are encouraged to do well throughout their high school careers by receiving the promise of awards.  Hopefully, this will encourage students to excel in their studies.  Students are rewarded for good grades, community service, working, taking tests (PSAT, ACT, AP, SAT, etc.), and extracurricular activities. On the other, the pressure of looming college applications is now obvious to students at an earlier age.  Some argue that this program puts too much pressure on younger students who should be exploring, etc.  However, by freshman year in college, I believe students should be maturing and developing a strong sense of cause and effect and the impact that their choices of today make on the opportunities, or lack thereof, of tomorrow.

Colleges pay a fee to participate. Apparently, Raise.me is a mechanism they can use to attract students.  Colleges set the value of the various rewards, or micro-scholarships they offer, so have a way to attract the attention of students and compete with other colleges for their attention.  After all, who doesn't think well of a school after seeing the message pop up that says, "Great job!  $500 from XYZ University for you!"

I am unable to find any information regarding how the scholarships relate to the overall financial aid package.  Based on my experience as a college consultant, I am skeptical that students with Raise.me accounts are receiving any more aid than they would have if they had not had an account.

So, the information regarding Raise.Me is inconclusive.  it might be a helpful tool to encourage a student, but will it have any real impact on the student's net cost at any colleges?

Get in the Groove to Succeed at Life (and School)!!

As I see it, we humans have two choices.  We can do the things that will make us successful, or we can be miserable.  For those who aren't sure, please watch: 7 Ways to be Miserable  Then you'll see just how to ruin, eh hmmm, improve your life.

In fact, setting clearly defined goals and a set daily rhythm is a  GREAT way to start your school year.  Even the most accomplished among us can improve their way of life, so take a few minutes to explore -

What's my sleep cycle like?  If you'd like to reek havoc on your life, be more depressed and less productive, have an irregular sleep cycle.  Keep your body confused about when to rest and when to rise, and you'll be more miserable by the day.  Happily, it only takes three days/nights to "reset" your body clock.  So, determine the optimum time to arise in the morning, count back 8 1/2 hours, and set that as your bedtime.  The MOST important set time in your day is your bedtime.  Give yourself half an hour to wrap up your day and get ready for bed, then let your head fall gently on your pillow.  If you need more sleep, adjust the plan accordingly.

Do I ever get moving?  Feeling good involves getting your motor running.  Just pouring coffee down your throat to wash down your sugar laden "breakfast" will not do the trick.  God gave us bodies on purpose.  In order to get our minds working, able to focus and concentrate, settle our moods, slow down our fidgets, get out and walk, run, swim, bike, etc.  Take a good half hour every morning to move your body.  Then, take a refreshing shower, eat a decent breakfast (which you'll be more interested in after exercising than you typically are), and get on with your day.

Is silence my friend?  Our worlds are NOISY!!!  I can't get a moment to clear my head, can you??  Integrating time in silence each day is calming, centering, and enables our minds to rest.  Meditation or prayer or Scriptural or spiritual reading can be part of this time, but they don't have to be.  Just sit under a tree, spend time alone, swim, whatever.  Yep, this can be combined with exercise, if that works for you.  Some people find using headphones or earbuds to be really helpful.  Just because I have them in my ears doesn't mean I have them connected to anything or am listening to anything.  I might just be using them to help my world be more quiet.  Journaling or drawing or coloring might be good things to do in your silent time.  Just let your thoughts rest and just be.  Just rest in God's presence, notice the beauty around you, just breathe.  Let your mind and your body and your soul get grounded for the day in the quiet.  Use a timer so you don't have to worry about when the time will end.  Let go - and be still.

What's the point?  Why did you get up today? this week? this month? this year?  "Uh, I dunno." is not an answer that is going to get you out of bed.  Set some goals.  Ask yourself where you want to be in a year.  What skills do you want to acquire?  What grades do you want to earn? Promotion do you want to secure?  Growth in virtue do you desire?  WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS.  Make them specific.  My goal is to score at least 90% on every test this semester.  I plan to lose 5 pounds or gain an inch around my biceps.  I will count to three when I am upset and must respond, and I will be calm when I respond to X person,who tends to aggravate me, demand a lot, etc.  Make the goal measurable - set it so you can clearly determine whether you have accomplished it or not.  Make the goal realistic, something you can actually put into practice, "Actionable" in modern parlance.  In three months, I will be fluent in a language I know nothing of is, for the vast majority of us, an unrealistic goal.  Make sure your goal is realistic - I will keep my room 100% tidy at all times is a great goal.  However, accomplishing it when you have three roommates is not realistic; you can only determine your own actions.  Lastly, give your goal a deadline.  I will lose 15 pounds is a great goal - but it's not so possible when I have no deadline - I can always have that treat and put off my goal until some undefined future date.

Regulate Your Intake.  Garbage in, garbage out.  Junk food is called junk for a reason.  What's your favorite drug?  Winston? Marlboro? Pot? Sugar? Caffeine?  Nearly everyone in the US is a drug user.  We eat FAR more sugar than ever before and it makes our brains feel blah, feeds cancer and cavity causing bacteria, stresses out our livers, and can make us become diabetics.  Oh yeah, it also makes us fat and messes with our moods.  When we don't sleep right, we turn to caffeine.  Caffeine is very slow to leave our bodies.  A cup of coffee at 8am leaves enough caffeine in your body to disrupt your sleep schedule.  Let's not even consider having pop with lunch or dinner!

Am I Connected?  Spending time with friends is important.  We feel connected by our shared interests and activities.  We relax and have fun and enjoy the pleasures of life.  Movies are better with a friend (or a whole gaggle of them!)  Go to a game or a play or a concert.  Toss a frisbee around.  Take time at the lake or on the slopes or for a walk in the woods, good alone time, great with friends, too.  Dance, sing, play games, decorate your room, etc.  Have some fun!  We are social creatures.  Even when your workload is heavy, take a little time to connect with others (and don't spend all that time complaining about your workload!).  Do something fun for a bit... and you'll feel refreshed when you turn back to your work.