Port

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[21st-century-minutiae]

Each of the above letters in the font are drawn with a single stroke (with the exception of L, T, and possibly X, with I and J having a single dot as well) and in the shape of a block, capital letter. A lowercase version of the same letter is visible inside each, serving as a boundary for the white-space if possible. Because the letters are (mostly) made from a single strong, the lowercase letters are mostly in cursive form. However, a few letters do not use cursive for the lowercase, preferring a print form that matches the capital print letter more.

The font is not particularly practical from a size, ink conservation, and legibility standpoint, but it is distinctive in a manner one would not see from a normal typeface: something of an effort in art rather than utility.

[helagus]

Websites for learning Spanish

(i am only going to add links)

Spanishpod101.com

Webspanish.com

Cervantes.to

Notesinspanish.com

Amautaspanish.com

Lengalia.com

Synergyspanish.com

Spanishdict.com

Studyspanish.com

Ilovelanguages.org

i will keep adding if i find more websites.

These are only sites and not yt channels or social media pages. Also these contain both free and paid sites.

ig: @helagus

[omoi-no-hoka]

Hello! I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but how do you become proficient at handling conversations in Japanese/handling grammar very well? I read your post on the JLPT, and it addressed issues I have been tip toe-ing around--indeed, passive actions such as listening or reading are easier than the active ones. How did you go about that? Did you write a bunch of sentences daily? Did you have a conversation partner? What would you rec. to someone who lives outside Japan? Thank you!

This is an excellent question, and one that I get asked a lot irl by Japanese people in particular. Let’s talk about gaining fluency and the ways we can go about it!

How to Gain Fluency in Japanese (and Other Languages)

Speaking Fluency versus Accuracy

Language proficiency is divided into two separate categories:

Fluency: Although there are no widely agreed-upon definitions or measures of language fluency, someone is typically said to be fluent if their use of the language appears fluid, or natural, coherent, and easy as opposed to slow, halting use. In other words, fluency is often described as the ability to produce language on demand and be understood.

Accuracy: Correctness of language use, especially grammatical correctness and word choice.

By the above definitions, a “fluent” speaker may make grammatical mistakes, but they can speak without having to stop and think too much about conjugations, word choice, etc.

An “accurate” speaker can speak with nearly zero grammatical/word choice mistakes. However, the speed of their utterances isn’t generally taken into account, so it could take an “accurate” person twice as long to articulate the same idea as a “fluent” person. 

Ideally, you need to strike a good balance between these two qualities when speaking. I have a boss, God bless him, who is 100% fluency and 0% accuracy and…man is it hard to understand what he’s saying sometimes, but he can generally get his point across just barely. I have another coworker who is 100% accuracy and takes about 3 minutes to form a sentence because he wants it to be perfect. 

How to Increase Speaking/Writing Accuracy

First, let’s talk about the easiest thing to improve, which is accuracy. It’s also (in my opinion) the least fun thing to improve, because it means grammar books and vocabulary memorization. 

You can only use a language accurately if you know what is correct and what is incorrect, and you can only learn that by studying grammar and vocabulary (or if you’re a native speaker and picked it up innately, you lucky bastard).

So here’s some things you can do to increase your accuracy:

For example, if you’re having a hard time using the passive, you need to review that part of your textbook and find some exercises to drill it into your head. 

Say the correct thing aloud. Lots. Sometimes I just walk around my apartment and narrate everything I see/do like a crazy person, but that’s good practice. 

Write example sentences using the grammar you’re struggling with and say them aloud too. 

There’s a bunch of cool apps that connect you with native speakers that can help correct you too! I used to use HelloTalk, I think. 

If you’re a creative soul, when I was studying for the JLPT, I took 1 grammar point and 5 vocabulary words from my JLPT study books and used them to write a 2-page short story about the adventures of ネギ, a stray black cat that smelled like green onions because she napped in an onion field. Then I had a Japanese friend check it over for me and mark mistakes. I hand-wrote them to improve my abysmal handwriting at the same time. It was really fun! I sometimes think about doing it again just for funsies.

When someone corrects you, don’t feel like your entire life is over and you’re a failure and you’ll never get it right haha. I’ve seen people fall into that hopeless mindset, and that’s just nonsense. It’s a good opportunity for learning and nothing more! Say the correct thing you’ve just been taught out loud, then write it down if you can. And, if possible, find a chance to use it in conversation asap.

How to Increase Speaking/Writing Fluency

Now this is the hard one. Especially for those learners who do not have native speakers nearby. 

I’m going to be dead honest with you. I started formally studying Japanese at uni, and I had a Japanese roommate/best friend since year one. I had a 4.0 GPA in my Japanese classes (and only my Japanese classes lol) because I was and still am a MEGA NERD about it. 

…But it wasn’t until I studied abroad in Japan my 4th year of uni that I gained fluency. 

There are a lot of things that can hold us back from fluency. An interesting thing I’ve noted is that Foreign Language is perhaps the only subject in which a student’s personality can directly affect their progress. To gain fluency, you have to go forth and speak, but if you are naturally a shy person, that is going to hinder you. If you are the kind of person who takes mistakes/failures poorly, you will be less likely to take risks and try to say harder sentences. In contrast, you can get full marks in math regardless of the above personality traits. 

I’m not saying that you have to be an outgoing explosion of a human being in order to gain fluency. But what I am saying is that you have to be willing to seek out conversations, and you have to be willing to take chances. Get out of your comfort zone. Use that new word you picked up the other day. Try to explain something that is difficult for you. 

My problem was that, while I lived with a native speaker who would have happily taught me anything I asked, her English proficiency was much higher than my Japanese proficiency. And when I struggled to say something in Japanese, I’d fall back onto English. And when she told me something I didn’t understand in Japanese, she’d repeat it in English instead of Japanese, because that was easier for us both. The same thing happened when I was in Japanese class as well. I always had the assurance that I could fall back on English.

But when I elected to study abroad in Japan for 3 months, I knew that this was my big chance. So on the host family form in the “other requests” area, I wrote that I specifically wanted a host family that could not speak English. I was setting fire to my crutches, and I was scared but excited to see them burn. 

By the end of my three months in Japan, I had gone from “Chotto matte kudasai” and needing a minute to form my reply, to “Okay, yeah I see that movie too and I liked the action scenes, but I didn’t care for the story little.” (I’ve underlined mistakes that I would have made in Japanese, to show you that I sacrificed some accuracy to obtain higher fluency.)

So, in short, the easiest and quickest way to increase your spoken fluency is to throw away all the crutches you can and use the language as much as possible. Every single day. Even if you’re just having an imaginary conversation with yourself! And like I said, there are a bunch of cool apps that connect you with Japanese people who want to learn English and you can do language exchanges with them. I had a lot of fun with those in the past. 

As for increasing writing fluency…well. That’s a tough question with Japanese, because I can type Japanese at like 100 wpm, but my Japanese handwriting fluency is at a 10/100. I can read and type at the level of a native Japanese high school student, but I can only write the kanji that 7 year old can write. That’s no exaggeration.

The big reason for that dichotomy is that my work is paper-free. 100% of my work is done on screen, so about the only time I have to write out something is when I’m filling out a form, which includes my name (katakana), address, and maybe occupation. 

If you want to increase your Japanese handwriting speed, just keep on writing. Write those little short stories about ネギ like I did, or find some writing prompts (I just started a side-blog with writing prompts yesterday btw) or keep a little diary. Make opportunities to write. 

How to Have Nice Handwriting in Japanese

Okay, full disclaimer: I am the absolute LAST person qualified to talk about this, because I have awful handwriting in Japanese. 

Unless you have prior experience with a different language that uses kanji, or you lack the keen eye of an artist, you will likely struggle to develop neat handwriting. 

Personally, I really like using this app called Japanese Kanji Sensei. It’s on Android (not sure about iOS), and if you pay just a few bucks you can make your own kanji sets and stuff. Anyways, it will show you how to write the characters prettily. It gives you a good frame of reference for what nice, pencil/pen-written characters (versus calligraphy characters). It has hiragana and katakana on it too!

I get a stylus and write out the characters on this app for the muscle memory, so my hands remember the sensation of writing a certain character. (The muscle memory is different if you only use your fingertip.) This muscle memory and repetition is how Japanese people learn how to internalize kanji as well. I really enjoy and recommend this app. I’m sure that there are others out there like it too.

Summary

TL;DR: Review your textbooks, take risks, use every resource available or make your own, and just have fun with it! 💗

[jibunstudies]

One of the questions I get asked the most often is “How do I make my Japanese more colloquial?” or “How do I sound more like a native?” There’s also a lot of discussion about “Textbook Japanese” versus Japanese you’ll hear while on the train, in line at the store, or out with friends.

This post is quite long and explanatory, so here is a list of what’s covered under the cut!

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Plain form 2. Dropping particles 3. です to だ 4. Sentence ending particle の 5. 〜ています → 〜ている → 〜てる 6. て form does not always equal command 7. じゃない & じゃん 8. と to って 9. さ 10. なんか 11. なんて

Keep reading

[defunctmainaccplsdont]

Japanese Fairy Tale Vocabulary

english - japanese

(note: i did not include an extensive vocab of typical japanese fairy tale creatures/demons, because there are honestly, just too many to list in a post like this. maybe i will make a seperate post about them sometime in the future)

wizard - 魔法使い ( まほうつかい- mahō tsukai )

magic - 魔法 (まほう - mahō)

witch - 魔女 (まじょ - majo)

fairy - 妖精 (ようせい -  yōsei)

queen - 女王 (じょおう-  joō)

king - 王様 (おう-さま - ō-sama)

princess - 王女 (おうじょ - ōjo)

prince - 王子 (おうじ -  ōji)

monster/demon - 悪魔 (あくま - akuma)

ogre/demon - 鬼 (おに - oni)

goblin/monster - 化物 (ばけもの - bakemono)

spirit - 魂 (たましい - tamashi)

ghost/demon - 妖怪  (ようかい - yōkai)

tale - 物語  (ものがたり- monogatari)

fairy tale/nursery tale - 童話   (どうわ - dowa)

dragon - 竜 (りゅう- ryu)

good - 良い (よい - yoi)

evil - 悪 (あく - aku)

once upon a time -  昔々(むかしむかし - mukashimukashi) 

in a certain place (used like the above) - ある ところ に (aru tokoro ni)

one day -  ある日 (ある日 - aruhi)

finally/at last -  とうとう (tōtō)

wish -  お願い  (おねがい - onegai)

[jibunstudies]

hello there! i would like to ask if you know any sites where i can practice reading japanese? like news sites, manga sites, or sites that offer free e-books that are in japanese. and are there any japanese podcasts that i can listen to? thank you in advance for answering this question. it'd mean a whole to me!

Hey there! There are actually quite a few recommended sites for Japanese learners, so I’ll link them right now :)

Japanese IO – I’ve used this site quite a few times and I love the interface! The design is really sleek and “to the point,” so there’s no distractions from what you’re trying to do, which is practice reading Japanese. It also has a great library and look-up feature.

朝日学生新聞社 – This is the “kid’s version” of the more adult 朝日新聞社. If you don’t feel that you’re quite up for the adult version, test out the version geared towards kids. They have fewer articles, but there’s plenty for a learner to pick through.

NHK NEWS EASY – I’m almost positive this is one of the most famous ones for learners. It’s similar to Asahi’s kid newspaper – articles are condensed with easier kanji and vocabulary, and it’s geared towards children, so learners can spend some time combing through updated articles and testing their skills.

Yahoo! Kids – More short news articles geared towards easier-to-understand Japanese.

MATCHA – A fun magazine similar in style to NHK EZ.

Watanoc – Another magazine-type site with a variety of articles.

Traditional Japanese Stories – Get your hands on some easily printed Japanese stories that are told to children. Great for language skills and culture! Similar to English pop culture stories (like Cinderella and so on), Japan has its own fairytales that are occasionally referenced.

Fuku Musume’s Fairy Tale Collection – More stories!

World of チョコチョコ – These are beginner stories, but as you progress you can read other stories on this website.

EhonNavi – Read hundreds of Japanese picture books for free!

If you’re looking for more advanced content…

NHK – Japan’s national broadcaster. You can read articles as well as stream audio and video (may be blocked depending on location).

毎日新聞 – Moderate/left-leaning national newspaper

朝日新聞 – Left-leaning national newspaper

読売新聞 – Conservative national newspaper

東洋経済オンライン – A well-known business and finance magazine.

Project Gutenberg (Japanese) – Get access to a ton of out-of-print and classical books for free.

小説家になろう – A site where authors can publish their works online in exchange for reviews.

青空文庫 – Another site where you can get older and out-of-print novels.

University of Virginia Japanese Text Initiative – Another place to access novels in Japanese for free (with the option to read them with furigana).

ComicWalker – Free manga from the publisher Kadokawa. There’s an app too!

最前線 – You can read some manga online for free.

コミコ – More free Japanese manga available here!

キナリノ – A woman’s lifestyle blog which covers fashion, cooking, decor, and more!

Magazine Lib – You can read PDFs of Japanese magazines.

1000文字小説 – A place where users can submit 1000 characters or less stories. 

I also highly recommend starting a Twitter (if you don’t already have one) and following Japanese accounts. I follow a lot of feminist and political accounts so that I’m learning words relevant to my interests, as well as interacting with people that are discussing topics of interest to me (i.e. women and their place in Japanese society).

If you’re curious, you can find me on Twitter at @sydney0313 :)

I hope this list proves useful to you! (And others.)

頑張ってください！

[learnjp]

Expressing Your Emotions || 感情・かんじょう・Emotions Hey guys, today I’m going to list a couple different ways to express your emotions or feelings in conversation in Japanese! Adjectives・形容詞「けいようし」:

Amazing・凄い・すごい

Afraid・こわい

Bad・悪い・わるい

Difficult (emotionally)・辛い・つらい

Embarrassed・恥ずかしい・はずかしい

Fun・楽しい・たのしい

Happy・嬉しい・うれしい

Jealous・羨ましい・うらやましい

Sad・悲しい・かなしい

One adjective which might appear often in conversation is the word 「ヤバい・ヤバイ・やばい」which can be used to express a few different emotions depending on the context. I’ve heard it used to express both positive and negative emotions/feelings/thoughts like: dangerous, terrible, crap, awful, amazing, wow, cool. Nouns・名詞「めいし」:

Anger・怒り・いかり

Delight/Joy・喜び・よろこび

Emotions・感情・かんじょう

Feelings・気持ち・きもち

Feeling/Mood・気分・きぶん

Happiness・幸せ・しあわせ

Sadness・悲しみ・かなしみ

Examples・例「れい」：

Below I’m going to list a few examples of how to express your feelings in Japanese. It’s important to know that you don’t have to use 私は／僕は／俺は／etc. before stating your feeling because it’s obvious in the context that you’re expressing your own emotions!

Angry・Annoyed -

ひどい！・You’re awful/mean OR That’s awful!

ひどーーい！・You’re aaaawful! OR That’s aaaawful!

ムカつく！・むかつく！・I’m pissed off.

イライラする！・I’m irritated！

ウザイ・Annoying!

ちぇっ・チェ・tsk/Dang/Shoot

Confused -

どうしよう？・What am I gonna do?

Difficult -

辛い・つらい・It’s hard.

きつい・It’s hard.

Embarrassed -

あー、恥ずかしい！・あー、はずかしい！・I’m so embarrassed!

Happy -

嬉しい！・うれしい！・I’m happy!

嬉しいなあ！・うれしいなあ！・I’m so happy!

あー幸せ！・あーしあわせ！・I’m so happy!

やった〜！・Yay!

イェーイ！・Yaaay!

楽しい！・ How fun!

楽しすぎる ！・Way too fun!

ワクワクする ！・I’m getting excited!

わあ！・Wow!

すごい！・Wow／Great!

すごーい！・Woow!

すげえ！・Wow!

Jealous -

羨ましい！・うらやましい！・I’m jealous!

羨ましい―――！・うらやましいーーー！・I’m soooo jealous!

Nervous -

ドキドキする！・I feel nervous!

緊張する！・きんちょうする！・I’m nervous!

不安になる・ふあんになる・I’m anxious

Nostalgic -

懐かしい！・なつかしい！・This brings back memories.

Relieved -

安心した！・あんしんした！・I feel relieved.

よかった！・Whew!

あー、よかった！・I’m relieved!

Sad・Lonely -

悲しい！・かなしい！・I’m sad

泣きたくなる！・なきたくなる！・I feel like crying!

寂しい・さみしい／さびしい・I’m lonely

あーあ…・Oh well…

くすん・ぐすん・Sniffle

Scared -

びくびく・Symbolises being afraid or timid.

こわい！・I’m scared!

Shocked・Surprised -

うそ！・No way!

マジ？・まじ？・Really/No way/Seriously?

マジかー？・まじかー？・Really/No way/Seriously?　(a little masculine)

マジで？・まじで？・Really?

えーー！うそ、マジで！？・What? No way!

え！・What?／Really?

えー！・What?／Really?

えーーっ！！・What?／Really?

うわー！・OMG

いや・イヤ・Why?／Oh

いややあー・Whyyy?

ありえない！・No way!/I can’t believe it!

信じられない！・しんじられない！・I can’t believe it!

皆さん、今どんな気持ち？ Everyone, how are you feeling right now?

[butterflistudies]

I got accepted to my dream school!!!! And the honors college for it! I'll try to be more active going into college ahaha!

[butterflistudies]

Update: I committed!

[medcury]

[20042019] studying the theory on muscles! There’s a long day ahead of me, but I think I can manage it 😅 taken from my studygram: medcury

[korastudies]

1:29 pm | 1.22.2019

Just wanted to post some bio notes. Hopefully they look good since this is my first time editing! 🌿

[corirella]

Favourite colour schemes - pink and purple.

(From my IG | studyrella)

[studying-jpeg]

shoutout to the studyblrs that

- fail

- don’t have neat handwriting

- procrastinate

- are poor

- are self conscious of posting their own work

- aren’t doing ‘hard’ subjects

- don’t take pretty aesthetic photos

- don’t know what they want to do after education

- have mental illnesses

- have personal issues

- aren’t in school

i love you all

[evergrace]

i am returning to uni soon and i desperately need to focus on stress management lmao i’m a wreck. this was also highly requested so i thought i’d make it my first one so that it could be useful for those students who are going back to school soon!! this took me way too long rip

tips:

self-care is so important; i cannot stress this enough. being unhealthy mentally means being unhealthy academically! studying and getting good grades are important, but there needs to be balance with that and the other parts of your life!!!

understanding anxiety is a really big part of being able to handle it appropriately and move through it. you need to partly, if not fully, understand what makes you anxious and why – then you can move forward!!!

having good time management skills is also a really big part of stress management; if you don’t have good time management skills, you’ll constantly feel behind and begin to feel stressed.

keeping a bullet journal, or just a list of tasks is a great way to be able to visualize everything that you need to do that day/week!

using apps or web extensions is also a great way to set reminds and visualize what you have on your to do list.

what is anxiety? what is stress? how do i deal with them?

anxiety masterpost

coping with anxiety

self-help anxiety management

stress analyst

the three routes of stress and how to deal with them

stress masterpost

stress help

managing and confronting stress

another stress masterpost

+ loads more stress masterposts

how to de-stress

how to minimize stress

school + stress + time management

sample stress diary

managing stress during college

overcoming a burnout + studying through the stress

how to study as a busy student

complete guide to a study routine

how to stick to your plans once you’ve made them

how to be in control of your time

managing mental illness as a student

how to start studying!!

time management tips

exams + stress

managing stress during finals

acing your exams while coping with stress

10 tips for test anxiety

how to deal with exam stress

exam lifehacks

how to overcome test anxiety

using apps to help with organization

useful chrome extensions

favorite google chrome extensions

setting up a bullet journal in onenote

educational smartphone apps

top 5 apps for students

apps for students

self-care 

drinks to match your mood

panic relief playlist

study playlists masterpost

self-care is important!!

11 self-care tips for students

check out my self-care tag for way more self-care tips/posts/etc.!!!

i hope this helps at least one person. i struggle with anxiety, so if anyone ever needs to talk, my asks are always open!!

[cafeinated-blog]

how to stick your plans

by a horrible procrastinator

scheduling:

keep things realistic. you may think you can read 200 pages of jane eyre in one night, and honestly, you could…but you won’t unless that essay that’s 30% of your grade is due, you know, tomorrow.

you know your habits better than anyone. try to work around what you know you’re going to do. can you read about 25 pages without getting totally bored/sidetracked? well, make yourself do that. it’s only 25 pages, right?

try to accomplish one thing every day. don’t ever let your day slip away from you without doing anything. even if that “one accomplishment” is making a stupid text post on tumblr or revising your notes or washing your sheets…just be productive!

this is especially important for those of you with mental illness! having a “zero day” can really plummet your mood or set you in an unproductive rut.

if you really feel like you need a day to just chill out, napping can count as your accomplishment

don’t push studying off! you’ve probably heard this one a million times, but seriously. don’t. you’re not going to retain 10 weeks worth of information with one study session…okay, maybe you can, but do you really want to?

the best, low-effort way of remembering information is to, at first, review it often. right after you learn the material, review it a couple times during the week. maybe re-write your notes that weekend. then, the next week, visit one or two times, just glazing over parts you don’t really remember well. then, maybe once every two weeks, etc…by the time you get to finals, you’ll be familiar with all the information! trust me, it works.

organize your to-do’s. personally, i make a huge to-do list for the entire week. then, i delegate different ‘levels’ of urgency to it (see below.) you can do this however you want, but i do it this way to help me visualize how lazy i can be and not pay for it…

i tend to organize it by these ‘categories’ / ‘urgent levels’

is there a quiz on the material due soon

how likely is there to be a pop quiz

what’s my grade in the class like / how badly do i need that ‘a’

does the homework/assignment need to be turned in

etc

actually doing it:

studyspo helps. okay, i know this is kind of obvious considering i’m a studyblr, but… you see that notebook you just bought? isn’t it fucking adorable? don’t you want to make some sweet, sweet note-love to it? you know you do.

don’t spend too much time setting up your work space or browsing tumblr. seriously. you know when you’re overstepping.

have some nice playlists. preferably with music you already know! if you don’t know the song already, chances are it’s just going to become a distraction.

8tracks is a great site for this! you can make your own mixes or take a listen to one of the many, many study / chill playlists available. again, take a listen to the track on your way to class or whatever before actually trying to study with it on.

instrumentals + classical + video game music are the standard

get organized. messy = stressy. seriously. organize your desk, organize your notes. even if it’s not really your style, at least try to keep things ‘in your personal order.’ try to pretend you have your shit together. you will be so much more productive & confident if you feel in control of your situation.

if you’re a perfectionist, you may want to disregard this. really. you don’t want to put ‘tidiness’ above productivity.

taking pictures of your awesome, super-nice work space is awesome motivation. give that illusion of productivity. become tumblr famous.

if you can afford it, matching stationary and cute shit like that is super awesome feeling. it makes studying aesthetically satisfying.

take care of yourself. brush your teeth, put on that nice-smelling lotion, drink water. eating healthy foods, getting some exercise, all that good shit people tell you to do…it really is important. it’s kind of hard to focus or remain motivated if you’re miserably bloated & haven’t showered in 3 days.

especially for my neurod or mentally ill followers!

i fucked up: 

repeat after me: IT’S OKAY. IT’S OKAY. we all fuck up. you’re allowed to fuck up. sometimes assignments don’t get done, sometimes we don’t do as well on tests as we’d like. it’s okay. you’re okay.

recovery. alright, so, now that we’ve accepted that we’re human beans who sometimes grow upside-down…

cuddle in a blanket, and write down what you think you did wrong. did you not study enough? do you need to go to your professors office hours? write down your ideas.

let your failure motivate you! you hit your lowest point, alright? now you can focus on doing better, even if it’s just a few points difference.

you can do some things wrong. you don’t need to get an A every single time. did you understand 50% of the material? well, that’s halfway there!

you’re not going to be perfect at everything. we all have growing pains.

well, that’s all i have to say. keep growing towards the sun, kids.

[effortanderudition-blog]

“try to pretend you have your shit together. you will be so much more productive & confident if you feel in control of your situation.”

[arcxnx-deactivated20190819]

weird study tip:

if u don’t feel motivated, pretend ur in a movie or tv show. you know the scenes where they’re on their bed with their feet tucked up and crossed at the ankle, and they’re cracking open highlighters with their teeth and poring over a textbook with smooth rock music playing? that. bonus points for a perfect messy bun and spencer hastings outfit.

[historicalemily]

*amazing study tip

[justestjarchives-blog]

A Stash of Tiny Study Tips

STAYING MOTIVATED

Create realistic goals: get ___ grade on next ____

Manageable let down; get back on track

Keep track of grades: focused, know where stand, no surprises

Start small

Low risk confidence builders

Take time to relax/give self rewards

Days off, breaks, rewards

All work & no play =/= living

Little organization goes a long way

Reward achievements!

Keep balance with exercise, clubs, friends

2h/d: friends and exercise

Remember that hard work pays off

Isn’t a breeze to try to get a 4.0 GPA; but it’s possible

You’re smart enough and can achieve it

90% there with these tips, 10% is just pure hard work

Only chill on weekends

Monday-Friday: school mode

Have time for some fun

If work as hard as should during week, will need weekends to blow off steam

Be self-motivated

Grades can matter, not everything, but follow through on what needs to be done

Not most important part of college but underperform? You will regret it

GPA cutoffs exist and matter to employers

College is full of distractions and opportunities

Nobody will hold hand and the work will suck but all the prouder of yourself to be

Suck it up, buckle down, get it done

If think need break, probably don’t

Turn off the little voice

Realize not alone in questioning ability

Avoid people who tend to burst bubbles no matter what 

Physical triggers to stop

Incentive to get something done when know have something else during the day

Don’t have a gaping abyss of study time

Work has to get done, in the end

Books, examiners, and especially your future self isn’t going to care about your excuses for not doing the work

Take the first step

It will almost be fictional how hard you thought the task was going to be

Just keep going because you simply can’t afford NOT to do anything today, nonzero days

Leeway, don’t give your perfectionism control over your life

MUNDANE HABITS

Sleep! Think and function, mind & body

CAN sleep if keep up with coursework instead of procrastinating

Will miss out on some fun stuff

Need to stay awake in class

Figure out what need for full speed

Stay relaxed

Stay physically healthy

Diet and exercise

1 hour exercise during week

Weekends off

Traditional breakfast not necessary if value extra sleep

Systematic habits: neat, prepared

Master material

Look for real world applications

Learning is a process: be patient, don’t expect to master off the bat

Designate study area and study times

Do trial runs

Practice tests

Ask a TA to listen to your oral performance

Study groups

Don’t copy other people’s psets and solutions

BEFORE SEMESTER

Spiral bound notebook, can color code with folders/etc if need be

Lecture notes: front to back

Reading notes: back to front (if fall behind on)

Seminar notes: mixed in with lecture notes, different pen color/labeled

Outline format

Bullet points for everything

Same NB for one set of class notes, separate notebooks for all classes

5-subject notebook

Midterm and exam material in it

Mesh sources, study guide

All study material from week/month in one place

Pick the right major

Indulge in favorite hobby feeling

Pick professors & classes wisely

Take a small class

Pick classes that interest you so studying doesn’t feel torturous

Want to learn

GRADES SPECIFIC

Prioritize class by how can affect GPA

More credits: more weight

Work enough to get an A in your easy classes: take something good at

Don’t settle, don’t slack off, don’t put in minimal effort to get that B/C. Just put in a tiny bit more effort to ensure A

Will have harder classes and need to counteract

Take electives can ace

Anything but an A in an elective is kinda mean and an unnecessary hit for your GPA

FIRST DAY/WEEK/HALF OF CLASSES

Get to know teaching style: focus most on, lecture/notes

Pick and follow a specific note taking format

Outline

Date each entry

Capture everything on board

Decide productivity system

Google Cal

Todoist

Agenda: remind meetings, class schedule, important dates/midterms/quizzes/tests, no homework 

Always wanted to be prepared

Rarely last minute

Have plan, stay focused

Homework notebook

Good redundancy

Study syllabus

Know it thoroughly

Plot all due dates after class

Penalize if fail to abide by

Study the hardest for the first exam

Seems counterintuitive

Hardest/most important test

Pay attention to content and formatLess pressure: just need ___ on final to keep my A 

Easy to start high and keep high

Go into crunch mode at the beginning

End softly

Get plenty of sleep, exercise, and good food in the finals days before the exam

DURING SEMESTER: PEOPLE

Get to know professors: go to office hours, care about grades/course/them

Easier ask for help, rec letter

Get to know interests and what they think is important

Figure out their research interests, 60% of their job is research

Learning is dynamic

Discussion helps

Get feedback early when not sure what doing

Take comments constructively

Consistent class participation: ask questions, give answers, comment when appropriate

Understand material

Find a study buddy in each class: don’t have to study with

Somebody can compare notes with, safety net

Pick somebody who attends, participates, and take notes regularly

Make some friends

Participate as fully as can in group activities

Be involved

Learn – not be taught

Be punctual

Good impression, on human professors

DON’T BE LATE

Skipping class =/= option: It’s “cool” to get attendance award

Make all the classes: it’s hard to feel confident when missing key pieces

Get full scope of class, everything will make a lot more sense and save a lot of time in long run

Mandatory class: higher graduating cumulative GPA

Go to class when no one else does/want to show up, reward

Get to know professor, what’s on test, notice, r/s build, material not in reading

Unless optional and super confusing professor

Sit in one of the first rows

Don’t fall asleep

Fake interest if you have to

Tutors

DURING SEMESTER: THINGS TO DO

Take notes! Provided is bare minimum, accessed by students who aren’t attending lecture

Based on lecture and what read –> test; it’ll be worth it

Write it down

By hand

Bored? Doodle instead of going online

Read all assigned–even if need to skim

Seems cumbersome and maybe impossible

Figure out what’s important

Look at the logical progression of the argument/what’s important/what trying to prove

Understand everything that you do read–even if don’t read everything

PIck 2 examples from text per topic

Complete course material on time

DO NOT WAIT UNTIL DAY BEFORE IT IS DUE

Begin as soon as possible

Sometimes it’s just straight up impossible

Have it look attractive

Library doesn’t just mean = study

Social media in the library is still social media

Confusion is terrible

Read other textbooks, review course material @ another uni/by another professor, google the shit out of it

Review

Do not wait, do throughout semester

Exam prep

Ask for model papers, look at style & structure, thesis, how cite

Get old tests

Look at type of questions (detail level and structure)

Can solve old exams cold

If give out paper exams in class: probs won’t repeat questions, focus more on concepts but still learn the questions

Have class notes and psets down cold

Do all the practice problems

Read through notes a few times; rewrite into a revision notebook

Highlight major topics and subtopics

Different highlighter for vocab terms

Overall picture, go from concept to detail

Look at overall context and how specific idea fit into whole course

Ideas, don’t memorize all your notes

Better understand = more able to use and manipulate info and remember it. Understand = manipulation.

Charts, diagrams, graphs

Lists

Practice drawing labeled structures

Flash cards for memorization

Every school requires some degree of grunt memorization

Say it aloud, write it down

Get friends to quiz you

Self-test: severely challenge self, have a running collection of exam questions

Explain difficult concepts to your friends; force yourself to articulate the concept

Never pull an all-nighter

Do not spend every hour studying up to the exam

Eat, shower, sleep

Don’t wait until night before exam to study

Prep takes time even if reviewed throughout semester

Ask about format–don’t ask the professor to change it for you

Law of College: it will be on the exam if you don’t understand it

Ask professor, internet, textbooks

Night before exam

Jot what want to remember/have fresh

Read through in morning/before exam

Physical prep

Sleep, have test materials

Day of exam

Don’t cram every single spare minute

Go to bathroom before exam

Never miss an exam/lie to get more time

You won’t be any more ready 2-3 days after when supposed to have taken it

Slay exam. Get A. 

WEEKLY 

Friday morning: go through each syllabus, write down in HW notebook

All hw during weekend; study/reading assignments during week

Save everything

Divide big tasks into small pieces to help propel self

Standard study schedule: block off lectures, labs, regular commitments

Note the weeks that have assignments and tests that will require extra studying

Don’t oscillate too heavily every day with study times (i.e. don’t study 2-3 hours for weeks and then 10-12 hour days right before an exam)

Eat and sleep to make more extended work periods liveable and enjoyable

DAILY

Set an amount of time would like to study every day

Try to study most days

Avoid vague/zoned out studying –> waste of time

Do a little bit daily but don’t let studying be your whole day

Review notes: 30mins/day, each class from that day

Look at important ideas/vocab

Prioritize new vocab because language is most fundamental and important tool in any subject

Circle abbreviations and make yourself a key somewhere so you don’t forget what the hell that abbreviations meant

Check spelling

Rewrite/reorganize notes if necessary

Format of ideas is just as important as the concepts themselves, esp. when it comes time for exam review

This helps you retain the material so you’ll be ahead next time you walk into class

Chance to ID any knowledge gaps that you can ask about for next class

Keep up with reading

Skim text before lecture or at least main topic sentences

Jot down anything don’t understand; if lecture doesn’t clarify, ask the professor

After lecture: skim again, outline chapter, make vocab flashcards

Highlight similar class and lecture notes

will definitely be tested on

Review and make study questions

Study

Disconnect from anything irrelevant to study material: help focus and your GPA

Don’t limit studying to the night

Study whenever, wherever between classes

Variety helps focus and motivation

Especially if tired at night and can’t transition between subjects

Try to study for a specific subject right before/after the class

[ruby-learns]

i want to see messy study notes, i want to see your cheap stationary, i want to see rushed scribbles, i want to see wonky lines and crossed out words. i want to see the real side of your studying - that part of studyblr is 100% as beautiful and valid as the neat, perfectly written and expensive side !!!