Maple Hupkens
Trainer/psychologist. The main topics in which I train students are study techniques, time-management, bullet journaling, speed reading, academic writing and tackling procrastination.
Location Groningen
Activity
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Maple Hupkens replied to Katie Lawty
Hmm yes, that's actually a very nice way to put it. Thanks Katie :)
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Yes, and maybe to add.... even if you cannot complete all of the work, you will still learn a lot from the parts you can complete!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Juliana Ruiz
Nice to see that you would like to apply the growth mindset to planning. Planning is a skill that can be learned by experimenting and learning from failed plans, so considering failed plan to be a sign of a 'not plan person' would be such a shame.... and also totally incorrect :). Good luck with becoming a 'plan person'!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Fernanda Monteiro
I am so exited to hear that Fernanda. Good luck with the course!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Marilia Timm
Great!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Francine D
Good analysis, Francine. Which one of the two realizations is the most important and could be put into action for the next semester? (Or would both be possible?)
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Maple Hupkens replied to William Doyle
I am not sure you can do that via this site. But if you think you have something that could be useful to us, there is a possibility to contact us, by sending me a personal email: i.e.hupkens@rug.nl. Thanks and good luck with doing this course!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Inês C
Wow Inês, that is great!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Alison Thomas
Hmm... yes, that is an interesting one! There is one additional reason why it might be good to have a phone-less reward after (longer) study sessions. When on your phone, reading, watching video, and so on, the thinking parts of your brain are still activated. This is no problem, but you might forget to spend time in another important mode of your brain: The...
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Maple Hupkens replied to Nicholas C
To check the author is an good mindset. It wasn't part of this exercise, but 'in real life', that's an excellent question to start with.
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Maple Hupkens replied to Alison Thomas
What kind of reward do you want to try out?
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Maple Hupkens replied to Rowa'a Osama
So great to hear you've learned something important today Rowa'a. You're welcome!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Inês C
Great Ines! Did you get any results yet? What stood out most in your observations so far?
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Maple Hupkens replied to William Doyle
..... I hope I didn't encourage hours of procrastination by my last comment... ;)
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Maple Hupkens replied to William Doyle
Hahaha. Well, but if you have made a nice template, feel free to share
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Maple Hupkens made a comment
When I read the comments, I conclude that Youtube should be given a prize for being the most distracting website/app out there :)
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Hi Tenetariro, although the information in this video is limited to previewing books and articles, it is actually also applicable for other study materials such as lecture slides. To preview these you would also first try to identify the 'big themes' by skimming/skipping through the slides. You can use visual cues, like the placement, size and boldness of the...
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Maria, thanks for sharing. I like your idea of ending the session by thinking of an easy task to get you started in the next session, which sounds like a brain-friendly way to get yourself back to work.
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Maple Hupkens replied to Harry Lomas
Great to hear! I play the trumpet in a band here in Groningen, I love trombones and other brass as well.
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Maple Hupkens replied to Dave Calver
Ah, I can Image strong sunlight is not an ideal situation either. Hopefully the lockdown gets eased soon, and doing things like getting a new chair gets easier again. Good luck with Week 3 (I saw you are half way already) and Week 4!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Alicia J
Great to hear Alicia. And thanks for your reply!
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Hi Olivia. Yes, unfamiliar words can be very overwhelming. That's why actually this text with difficult words is included. By seeing the explanation video, you can now see how you can do a preview, even when you don't understand the topic yet.
Did it become clear to you how you can do a preview on such a text, when you watched the video "Students discuss...
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Thanks for your quick reply, Marlo. That sounds like hard, but great plan. Please let me know if you manage to do so, and how it works out for you :)
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Maple Hupkens replied to Alicia J
Interesting situation! Normally, indeed, the indents should serve as mini-paragraphs. So they should follow the same rules as paragraphs that are made by an emptly line. However, it could be that the text is quite unstructured and that that makes it extra hard (or impossible) to follow the order of the different mini-paragraphs. Maybe you will get a better...
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Maple Hupkens replied to varada nambiar
Hi Varada, procrastination is always a big problem for students. We have special steps to help you with that in our course. The first start is step 1.17 (Time Management) to 1.19 of this Week 1. Then in Week 2 and Week 3 you will get help by analysing your use of time and by making study plans that help avoiding procrastination. In Week 4 we have several...
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Maple Hupkens replied to Marie Helm
Thanks for your question Marie.
The idea is that with this method, learning a certain amount of knowledge will eventually cost you less time. Although doing 3 steps instead of 1 takes up more time, you will remember more. You make your uptake of knowledge much more efficient. In the same amount of time, you will know more once you've followed the 3 step...
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Hi Marlo, have you thought about what times on the day you actually DO want to check your social media? It might help to allot specific times for it. For example, every morning at breakfast before 10:00, between 17:00 and 18:00 and every evening from 21:00 to 22:00. And subsequently, train yourself not to look at the other times. What time slots would suit you?
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Maple Hupkens replied to Jesskiran Bhatia
That sounds like a very smart plan, Jesskiran. Good luck with studying with the Pomodoro method for Psychology!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Katie P
Hi Katie, good to hear. Which one will you be trying out first? And at what moment?
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Maple Hupkens replied to Aleena Forid
Thanks Aleena! Which one will you try out this week?
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Maple Hupkens replied to Aamina Iqbal
Hi Aamina. Thanks for sharing. Which of those 3 are you going to try out first, and at what moment?
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Maple Hupkens replied to Santosh Bengale
Good to hear. Have you tried it out before? When are you going to use it next?
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Maple Hupkens made a comment
I read many great ideas in the comments. Thanks for sharing!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Thao DT
Excellent T. Thao D. and excellent answer Alicia. In an older book, we would expect to see more emphasis on the common knowledge, but not the latest developments (they might be in the book, but as they are outdated it is less relevant. More recent information is usually added by the teacher in his/her lectures or in seperate books or articles). The daily...
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Maple Hupkens replied to May Thant Zin
Dear May, does that method work well for you? For in that case (everyone has their own style), that is fine too, of course :)
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Maple Hupkens replied to Alicia J
Hi Alicia, thanks for your question! If there is no headings or bold words, the best and only way is to read the first and/or last line of the paragraph. Of course, if an author uses no structure at all, no structure can be found by previewing. But most authors have a tendency to A) start of by the telling you the most information in the beginning of a...
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Can you tell me more about when they don't work out? Do unexpected things happen? Or do you plan in too much?
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This is a tough exercise indeed. Much more important than your results on this first exercise, is to give it a try and then look at this explanation-video and see if you understand the explanation. Although previewing might sound easy, as most of us are not used to it: we start reading the entire text before we know it. That is why it is very important to give...
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If you use the summarizing method we teach you in Week 2 (video 2.3 and 2.4) you will be surely using both sides of your brain.
The method of summarizing forces you to be creative (instead of passive). Although creativity is usually associated with the right side of the brain, research suggests the distinction between left-brain and right-brain activities...
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Maple Hupkens replied to Magdalena Jones
Yes, we will be covering more about that in Week 2 (Making a long term plan) and Week 3 (Making a week plan). In order to prepare for that, in Week 1 there will be an exercise in observing your current use of time. It can be useful to also observe how much material you currently cover per study block (for example how many pages you read).
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Maple Hupkens replied to Karen Paine
Great idea. Good luck!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Gabriel Hung
Hi Gabriel, putting it on silent mode is a nice alternative to switching it off. As long as you are able to "not look at it" when it's on silent. Might setting a timer help you not to worry about how long you will continue studying? So you can just focus on your studies until the alarm goes off?
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Maple Hupkens replied to Eva Lawrence
Hi Eva, that's a creative idea, thanks for sharing. Can you let the other learners know what website blocker you use, and how you like it?
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Hi Harrison, that might be one of the hardest, but one of the best changes to make in your preparation routine. Let me know if you managed to starting turning off your phone and how you like it :)
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Great! It might be quite a challenging thing to do. I am curious if you are actually able to turn it off before studying, and about your experiences. I am sure it will make a big difference!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Dave Calver
Hi Dave, good observations. Is it possible getting better light and chair in your situation?
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Maple Hupkens replied to amy guo
Hi Amy, I think you made good observations in what already works well and what improvements could work for you. What time blocks are you going to try? 50 minutes studying and 10 minutes break? Or a different one? In any case, I would recommend planning in a larger break after 2 or 3 study blocks.
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Hi Augusto, It sound like working in time blocks could work very well for you. Indeed, apps that work with timers like "Forest" can be helpful in getting a better distinction between studying and other activities. Please keep me updated about how you are doing. Good luck with Week 1!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Faiyaz Inamdar
What points would you like to improve?
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Maple Hupkens replied to Harry Lomas
Welcome Harry! What musical instruments do you play?
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Maple Hupkens replied to Olivia O
@amyguo Great, you are at the right place to learn more about this. I can especially recommend doing step 1.17, 1.18 and 1.19 from Week 1. This is an exercise about time-management. You can let me know your experiences with the exercise in Week 2 (Step 2.12: Reflecting on the use of your time). Good luck!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Olivia O
Thanks for your introductions. I will check in regularly to see if there is any questions in the comments sections. So feel free to post your personal questions or problems about the topic at hand, if you are encountering any :) Good luck with the course!
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Yes, Veronika is right. You can already draw one important conclusion from your numbers: studying is something very rewarding to you. That is good news! But to know if you find it as rewarding 'long term' as in the 'short term' (in other words: are you subsceptible to procrastination?) you have to calculate the differences between the long and short term...
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Thanks for your reply, Janeth
It can take some practise to find out where the author places his/her key message. 90% of cases the author places the key message of the paragraph in either the first sentence of the paragraph or in the last sentence of the paragraph. But if paragraphs are very long, sometimes the key message may also consist of several lines... -
Maple Hupkens replied to San Mor
Excellent!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Tim H
Great to hear Tim, thank you too!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Kelvin Lang
Great to hear!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Mia N
Hi Mia, just want to let you know that I really like your use of the word 'carrot' :)
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Maple Hupkens replied to San Mor
Hi San, it sounds like you plan too optimistically (with maybe not enough buffers), could that be right?
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Yes, very true. I've heard it stated like this:
Long term plans only: big dreams but no reality
Short term plans only: daily activities but no visionWhat is your look at this?
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Great to hear you also did a preview, Channa!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Paolo Bagaglini
Great to hear Paolo. Thank you too, for following this course!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Terry Newman
Yes, thanks for your nice addition Terry. And how often it is, we get mad at the last drops overflooding our bucket, while forgetting to look why it got full in the first place?
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Hi Muhiddin, please let me know if you have tried out one or more of these methods. Which one works best for you?
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Maple Hupkens replied to Terry Newman
Hi Terry, I am very curious to hear your experiences if you have tried any of these out :)
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Maple Hupkens replied to Shivam Chaturvedi
Hi Shivam, I am curious: have you tried out the 5 minute plan and how is it working?
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Hi Janeth, what do you find difficult about it?
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It certainly can be hard to believe in yourself, especially if you had negative experience or if you haven't believed in yourself already for a long time. Please take it easy on yourself, and don't try to change overnight. Talking to friends about it (or, if you like, getting some psychological counseling) will help. In my experience, confidence is something...
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Great tip!
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You recognise the phenomenon of self-handicapping? What kind of situations trigger self-handicapping for you?
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Maple Hupkens replied to Brigitta A
Hi Brigitta, welcome to the course. Then I am sure you are going to like the time-analysis exercise (end of Week 1), the part about planning (Week 2 and 3) and possibly the theory on procrastination (beginning of Week 4)
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Maple Hupkens replied to Tulsa Kushwaha
Welcome to the course, Talsa and others!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Hazel D.
You did excellent practice! And, you know, the time limit is only added to these exercises to force everyone to do a 'real preview' instead of reading everything. When previewing your own texts in the near future, you won't have to worry about time limits anymore :)
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Good to hear you made such a fast improvement. I am impressed!
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Maple Hupkens replied to David Russell
Yes, I agree paper books are more easy to preview than digital ones. What might help is to take a piece of paper and keep it next to your computer/laptop. When previewing, you scrabble the topics you encounter on the piece of paper, to keep on the side with you when reading the full digital text.
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Good to hear!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Karin B.
That's great to hear, Karin!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Teresa B
Hi Teresa, thanks for your feedback. What kind of details would you like to know more about? Maybe I can help :)
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Maple Hupkens replied to zack p
Hi Zack, where do you mean exactly?
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Maple Hupkens replied to Rina Pattullo
Good question Rina. Yes, I would keep the source material handy at the moment you are revising. The basis of revision will be to check your knowledge actively with your TC (gradually hiding more and more parts of your TC, so you train yourself to retrieve the information from your own memory). While doing this, you will probably encounter information you are...
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Yes, it certainly is something that goes better every time you practise.
The good new is, that you can practise every day for a few minutes (namely: the moment you are about to start reading a new chapter or section). Usually, it takes about 3- 5 days of practise to get to know how to do a proper preview, and about 7 days to get fully confident.
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Maple Hupkens replied to Anne Maguire
It could be that 'key words' don't apply as much to Philosophy as 'key concepts'. The art is to follow the philosophical line of thought entirely (see the next video: read first, write later), and then try to distract the main conclusion(s) as well as the arguments leading to it. Curious what your experiences are with it... good luck!
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Great to hear that you have done the observation exercise!
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Maple Hupkens made a comment
Welcome Loredana, Louise and Htoo. Good luck with the course!
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Great to hear, thank you very much!
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You are absolutely right! You discovered a mistake. And you might be good at math after all :)
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Maple Hupkens replied to Christiane V
Yes, I agree with you. Actually, we are going to remove the entire question in our next run because of that. Thanks for your feedback!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Emma H
Glad to hear your experiences!
Wisely said Rowena. Don't force yourself if this exercise is not working for you at this moment. It is just meant as a small example of the use of meditation to get relaxed.
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Maple Hupkens replied to Rowena A
Good question, Rowena. As far as I'm up to date about the differences between typing and writing: it seems that writing makes the information stick more easy. But reason that writing has this advantage, actually seems to stem from a *disadvantage*: because writing is slower, we tend to think more about what we will include and what not. So we process more, and...
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Maple Hupkens replied to [Learner left FutureLearn]
Excellent!
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Maple Hupkens replied to Christiane V
Thanks for your useful addition. I agree with you that people who procrastinate (for example with ADHD) can find their task 'acceptable', but go wrong on one or more other aspects of the SMART. So it's absolutely advisable to check per person, and per situation, what's the problem.
The reason why we picked out 'acceptable' as the answer, is that...
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I full understand. I think it's one of the main drawbacks of distance learning. But thankfully online learners get more and more possibilities for interaction with fellow learners, for example in discussion forums like these. I hope you come across ways to find other learners despite the distance learning.
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Excellent, curious how you will like it. Good luck!
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Maple Hupkens replied to [Learner left FutureLearn]
Nice idea to do revision in the train. Do you also test yourself on your notes?
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That's a nice plan. Do you think you'll have enough energy to get yourself started on revision on Friday nights? It might help to plan it a little earlier on the day. But if you can manage it, it's totally fine. If your time-schedule allows, I would also recommend taking another moment half-way the week (Wednesday for example) to spread the revision even more....
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Maple Hupkens replied to Kelly MacLeod
What a lovely idea to name your imaginary dog Ralf
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Maple Hupkens replied to Christiane V
It's incredible, isn't it? I The phenomenon of underestimation seems so common and big, it must be a very deeply enrooted human bias.
I would like to write a book about this theme one day, although I am afraid that will take much more time than I could foresee :)
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Maple Hupkens replied to Emma H
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Emma!
I really like your idea of planning in the quick/not so quick task. -
Thank you for your reaction. Although self-handicapping may be scientifically hard to research, we found that many students recognize it. It shows how irritional procrastination can be, and knowing that helps students to make different choices. We agree that most (if not all) cases of procrastination ultimately boil down to the avoidance of unpleasant tasks....
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Maple Hupkens replied to Emma H
So those fifteen minutes are gone before you noti.... ? :)
