How to Win at College: Surprising Secrets for Success from the Country's Top Students

Another trick is to involve emotion. Don't just sit at a desk and talk quietly. Stand up, pace your room, yell out answers, cover material as if lecturing to a fascinated class, and play inspiring music in the background. The more stimuli you provide your brain, the more connections to the material you will develop, and the better you will remember

Spend a semester studying abroad.

Take, for example, a funding proposal for a club you run. If you have two weeks to finish it, plan to have most of it done by the end of the first week. The day before you leave for spring vacation, do your packing in the morning, not late at night. If you have a big class presentation to research, complete the work with days to spare. No matter ho

after you pass your daily work cutoff point, never move right into sleep. If you go to bed with the stresses of the day fresh on your mind, you will have a harder time falling asleep, and psychologically you deny your mind the chance to recover from the pressures of the day. Instead, you should always relax for at least half an hour before going to

Relax for at least half an hour before you go to sleep.

The next step of the process is the quizzing. This is where the real learning actually happens. When quizzing yourself, you don't necessarily have to write down your answers. This might be necessary for solving math problems, but for discussion-style questions, feel free to formulate your response out loud. You can cover topics much quicker when yo

This approach turns studying into a two-step process. The first step is the long and silent review of all the material that is going to be on the test. While you do this review, jot down your recall questions. If you ask about a topic from a specific book, jot down the page number where the answer can be found. If you ask about something from your

The serious programs, on the other hand, are structured in such a way as to encourage the students to actually befriend foreigners, spend time away from the group, enhance language skills, continue with substantial academics, and create an authentic overall experience.

Also keep in mind that applications for studying abroad are usually due sometime during your sophomore year. They also typically require that you take certain prerequisite courses before you apply, so you should start looking into this opportunity early in your collegiate career to make sure you are prepared.

Also create a generic important folder to hold messages containing any random information you need to hang on to. For every e-mail you read, either trash it or file it. At the end of each day you should go to sleep with an empty e-mail in-box.