A tip my biology teacher ALWAYS reminds us of
If in the True/False type of exam question there’s a word „every” „always” etc then IT IS A FALSE STATEMENT. There are ALWAYS exceptions in biology and other science subjects.

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@studyblrmster
A tip my biology teacher ALWAYS reminds us of
If in the True/False type of exam question there’s a word „every” „always” etc then IT IS A FALSE STATEMENT. There are ALWAYS exceptions in biology and other science subjects.
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!
How to Study Like a Harvard Student
Taken from Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld, daughter of the Tiger Mother
Preliminary Steps 1. Choose classes that interest you. That way studying doesn’t feel like slave labor. If you don’t want to learn, then I can’t help you. 2. Make some friends. See steps 12, 13, 23, 24. General Principles 3. Study less, but study better. 4. Avoid Autopilot Brain at all costs. 5. Vague is bad. Vague is a waste of your time. 6. Write it down. 7. Suck it up, buckle down, get it done. Plan of Attack Phase I: Class 8. Show up. Everything will make a lot more sense that way, and you will save yourself a lot of time in the long run. 9. Take notes by hand. I don’t know the science behind it, but doing anything by hand is a way of carving it into your memory. Also, if you get bored you will doodle, which is still a thousand times better than ending up on stumbleupon or something. Phase II: Study Time 10. Get out of the library. The sheer fact of being in a library doesn’t fill you with knowledge. Eight hours of Facebooking in the library is still eight hours of Facebooking. Also, people who bring food and blankets to the library and just stay there during finals week start to smell weird. Go home and bathe. You can quiz yourself while you wash your hair. 11. Do a little every day, but don’t let it be your whole day. “This afternoon, I will read a chapter of something and do half a problem set. Then, I will watch an episode of South Park and go to the gym” ALWAYS BEATS “Starting right now, I am going to read as much as I possibly can…oh wow, now it’s midnight, I’m on page five, and my room reeks of ramen and dysfunction.” 12. Give yourself incentive. There’s nothing worse than a gaping abyss of study time. If you know you’re going out in six hours, you’re more likely to get something done. 13. Allow friends to confiscate your phone when they catch you playing Angry Birds. Oh and if you think you need a break, you probably don’t. Phase III: Assignments 14. Stop highlighting. Underlining is supposed to keep you focused, but it’s actually a one-way ticket to Autopilot Brain. You zone out, look down, and suddenly you have five pages of neon green that you don’t remember reading. Write notes in the margins instead. 15. Do all your own work. You get nothing out of copying a problem set. It’s also shady. 16. Read as much as you can. No way around it. Stop trying to cheat with Sparknotes. 17. Be a smart reader, not a robot (lol). Ask yourself: What is the author trying to prove? What is the logical progression of the argument? You can usually answer these questions by reading the introduction and conclusion of every chapter. Then, pick any two examples/anecdotes and commit them to memory (write them down). They will help you reconstruct the author’s argument later on. 18. Don’t read everything, but understand everything that you read. Better to have a deep understanding of a limited amount of material, than to have a vague understanding of an entire course. Once again: Vague is bad. Vague is a waste of your time. 19. Bullet points. For essays, summarizing, everything. Phase IV: Reading Period (Review Week) 20. Once again: do not move into the library. Eat, sleep, and bathe. 21. If you don’t understand it, it will definitely be on the exam. Solution: textbooks; the internet. 22. Do all the practice problems. This one is totally tiger mom. 23. People are often contemptuous of rote learning. Newsflash: even at great intellectual bastions like Harvard, you will be required to memorize formulas, names and dates. To memorize effectively: stop reading your list over and over again. It doesn’t work. Say it out loud, write it down. Remember how you made friends? Have them quiz you, then return the favor. 24. Again with the friends: ask them to listen while you explain a difficult concept to them. This forces you to articulate your understanding. Remember, vague is bad. 25. Go for the big picture. Try to figure out where a specific concept fits into the course as a whole. This will help you tap into Big Themes – every class has Big Themes – which will streamline what you need to know. You can learn a million facts, but until you understand how they fit together, you’re missing the point. Phase V: Exam Day 26. Crush exam. Get A.
Advice that makes you feel like you’ve got a kick up your butt to go out and do something.. I like that 😌☺️😏
HOW TO REMEMBER WHAT YOU STUDY
As a psychology student, I have studied about Memory; its encoding, storage and retrieval process, how memory is organised in our minds, and how we can improve our memory.
Studying involves using our memory because we may need to remember excessive information at a time during examinations, or to understand complex concepts which may include a lot of numbers, formulas, or labeling of diagrams etc. Therefore, I feel that knowing some memory techniques or knowing how to remember or retrieve what we’ve already learnt will be extremely useful for students or even for people who work.
There are many suggested ways in which we can improve our memory. There are some memory aids we may use like making Mnemonics, which is a technique which relies on the linking of ‘to-be-remembered’ information with an organised set of images or words that are already firmly established in our long-term memory and can therefore serve as reminder cues. To make this definition easier, we can imagine a cloakroom where “reminder cues” are pegs and the “to-be-remembered” information is hung on these pegs! For example, to remember the names of Great Lakes we can associate the first letter of every lake with the word HOMES - Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior.
Another Mnemonic device is ‘Stories You Tell Yourself’ which is to relate the information in a made-up story. For example, if we need to remember the following list of words; lumberjack, dart, skate, hedge, colony duck, furniture, stocking, pillow, mistress We can remember these unrelated items by relating them together in a story we make up. The made up story might go as follows: “a lumberjack darted out of the forest, skated around a hedge past a colony of ducks. he tripped on some furniture, tearing his stocking, while rushing toward the pillow where his mistress lay.”
Yet another technique is Chunking. It simply means grouping or combining certain parts of information and remembering those chunks of information instead of the whole information all together. For example, if we are required to remember a credit card number- 19141609007, it would help to break down the number into chunks. The first four numbers can be remembered as an year in history, the next four numbers can be chunked as a date too, while the last three numbers form a chunk which is easy to remember by itself.
For all the above techniques it is important to use our originality, creativity or imagination, because that would enable us to remember what we have learnt more clearly and accurately. It is important to understand that these techniques help us to remember what we have learnt more clearly because we are LINKING or ASSOCIATING new information with ALREADY STORED information in our minds.
Mnemonics are fun to use and can be helpful in remembering many things. We all want to remember what we need to know in courses or in our work, as we can best and so we will need to go beyond the mnemonic techniques.
1. Study is work and takes time
We all have been in a situation where we leave homework or essays till the last day because we think it won’t take as much time. But, we all regret it later because studying is work, and it definitely takes up time. So, plan a schedule that you can stick to. During the time you set aside for study, work at it instead of talking to your friends or spending massive amounts of time on Instagram/Tumblr/Youtube. If we spend that time scheduled for study by studying, we will find that we still have plenty of time left for other activities.
2. Rehearse the Information
Rehearsal is simply keeping the new information at the center of attention by repeating it silently or aloud. The more an item of information is rehearsed, the more likely it is to be remembered, because it will get transferred to our long-term memory. In the last few years, experiments have indicated that the sheer amount of rehearsal may be less important than the ways in which the information is rehearsed. Maintenance rehearsal is simply going over and over what is to be remembered. It is a passive repetition of the information (merely repeating the information). Elaborative rehearsal is more likely to succeed because it involves organizing and giving meaning to the information as it is being rehearsed. It is an active process of repetition- thinking about what is being rehearsed in an effort to relate it to other things that we know or are learning.
3. Organize the Information
While rehearsing, we will start to organize or arrange the information into categories, groups or in a way which makes “sense” to us. This is called Organizational Encoding. We may make tables, charts, diagrams, separate information through headings, subheadings or paragraphs, make groups or categories to organize the information. We can do this both mentally or/and also on paper through making notes.
4. Test Yourself
After planning, rehearsing and organizing the information try to get an idea of how much you remember. If you study by breaking the study material into parts, test yourself after each part. Go back over what you have studied using the organized material (headings, pointers, diagrams, tables, flashcards etc) as reminder cues.This will tell you what you know and what you need to work on. By testing ourselves, we will also be practicing our retrieval skills.
5. Revise/Review before Examination
We may forget many details we learned. Use the organization of the study material and go back over the things you have forgotten, relearning them the way you learned them in the first place. It is important to relearn the information in the same way because the information is already stored and organized and just needs brushing up, so following the same path of learning will speed up the process of remembering what you have learnt. Revising/reviewing should also be based on the type of examination you are taking. Long answer type/essay type questions will usually look for major ideas and experiments which support the information. Trying to think of what the questions will be ahead of time and practicing the answers to them is a good idea. For MCQ’s/objective type questions be sure to know the definitions of words and also be able to recognize a word through a definition. However, that being said this doesn’t mean to neglect certain terms or ideas for any examination; just give a little emphasis, depending on the type of examination.
To conclude, studying to remember involves planning, rehearsal, organization, feedback or testing, review/revision, and over-learning. It is a word psychologists use for the phrase “practice makes perfect”. Studies have shown that such “over-learning” works to reduce the amount forgotten.
Credits: psychandchill
References: Introduction to Psychology by Clifford T. Morgan, Richard A. King, John R. Weisz and John Schopler
| April 25, 2017 | Exam week means chaos and coffee but also a lot of fun and interesting writing. Study hard lovers!
Do u have any advice on studying a subject that you really can't understand? (Chemistry in my case)
HOW TO STUDY A DIFFICULT SUBJECT?
STEP ONE, ALWAYS, is MINDSET.
Eliminate “can’t understand” from your vocabulary. Transform it to “will find out”. This way you open your mind to accepting new information, without it hitting the wall inside your mind that would have said, “Can’t. It’s too much. It’s too difficult.”
Appreciate the fact that you get the opportunity to learn the amazing science to know the world at an elemental level.
Remember that no one is born with knowledge, we all learn it, some topics just take a little longer, esp if were aren’t that familiar with the related concepts. Don’t compare the fact that others in your class are learning things at a different speed. Because you’re living your own journey. You’re in a lane of your own.
So allow yourself to spend extra time exploring the topic. There are two parts to learning: understanding and memorising. This helps with the understanding.
Familiarise yourself with the concept from various points of view, not just the way the teacher is teaching it. Because often the way you are taught something can make something seem more difficult, vs a teacher who really takes the time to make it seem easy.
Take the time to learn the basics.
Find other ways to learn the same info. Have multiple sources of info: YOUTUBE (helped me personally), textbooks, google the topic.
Ask a fellow student who knows it better and ask them to talk about some of the points with you.
Relate what you learn and see how they impact and exist in the real world - turn it more practical, beyond theory. Connect it with other disciplines.
Read the textbook - slowly. Give yourself to understand esp the early paragraphs
Practice the questions at your own pace allowing yourself to see how it works.
the notes are broken 😂
‘cause that girl took my heart and i ain’t want it back, no a bulletproof restart
sex // EDEN
art by @pacifistpadme
Hello fellow nerds!
A new school year is approaching, and since I have to nail my A* this year I put together a masterpost with helpful links and tips that I have gathered throughout my school years. Good luck this year: you´ll do just fine!
1. Learn ´em languages
Learn terms and glossary in Quizlet.
Learn a language for free on Duolingo.
Learn a language for free on Busuu.
Oxford Dictionaries.
Games and fun activities for English learners.
Irregular English verbs.
2. Do your research
Google scholar.
Scholarpedia.
You can learn anything (KhanAcademy).
Didn´t listen in class? (Crash Course).
Simple Wikipedia.
Learn littérature without having to read it (SparkNotes).
Wolfram Aplha.
TED.
Open 2 study. (Online studying)
Free college courses.
3. Learn how to write like a God
10 practical tips for writing better exam essays.
Writing an essay.
Harvard writing resources.
Writing application essays.
Writing a personal statement.
Genre characteristics.
Writing a literary analysis essay.
Answering essay questions.
Get feedback.
Bibliography maker.
What is the word you´re looking for?
4. Oh yes sweet reading
8 tips to remember what you read.
How to read Shakespeare.
Effective reading and note-taking.
How to take notes while reading.
Note taking tips.
170 free textbooks.
1000 free textbooks.
5. Get your studying and organization game on
Time Management
Get your school life in order with organization.
Reach your goals.
Goals worksheet.
Finding information on the internet.
Using sources.
Get a hold on mind mapping.
How do you learn best?
Sound without music (Such as cafes).
Make flashcards.
6. Stress and anxiety management because school is stressful
Coping strategies.
Stress reduction tips.
Stress relief for students.
Managing test anxiety.
Dealing with test anxiety.
Self help: Keeping calm.
Introverts in college.
Coping and calming down. N.1
Coping and calming down. N.2
Do nothing for two minutes.
7. Go get ´em tests
Study skills for test taking.
Study tips for finals.
Multiple choice exams guide.
The seven days study plan.
15 steps to success.
How to prepare for a test.
Checklist for essay tests.
8. Classroom participation - because teachers love that shit
Active listening.
Classroom discussions.
Presenting projects in the classroom.
Preparation before class.
Participating tips.
9. Software and pages for us nerdy kids
Openoffice and Libreoffice.
Dropnote.
Google docs.
EverNote.
Prezi (Fore presentations.)
Calculator.
Grade calculator.
Grammar check.
Staying focused for Mac, Chrome and Firefox.
Plagiarism check.
Best apps for students masterpost.
Homework help.
10. Yo! Take some time to care ´bout yo´self
100 000 stars.
Workout masterpost.
Movie masterpost of masterposts.
Self-help masterpost.
8Tracks.
Learn and do yoga.
Voulenteer.
Learn to play guitar.
The thoughts room.
Disney games because hell yeah.
bullet journal pages from march to may with cursive headers, i have a tutorial on how to improve your cursive, it’s on my YouTube channel @studywithinspo
[How To Improve Your Cursive]
moodboard: chilling in a cafe/bookstore (for anon)
I used to have a lot of trouble still do with procrastination and I realized that, in my new studyblr days, I didn’t know how to utilize my studyblr to help me and it was just another way for me to procrastinate and feel productive. If you can relate to this, you could probably benefit from this little dose of studyblr realness.
Don’t use your studyblr just for aesthetics: studyspo is great for inspiration and motivation, and it’s probably what drew you to the studyblr community, but it shouldn’t be what makes you stay. You won’t be able to take anything worthwhile from your blog if all you reblog is photos of beautiful notes. Mix it up with masterposts and printables and photos of “non-aesthetic” notes.
Don’t use methods that don’t work for you: if you absolutely cannot understand mindmaps but absolutely love the way they look, resist the urge to make them. You’ll only end up confusing yourself and wasting time. Only use note taking and studying methods that make sense to you. 90 percent of the time they’ll be things that you used before you made a studyblr. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t experiment with different styles and methods, but only stick to what works for you.
Discipline over motivation: imho, the study community overstates the importance and effectiveness of motivation. Don’t get me wrong, motivation makes studying more enjoyable when you have it, but more often than not you don’t. In the end, motivation isn’t what makes you study every night, or stick with self studying a language. You have to discipline yourself to study when you don’t want to, or work when you’re tired. My old French teacher used to say “Don’t fall into the trap of waiting motiviation, and just do it” and I feel like that’s super important with this. (1, 2, 3)
Talking about studying isn’t studying: sort of related to number 3, don’t let your studyblr be another way to put off work. It’s all to easy to think “I’m blogging about studying; in being productive,” but it’s a dangerous thing to do. Studyspo is great, but don’t let scrolling through your feed become another method of procrastination.
Take photos after you study: or during, but not before. I used to spend so long taking pictures of my notes, that I wouldn’t have time to study them. I still take too long photographing my notes to take picture, so I’ve started using a pomorodo timer. After 25 minutes, I’ll use my five minute break to take photos. It’s increases my productivity so much, and I’m not sure how I ever functioned without that system.
Just get it done (and prioritize): honestly, sometime you just have to forget about trying to make your notes look pretty and just go for functionality over looks. Just let go of any studyblr ideals and do what you need to do. If you don’t have time to bullet journal and get your work finished, use an electronic calendar or don’t spend so long on your journal. Most importantly, be real with yourself. At the end of the day, you know yourself best, and you know what you need to do.
Good luck on your studyblr journeys lovelies, hope this helped!
xx
Hey y'all check out my work for exos new release kokobop and check their mv as well!
🌼🌻study smarter🌻🌼
(here are some study tips straight from my psych notes)
1. interest: the brain prioritizes by meaning, value, and relevance so u remember things better if ur interested
find a study partner
do extra practice or research
teach it to someone else (this works so well!)
2. intent: be actively paying attention. very little learning actually takes place without attention
use a concentration check sheet (every time u get distracted, put a check on ur sheet. this is supposed to program ur mind to pay attention)
while u read, talk back to the author
ask questions during lectures (this is scary ik!! but do it!)
3. basic background: make connections to what u already know
preview and skim the material before u read it. or google it!
write out a list of vocab words before a lecture and leave some spaces between them to fill in during the lecture
read ahead of lectures
watch crashcourse tbh
4. selectivity: start by studying whats important
look for bolded words, graphics, pictures, chapter review questions in ur readings
listen for verbal clues like emphasis and repetition during lectures
make urself a study guide as u read and write down questions for urself to answer later as review (kinda like cornell notes)
5. meaningful organization: u can learn/rmr better if u group ideas into diff categories
apply vocab words to ur life
make flashcards and sort them (try not to have more than seven items in one category!)
use mnemonics
6. recitation: saying ideas aloud in ur own words strengthens synaptic connections! when u say something aloud u r forcing urself to pay attention
after u read, ask urself questions
talk abt what u learned w/ classmates outside of class
again, teach someone else
7. visualization: ur brain’s quickest and longest-lasting response is to images
convert info into a chart or graph
draw it out
make a mental video of a process
look at picture/video examples
8. association: memory is increased when facts are consciously associated w something u already know. memory = making neural connections
ask urself: is this something i already know?
9. consolidation: give ur brain some time to establish a neural pathway
make a list of what u remember from class
review notes at the end of the day, every day
stop after reading each prg to write a question in ur notes
make ur own practice quiz
10. distributed practice: we all know cramming doesnt work but we do it anyway! but yeah short and frequent study sections work better
make a daily/weekly study schedule
create a time budget/time tracker (track everything ur doing for a week and see how u can be more efficient w/ the time u waste)
divide the reading/vocab by the number of days before an exam and do a little bit each day (u can use sticky notes to divide ur reading)
other tips:
stop stressing! this sounds stupid and it isnt going to be easy, but anxiety causes u to lose focus. try ur best to think positively. sleep a lot. minimize ur caffeine intake. take a walk maybe
when u need to remember something, look upward or close ur eyes (when ur eyes are open ur using visual parts of ur brain that u might not need to be using)
find a rival! (like the person right above u in class rank) secretly compete w/ them (envy can improve mental persistence bc it makes u focus more intensely) but dont overdo it!
walking and sleeping build memory storage in ur brain
eat flavonoids! (grapes, berries, tea leaves, cocoa beans make neurons in the brain more capable of forming new memories + increase blood flow to the brain)
obstacles force ur brain to try harder, so space learning lessons apart or create a puzzle to solve or change ur physical setting
How to deal with procrastination
One of the biggest problems for students is procrastination! It takes different forms for everyone but ultimately it stops us all at some point. Since there are several reasons for procrastinating, I’ve put together the five main types and a few ideas on how to deal with it.
You’ve got poor work/productivity habits. You leave things until the last minute since you “work better under pressure”. You probably think you’ll do something after you’ve finished something else, and then never do. You get distracted whenever you’re trying to study and will sit waiting to feel motivated but it never comes. For this I’d suggest:
create a productivity inspiring workspace - find somewhere that you can set up a study space, whether it is an actual office or just a desk. Organise everything that you will need. I have a selection of pens and my few notebooks on the top so I can easily access them. Remove anything that might cause you to be distracted and doesn’t need to be in your immediate reach. If you’re got space, put up some motivational pictures. This could be my motivational printables, some quotes or your own pictures. Plants are also proven to boost productivity, so might be worth putting a small one nearby!
create an action list rather than to-dos - write down a few manageable tasks that you need to do and be specific on the steps you should take. Writing the actions they require will help you see what you should be doing to complete something, instead of just the overall task. If you’re able to break it down, you can take actionable steps rather than mentally having to think of each point.
focus on 20-30 minute periods - generally, we lose focus after a while so taking regular breaks can help give you chance to relax and refocus. Apps like Forest allow you to set a timer and will give you off your phone at the same time. Obviously, if you’re being productive, don’t suddenly cut that off because it is “time for a break”. Here are some other free alternatives.
remove distractions as best you can - I’m always distracted by social media so I will use Forest on my phone or time-lapse myself so I can’t use my phone. With my MacBook, I have two accounts. One for university and one for everything else. I am not logged into any social media on my uni account so I can’t just check it for a minute then end up wasting 20 minutes :’-)
find an accountability partner - pick someone who you can rely on to check on you regularly and see how your tasks are coming along. You can send them your to-do list and then every few hours you can update them with your progress. You won’t want to let them down. Alternatively, you can study with a friend! Tumblr/Instagram is basically my partner!
use the two-minute rule - if something takes less than two minutes, do it. Don’t make an excuse, just do it. Tasks that are longer you can either delegate or defer. Here is a simple visualisation of what I mean.
record your progress - doing a simple “don’t break the chain” in your planner is a great way to see how productive you’re being and therefore get you more motivated to keep it up! The ‘100 days of productivity’ challenge might be worth doing!
You’re feeling stressed and overwhelmed. Everything seems to be mounting up and nothing seems doable. You don’t know where or how to start. For this I’d suggest:
ask for help - if you’re feeling like this, it is likely you need some help in some form or another. See if a family member, friend, classmate or teacher (or Google) can help or give you a starting point. Emailing your teacher is a great option if you’re a little nervous about speaking to them in person. Plus you won’t forget what they told you because you’ll have a response.
remind yourself that getting started is the first step - you don’t need to finish a task in a matter of minutes. Start doing something small. Maybe organise what you need, highlight the important bits of your assessment, or draft an essay plan. The secret to getting ahead is getting started!
divide and conquer - figure out what is the overall task that you need to do and split it into manageable parts. For instance, with an essay, the aim is to write it! Divide it into planning out what you want to write, any references you need, summarising a final draft and then writing each paragraph. By dividing bigger tasks into actionable parts you can reduce the obstacles and get through each part in a more timely manner.
reward yourself - create a system to celebrate completing a selection of tasks. By rewarding your progress you’ll build an incentive to work and reinforce productivity (great for your self-discipline!).
learn to forgive yourself - if you have an off day, that is okay! When the stress of your education is getting too much, it is necessary to have time out. Remember to come back to it later and try again.
don’t over schedule - if you’re feeling pressure from the amount of work and then the added pressure of trying to stick to a time limit, you’re just going to go crazy. Set yourself flexible times to get something done instead of being heavily structured. Give yourself time for a break and the ability to change tasks.
stick with one task - it can be so tempting to multitask but try not to. Try to keep the focus on the what you’re doing until it is done. If you struggle with that, you could write down anything useful that you randomly think about for another task, use a break-time to think about that other task or alternate between subjects/tasks every few hours.
You’re a perfectionist. You either don’t want to start something out of fear you won’t get it right or you can get stuck on the small details. There is a pressure to achieve the unachievable. For this I’d suggest:
focus on getting started, instead of finishing - it is easy to get overwhelmed thinking about what something is supposed to be like finished if you’re a perfectionist. Take things one step at a time. It’s also useful to remember the sooner you start, the more time you’ll have to perfect it at the end!
make drafts - if you’re overwhelmed, take half an hour to map out your plan of attack. Drafts can take many forms: summaries, scaffolds/outlines, essay plans, post-it notes, etc. I find it much easier to get on with work if I have a bit of a plan.
remember that your perfectionist tendencies aren’t actually improving your work or productivity but hindering you - you’re continually setting yourself unrealistic objects and (like me) probably feel let down by yourself if you don’t reach them. Be realistic and focus on getting it done!
accept mistakes - you’ve written something wrong, don’t panic! Cross it out with a single line and move on. Things happen and you have to accept it. You can’t rip up the page every time you do something wrong, even if it is so tempting.
put things in perspective - is what you’re beating yourself up about right now going to mean anything in a week, a month, a year? Be honest if it isn’t, is it really worth putting unnecessary pressure on yourself.
praise yourself through the process - try not to criticise yourself but recognise your progress.
don’t compare yourself - this is very hard not to do but remember we are all different. Just because “you’re not as good” or don’t understand something as easily as others, it doesn’t mean you’re any less! Everyone was a beginner once and we all learn at different paces. Work to your strengths!
You want to do something else. You find whatever you’re doing boring. You want it to be over with but don’t want to get started. The ultimate catch 22, right? For this I’d suggest:
remember that putting it off isn’t going to make it go away - if you leave it too long you’ll end up getting more stressed about it. Best to get it over with.
make a plan from the get-go - once you know something is coming up (e.g. a test, an assessment, etc) make notes on it! That could be questions, annotations, potential topics, citations, etc. By making the effort to spend time reading through, you’ll save your future self some stress. Especially if it’s a topic you have forgotten. That way your notes act as a reminder so you can get started.
set a finish time with a reward - tell yourself that if you finish something by a certain time and then you can do something else. Use your self-discipline to not go back on this. Set a realistic time and try to get it complete before. If you can think that you’re doing something fun once it is completed, you’ll be more motivated to get it done.
make a structure - for note-taking, it can be overwhelming looking at a textbook and thinking what you’re going to write out. Make a note-taking layout/colour code that works for you and that subject. Mine is here - it just gives me an idea of how I’d lay everything instead of going in with no action plan.
try to make it fun - this could be using YouTube to learn or starting a study group. Use different methods for memorising information such as flashcards, mindmaps or study guides (like question/answer).
make the effort to refocus - if you’re finding something boring and you’re unfocused, walk away for 5 minutes, get a drink and come back. If you’re really struggling, change topics for a while. Find a point where you can finish and start doing something else that is productive.
listen to some music - generally, music without lyrics are best for focusing. Spotify has a great playlist for studying called ‘focus’. However, I find my regular music good for getting me a little more motivated and awake. I also like writing essays to music because I weirdly sort of type in the same rhythm. Funny study hack I’ve found that works for me haha!
write your thoughts down - Another thing I’ve been trying is externalising my thoughts. If I get distracted by something or have a “gosh, I need to remember that” moment, I will write it down. By getting it out my brain and onto a bit of paper, I no longer have to think about it and can continue.
You have no motivation. Often we feel that motivation is the only thing you need to get on with something, but this isn’t totally true. You need a mix of motivation and discipline. As the saying goes: “motivation may get you started, but discipline keeps you going”. To build your motivation, I’d suggest:
have a mass organise - usually when I’m feeling unmotivated, I’ll clear out my desk and sort out my computer. This involves throwing out stationery that doesn’t work or scrap paper. I usually make piles of spare stationery and will re-organise my desk drawers. For my computer, I will pull out all my files to my desktop then start working through them. I’ll delete duplicates, rename files properly, and put them in the right place.
find some new stationery - weirdly buying stationery is one of those things that instantly makes you want to be productive. Head to the shops and spend a little something on a new pen, highlighter or notebook!
film yourself - studying generally doesn’t give us any instant gratification which can make it feel like a drag. By filming yourself working you can get a little video at the end which shows your progress. I love watching time-lapses of myself because you see all the work you did super quickly. It also means I’m not touching my phone!
set yourself some goals - write down a few things you want to achieve, in the short or long term. Put it somewhere that you’ll be reminded about it! By externalising your goals, you’re more likely to make the effort to achieve it.
check/make a studygram and studyblr - this is one of most motivating this I’ve done. Having social media dedicated to studying has helped not only improve my work ethic but my whole attitude towards education. Getting involved in the community is a great motivator. Here is a post on how to set up a studyblr.
I hope this post gives you just a few ideas on how to tackle procrastination! If you’ve got any tips you’d like to share, please message me! x
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You have no idea how much I needed this.
I’m so pleased that it could help!☺️💗
How I Use OneNote for University
Hey, all! I thought I’d share how I use OneNote, for any students who might want to use it for school organization. I have used this since the beginning of my university career and have found a method that works for me, after nearly three years.
I provide templates for what I use as .one files that can be imported into OneNote, and you’re free to use & modify them however you wish.
Semester Calendar Template: Download
Customized Syllabus Template: Download
Cornell Outline Template: Download + Outline inspired by How to Use Cornell Cornell Note-Taking Method on OneNote by @strive-for-da-best
As a student with learning disabilities, I found that using a computer, rather than writing everything out, is the best method for me to learn. I type up notes in class so as to not worry about keeping up with a professor, handwriting, or neatness. OneNote is my favourite note-taking application for this, because it’s essentially an upgraded version of Word that’s free and syncs automatically across devices. When my computer crashed, I was still able to access my notes online.
OneNote isn’t all typing. You can use it on a tablet or use a drawing tablet, in my case, to handwrite notes for a more natural feel. A very efficient way of taking notes is to import the lectures slides in OneNote and to write directly on them. I found that very useful in math-heavy courses, such as statistics and chemistry. The equation tool, while nifty, isn’t efficient.
By no means whatsoever is this the only way to use OneNote! In fact, I’d recommend you find a way that works for you, because while this may be highly organized, it takes a bit of set-up time and is tailored specifically to my needs. You can use my example as inspiration, but play around with it! The beauty of OneNote is that it can be used in a variety of different ways.
Download OneNote for Windows | Download OneNote for Mac
LANGUAGE LEARNING MASTERPOST
For all of those who want to learn a language but don’t know where to start, need extra help as you learn it, or if you’re just bored. These are the resources I’ve gathered over the last few months (feel free to add to it!)
General sites with grammar/sounds/pronunciation for a wide variety of languages
My Languages
BBC Language
How to Learn Any Language
Effective Language Learning
Conjuguemos
The Polyglot Project
Linguanaut
More specific sites, targeted at one language
German here and here
Spanish here and here
French here here and here
Italian here and here
Japanese here
Chinese here and here
Korean here and here
Vietnamese here
For all ya’ll auditory learners
an online radio/tv
spanish site w/ web series and programs
-also, foreign language mixes on 8tracks
some german ones
a few spanish ones
some french mixes
some italian mixes
some russian mixes
some mandarin mixes
some japanese mixes
Interactive language-exchanging sites where you can make friends and meet natives wOWie
livemocha
interpals
polyglotclub
sharedtalk
couchsurfing
memrise
babbel
duolingo
Tips, advice, and motivation to give you that extra push
5 Tips to Get You Started
a blog on language-hacking tips
have some motivational videos that provide language courses (Speak from Day 1 and Pimsleur Approach)
6 ways to roll your r
another language blog
For those interested in linguistics, here are 15 interesting articles on the field
for funsies!!!
i’ve found quite a few resources for irish gaelic, a really beautiful but complex language that you can challenge yourself to learn
linguistic facts about the language and some study tips
here’s an online radio
pronunciation and a youtube channel
Irish Language Today
want to learn a language that doesn’t exist???? there are tutorials here here and here on how to write gallifreyan and a tutorial here on how to write the numbers
If i find more content, I’ll edit this and add it right away. Good luck and have fun!
Some of this stuff and more found here in my resources post :D
Resources are da best because then you can’t use it as an excuse not to learn a language :3