College Hacks
Authors: Keith Bradford
(kä-lij, haks)
noun
.
Keith Bradford
Avon, Massachusetts
CHAPTER 4: Things Your Mom Won’t Do for You Anymore
CHAPTER 10: Other Random Stuff You Should Probably Know
Welcome to the college life, where the parties are wilder, the tests are harder, and you’re lucky if your teacher only assigns you a 20-page paper. Sure, you could go through the next few years in a stressed-out flock of college students, scraping by from one exam to the next, but why work so hard when you don’t have to? In this indispensible guide, you’ll find simple solutions to scenarios you’re guaranteed to face at some point in your college career. From quickly coming up with a bibliography (even though you only used one Wikipedia page) to mastering the art of beer pong, each page will teach you how to get any task done easily and more quickly and efficiently than you would have before.
The majority of these college hacks have been pulled from various sources around the Internet as well as from user submissions to my blog
1000LifeHacks.com
. I’ve broken the book down into ten different aspects of the college life, but you don’t need to read them in chronological order; you can literally flip to any page and start improving your college life right now!
So stop making things a heck of a lot harder than they should be! With these everyday college hacks, you’ll go from Joe Schmo to college student 2.0, and breeze through each semester without even breaking a sweat!
Technology
On your first day of school, take a picture of your schedule and set it as your lock screen on your phone, so you always have it handy.
If you’re having trouble with a math problem, plug the equation into
www.WolframAlpha.com
and it will solve it for you.
Confused by a Wikipedia article? Click “Simple English” on the left list of languages and it’ll whisk you to a simplified version.
Need to test a printer? Print the Google homepage. It has all the colors you need to run a proper test, and it won’t use a lot of ink.
Make sure you have at least one professional-sounding e-mail address. Nothing will turn off your teacher or future employer faster than
[email protected]
.
Before you throw away a Post-it note, run it sticky side down between the keys on your keyboard to collect dust, crumbs, and other things that might have gotten trapped in there.
When writing an e-mail, make sure the last thing you do is put in the recipient’s e-mail address. This will help you avoid sending an unfinished e-mail.
Studying for an important test? Google “site:edu [subject] exam”. You’ll get a bunch of different college exams with problems similar to what may be on your test.
- ASTERISK
Searches for a missing word in phrase.
Example: Obama was president for * years - SITE:
Only shows search results from a specific website.
Example: site: 1000lifehacks.com - TWO PERIODS
Searches between two specific numbers.
Example: Number 1 movies between 1980.. 1990 - VERTICAL BAR
Searches for sites that have one/two/all terms.
Example: blouse | shirt | chemise - OR
Search with multiple synonyms to get more specific results.
Example: Literacy OR Learning - % OF
Instantly get the percentage of any number.
Example: 12% of 75 - FILETYPE:
Search for a specific type of file.
Example: Declaration of Independence filetype:pdf - DASHES
Excludes a certain word from your search.
Example: Homer -Simpson - QUOTATION MARKS
Searches for exact the words, quotes, or phrases you’re looking for.
Example: “I have a dream” - DEFINE:
Gets a quick definition of a word.
Example: define: perplexed
When you copy something from the Internet, use “Ctrl + Shift + V” to paste it into a document. This will prevent the text from formatting.
Use your own original gifs in presentations by adding “gif” before the word “youtube” in the URL. Doing this allows you to create your own gif using the video.
You can press “1,” “2,” “3,” etc. to jump 10%, 20%, 30% into the video you’re watching on YouTube.
Forget slow double clicks! Press “F2” on a PC and “Enter/Return” on a Mac to immediately rename a file.
Need specific date ranges for a project? You can search “[month][year]” in Wikipedia to give you all the major world news for that month.
If you’re on a school computer that blocks sites like YouTube, Google Chrome’s incognito mode will let you access them.
Hold down “Alt” and click on any Google image to have it automatically saved to your computer.
The iPhone app Scholly shows you thousands of potential scholarship opportunities that any student can apply for.
www.Mathway.com
solves all kinds of math homework problems with step-by-step explanations.
Get the best possible sound from your iTunes by replicating these presets on the Equalizer.
Need your phone’s battery to make it to the end of class? Turning the flash off on your cell phone camera can extend your battery life even when you’re not actually using the camera!
Cleaning out your Windows computer? Search “size:gigantic” and it’ll display all the files on your computer greater than 128 MB.
You can amplify the sound on your computer by cutting a plastic cup vertically in half and placing each half over a speaker.
Want to make sure you get up in the morning for class? The Snooze app for iPhone will donate some of your money to charity each time you hit the snooze button.
Need to cite a quote from a book? Don’t bother looking through every page to find it! Simply type the quote into Google Books and it will tell you the page number automatically.
Forgot about an assignment and need to e-mail it? Change the date on your computer system before sending it to your professor.
Accidentally close a tab in your Internet browser? Press “Ctrl + Shift + T” to reopen it.
Need to edit an image quickly? On
SumoPaint.com
you can use an online version of Photoshop for free.
If you talk into the microphone instead of typing in Snapchat, you can send longer messages to your friends.
By charging your laptop battery only up to 80% instead of 100%, you can greatly extend the usable lifespan of the battery.
Too many Internet tabs open while doing homework? Simply right click on it and select “pin tab.” Boom! Way more organized.
An iPad charger will charge your iPhone much faster.
- Place an X-Acto knife just below the top rim of a beer or soda can and carefully cut through the can.
- Now, place the knife just above the bottom rim of the can and cut through.
- Using scissors, cut the aluminum in half vertically.
- Spread the aluminum around your Wi-Fi antenna so that it forms a half circle around it.
Need to quickly solve a math problem? The PhotoMath app will solve it by simply pointing your phone’s camera at the problem.
Need some Wi-Fi to finish a paper last minute? You can get the Wi-Fi password to almost anywhere by checking the comments section on Foursquare.
Your headphones can be used as microphones if you plug them into the mic jack on your computer. This is helpful when recording lectures.
Want to know random trivia like a
Jeopardy!
champion? Set your homepage to Wikipedia’s Random Article button. You’ll learn something new every time you open a browser window.
Can’t afford Microsoft Word? Get OpenOffice. It’s the same thing except it’s free and has a lot more features.
On a Mac, the easiest way to use special characters, like those weird accented “e”s, is to hold down the letter until a small menu pops up, then hit the corresponding number.
To resize a photo for Instagram, tilt your phone sideways and screenshot it. It’ll fit perfectly without affecting the quality.
Forgot your computer password? Boot up in safe mode (F8 during startup), log in as the administrator, and then change your password.
- www.RainyMood.com
is a website that makes it sound like it’s raining outside. It’s amazing if you need to concentrate on studying or getting work done. - www.WordHippo.com
is a website that will help you find the word you’re looking for when you can only think of a phrase to describe it. - On
www.PrintWhatYouLike.com
you can select exactly what you want to print from a desired webpage. No more printing ads, navigation bars, or weird comment boxes, just the essentials. - iRuler.net
gives you an actual-sized virtual ruler if you don’t have one on hand and need to measure something. - Lozo.com
will give you coupons for each item on your shopping list. - On
www.PaperBackSwap.com
you can swap your old books with other people online. You’ll never have to buy another book again! - MyFridgeFood.com
will tell you everything you can make with the items from your fridge. - Spreeder.com
is a free online speed reading software designed to improve your reading speed and comprehension. - PizzaCodes.com
is a site that gives you a list of promo codes you can use to get a discount on pizza from most pizza places. - On
www.Surfly.com
you can screen share your computer with someone for free, which is perfect for study sessions or having movie nights with your friends back home.