Improving Academic PerfORMANCE

Learn how to improve yourself through targeted learning and improved study skills.

Posts about ACT/SAT study skills:

How to Boost Your Reading Comprehension

readingcomprehension.jpgReading comprehension is one of those critical skills that you use on a daily basis. Many may think that simply reading will help strengthen their reading comprehension skills, but that isn’t necessarily true. Reading comprehension goes beyond reading and understanding the words that make up a sentence. Reading comprehension involves deciphering the topic and purpose of the sentence, paragraph, or article at hand. Without reading actively -- that is reading, remembering, and analyzing what you’ve read -- your reading comprehension skills won’t improve very much. So, how can you learn to read actively? Take a look at the tips and strategies listed below to learn how to read actively.

Finding Your Inspiration

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In a previous article The Underestimated Power of Practice, we talked about the power of practice when considering what makes someone an expert in any given subject.  We explored the idea that genes aren’t as essential as we tend to believe, that an incredible amount of concentrated practice is a much better determinant of future success.  We argued that talent is overrated, and practice is underrated.  We talked about a rule that researchers on performance have developed – you may need to spend 10,000 hours practicing intensely and deliberately to become a world-class athlete, musician, or mathematician.

10,000 hours.  10,000 hours of ‘deep practice’ seems to be the rule to live by when desiring to become a world-class expert at something.  When you begin to really consider that, it’s overwhelming.  Now, you of course don’t need to spend 10,000 hours to build certain types of skills for specific events.  It either isn’t necessary, or isn’t practical.  But, the point is that you need to spend a lot of really intense, focused time practicing and pushing yourself to improve.  

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