Procrastination

[Displaced]

i cant speak for the whole US schoolsystem, but the 3 or so years i spent in junior high was much easier than the equivalent time spent in the british school system.

maybe it gets harder in college.

[Epinephrine]

But epi, isn't medicine so extreme difficult that you cannot afford any procrastination? I mean I suppose that you have to cram more facts and stuff in your head than most people. For instance, when you learn about the human body, you can't really pick some parts that are important you have to know it all. But when I learn about a business theory of some guy I don't have to know everything the guy said just the important parts, the outlines and then filling it in is logical and stuff.

No you can procrastinate in anything in life. My point was, no matter what it is you do, if you have so much that you cannot possibly procrastinate... then you're not going to unless you actually WANT to fail at what you're doing.

If you're just taking some business course that doesn't require much work, obviously you won't need to do work. There's a ton of things out there that require a lot of hard work. For instance you cannot be a top athlete without endless hours of training. You cannot be a lawyer without studying the law very hard. You cannot be an engineer without doing a lot of work because engineering is generally a very work-filled course of study.

If you personally don't have that much work because what you do is actually EASY, then it will be easy to procrastinate. There's nothing wrong with procrastination as long as you can get what you want to get done with the results that you are happy with. But if you find yourself in a situation where you don't have much work, you procrastinate too much, and you get results below what you would be happy with... my advice is to set some life goals. Figure out why are you in school? Why are you doing the work you are doing? Look at the big picture, set some goals in your life and use that to motivate yourself.

Oh and it helps to break down big tasks into little tasks. For instance if you're writing a paper, make sure you know where to hand it in, make the title page, do the bibliography first. Then do the outlines. Then do the intro and the conclusion. And THEN you can fill it in. By breaking things up into smaller pieces things become more managable.

Another thing I have just recently discovered myself is that sometimes working just a bit harder can reap huge rewards. If say you have a huge exam, and you have a week off (or a weekend) to study. For most people, you can only study so many hours before you are physically drained. My limit is around 7 hours, and then my brain has enough, it cannot take in more information. The old me used to wake up at noon, surf the net until 3pm, then study (with dinner inbetween) until I sleep. Using that method I managed to use an entire day to only do 7 hours of work. But now I've realized that waking up at 9, studying till 5 and then going out at night to have fun has it's merits.

[Galleleo]

Yep, but that doesn't mean that American schools are necessarily easier than European schools. I generally don't study for anything - quizzes, tests, exams, etc. I've never gotten below an A- in any class. Granted, I do do my homework though, so in a way that is kind of like studying.

It would lead me to believe that it is easier, or maybe it's in the grading I don't know, but I can tell you. I am a smart guy, and certainly when it comes to studying I have an advantage over a lot of people I know cause I learn extremely easy, 1 reading of a text and I almost completely know it already. And I have also been in the class with real prodigy's, wonder children or whatever you wanna call them, and never, never have I seen anyone get only 9's or higher. (1 to 10 grading scale, 1 being lowest, 10 highest). I once got a 10.6 because I had every question right and also the bonus, but no way could I have done that everytime if I wanted too. I never really bothered to try, because I don't really care between getting a 7 or a 10, but I know even if I had bothered I wouldn't have been able to do it. And like I said, I have been in the class will real 'geeks' and they never did it either.

And epi, I just meant that with Medicine you don't really have the time to procrastinate. See, I am studying to be a manager eventually, but I feel that most stuff that I need to learn for it, is what I pick up by paying attention and listening to stuff etc, more then cramming 700 pages in my of some book. How I look at it, is that for me it's more important to get the course, understand what the book is about, the ideas, but not knowing exactly everything that is said in the book. While you can't really afford to just get the idea, you need to know everything (human anatomy, diseases, etc.)

[Epinephrine]

It would lead me to believe that it is easier, or maybe it's in the grading I don't know, but I can tell you. I am a smart guy, and certainly when it comes to studying I have an advantage over a lot of people I know cause I learn extremely easy, 1 reading of a text and I almost completely know it already. And I have also been in the class with real prodigy's, wonder children or whatever you wanna call them, and never, never have I seen anyone get only 9's or higher. (1 to 10 grading scale, 1 being lowest, 10 highest). I once got a 10.6 because I had every question right and also the bonus, but no way could I have done that everytime if I wanted too. I never really bothered to try, because I don't really care between getting a 7 or a 10, but I know even if I had bothered I wouldn't have been able to do it. And like I said, I have been in the class will real 'geeks' and they never did it either.

And epi, I just meant that with Medicine you don't really have the time to procrastinate. See, I am studying to be a manager eventually, but I feel that most stuff that I need to learn for it, is what I pick up by paying attention and listening to stuff etc, more then cramming 700 pages in my of some book. How I look at it, is that for me it's more important to get the course, understand what the book is about, the ideas, but not knowing exactly everything that is said in the book. While you can't really afford to just get the idea, you need to know everything (human anatomy, diseases, etc.)

Yeah I know, I agree with you. Which is why it's easy for you to procrastinate :P I like procrastinating myself, I just can't really do it anymore for studying, but I do it for stuff like cooking or doing laundry.



As for schools... it depends what classes you are taking. There is a huge problem with North American schools where one can 'suck up' and get lots of marks. In Ontario where I am, even in high school, you get a lot of marks for 'participation' and for stupid things like making sure your report has a title page when you hand it in. Because of this, it is easy to get high marks if you just try hard enough. But for other classes like math, there is a right and wrong. I assure you, there are people out there who are smart enough to deserve getting 100% in math because they simply get every question right. I don't know how hard your school system is, but for us in Ontario, what we learned in grade 11 was equivalent to what some people learned in first year university at some crappier universities in the US.

For some other classes such as English, History or so on, it is only possible to get high marks if you are a genious, or if the teacher really likes you. Otherwise there aren't enough standardized nation-wide tests to give you a 'fair' grade aside from like the SAT (only in America).

[genocidal]

I doubt the Dutch school system is better than America's. They're probably about the same but it's hard to make calls like that since, in America, there are so many different programs and levels of difficulty of classes (which I'm sure you have in Europe too). I mean I took through calculus 2 in high school but it's possible to only take through algebra 2 if you are in the lowest of the low remedial classes.

[Galleleo]

I am not trying to imply that it is easier or anything. Cause I never went to an American school.. maybe our grading is tougher, I don't know. Take math for example, over here you get points for the right equation for the question, the right answer, etc. So just having the answer right doesn't get you the full points if you don't put anything in how you got to that answer. So you can get every single answer right on a test and still not score a 10 because you didn't have the right equations, or you simply didn't write 'm down.

Basically how the high school system works here: 3 levels, low, mid, high. Low takes 4 years, mid takes 5 years, high takes 6 years. Based on how hard it is etc. First 3 years (or was it 2? I forgot already) are the same for everyone, your basic classes: Math, Geo, History, Dutch, German, French, English, Music, etc. Then you pick one of 4 profiles, first one is mainly language/art with easiest math. Second is economics, geography with a bit harder math, 3rd and 4th one are the Beta courses, biology, nature stuff, etc. With the hard math. Math is divided in A1 A2, B1 and B2. A1 for the first, A1&A2 for the second, B1 for the third and B1&B2 for the fourth. With the possible option of choosing a harder math or some other extra courses. That is the basic Dutch system, it's more of course and stuff, this is just the basic idea.

[genocidal]

If you just put a bunch of answers to difficult math problems you'll probably fail because the teacher will assume you cheated.

[Ewan]

You cannot be an engineer without doing a lot of work because engineering is generally a very work-filled course of study.

Fuck


UPDATE: 3.5k words done, aiming for 8k minimum. Due in Wednesday noon, need it completed Tuesday really as I need to print/bind

UPDATE2 if anyone cares: 5.5k done... doesn't have to be done by Tuesday, just as long as I have it printed by 9am Wednesday morning.