𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈

chester (he/him) a gap year full of self-studying ⚲ hesse, germany

[chesterstudies]

starting my gap year! my goals:

become fluent in french

finish a bigger writing project

read on history and philosophy

learn latin grammar

improve on my swedish and russian

practise chess strategy

[chesterstudies]

wrap-up of the week

this was a busy one. math test on monday — felt a lot less confident than in the last one but ended up recieving a slightly better grade; second AP mock exam (german) on wednesday — interesting topic but i managed my time poorly; english presentation about gender in 'hamlet' on thursday — was just as fun as i expected it to be, definitely worth the late hours of work.

i'm going to spend my weekend studying for the two upcoming tests next week: physics on monday and philosophy on wednesday. currently, i'm working on my physics overview and i've already written a practise essay for philosophy.

— chester

[chesterstudies]

getting started

this pile of notebooks contains my class notes from more than two years. most of what i need to know for the ABITUR is in there, so the first step for my preparation would be to tear out all the pages concerning my five exam subjects and organise them in seperate folders.

it's a lot, and it's hard to get started, but i was just overcome with a rush of motivation to do it and i should make use of that.

— chester

[chesterstudies]

studying for a maths exam

i decided to switch to onenote for my digital overviews after spending hours trying to draw graphs in open office. there is no way i'll do that again.

although i had neither thought i'd make it nor planned to even do it, i stayed up late yesterday to finish my maths overview. normally, i finish them the night before the exam, which means i never actually have time to study from them. they still are useful, since writing them is what helps me organise my knowledge. however, i'm greatful for having the time to do some practise questions now.

— chester

[finisconoratopus]

Week III Latin progress. When I first learnt a rule, to the end of the week.

[chesterstudies]

this is so incredibly motivating to me - i've been wanting to learn latin since forever but i rarely make the time to actually do it. who knew it only needs a few pictures of pretty notes in cursive hand to make me want to study grammar?

[chesterstudies]

chaotic academia things i've done in school

quote oscar wilde in my first class with a new teacher

get kicked out by the principal when me and a friend slept downstairs by the basement during lunchbreak

voluntarily write a biology poem and present it in front of the class

listen to punk rock while wearing dress pants and a dress shirt

listen to classical while wearing docs and a leather jacket

participate in a class discussion about whether "horny" and "turned on" mean the same thing or not (our teacher participated too)

turn an answer to a teacher's question into a speech on why we need socialism

steal the link to a proshot video of an othello production

hold a presentation on the cockney accent and play a clip from "little people" from les misérables

[chesterstudies]

analysing goethe's faust

i love advanced german, it's my favourite class. we're only a small group of people and our teacher is awesome.

this year, we're analysing goethe's faust, and i'm 100% in my element — classic literature is just my thing. while i'm looking forward to being done with school in summer, i already know i'll miss this class and the people in it.

this was my last class before autumn break, so i won't be doing that much for school the next few weeks. i hope i'll have the time to study some stuff on my own though.

— chester

[alkwey]

How to become smart

get into the habit of researching everything you question during the day. or if you don't have the energy to do that note down the question. it's not about remembering everything. it's about collecting as much information as you can get.

curiosity is the first step to knowledge. but it doesn't end there. you don't even have to understand what you are reading. you will understand eventually as you get to answer the follow up questions.

don't cloth your brain with loose information you don't really care about. don't spend all your time on social media. leave your brain room to think. about what you learned, about your surroundings or about nothing important at all. let it relax.

if you got the energy: read. read fiction. read non-fiction. read whatever you feel like. but if you can, read books. long texts you can really fall into. something that makes you feel. something that give you a deep understanding of a topic.

and last but not least: write. collect your thoughts. it helps you process them better. I recommend keeping a small journal that you can carry in your bag easily. or use the notes app on your phone. note down what you think about. note down things you see. get that tasks or worries out of your brain. write down what you are afraid of forgetting so you don't have to hold on to it too hard.

[chesterstudies]

learn how to hold a good conversation.

fix your attention span.

get out of your bubble — meet people outside of your country / social class / field of study.

follow your local politics.

learn many useful skills, at least on a surface level (cooking, sewing, fixing things, gardening, ...).

choose one or two niche topics you're passionate about and learn *everything* about them.

listen to people; hear what they have to say.

form educated opinions.

watch ted talks, listen to podcasts — always get your entertainment hand in hand with education.

[chesterstudies]

studying for a physics exam

studying for two exams at once is hard — i can't study for one without feeling like i'm neglecting the other.

i've been studying for history the whole day (the exam is tomorrow) but constantly thinking i should get started on physics (which is in two days). now i've taken some time to do a few practise questions for physics and i'm beginning to stress out about history.

gladly, i'll only have to worry about history until tomorrow morning, and then i can fully concentrate on physics.

— chester

[chesterstudies]

studying for a history exam

since i'm finally doing my abitur this school year and i'll have to compress three years worth of course material into an overview that i can study from, that overview had best to be digital. and since i've never made a digital overview before, this is the best time to start practising.

my plan for this is to write a chronological overview of political events in germany from 1945 to 1949, then make a separate table for further explanations on certain topics and terms.

— chester