Contents:
Taking a break.
Due to a multitude of events in my life, I’m going to be taking a break from writing new posts for a while.
I’ll still be replying to comments, and if anyone asks me a question I may write a post to answer them, but aside from that, I’m going to take a break from Xatal for a bit. It could be a week or a few months.
Most Popular Posts
Statistics for February 2010
- Once again, funny Google searches leads the way with about 25% of visits and about 21% of search traffic. This is pretty cool, and I just realized that that post is the top search result for those words. Awesome!
- A good 8% of traffic has gone to college dorm necessities. I’m a bit surprised that people are looking for dorm supplies in February — maybe students are transferring?
- Search engines gave me 83% of my traffic. StumbleUpon provided about one thousand hits, but really this isn’t that much and referring sites haven’t been a big part of Xatal for a while.
- Xatal had its second guest post this month. Guest posts are awesome, and if you would like to write one, go ahead and contact me!
All in all February was another pretty average month here.
Now for a poll!
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
Readers of this post also liked...
March 4th: Strike for Education
Earlier in the year, I wrote about protests at the UC campuses due to the huge increase in student costs. Since then, these protests have died down a lot, but they are still ongoing in small ways at various campuses.
However, coming up next Thursday is an event planned at all campuses: a nationwide strike for public education. I know mass protests will be ongoing at the UC and CSU campuses, but these protests are open to all levels of education across the country.
I’m not entirely sure what to expect on March 4th for California campuses, but I am hoping it will be big and will resonate. I expect students to occupy buildings, as they did earlier in the year, and that will inevitably create a lot of tension. I’m expecting some faculty to join in the protests, and many UC/CSU workers. I expect the chancellors to try hard to scale it down and make them look like victims, as usual. All in all, I expect normal university life to be completely disrupted that day.
I’ll do my best to give an overview of what happened the following day (and continues to happen, since if buildings are occupied it will surely last into the next day).
More information about March 4th can be found here.
Readers of this post also liked...
Common file formats in college and how to open them
While you’re in college, professors may require you to open specific files to read, do homework, and to study. If you are unable to open these files, you’ll be in big trouble.
A “PDF” is marked by the file extension “.pdf”. These files are all over the Internet and are very common in college. FoxIt Reader will open them for you. You might also try Adobe Reader, though FoxIt is a bit faster.
The file extensions “.doc” and “.docx” are Microsoft Word files. Although Microsoft Word will open these files, Microsoft Word is not free and so many may not have it. Open Office is free and will open these files. Only Microsoft Office 2007 and newer can open “.docx” files, so if you are unable to open one, try using this online converter to convert it back to “.doc”.
Alternatively, you could download the free Word Viewer program from Microsoft, which will open .doc and .docx (you just won’t be able to edit it). You may also need to download the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack.
DJVU, pronounced “deja-vu”, are an open-source alternative to PDF files, but are much more rare. To open a “.djvu” file, use WinDjView (or MacDjView, offered on the same page).
PowerPoint Files! “.ppt” designates a PowerPoint file. As with .doc and .docx, you could use Microsoft Office, but Open Office works just as well for free.
These are just common image files, and your computer should be able to open all of these without trouble: “.jpg”, “.jpeg”, “.gif”, “.bmp”. However, if you’re having trouble, IrfanView can open pretty much anything.
What are some common file formats you come across every day?
Readers of this post also liked...
Should I buy my high school yearbook?
I noticed in high school that, for many students, yearbooks are either something to get every single year, or not at all. Some students buy a yearbook no matter what, but others completely refuse every year. Students always are told, “you’ll want a yearbook to look back on!”, but being young it’s hard to actually decide if that’s true or worthwhile.
Why buy a yearbook?
Having a yearbook is a cool way to be able to look back on the year. Looking back at pictures of yourself and your friends at different points in your lives can be pretty fun, and a great way to reminisce.
Plus, having friends sign your yearbooks is always fun. It’s cool to see what people have to say about you.
Why not buy a yearbook?
The main reason that I can see is the cost. For many high schools, yearbooks can cost over $50, and some cost $100. Granted, you’re (usually) buying a quality album, but this is still a hefty price tag for many high school students.
Usually, there are ways to help cut the cost. Many schools will fluctuate the price of yearbooks — you may be able to buy it for less if you reserve it far in advance, or perhaps at the beginning of the next year, when there are leftover yearbooks the school is trying to get rid of.
For other students, yearbooks just generally aren’t appealing at the time, for whatever reason. I asked friends who didn’t buy yearbooks why they decided not to, and they said, “I hate high school and don’t want to remember it”, “It doesn’t seem worth it to me”, or even “I just don’t care”.
How about buying the yearbook my senior year?
Buying a yearbook for all four years of high school may be a bit unnecessary, but I would strongly recommend buying your yearbook in your senior year.
After your senior year, you’ll never most of your classmates again. Their autographs and pictures in your yearbook are as good of a way as any to remember the people you used to see every day. Plus, yearbooks usually focus primarily on the seniors, with large sections devoted to sports, clubs, senior sendoffs, and just general pictures of the leaving class. It’s the one year that the yearbook is most about you.
Whether or not you buy one is up to you (and if you can afford it), but I strongly recommend buying at least one yearbook while you’re in high school — and of course I recommend it being during your senior year. I would say the other three yearbooks are much more optional.
How much am I going to use my yearbook?
A yearbook isn’t something you’re going to casually look through several times a week, but rather something you stumble upon once every several years and take a glance through. You might open it to reminisce about high school, to try to remember that one kid’s name, or even to show your children what you were like when you were a pesky teenager.
I’ve been out of high school several years and I’ve glanced at my old yearbooks a few times — sometimes to see if I recognize a name, to see how old friends used to look, or to read some old autographs. I’ve seen roommates who brought their yearbooks to college, where the yearbooks were a great way to break the ice and to get to know each other better from the beginning. For me, my old yearbooks are a good way to occasionally revisit the better times of high school.
How do you feel about yearbooks?
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
Readers of this post also liked...
How do I improve my GPA in college?
Your grade-point-average (GPA) in college is still a very important statistic. Many employers will look at your GPA before deciding whether or not to hire you, and graduate schools will definitely look at your GPA before deciding whether or not to admit you. It’s important to have as high of a GPA as you can get by the time you graduate college.
If you calculated your GPA and you don’t think you have a good GPA, you should definitely consider trying to raise it, no matter what year you are in your studies. If you’re a freshman, keep in mind that it feels a lot easier to maintain a decent GPA than it does to bring a low one up. If you’re near graduating, every bit can help out, and raising your GPA a tenth of a point could still make a pretty big difference.
Raising your overall GPA
Because your GPA is based only on the grades that you earn in college, there’s only one way to raise it: get better grades. If your GPA is around a 2.2, then any grade that counts for more than 2.2 points (a C+ or higher), will help increase your GPA. Vice versa, any grade that counts for less than your GPA will lower your GPA (if you have a 2.2, a C or lower will hurt you).
Any grades that are way above (or below) your GPA will make a much bigger change — an A will raise your GPA much more than a B. And any grades that are pretty much the same as your GPA will keep your GPA where it is. To improve your GPA, you need as many of the best grades that you can get.
This is pretty straight-forward and obvious, but how you go about getting better grades can definitely vary. The key to raising your grades isn’t just “get better grades”, but to identify why your grades are low in the first place. Take a minute to think and ask yourself, “what is the major reason my grades are low?”
“I’m taking really hard classes”
If you’re in a tough major, you have been (and will be) taking challenging classes all throughout college. Even when you do your best, these classes might still be so hard that you can’t earn the grades you want. Over time, your GPA will show this, and you might find yourself struggling to improve it.
The solution is simple — take easier classes. This can be tough, depending on how you have your classes planned out over the years, but if you can at all make room or time to take some easier classes, you should do it. Simple general education classes in subjects you’re strong in (or interested in) can make a big difference. It’s easy to get at least a B (if not an A) in many of these classes, since you’re already used to working hard in your current classes. The more classes like this you can find room for, the more your GPA will show it.
“I don’t have enough time to do well in every class!”
Some of us are just busy. If you have a full course load and are struggling to have enough time to keep up with it for whatever reason, you have a couple options.
For one, you could try just taking some less-demanding classes — ones that don’t require you to put so much time into them. That way, you can prioritize your schedule and give more time to the harder ones.
If that doesn’t work, considering taking fewer classes — drop a class that you don’t need and don’t replace it. This will free up time for you because you’ll have one less class to worry about. The catch here, though, is that since you’re taking fewer classes, your GPA won’t change as much as if you were taking a full load. However, 4 A’s are a lot better than 5 C’s, so it’s definitely still an option. Keep in mind that you may need a certain number of units to be a full-time student.
“I’m just not trying hard enough to do well.”
If you’re not applying yourself, then don’t be surprised that your grades aren’t what you want them to be. You need to buckle down and start trying, otherwise your grades will never improve. That’s going to take will power, and you’re going to need to muster it up.
In the meantime, a lot of the same advice works here as well — try to take easier classes and try to gradually learn to apply yourself.
Recovering from a low GPA can take a lot of time, but if you keep at it and find the best way to improve it, it can be done.
Readers of this post also liked...
Statistics for January 2010
- Search engines provided a whopping 82% of traffic this month.
- A solid 20% of these searches were for funny Google searches. For how many people search for it, I’m surprised that post hasn’t been Stumbled or something. The other big keywords were the usual, “college dorm checklist” and “fantastic contraption solutions”. I can see that we’re getting close to prom season because more people are searching for how to ask a girl to prom.
- Google Searches were similarly the most popular post, bringing in about 25% of traffic.
- With about 21,000 visits in all, January brought the most traffic I’ve seen since October, which is pretty good considering I haven’t written much.
- There’s still that interesting pattern of traffic dropping every Saturday. I guess there is a lot of truth to the idea: “sell something on eBay Sunday night.”
And, how about a new poll?
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
Readers of this post also liked...
5 Reasons you Fail to Make the Grades you Desire
Jay Willingham writes a college advice blog at CampusByte. His site’s main aim is to help people develop Study Skills by incorporating new technology.
Are you the type of person who starts every semester with that little promise to yourself – “I’m going to make this my best semester ever!” Do you start the semester strong, get lazy during the middle then cram when it comes time for finals? Maybe you’re the type of person who feels like they do everything right but just can’t seem to make the grades they desire.
If you can relate to any of the above questions then this article is for you. Most students start the semester strong because they have a fresh slate to work with. Then, as the semester drags on, apathy kicks in and students loose sight of their goals.
In this article I want to address the 5 main reasons students fail to make the grades they desire. I hope these points help you see where you might be going wrong.
1. Not Believing in Yourself
The first step to achieving your goals is having confidence. I cannot stress how important this is. If a bad test grade discourages you or you accidentally sleep in and miss an important class, you can’t give up.
Some of my worst grades in college came from not believing in myself. I remember I took a class my freshmen year called “History of Print Media”. Sounds interesting right? Well it turned out to be one of the worst grades I’ve ever received, not because the class was hard but because I didn’t believe I could write a 12-page research paper. I doubted myself, and I ended up with a bad grade because of it. Since then I’ve written several papers of that length and many of them were longer.
If you start doubting yourself, take a step back and think about how important your goals are. Remind yourself that the only thing preventing you from achieving your goals is yourself. If you can’t prepare yourself mentally then you will never have the confidence to make the grades you want when the going gets tough.
Home
