Welcome to the College Prep Confidential Podcast
Sept. 23, 2019

CPC Episode #21 - Crush College Exams Using This 100 Million Year Old Trick

In this episode, we'll transform your mind into a thermostat for success with tips like: How to take your exam temperature Why there's no such thing as failure. What it is instead What Angry Bees Can Teach You About Improving 7 questions to ask after...

In this episode, we'll transform your mind into a thermostat for success with tips like:

  • How to take your exam temperature
  • Why there's no such thing as failure. What it is instead
  • What Angry Bees Can Teach You About Improving
  • 7 questions to ask after you attempt anything
  • 3 categories expert learners use to group concepts
Transcript

Episode 21, I’m excited to bring you this episode, because we’re going to install a thermostat in your mind. And it’s all part of an episode entitled, Crush College Exams Using This 100 Million Year Old Trick

For over 100 million years bees have achieved a miracle...

Without air conditioning or heating, bees have kept hives on a single temperature setting.

95 F.

When the temperature rises above 95 F, the bees start a cooling procedure.

The bees fly in the hive with water on their wings and belly. They spray the water around the hive and it evaporates, cooling the hive. They also use their wings to fan heat out of the hive.

If it gets too cool, bees will buzz their wings quickly and cover the hive exits, generating heat.

All of this to keep the hive at a constant 95 F.

Why 95 F you ask?

95 F provides the ideal temperature for honey production.

Any hotter, and the honey starts to degrade and "boil off".

95 F gives you perfect raw honey, just as nature intended.

The bees use water and fanning as a natural thermostat.

Thermostats take the temperature, and adjust as needed.

How does this relate to you?

This recalibration applies to many things in life. When you’re striving for a goal, there is a recalibration process back and forth to reach an ideal level.

Stress and Relaxation

Think about stress and relaxation. For stress, your body releases cortisol. Too much cortisol over too long a time damages your body. It's counterpart for relaxation and happiness is oxytocin. Instead of fight or flight, it's tend and befriend.

As your body moves between states, the levels recalibrate to help you achieve balance.

What about the delicate electrolyte balance in the body?

Sodium and potassium. One counteracts the other. Get too much sodium, your blood pressure shoots up. Potassium counteracts this. Ah, but too much potassium can put you in a coma.

You'll see a similar effect when you eat too much salt. The body pushes you to drink water. 

Just like the bees, electrolytes, and stress, assessments offer the same balancing act. 

Evaluation tests help you take the temperature of your skills. Assessments tell you:

The scores show what you did right, and what you need help with. 

  • What skills you're strong at
  • What skills you're average at
  • And what skills you're weak at

The evaluation suggest adjustments, to keep your progress on track. As you make the changes, you take another evaluation. And the evaluation helps you recalibrate.

You repeat this process until you reach your optimal skills temperature... just like bees in the hive.

Assessments provide accountability. If the bees don't keep the hive steady, the honey is doomed.  And if you do poorly on your exams, your future may be doomed for college. 

Now here's another advantage of assessments...

Immediate feedback. Immediate is fresh in your mind. Immediate makes it more likely you take action. This is why immediate feedback is the best kind.

When your electrolytes are out of balance, when you're overstressed, your body lets you know immediately. And when you make adjustments and recalibrate, you'll know if what you're doing is working. The same goes for assessments.

And here's another, almost accidental benefit of continued assessments...anticipation. I'll share another story about bees regarding anticipation...

I'm reading about a fascinating science experiment...

A pair of scientists waited by a beehive one day. When the bees all flew out, the scientists moved the beehive 10% in one direction from the original position.

The bees came back, flew around, and eventually found the hive.

The next day, the bees leave the hive. The scientists moved the hive 10% further in the same direction as last time. 

The bees came back, flew around, and eventually found the hive.

Day 3, the bees leave the hive as usual.

The scientists pick the hive up, walk 10% of the distance in the same direction as the last 2 days.

Ah, but surprise, the bees are waiting for them. And oh, are they mad!

Scientists studied this phenomenon, and determined bees have a communication system. And if past events change, and a few bees figure out what happened, the rest of the bees absorb the new information.

Kind of like test scores...

As you improve, your ability to score higher goes up.

Past results influence future scores.

You make the adjustment incrementally.

And it starts with baseline test scores. Take a test 3-4 times, and you establish a baseline. 

You then change coordinates based on what you want to score next time.

And just like the bees, with the right training, your brain anticipates and adjusts. 

The mind and your skill set aren't linear. You have the ability to make exponential leaps with repeated practice.

Assessments work like a doctor diagnosing and prescribing corrective action for a patient.

For corrective action, I like to use something called presuppositions. Presuppositions are implict assumptions or beliefs taken as fact within a statement.

To embrace corrective action, treat it as if there isn't failure. What do I mean by this?

I use this presupposition...

There is no failure, there's only feedback. Because each failure reveals something.

Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” If he’d given up after the first attempt we might still be left in the dark!

Instead of asking, "Why is this happening to me?"

Ask,

"What is this teaching me?"

Once you get your assessment, ask questions such as:

  • How can I turn this around?
  • What can I do to solve the problem right now?
  • What improvements can I make?
  • How can I adjust my approach?
  • What other strategies could I use?
  • What else could this mean?
  • Who can I ask to help me?

When you get an assessment score back, it's neither good nor bad. It's a number. Your interpretation and emotional reaction to it is what makes it "good" or "bad."

Think of it as an experience, with a readout of numbers when it's over. And don't dwell on it. Remember... You are not your past.

What constitutes a failure in assessment is just another spot on the map lighting up for your journey. Without your initial scores, you would have been in the dark about where to go next. The assessment turns the lights on and shows you where to go.

As you do a few assessments, your mind and skills start to drift in the direction out of anticipation

I did a study on the best test takers in the world, and how they use assessments. They use a trifecta system...

  1. Things they know and can understand quickly
  2. Things they know but move slowly on
  3. Things they don't know

After each assessment, they do two things:

 They study with the only goal of trying to move more items from #2 to #1. So they take concepts they know, but they get faster on them. So they can answer faster with less effort.

After they do that, they go back and try to move more items from #3, concepts they don't know, into #2, concepts they know, but take time with.

They take another assessment, go back, and recalibrate their trifecta basket. The goal with each assessment, at a minimum, is to move more items up the chain.

From #3 to #2, and from #2 to #1.

#2 to #1 is particularly helpful, because they gain more time on the exams. more time means less stress. Less stress means less freeze-ups on the test.

Evaluations let you adjust course based on your current performance. If you struggle, you can return back to supporting subjects to brush up. If you excel, you can jump ahead and try to beat your last scores or finish even faster. And it all starts with the right software. With the right program and the proper testing environment, you can move your scores up at will. To alter your future, buzz on over to this link:

I've put together an evaluation system for your ACT and SAT skills. It's guaranteed to increase your SAT scores 150 points, and your ACT scores 3 points. It's designed by the expert test takers I told you about earlier. You use a calibration system to always keep you on course.

To optimize your skills temperature, buzz over to this link: cpcshow.com. That's cpcshow.com.

Oh, I almost forgot... here's another deal sweeter. How would you like to do all this, for just a $1? yes, $1 gets you started for a 7 day trial. This platform was built and optimized by the top 5% exam takers in the world. 

Now you have two choices…

You can go it alone, and hope for the best.

Or…

You can take the route experts take. Work smarter, not harder.

Ask yourself, if you take the ACT and SAT and do “just ok”, would you be ok with that?

If no, then go to cpcshow.com

Once again, that's cpcshow.com. Thanks for listening.