Transitions For the College Bound Student

Are you a senior in high school about ready to make the transition to college? Are you completely excited yet also incredibly terrified of what will happen? If so, take comfort in the fact that you are not the only one experiencing the ups and downs of transitioning to college. Most likely, all your friends are right there with you!

Being in college means something different for everyone. Maybe college means new opportunity, new friends, and a new life experience. Maybe college is a way to get away from your family that you don't get along with, or maybe college is the next step in your passion for learning. Transitioning to college brings multiple meanings and multiple emotions, not only for you, but also for your friends and family that have watched you grow and become ready for the college transition.

Your parents, most likely, make different meaning of your transition than you do, and your friends may have different ideas about why they want to go to college and what they want the summer to look like before everyone goes their separate ways. Regardless of meaning you may find yourself asking questions like "Will I like my major? What happens if I don't do well in what I love to do? What if I don't know what I want to do? Am I wasting time because I don't know what I want to do for the rest of my life?"

My encouragement to you is to allow yourself to ask these questions and really begin exploring your passions. The transition to college brings multiple other transitions like discovering who you are apart from your family and friends, discovering your talents that you didn't know existed, and learning how to manage your time without a teacher reminding you of your responsibilities. Some new college students learn how to manage money for the first time or do laundry all by themselves. The move to college is more than changing location, it's about learning, growing, and discovering the uniqueness of you. Below, you will find suggestions on how to make this transition easier.

1. Allow yourself to be nervous or confused. The college atmosphere is much different than your home atmosphere and it will take time to adjust and settle into a new routine.

2. Try new things during your first months at school. What you loved growing up and what you were good at during high school is not necessarily what you will want to do forever. Be adventurous and discover what else you love.

3. Do something because you want to, not because you think it would make your family proud or your friends happy, but because it will make you happy.

4. Be curious about the person you want to become. College is about developing a new identity or solidifying the identity you already have. Don't be afraid to notice the changes in yourself.

Because the transition to college and the first months at college bring increased emotion and chaos, I encourage you to speak with a counselor about your experience. If you notice that you are having difficulty making the transition during the summer or find yourself completely lost once you have arrived at college, make an appointment with a counselor in your area. The Lotus Group has many counselors who were once in your position and can help bring stability and insight to your transition. Give us a call at 595-5555 to schedule an appointment. We would love to speak with you.

While Douglas Scott continues to work on his psychology degree he finds therapy to be most beneficial. For more information on Indianapolis therapy visit LotusGroup.biz

Mind Mapping and Note Taking Strategies For Exam Revision

Definition of Mind Mapping
Mind mapping involves the use of a Mind Map to represent ideas and concepts in a visual form where the central theme or topic is located at the centre of the mind map and subtopics are arranged around a central keyword or idea.

Mind Maps are considered one of the most effective note taking strategies and a number of different mind mapping software tools exist to facilitate the creation of mind maps.

Why create Mind Maps
Mind mapping is the most effective way of learning, generating new ideas, summarizing and organising information you want to recall. Mind maps can also facilitate creativity, problem solving, decision making and the generation of new ideas.

They are a great tool when revising for exams as they enable you to see how the different topics and concepts are associated and provide visual cues which are great for quickly reviewing a subject before an exam and recalling information that would normally be lost from your long term memory.

How to create a Mind Map for revision
Lets say you want to use Mind Mapping to revise for an exam. It is a good idea to first determine how much knowledge of the subject you already have. This will help when you want to build upon that knowledge later by developing associations and connections from the knowledge you have already gained.

Obtain a large sheet of paper and write down the subject or topic you are revising for at the centre of the sheet. Then write down the main subtopics related to that central topic by creating branches moving out from the central keyword. Add sub- branches to these subtopics containing keywords or short phrases summarizing key ideas that you can recall from memory and try to see how the different sub-topics and elements are associated.

You should avoid the temptation to write in sentences. Linear note taking uses this method and it is very ineffective for recalling important information. Try to include no more then 4 words when summarizing an idea or concept. If you can sum up an idea with one word then that is even better. Use plenty of colour and images to make key topics stand out with larger writing and images for the main topics that are nearer the centre of the Mind Map and smaller writing and images for those on the outside of the Mindmap. This will help your mind to visually organize the key topics from the sub-topics.

When you believe you have recalled as much of the topic as possible then speed read books related to your subject so that you can quickly determine the different categories that the topic is composed of. Don't forget to look at the content pages of the books to get a broad summary of the different sub-topics and elements of the subject you are studying. This will help you to focus on the most important information when reading the subject in greater detail.

Prioritise those books that provide the most valuable information you require for passing the exam and read those books in depth.

Now add more detail to your Mind Map by adding branches and keywords and phrases after reading each category or section. These keywords or phrases should encapsulate the main ideas and sub-topics.

This will aid in recalling the information you have just read, will help to maintain important knowledge in your long term memory and will greatly assist when reviewing the subject before the exam.

Don't forget to keep adding to your Mind Map after gaining knowledge that you consider important for the exam. Your Mind Map should become larger over time and more branches should be created moving even further from the central topic. Your Mind Map should become more detailed so make sure you use a large sheet of paper. Keep reviewing your Mind Map every few days to reinforce the information you have learned.

When you get closer to the exam you should be able to recall in detail the knowledge gained by glancing at your Master Mind Map which should now contain a detailed summary of an entire subject or topic.

The images will greatly assist in recalling information at a glance and the Mind Map itself will help you to see how all the elements and sub-topics are associated and ordered. The mind works best via association and images.

When the mind can get a broad perspective of a subject and can understand how the different topics are associated and ordered this is the most effective method for learning and recalling information. Also the images give more mental 'hooks' for the mind to latch onto and so aid in recall.

Good luck with your exams. However if you have taken my advice you wont need it.

Ashley is a Mind Mapping researcher who has just started a blog to educate people on the benefits of Mind Mapping and is a keen user and promoter of Mind Mapping software