An inherent flaw of the iTunes store, and apps in particular, is that your only indication of how good or bad an app might be is the reviews left by users – who are mostly lazy, and likely won’t leave one unless they have a problem. So I bought way too many of them, and can now provide you with the dirt on several really good iPad note-taking apps, including the good, the meh and the “WTF?!”

This week I’ll be posting in-depth reviews of SoundNote, CourseNotes, LiveNote and a couple other iPad apps that a college student may want to consider. I can already tell you that which app you want depends on the type of class you’re in, as well as how important “prettyness” and exportability are to you.

One last note –  these posts are from the perspective of and iPad-only student. I have no iPhone or sexy Mac to sync, so the ability to get notes into an XP machine definitely matters.

Recently I noticed that when I sit down at the computer to do those things I keep finding myself on Twitter, Facebook, Lifehacker or CNN.

I briefly toyed with the idea of banning those sites on my computer (they make software for it, I’m sure) and more old-fashioned methods, like snapping myself with a rubberband when I visited them.

My new solution is simple, practical and totally easy to implement.

1. Turn off the toolbars that distract – especially Delicious and the built-in Bookmarks bar for your browser. If you don’t have a quick link to Twitter you have to do more than click a button to visit.
2. Google search is often not your friend. It’s so easy to run off to lose time by using it. So, type in the box, all in caps “STAY FOCUSED ON (COURSE NAME)”
3. Open a text file and save it as “GetBacktoStudying.txt” – whenever you want to check something on Google or have an idea un-related to your current course type it in there and save it.

None of these things actually stop you from “being bad” – but they all make you pause a few seconds longer and have actually made a huge difference in how focused I am. The third one has been especially helpful, as it’s saved me from doing pointless research – what was so pressing while I was studying cell biology is of no interest several hours later when I could be going out for a bike ride instead.

* To turn off toolbars in FireFox just go to View > Toolbars and click the name of the one  you want to turn off. Easy as pie.

Image Credit: CarrotCreative / CC BY 2.0

This next step is something you should probably do weekly. For the rest of this week you’re going to plan 1-3 hours of studying per evening. On your “weekend” days you can schedule up to 6 hours of studying, but don’t make it all one block. In fact, schedule a big block later that night or right in the middle of the afternoon to go out with friends or play video games until you pass out.

What order should you do things? I’ll discuss this in-depth in future posts, but I prefer to split studying into 1.5 hour blocks. It’s enough time to get really into a topic, but not enough to make you start mumbling gibberish. It’s also important to separate similar topics – don’t study Dev Bio and then move on to studying for it’s accompanying lab. That doesn’t count as switching topics.

The most important thing to remember is to start each study session with the the subject you like the least. The closer it gets to bed time the easier it is to stop early, and if you always put your least favorite class in that spot you always will. We can be very kindergarten-esque, so sometimes we have to trick ourselves this way.

Before I let you go start scheduling, we have a short object lesson:
If the only free time left to you each day is between the time you leave work at 5 and going to bed at 10 you will only have 3 hours to study. “Your math is silly! Are you drinking while you blog, woman?!” you cry out. Well, I am enjoying a cup of tea, but the point is that there is more to your evening than five hours of studying.

It’s 5 o’clock and you’ve left your last class or work or whatever.
- 30  minutes to walk/bike/drive home
-1 hour to make food, eat it and chill out (yes, you need to relax)

Now it’s already 6:30. You study until 9:30.  Three solid hours, ignoring the 5-10 minute break between subjects. I know you took one, shhh. Now go and take 30 minutes to de-stress your brain so you can actually fall asleep.

Sound unproductive? Oh yeah.

You need to do several things over the next week to cure this madness. Let’s get started!

1. Scheduling – you need to know when the exams and due dates are for the next month. This step is insanely depressing. I prefer Google Calendar, but pencil & paper work, too.
2. LEAVE YOUR DORM/APT/HOUSE. For three hours. You can spend this time with friends, go on a bike excursion or see a movie. Avoiding meltdown is critical, and that requires blowing off steam. However, do not exceed the three hours. This is not a free day to forget your cares – this is a long lunch break.
3. If you haven’t already, get your work and class schedule for the upcoming week(s) into your calendar, too. You now know what daylight hours are free to be used to get caught up.

Wednesday we’ll figure out how to sanely fill up that time, and let you have a semblance of a life, too!

• It fits in my pocket, courtesy of Blackberry syncing.
• It lets me plan study schedules, then entirely re-arrange them the day of via drag-and-drop.
• It sends me email reminders, so I never forget to do that weekly online quiz and get all my assignments turned in on time.

But the best part? It allows you to create multiple calendars, and change their colors. I have a calendar for Classes, Assignments Due, Upcoming Exams and Study Time. I share my husband’s calendar, so I know when he’ll be home and can juggle homework time to be able to have dinner with him most nights.

Google Calendar, you are my pal.

Now it’s nearly midnight on Tuesday, and I have an OCHEM exam on Monday. I also have not even started payroll at work, which is usually done by the time I leave Tuesday evenings, and promised to have scripts for tutorial videos ready and waiting for the “film” crew by 10AM tomorrow.

Long story short? I am feeling major burnout and have hit the mid-semester slump.

The mid-semester slump is like a tiny mid-life crisis that occurs only to college students, twice to three times per year. That point when you start to fantasize about signing on to teach English abroad or becoming a yoga instructor on a cruise line. Until you remember you suck at languages and don’t know more than 2 yoga poses. Crap. You don’t want to study, but you can’t rationalize having proper fun… so you stay longer at work or clean the kitchen or lay on the couch and watch 80s movies instead.

It is the worst part of the semester, exponentially worse than finals, which at least give you a shiny beacon of “Oh thank God, it’s almost over!”.

And it has grabbed me by the face like a zombie about to nom my brains.

Why? Because once I skip a class it becomes easy to skip again. And again. Ad nasueum.

On a related note, if you are given a limited number of allowable absences (ie: such as in lab courses or mathematics) hold onto them like precious gems. You are almost guaranteed to get sick when all your friends get back from Thanksgiving break, and you will need every sick day you have to keep from bringing swine flu to your classes.

In closing… no matter how lenient your professor, I advise you resist the urge to skip your class. Else you may find yourself missing an entire week and wondering what you did with your time.

1. Talk to strangers. Introduce yourself to whomever you meet and ask them questions. Try not to talk for more than 30 seconds at a time and ask new people about themselves. This is the core of being charming, and will make people remember you, because you made them feel important, instead of being that jerk who talked about themselves for 10 minutes.
2. Don’t be afraid of your professors. Just go to their office hours and introduce yourself, let them know you stopped by just to be sure you could find their office when you need it. DO IT THIS WEEK.
3. Know your college’s add/drop dates, and if you don’t feel good about a professor DROP YOUR CLASS before the last add/drop date. It sucks to get a W on your transcripts just because you didn’t know the dates. Iffy on one of them? Check RateMyProfessor.com (or something similar) and see if the reviews match that feeling you’re getting.

They’re all in good condition, with only one looking obviously used, like a typical used bookat this university. Each has a bright orange sticker on it, so no worries about accidentally selling a rental book back to your school. In fact, Chegg won over the campus bookstore, as I am *stillI* waiting on a book that I need tomorrow from the school.

They included a pre-paid return label, and directions to just return the books in the same box at the end of the semester. Convenient!  And all the books were the correct editions, as I ordered them.

Will update everyone again at the end of the semester!

As I mentioned yesterday, I have seven books to buy for fall semester – which would total $515 to purchase new from the bookstore, or $419 used. Instead, I only bought one book from the school, because it wasn’t available used anywhere.

The other six were rented from Chegg.com, a textbook rental service. The premise is simple – you find the books you need for class and choose a rental period (I chose the full semester, so I don’t have to return them until December 21st) and then select a shipping method. All your books come to you, you use them all semester and send them back. The advantage is that a rental costs less than buying used. In some cases it is only $10 less, but for two I saved over $30 each on the used price.

There are disadvantages:

• You can’t write in the books
• Although highlighting is okay if you highlight like most college students (ie: every other line) you can’t return the book. However, I learn better by re-writing, so I never write or highlight in my books.
• There is a shipping fee, but for the six books I got the total shipping was $12.74 (to arrive within 4-7 days)

In the end, the total for the six books rented from Chegg and one book purchased from ASU, as well as shipping for both orders, I paid $320.

Total savings compared to buying all used from ASU: $99
Total savings compared to buying all new from ASU: $195