Review All Marked Evaluations

Since most grades are reported via Blackboard or ANGEL these days, students rarely actually see their graded papers and exams. Today’s tip comes courtesy of a friend who works as a Teaching Assistant, “Always schedule an exam review with your TA or professor.” Here’s a few facts about TA’s:

• They are sometimes usually terrible markers
• They are overworked
• They don’t really care about you.

 When you put it all together, it’s easy to see how a TA might make a mistake when grading your paper. Just recently, I went in to review a mid-term exam I scored 72% on. The professor gave me my exam and an answer key to see where I went wrong. My intention was just to get an idea of what kinds of mistakes I had made so I’d be prepared for the final. I ended up finding several answers where I had written the same points found on the answer key, simply in different wording. I politely pointed this out to the professor who rewarded me full marks. On one question I failed to provide any of the suitable points for marks, but I succeeded in showing my understanding verbally while talking with the prof. He gave me half marks. At the end of the quick 15 minute review session I managed to raise my mark to an 80%.

To summarize, reviewing marked exams shows the professor that you care which can translate into bonus marks if you can demonstrate your knowledge. Reviewing marked exams also lets you identify your mistakes so you don’t make them on subsequent evaluations and gives you the chance to ensure that your work was fairly graded. Basically, reviewing marked exams = higher marks. Suddenly the 15 minutes of time you invest makes a lot of sense. 

The Pros and Cons of Moving Home After Graduation

While I may be on spring break, I'm aware that those of us on the semester system have a mere 4 weeks of class left before summer. For the graduating seniors, there are probably many outstanding questions to be answered. A big one is: "What am I doing after graduation?" Another one is, "Will I have to move home?" My post-grad plans are solidified by now, but we've received some advice by the way of Her Campus, the female-version of HackCollege (maybe?).

Some girls gravitate back towards home out of convenience. Others make the move in order to save money. Could moving back work for you? To help you figure it out, postgraduates and college seniors shared with [Her Campus] some pros and cons of moving home.

While I know that most of the readers of HackCollege are dudes, the advice put forth by this article reaches across the gender divide. Maybe we should organize some sort of soirée between the two sites. Ladies? In the meantime, take a read. 

Home Sweet Home: The Pros and Cons of Moving Home After Graduation [Her Campus]

Air Travel Basics for the Sheltered Student

Over this last winter break, I flew for the first time since 1999. I might as well never have flown because of all the rule changes due to the September 11th attacks and what have you. Going through what I thought was going to happen, and what actually did happen I learned a few things. 

Bring Food, Not Drink

Another con is waiting for your luggage. Image via Flickr user UggBoy licensed via CC V2.0. Wanting to be as frugal as possible where I could on this trip, I decided to bring my own breakfast to eat before my flight. My breakfast sandwich and hashbrowns were alright to go through, but the drink I had, not so much. What ensued was a chug worthy of one of our "shotgunning a beer" videos. Save yourself a stomachache, some time and money by bringing your own food, and only food. 

Six of one, Half Dozen of Another

Luggage is sort of tricky because on one hand, you are wasting money on paying someone to carry your things (that that they might lose) and other you're wasting money getting products that fit the TSA's requirements. My advice is to try and predict what you'll be bring home with you. For instance, if you want to bring back some Tequila from Mexico you're going to have to pay for luggage anyway so it might be easier for you to bite the bullet on the way there and pay for your on stuff. On the plus side you will be able to bring your own toothpaste and junk. 

What do you think of flying? Comment below to share or connect with me on Twitter!

Pick Up a Mini Monitor to Take Anywhere

You could use your mini-monitor as a dedicated Twitter screen. Photo courtesy of Flickr user rmlowe and licensed under CC BY 2.0Anybody who's ever used a dual-monitor workstation (and if you're reading this blog you're probably one of them) will tell you that reverting to your sole laptop screen can be a traumatic experience.  Nobody wants to go back to stacking their windows when they're used to arranging them across two screens.  There's no substitute for having the paper you're writing on one screen, and your research materials and websites on the other, or you work on one screen and media controls on the other.  You get the idea, and if not, here's a New York Times article on the subject.

Okay, so now that we've established that two monitors > one monitor, so what's the problem?  Monitors are big.  They have to be plugged in.  They don't really travel well (though I'm sure this guy could figure it out). For the college student, especially one who likes to work outside of the dorm room, a second screen just isn't worth it.

Lucky for us, a number of companies (notably Nanovision with its Mimo line) have been quietly releasing lines of small (7" or so) monitors requiring nothing but a USB port.  No power cord, no VGA adapters, no problem; these things were practically made to take to the library.  Sure, the 800x480 screens won't add a ton of real estate to your workspace, but it's certainly enough to compartmentalize at least one of your programs, which can really be a huge productivity-booster.  It's definitely a big enough space for a chat program, or a Twitter client, or even a PDF document you're referencing in the Word document on your primary display.

Notably, some of these monitors even offer touchscreen functionality.  This isn't exactly a game-changer, but it does offer some degree of functionality other than extra screen space that your laptop didn't offer before. Though I can't say I've tested it out, I imagine it would be neat to use a quick finger tap to skip to a new song in iTunes.

What's your monitor setup like?  Have any hands-on experience with a mini monitor?  Let us know in the comments.  

Succeeding as a Varsity Athlete

Successful student-athletes are among the busiest students on campus. Between class, practice, workout and games (including travel) they’re is isn’t much time left for studying at the end of the day. I spend an average of 4 hours a day at the rink through out the week, and weekends are a whole other story. Here’s 5 tips to thrive both academically and athletically in the role of a varsity athlete.

Keep your priorities in check.Photo by flickr user nmhphotos, licensed by CC BY-SA 2.0.

It’s easy to get caught up in the athletic side of college life. After all, the field is much more glorious then the classroom, but don’t forget your ultimate goal in college is to earn a degree. The way you choose to order your priorities is up to you, but if boozing and ChatRoulette crack the top 3, you may want to reevaluate.

Keep a firm grasp on your schedule

One of the best things about being a varsity athlete is the structure that is automatically built into your life. Practice at 4 O’clock each day, video session Tuesday morning, games every Friday and Saturday. Not to mention the fact that 20 of your closest friends are on the exact same schedule. Where conflict arises is when you have a paper due on Monday morning but you’re leaving on a 2 game road trip friday afternoon. By anticipating these situations weeks in advance you can work stress free and score high both on and off the court (Pretty clever, eh?). Pick an organization system that works for you and stick to it.

Work on the go

Long bus trip, why not get a few readings done? Arrive early for practice, why not do a quick review of yesterday’s lecture? If you can learn to study in less than ideal conditions, you can take advantage of time that would otherwise be wasted.

Make use of the resources provided to you

Most athletic programs allocate resources to their varsity athletes to help them succeed academically, however most athletes fail to take advantage of these privileges. Tutoring, private study space and study skills workshops are services usually provided free of charge to varsity athletes. Inquire with your schools athletic department if you’re in need of any help.

Make use of your “celebrity” status

To many of you, this last tip may be unethical. The reality is, many professors are more lenient on varsity athletes in the grading department and are often more forgiving in the event that you need an extension. Introduce yourself, give your professor a pair of free tickets and don’t be afraid to give them your inside perspective on the team if you happen to run into them on campus. When research opportunities come up, they’ll like choose you over Point Dexter. 

When it comes to varsity athletics, you really can have your cake and eat it too. Hopefully with these simple tips you can succeed on and off the court and have a little fun along the way. 

Get yo' Democracy on with MegaVote

Image via Congress.orgWith the vote on the recent Health Care Reform coming and passing, you may have been provoked to become more politically aware, whether it was by subscribing to a few more news feeds or emailing your congressman (or congresswoman). There's another (extremely efficient) to become more aware of what the people who represent you are voting for.

There's a service call MegaVote and it's run by Congress.org. It's pretty freakin' awesome. Each week you get an update as to what your congressperson or senator is voting on for that given week. It's also cool how you can adjust what issues are arriving at your inbox. For instance if you have a fetish for education policy then set it to that (and see a psychologist). The votes on agriculture will never pop up.

Another good thing about MegaVote is that it shows you the votes that have already been cast, as well as the votes that are going to be cast. During the week you can read up on how your representative stands on the issue and call/email them as to how you feel. That's technology helping democracy!

Will you use Megavote? Comment below to share or connect through Twitter!

Forget Buying Style Handbooks

Image via Tongji.eduI found something interesting while Googling "APA webpage reference" for a paper yesterday. Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) is an amazing resource for college students. It has all the resources for formatting American Psychological Association (APA) writings and Modern Language Association (MLA) writings. Props to the folks at Purdue for putting all of this stuff on the internet. It was a big help.

Have you used OWL before? Do you like it? Comment below or connect through Twitter.

What Health Care Reform Means for College Students

Hopefully all of our hearts will keep beating for a long time... Photo by flickr user brykmantra, licensed by CC BY-SA 2.0.

I must admit I'm a bit of a political junkie. I was eagerly tuned in tonight to my Tweetie app while at LMU's senior banquet and ball. I had seen the #hcr hashtags percolating and I knew a decision was eminent. As soon as the story hit the LA Times Twitter stream, I told our table. Then we danced. (Note: While exciting, the dancing was exclusive of the health care decision.) In what seems like the longest political process in the history of the planet, the United States has passed health care reform. Readers from other countries who have had similar measures for nearly a century, bear with us while we make sense of this.

But here at HackCollege the question is: What does this mean for students? The fate of your health care future after the jump!

Click to read more ...