Greeting. “Dear/Hi/Hello [insert name here]” are all appropriate salutations. Avoid “Hey,” as it can come off as a bit informal.

Identify yourself. This should be a no-brainer, but be sure to identify your first and last name. If you’re emailing a professor, let him or her know which class of theirs you are a student of, including its name and the time of day it normally meets.

Be professional. When corresponding with a professor or working professional, it’s best to use your school email account rather than “pizzalover789@ovenmitt.com.” Not only will it be less likely that it will go straight to the junk mail, but you’re inquiry will be taken more seriously. If you haven’t already, set up a professional email for all school and business matters.

Create a signature. You also might want to create a basic signature with your contact information to appear at the end of each of your emails – it should include your first and last name, phone number, and email address.

Stay concise. As you are aware, life can be fast-paced, so get to the point of your email as quickly as possible. The email should be clear and thorough, yet not novel-length.

Always use the subject line. Don’t make the rookie mistake of overlooking the subject line. It’s the first thing the recipient sees, so make sure it’s brief but accurately alludes to the contents of the email.

Double check before hitting Send. When you’re done writing your message, don’t just rely on spell check. Read it out loud to ensure that it makes sense. It will allow you to catch any spelling errors and assess if the tone is right: it should be respectful and friendly, never demanding. Extra Tip: Don’t fill in the “To” field until you are finished proofreading.

Respond in a timely fashion. If you receive an email that requires a response, be attentive and reply as soon as possible. A simple “Thank you, this information is helpful!” will acknowledge that you received the email. Also don’t be afraid to be honest and admit “I’m still not clear on…” if you need further explanation about the matter.

Exercise

Take a break from focusing nonstop on your books, move around, and get fresh air. Try hitting the gym for a quick workout to clear your head. Other than the more obvious health benefits, exercise can affect certain chemical levels in the body that can reduce stress. Regular exercise also releases endorphins, which can boost your mood. So get moving with running, jogging, dance, or yoga. Even walking can give your brain the boost it needs.

Eat Healthy

The key to reducing stress can be as easy as making more nutritious food choices.  Put down the pizza, chips, and energy drinks and instead fill yourself with more fruits, vegetable, and water to give yourself energy and keep your mind sharp.  It might be near impossible, but make an attempt to cut back on caffeine; too much of it might make you jittery.

Sleep

Procrastination and all-night cram sessions pave the way for sleep-deprivation, a common and unpleasant side effect of finals week. On average, students may only sleep three to four hours a night. Make an effort to manage your time to allow for you to study in the daytime and aim to get at least 6-8 hours of sleep to feel well-rested. Come exam time you’ll be ready to think more clearly and creatively.

Catch Up with Family and Friends

Nothing will clear your mind better than taking some time to talk with friends and family about anything unrelated to school. It’s good to take yourself out of the college exam bubble and realize that life still exists outside of finals. Share summer plans with one another or any exciting upcoming events.

Just Smile

Relax by doing activities that you consider fun! Listen to your favorite music, watch funny videos or a movie, play video games, eat a yummy dessert, or any other uplifting activities. The pressure from exams you’ll experience is only temporary, so do your best to stay upbeat and lighthearted.

Re-Prioritize

If you haven’t already, the first thing you must do is get serious about your school work. Part of the reason why students’ grades start slipping is because they lose focus. It’s easy to get distracted by the end of the year approaching and other commitments like clubs and sports, but with a failing grade on the line, you need to re-prioritize and make school your top priority.

Meet with Your Professor

Talk to your professor. This should be at the top of your to-do list. Visit your professor during their visiting hours or try to catch him or her before leaving after class. Discuss your performance on your past tests and assignments and let him or her know that you are aware you haven’t done your best work. Your professor may help you identify what exactly you need to improve upon and can help you work on it. He or she can also recommend tutors who can assist you.

Seek Outside Help

Seeking out a tutor or going to a place that offers essay services, such as a writing center, can help you. A writing center can help you with your essay skills. A tutor that specializes in your subject can help you as well. The library is another good source to work on improving your essay and research skills.

Two Heads are Better than One

You don’t have to work alone on improving your grade. Ask your friends for their help. You can form a study group in your class. The more help you receive, the better chance you have of improving your grade. If you don’t like working independently, working with a group will help you study better.

Go the Extra Mile

If it’s possible, check with your professor to see if there are any extra assignments you can do to earn extra credit. If you did badly on a past exam or essay, ask if you can re-write it for a better grade.

Before you curse your procrastination, we have some tips to help you crank out the rest of those pages.

What Not to Do

You might think your teacher doesn’t know everything, but your teachers do know when you make the font a few sizes bigger, make the margins smaller, or increase the spacing. So don’t take that route. Don’t mess around with long-winded sentences and titles that often detract from your argument. They don’t help you or your paper.

Expand

So, since you can’t think of anything else to write, you’ve probably already written everything you know on your topic. Let’s say the topic is a dog. You’ve written about the dog’s fur, diet, play habits, breed origins, everything. Take these topics and branch out a bit. Yes, it’s a risk to go a little off topic, but sometimes the risk is worth the reward, no? Fluff your topic a bit by talking about why the breed of dog was important to the people who bred it. You can easily elaborate on your ideas for at least a page and then tie them neatly back into how the dog is viewed today. See how that works?

Argue With Yourself

Three more pages and you have no idea where to go. Read over your paper again and pick out your arguments. Then, spend some time thinking about the other sides of the argument. Flesh these out and write about them. By taking other viewpoints into consideration, you not only add length to your paper, but strength to your argument when you refute these other ones.

Minor Stuff

If you really need to, add a few sentences that aren’t quite necessary. Elaborate a little more on minor points that you made. Just make sure that these sentences don’t detract from the flow of your paper.

Conclusion and Intro

A good intro will grab your attention, introduce your topic, and state your argument in a clear and engaging way. Some people find it easiest to write the body of the paper first, and then go back to writing the intro and conclusion. Personally, I like to state my argument (or thesis) first, as it helps remind me what I’m writing about. Pick the way that works best for you. The conclusion might seem daunting, but never fear—it’s a great way to add length with ease. Don’t introduce anything new in the conclusion; it should be a reminder of your points and your original argument. Just reiterate these and there you go!

Ten pages, and it’s only 11:30…just enough time to proofread and send that baby in. Now, that wasn’t that hard, was it?

1. Open Study Mobile

Two words: free tutoring. This mobile app gives students access to free study assistance 24/7.

3. Dictionary.com

Have an essay or paper to write? Keep this free app handy when you search for creative and advanced vocabulary words. This easy to use and lets you double check that you’re using that long word correctly.

2. AnyMemo

This free flashcard app will help you memorize (almost) anything. Download thousands of flashcards in a variety of languages and take sample quizzes to help you get up to speed and prep for tests.

4. Google Drive

On the go? This free app will help keep you organized by allowing you to view and edit homework, notes, and even spreadsheets!

5. NoRedInk

This is a free, teacher-developed, web-based app that was developed to help students avoid common writing and grammar mistakes. EVERYONE can benefit from a grammar lesson or three.

6. GPA & Final Exam Calculator

Sorry, iPhone users. This one is for the Android users out there. This app allows you to input your school’s grading scale and requirements for exams and critical deadlines. An easy way for you to stay organized, and ahead of the curve.

What apps do YOU find useful in helping you get the best education you can? Comment below!

credit: parentsandcolleges.com

When it comes to picking classes, one of the main things students have in mind is time. Not too many students like to have their classes early in the morning because it takes out a chunk of sleeping time. Sure, early bird college students do exist, but for many students, having to take an early morning class feels catastrophic. Here are some tips on how to survive your early morning class.

Go to bed early. I know this may sound a little crazy, but if you can somehow manage to get yourself to sleep even just one hour earlier than your regular schedule, you will be doing your brain and body a huge favor. Going to sleep early might be unheard of to some college students, but there comes a time when you have to. Have a night-owl roommate? Kindly ask them if they would be willing to work quietly after you go to sleep. Or you could always invest in some ear plugs and an eye mask. It’ll take time for your body to adjust to your new schedule, but once it does, you feel less groggy in the mornings.

Eat or drink something in the morning. Grab a cup of coffee or hot tea before class to help make yourself more alert. You may not feel hungry so early in the morning, but a small healthy snack like a granola bar or banana will get your metabolism going and give you the energy you need to concentrate and excel in your morning class.

Sit close to the front. You may be tempted to sneak your way to the back of the class and try to get away with not paying attention and maybe even snoozing, but that won’t help you get a good grade in the class. Push yourself to become involved in the class and stay aware of what’s going on. You can make a good impression with the professor by sitting towards the front of the classroom and participating in class. Being actively involved will also make the time go by much faster as opposed to continuously staring at the clock.

Have the rest of your day planned. As a college student you must always find ways to juggle school and other things, such as work or social activities. If you plan out what you’re doing for the rest of the day after your morning class, you’ll quickly realize that having a class early in the morning opens up your schedule to get a lot of things done throughout the day, whereas having a late class might drain you of such valuable time.

Take a nap. Don’t forget – arguably one of the best things about being a college student – you can always slip a little nap into your schedule later in the day to recharge.

College can be one of the greatest four (or five) year span of young adulthood. When you start out as a freshman, there are so many new things going on, it is sometimes hard to navigate the murky waters of college life. There is certainly no right answer or perfect college experience, but here are three things that I wish I had known as a freshman that may make your time at school a little better!

1. You are in charge. By this I mean, you have the power to create your own destiny. Be proactive with this power and seek out opportunities. I expected my professors to invite me to their office hours if I was having trouble in class. I expected exciting extra-curricular opportunities to land on my doorstep. No such luck. I realized later than I would have liked that it was up to me to take the initiative to contact my professors in order to get to know them and how they thought I was doing. It was up to me to pick an interest and either find a club that I could join or start one if it didn’t exist. I was in charge, and I try to remember that to this day as I live life post-graduation.

2. It’s about the journey, not the destination. College, to me, meant a rigorous new grading system that had to be conquered. I tended to focus on grades instead of engagement in classes. I spent too much time desperately seeking the right answer and not enough time participating in the discussion, discovering the nuances of a topic. As a theatre major, I analyzed my scenes and exercises too rigidly and was afraid to fail. I wish I had known that the point is to fail. Because even if I did everything “right” and got an A++, I wasn’t focused on how I got there. I was just focused on finishing. I wish I had focused on the process.

3. Be honest and open with your roommate. My roommate and I started out as great friends, but it became clear as freshman year rolled on that we were very different people, with very different ideas of what it meant to be friends. In retrospect, we should definitely have had a conversation about expectations and boundaries. Had we been more honest and less passive-aggressive, we might be better friends today. Don’t be afraid to defend yourself and your values, and remember to be open about your roommate’s background and goals.

Check out all the college search and scholarships resources available to you at Cappex and remember that there is no perfect college experience. Do what makes you happy and make your time in school unique!

Photo: americanpreppersnetwork.com

With the semester only a few weeks old, and with the work already piling on, you may already be finding yourself struggling to survive your classes. There is nothing worse than feeling like you can’t pass a class, or wondering if you will ever have free time again, when you’re only just beginning your journey. If you find yourself feeling this way, check out these items you may want to consider gathering for your academic survival kit!

A Calendar or Planner

In order to make it through this semester, and any other tough semester, you’re going to need a way to take control of your work. When you have things planned out, and you know when your papers are due and when your tests are given, you have the power to do something about it!

A List of Tutoring Sessions

Even if you only use a tutor one time, it can be extremely helpful to know at a moment’s notice when sessions are scheduled. Should you find out a day before your exam that you are truly unable to teach yourself something you missed in class, it will be nice to have this resource available to you.

Your Professors’ Contact Info

For the same reason you should have a tutoring session schedule, having your professors’ email addresses already saved into your computer can be very useful in a tight spot! Should you need to schedule an appointment, or should you just have a quick question regarding what you learned in class that day, your professors can get back to you rather quickly!

A Good Place to Study

If your desk chair feels like a pile of bricks, or if your roommate is always watching TV, you’re probably not going to be interested in spending a lot of time focusing on your work. Find a quiet corner on the fourth floor of the library, or a lounge in your residence hall nobody remembers exists, and make this your own quiet study spot.

A Red Bull

Despite how well you plan or manage your time, just about every student at some point finds themselves having to stay up past their desired bedtime to complete an assignment. You don’t want to realize at 1 a.m. that you have a paper due in the morning, and the campus store that houses anything you could have used to charge your brain closed at midnight. Have something stored in your dorm room, like a coffee or energy drink, that could kick start your mind into finishing whatever it is you have to stay up and work on.

A Yoga DVD

Perhaps you don’t need a yoga video per se, but you will need something that allows you to release your stress from time to time!

Counseling Center Information

Many students who visit the counseling center are there for academic reasons. Your college counselors are trained to help students who are feeling overwhelmed or upset about schoolwork. Even if you never actually go, it doesn’t hurt to know where the counseling center is located on campus!

#1: Online banking is your best friend.

Freshman year, I learned that there are many things I could do from the warm comfort of my own bed. Keeping track my bank account was one of them. I wish I’d known from the beginning how great of a resource online banking could be. When you are managing your money for the first time, it is very convenient to have a way to access account information from wherever you can connect to the Internet. Depending on weather conditions, your level of laziness, and the location of the nearest bank or ATM on campus, you may not always be able to make frequent visits and have an idea of where you stand financially. Create an online account with your bank, and you will always be able to make smart spending decisions.

#2: Other people can see your computer screen.

I have quite a few friends who had bad computer experiences freshman year. With the increasing popularity of Facebook and other social media websites, it is always important to remember that others can see what (and more importantly WHOM) you are looking at. You may assume that the people around you are paying attention to what is going on in class or in their studies at the library, but odds are if you are doing your own thing, they probably are, too. Unfortunately, this means they might be taking in their surroundings, including whatever is going on on your computer screen. There’s nothing wrong with checking your Facebook in public, but it’s WHOSE profile you’re looking at that can potentially get you into trouble. It’s impossible to know who around you will have a connection to the face on your screen, and in the small college environment, odds are it will somehow get back to them that you were checking them out.

#3: You don’t always have to be attached to your cell phone.

Building new relationships is one of the hardest parts of starting freshman year. Although you may be used to constantly texting friends on your cell phone, it is definitely a good idea to put it away when you’re out meeting new people. It is not necessary to always be talking to people who are not immediately around you, and you will come off as more interesting and more engaged if your focus is on the conversation you’re having in person instead of the conversation you’re having on your phone.

According to the infographic, multitasking allows for individuals to feel as if they are accomplishing a lot all at once, when in reality, they are only being distracted and delayed from completing any number of tasks in the high quality and time frame it would take to focus on one.

Multitasking as a Student

Students who try to do multiple things at once will find their overall understanding of material and quality of work to diminish, both in class and while studying. Out of all the students who bring their laptops to a lecture, 62% of the web sites they visit will be completely unrelated to class. It is estimated that on average, students will generate 65 different screen windows per lecture! Those who send texts and messages while doing homework are more likely to identify themselves as academically impaired.

Why This Matters: When students are unable to focus on one activity at a time, their production goes down as much as 40%. Instead of saving time, time is being wasted.

Multitasking as an Employee

Students aren’t the only ones trying to get ahead by doing multiple things at once! According to the infographic, those who use a computer at work will be distracted every 10.5 minutes! Of all employees who have a smartphone, 89% of them admit to having used them at work, even though nearly half of all employees believe they have too many things they are trying to do at once as it is!

Why This Matters: It is estimated that with all of the distractions and interruptions that happen over a given workday, employers are losing over two hours from their employees everyday! That adds up to over 546 hours, or 68 days over the course of one year!

Multitasking in Your Personal Life

Would you believe that 67% of those who own a smartphone will admit to checking their texts and emails or surfing the web while they are on a date? Nearly half of all smartphone owners would check their phones at the movies, and while watching TV at home.

Why This Matters: You may be thinking, why does it matter if I multitask at home when it’s my own time that I don’t have to be held accountable for? Take a date for instance. How well are you really listening, or getting to know a person when you’re on your phone? How well are you really relaxing and enjoying a movie if you’re taking the time to email someone?

The Perils of Multitasking

Source: OnlineCollege.org via Mashable.com