running a studyblr as an adult is so strange. i see kids as young as 13 having breakdowns about grades, isolating themselves from everyone because they don’t quite fit in, not knowing how to deal with very real mental health problems… it’s not my place as someone significantly older than you to try and intervene in your personal life, but i hope you all know that if you ever want advice - about studying, dealing with life, or just which colour to change your blog to - or need someone to listen to you when you’ve had an awful day, my inbox is always open. things will get better for you, and you will be okay, i promise.
I love your blog!! I just recently graduated from ucla as a Human Bio and Society! I was an RA last year and I'm totally down to answer any dorm/housing related questions (or anything else!) my studyblr is avaguavastudies :) Good luck to you future bruins, it's a great ride!
Omg that’s a great major!!
AND I’M PERSONALLY REAAAAALLLLYYY INTERESTED IN APPLYING FOR THE RA POSITION FOR NEXT YEAR eek I will definitely be following @avaguavastudies (blog title UC lots of A’s is super clever btw)
Housing questions can go to this studyblr here!! Since they were an RA they will know plenty more about housing~
this is just a quick list of study habits that work for me, as a straight a’s student
1. even if it’s not in your teacher’s presentation written on a slide, if you hear your teacher mention a fact, WRITE IT DOWN. you might need it later for a test.
2. when you’re rewriting your notes/compiling a study guide, pretend you’re making it for someone else. include everything, even if you think you know it. (unless you’re low on time, in which case, just write what you don’t know)
3. when you’re trying to learn a new concept, pretend you’re teaching it to someone else. this is a form of active learning, and the act of breaking the concept down into steps that you can teach will improve your understanding of the concept. (for the longest time, i actually didn’t even know this was an actual study technique, because i’ve always done it subconsciously!)
4. don’t over color your notes!! if you really need a key for all the colors, then you’re using way too many. try to stick with 2-3 pens/pencils. for me, i write most of my notes in black ink or pencil and i write the important concepts i might need to find quickly later (such as vocabulary) in red or blue pen.
5. have your water bottle next to you (so you remember to stay hydrated; this makes focusing easier as well), as well as any other things you might need during a study session so you don’t have to keep getting up to get stuff (which is pretty distracting for me as i’m easily sidetracked).
6. make it a habit to write lists of everything you need to do by the end of the weekend (or the end of that day, depending on how much work you have). this’ll help you familiarize yourself with your tasks so you have a clear plan of what needs to get done.
7. (not really necessary, just something i like to do!) learn to eat with your non-dominant hand so you can eat and take notes and turn pages w/out ripping them instead of scrolling through social media. keep in mind that sometimes, meal times are for taking your mind off school so unless you’re really pressed for time, it’s not a huge deal if you spend this time w/passive reading, texting friends, etc.
8. when you’re assigned a research project, COME UP WITH A THESIS FIRST so you know what to research. try to get all your research done within the first two days or so, to have more time to plan out how you’re going to structure it. then get your draft done (something is better than nothing) so you can revise at your own pace instead of rushing at the last minute.
9. prioritize your homework!! as someone who spends hours fencing and even misses school for fencing tournaments, is part of symphonic band, and on the robotics team (build season is suuuuuper busy), i can’t express how important this is!! if you have math first period, get that done first, whereas if you have math last period, you can do it at lunch and spend your time working on something that’s due in the morning. don’t do this all the time, but if you need to, know which teachers are more strict with due dates so if you really do need an extension, you’ll be asking the least strict teacher and will have much better chances of getting said extension.
10. if you study at home like me, change into new clothes (comfy clothes, but not pajamas) before cracking open your textbooks. it’ll help make you feel more refreshed and ready to start your homework, but not confined to uncomfortable uniforms from school. tie up your hair, if it’s long. try to study at a table/desk rather than in bed (for sleeping not studying) or on the floor (bad for your posture).
11. check out this post for productive things you can do when you aren’t studying, but still want to be productive!
It's a little bit more dressed up than check marks or crosses. I got the cool pattern idea from @bohoberryÂ
 At the end of the day it just feels so satisfying to cross off everything I did.  And I'm motivated to keep up the good habits so I can fill in the box completely!Â
I only use one word to describe the habit but the breakdown is:Â
Water = drank at least a full bottleÂ
Pill = took my daily pillÂ
Face = kept my skin care routine, removed make up before bed (I was lazy about that for a while)Â
Teeth = wore my retainers to bed (I hate it)Â
Eyes = took out my contacts before 9pm to give my eyes a rest/wore my glasses that dayÂ
Study = did some studying of any kind for the greÂ
Lang = did some duolingo or hindi book learningÂ
Tidy = made my bed and straightened out my room/deskÂ
I might add/subtract some things depending on what I want to focus on because before the list was too long and it was too much to pack into one day
I'm trying to figure out a way to track weekly habits, but I'm not a fan of a monthly tracker :/ I'll play around with it! I hope this helps!
Right here! This is a guide on how to study and craft your study plan.
What does that mean? Well i’ve been struggling a lot on how I’m supposed to piece together a plan on how/when/what to study for the GRE.
I have a busy life, as I’m sure most people do. I also can’t afford/don’t want to pay heavy $$$ to take courses or subscribe to a prep company online. So how do I make a plan that’s effective, cheap and fits with my schedule?
Here are my tips! (please note I’m still in the process of studying and am not a professional gre coach or tutor or anything like that)
-When is your GRE scheduled? How long do you have to prep?
I scheduled my GRE about 3 months in advance since I work part time and want to balance a social life. You might want more or less, depending on how long ago you were in school, how confident you feel in test taking/math/english etc.
Just be realistic with your schedule and how much time you reasonably have to study. It’s better to give yourself more time since its a $50 (!!) fee to reschedule the test.Â
Also keep in mind your program’s application deadlines and how long it’ll take to score the test (10-15 days) and whether or not you want to buffer in time to (hopefully not) retake the test.
-What prep materials do you have? What is your budget?
This part is so overwhelming, as there are so many options and opinions on “what you need” in order to succeed.Â
I’ll make another post that goes into more detail comparing the free and costly options out there, but for starters here are the basic things you can use:
Official ETS Prep Materials (free and $ options)
Test prep company materials (free and $$)
Test prep company online classes (mostly $$ but some free workshops)
In-person classes/tutoring ($$$)
Borrowing books from a friend/general online resources (free)
Personally, I’m trying to study on a low budget and I feel more comfortable self studying. So I’ve decided to just use all of the free resources plus a couple of books I bought from amazon.
-Take a diagnostic test
That’s right. Before you start studying or crafting a plan, take that diagnostic test.
If you want, you can look up the general format for the test, like how many sections, how long are each of them etc. But don’t go studying the content just yet.Â
It seems counter intuitive, but it really gives you a sense on where you are starting out, and will really help focus your study plan. Maybe you’re killer at math and don’t need to review geometry and algebra. Or maybe you’ve written so many analyses that you’ll ace the reading comprehension.Â
You won’t know until you take that diagnostic.
There are many free practice tests out there if you google for them. ETS has a free software that gives 2 practice tests and mimics the GRE program and times it (though you might want to save those for later).
Prep books usually have some sort of shorter diagnostic tests as well. Just as long as you time yourself and are able to review topics and answers afterwards.
Note: The diagnostic test will also help you narrow down study materials you should look into based on your weaker areas.
-Don’t beat yourself up too much about the diagnostic results
You may have done really well, poorer than you expected or somewhere in between. Wherever you land, please keep in mind you took the test without any prep, and that you can only increase your score from here. You got this!
-Craft a reasonable study plan (This should be based on the materials you have gathered and the results of your diagnostic)
There are lots of study plans out there to choose from. If you decided to pay for an online/in person course then the company or teacher will most likely lay out the plan for you. But if you don’t use these or want to study more on your own, you can craft your own plan for some structure
Magoosh has some good example plans out there, based on various time frames and focus areas [X]Â The only downside is their plans revolve around a subscription to their prep site/course.
I more or less adapted their plan substituting my own materials and I’m pretty happy that I have all my bases covered.Â
The most important thing is consistency. You’ll learn better studying for a small bit every day as opposed to 5 hours once a week.Â
Also, make sure you start with the basics. Learn about the test, whats on it etc. A good free resource is ETS’s Ebook [X] and Magoosh’s Ebook [X] plus ETS breaks it down pretty well on their website [X]
I’m making my plan on a weekly basis, based on what my schedule is like and what areas I’d like to focus on. But ideally I study some Quant and some Verbal every day. An example of my plan is in the pics above.Â
My process:
What study materials do I have?Â
Ex. 2 prep books, 1 book of practice problems, Khan Academy, vocab flashcards, free practice tests from various websites, ETS prompts and guides
What are reasonable goals for me to study every day?
Ex. 20 Quant questions, 20 Verbal questions, Vocab flashcards for 15 minutes and some test strategy/overview reading
Put them in your calendar/draw out your study plan with the topics/resources you’re using
Optional: post about your progress on tumblr
Kill it on the GRE with your bombass study plan
I hope this helped! Feel free to message me with any questions and stay tuned for future gre guides and tips!
I’m playing around with the trackers and weekly spread layouts cause I kind of like having the weekly stuff (goals, weekly events, trackers etc) in one place and then being free to just list my daily tasks on the following pages
The green/succulent theme is nice but I think I get too tired of following one theme/color throughout the month so I’m thinking of switching it up halfway through...
→ain’t no mercy, got that purple lamborghini lurkin’ 🏎💜
→kinda messy but these are more for practicality than aesthetics
→ft. pentel fude touch sign brush pen
I’m pretty sure this is a fake kanken bc it was less than 1/7 of what it usually sells for but it looks real down to the smallest detail so I’m just amazed tbh
I got this from a flea market - ladies’ market for those who are from hong kong!Â
How do you improve in math? I always do all my homework, do all my revision when a notification comes out and ask questions, but in tests I normally get around 85% and I'm happy with it, but are there any important things i'm missing out on?
Ahhh I love this question!! A lot because I used to be a bit above average for maths, but I improved a lot in my senior years to get a mark I was proud of in the final exam.  Congratulations on your current marks by the way- they’re pretty damn good!!
focus on your problem areas. Go back over your old tests and figure out why you lost those marks- were they genuine “I don’t know how to answer this” marks, silly mistakes or transcription errors? It helps to collect all of the questions you got wrong onto a word doc or something like that so you can always go back over and review why.
Past papers!!!! Can’t stress how important it is to expose yourself to new and harder questions. And if an answer/how to work it out is very obvious, skip it.
Learn when to skip. If your homework is the same kind of problem but with different numbers (like the same kind of trig questions, algebra etc) and you already know how to solve them- just don’t do it. Ofc this depends if your teacher lets you do that/checks your homework. By the end of maths, I was doing very minimal questions from homework since I skipped ones I knew and only did the hard ones.
Make a mistakes palm card. I try telling this to everyone who has ever asked me for maths advice; it was my saving grace during exams. Write down every kind of mistake you’ve ever made e.g forgetting to label axes, not checking the point of inflexion, flipping the inequality sign when you multiply a negative (or whatever your mistakes are). Read over this just before you go into the exam room- it makes you feel a lot more prepared that you know you won’t lose marks on avoidable mistakes.
I also have a how to study maths masterpost here (x) in case you were interested in checking it out (though it says pretty much the same things, maybe in better detail). Good luck for maths!
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