Be effective in digital reading

Digital reading, as opposed to print reading, has its pros and cons. Some students still prefer to read the printed copy in spite of the ease and convenience promised by digital readers. However, more educational institutions are beginning to adapt to digital tools for education like AHEAD Tutorial and Review Center.

The problem with reading from an electronic gadget, as some students would say, is that it’s so difficult to focus and absorb anything they read from a screen. Even if they recognize the “green” benefits presented by using e-readers instead of printed books, these students would prefer to read hard copy instead for fear of not retaining readingassignments.

On the other hand, reading from a digital screen can develop a student’s multi-tasking abilities. Students who are used to reading ebooks may eventually become adept at navigating from one page to the next, easily finding related subjects with a few swipes and clicks. It can enhance a reader’s resourcefulness, which would be very useful in research requirements.

Students would still need to practice caution and discipline as they begin to cope with going digital. The ease of navigating and browsing through pages can just as easily cause the reader to stray from the topic at hand. Right now, it would be wiser to still read the printed copy for certain materials, and use digital reading for the rest.

Plan for Success

With so many colleges and universities to choose from, students need all the help they can get in deciding which one fits their future plans. Planning Ahead: A Guide to Metro Manila’s Finest Colleges and Universities,a groundbreaking project of AHEAD Tutorial & Review Center, can help students arrive at the best decision.

First published in 2000, the updated 2012 edition includes all relevant information about the best colleges and universities in Metro Manila, sourced from the institutions themselves as well as the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

The first book of its kind in the country, Planning Ahead  aims to guide parents and incoming college students in choosing the right university according to the course they intend to take. It provides a range of useful information from course offerings with corresponding career tracks, facilities, and scholarship programs to estimated tuition fees, history, and other significant details.

The book includes the profiles of the following institutions: Assumption College, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University in Manila, Mapua Institute of Technology, Miriam College, San Beda College, Saint Scholastica’s College, University of Asia and the Pacific, University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, UP Los Baños, UP Manila, and University of Santo Tomas.

Planning Ahead is now available at participating National Bookstore outlets in Metro Manila.

Unblocking Writer’s Block

If you have difficulty writing essays for your English class, well, now is the right time to polish your composition and construction skills. For instant English help, tutors from AHEAD tutorial and review suggest two pre-writing activities to help get your creative juices flowing:

Brainstorming:  Write down everything that pops into your head about the topic. Don’t restrain yourself, even if the idea seems too farfetched. You’ll soon realize that your random thoughts may not be so random after all. This process can help set the general direction of your essay.

Freewriting: After jotting everything down, try connecting ideas together, constructing them into sentences, and then forming them into paragraphs. Don’t worry about grammar or punctuation at this point; your goal is to make your abstract thoughts more concrete. Read over your essay—writing, editing, and rewriting as you go along—after you’re all done.

Experiencing writer’s block is not uncommon among students. If you are at your wit’s end, try AHEAD Tutorial and Review’s English tutorials to get the best results. AHEAD Tutorial and Review offers English tutorials for preschool, elementary, high school, and college students. For more information, visit http://review.ahead.edu.ph/

Managing Your Time

Time management is a tricky task for most students. Enough time must be allotted for school, friends, and hobbies among other priorities. The technique is to allot enough time to accomplish tasks and still be able to find time to relax and unwind, suggests the tutors of AHEAD Tutorial & Review Center.

Prioritizing is the key to effective time management. What must be done in the soonest possible time should be on top of your priorities. Sometimes, recreation and less urgent matters must be set aside to meet deadlines. Studying for an exam should come first before hanging out with friends. Finishing a project is more urgent than finishing your computer game, advises tutors of AHEAD Tutorial & Review Center.

In line with prioritizing is setting goals. These are the things that you want to accomplish or attain., which are not limited to schoolwork. Setting goals will help you stay on track. It gives you a sense of direction as to what you want to do. By setting goals, you can plan what you want to do with your time.

But the most important aspect of time management is discipline. A schedule will only work if you follow it. However, this doesn’t mean that you should account for every minute of your day. Just take note of the tasks that need to be done. It is risky to pile things up because you end up with not enough time to finish them.

If you’re tired of cramming for your projects or studying at the last minute for your exams, then it’s about time you give time management a shot, says tutors of AHEAD Tutorial & Review Center.

Clear Your Mind for UPCAT

This weekend, thousands of students will be taking the University of the Philippines College Admission Test or simply, the UPCAT. A lot of these high school seniors would be nervous, for sure. After all, the UPCAT is one of the most difficult college entrance exams in the country. However, if you had taken the month-long test-based review program of AHEAD Tutorial & Review Center, then you are well prepared for the UPCAT.

And if you had attended AHEAD’s UPCAT Refresher Course a week or so ago, you know exactly what to do.

So for now, relax. Clear your mind and the lessons you’ve learned and practiced and reviewed for the past few months will come back to you when you most need them. Stop worrying! You’ve got this!

Best of luck to AHEAD Tutorial & Review Center students and to all the young people taking the UPCAT this weekend! 🙂

Manage Your Stress During Exams

It is a normal to feel some kind of anxiety, especially when it comes to taking an exam. The pressure from parents to do well and the demands from school to accomplish requirements can add up and create a lot of stress among students. This becomes even more pronounced come examination time.

This is the moment of truth, the time when you must prove yourself.

When you are too stressed out, however, you may be incapable of functioning properly. You may find it difficult to perform the way you normally do. Indeed, stress can be an obstacle to attaining good grades and accomplishing tasks completely. Here are a few suggestions to relieve some of the anxieties you are likely to experience, especially during examination time:

• Learn to manage your time. Making good use of your time will decrease the amount of tension in your body. Give yourself a good head start. Allot sufficient time to review your lessons long before exam week. Make a study schedule and follow it strictly. You will feel a lot less anxious because you are well prepared.
• Get organized. Create your own structure of order. Be systematic in taking notes, accomplishing assignments, or keeping track of other important school papers. It is difficult to be relaxed in a disorganized atmosphere. Have a written schedule. Keep an organizer handy.
• Make your study place conducive to learning. Keep it free from anything that may distract you. Some students like playing soft music; it soothes their mind, making it easy for them to absorb whatever it is they need to learn.
• Get a good night’s sleep. No matter what you do, you must give your mind time to rest, and this is exactly what sleep can do for you. By getting enough sleep, you will wake up feeling refreshed and ready for another round of studies. 

There other techniques that could relieve your stress during your quarter exams. Keep in mind, however, that what may work for you may not work for others. Most of all, believe in yourself and what you can do. Building up your confidence can alleviate a lot of the stress you are encountering and help you perform your best.

Budgeting Your Allowance

Whether you’re a grade school student or a college freshman, one of the things that you love about school is getting your allowance. Yes, that magic word that gives you a semblance of financial freedom. But while having your own money can be quite exciting, managing it is a different story. Here are some tips to help you budget your allowance effectively:

Prioritize your needs. Parents usually allot a daily amount for all your requirements, which mostly revolves around food and transportation. If you live in a dormitory, set aside money for your weekly food expenses first. Buy your needs first before you even think of spending on your wants.

Exercise discipline. If you get your allowance weekly, you will have a tidy sum on your hands. And the temptation to spend it on things you want but don’t necessarily need is very great. Don’t! If you’re not careful, you might find yourself with no allowance by the end of the week.

Save for the future. Saving is a big part of money management. True, you might only have enough money to last you the week but with a little scrimping, you might be able to save even just a little amount. Don’t underestimate the P50 you were able to save by the end of the week. In four weeks, that P50 would have become P200. In five months, that P200 would have become P1,000. Start small but think big!

 

Overcoming Mental Blocks

It happens. When I’m in the middle of writing something, I sometimes block out. I start to type it up but the idea is gone. Hello, marvelous idea, where did you go? Mental block!

Yes, we all experience a mental block once in awhile, especially when we’re under some type of pressure. That’s one of the problems usually brought up by our students at Ahead Tutorial and Review Center.

And guess what? Even the best students can suffer from mental blocks. The question seems simple enough but for one reason or another, your brain just cannot come up with the answer. Though it’s a frustrating situation, it is actually quite common. And there are a number of tricks to overcome this perplexing state.

• Step away from the question. If the answer eludes you, move on to the next question. Trying to recall the solution might take a while because you are working against a combination of frustration and anxiety under time pressure. You can either skip the question or distract your mind by looking around the room for a minute or two. When you come back, the mental block could be gone.

• Review your work. Sometimes, you might be able to remember the answer by going back to previous questions. Use the items you were able to answer to jog your memory about what’s missing. The answer might be part of a list and some of the items on that list may be found in previous questions.

• Prevention. The best way to overcome mental blocks is to prevent them from happening. Studying your lessons every day, instead of cramming the night before, is a good way to ensure that you don’t black out during exams. It also gives your confidence a boost because you know the lesson by heart.

• Do not let it happen again. If you experience another blackout, then learn from it. Remember the fear, anxiety, and helplessness of not being able to overcome the mental block. Let it serve as a reminder that you could have studied more. Every time you find yourself about to procrastinate, remember what it felt like not to know such a simple answer.

• Conquering fear. Overcoming a mental block is really about conquering fear. Fear is what causes this baffling state in the first place—fear of failure, fear of disappointing your elders. Fear and anxiety may cause you to doubt yourself. The mental block is the manifestation of the notion that you do not know the answers and will fail. However, if you have enough confidence in yourself, those fears will not confound you.

 

The Challenge of Reading

Most people find reading an enjoyable hobby. Some, however, find it a challenging task. The thought of sitting for hours reading a book, especially with no pictures, scare some people. They just find it boring.

As students, we are expected to read books and handouts for our lessons. Some teachers even ask us to read additional materials to further enhance our learning. Students who usually have a hard time reading for their lessons have a harder time keeping up in class because they mostly rely on class discussions. Some just scan the selections for the most important information. Though some find this effective for exams, it does not guarantee retention. Therefore, the learning aspect is affected.

The ability to enjoy reading is not a talent. Reading novels may be different from reading handouts but there’s no reason for you not to enjoy both. A good trick to enjoy reading is doing it when you’re bored. Try it during your free time when you’re most likely to get engrossed with what you’re reading. If you find reading pure words boring, you can look for similar references with illustrations and pictures. The Internet also has interactive and comprehensive reading materials you can enjoy. Be resourceful and open-minded. If you stop thinking that reading is boring and tiring, you will actually find a great way to spend time. Also, start small. If you’re just trying it for the first time, don’t overwhelm yourself with thick books. Instead, begin with thin novels. In time, you will find yourself reading and reading more.

 

Working Students

The past week saw thousands of students troop back to school. For some families, unfortunately, education is no longer a priority. In order to continue their education, some students end up working, most of them augmenting their family’s funds as well.

Working while studying takes the difficulty of both tasks to the next level. As a student, the time allotted for studying is lessened. One’s concentration is divided. Studying alone is very tiring, and working heightens the stress level of the student. He may need to sleep less and spend less time on recreation.

If not for proper time management, one’s grade and health may easily go down the drain. The working student will have to create a well-thought of schedule and follow it dutifully.

On the other hand, working while studying is much better than not studying at all. Some look at working as a challenge, not a problem. It is a gift given to the student for him to continue his studies.

Working teaches the student the importance of money and the concept of budgeting since he has already experienced how hard it is to earn. At the same time, it prepares him early for the real world after college. This goes to show that although there maybe hindrances, the dream of having a degree is not at all impossible.