Nerdify Reviews: 3 Best Recipes for a Movie Night from Nerds

Our experts at Nerdify reviews explored the current state of affairs in the field of education and we have decided to come up with seven helpful tips for students. Since there are pandemic restrictions and remote learning still present, many students still find it emotionally difficult to continue with their studies and strive for changes.

Still, if you change something minor, it will help you to feel much better as your outlook on life will change right away. Without further ado, let’s explore the possibilities:

1. Start Learning a Foreign Language
It is much easier and less nerve-wracking these days as you do not have to flip through the countless textbook pages. The best language learning apps you can find are those that will implement gamification like Memrise or those that make it possible to talk to foreigners (native speakers) right away. A good option recommended by Nerdify reviews is HelloTalk, which is a free app that lets you get in touch with native speakers in over 130 languages. You just teach each other and have fun as you make new friends via audio, text, or video streams.

2. Change The Design of Your Room
When you feel like you have seen and heard it all, think about adding some changes to your room. It can be a new LED lamp or a better chair to help your tired back. Alternatively, you can decorate your room based on some movie or your favorite theme. Our tireless team at Nerdify reviews always does so when we come back from vacation by sharing our office or home ideas with each other. Talk to the other students and have fun together as you discuss all the fun room decoration tips!

3. Join Student’s Clubs & Group Projects
Even if you may have never considered this aspect before, our experts at Nerdify reviews suggest checking available online clubs for college students. If it does not sound like a good option, think about becoming an active participant in various group projects. It will also help you increase your final grade and will show your college professors that you are willing to learn. Finally, it is a great way to overcome anxiety and push yourself forward as you learn how to avoid procrastination.

4. Consider Volunteering to Boost Your Resume
Another great change that you can add to your life and the lives of people all over the world is volunteering. There are many options for college students these days. Starting with the youth clubs locally with their online activities to tutoring and fighting for environmental causes, you can make a positive impact and be the change you want to see. Moreover, it will add valuable lines to your resume that will mention soft skills and leadership qualities that are so necessary for future employment.

5. Start a College Blog
Before you start saying that you are not a blogger and that you are not one of those fashion icons, you should reconsider your thoughts as it is always possible to start with an educational blog or discuss something that you like doing as a hobby. If you are a college athlete, consider writing about your life during Covid-19 times and share learning tips. It will always help other students find great tips and cooperate together. It will also let you relieve the stress and become more inspired as you learn.

6. Improve Your Remote Video Sessions
One thing that many students have had to change lately included hardware that they use for video conferences. Starting with the webcam and headphones to various panels for laptops to get a better view, many learners have turned to the local and online shops to find the latest solutions. Check your current hardware and look at the discounts to see what changes you may have to make to boost your laptop’s performance.

7. Work At Your Social Skills
You should work harder on your social skills by contacting your professors by asking them how have they coped with the college break, and wishing them good luck. Just leave a nice message and participate in college life as much as you can. It will always pay off as care and compassion are what we all need these days when the world is slowly recovering from the challenges of the pandemic times.

Most importantly, always look into the future and remember that any change starts from you, hard work, dedication, persistence, and your attitude. Pay respect to others, analyze what you see, learn to listen, be there for others and the good changes will come!

We’ve got a feedback story from our grateful customer who decided to share his success story and help students who struggle with the chi-squared test.

This article contains a full and really simple guide to solving chi-square. To keep his identity anonymous, we’ve changed his name.

---

I’m Donald and this is my story about conquering chi-square. Einstein was completely right saying that, “If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.”

If you’re currently struggling with the chi-square test, I’ll answer all — and I mean all — your questions about this tricky statistical method in really easy to understand terms!

I’ve adapted this article from the “Methodology” section of my paper. You are welcome to use it to understand how the methodology of your own homework should work.

What is the Chi-Square Test and Where to Use It?

The first time I had to use chi-square was when I was at the 4th year of my undergraduate program at Pittsburgh University School of Nursing. I planned to prove that googling about mental health issues can cause anxiety and negative emotions.

Thus, the topic of my paper was “How reading of online resources about mental health issues impacts patients’ mental and emotional state”.

I surveyed 100 patients. I asked them how often they read about health issues, and whether such a guilty pleasure triggers their anxiety. Then, I recorded their answers on a table.  

All I needed was to find the right statistical test. I looked through a short chi-square guide online and it totally triggered my math anxiety.

You know, I felt that I’m the dumbest person in the world. Thankfully, I did not give up and continued.

---

At the end of the day, Donald resolves his case — being mentored by a professional Nerd.

Let Nerdify find your perfect academic match using AI! 🤖

---

 

❓ What is the Chi-Square Test?

First things first, I got to know my enemy. Chi-square test is a common statistical method used to determine whether two things (in statistics they are called variables) are somehow related.

❓ How to find out whether variables are related? If one variable somehow changes, and another immediately changes in response, it means that they are related.

This is actually very simple to understand once you put the concept of chi-square in the context of a real example.

In my case, patients would be reading about health issues online and experience anxiety. If they feel bad after browsing horrifying symptoms of mental illnesses on WedMD, that means these variables are related.

To make sure that the chi-square method suits your particular research, check these criteria:

1. You need to analyze numerical results — specifically, the numbers of times you’ve observed something happening, or how many people gave the same response.
2. Variables are categorical — variables should belong to specific groups. For instance, respondents in surveys can be categorized by gender, age, political views, etc.
3. There are two individual variables (e.g. how frequently people google online about mental illnesses (very frequently or rarely) and the effect of their googling (increased anxiety or no negative emotions)
4. You only need a “yes” or “no” answer – chi-square can only tell if two variables influence each other. It never tells how strong the influence is and when or why it occurs.

Chi-square is used pretty much anywhere because it is a simple, suitable for any sample size, and cheap way to test whether two variables are related. For instance:

 

• In healthcare: is anxiety associated with online research about health issues?
• In sociology: is crime rate related to the poverty level in a specific region?
• In marketing: do sales depend on the region where products are sold?
• In politics: does voter turnout depend on voter age?

Given all this info, I decided that chi-square was exactly what I needed for my research. But how to convert my data into a table and then get all the calculations done right? After 5 days of trial and error, all I had was only errors and I got stuck.

Why Chi-Square Test is Mistakenly Thought to be Difficult?

You’d think that the good old Google knows everything, but nope. Page after page of the search results, I saw the same explanations by-the-book, which were all Greek to me. Without statistical education, I got the theoretical part but was completely lost when it came to practice.

Then a friend of mine recommended me Nerdify. Nerdify connected me with a perfect Nerd — a Master in Medical Statistics and finally, I knew I was going somewhere!

A detailed explanation from the Nerd on how chi-square works and how I should use it — it was all that I needed to nail my super difficult paper.

Why was chi-square so difficult for me? As my Nerd said, it happens with all the students for the following reasons:

• Extremely complex definitions and explanations that make chi-square seem very entangled and confuse students
• Without illustrative examples, complex formulas are overwhelming for anyone who does not have a fancy for math.
• Lack of time teachers can devote to explaining every topic — students often have no one to ask for an extra explanation
• Lack of knowledge due to that your major doesn’t have anything to do with statistics. As a student nurse, I didn’t have any background in studying statistics at all.
  

  ---

  Want a Personal Nerd to step in and make your test easier?

• Explain formulas?
• Provide real-life examples?
• Mentor customization of statistical methods to your project?

 📲 Message Nerdify to get help!

---

If you’re struggling just as I did, for whatever reason, I’ve got a perfect step-by-step guide to chi-square that you can use!

Really Simple Step-by-Step Chi-Square Guide

Right off the bat, you should know that it’s totally acceptable for non-statistics students to skip doing all the calculations manually and use online chi-square test calculators.

However, my college professor required all the chi-square formulas explained in the paper. Thus, if you’ll use chi-square, you need to understand this method to interpret the results correctly.

▶ Formula Explained

When you see this abomination of a formula, you probably think it’s extremely complex:

where

• χ2 — value of chi square
• Σ — sign of sum, means the total amount of elements in a sequence
• O — observed value of a variable, or the numbers you already have from observations or task description
• E — expected value of variables you need to calculate yourself; they represent how the variables would be distributed if there would be NO relationship between the variables

Even if you do all the calculations using MS Excel or SPSS, you still need to know where to put which number!

In sections below, you fill find out more about where to find these numbers.

Now it’s time for the best part — calculations!

 

0️⃣ My Case ➕ Sample Size

In my research, I surveyed 100 patients. I asked them how often they read about health issues, and whether such a guilty pleasure triggers their anxiety

• So there were two categories of patients: those who frequently research health issues and those who rarely research them
• There were also two options of their emotional response: increased anxiety and no changes  

Right now, I know my sample size — the number of observations. How many people responded to the survey? How many times you’ve seen something happening during the experiment or study?

In my case, sample equaled 100 — the number of people who participated in the survey.

 

1️⃣ Creating a Chi-Square Table

Using this data, I created this contingency table:

❓ Contingency tables present observations in matrix format — rows and columns, just like the table above. This type of tables is very commonly used in statistics, especially because it demonstrates how two variables are connected.

---

	Increased anxiety	No changes	Total
Frequently research
Rarely research
Total

---

 

2️⃣ Choosing Statistical Significance

If you’re writing a paper using the chi-square method, chances are that the level of statistical significance isn’t given. Where do you get it? You choose it yourself!

❓ Statistical significance — is the likelihood of that the relationship between two or more variables is accidental and the results of the observation are caused by something else than just chance.

For instance, if a patient gets anxiety every time he does online research about health issues, then statistically the probability of getting anxiety, aka level of confidence is 100%, or 1.

If a patient gets anxiety in 9 times out of 10, then we can confidently state that the probability here is 90%, or 0.9.

The most typical levels of significance are 0.05 and 0.01 — both are 100% safe to use in your paper. I chose 0.01 because the lower the value, the more significant results you’ll get — lower significance implies a lower risk of error.

Why do we need the level of significance? My Nerd had a good metaphor to explain it. Imagine that you have to climb up a ladder that has 100 steps. The more steps are missing, the higher the risk that you’ll fall. That’s why we set a very low level of significance — to make sure that calculations are correct!

 

3️⃣ State your Hypotheses

The hypothesis is a fancy word that confuses many students, but in reality, the hypothesis is just an assumption that you have. In chi-square, you’ll need 2 of them.

• Null hypothesis (H0)– usually states that the results of the observations could result purely from chance and the variables are independent — if one of them changes, another one stays the same and doesn’t react to the changes in the first one.

My H0 would say that getting anxiety isn’t connected with researching health issues online.

• Alternative hypothesis (H1)  states that the sample observations result not from a random cause, but from a specific cause and the variables are dependent in some way.

That is, my H1 says that patients really do get anxiety and experience negative feelings after researching health issues online.

4️⃣ Fill in Observed Values

Here just enter all the observed values into the table:

❓ Observed value — what actually happened or how many times you’ve seen something occur. For instance, how many respondents out of 100 admitted to frequently research online about mental issues and get anxiety from it

---

	Increased anxiety	No change	Total
Frequently research	36	9	45
Rarely research	24	31	55
Total	60	40	100

---

5️⃣ Calculate Expected Value

Here we calculate values that would be observed in case if there would be no relationship between researching health issues and experiencing negative emotions.

❓ Expected value — it’s calculated by the formula below and show what would happen if the variables were absolutely independent — wouldn’t affect each other at all.

where

• E — expected value
• Mr — row total for the cell you’re calculating an expected value for
• Mc — column total for that cell
• n — sample size
  

  ---

	Increased anxiety	No change	Total
Frequently research	27	18	45
Rarely research	33	22	55
Total	60	40	100

---

• Expected value for “frequently research, increased anxiety” E=45*60/100=27
• Expected value for “only rarely research, increased anxiety” E=55*60/100=33
• Expected value for “frequently research, no negative emotions” E=45*40/100=18
• Expected value for“only rarely research, no negative emotions” E=55*40/100=22

 

6️⃣ Calculate Chi-Square Using the Formula

Once again, you can use online calculators, but this how it’s done in practice (aka the hard way):

 

---

Not ready yet to move further with chi-square test?

Find your Nerd to ease your pain. In anything. Unless it’s legal. 😎

 🧐 Get Connected to a Personal Nerd!

---

 

7️⃣ Calculate Degrees of Freedom and Critical Value

Now that we got chi-square calculation done, let’s calculate the degrees of freedom

❓ Degrees of freedom (df) — the number of independent variables that went into the calculation.

Just think of those promotions “buy 2 — get 1 for free!” — you’re free to choose several things, but +1 product is always set by the promotion. Degrees of freedom, however, subtract 1 from both your rows and columns.

You need to use a chi-square distribution table and find your critical value at the intersection of the degrees of freedom (df=1) and the level of significance (α=0.01):

So, our critical value is 6.63. This value is smaller than our χ2 =13.63 Therefore, in our chi-square test example, researching about health issues online and getting anxiety or negative emotions are related.

We don’t know how much they are related, because chi-square doesn’t answer this question. But we definitely know that they are somehow related.👌

Chi-Square Calculators — the Easy Way

Even if you need to do all the difficult calculations by yourself, these calculators are awesome to verify your results. Or, if you’re lucky, online calculators are all you’ll need to use to calculate chi-square!

1. Social Science Statistics Calculator — easy to use chi-square calculator that can calculate up to 5 rows and 5 columns. You can enter category names, fill in the data, and get the result in a flash.
2. Kent University SPSS Guide for Chi-Square — if you have SPSS, you can consider your chi-square test pretty much already done. This guide will help you learn how to import chi-square tables and graphs into the SPSS and get the task solved. Many colleges and universities use SPSS as their default tool, and your professor may ask you to show your SPSS datasheet.
3. Chi-Square Calculator — another extremely simple online chi-squared test calculator. All you need to do is enter the observed values and you’ll get degrees of freedom and chi-square ready.

How Can You Nail Chi-Square: My Pro Tips

If anyone told me I would be able to do it just a week before connecting with a Nerd, I’d never believed it. It was simple and logical explanations from my Nerd that helped me completely nail chi-square test and do all the calculations by myself.

Now, I understand each step of chi-square and interpret results correctly. For me, it was crucial that a professional, with a background in studying and applying statistics in practice, would explain everything to me in human language, not math language.

And now a few tips for you to cut corners if you’re dealing with chi-square:

• Keep in mind that chi-square isn’t rocket science — it is doable and actually very easy if you have a really simple and detailed guideline
• The number of rows and columns can vary and your table can be much larger than mine, however, the principle remains the same — you’ll just need to do more arithmetic
• When calculating the expected value, you’ll most likely get fractions, which can confuse you, especially if you’re calculating the number of people in each category. Don’t bother about it — these calculations are intended for further calculation of chi-square

That’s all I wanted to share in my feedback story today. Hopefully, it will help you nail chi-square and get the grade you deserve! Chi-square isn’t as difficult as it may seem at first, so go ahead and break a lance!

---

Of course, you can make your own success story too!

Nerdify is an AI-powered platform to quickly connect with the experience of 1000s of Personal Nerds

✨Give a try right now!

---

 

Most of us who have enrolled in a college or university have faced at least one strict or not so talkative professor, which made us feel uneasy. In truth, it does not mean that you are dealing with a bad person or someone who is always angry. The key is to find a mental bridge that will help you show that you are a dedicated and caring person. If you follow our seven tips by the Nerdify reviews team, you will be able to get along with your college professor and even make friends in a certain sense. There is no obstacle that you won’t be able to overcome if you show confidence and simply learn to listen!

1. Do not make fast assumptions about a person. The most common mistake is to listen to what the college folks say about someone, which often ends up in a wrong impression about a person. Even if you see that your college professor act strictly, it does not mean that they dislike you but may stand for the genuine care and one’s trying to keep you serious and dedicated. Every teacher is there for you, so remember to help them as they share their skills and knowledge, which is not always easy!

2. Act confident and do not show your weaknesses or fears. Even if you deal with a narcissistic person or someone who likes to call names or act in a bad way, the most important is to show your confidence and avoid acting weak or showing your fear. When a college professor sees that you are not easy to attack, they will treat you with respect and will understand that you know your rights and will not let anyone intrude into your comfort zone.

3. Explain your point of view by supporting it with academic research and good reasoning. Nerdify reviews team recommends never talking about your assignments without good backing up of your argumentation. If you share some research paper or reference by quoting at least one sentence from there to show your point, it will be a good start of a dialogue. Once you provide good reasoning for your thoughts, it will show your college professor that you did research the topic and know it beyond the lecture notes.

4. Stay true even if you have done something wrong or missed a point. Do not be afraid to acknowledge your mistakes and confirm that you have been wrong or did not listen when something has been explained. It is not the end of the world after all. If you stay true and discuss your troubles sincerely, it will always pay off and will help the college professor see how to help you by knowing all the challenges that you are facing. Sometimes there are missed deadlines or lack of proper knowledge that creates college conflicts, which is why you have to talk about it first and ask for help, staying true.

5. Learn to listen to what a college professor says and show respect. The most important part is listening to what is being said even if it is beyond your lecture. Show some respect and remember what has been discussed in the college hall. Our team at Nerdify reviews suggests offering assistance to sort information for the upcoming project or share your ideas about research proposals. Your genuine dedication and care will show you as a person who really wants to learn.

6. Participate in various college activities and show compassion. If you study on campus and there is volunteering at your college community, take part in some of it, and show that you are a social person. It is wrong to assume that it is not your thing because if you become a part of the community, you will start thinking differently and see that your strict college professor is just human after all!

7. Do not be afraid of asking for help. Some people find it hard to cooperate, which is why they expect assigned instructors to help them. Still, how can it take place if they do not know that you are in trouble until they see your weak paper? Be the one to act and always ask for help because it is what they are there for!

College Help Centers

It is crucial to remember that if your troubles with a certain college professor went overboard and include personal attacks or racial insults, it is high time to report it to a college help center. It does not matter whether you communicate offline or online: always remember about your civil rights and equality. The same relates to the cases of bullying where confidentiality is the key. When you take an action, do not forget about confidentiality and discuss your issue privately. According to our research at Nerdify reviews, such things do happen and you have a right to seek protection and help.