text: *. As they re-worked it, Reitman found the film occupying an uncomfortable “middling” ground between horror and comedy, but he doesn’t mention how inadvertent this was. Goldberg saw early versions as faltering because they weren’t horrible enough or funny enough, but again it’s not clear what they were aiming for.
  *. It’s easy to see it today as a comedy due to the presence of Levy and Martin, but at the time they weren’t known as comic actors. My first feeling was that there was no way we were meant to take Levy’s Gene Shalit appearance seriously, but in his interview he says that’s how he really looked at the time. And that crazy woolen tie he wears to dinner? Well, it was 1973.
  *. The main problem I have with seeing it as a horror-comedy is that there’s nothing funny about it. There are little touches (the Monopoly game played by the three weirdoes who have been selected as victims; Levy trying to make out with Martin while keeping a smoke going), but this is no more than you’d expect as comic relief in any cheap horror film.
  *. The final credit roll stating that the character of Bunker (the grotesque monster who chops wood and draws water for the Reverend and his girls) was played by “himself” is a little in-joke. I believe he was played by Goldberg.
  *. It’s too bad they had to include the character of the Reverend. He comes out of nowhere and upsets the whole bad-feminist vibe the film had going. From castrating harpies the girls turn into zombie window-dressing.
  *. Given that they didn’t have a script, didn’t have any money, and really didn’t know what they were doing, it’s amazing they wound up with something that’s still watchable more than forty years later. Some credit is due. And all the principals survived!
  
  Now that you’ve learned how to prep for exam season and create a study plan, it’s time to delve into how to actually do the studying. Today, I’m going to share with you three effective methods I’ve tested to go about your studying. Before I get into these methods, I want to give you five quick tips to set yourself up for success:
  Study in an area you will be productive. This sounds obvious but so many people haven’t actually discovered where they study best. For some people, being in a coffee shop will help them keep laser-focused. For others, they will become continuously distracted and never get anything done. For some, it’s best to study in a library. For others, the home is the best location. If you haven’t already, do some experimentation to find your best location to focus.
  Use smell association. I know this one sounds weird, but I have found it extremely effective. Choose a lotion, perfume, essential oil, room spray, hand sanitizer, etc. that you will use exclusively during work time. Use/apply this scent every time, and you’ll start to develop an association between the smell and studying.
  Always study in a clean workspace. I am a firm believer that your surroundings reflect your mental state. And if your study space is a mess, you will be more likely to get distracted. You can read further on the topic of creating a productive workspace here [LINK].
  Do NOT have your phone near you. Put it on airplane mode, turn it off, put it in the other room – hell, put it in a safe if you have to! I find that the most common distractor for students is their phone. I guarantee that you will live if you take your study time away from your phone. Remove the distraction all together to ensure your success. If you also find that you get distracted on your computer, there are programs that will allow you to block sites individually.
  Take breaks. In all of the below methods, you need to incorporate breaks. Everyone’s focus span will be different. It will take some trial and error to determine when you should take breaks. I find that, depending on the task, I can generally have good focus spans for between 45 and 90 minutes. Listen to your body and your mind, and don’t push it too far.
  This is a popular method in time management and workflow. It focuses on time rather than content (methods two and three are content-based) by punctuating work with breaks. There have been numerous studies backing this up regarding concentration and efficiency. You may think that it’s better to study for hours straight rather than “wasting” time on breaks, but you will find that these short breaks allow you to be more efficient.
  However, in order to make this effective you have to be careful of what you do during these breaks. I would recommend NOT scrolling through social media, checking email, or watching something on YouTube. I WOULD recommend taking a quick walk around, doing some yoga poses, doing some breathing exercises, getting some fresh air, interacting with a pet, or getting something healthy to eat/drink.
  I actually went a bit more in depth on the pomodoro method in this blog post if you want to learn more.
  The Momentum-Building strategy encourages the student to study by starting out with easier tasks that builds confidence and momentum to keep going. You start out with easy, confident tasks, and then move into harder tasks. If you find yourself frustrated, you can move to a mid-confidence task (switch 4 and 6 or 3 and 5) but the idea is to build up momentum with easy tasks that you are confident in and that will give you the motivation and momentum to tackle the things you don’t want to. Then, you can do the mid-range tasks at the end, ending with the quickest task to feel productive by the end.