let’s face it - a lot of us aren’t good at drawing. or any sort of art. or even all that good at studying. not even all of us studyblrs are, or at least, i know i’m not. (for your information, i’m absolutely horrid at drawing, and i’m 99% sure the text in the header is slightly off center.)
but never fear! i am here with a masterpost for you (or at least 5 tips) . and i say average student in the nicest possible way - i mean someone who might be absolutely great at studying (although, in which case why are you reading my advice? go write your own!) but absolutely horrid at doing anything studyblr-esque. confused as to what i mean? keep reading, then!
1. don’t stress about pretty notes / an effective note-taking method
i agree, pretty notes are nice to have - i wish i could have the talent to make them. but in reality, how long are you going to use these notes? while if you do want to make them pretty, you can go ahead and make them pretty, if you can’t - well it’s not the end of the world. in fact, here are some subsections about notes:
everyone loves a bit of color on their notes. but in reality, most pens bleed through lined paper, which isn’t the best for notes, really. plus - penned notes take time. what if you’re studying for a test tomorrow? why would you use pens just to trash the notes the next day? you wouldn’t.
guys, pencils are just as effective (hint: while color memory does help, if you’re cramming like a lot of us do, it’s not going to help that much, as much as extra time might)
after class (or school), write down that day’s lesson in a notebook. a notebook for that subject only. however, this step isn’t needed if you have another way to remember things that doesn’t waste paper
each week, use ONE notebook to summarize all your class things for each subject, and look back on the previous week’s
every month/unit/marking period, compile your overall notes for a more organized way to study !!
2. we all go to bed late, and we will always go to bed late.
we all try to get enough sleep, but really, who are we kidding? it’s either that netflix is calling for you, or you procrastinated so much that you end up doing all of your work in the morning. so i’m not about to stop you from going to bed late (that would be hypocritical), but i have one piece of advice for this:
alternate the days you go to bed early and late.
this will help with your sleep (your sleep schedule, not so much). i would advocate for going to bed as early as possible, but for those days you go to bed late, make sure the next day you get more than seven to hours of sleep. otherwise, you’ll burn out too quickly the next day.
3. bullet journals, oh man, bullet journals
bullet journals are pretty. but oh man, are they time consuming. not all of us have the dedication to create such a pretty spread each week. not all of us don’t lose our planners, either. so for the few of us left, i have a different system.
it uses the same format as a bullet journal - squares for tasks, circles for events, etc. however, i keep a notepad in my bedroom. over the course of a school day, i keep a sheet of lined paper in the front of my binder, where i write down the homework. then, once i get home, i write on the notepad. first the date, and then the tasks i have to do, all listed out. most often, i categorize it by subject, then other things like clubs. tests get whatever’s left - i mark out when i’m having it as soon as i can.
normally, this strategy takes me less than five minutes, serves the same purpose as a bullet journal, and is organized!
(if you have any confusion, feel free to leave me an ask, and i will certainly answer with a picture of this method)
4. the twenty first century life
LET’S FACE IT. how many of us can stand to put our phones somewhere else? we’re all addicted to our phones. so i strongly advocate downloading the forest app. it’s $2, and you can plant a tree for the amount of time you focus! if you exit the app, your tree dies :( it’s a lot more helpful than my explanation sounds, but really!!! download it!!! it’s done wonders for my studying)
alternatively, if you can’t buy it, you can get the focusnow app, which has less features than forest but serves basically the same purpose! although i’ve used both and find the former much, much better.
figure out what type of learner you are. i’m a kinesthetic (hands on) mixed with a reading/writing learner, and i learned the hard way that no, you cannot learn as well as you could by doing a different type of loading.
here’s a test. if you don’t feel this fits, you however, feel free to experiment with whatever, until you find a method that feels right! what i’ve found is that most often, people either study in a way that doesn’t help or don’t study enough - most often the second - so i’ve compiled a list of study types for each learner. there is no need to overstudy, either.
doodle diagrams of your notes in the margins!
i once drew a whole study guide of visual notes, and it did help (even though i can’t draw, i understood all the basic concepts)
create a flowchart of the progression of your ideas
highlight KEY terms and ideas
don’t do what i do, and highlight every single thing - make sure it’s only the most important things
work with a group or partner where you can discuss ideas
i’m not sure how this works, but record yourself, and listen to it with headphones or something? i’ve heard that this is helpful.
use mnemonic devices, and say them ( i love these! )
rewrite your notes after class
write short explanations for your diagrams and charts, etc.
write notes to yourself in the margins
write out key concepts and ideas
write instructions for each step of a math problem
basically just try to write a lot. like A LOT
move in some way while reading your notes
sit at the front of the room
to learn an equation / sequence, write down each step on a different index card
try to create models for the information you have
correlate your physical actions with terms / ideas
dededos
2087
andulkaphoto
romaincrisis
tangentwithtanner
origamiaround
izzy806
baratheonpilled
