Any tips for suceeding in school, or useful academic websites?

[DoctorDizzy]

Hi!!

I'm in college right now, and it's going great.
I still find that I have trouble focusing on things and getting things done, though.I already uninstalled a lot of distracting apps, I blocked distracting websites using LeechBlock... But I still really struggle to focus and turn stuff in on time.

Does anyone have any tips for how to focus in school? Or alternatively, does anyone have any cool educational links? I would really love to see them!

I'd also love to hear about your school experiences!

[Memory]

Honestly, I think the biggest thing is getting into the mood. Reminding myself that I actually like the thing I am studying. Making myself a coffee and preparing a clean and well lit work environment. Focusing on the "academia aesthetic" and how proud I'd be of myself for being a "scientist". Those mostly get me in the mood.

If not, I just promise myself to work on one thing for a few minutes only. Usually starting is the hardest part and continuing comes naturally.

It sounds like hippie "mindset" garbage, but it's true for me at least.

[wris]

I haven't personally read this, and I was out of University by the time I discovered the author, but I'm a big fan of Cal Newport. He's a Comp Sci professor at an American college (among other things), and he wrote a book called How to Win at College that might be of interest.

[Corrupted Unicorn]

Never be afraid to ask questions! Teachers love to see people showing interest. If you still don't understand a thing, as for an example!

[Memory]

I'd recommend not using any spell-checking while writing long texts (that's only useless distraction). And the right music. For me, that would be high-power Eurobeat to write faster. I'd say listening to long 3-hour-podcasts about a personal liked topic also helps to increase the attention span. And also take it easy. Whipping it through in 3 years versus easy time in 4 years with plenty of room for awesome activities aside studying, nah, which way do you prefer?

Also, learn how to deal with failures. They will happen, without a doubt, in school, in university, in business. Unfortuneatly no recipe for that. I race bicycles, so going forward is always the natural thing implanted in the mind, even after falling down. But that's just one of many sports to learn this important lesson about how to get up after a failure...

[worldwidewar]

Something I do that I never hear anyone recommend is listening to your own essays / papers with TTS. It personally helps me with knowing whether or not I sound too weird from a third person point of view.

[DiamondPetals]

Just out of curiosity since I'm not in school anymore, but can a program like Turnitin detect plagiarism when you have your work from ChatGPT?