While college is the time to find an educational field you are passionate about, taking electives is another enriching experience often overlooked. Though worthwhile, electives aren’t all a walk in the park — some are surprisingly difficult. Students unfamiliar with various classes might try to find an easy elective to take and instead stumble upon one just as tricky as their other classes. To help you find the perfect electives, read below for our Nerdify reviews experts’ list of fun courses to take.

1. Physical Education Courses

When you are a student studying for hours a day, it can be challenging to fit working out into your routine. Since it is essential to stay physically active, a great way to ensure you work out is to take a physical education class. While these classes are a requirement for some colleges, they have become optional more frequently. At its core, physical education is meant to teach its students a foundation for maintaining physical fitness. Some colleges might offer specialized PE classes, such as covering a specific sport or activity. Others might have you focus on learning how to teach your future students how to stay active. Either way, the class will give you a much-needed break from sitting behind a desk and boost your mood.

2. Ceramics

Though many can be tempted to seek-out arts classes as an easy way to fulfill elective requirements, students on Reddit report that they learn too late that certain art classes are surprisingly difficult. Ceramics is an excellent choice for those wanting to take an art class without worrying about needing prior experience. While ceramics requires technical skills, classes like drawing require more complicated skill sets — like learning color theory, composition, and negative space. By contrast, making your own pottery is much simpler. Learning how to throw on a wheel can be frustrating at times, but is very easy to pick up initially and improve on your own through trial and error. Nerdify reviews team notes that many even find throwing on a wheel and working with their hands to be a calming and meditative experience.

3. Electives Unique To Your University

Typically, save for a few variations, colleges around the country tend to offer the same electives. Sometimes, however, universities will provide classes not offered anywhere else in the country. It would be extraordinary to be one of the few hundred to take a course in, say, Game of Thrones study, like at the University of Virginia. For bookworms, many colleges will offer classes on specific book series, like American University, which specializes in The Hunger Games, or College of Charleston, which specializes in the Harry Potter series.

4. Music

Taking a class or lessons for credit is an excellent option if you’ve always wanted to pick up an instrument but didn’t know where to start. Usually, instrument classes consist of three hours per week, so three credits in-turn, while lessons are one credit hour per week. Taking a course on an instrument is great because professors can help you with your technique early on so you don’t develop bad habits. With the skills and muscle memory learned from a college class, Reddit users say they built the foundation to learn more independently after completing the course. With so many resources online, Reddit says — from YouTube tutorials, sheet music, and tabs — you can easily continue your education on your own.

5. Study Abroad

There are multiple ways to get credits for electives studied internationally. Most college students studying abroad will do so over an entire semester, taking an average amount of coursework and tacking on an extra class to count as an elective. Nerdify reviews experts state that you can also have your study abroad consist of only electives if it doesn’t negatively impact your ability to graduate on time. For a more brief elective study abroad, you can do so over the week of spring break. You would spend time in a typical classroom and also go on excursions as a class that would count as credit hours. Finally, you can also get elective credits abroad through an international internship during summer break. Not only would this be a fantastic experience, but it would also look incredibly impressive on a resume, writes Nerdify reviews team.

Howdy, pals! Even though you may think that your time management skills in college are good enough, Nerdify reminds you that there are still some helpful tips and tricks. 

They will help you upgrade your knowledge and see how you can make your college life much easier and fun.  One of the reasons why your time management skills upgrade can be essential is because you may want to add more to your schedule and get involved in all the fun activities, yet there seems to be never enough time to do it all! Let us see how you can act as an engineer of your own time and resources in a little bit unusual way!

1. Learn to study in blocks!                                                                                           

The trick here is to approach the different study scenarios where you try different time passages or the time-blocks for your college assignments and the times of leisure. This way you can see how much time you may need to get focused in a proper way! While 30-40 minutes time blocks are ideal for studying before you take some rest, you may still need to make them either shorter or longer to see what fits you best. Remember that you have to take the breaks and switch from subject to subject to have a clear mind before you continue with the same or a completely new task. You can take a walk and have a cuppa before you continue with the studies.

The difference in such approach is your being aware of how much time you are going to spend as you study. You do not have to fear that there are hours and hours of studies ahead before you can finally have some rest! Give yourself some credit and remember that you deserve something for a change. Such an approach will not only keep you organized but will help you to divide your homework assignments by the level of importance and complexity as you form your time blocks. Start with the easy tasks first, so you may get an idea of how much time you may need. This way you can also plan the times of leisure for the day ahead when you are the one in control of your plans with all the classes getting in the way!  

2. Do not underestimate college help resources!

Most students spend the majority of their free time by trying to understand how to start with a homework assignment and how to approach an unknown writing format. Of course, there are countless questions that you try to look up online, yet it does not seem clear or your college professor has a different idea about certain rules. You can definitely save some precious time by turning to the writing help center at college and talking to your professor if you are unsure of a something. It does not make you any less smart if you take some time to speak of your concerns instead of acting cool and trying to find solutions on your own.

There are additional study groups and the special support classes almost at every college that will help you to get a guidance and assistance with the most challenging classes. If there are debates, conferences, social work, and laboratory experiments, make sure that you join the fellow students and stay as active as you can. This way you help to make your name known to others as your social network of friends starts to grow. Smart students will start to notice you and share their knowledge. Professor will see that you are a dedicated student who walks an extra mile to study. It will not only improve your chances for a scholarship and financial aid but will also help you to receive timely help!

3. Join College Study Groups!

Sometimes all your free time may be ruined by a single college class that you are struggling with! Even though you may do well in the rest of your classes, failing to understand a subject or follow professor’s speech in your English class or in Quantum Physics is a great challenge! Still, there is a trick that helps you to address the problem professionally – the college study groups. What these study groups offer is a unique advantage to focus on a single subject in a special way where you receive tutoring to cover the curriculum in a faster way. As you join the study group, you can research and ask questions without embarrassment as it is exactly why you are there. In order to help you through the class, you are offered a topic to work at, so you can collaborate with a fellow student on a group task. They call it an enhanced learning because you learn to share and work together starting from the class lecture notes to exploring additional subjects to help you understand the class in a deeper way. In a certain sense, it is like a free tutoring opportunity where you can finally liven up your study sessions and save some time that you spend trying to understand a complex assignment!

4. A Daily Schedule Approach!

While it may sound boring to you, it does help to challenge and upgrade your current time-management skills in college! A daily schedule approach will not only motivate you as a student but help you to manage your time in a more efficient way. Here is how it works:

• Make a list of your daily tasks that you have to complete!
• Write the next list with two columns of more important and less important tasks.
• Mark the tasks that are urgent and should be done with one color.
• Mark the tasks that can wait with the other color.
• Place a checkmark next to each task as you get it complete.
• Try to write down an approximate time that you have spent on each task.
• Make an additional list of all the fun things that you may want to do, so you can add it to your primary schedule!

As you try to work with a daily schedule of your college tasks, share it with your roommate and the fellow students, so you can see how it can be adjusted and what helpful techniques you may learn! Keep the daily schedule always by your side, so you can keep organized and focused!

5. Work at your soft skills!

Your personal development and growth of time management skills depend on the presence of soft skills. What it means, in reality, is your ability to be independent, adhere to strong ethics, and work at your communication skills. You have to stay patient and unbiased as you choose your sources and the books as you study. Setting the goals and trying to be flexible, you have to work at your character and coordinate what you have to learn with your true passions. The way how you approach your college life with all the studies and fun is a reflection of how well you can do in a future career. This work and experience have already started, so one has to be strong and seek for inspiration inside!

Some Nerdy tips and time management observations!

• Always have a time buffer because the days at college somehow go faster than you expect!
• Take advantage of the days and times when you feel creative and inspired. When you feel like working and know that you can do more, make sure that you do your best!
• Focus on one task at a time because even though you may be able to multitask, your brain easily becomes exhausted!
• Limit and challenge yourself with the deadlines because it keeps you more productive. If you have less time to get the task done, you work extra hard.
• Even though you may have flexible college deadlines, make sure not to procrastinate!
• Brainstorm the ideas and alternative solutions as you get stuck with your homework!
• Try to schedule the important tasks and meetings early in the day because the most challenging time is when you try to get ready for the actual task!
• Get rid of the most disturbing tasks first, so you can feel better about the rest of the items on your list!
• Always take notes and do not think that you can remember everything out there! Write it down and use it as a personal reference to turn to! It really helps to save some time!
• Do not forget to have fun and spend some time for yourself!

A kind reminder from Nerdify: your future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow. Take care and practice time management!

According to our experts at Nerdify reviews, it is almost impossible to find out how much time it will take you to complete an average task as you study because you do not know what to expect. Still, there are some life hacks that will help you to get more free time as you have to complete yet another assignment. You have to read your grading rubric and see what this topic means and what kind of homework you have to do. For example, if your task involves argumentative writing or a reflecting essay, you ought to know what the difference is! Knowing these simple tips will assist you in approaching your task without floating in the clouds of confusion.

Of course, some other aspects must be considered, including:

1. Know Your Task Before You Write. Do your best to learn more about what you have to do. Look up similar assignments online, read the basic rules, find good sources, read similar research papers, and take notes before you start. Our team at Nerdify reviews always acts this way to find out what matters the most when dealing with a certain subject. It also helps to get rid of those confusing aspects when we do not how to deal with a complex question.

2. Overcome The Writer’s Block. If you cannot start writing or your mind is busy with all these questions regarding outer space or the reasons why someone is not replying to your Facebook message, it is good to start with a freewriting technique that lets you free your mind. Just set your alarm clock ten minutes forward and start writing what you feel without stopping. It has to be the stream of consciousness that will help you to save time and have some mental inspiration!

3. Keep The Distractions Away. We all know how much time is always taken by distractions when someone keeps watching an odd TV show nearby or your phone is constantly keeping you alert. Our Nerdify reviews team recommends setting your phone to silent mode and focus on your studies. If it does not seem possible, study along with your friend, so you can talk to each other as you study! It will keep you busy as you communicate and get things done much faster!

4. Set Your Time For Studies & Leisure. The safest solution in finding some free time is to know what time is allocated for studies and what time is meant for fun. In other words, if you dance at a friend’s party and keep thinking about that assignment that you must finish, it is no good. Even our geeky experts at Nerdify reviews always do their best to avoid procrastination and follow the “learn hard, party hard” rule, which always lets them have fun and surprise us, not-so-nerdy types!

5. Proofread Your Work Aloud. One of the most time-consuming aspects, when we study, is editing and proofreading. Even when we are checking those short texts, it is easy to omit some grammar and style mistakes, which is why it is recommended to proofread things aloud. It helps to avoid wordiness and save some time as we learn to check our homework in terms of confidence! Do not be shy and give it a try even if you whisper!

6. Explore What Interests You When Not Studying. Do not ignore those times of leisure when you have a chance to explore something that interests you and discuss it with your friends. Make your times of fun entertaining by learning something new and challenging yourself all the time. For example, if you are majoring in Nursing, think of those unusual rural practices. Likewise, if you are a future lawyer, explore interesting case studies and watch those classic movies dealing with the Law. It will help you to keep inspired and add something special as you learn.

7. Take Breaks As You Learn. The most important part is to take breaks as you study because if you get exhausted, it will take twice more time as you learn because your brain will have to reprocess every rule and every bit of text that you have to memorize. Stretching your muscles, drinking a cup of coffee, or just doing something else for about ten minutes will help you to cope with the stress before you continue with your studies.

Most importantly, you have to find inspiration before you start because if you do not feel that inner drive, it will feel boring and exhausting. Your brain and body must experience something similar to watching a baseball game or jumping during a rock concert. Become a part of your task as you study, think outside the box, and explore everything that comes your way!