look mom I'm gonna be Psycho-logist!

[studyblr-1234-deactivated201703]

First pages of my new bullet journal. Do I colour them or not?

[inteqrals-deactivated20170530]

The studyblr community has pooled in a lot of amazing, aesthetically pleasing, efficient, and fun ways to take notes and study. However, over the past few years, especially last semester when I took college classes, I realized that having one system really wasn’t helpful because I would have to scramble for different strategies when the classes drastically differed from one another. So, I made strategies for certain types of classes that were created specifically for those characteristics but flexible enough to adjust a bit if needed. Here is how I study:

I want to start off by saying ALL strategies including reading. DO NOT SKIP IT. It’s hard, it’s boring, and it’s slow, but in the end you learn and create a strong foundation for yourself.

I do not skip a word. I use three different colored post its, some page flags, and a writing utensil. I abhor highlighting on textbooks and books with a passion so I use post its instead: one for writing notes and key concepts, another for terminology, and the last color  for any questions I have. As I read, I write all of my notes and then stick them in my textbooks in the corresponding area. The flags are for when I feel like I just couldn’t get the information completely and I want to come back and double review. Finally, after I go through a chapter, I get my notebook and from the beginning of the chapter, I rewrite my post its into notes with the same color coding system.

For the classrooms with power points: This is pretty simple. I print them before hand into handouts if they’re available before lecture and write everything that the teacher says in margins or highlight information. if they’re not available before hand, I still take notes from what the teacher is saying and writing and I make tiny notes of which slide it corresponds with. Then, I print the powerpoint later and write it into the powerpoint slides. To study, I just read over them. 

When the teacher usually writes on the board, speaks all the time, and doesn’t use pp: This is where reading the textbook becomes your best friend. You won’t get as much details in lecture since a person can only talk and write so much in an allotted time period. Instead, I copy everything off of the board and don’t miss anything. At the same time I try to get everything he says onto my notebook also. As a back up, I have a voice recorder going on at the same time. Once I get home, I IMMEDIATELY and ALWAYS rewrite those class notes since they probably look terrifying. After all, people speak faster than they can write.

Finally, online classes. Most of it is learning by yourself so stay motivated and determined and you can do it! First, video transcripts are not your notes. Take notes from the video themselves while you’re watching them. For all of those online resources, write notes in every way you can. Print out all of your assignments that you do or put them somewhere where you can print them later to read over. Any reading excerpts? Print those and highlight all you want. Finally, READ THAT TEXTBOOK.

The last part of my studying strategy is really only useful when it comes to tests. Do any and all practice questions that you can get your hands on. I don’t care if it says there’s 100 questions. Do them!! If anything got me through my classes, it would be all of those damn practice tests and textbook questions (Do every problem in the back of your book. Do them. When you do them, your teachers can throw anything at you and you’ll be able to do any scenario.).

All classes are different. Some are a mixture of the traditional powerpoint and traditional lectures. That’s why I really like my strategies because they’re at like two different extremes and I can use them at different amounts to meet that perfect spot where my class is.

Finally, I will say that my study strategies do rely on my organizational systems. I have different notebooks for different things, different binder arrangements for different classes, and so on. If you want a master post on that just give me a message (it’ll probably come at some point but i’m also really lazy and forgetful).

Good luck with studying. Just remember to stay healthy no matter what you’re doing <3

[dotgrids]

THIS IS GORGEOUS OMG! AND EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED!!!

[mymie-b]

[constellationstudy]

Studying for my bio final ft. my Poppin pen holder and many multicolored Post-it flags. Gonna be a long night.

[sophocused]

9.5.16 | 7:08 PM // I finally get time to myself to do some more precal revision. I cooked the dinner for later tonight and baked some lemon cupcakes the cupcakes smelled so good oh my god

[andrea-the-playa-blog]

9:37//sunday

day 3 of rewriting notes but it is the only way for me to effectively, unfortunately

[studyaesthetick]

|| 161026 ||

Biology notes are finally finished!!!!

[mindelevator]

How to Answer Essay Questions in Exams (+ Free Printable!)

Many students are afraid of essay-type questions. They may worry about not being able to write anything, or they may think that they can’t answer the questions well. In the previous posts, I have covered a bit on how to write a good essay (which is helpful for essay writing in exams as well), but here I am going to dig a little bit deeper and talk about how you can answer essay questions well in exam.

I am going to talk about:

Why preparation is important for answering essay questions.

How you can analyze the question well and avoid answering in a wrong direction

A good way to draft your essay and sketch your outline

How to write a good introduction

Read the entire post on how to answer essay questions well here!

Make sure to download the printable!

- Sabrina | StudentsToolbox.com

[emmastudies]

Improve your handwriting cheatsheets!

If you’ve followed me for a while you might have seen my post a few weeks ago about improving your handwriting. In that post I explained that tracing a printed page with a mixture of words is fantastic for adapting your writing. I have managed to upload them to Google Drive for you to download. As a disclaimer, I do not own either of the fonts I have used and am not distributing the fonts - but merely a PDF using them. You are unable to edit or download the font from that document but can download them via dafont.com. I hope they’re useful!

Cursive writing

Normal writing

[taylorrstudies]

Do's and Don'ts of Bullet Journaling

DON’T

Don’t compare. The bullet journals on Tumblr seem perfect, but your bullet journal does not have to be absolutely perfect. I get down when I start comparing with others, so that is honestly one of the biggest don’ts when joining the bullet journal community.

Don’t make it unrealistic. A bullet journal is meant to be used and be an adaptable planner. It is not meant to be something you HAVE to spend six hours doing (but if you want to spend six hours working in your bullet journal, go for it!). There is nothing wrong with jotting down a simple to do list and not taking the time to make sure it is absolutely 100% perfect.

Don’t be afraid to mess up. There is nothing wrong with a mistake. I am the world’s worst at wanting to throw something away once I mess up. Don’t. Keep going. It will all work out in the end. Skip the page if you want, but don’t be afraid to mess up.

DO

Make your bullet journal yours. Add your own touch to your system. Don’t feel like you should do the exact same thing as everyone else.

Try new things and ideas. You don’t know how you will like something unless you try it. If it ends up not working, stop using it.

Have fun. This goes along with not being afraid to mess up and trying new things. Keep in mind that this is YOUR bullet journal. Do what you feel like doing. Have fun with this system!

[livingthatlibrarylifestyle]

Coffee & croissants are the ingredients of productivity ☕️ bujo spread for this week and the next ✨

[getstudyblr]

02 . 03 . 2016 // looks like the more I study, the more I have to… It never ends

[underpaperplanes]

philippine literature notes & drawings from my journal 🍂

[mochi-studies]

[ 02.05.16 • 4/100 DAYS OF PRODUCTIVITY ] 4 days till my exams yikes D: my first exam isn’t even geography but the subject is so content heavy so I’m studying first even though I have 8 days to the exam ahhhh didn’t really bother putting a super nice set-up for the picture because meh good luck to those having their mid-years or their finals!!

[mildstudies]

+day 19 // 100 days of productivity finally finished part one of my math notes!! it actually turned out a lot more condensed than expected whoops? gotta get on to my Chinese and Japanese homework now ahh

[chinazomstudies]

Hey! So I know this post has been covered a hundred times, but I just wanted to give my take on it and hey a little more info can’t hurt anybody.

So what is a studyblr? Studyblr: study + tumblr; a blog about studying. It’s a blog to help motivate you to study or to learn new ways of studying! You can also gain amazing resources that’ll help you in your classes and throughout school.

Pros & Cons of Starting One: Pros:

Pretty pictures of notes

Learn how to take great notes

Motivation to study

Meet new people with the same interests as you

Get resources and helpful tips for the classes you’re taking

So many masterposts and helpful tips!

Inspiration for study spaces

All around great community!

Cons:

Literally nothing…

How to Start: Create a url: it can be anything you want it to be.

The most commonly used urls in the studyblr community are something with “yourname” + studies or studywith + ”yourname”. For example mine is “chinazomstudies”

Anything with the word study or related to studying is pretty common as well.

You can also use inspirational people, historical figures, or fictional characters as your url! The possibilities are endless.

Choose a theme: this can also be whatever you want.

You can go minimal or loud, use one or two columns, have a sidebar or not…whatever you think looks best or fits what you want.

The key pages to a great theme are the about page and tags page. These pages really bring a blog together but they aren’t necessary. The about page is where we really get to know you! The tags page is great because I like to look for certain things and it’s nice when there’s a page where I can look at all your tags.

As for an overall theme, most studyblrs like to go minimal. I like to use fansite themes and tweak them just because I think it looks nice.

Here’s where you can get just about any theme ever made. +another one

Branching out: it’s also important to have posts to look at so you should find people to follow!

Feel free to follow me if you want! @chinazomstudies

Other popular studyblrs are: @elkstudies, @studyign, @etudiance, @academla, @areistotle, @studybuzz, or you can take a look at my blogroll

Follow people that have the same interests as you or people that reblog things you like! That way your dashboard will be filled with amazing things.

Getting Noticed: Make an introduction post: this is the best way to become introduced to the studyblr community.

Here’s mine.

I gained 150 followers by making one! Just make sure to follow everyone that follows you! It’s lowkey rude when you’re just starting out and make this post just to get followers. The point is to meet new people and gain some friends. Making an introduction is a great foundation to starting out.

BOTM: another great way to get noticed.

You can enter into blogs of the month competitions or blog rates. These will get your blog promoted to a bunch of other studyblrs.

Queue:

When reblogging, you could keep a queue of about 30 posts (1 per hour) to keep your blog active if you won’t be on Tumblr all day. I usually keep my queue running while I’m sleeping so my followers on the other side of the world can see I’m active.

Making Posts: What to post:

ANYTHING? But since we’re focusing on a studyblr, you should probably post things related to studying.

Study pictures, study guides, helpful tips, masterposts, playlists, bullet journal, study space, stationery, books, etc..

A great way to stay active is by participating in the 100 days of productivity.

ALWAYS POST ORIGINAL CONTENT! NEVER REPOST (taking someone else’s content and posting it as your own without permission). This is incredibly rude and will make you look untrustworthy and deceitful. Never do this. Only post what you have created unless you have the original owner’s permission to use their content.

How to edit photos:

There’s so many tutorials and posts about how to use lighting, angles, and editing - but here’s a great one. You can also look for tutorials on @yeahps or @itsphotoshop.

If you don't’ have Photoshop, use: VSCO, Pomelo, Pixlr (online), or Afterlight.

Getting your content seen: the most efficient way to getting your content spread is by tagging it!

Make sure to TAG your photos and posts with popular tags that pertain to your post.

The most popular tags in the studyblr community are: “studyblr”, “studyspo”, and “studying”.

You can also tag studyblrs that track their tag. Look for popular studyblrs that have tracked tags.

Extensions / Apps: some extensions that you’ll find studyblrs using or posting about

Momentum (the pretty new tab page that almost all studyblrs have)

Lanes (another pretty one)

Pomodoro (app)

Forest

Fliquo

Stationery: Below is just some stationery you may have seen every studyblr using. These are really nice things to use for your notes!

Bullet journal (Moleskine or Leuchtturm)

Stabilo Point 88 Pens

Staedtler Triplus Fineliner Pens

Zebra Mildliners

Muji Gel Ink Pens

Pilot Frixon Highlighters

Washi tape

Amazon is one of the best places to get stationery

And that’s just about it! I hope I covered everything and I’ve helped you in starting a studyblr. Good luck and welcome to the community! ❤

[pa-per-cranes]

［　２０１６年・６月・２７日　］１７：２１ // １４ºＣ

math exam today. ファイとー！！！！！.*:ﾟ（｀・ω・´）ゝﾟ:*.