It’s never really too late to make a New Year’s resolution. Besides, colleges run on the academic calendar, not the solar calendar, so the first week of the semester is basically the “real” New Year. Why not start things off right and make this semester your best one yet? Here are some ideas to get you thinking about ways to rank up your life as a student and kick off the year with some positive change.
1. Study Smarter, Not Harder
Tired of slogging through endless hours studying your textbook? Instead of drowning in the boring, why not try Mark McDaniel and colleagues’ Read-Recite-Review technique? Here’s how it works: Read a few pages, then recite everything you can recall aloud (bonus points for talking to yourself like you’re giving a lecture). Finally, go back and review what you missed. McDaniel found that this method works much faster and is more effective than just rereading or taking notes.
2. Design Your Own Dream Curriculum
What’s a research question you’ve always wanted to know more about, but never looked into? Maybe you always wanted to know whether gender differences are huge or minimal, or whether it’s better to space studying out over time out or not. Rather than “doing your own research on Reddit” you can put those PSY 311 Research Methods skills to work and hop onto PsycINFO. Start your search with the topic you want to know about and “review or meta-analysis” and see what you find. If you need some help finding the right papers, UNCG’s librarians are always ready to offer some help.
3. Get More Zzz’s to Get Better Grades
David Creswell and his colleagues found that not getting enough sleep is correlated with getting worse grades at three different universities. Of course, you’re a psychology student, so you know that correlation isn’t causation. That’s why Elise King and Michael Scullin gave students extra credit for taking an “8-hour sleep challenge” and they found that it not only didn’t hurt their grades to skip the late-night study sessions, but they actually did better (probably because they used their time more effectively).
4. Do Good to Feel Better
Want to feel better about yourself? One way is to get back in touch with the part of you that cares about others. Rhoads and Marsh reviewed the data that acting altruistically—whether it’s lending a hand or spreading kindness—can boost your own well-being. Not only does this improve your mood and make you see yourself in a better light, but it can have a major impact on the life of someone in need. Maybe you’ll hand out smiley-face pins at midterm on the quad and remind students that they can do it, or maybe you volunteer at a local charity. Or, you could kick off that “make the world a little less awful” challenge with your friends you always thought about. Who better to dive in and fix the world than a smart college student like you?
