Welcome to the TIPS page. From time to time we insert tips from our book, College Smarts,^® in order for you to sample the neat ideas we have included in this helpful resource for students (and parents!). We hope that these tips will encourage you to purchase your own copy of the book, so that you will be able to benefit from these ideas and the wealth of strategies, tools, information and wisdom we packed between its covers.

When you are writing an exam, do you have difficulty remembering the facts and ideas you studied while preparing for the exam? Join the club! You are not alone. Many students have the same problem. College Smarts^® contains many helpful strategies for preparing yourself for successful exam writing. In the meantime, read on. Baroque Brain Booster may be just the tool with which to bring your exam writing up on a new level.

Baroque Brain Booster*

For over 30 years, researchers have known that Baroque music (especially slow movements where there are 60 beats per minute), accelerates learning, and enhances both short-term and long-term memory. Many students tell us that they must play rock music in order to energize themselves for studying and learning. We tell them there is experimental evidence that Baroque music actually increases the growth of plants, while acid rock kills plants! Think about it!

What, exactly, are the physiological effects of slow Baroque music on learners? Researchers have found that blood pressure lowers; heartbeat slows to a healthy rhythm; fast, beta brain waves decrease by 6%, while alpha waves of relaxation increase by an average of 6%; the right and left hemispheres of the brain become synchronized. The music produces a powerful form of alert relaxation, a state in which the body functions more efficiently on less energy, making more energy available for the brain.

The Baroque period of music covers most of the 17th century and half of the 18th century. The Classical era begins in 1750 and ends in 1828. Some of the music composed by composers in the Classical period (especially Mozart) has also been found to accelerate learning. The Baroque Brain Booster uses music from both Baroque and Classical periods.

Still skeptical? Why not try this little experiment and see if the Baroque Brain Booster will accelerate your learning and improve your memory. Select a course or subject you are having trouble with, and whose grade you wish to improve. Three or four weeks before your mid-term exam, take the following steps:

Step 1 - Assemble your equipment: a tape recorder; a tape player (a Walkman would be fine); a blank cassette tape; a pre-recorded tape of 'active' Classical music; a pre-recorded tape of slow Baroque music (suggestions for both types of music will be given below).

Step 2 - Relax yourself. If you have a relaxation routine, use it now. If not, click on Let's Relax and make use of the relaxation exercise you find there.

Step 3 - Plug your earphones into your player. Put the tape of 'active' Classical music into the player (you can use a commercially recorded tape of the Classical selections suggested below, or you can pre-record your own tape). You will be listening to this music as you tape record the information you want to learn. This arrangement will enable you to listen to the music without recording it on your 'data' tape.

As your music plays, read your class notes, textbook chapter, or other material you wish to learn into the recording machine. It works best if you read short sentences or phrases, following each by a four-second pause (silently count "one thousand and one, one thousand and two, one thousand and three, one thousand and four").

As you become more comfortable with this process, experiment with speaking in a soft voice when the music is soft, and a louder voice when the music is loud. Or, keep changing your voice so that it sounds 'dramatic' and interesting. Try to avoid a monotone or a boring sound. Record your material for 20-25 minutes.

Step 4 - Once your information is recorded, rewind your tape. Put your slow Baroque tape on another player (you will need two players for this exercise). Make yourself comfortable--lie down, if you can. Play back your recorded data and the slow Baroque music simultaneously. Use the two-player system when you are home. When you are walking, cycling, riding the bus, or in the study hall at school or college, use your Walkman to listen to the data tape alone.

If you are interested in additional strategies for accelerated learning in specific fields, for example, mathematics, science, languages, we highly recommend the book Super-Learning 2000, which can be ordered from the College Smarts^® Book Store.

• Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 4 in D Major
• Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 5 in A Major
• Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 18 in B-flat Major
• Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 23 in A Major
• Symphony No. 35 in D Major ("Haffner")
• Symphony No. 38 in D Major ("Prague")

• Symphony No. 67 in F Major
• Symphony No. 68 in B-flat Major

• Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D Major, Op. 77

• Adagio in G Minor for Strings

• Largo from Harpsichord Concerto in F Minor, BWV 1056
• Largo from Harpsichord Concerto in C Major, BWV 975
• Air for the G String

• Largo from Concerto No.10 in F Major from Twelve Concerti Grossi, Op. 5

• Largo from Concerto in D Major for Guitar and Strings
• Largo from Concerto in C Major for Mandolin, Strings and Harpsichord
• Largo from "Winter" from The Four Seasons

• Canon in D

Plan ahead now! Many careers require a graduate degree: Law, Medicine, Management, Psychology, Information Management, Speech-Language Pathology, etc. Graduate Schools are demanding--they choose the students with the best grades. So, plan to get Good (make that Best) grades now.