What the hell are study skills?

Chalk - 19 -They/He

[straydogstudies]

Hello and welcome to straydogstudies!

My name is Chalk! I'm 19, and use they/he pronouns. My main blog is @meshiitsukaii

I'm queer as hell, and love scrapbooking and journaling, drawing, writing fanfiction, knitting, crocheting, sewing, and more!

I sadly, do not live the aesthetic vibes most on studyblr seem to. It's an ideal I strive for, but my main focus is on the actual learning part... AKA I am restraining myself from buying every stationary and scrapbooking material I see. Please expect kind of ugly but realistic pictures if I post them! (Aesthetic studyblr people, please teach me your ways)

I am brand new to studyblr, as well as studying in general. 😅

I have ADHD and anxiety, as well as bouts of depression and suspected ASD. I am actively working towards getting my IEP transferred!

I just started my college journey at a local community college, with a college success class and general anthropology! Yes, that's it. We're starting slow, okay?

I am undeclared in terms of major, but I hope to later major in art history or general history. My dream major is 💚Library and Archival sciences💚.

For my career, I hope to work as a museum conservator/museum tech or as archivist! I am passionate about preserving history, both human and not, and learning from them.

Longer in depth intro under the cut!

I got through highschool with ADHD fueled half-assing it, purely out of a tendency to procrastinate and avoid anything stressful. I did well in school, but those last threeish years were mostly me desperately trying to drag my brain into behaving. Not to mention my junior year being fully online thanks to COVID! I actually have very little memory of that year in general. (Thanks, memory issues.) Frankly, the only reason I didn't fail half of my classes was because of the amazing team of staff and teachers that worked with me to get me through school.

All this to say, I have always genuinely loved learning and even parts of school itself! I have very strong interests in a variety of topics, from animals to mythology to fashion and history! It's just the fact that I never developed the study skills needed to fully succeed in school. As long as I did well on tests and exams, I was happy.

But! No more! Through power of will, studyblr, college resources, and my IEP I am going to achieve my dreams! Woo!

[hsslilly-blog]

🐑🖥️ Blair's Blog: Knitting, baking, and what's in my bag!

Do you think Blair likes the colour blue? Or the piano, maybe? I'm sure if you left a comment asking them about it, they'd be very happy to answer you. Or maybe send them an e-mail at [email protected]. Either way, you're sure to get a very long and wordy response.

Using the opportunity of Blair's what's in my bag to show you their blog as well! As they said it themselves, they used to post knitting projects, everything baking, and their opinion on obscure albums and movies from the late 60s. Here's the picture they took for this post:

I like to think that Nishan got the idea for My School Story after seeing Blair's blog, and later on he found a way of linking/integrating their blog to MSS. Blair was happy since it meant more Clover fans 🐇

[straydogstudies]

What apps/websites do y'all use for notes?

I'm specifically looking for ones to rewrite my class notes on. I'd really like ones that let you doodle, format, or otherwise make your notes pretty looking!

If you have other cool apps/websites you use to study or learn that's also cool! I'm always looking for things to try out <3

Anything using AI is not wanted, thank you!

[elkstudies]

How To Take Notes

Annotations and Note Taking

Annotations and Colour-Coding

College Note Taking 101

Guide to Note Taking

How to Maintain Good Notes

How to Take Lecture Notes

How to Take Notes if you Hate Taking Notes

How to Take Notes

How to Take Notes |2|

How to Take Notes From a Textbook

Note Taking Post

Take Effective Lecture Notes

Taking Lecture Notes

Typing Your Notes

Note Taking Methods

Cornell Note Taking Method

Note Taking Methods

Note Taking System

Study Methods

Visual Note Taking

How To Make Notes Look Pretty

Guide to Pretty Notes

How to Illustrate Your Notes

How to Make Your Notes Look Pretty

Sketchnote Tips

Visual Guide to Illustrated Notes

How To Make Notes Using One Note

Cornell Note Taking Method on One Note

How to Take Notes Using One Note

Note Taking Printables

Note Outline Printable

Note Printables

[elkstudies]

Read Through

Read through the material and gain a basic understanding of what’s in front of you. Make sure you’re actively reading by annotating and asking yourself questions about what you’re reading. Also  look at the questions if there is some in the textbook.  This way you’ll know what you’re going to be writing!

Highlight

Go back over what you’ve read and highlight or mark the most important pieces of information.  Make sure you’re not over-highlighting! Only highlight words or sentances, not whole paragraphs!

Summarise

Summarise what is most important, the keywords, what you find difficult, what you’ll need to know. Filter what you do and don’t need. Here’s an example:

     What you need.                                     

Keywords                                            

Explanation of keywords

Diagrams

You don’t need to do this on paper, just do it in your head so you know how you’re going to start when you begin to write!

Write

Create a list of keywords, all the concepts and critical data.  Write brief and concise explanations to each keyword.  It’s also good to write a brief summary of the whole chapter. This will help to remind you of the context when you go to revise. 

Review

Read over the keywords list to make sure you’ve included everything needed. It’s also a good idea to try testing youself on the keywords and their explanations.  

[emmastudies]

I thought I’d put together a list of the most popular new tab Google Chrome extension which pop up on studyblr! Here are links to download:

Momentum

Lanes

Taskade

Be Limitless

Laterbox

BeauTab

Tupiq

Flashtabs

Happy downloading! 

Other posts | Printables | Instagram | Youtube | Pinterest 

[prettieinpink]

CREATING + USING FLASHCARDS

CREATING

You can either use index cards, online cards or cut out paper, whatever is more convenient.

Organise resources and notes before beginning to write anything on your flash cards. Only use key concise information.

Keep the content on your flash cards short. Don’t use flash cards for more detailed information. You want to make sure it is easily memorable.

When writing your flash cards, use different coloured pencils to write or highlight some words to make it more memorable.

Put one term/question on each card to better retain more information.

Add pictures/diagrams. I know not all of us are artists, but they are quite useful to memorise the information, as our brains associate visuals with information.

Keep your flash cards limited. If need be, you can create two sets of decks to use in different periods, but try keeping one deck under 20-25 cards.

USING

Repetition is important when using flash cards. Try to find little intervals in your day to use them. Early morning or just before you go to bed are some of the best times to revise them!

Recite your flashcards out loud instead of in your head, you process the information with more clarity.

Keep distractions minimally. You don’t need to have complete silence, but avoid music, doing it in your bed or eating while revising.

Engage yourself with the flashcards, you can reward yourself after getting a short chunk memorised, or walk around while using them.

[straydogstudies]

3/17/2025

Fell off the wagon for posting and schoolwork, but here's an update!

Anthropology is going well. I have a test at some point. The professor is kind of winging it on the date lol, but he's keeping us updated! I need to:

Clean up notes/make pretty copies

Watch and note take online lectures

Make test study material

Now if only I knew how to make study materials... I've never had to study for a test before! I'll be scouring the webs, but please send ideas if you have any. Study materials for dummies style.

College success is going okay, but I need to get into gear and complete assignments before they close. Got two I need done today, and two more due later. At least one is a quiz!

I'd also looove to study the textbook harder and make nicer notes for it, but that's extra work for after I do the graded stuff.

[optomstudies]

hello! :D thank you so much for your blog and all the useful tips :))) just wanted some encouragement/advice about how to deal with guilt if i've done something wrong? Like I made an impulsive decision to do something out of curiosity and I ended up being scolded and inconveniencing a lot of people :((

Thanks for asking! I think guilt is something relevant to all procrastinators, particularly many members of the studyblr community, as well as those overworkers and study-aholics!

Feeling guilty about something? Procrastinating? or Overworking?

Firstly, most of the time, guilt is a natural response intended to make you reflect upon inappropriate or offensive behaviour, and compel you to amend your actions and the situation if possible. For example, feeling guilty when you sit down to watch Youtube videos when you haven’t finished that homework assignment! 

Dealing with guilt means making amends:

accepting that you did the wrong thing - guilt only intensifies if you continue to deny and ignore your mistakes. 

apologising to the parties involved and making amends - the sooner you apologise and fix the situation, the faster you will feel better

being diligent about not making the same mistake twice - if you do not learn from your mistakes through experiencing guilt, you are doomed to repeat history

accepting that you are only human at the end of the day - we all make mistakes, we cannot change the past, we cannot see the future but can we try to make the best of it; what’s important is that we try to improve. 

If you find that even by making amends and apologising you still feel guilty, consider that it’s unhealthy guilt. Unhealthy guilt occurs when it becomes obsessive, immobilising you from being productive. You need to recognise when you aren’t feeling guilty for a legitimate reason. You should not feel guilty when you are not at fault, when something was inevitable or when you are the victim.

Hope that helps! ^__^

[optomstudies]

Hello, it’s #optomstudies here again with another Sunday Study Tip on catching up when you’ve fallen behind!

A masterful skill that not even the best studyblrs may have tackled. A lot of advice in the studyblr community regarding this seems a little airy-fairy (I almost question if they remember what they themselves went through), so hopefully my post will shine a different light on it (or so I hope anyway!)

1. Work out what’s essential and what isn’t. You’ve basically wasted time right to get to this point right? With limited time left, use an Eisenhower matrix of Important vs. Urgent to determine what you need to do left. 

Important and Urgent - any and all due assessment tasks

Important but Not Urgent - studying lectures for exams, compulsory readings

Not Important but Urgent - additional homework tasks that need to be handed in but aren’t worth much, like logbooks

Not Important and Not Urgent - additional readings (although it’d be great if you did this, sorry, you’re out of time)

Then cross out everything that you can afford to not do. Ironically, I find that when I use the Eisenhower matrix when I am not strapped for time, studying (in the Important but Not Urgent category) usually gets the short end of the stick. But when I’m already falling behind, all the additional readings and homework tasks get thrown out the window and I just work on studying instead. 

2. Do everything that will take you less than 10 minutes to complete. Get all those pesky emails out of the way, all the small team meeting notes, everything else you need to do for someone else. That will cross out a whole chunk of things from your list. You’ll be left with the meaty stuff like studying, completing assignments, etc. 

3. It’s a little damn late for you to regularly revise, so just binge everything. Honestly, this is the best way to get everything done. Don’t switch tasks or subjects. You don’t want to spend about 20 minutes just getting into the flow before switching subjects once the hour’s up. Plus, since you’re already panicking, turn that fear and panic into motivation for you to really focus for long chunks of time - just think about what you do the day before a final exam - because the threat of the exam is imminent, you basically study the whole day right? Trust me, if you’ve really screwed up your study schedule, you won’t have to worry about common procrastination (assuming you don’t want to fail). 

University is just one assignment done, moving onto the next before you even have time to breathe. It’s usually quite different to high school in that everything is quite closely packed together since it’s a 13 week semester. In high school I thought that 3 assessments in a week was the end of the world (lol pls kid). 

So just do whatever needs to be done first, and then if you finish before the day the assignment/exam is done, then great, you can study for the next assessment task. 

Still, I do recommend chucking your phone out the window just in case, since people usually all study last minute, meaning they’ll be asking you “hey do you know wtf Prof was talking about in lec 5?″

4. Break up your courses into hour-long chunks. Although we’re bingeing, it’s important that you make a list, even if it just says “Lecture 1, Lecture 2, Lecture 3″ so that you have a direction to go. Don’t allocate too much time for any one lecture, but at the same time, be realistic about how much you can cover in an hour. For example, if you’ve got 6 hours until an exam, you’re either going to study Lectures 1-3 really well, Lectures 1-6 so-so, and Lectures 1-10 superficially. 

So choose wisely based on what you know or don’t know. If there’s a topic you know quite poorly, consider if it’s worth the time to study and learn the concept, or just bank on the subject not showing up in your exam. I’m actually pretty poor at gambling what will be in the exam, so I always choose to just study everything at a basic level. 

A common pitfall I find in this area is skipping the basic stuff. You think you know it, but when you close your book and try writing it out on a blank piece of paper, you suddenly falter. This has happened to me repeatedly in an exam. I know all the really complex stuff like the back of my hand before I get into the examination room, and then I suddenly get a really simple question and I’m like wait, what was the answer again? I advise making lecture outlines that you just rote learn - this comes in useful for long response questions because you’ll often remember the small details, but will forget the next section, meaning you miss out on a massive chunk of information if you forget. 

5. Rinse and repeat. Usually after about 2 weeks(?) of catching up like this I finally see the light of day and I can return to my normal schedule. If need be, I usually cut back on sleep to about 6 hours vs. 7.5 hours, but never pull an all nighter. You cannot do this unless you have breathing room the next day (which you won’t because you screwed up in the first place). Unless it is the very last assessment task, there’s a massive risk of ruining your next exam. 

6. Try and never do that last minute ditch again. 

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. - George Santayana. 

Never again right? Remember that starting early and finishing early is the key to good grades. We’re all just young uni students at the end of the day though, so do remember to forgive yourself if you end up repeating the procrastination. I’ll be cheering you all on! 

MY WEEKLY STUDY TIPS

WHAT I WISH I’D KNOWN BEFORE UNIVERSITY STUDY TIPS SERIES

0 Choosing a Degree , 1 Administration , 2 Getting to Class

3 Studying , 4 Extra-Curriculars , 5 Exams , 6 Social Life

7 Part Time Work , 8 Four Secrets Uni Tells You

new!! 9 Best Study Spots on Campus new!!

new!! 10 Saving Money 1 (Food, Transport, Entertainment) new!!

coming soon!! 10 Saving Money 2 (Textbooks, Tax, Scholarships)

SEE ALSO

Study Spaces Masterpost , Studying and your Visual System

Catching Up with Your Studies , Dealing with Bad Results

Sleeping and Waking Up Early , Google Keep

My 2017 Planner and Bullet Journal , Study Space , 2017 goals

+ my cute stationery + washi collection + my spreads!

[optomstudies]

First your blog is amazing and your tips have been life saving for me! Maybe you could help me with a specific problem: I’m studying to get a job in public service and the test to get in is really competitive, really hard and with a lot of subjects. Since I’m studying by myself (don’t have classes or anything like it) I was hoping you could give me tips on how to organize better for it. My study material is mainly books and I’m suppose to study between 8-10 hours a day. Thank you!!

Thank you so much!! :) Wow that’s an intense course!! I wish you the best of luck for getting into it!! ^_^

Quality over quantity of study i.e. study smart 8 to 10 hours is the “suggested” time, but like office workers all over the world, very little of an 8 hour workday would you be working at 100% efficiency. 

In fact, for a self-study type course with difficult concepts, it’s probably better if you study in bursts and take regular breaks. Rather than studying efficiently for the first few hours and fizzing out, it’s better to do pulse-dose studying. 

Make yourself a schedule that’s realistic and stick to it! Self-accountability and responsibility is the name of the game!

If you start studying early and study consistently then it makes it so much less stressful for you at the end. You don’t even necessarily have to study for most of the day, if you’re focused you could probably study as much content in half the time and just give yourself the rest of the day off. 

Past papers are a great way to study if you can get your hands on some. Use at the beginning, and at the end. First get an idea of what the questions in the test are like to guide your studying, then at the end, attempt the test in test-conditions so that you know whether you’ve studied effectively enough. 

Prompt yourself with questions if there aren’t any past papers possible. This helps you engage actively with a large amount of content so that you can narrow in on the important concepts. 

For books, the best method for summarising all the content and reviewing it is the Cornell Method. I’ve written a post about that here! :)

Hope that helps!! ^__^

[optomstudies]

Hi hi! So I have an AP Exam that I have to start studying for. I have two concerns: remembering all that information and time. Any advice?

Hi, thanks for asking! Well there’s a lot to say about studying for any exam. I’m likely going to write another post about studying for exams in more detail, but that’s planned for the far future at this point. Since you need the info now, I’ll just do dot points as there are a lot of facets to cover.

STUDYING FOR EXAMS

For general tips on Studying and Exams

Work out how much time you have left - schedule your study sessions. 

Make a schedule. Study hard stuff first. 

Discipline, stick to schedule. 

Take breaks. 

Don’t forget to eat or any other health related thing - health first!

Try and have enough to go over the content twice - once thoroughly, and the second time briefly 1-2 days before the exam. 

Work out what type of exam and study accordingly

essay (pick topics and practice essay questions) or 

MCQ (broad area of subjects tested, can be quite specific, so pay attention to important details, e.g. for diseases, focus on clinically relevant points before focusing on aetiology/pathophysiology)

short answer similar to MCQ

Work out what you don’t understand (concept wise), email prof/ask friends/read textbook and sort that out before anything else. 

Study in blocks of around 3-4 hours before switching subjects, with short 10 minute breaks every hour - enough for you to get stuck into it, but without burning you out. 

Everyone is different, so feel free to adjust to your liking. 

No distractions. Work in quiet/cafe-volume place, or classical music only when memorising. 

Studying itself - TEST YOURSELF

Highlight, read aloud or type - whatever works for you. 

Blank paper method - just jot down everything you know, before and after studying - helps to track your progress too. 

Understand the concepts, don’t just memorise unless unavoidable. 

Explain concepts to plastic duck or dog. 

That being said, you still need to memorise lots, so use flashcards if possible. 

Use mnemonics if possible, but some subjects there are too many mnemonics to memorise e.g. side effects of medication - in this situation, understand the pharmacology and you should be able to eke out the conditions. 

Use a story to remember mnemonics. 

Use a flowchart of trigger words for essay type exams

Why? Because if you memorise a section, you may sometimes need a prompt to regurgitate that info. Ergo, if promptless, you may forget whole sections. 

Have a trigger word for each section, and test yourself - write just the triggers on a blank page, and regurgitate sections. 

Then memorise the trigger words in a series of flowcharts. 

Use a story to remember flowchart/trigger words. 

Write trigger words or any other keywords on a “cheat sheet” or “index card”. 

Exam itself

Get a good night’s rest

Drink water, eat breakfast

Pack everything the night before

Make sure calculator is approved

Toilet before exam

Don’t get nervous, don’t stand around nervous people

Breathe, try not to care about exam (helps with performance anxiety)

Easy questions to hard questions

Move on if you get stuck

Read carefully

MCQ - avoid choosing “always” or “never” if you have no idea

Plan before answering essay questions

Don’t leave early

Keep checking answers until the end

Check answers by rereading question - sometimes you miss words

This turned out so long despite just being dot points wow. I’m sure this will help :)

[optomstudies]

First your blog is amazing and your tips have been life saving for me! Maybe you could help me with a specific problem: I’m studying to get a job in public service and the test to get in is really competitive, really hard and with a lot of subjects. Since I’m studying by myself (don’t have classes or anything like it) I was hoping you could give me tips on how to organize better for it. My study material is mainly books and I’m suppose to study between 8-10 hours a day. Thank you!!

Thank you so much!! :) Wow that’s an intense course!! I wish you the best of luck for getting into it!! ^_^

Quality over quantity of study i.e. study smart 8 to 10 hours is the “suggested” time, but like office workers all over the world, very little of an 8 hour workday would you be working at 100% efficiency. 

In fact, for a self-study type course with difficult concepts, it’s probably better if you study in bursts and take regular breaks. Rather than studying efficiently for the first few hours and fizzing out, it’s better to do pulse-dose studying. 

Make yourself a schedule that’s realistic and stick to it! Self-accountability and responsibility is the name of the game!

If you start studying early and study consistently then it makes it so much less stressful for you at the end. You don’t even necessarily have to study for most of the day, if you’re focused you could probably study as much content in half the time and just give yourself the rest of the day off. 

Past papers are a great way to study if you can get your hands on some. Use at the beginning, and at the end. First get an idea of what the questions in the test are like to guide your studying, then at the end, attempt the test in test-conditions so that you know whether you’ve studied effectively enough. 

Prompt yourself with questions if there aren’t any past papers possible. This helps you engage actively with a large amount of content so that you can narrow in on the important concepts. 

For books, the best method for summarising all the content and reviewing it is the Cornell Method. I’ve written a post about that here! :)

Hope that helps!! ^__^

[optomstudies]

Hey! Notif-anon is back. So I am starting to just reinvent myself. Your blog just kind of inspires me to put myself in my dreams for the future( that doesn't make any sense when typing but it makes sense to me) I'm drinking more water, eating healthier, exercising, I just did a 360 for my senior year. The last step of this reinvention is to get a planner going but I would have no idea how to start it. I want to do like a bullet journal type thing so do you have any tips on starting one. Thanks!!

Heyyyyyy it’s notif-anon again! I guess you must’ve just gotten a notification about how I haven’t had internet for ages so I must apologise once again about the lateness!Great to hear that you’ve made so many positive changes to improve yourself! As for starting a bullet journal, some general guidelines that I personally adhere to are:

Figure out what style of bujo would suit your personality best. I’m specifically referring to whether you prefer a decorated bujo or a minimalistic one; you don’t want your bullet journal to end up becoming a chore; after all it’s all about helping you achieve more things in a day! For some people, decoration is therapeutic, and for others, it’s downright frustrating. I’m in the latter group despite my preferred aesthetic; I end up letting my perfectionism drive me nuts. Hence I’ve struck a good balance by keeping it minimal but decorating it simply so that I feel content when I open it up.

Make your bujo legend intuitive. I don’t believe that your coding system should be so complicated that you end up having to check your key several times to get use to it. For example, if you see an empty circle and a coloured-in circle, it’s obvious that it means something along the line of an event/task and a completed event/task. Sometimes people end up trying to encode excessive amounts of information in a non-intuitive format, which results in wasting time and mental energy to recall what exactly it was you meant in the first place. The point of a bullet journal is not to make tasks more complicated but simpler.

Feel free to change up the layouts between spreads until you find one that suits you the best. Flexibility is what a bullet journal is all about! Find something that suits you, and figure out what elements confound things along the way.

This has been pretty brief, but seriously, those are the main guidelines I stick to, and they work. Hope they help you as well, and feel free to send me another ask if you need further elaboration on anything specific! ^__^

[optomstudies]

Hi! I'm so happy I came across your blog, I love your posts and your bullet journal spreads are to die for! I have a question, do you find it hard to keep up with your bullet journal? I really want to start one next year when I start university (i'm in year 12 this year eeeeee!) and I'd like to hear from a uni student such as yourself if keeping one while studying is high maintenance or not

Hi there! Thank you, you’re really sweet! :)

Short answer: Yes, a little

Long answer*: Yes, when it gets down to the exam weeks. It depends on the format to be honest. Minimalistic formats, and some more unique formats like mine are relatively easy to keep to. Many people can keep this up, particularly if they have an hour spare on the weekend. If, for example, you want to have a more aesthetic design with the quotes, and glued in pictures, and washi tape, the whole shebang, this is more difficult to keep up with, but still doable*. 

Here’s my format. 

I am a practical person with an aesthetic ideal, so I use a planner for my daily tasks and finance tracking, but I have a separate bujo for list-like things that don’t have to be updated often, e.g. goals, hobbies I want to try, places I want to eat at, etc. The planner is useful because it saves me time having to write out the date and draw a monthly calendar, and that’s perfectly fine, because I’m not a graphic designer or freelance artist who has a very unique and flexible timetable. Most students actually don’t really need a super flexible structure - you can tell when you look at studyblr bujos, because most of them when you boil down to it, are just copies of the planner formats available at the moment, only decorated with cursive script/brush lettering headings. If you compare with the bujo spreads found on instagram, there are so many unique spread designs there, due to the different demographic. 

* But like tbh, I am someone who devotes a lot of time to my studies. I am on the higher end of the spectrum (I’m estimating 90th percentile regarding time spend on studies?). There are people who keep up with 2-3 tv shows or drama series throughout the week, but consequently they just turn in the basic minimum required to pass. I will easily cut down on all my more time-consuming hobbies when semester starts. 

When the going gets tough, i.e. when it gets to the last few weeks of semester, then I usually just default to using Google Keep. Super convenient, free, syncs with your phone… the many benefits are written in my post here! Again, this is because I try not to sacrifice my study time and my marks for short term enjoyment. 

Hope that answers your question!

[optomstudies]

bullet journal ideas masterpost

Over 250+ spread ideas!🎊

hoping your dreams are fulfilled, your grades are awesome and your skin is glowing in 2018!

my tips for bullet journalling

Year in Review

highlights / reflection

achievements this year

lessons learnt / growth as a person

things you want to improve on

advice you’ve received / given

best music/movies/tv shows/etc of the past year

friends made during this past year

commonplace journal pages

things you’ve discovered during the past year

useful tips during the past year

odd facts and trivia during the past year

topics to explore during the past year

questions to ask during the past year

New Year, New You

calendar / future log / yearly or monthly logs

things to look forward to this year

upcoming books/music/movies/tv shows being released this year

maslow’s hierarchy of needs self-reflection spread

goals / new year’s resolutions + steps to put it into action

skills you want to learn this year e.g. coding

habits you want to break / habits you want to pick up

diary: day-to-day happenings

budgets: monthly/yearly budgets

inspiration spread for new projects

level 10 life: rate areas (academic, personal, mental, physical, spiritual, social, financial) of your life out of 10, and write down goals to improve that rating!

monthly overviews (e.g. progress on goals)

assignment due dates calendar

18 things to do by the end of 2018

Special Pages for Special Friends

business cards from networking events

gift ideas for your friends/family/significant other

birthday / anniversary calendar

emergency contacts / phone numbers of important people

friendship journal:

memories / moments they were there for you

how you met

moments you want to share in the future

their mbti/hogwarts house

their best qualities

Trackers/Logs/______ of the Day

gratitude journal - # things you’re grateful for every day

habit trackers

motivational quotes

news headlines / this day in history

daily affirmations

currently reading / watching / listening to / feeling / eating / wanting etc.

time usage (read: wastage) tracker

k-drama or tv show episode tracker (always forget what ep I’m up to :S)

expenses tracker / tax deductibles

dream diary (tracker, plot(?), lucid or not, dream meanings)

new album or song releases

photo diary / sketch diary

weather

follower milestones

social media post tracker

household duties/chores tracker

grades tracker

year in pixels

TIL (today I learned)

civics

appointments: dentist, optometrist, doctor, therapist, etc.

bills: car / internet / rent etc

tax: income statements and work expenses receipts

membership/licence renewals

health

weight tracker

resting heart rate tracker (gives general idea of cardio fitness)

water intake tracker sleep log / time to bed / time awake / total hours slept

exercise log: number of reps / steps / minutes

mood trackers

period tracker

Various Creative Spread Ideas

day-to-day / life planning spreads

skincare routines

perfect/ideal morning routine 

self-care reminders

exercise routines

wishlist

bucket list

firsts: kiss, date, house, vacation, car, concert, etc.

DIYs to attempt

savings jar (doodle it!)

yearly / monthly recurring tasks

usernames/passwords (hints only for security!) 

5 or 10 year plans

dream job

dream house

planning for moving houses

dream wedding / planning

date ideas

make a worse case scenarios primer

summary tutorials for your reference e.g. step-by-step tax returns

academic

studyblr ideas

topics I need to revise

finals study timetable/plan

aspirations: what you want to be and why / how to get there

class timetable

assignment ideas

project schedules / team meeting dates

professors’ emails/office hours

assessment results

anti-procrastination page

motivations to study

skills you want to learn or are useful e.g. coding

formulas page

courses you want to take and their pre-reqs

college comparisons

back to school shopping list

textbook list with prices

language learning

vocabulary lists

grammar structures

media (books/tv shows/movies) to consume in that language

self-reflection / personality traits

best and worst characteristics

what to be mindful of / what you need to work on

mbti types you’re most compatible with 

fears and how you want to overcome them

letters to your future self (include hopes and dreams)

letters to your past self (include achievements and things to be proud of!)

inspirational people

stress management tips

charities to donate to and why you support them

volunteering activities

fun, cute, and aesthetic spread ideas

things worth staying alive for / getting out of bed for

a spread with all the things you were worried about which turned out fine

message page from your friends to you

“i can’t live without ______”

creative crafts spread: tips / equipment / tutorials

aesthetic colour moodboards

happy / comforting / relaxing / funny things spread 

seasons (summer/autumn/winter/spring) spread

rainy day spread

holidays spreads: christmas / easter / halloween / thanksgiving

idioms and proverbs from all different cultures

flowers spread: fav flowers, meanings, bouquet/arrangements, press ‘em!

crystals spread: fav gemstones (doodle ‘em), meanings

succulents spread: fav succulents, terrarium layout ideas

coffee/tea spread: paint with coffee / fav blends / best cafes

what’s in my bag (doodle it!)

outfit ideas / polyvore style collections

magazine clippings

shower thoughts / hypothetical ideas spread

draw my life spread / personal timeline

favourite characters e.g. gudetama, kumamon, etc. (doodle ‘em!)

interesting words list (ephemeral, mellifluous, serendipity, scintillating etc)

ideal date ideas

wedding anniversary ideas (like 1st is paper, 25th silver, 30th pearl, 40th ruby, 50th gold, 60th diamond)

baby animals spread (duckies, puppies, bunnies!!)

#just bullet journal things

bujo spread layouts and devices to try out (e.g. chronodex, parallel time ladder) 

key/legend (keep it simple!)

colour palettes/swatches

washi tape / pens / markers swatches

banners / fonts

doodles

ticket stubs / receipts

stickers / stamps

cutouts of info brochures

pressed flowers

calligraphy / brush lettering / handwriting practice

favourite stationery

activities

_______ that you want to do* / have done* (kind of bucket list) *watch, read, listen to, try, taste, cook, play etc. 

books

movies

tv shows

music

hobbies

arts/crafts e.g. paper quilling

sports e.g. archery

how to play / equipment / etc.

video games

foods

activities

board games

books / movies / tv shows

summary / review

favourite characters

meaningful moments / moments that made you laugh / cry

(for the media critic) artful moments:

best descriptive passages

best cinematography

best action scenes

best use of soundtracks

(basically moments that make it deserving of awards)

music

album reviews

favourite songs

playlists for every mood and all seasons

meaningful lyrics

songs you shazamed

favourite genres and exemplar songs

kpop

reasons why i love my bias / bias wrecker / group

letter to your bias

comeback concepts / favourite outfits

visual/picture tutorials for makeup styles

calendar of your favs’ schedules during comeback season

in-jokes/memes

awards / achievements / records broken / milestones

translated lyrics

kpop songs vocab lists

upcoming releases

on this day

art

pics of your favourite artworks/artists + write about it

art styles you want to emulate

explain techniques for different media e.g. watercolour wet-on-wet

doodle ideas

astrology

natal chart readings/aspects/placements

solar return reading for the incoming year / transits

synastry / compatibility chart readings

constellation/star charts

symbol reference page for planets, zodiac signs, aspects

food

recipes

meal plans

shopping lists

interesting foods: (doodle ‘em!) taste / texture / smell (e.g. truffles, caviar)

cafes/restaurants you want to go to + their specialty dish (photo)

cocktails you want to mix/taste (doodle ‘em!)

media

interesting articles + moral/ethical issues it prompted you to think about

controversial topics on the news and for/against arguments/your thoughts

on this day in history

fav websites / blogs

jokes / puns / pickup lines

favourite poems / quotes / short stories

kinaesthetic

burn book - write things that make you angry/sad and rip the page out

wreck it journal - e.g. colour, scribble, stickers all over this page

travel

places to visit

travel itinerary

cultural parables

useful phrases in the language and their meaning

travel memories spread: things you did / places you went / selfies

postcard collection

packing list

friendly and not-so-friendly people that you met in foreign lands

writing

short story ideas

plot brainstorming spreads

journal prompts

drabbles

character designs

foreign words which can’t be directly translated into english

Follow optomstudies for daily original posts and study masterposts!  Links: all originals + langblr posts + 15-part college 101 series + web directory!

[lightacademic]

Study tips for people who’ve never had to study before

It recently came to my attention that there are a whole load of ~highly achieving~ students out there who’ve never had to learn to study, but suddenly being naturally gifted just doesn’t work anymore. I’ve been in this exact position & came out of it ok, so here are some important things I picked up along the way/wish I knew back then.

Habits. If you build good study habits early, before things start getting intense, you’ll be well set for when the stress comes. Maybe always finish your homework before tea, or come home and study for an hour before you change into sweats. Association is helpful - if you have an established routine for something else, like getting a coffee or sports training or practicing an instrument, say you’ll always study directly  before or after that. Make it work for you.

Little and often. People say this about languages but it’s the same for anything. Half an hour every day is so much more effective than 3 hours in a day, once a week, and you won’t feel wiped out afterwards either. This works for long term projects as well - breaking things down into manageable chunks and doing one little bit per day is much less overwhelming than sitting down and telling yourself you’re writing your whole essay today.

Time management. Parkinson’s law is real. Set yourself a limit, say you’re going to write this essay before tea, or you’re going to do this maths for no more than 2 hours. Things will drag on and fill as much time as you allow them to, especially bigger projects, so stick to a schedule. If at all possible, aim to have bigger assignments complete at least a week before they’re due, so you have time for printer problems, formatting disasters, etc etc. This ties in with organisation, which is equally important. I don’t mean perfectly drawn schedules and bullet journals (even if thats what studyblr wants us to believe) but get a diary, I use a page per day diary but you can use a notebook, wall planner, whatever. Put deadlines and classes and exams and everything in there asap, and then day to day you can make a to-do list of smaller tasks. These should be flexible, so if something comes up or a task is unexpectedly complicated, you can adapt and just add it to the next day. Don’t set your expectations too high - its better to set out to work for 4 hours and achieve that than to say you’ll do 8, only manage 4 and feel like a failure.

Your environment is important! Your desk does not have to be all white minimalism and pastel highlighters to be a good study space, but try make it as clear as possible, well lit, and free from distractions. The bigger the better. Make sure you have everything you need within reach, including a plug for a charger, if you use a laptop. Quiet is ideal but not always possible, so make yourself a playlist of background music (or try one of mine, here.) Libraries are great, because they’re literally designed for reading in and having people working around you can be really motivating. Avoid procrastination at all costs. Leave your phone somewhere far away, turn it off, or use the forest app. And try not to work where you sleep, because that won’t help with your work or your sleep (bedroom is fine, in bed is not.)

Test yourself. Repeated retrieval is the best form of learning, so if you have past papers or quizzes thats great, use them! If not, writing your own questions or getting some study buddies and writing questions for each other is a good way of studying, because it forces you to think about the material in a different way.

Teach others. It’s great if you have a friend or two to revise with, but if not, try writing presentations, talking to yourself, a pet, a plant… anyone who’ll listen. Break down concepts into simpler language, as if you were explaining it to someone younger. Use flow charts and clear diagrams, and be concise. This will not only consolidate your understanding, but you’ll get some great notes out of it (and presentation practice.)

Your notes do not have to be beautiful! I love looking at these aesthetic studyblr notes as much as the next person but realistically that takes hours and calligraphy is not an efficient use of your precious time. Try to keep them as concise as possible - bullet points are good - and use no more than 3 colours per page or they’ll lose meaning. Don’t go too hard with the highlighters. Arrows and annotations and post it note additions are all excellent - don’t rewrite what you’ve already got! That is not good revision. I’m sorry. Try using a whiteboard.  For short answer questions, calculations, quick diagrams - anything you’d use scrap paper for - a mini white board is great. I mean something like this which is cheap and also better for the rainforests than using a whole bunch of paper that you’re just going to throw out. I *borrowed* mine from school which I do not condone but may be an option.

Take regular breaks. A good rule of thumb is that your break should be around 25% of your study time, so if you study for an hour - 15 minutes off. Study for 8 hours - 2 hours off. And take your breaks properly - get up, leave the room if you can. Get some fresh air, even if thats just opening a window, drink some coffee water, have a snack if you need it. Try not to fuel yourself on junk food - biscuits are essential but have some fruit or nuts or something as well - they actually help your brain work and you’ll feel better for it.

Don’t compare. I know this is easier said than done, but study for yourself. Find your own method, whether that’s what everyone around you does or not. Try not to compare grades, either. A little bit of competition can be healthy, but (especially around exams) don’t listen to the people who “only did 12 hours last night.” Equally, ignore the people who say they haven’t studied at all and don’t let either of them get to you. You know how hard you’re working, and who know how efficient they are?

It’s never too late. This is maybe the most important thing to take away from this. You may have weeks, even days until your final/assessment/essay, but it is not too late to start studying. I’ll make a post about how to cram later, but even though its not ideal, it can definitely be the difference between a pass and a fail or an A and an A*. So if you think you’ve left it too late - you haven’t.

Good luck, and feel free to message me if you want more tips/details/a sympathetic shoulder to cry on about how hard all this is <3