Hacking College Productivity: Strategies for Optimal Performance and Time Management

ÖneClass Hacking College Productivity: STRATEGIES FOR Optimal Performance and Time Management To improve your productivity, you should NOT follow the routines of: Steve Jobs The Rock Charles Darwin Martha Stewart 6 A.M. WAKEUP PRE-DAWN WORKOUT MID-DAY NAP 4 HOURS OF SLEEP PER NIGHT Or anyone else Instead... Following your own circadian rhythm is key to being most productive The majority of college students are out of sync 10% had already peaked before 50% are taking classes before fully alert classes started have a class schedule in sync 40% with their biological rhythms Align your class schedule with your biology to get better grades 3.5 3 2.5 Evening 2 Mid-day Morning Early Bird Balanced Night Owl Time Preference Class Time Night owls have the biggest grade disparity for classes outside of their natural patterns. They also defeat themselves by taking more morning classes than the other two groups. Master Your Schedule SLEEP Wake-up: Productivity isn't improved by when you start your day, but by how you use your time Consistency: 10% increase in the stability of sleep/wake times increased GPA by 0.10 CLASSES Class Time: Average GPA is 0.27 points higher in evening classes than in morning classes Frequency: Grades are higher when classes meet more often Once per week: Lowest Two or three times per week: Slightly higher Four times per week: Significantly higher Realistic Ways to Improve Productivity No, you don't need to run 10 miles before 5 A.M. to be more productive. Harvard Business Review identified characteristics of super-productive people (those that ranked in the top 10%) 1. Begin! Starting can be the hardest step Procrastinators scored 3 percentage points worse than class averages Score by Day 2 4 6 Days before due date 2. Set Stretch Goals Pushing hard to meet challenging goals is motivating 3. Be Consistent A steady and productive rhythm gets more results than the ebb and flow of goofing off and all-nighters 4. Collaborate The most productive people work well with others and do so often 5. Information Availability Searching online for information and tutorials kills productivity We recommend using the homework Solvit help app, Solvit, to get answers quickly without the Google timewarp 6. Be Results Driven Check things off your to-do list V Push for new accomplishments Compete for new personal bests 7. Problem Solving & Problem Avoiding Avoid roadblocks by developing innovative solutions Productivity Hacks to Improve Learning Class Participation Active learning improved grades by 6 percentage points Bt A the difference between a B+ and an A Low-GPA students see the biggest impact ÖneClass Is taking notes getting in the way of class participation? Hack your education by downloading crowd-sourced class notes from OneClass Incentivize Yourself 22% of those aged 18-24 would be motivated by a reward Try these motivations: 10 minutes of YouTube 1 bite of candy for each paragraph you read for 1 hour of studying Chunking Learn big concepts or long strings of information by breaking them into smaller pieces Hard to memorize: Easy to memorize: 7133224754 (713)322-4754 Relax Strategic renewal boosts productivity Do more of this It may seem counterintuitive, but down-time improves productivity and learning. ÖneClass Source: https://oneclass.com/blog/about-oneclass/126655-hacking-college-productivity Percentage point difference (from class mean) GPA