Quote:
Originally Posted by Gaius
And, Quiet, that's another problem; I read and write very slowly. The 700-word journal entries I've been writing for my education psychology class have taken upwards of four hours to do. Is there any way to train that skill, I wonder?
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That is just practice unfortunately. The more you do it, the better you get. I've taken lots of writing intensive courses, keep journals, and write for fun, so I can adapt pretty easily to skimpy or large word counts, though it doesn't always guarantee a good mark, especially if the teacher knows you are being unneccesarily wordy or skimpy.
One thing that I found that helped was to break an assignment down into tiny pieces. For instance, for your 700 word journal, break it down into things you want to talk about, or half to, and then divide the word count by the topics. It's still the same number, but I always found it easier to write 150-200 words on four specific topics than 700 words on one general one. If you find yourself going overcount on one topic, then you know you have some leeway to undercut another.
One thing that is always good to know is how particular your teaher is. When he or she asks for a 700 word thing, do they want 701, or can you get away with 675?
Never really thought of myself as having many routines but there were things that I'd do each day that keep the stress level managed. The trick is to know how much "routine" you can stand. It's one thing to day "some time today I need to read 20 pages of
Frankenstein" and another to designate a specific time slot to do it in.
Also, as annoying as it can be, sometimes one has to prioritize and just accept that some stuff is just not going to get done. I took several courses on novels that averaged about 5 novels each. I read, on average, 3 and 5 for each. 'I'm sorry sir, I love your course, but this Anthropolgy paper worth 40% of my grade is more important than reading the entirey of
Brave New World.'
Of course I should add that these tricks and things helped for me because I am aware that when I'm am stressed, the best way to relieve it is to do something productive. If that means spending the next five hours grinding my way through a textbook then so be it. The best de-stresser ever was to have my homework or school for the day done with time enough to do something before going to bed.