How to Spice up Your Studying in January

Hey there all you wonderful people! 

I hope you're all having an awesome break from school, and are enjoying the company of your family and friends! 

It's close to New Years, and a lot of people are making resolutions. Although it's turning into kind of a joke that no one ever reaches these goals, I think it's a great thing to sit down and think about how you'd specifically like to improve yourself. I did a post on quizzing resolutions last year (or maybe the year before...) I think, and I made printable templates for them too. But that's not what I'm doing in this post :P 

Today I wanted to help you guys get excited about your study lives (for quizzing) in January, so you can start the year out strong! Whatever way that you usually go about motivating yourself, doing something new or in a different way is a good place to start, and also a great way to explore the unknown.

But how can we study in a "new or different way"? I've come up with some pretty strange, but fun, ideas the past three and a half years, and I've put them in categories so it's easier to read. So here we go!

• Questions - Color coat sections of 10-15 questions (either a document on the computer or printed out. Would need to ask coach to send them, or purchase the download for QuizMaster on www.acmequiz.com) and after each section is complete, take a break, do a different type of studying, or take a reward! Which leads me to the next one...
• Self-reward System - I've done a post of two about this, and mentioned it briefly several other times, but it's a good way to build self-discipline. Things like small pieces of candy or other food items that you like, a game, a chapter in a book, or a YouTube video are ways you can start to implement this!
• Active - This is probably one of the most popular New Years resolutions. People either want to lose weight, gain muscle, or get better at a sport, most of the time, so here's some ways you can mix your active goals with quizzing. Walking, or holding weights, a plank or other various stretches while studying, doing jumping-jacks, sit-ups, push-ups or other exercises between sections of studying (I.e. between reading 20 verses or a chapter, a section of color-coated questions, memorizing 5-10 verses, etc..)
• Social - First, you'll obviously have to invite some team members over, or set up a meet somewhere else, but this can be super fun once all the logistics are worked out! It would be a whole new post for me to talk about this in detail, and I'll try to write one, but in general, here are some group studying ideas; taking turns reading the material, or reading the reps, a fake quiz round with poeple taking turns reading the questions, and the other quizzers "jumping" by hitting a table or other signal, jeprody with quiz questions (on QuizMaster, but you can always make one too, and this way you don't have to use a computer!) or you could even have a Bible study over the material to study it from a different angle, and to build each other up!
• Marathon - This is a specific study technique that I've come up with to battle boredom and distraction, that seems to work pretty darn well! For a marathon study session, it can be used for one or multiple quizzers, so this could be a fun thing to try with your team, too! First, appoint sections around a room for different types of studying, set up with flashcards for memory verses, a computer with questions (or just a stack of question sheets), a quiz portion for reading or reviewing memorized material, a piece of blank paper to write out all the material you've memorized as a different review section, etc. - you get the idea. Once you have all these ready, pick a starting place and set a timer for how long you'll spend on each area. Once the timer goes off, stop wherever you are and run to the next section to do as much as possible before the timer runs out again. Continue doing this for half an hour, or however long you wanted to study, and once that is complete, you're done! 

We've got a few more months before the really important tournaments begin for the end-game of this season. District finals, Regional qualifiers, and then finally the national tournament in Indianapolis await!

A lot of people can't help but get nervous when they think about this, but there's no reason to be, at the end of the day. How are you doing this season? Is it everything you wanted it to be? If so, woo-hoo! Good for you! Keep it up, and don't worry about your performance, because you're gonna do great!

If you haven't done as you hoped this season so far, you shouldn't worry about it either, because, it's just quizzing. But, if you're still willing to work, do your absolute best and leave no effort unused, go for it!! There's no limit to what you can do, especially since we have a good amount of time before the important tournaments. You can still achieve what you wanted to at the beginning of this season, and if you dare to work towards that and forget what's behind you, I'm convinced you won't be disappointed. So go for it - be the quizzer you want to be! 

Use these study ideas, and the refreshed inspiration from the New Year to propel you forward towards your goals! You're gonna do great. 

That's all for now, my friends. I wish you all the happiest New Year, and an awesome January! Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Bethany Invitational later next month (it's supposed to be over Luke 1-20, heads up)! 

Thanks for reading! 

Keep calm and quiz on (and out)!
Your fellow quizzer, 

​Mallory

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