ZEE'S STUDY CORNER

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[jamiedoeslangs]

things that are expensive

macbooks

fancy rose gold cables and earphones

leuchtturms/moleskines

ordering pens from overseas

fjallraven bags

minimalist pots for your succulents

starbucks

prizing these things over your achievements 

things that you do not need:

all of the above

even if they are in literally every studyspo picture

[studyinwithzee]

You Don’t Need It!

If you’re prepping for exams, you don’t need it! But if you like it, that’s okay! Do it! But please don’t spend time trying to learn from scratch at the beginning of Year 11. (I guess if you’re still in Year 10, you have some buffer to learn it...)

I know I know, it looks beautiful and elegant and magnificent. It makes your notes look gorgeous. It looks so sophisticated and classy. Trust me, I’ve been there.

But now is not the time.

This post isn’t just about calligraphy I guess. It’s about making your notes pretty in general.

If you do like to make your notes look very pretty and decorate them, then I have no power to stop you - you do you! But if you’re thinking about starting it in Year 11, then I’d advise you to not. 

My notes were mostly bullet points and diagrams that I made up myself. I didn’t even underline the damn title. Still got me 9s.

You don’t need to spent a fortune on Amazon for beautiful stationery from every corner of the world. But it is vital to stay organised. So when you see all these studyblrs and study youtubers posting god-like notes, there’s definitely something to take away. Although I’m not a fan of making decorative, stylish notes with handwriting that could literally be a font on its own, here’s some stuff I took away:

1. Making your notes neat and orderly can make them soooo useful.

Go all out if you need to. Colour code your work. Highlight that phrase. Underline it. Draw a detailed diagram. Make a picturised mind map. Draw out a storyboard. But don’t just do it idly. Do it in a way that helps you personally. For example I remembered the Lord Of The Flies chapters by their numbers. But someone else might prefer to draw out each title to give them an idea of what goes on in it.

2. Have a hierarchy

I picked this up pretty inherently, and then learnt about it in Graphics as well. 

Like right now, I’ve used a coloured, all-caps font for the title of the post. Then my subtitle is bold. And now I’ve highlighted some numbered points. Use this in your notes too! E.g, make the title of the topic/lesson in all caps/highlight it. Underlining just doesn’t seem to make it stand out for me, but you do you. For subtitles, maybe you could underline them, and then indent whatever comes below. If you need to make a subpoint, draw a right-angled arrow and indent. Take some tips from your fav word processor.

3. Don’t just write out what you see

Like my favourite geography teacher from Year 7- 9 said, ‘write it in your own words’. Not only that, but write it in your own way. Yeah, you might see a block of text in your book and you think about shortening it. But there are other ways to summarise.

Draw a diagram. If the text describes a process, draw a flowchart or a visual equation. It it describes a cycle, guess what - draw a cycle. You don’t even need to draw (come on, we can’t all be artists). Just write a phrase. If the phrase is too long, why don’t you split it up into two phrases? Doodle above important words!

Motivate yourself to look back at these notes! If it means using calligraphy, highlighters, cute banners, decorate borders, arrows and whatnot, by all means, do it!

TLDR:

I genuinely don’t have anything against people who do make their notes look wonderful (like y’all are talented legends and i could never match that lol). But don’t feel like you have to do all this right now. After your exams you can literally do whatever you want. But don’t jeopardise your exams if you feel like you will.

My main advice is to make notes that will motivate the hell out of you. Some people like to type them up. Some like to sketch them digitally. Some like to use plain paper, some use graph paper, some use file paper. 

If you really want to master calligraphy, first of all, do it, but second of all, don’t waste valuable time doing it if you're going into Year 11 right now.

[studyinwithzee]

...for your gcses!

1. Know your spec!

First of all, you should know which exam board you are taking the GCSE with. This advice mostly applies to the sciences, but use it where you see fit.

You can read any textbook x times, or watch a YouTube video y times, or read over your notes z times, but the only way to guarantee that you know everything for your exams is if you read your spec. The exams aren’t based on your textbook - they’re based on the spec. So if you know the spec, you know the exam.

Here’s what I did:

Print out the ‘subject content’ area of the spec

Read through it and mark information that I wouldn’t be able to recall otherwise

Add notes where something vague is written, for example ‘students should be able to explain the motor effect’. Write down the explanation!

Revise occasionally

After lessons, go over which part of the spec you covered. (It helps when your teacher can’t really teach)

N.B The spec also cannot be your only source for information. It is your textbooks, notes and revision guides that will (or should) explain the topic in more detail. So when you read over the spec, you should be able to recall mentally the topic in more depth.

2. Know what coursework you have + what % it counts to your overall grade

And strive to do your very best in coursework. Honestly, it’s gonna help a shit ton during your exams. If you score high, you don’t have to worry so much about the written part (if you have one).

Become best buds with your teachers if you have to! Your coursework is usually internally marked by your subject teacher. I gave my music teacher chocolate for Christmas even though he was biased and cocky. I still dislike him, but his help got me a grade 9, and 100% in my Music coursework.

3. Know your resources

During Year 10 + 11: Know if you have support clinics for your subjects. Know where they are, when they are, and if you feel yourself slipping in a subject, have questions ready to ask the teacher!

Even if you don’t have a clinic that day, it’s okay to ask for help! Hopefully by now you’ll know which teachers belong to which departments. If you feel comfortable with them, ask for help!

Spring/Summer of Year 11: Revision sessions should start to pop up. Attend them, even if your friends aren’t going. It’s okay to be solitary for a while if it means that you get some valuable information. (You can catch up with your friends later, but you only take most of your GCSEs once. Make it count, hun.)

+ Don’t worry if you can’t make it, or if you just don’t want to go a couple of times. I did the same because I’m not a machine and neither are you. Have fun sometimes <3

TLDR:

Know what’s in the spec, but make sure you can go into depth on topics as well. Use it with your textbooks and revision guides. (Don’t stress about reading over every spec! Use it when you’re stuck on what you need to know)

Coursework: Dedicate a lot of your effort on it - trust me, it helps you so much for the written exams (if you have them). Develop a good relationship with your teacher.

Resources: Use ‘em. Just do it.

[studyinwithzee]

Welcome!

I’m zee, and this blog is dedicated to anyone who’s struggling with GCSEs. Hopefully the tips I give will make you feel more prepared than ever for these exams! I give subject specific advice for the subjects which I took, as well as general advice coming from my own experience.

Thank you for visiting my blog, and happy studying!