No, I haven’t started doing more hw for school or working harder in APUSH, though either would be good. It’s not school studying I’m talking about; it’s actual learning.
And boy does it feel good.
As of late, I’ve been stuck in more and more academic ventures. Recently, I’ve been pushing for more and more contest comp sci practice, and I, personally, have developed tremendously by, no offense, getting out from under DNev’s wing of all encompassing awesomeness. Don’t get me wrong: I like having someone around like him, covering my butt, but it’s quite a bit more fufilling to do it for myself.
I also undertook the goal of getting a 5 on the AP psychology test, without ever taking the class, since psych happens to be in the field I’m pursuing, and I’m not seriously loaded on APs ‘neways. Armed with my sister’s college-lvl pysch book, a borrowed Princeton Review book, and a Barron’s, I’ve been barreling through that stuff. I always though that reading textbooks and stuff was boring, just the work of a true academic without a life. Well, I might have sacrificed my life doing this, but it hasn’t been half as bad as I expected. Unlike almost any class I’ve taken, I’ve actually taken deep interest in this. Unlike classes like History or Math, the stuff I’m reading matters, and I can apply it and understand it in an everyday sense. And it doesn’t hurt that psych doctorates happen to understand the process of learning better than most, and can write pretty damn good textbooks.
UIL academics is also coming up, and with 3 events, I’ve got a fair share, though not at all overwhelming, of work to do. With another year in the pocket, I’m feeling really confident at our chances of doing really well, and I’ve been doing practice tests and reading up to build up those skills as well.
I must admit, I’ve never understood the whole learning thing before. A lot of what I’ve done in the past has been quite boring. There never really was a motivation to learn, either from school (which is totally failing us in that sense) or from extracurricular forces. When I watched DNev read textbooks and go home and study last year, I was totally like “wtf”, but now that I’ve had a chance to actually learn (real learning, not the crap the school tries), it’s been absolutely incredible.
So, just like most of my posts, I’ll offer you a challenge: put away your video games, tv, and other distractions and take a chance and learn. You don’t know until you try, and i guarantee, you haven’t done it before.
On a completely unrelated note, we’re playing football on friday, at the practice fields right after school. EVERYBODY come, and brg 10 of your best friends to play as well. No exceptions.
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