HOLYstudy

2nd year med school (in a 6y program) - studying for USMLE step 1 - interested in life sciences, languages and catholic theology - for study groups or snapchat study pal message me - 19yo - tracking #holystudy

[mcurie]

03/01/16: I am drowning in work and my in-class notes were an absolute mess so here’s a quick scan of the mind map I made for my health final tomorrow ( >u< )

[haleystudies-deactivated2017062]

This is a matter very close to my heart. I have bipolar I disorder and ADHD as a result of bipolar. There aren’t many big posts about studying with mental illnesses so I figured I would compile a huge list of tips and posts! I’m going to be making a video about this very soon. I hope for all of you struggling that this can help or at least remind you that mental health is more important than school sometimes. Take care of yourself in any way you can. lets get started…

Studying with Mental Illness

Take things slowly. Don’t be afraid to take a week doing one assignment. Making sure that you can focus on assignments can be draining so breaking them down day by day can truly help you. Make a task list with each portion of an assignment mapped out so that you can see exactly what you need to do. I know that i get overwhelmed very easily and seeing smaller things is less daunting then having a list full of HUGE things like research papers and midterms. Seeing it as “write paragraph one” or “review unit one vocab” makes everything less scary. 

Nothing has to be pretty. Notes don’t, papers don’t have to be perfect, study guides don’t need to be colorful and cute. What really matters is getting things done. My mom always tells me “even an F is better than a zero” which is so true. Turning things in late is not shameful because you are still turning it in. You still did it and that is something to be proud of. 

Study somewhere other than your room or your house. Make sure there are people there. Surrounding yourself with others will allow you to feel less isolated and sometimes more motivated to do things. You can’t take naps when you’re at a Panera or Starbucks either. People can be motivating, they can remind you that you are not alone, they can hold you accountable for what you have to do. Get out of your bed where you can sit and stare at the wall and go to a coffee shop or the library where other people are doing work. This always helps me get on track. 

Study in short bursts. Don’t wear yourself out with work. Find out when your concentration peaks and go with that. I usually work the best around 2pm so I have to make sure that I have eaten and showered before then so that I can capture that time to focus on my studies. 

Don’t beat yourself up. Studying just takes a lot more effort other days when depression hits you the worst. There might be days when you can barely get yourself out of bed but know that you do have the ability to succeed and that depression just has to suck sometimes. 

Get yourself out of bed. Shower. Change your clothes. Read a single page. Look at only one thing you have to do so you aren’t overwhelmed. That is something to be proud of and know that I am proud of what you did!

Study in a routine style. Let yourself have a routine that you can fall into. Try pomodoros or study games, Create a routine that you can stick to

If you don’t feel like doing anything… work for 5 minutes. You may feel more motivated or up, or you will at least be able to say that you have done something. 

HYDRATE. I’m really awful at drinking a lot of water, but it helps so much with both anxiety and depression. Water keeps you moving and awake. SO drink that H2O guys

Helpful Links

Staying Sane on Campus

Tips to stay mentally and emotionally healthy while you study

How to school when mentally Ill

Depression

Studying with Depression

Depression study tips

Studying through Depression

6 Tips To Get Motivated When You’re Feeling Depressed

Five Ways To Deal With Depression During Exams

Anxiety

Anxiety in Grad school

Dealing with Stress and Anxiety

Studying with Anxiety

Get Ready for School If You Suffer From Anxiety

Living & Studying with Anxiety

ADHD

How to succeed with ADHD

10 Study tips for ADHD students

I couldn’t find any resources about OCD, BPD, PTSD, or bipolar for that fact so keep on the lookout for any additions to this post if I find anything more! If all else fails, just google things. That always helps me. Message me personally if you have any questions about my struggles or need some specific advice! I love you all so much and I am so proud of you!! xx Haley

[messyspaghettihair-deactivated2]

Messyspaghettihair’s first giveaway!

Hello baby bumble bees! I’ve been thinking of doing something like this for a while so here it is! 

if you win the giveaway you will get:

warm yellow kanken (original size)

extra thin water bottle (perfect fit for the side pockets, never used)

4 sticker pages

label maker with one yellow refill 

hardcover yellow sketch book 

3 yellow(ish) copic markers 

staedtler 0.3 mm pens (pack of 10)

What I Ate journal 

6 small stamp markers with 24 different stamps 

tamagotchi 

Lolita 

How to be an explorer of the world 

3 washi tapes 

the rules:

must be following me

you have to be okay with giving me an address so I can mail it to you (you don’t have to live in the US)

you have to reblog this post to enter

you can reblog as many times as you want

must have your inbox open!

a random generator will be used to pick the winner, and the giveaway ends April 11 and maybe i’ll be add new things for more winners through the months so stay tuned. I know it’s not a lot but I hope you have fun! Good luck! 

[passionateprocrastinator]

[emmastudies]

University help!?

Hi guys! A friend of mine has just started doing a Bachelor of Science, including classes such as maths, chemistry and biology. He is a little bit overwhelmed and not sure how he will be able to attend lectures/tutorials (and possible rewatch them as they’re recorded if he struggles), write in-class notes and study notes, travel to university, etc. He is also worried about missing things the lecturer is saying whilst he is writing things down, so any tips on university note taking would be fantastic. It would be amazing if anyone doing a similar degree or university in general has any tips to help. Also any links to masterposts you’ve created or reblogged specifically for these subjects or just general tips would be amazing. You can either reply below, or message me here or direct message me (probably a better option!)

I really appreciate any help you guys have, and I’m sure he will! Thanks a lot xxx

[annakeepslearning]

@emmastudies​ Here are some of my lecture tips, also I’m falling asleep while writing this so apologies if none of it makes sense or there’s grammar and spelling mistakes. I hope his uni situation improves xx

Lecture Slides - Most lecturers will release slides the night before a lecture or on the day, so you’ll be able to have them open during the lecture.

Don’t write down/type out what’s on the slides! This is just going to waste your time in a lecture. If there’s something important on a certain slide that your lecturer stresses that you need to know simply highlight it.

Power phrase what the lecturer is saying - break up your notes using the slide number as headings, then in bullet points jot down in simple phrases how your lecturer explains what is one the slide, the might give examples - maybe of how a certain formula would be used in the real world.

The lecturer moves ahead before you finish writing what they’ve just said double asterisk and time it -  ** although it’s small here, asterisk’ stand out really well in notes especially when there’s no time to switch to a different colour pen etc. Time it? Yup if you’ve got your watch handy or you’re on a laptop write down the time so when you’re going through a lecture recording you’ll be able to work out roughly where the part you want to hear again will be e.g. Lecture starts at 9am, your timecode says 9:30, ta daaaa the part you need to listen to is about 30mins in.

[emmastudies]

Hi thank you so much! I really appreciate you taking the time to write this! xx

[stardust-learning]

Also, just chill a bit. Seriously, if you miss a lecture and the recording didn’t work so there’s no way to listen to it or something, don’t stress. There’s always going to be someone with notes, ask them for it. Ask them for help. You will have a tutor and a lecturer in each subject (probably), and they are also there to help, use the consultation hours if you missed something. I got my maths degree and for some subjects I barely went to a third of the lectures. It was a stupid thing to do and it made more work come assessment time, but it ended up fine because the notes were online and my classmates and lecturers were there to help. Also, be warned that (esp in maths) if you miss a couple of lectures in a row without catching them up, you will have no idea what’s going on when you go back, unless they’re starting a new thing. This is why I ended up missing so many. It seems obvious, but catch up as soon as you possibly can, even if it’s just taking a photo of a friend’s notes and reading them on the train to uni. That’s enough, but doing nothing can be hella stressful because you’re sitting in a lecture with no idea what’s going on. Of course, that varies subject to subject but ye. Good luck.

[emmastudies]

Thank you so much!💕

[holy-study-blog]

Color code your notes

The most frequent advice I get on notetaking is to have a consistent color system to help when reviewing the notes. So I got different colors of post-its, highlighters and pens and decided to start doing it this week and here are my recommendations.

- don't worry too much about buying new pens and highlighters before trying with the ones you already have

- too many colors might make your notes look cluttered. for neater notes, stick with few simple colors. start taking your notes with a neutral color like blue or black and use contrasting colors like red or light blue to make keywords pop when you read it later.

- before you start, write down the categories you want to include in your color system. some examples are important stuff, formulas, examples, definitions, things you need to research after school... it depends a lot on the subjects you're taking. 

- if you have trouble defining the categories and colors, try to associate the color coding with another note-taking method. for example, when you use the cornell method, there's no need for a color to stand for keywords if you're going to write them down in the left column.

I came up with some category ideas for myself that can work for pre-med and 1st/2nd year med students:

Clinical correlations, examples and drug effects in red

Formulas in light blue

Books/articles recommendation and things that require further research in green

Unknown terms and definitions in orange/yellow

As for keywords and important things, I prefer to underline and uppercase them

I am posting some note-taking inspiration later today. If you want to see how my color system looks like, leave a message!

[holy-study-blog]

Reasons to unbind your textbooks this semester

I've been thinking of debinding my big textbooks for quite some time now. Some people can't stand the idea of damaging their books - I must say I've hesitated many times before even highlighting mine and dreamed of stain-free erasable markers. Over the years I got over this as I realized I'd learn much faster when I underline, highlight and write all over my books.

This semester I'm taking three courses with huge hardcover textbooks and the idea of debinding seems to be really helpful for taking them on the go.

You should take in consideration that once you do this, your books will have no (or little) reselling value, but then again, it can be really useful and worthy. TRAVEL LIGHT!

You probably won't need the entire content of the book in one single day, and you will find it much easier to handle a thin book

In fact, your book might contain chapters that you won't need in your course (specially for subjects that are taught in more than one semester). Leave it home and save room in your backpack.

You can take what you need to study anywhere you go. If you're in a waiting room before an appointment, if your bus gets stuck on traffic... the possibilities are endless. 

Avoid the weight on your shoulders through the day. Your back will be relieved. 

In the end of each chapter you will actually feel your work is done. Not to mention that when studying for a test, you can see exactly how much you still have to go.

If you don't know how to unbind, check this link, though I think it's best to have it done for you at a local print shop (where they probably have a guillotine cutter).

I am thinking of doing this to my Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology soon, so if you want pictures of it, just ask!