I really value your contribution as readers to the website. So far, this has mainly been via comments and I would like to expand this. This means I want to hear from you with questions you have on the subject of student productivity.

If you have any questions, please e-mail them to the e-mail address below, I will try to answer as many as possible.

questions@gearfire.net

Note: By submitting a question, you agree to allow me to post the question anonymously, along with a reply, onto this website (GearFire). I cannot guarantee to answer all questions sent in. If you do wish to be identified in the blog post, please state this in the e-mail, and what name you wish to be identified by.

Wow. Can you believe the summer is almost over? What did you do? Did you travel? (I spent the whole summer in Nigeria. It was interesting both in a good and a bad way.) Did you sleep in? Or did you stay up late every night catching up on all those exciting infomercials you missed during the school year? Well I hope you had a great time, and made every single day count, because now, you’ve got to start thinking about your next school year. Ew! many of you will exclaim. No worries, I used to cringe too everytime someone mentioned “back to school.” I mean, what’s there to look forward to about school? It’s big heavy text books and evil, vindictive teachers and disruptive classmates and assignments you don’t really want to do. And for the university crowd, you’ve also go those student loan payments. (Talk about the price of education, eh?) But you see, a new school year need not have a negative connotation. It’s not an ending of a summer, but the beginning of new opportunities that we must focus on. And lucky for you, what follows is a motivational guide to inspire a desire to go back to school so great that you will barely be able to contain it. Your pulse will quicken with anticipation. Your step will lighten with the weight of a “another boring year” off your shoulders. And then after the initial excitement of new clothes wears off, you’ll still look forward to going to school/class/lessons/seminars/whatever it is you attend on a regular basis to achieve your education each day. You will not just survive, you will thrive. So, are you ready? In that case, get to steppin’ and read on my friend!

First things first- set a goal!

Why do you need a goal? Because if you don’t have anything to work for and something to work towards your year will be madly unsatisfying. And the ultimate school year will be the exact opposite of that. This is a completely and totally personal choice, like the colour of your bedroom walls, or your favorite flavour of ice cream. There is not a single person on this green earth who’s opinion is more important than yours when it comes to what you truly want (as you will be the one living with the decision afterall). Why order chocolate dip when you really want strawberry shortcake swirl on a cone? DO you want to be student body president? DO you want straight A’s? Do you want to porpose to the love of your life just as your graduating class is throwing their hats into the air? Dream big my friends. Dream big.

Sit down for a second and ask yourself this: by the last day of school, what do I want to have accomplished? Brainstorm. Free associate. I’m not going to get into the nitty gritty of goal setting here because you’ve probably heard it to death by now and you don’t need to hear it again from me. You probably already know the SMART rule and all that by now. And quite frankly, there’s nothing I can tell you that a quick Google search of “how to set goals” can’t tell you either. But what I will say is this: It’s your life beautiful people. Live it.

And remember, these are your goals. Not your friend’s. Or your parent’s. Or your career aptitude test’s ideal placement of your employable skills. This is what your heart wants. The things that makes your stomach jump into your throat just thinking about it. 5% because it freaks you out and 95% because you want it so bad.

For example, my goal for the school year is to get my acceptance letter for the University of Waterloo’s Environment and Business program. Everytime I think about it, I smile, because I’ve had my heart set on that school since the 10th grade. I want this so bad it hurts, and that’s how badly you should want your next year’s goal as well. Life is too short to spend even one day on something you don’t absolutely love and really truly want. If your goal doesn’t make you wish your summer vacation were over right now so you could start working on it, keep thinking my friend. Because during those weeks when your have 3 essays, a test and a lab due, you’ll need something at the end of the road to have made it all worth it. Take your time with this, although it’s hardly a life or death decision. You are allowed to change your mind. But you will need a goal that doesn’t make you want to easily change your mind. Do you have it yet? Good. Now write it on a piece of paper in big bold letters and then stare at it until it’s imprinted in your brain. Then you’re ready to move on to the next step…

Why, why, WHY??????

Why do you want it? Why is this goal important to you? What’s pushing you from behind and pulling you from the front? Exactly what will be motivating your inertia? Once again, totally personal choice. Dig deep ya’ll! (As Brittney Spears would say.) If you need a little help, again, here’s an example of my WHY:

The reason I have my heart set on the University of Waterloo is because I plan on starting my own corporation in the very near future. I’m going to business school not for the degree, but for all the strong networks I’ll build there. (It’s not what you know, but who you know, you know?) The social circle I’ll develop in university is the one that’s going to help me take my company to the next level. That’s my perfect reason and it’s why I desperately want to get into Waterloo. And why I desperately want to do well next year.

Do you have your own reason yet? Don’t rush it. Take your time. Once you have it, hold it close to your heart. Allow it to ebb and flow through you with each lub-lub of your heart beat. Close your eyes, lean your head back and feel it. (No double entendre intended.) Now, you truly want something. Now, you know why you truly want it. That is a powerful thing beautiful people. Your heart must ache for this. Positively ache. You have to want this so bad that even when you’re doing stuff you absolutely hate to do, a part of you is actually enjoying it because you know it’s just yet another thing you must to fulfill your goal and ultimately, your bigger purpose. Can you feel that desire to go back to school yet? Now the only thing standing between you and the precious jewel that is your goal is a plan.

You can eat an entire elephant if you take it one bite at a time….

Then, you’ll need a plan of attack. Once again, brainstorm and free associate. You have your goal. And you have where you are right now (the ending of your summer vacations.) What stands between you and that goal? Once again, I have nothing unique to say about this, so I won’t. Instead, what I will do is give you a list of excellent resources you can turn to to figure our your success plan. Behold.

• Gearfire’s very own Olivia has written about how to come up with a yearly plan. She suggests that you break it down by semester.
• Back on the topic of goal setting, this website clearly explains how to pick a goal.It’s technically about running, but the principles in literally running a marathon, and figuratively running one are the same thing.
• David Allen (or possibly some gohstwriter) has written an article on how we sometimes get so cought up in our work that we neglect the little things in life.
• An entire website dedicated to setting and achieving goals that’s actually reallly helpful? Yes please!
• Having troubling figuring out your goal on your own? Would an interactive goal planner help?
• The principles in losing weight are the same in achieving your academic goals as well. here are things to keep in mind while you’re working towards whatever it is you’ve decided to achive.

Good luck beautiful people! But of course, you don’t need any luck. Mak your own opportunities out there. You deserve absolutely anything your heart desires. Not necessarily everything your heart desires, but the only thing stopping you from being happy is yourself.

Although at GearFire we pride ourselves in being the content, not just a way of getting to the content, I found something that I could not resist sharing with you, it is a “manifesto” on ChangeThis about presentation skills called:

“Presentation Revolution: Changing the Way the World Does Presentations”

The idea of ChangeThis is to circulate ideas that challenge what is generally accepted, particularly the views drilled into us by the media. In addition to this, it provides some revolutionary concepts that are designed to prompt discussion, whether their thinkings are right or wrong.

This particular manifesto looks at public speaking, and how in so many instances, peoples skills in it are flawed. If you have to deliver a speech in class, this will certainly offer you some advice at how to do it well.

Most prominently in the article is the idea of being a rebel, and this is why speeches are remembered. Think of the greats, Martin Luther King for example, his speech wasn’t remembered because he was saying the same as everyone else. It lived on and became world famous because he had an idea that at the time, was controversial. This is one of the major reasons why speeches are remembered, because they offer something different, something new or something original. Being a rebel is not only done via the content, but by other aspects such as design too (bullet points are not always your friend!).

Take a read, it really could make a difference to your presentation skills.

If you want to discuss the ideas presented in the manifesto, feel free to do so in the comments section below. I would love to hear what you all think.

I would like to thank Bloggy Award for their recent review of GearFire. Bloggy Award review blogs of all topics and every month award some of the best blogs they have seen with either a gold or silver award.

For anyone joining us from Bloggy Award website, welcome to the site! If your looking for where to start, our sidebar to the right shows a list of recent posts and our most popular posts.

With regards to our actual review, it was for the most part, complimentary. Our overall experience rating was 9/10. Part of the review reads; “All I can say is that I wish there was Gearfire back in the day.” We really take pride in our writing here at GearFire and we are glad that we are able to provide useful content that is appreciated by others.

If you are interested in reading the full review, it can be found here.

On a side-note, during the review, we received the comment “some of the posts didn’t make use of very good English grammar and structure”. I am always looking for ways to improve and want to know if this applies to me. If you would like to help improve GearFire, have a look through some of my posts, and let me know whether you think my grammar and structure could use some improvements and if so, how? You can let me know in the comments section below.

Q10 is a minimalistic word processor. By minimalistic, I mean it strongly resembles a type writer, with a few added extras such as word counts, timers and editing.

The twist to this piece of software is that it works in full screen, in addition to being simple. This makes it great for when you just cannot focus, it’s designed not to come with the bells and whistles of other word processors that just distract us from what it is we are doing - writing.

Once you have finished writing, the document is saved as a text file and can then be imported into normal word processing software for formatting, saving you from being distracted by formatting whilst working.

I’d strongly recommend this software if you struggle to focus when writing, particularly if you get distracted by complicated menus or other computer programs running in the background. The software, and Q10’s website, can be found here.

© Hannah Boettcher

Back to school is looming, and some of you will be going back to start your A-Levels. You may have heard what you may think to be rumors of it being possible to be able to get a new A star grade at A-Level, this post should help de-mystify what this is.

Who can get an A* at A-Level?

The A* grade can be awarded to anyone starting an A-Level on the new specification; this is anyone starting A-Levels from 2008 onwards.

What are the requirements to get an A*?

The A* grade is awarded to anyone who gets an A grade at AS-Level, which is 80% UMS marks, and then goes on to get 90% UMS marks or more at A2-Level.

Can you get an A* at AS-Level?

The A* grade is only awarded to anyone sitting the full A2-Level.

What UCAS points are awarded for anyone who gets an A*?

From what I can see on the UCAS website, this has not yet been determined. I would imagine this would not be confirmed until 2009 at the earliest; being as the A-Star will not be awarded until 2010. I have however sent off an e-mail to UCAS and will let you know if I get any response.

What effect will this have on university admissions in 2010?

2010 will be the first year that the A* grade will be awarded and many people are asking how this will effect university admissions. The answer will vary depending on which university, Oxford for example has confimed to the BBC that they will not be using A* grades  in the first year. There has been a document circulating saying that Cambridge will be using the grade sparingly as well until they can identify things such as the proportion of people who will be getting the A* grade however; I can’t find the link to it anymore.

Bear in mind that at AS-Level (the grades that go on your UCAS form) it won’t be possible to get an A*, therefore the only way that the universities would be able to judge whether you are a likely candidate for one is by UMS marks or teachers references. This means good UMS marks at AS level (ideally 90% or more) is the best way of showing your potential for A* grades.

Sources

• BBC News Article - Oxford Delays on A* Grade Offers
• What I’ve been told during sixth form induction week
• UCAS Website
• Specifications for any new A-Level on any exam board

As a side note, congratulations to anyone who received their A-Level or AS-Level results today and best of luck with whatever you go on to do next, be that University or the workplace!

If you have any other questions, post them in comments and I will do my best to answer them and add the answers to this post.

Like a lot of high school and college students, I’m really dependant on my computer; for researching and writing, chatting with my friends, keeping up with the news, and some general goofing off of course (who hasn’t wasted 3 hours doing random stuff on Facebook?). Being as I spend so much time glued to my laptop, I’ve taken it upon myself to hunt down the best, free apps for students. Maybe some of these might be useful for some of you, as we all go into the upcoming school year.

I am running a Mac, so a lot of these apps aren’t Windows friendly; I’ve noted which are Mac-only, and which are cross-platform.
Read the rest of this entry »

© Sanja Gjenero

As I write this post, I’m decisively low-tech. Not by choice, I hasten to add, I’m having problems with some computer hardware so the computer’s off and the most technological device draining power in my room at the moment would have to be the light bulb.

It made me think, what happened to the lost art of writing with pen and paper. What I’m doing now has for the most part, gone. Replaced by computer and keyboard, or even ‘ePaper’. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not afraid of technology (I’m a blogger, how could I be!) but I think people often forget that technology can be a burden, as well as a blessing.

So why is pen and paper so great?

You can work anywhere
Pen and paper are staggeringly portable. You can all tell me a laptop is portable, but I don’t see many laptops that weigh about the same as a piece of paper, and can be folded to fit in your pocket.

The benefit of paper being portable is, you can change scenery without lugging round a load of computer equipment. The park; a cafe, in the middle of a field, take your pick with where you want to work.

The great thing is; the change of scenery can really help invigorate you. During exams, I actually took some revision material into the local cafe and found it a great change from my desk.

Much easier to focus
With technology, comes a wealth of distractions. Instant messaging; social networking sites, e-mail and internet, it’s easy to lose focus on what you were doing, I sometimes find myself forgetting what I set out to do in the first place by the time the computer is loaded up and my IM account has started itself up.

With pen and paper, there really is no excuse for losing focus, sure there’s background noise, but it is rare that this can command your attention as much as a new e-mail in your inbox.

Improved spelling and grammar
When working on paper, we consider what we are writing much more. Mistakes feel much more final, because if anything is being written out as a final copy, a mistake could mean having to start again. This means you’ll be trying your hardest to make things sound their best, and they’re more likely to do so.

Also, so much of our work has to be typed up anyway. This means, once you go back to type up your work, you will notice the spelling and grammatical errors made the first time around, which can then be corrected. Often, the use of computers make us so reliant on spell check, we do not even check our work through. By using pen and paper, you are likely to tweak and improve things as you type your work up.

Nothing gets deleted by accident
There is nothing like the frustration of having written half an essay, only to have a power cut and lose it all. With pen and paper, this isn’t going to happen. Of course, there’s ways your paper could be destroyed; the dog ate it and spontaneous self combustion, but these are much less likely in comparison to the probability of a computer going wrong. That I think we will all admit.

I urge you all to go back to using pen and paper every now and again. Don’t let writing become a lost art, reap the rewards. And that’s not just when the computers broken!