Achieving Balance in The New Term

Many, many moons ago, I wrote an article here on Gearfire about balance being the key to success as a student. One thing I never really went over though, is how to achieve that balance. I was young, and didn’t really know what to say on the topic. So, I spent many, many hours over the past many, many moons, doing my own personal research on how one goes about walking the middle path. At this point, I’d say that...

This is the Music You Should Really Be Listening T...

Don’t get me wrong- I also enjoy having Lil’ Wayne and Kesha in the background while I study. But let’s all be honest with each other- anything on a top 40 countdown is not conducive to major academic accomplishments. It’s been scientifically proven that the best music to listen to while studying is classical baroque music. I know it’s scientifically proven, because I read it on Wikipedia. True...

WolframAlpha: A new tool for online research

Ever student knows that they can go to Wikipedia for an overview of a subject, that they can go to Google for a wide variety of perspectives and popular media,  Google Scholar for academic journal references, and Google Books for searching within books, both current and obscure.  The new Google Squared even organizes output into a table of key concepts to help you organize your research. But there is a key weakness to all...

Exam Prep for the Visual Learner

  I have 2 weekend, 3 weeks and 3 blue Post-Its until my first exam. Yes- 3 blue Post-Its. See: My first exam is the first blue blue Post-It in the third row, and there are three blue Post-Its before it. The green Post-Its are the weekends I have to study (far right), and the yellow ones are days where I don’t currently have any event scheduled that will require my mental or physical energy. (I apologize for the...

7 Essential iPhone Apps for Students

As I’ve always said, one of the things that makes students a unique breed is the perpetual state of mobility we’re in. Whether we’re going to class, parties or the library, our time spent in one place is often limited. That’s why the mobility of our productivity is so important- we have to be able to bring our lives with us as much as possible. For many people, that used to mean owning and carrying...

Don’t Buy Paper- Just Print It

Though more and more of what we do on a daily basis is being moved online, most people still have significant use for paper. It’s the standard for turning in assignments, taking notes, and the like. Paper is becoming unnecessary in more and more places, but it’s impossible to avoid the event of needing and using paper. Sorry, trees. Paper can be a pain, though. Graphing paper, lined paper, dot paper, music...