it's a big job being curious

I'm Jordan & I'm a 21 year old business/biology student living on a beautiful island on the east coast of Canada.

[studyof-life]

ATTENTION: SEPTEMBER IS APPROACHING. I REPEAT, SEPTEMBER IS APPROACHING. 

With many of us heading back to classes in the very near future, I figured it was about time to share a few of the tips I have for preparing for the upcoming semester! Here they are:

Take a complete inventory of the school supplies that you have, and compare that against a list of what you need. Make sure you have all the necessities first, then get some fun stationary, washi tape, etc. if you’re into that sort of thing! 

Shop for your supplies early. Whether you’re ordering everything online from amazon or getting your things from your local staples or officemax, you will thank yourself later for shopping early. School supply sales have already kicked in but if you start early you will have a better selection, less lineups and less worries if your things will arrive on time. Start today if you can!

Start looking at your required textbooks, but don’t necessarily buy them yet. I’m always tempted to buy my books really early but in my experience you should wait until you hear from your instructors to make sure you actually need the book before spending an exorbitant amount of money on it. I’ve had professors tell us in the first class that they will only reference the book once or twice so it is up to you if you want to purchase it. However, you’ll be more prepared if you know in advance what resources you need, where to purchase them and how much they will cost.

Invest in a planner or download a good calendar app. It was expensive, but I love the pretty Kate Spade planner that I splurged on last year and will still be using for the rest of 2015. It doesn’t have to be expensive—there are lots of cheap alternatives out there (try Amazon or even Walmart). If you’re not a pen & paper type of guy/gal, you can use printables (like these by theorganisedstudent!), apps for your smartphone (here are some for iPhones, here are some for Androids), or Outlook if you have MS office on your computer. What you choose isn’t super important, but keeping on top of deadlines is. 

Look up note-taking strategies. You might already have a system that works great for you but if you don’t, now is a great time to see how other studyblrs take notes so you can try their methods! I really like looking at strive-for-da-best’s note-taking tag, it is FULL of great tips! Don’t worry too much about making your notes pretty if that isn’t your thing, make sure your priority is that they are functional and work for you.

If you’ve already registered, look at your class schedule and try to visualize how you can make the most out of your days. Look at when you want to take food breaks throughout the day and put in any other time commitments that you have (this might be your job, time with your friends, family or significant other, volunteering, working out, you get the idea). After that is done, try to block off time to study for each of your courses. This is obviously just a rough idea since you haven’t had class yet but it’s a good idea to start thinking of how you can best spend your time.

I usually like to plan some healthy meal and snack ideas before class even starts so I know that I won’t fall into old habits of fast food and junk food that is available by the truckload on campus. I like to stock up on healthy granola bars (I love Lara bars, and here is a cheaper homemade version), and browse pinterest for healthy lunch ideas. If I have a plan and healthy foods on hand I’m much more likely to pack those and pass on the “convenient” burgers and pizza on campus. Healthy food prep will save you money in the long run and keep you feeling great!

Look up what is happening at your school in the fall. Check and see if there are any fun social events you’ll want to go to and RSVP now, or sign up for some volunteering opportunities that will be fun and look great on a resume! For example, I’m going to volunteer at my school’s orientation in a few weeks and I’m really looking forward to it. Now that you know these dates you can plan for them.

Clear the cobwebs off of your study space. If you haven’t been in school in a few days, weeks, or even months take this chance to clean off your study space and make it so organized that you can’t wait to use it! Ikea has some fairly cheap pencil cups and desk organizers, and there are lots of free motivational printables on the internet that you can print off and pin up to keep you going. Some nice examples are this one, this one or this one, all found on pinterest of course.

Beat procrastination before it starts. You already have a rough idea of how to maximize your days, now you have to stick to that plan. Download a pomodoro app (this is my favorite one for iOS but there are TONS out there!), and look into distraction blockers like the ones featured in this article).         

Lastly, relax and don’t worry. You’re going to kick this semester’s butt, I know it :) Good luck!! And if you want any more posts like this please let me know in my ask box! 

[studyof-life]

ATTENTION: SEPTEMBER IS APPROACHING. I REPEAT, SEPTEMBER IS APPROACHING. 

With many of us heading back to classes in the very near future, I figured it was about time to share a few of the tips I have for preparing for the upcoming semester! Here they are:

Take a complete inventory of the school supplies that you have, and compare that against a list of what you need. Make sure you have all the necessities first, then get some fun stationary, washi tape, etc. if you’re into that sort of thing! 

Shop for your supplies early. Whether you’re ordering everything online from amazon or getting your things from your local staples or officemax, you will thank yourself later for shopping early. School supply sales have already kicked in but if you start early you will have a better selection, less lineups and less worries if your things will arrive on time. Start today if you can!

Start looking at your required textbooks, but don’t necessarily buy them yet. I’m always tempted to buy my books really early but in my experience you should wait until you hear from your instructors to make sure you actually need the book before spending an exorbitant amount of money on it. I’ve had professors tell us in the first class that they will only reference the book once or twice so it is up to you if you want to purchase it. However, you’ll be more prepared if you know in advance what resources you need, where to purchase them and how much they will cost.

Invest in a planner or download a good calendar app. It was expensive, but I love the pretty Kate Spade planner that I splurged on last year and will still be using for the rest of 2015. It doesn’t have to be expensive—there are lots of cheap alternatives out there (try Amazon or even Walmart). If you’re not a pen & paper type of guy/gal, you can use printables (like these by theorganisedstudent!), apps for your smartphone (here are some for iPhones, here are some for Androids), or Outlook if you have MS office on your computer. What you choose isn’t super important, but keeping on top of deadlines is. 

Look up note-taking strategies. You might already have a system that works great for you but if you don’t, now is a great time to see how other studyblrs take notes so you can try their methods! I really like looking at strive-for-da-best’s note-taking tag, it is FULL of great tips! Don’t worry too much about making your notes pretty if that isn’t your thing, make sure your priority is that they are functional and work for you.

If you’ve already registered, look at your class schedule and try to visualize how you can make the most out of your days. Look at when you want to take food breaks throughout the day and put in any other time commitments that you have (this might be your job, time with your friends, family or significant other, volunteering, working out, you get the idea). After that is done, try to block off time to study for each of your courses. This is obviously just a rough idea since you haven’t had class yet but it’s a good idea to start thinking of how you can best spend your time.

I usually like to plan some healthy meal and snack ideas before class even starts so I know that I won’t fall into old habits of fast food and junk food that is available by the truckload on campus. I like to stock up on healthy granola bars (I love Lara bars, and here is a cheaper homemade version), and browse pinterest for healthy lunch ideas. If I have a plan and healthy foods on hand I’m much more likely to pack those and pass on the “convenient” burgers and pizza on campus. Healthy food prep will save you money in the long run and keep you feeling great!

Look up what is happening at your school in the fall. Check and see if there are any fun social events you’ll want to go to and RSVP now, or sign up for some volunteering opportunities that will be fun and look great on a resume! For example, I’m going to volunteer at my school’s orientation in a few weeks and I’m really looking forward to it. Now that you know these dates you can plan for them.

Clear the cobwebs off of your study space. If you haven’t been in school in a few days, weeks, or even months take this chance to clean off your study space and make it so organized that you can’t wait to use it! Ikea has some fairly cheap pencil cups and desk organizers, and there are lots of free motivational printables on the internet that you can print off and pin up to keep you going. Some nice examples are this one, this one or this one, all found on pinterest of course.

Beat procrastination before it starts. You already have a rough idea of how to maximize your days, now you have to stick to that plan. Download a pomodoro app (this is my favorite one for iOS but there are TONS out there!), and look into distraction blockers like the ones featured in this article).         

Lastly, relax and don’t worry. You’re going to kick this semester’s butt, I know it :) Good luck!! And if you want any more posts like this please let me know in my ask box! 

[lizzylearns]

5 Tips for Staying Productive

1. Get ahead on your work. There is always something you can be doing. A great way to stay productive is looking forward a few weeks in your schedule and seeing what’s coming up. This is especially handy when you know you’ll have a few tests in one week. Staying ahead of your work allows you the freedom to focus more on one or two subjects without getting behind in the rest. 

2. Take breaks. Short, frequent breaks can help you stay productive and not get tired as quickly. You don’t want to burn out on your assignment and then rush through the rest of it. Also, it’s a good idea to break up large amounts of reading over a few days, so you don’t have to do it all in one massive tiring chunk. But, it’s important to set a time limit on your breaks. If you leave it open-ended, you may never get back to work. 

3. Work hard all week, relax more on the weekends. Put in the extra hours during the school week, and you’ll be able to have a much more enjoyable weekend. Your friends will probably want to hang out over the weekend more than the school week anyway, so it’s great to actually be able to take a break and do things with them rather than staying home to catch up on all the work you neglected. 

4. Don’t do unnecessary work. Learn what works best for you and tailor your study style to the class. If you know you can make an A in a class without doing the readings, then DON’T DO THE READINGS. It’s important to delegate your time wisely, or you will constantly be stressed and overworked. Be careful though, sometimes this can backfire. Pick and chose your workloads with a lot of consideration. 

5. Be proud of all of your work. If you just look towards a bigger picture goal- such as graduation or getting an A in a class- you will feel much less accomplished throughout the semester, even if you’re doing a lot of work to achieve your goal. Make smaller goals and be proud that you achieve them. Focus on the work that gets you to the accomplishment, not the accomplishment itself. 

[studyof-life]

April 29, 2016 | keeping my study set up super simple tonight as I study for my last final of the semester! I was supposed to have it today but it got moved to tomorrow because of a snowstorm ❄️

[glutenfreeyogini]

[studytothehd]

resource for procrastination

if you’re anything like me, working on a computer is a dangerous thing. i’ll get distracted by everything - that one email i should respond to, all the pictures of my dog, tumblr, and so on. I recently discovered an amazing resource to stop that.

it’s called writer’s block, and is free to download! 

when you open it, it shows this screen, where you can choose either a time limit or word goal

then when you start, it opens a document that fills the entire screen like this

and you cannot quit the app or open anything else until your word/time quota is filled. i just wrote half of my english speech that i’ve been putting off all morning, and it took only 20 minutes!

so yup, it’s called writer’s block and is free for both mac and windows. enjoy!

[idrathergoforgirls]

reblog to save a lazy ass

[successessentials]

Good luck with your goal setting! Let me know if you have any post recommendations in my ask box.

(Source)

[studious-annabeth]

Monthly Printables #2

March, April & May Monthly Planners & Overview printables have arrived!! Come and get them here. x

[ennui-for-me]

Well. Here’s a big’un. I finally had time to work on printables so I decided to make a new version of the exam pack printable. Hopefully this helps with exam season.

Includes:

IFTTT - Write down rewards for accomplishing important tasks! Motivate yourself!

Exam Schedule - Keep track of all the deets for up to 18 exams! (dear lord, I hope you never have to suffer such a fate…but in case you do, I added a couple rows, just for you). Check off your exams as you take them.

Monthly Calendar - Keep track of important exam dates. Plan up to 6 months in advance, like the extremely prepared student you are/aspire to be. Comes w/ legend if you like color coding ‘n stuff . :D

Major Topics - Keep track of topics covered on your exam(s).

Scoreboard + Graph - Keep track of your exam scores as you take your exams. Visualize your progress. There are enough graphs to record exam scores in 6 subjects.

D-Day Calendar - Figure out your study schedule in the context of how many days you have left until your exam. Each page has 36 days.

Weekly Calendar - Keep on top of your study schedule; you can plan out your days or just write about your study plan for the week. Also serves as daily planner.

Self-Evaluation - See how you did on certain topics on an exam. Helpful when you’re reviewing past exams or mock exam results.

Click HERE to download the printable (PDF).

For suggestions on how to use the printable, click HERE.

Good luck on your studies, everyone!!

Postscript: Unfortunately, this printable isn’t available for editing. Because of this, I’m opening up my ask box for feedback regarding some small edits you might like me to make on this printable. This means that at a later date, I will aggregate your feedback and try to make an even newer (possibly better) version of this printable! So all’s well that ends well.

[somestudy]

valentine’s day is in a week, so here are some studyblr-themed valentines for that special nerd in your life (♡ ὅ ◡ ὅ )ʃ♡

(credit for the khan academy and chill joke; the rest are the products of my brain I am a Comedic God™)

[academicheaux]

adapted from this response

1. Write your notes in a way where you can test your retention and understanding. 

Many people write notes that do a great job summarizing their materials but their notes are not designed to promote learning, retention or diagnosis of their weaknesses. But my notes can – and so can yours. Simply put my notes can be used like flashcards because I write them in a form where I separate a “stimulus” from a “response.”  The stimulus are cues or questions (think: front side of flashcard), while the response is the answer to the cue (think: back of flashcard).  But the stimuli are to the left of a margin, while the responses are to the right. The key advantage of this is that just by putting a sheet of paper on top of your notes, you can hide the responses, while leaving the stimuli visible. You can have multiple margins and multiple levels of stimuli and response for greater information density. When you get good at this you can write notes in this form in real-time. To get some idea of what I’m talking about google for “Cornell Notetaking method”. My notetaking method is a variant of this. I usually use completely blank paper to do this because regular lined paper has too small a margin. To give you an idea of how powerful this notetaking method can be, I learned several courses just hours before the exam and still got an “A” in all of them during a difficult semester where I had too many competing priorities to spend long hours studying. Had it not been for this notetaking method I don’t think that would be possible. 2. Develop the ability to become an active reader (this is the perhaps the most important advice I have to share). 

Don’t just passively read material you are given. But pose questions, develop hypotheses and actively test them as you read through the material. I think the hypotheses are part of what another poster referred to when he advised that you should develop a “mental model” of whatever concept they are teaching you.  But a mental model can be much more than simple hypotheses. Sometimes the model resembles a story. Other times it looks more like a diagram. But what they all have in common is that the explain what is going on. Having a mental model will give you the intuition and ability to answer a wider range of questions than would be otherwise possible if you lacked such a mental model. Where do you get this model? You creatively develop one as you are reading to try to explain the facts as they are presented to you.  It’s like guessing how the plot of a movie, before it unfolds. Sometimes you have to guess the model based on scarce evidence. Sometimes it is handed to you. If your model is a good one it should at least be able to explain what you are reading. Having a model also allows you to make predictions which can then be used to identify if your model is wrong.  This allows you to be hypersensitive to disconfirming evidence that can quickly identify if your model is wrong. Oftentimes you may have two or more models that can explain the evidence, so your task will be to quickly formulate questions that can prove one model while disconfirming the others. To save yourself time, I suggest focusing on raising questions that could confirm/disprove the mostly likely model while disproving the others  (think: differential diagnoses in medicine). But once you have such a model that (i) explains the evidence and (ii) passes all the disconfirming tests you can throw at it then you have something you can interpolate and extrapolate from to answer far more than was initially explained to you. Such models also make retention easier because you only need to remember the model as opposed to the endless array of facts it explains.  But perhaps more importantly, such models give you intuition. Of course, your model could be wrong, but that is why you actively test it as you are reading, and adjust as necessary. Think of this process as the scientific method being applied by you, to try to discover the truth as best you can. Sometimes you will still be left with contradictions that even your best models cannot explain. I often found speaking to the professor after class to be a time efficient of resolving these contradictions. I discovered mental modelling as a survival mechanism to pass my studies at the University of Waterloo – where their teaching philosophy is misnomer because their teaching philosophy is to not teach as well as they could. You can see this from their grading philosophy. Although they don’t use a bell curve or other statistical grade adjustment, they make their exams so hard that the class average is usually between 68 (C+) and 72 (B-) in spite of the fact that their minimum admission grades are among the highest in Canada (you need more than A+ to get into several of their engineering programs). The only way they can achieve such low test averages from otherwise high performing students is by holding back some of what they know, and then testing what they didn’t explain well in lecture on their exams; or by not teaching to the best of their ability.   This forces students to develop the ability to teach themselves, often from materials that do not explain things well, or lack the introductory background knowledge needed to understand the material. I realized I could defend against such tactics by reverse engineering the results into theories that would produce those same results; i.e. mental model induced from scarce facts.     Then when I got to MIT I found myself in a place with the opposite teaching philosophy. Unlike Waterloo, if the whole class got an “A” the MIT professors would be happy and proud (whereas at Waterloo an “A” class average would be the cause for a professor’s reprimand). The mental modelling skills I developed at Waterloo definitely came in handy at graduate school because they enabled me to learn rapidly with scarce information. 3. Be of service to your fellow classmates.

I’ve personally observed and heard anecdotal stories that many students in highly competitive programs are reluctant to share what they know with their peers; a good example being the vast number of students in a top ranked science programs competing for the very few coveted spots in med school. I’ve seen people in such situations be afraid to share what they know because the fear it could lead to the other students “getting ahead” while leaving them behind. I would actually recommend doing the opposite: share liberally. You can’t expect help from others if you are unwilling to help others yourself. I spent hours tutoring people in subjects I was strong in. But, conversely those same people were usually happy to help me with my weaknesses when I needed it. I also found it easier to get good teammates – which is essential to getting good grades in team-based classes. I found I learned a LOT from other people. And their questions helped me to prepare for questions I may not have thought of – some of which would appear on the exams. 4. Understand how the professor grades. 

Like the real world, the academic world is not always fair. You need to understand who is grading you and what they are looking for. Oddly, if you actually answer questions as written, you won’t get full marks from some teachers. Some professors expected more than the answer. Some only accepted the answers taught in class as opposed to other factually correct answers – which coincidentally can easily happen if you rely heavily on mental models. Some expected you to not even evaluate whether the answers to their multiple choice answers were true or not; only to notice which answer choices aligned or did not align with the theories taught in class.  Some highly value participation in which case you ought to have a mental model of what they are teaching based on their assigned readings. The sooner you know who you are dealing with, the sooner you can adjust to their way of grading. Thankfully I considered the vast majority of my professors to have graded in a fair manner. 5. Get involved in research while still in undergrad.

Academics is a means to an end. To me that end was “solving problems” and “building stuff” specifically systems and organizations.  Depending on the school you apply for, your research may be just as important, if not more important, than your grades. In fact if all you have are good grades your chances of getting into a top ranked CS program with a research component (e.g. MIT, CMU) are slim to nil; though you might still be able to get into a top-ranked courseware-based Masters (such as Stanford where there is no masters thesis). I did an Artificial Intelligence research project in undergrad and posted it on the internet. Not long after it was cited in three patents from IBM, AOL and another inventor. Then 40 other people cited my work. I feel this helped me get into MIT because they saw that I could come up with theories with practical applications. It also led to internships with top research teams whose work I am still in awe of. This research also helped my graduate application. None of this would have been possible if I didn’t do research in undergrad. 6. Attend classes.

I do not understand the students who claim they did well without attending class. Many professors will only say certain things in class. Many classes only present some of the material in class. If you don’t attend class you simply won’t get that material. You also won’t be able to ask immediate follow-up questions. I also found speaking to the professor after class was an efficient way to resolve contradictions I had found with my mental model. 7. Time management is key – especially in undergrad. 

In my competitive undergrad program I once learned that a friend who achieved top 5% status actually timed how long he ate. While I do not suggest going to such extremes I offer this modest advice. I suggest spending no more than 30 minutes trying to solve a problem you can’t solve by yourself before appealing to office hours or another knowledgeable student. I also suggest you ask questions of your professor during or after class as opposed to leaving the class confused. This reduces wasted time in an environment when time is a very precious commodity. 8. Going out and having fun is conducive to good grades. 

In my early undergrad years I studied as hard as I could. And I thought this meant putting in as many studying hours as possible. But I later realized that going out and having fun refreshed the mind and increased grades. Unfortunately it took at least 2 years for me to understand this lesson. 9. Learn how to do advanced Google searches.

This is an essential skill that enables you to answer your own questions, quickly. At a minimum I suggest you learn how to use the following Google search operators  ~, -,*, AND,OR, and numeric ranges via the double dot (“..”) operator.  The “site:” operator is also often helpful. I also found adding the word “tutorial” to a Google search often yields great introductory materials. 

10. Turn weaknesses into strengths.

While studying for standardized exams I learned the importance of addressing one’s weaknesses as opposed to ignoring them.  If you make a mistake on a question, it is because of a weakness within you. If you do not address that weakness it will follow you to the exam. I learned this lesson when studying for standardized exams. I was able to legally buy 30 old exams and thought the best approach to studying for the exam was to do as many old problems as possible. But as I completed each exam I kept getting the same score  (+/- 5%) over and over. I had plateaued! But then I made a tiny tweak and my scores kept going up. Specifically, after each old exam, I would identify my weaknesses that led to each wrong answer, prioritize the weaknesses according to the degree to which they affected my score, and would address them in that order.  When I did that, my scores increased steadily all the way to the highest possible percentile (99%). I later realized that such standardized tests are designed to provide consistent scores (if the student does not study in between the subsequent exams to address their weaknesses). In fact that is one of the statistical measures used to measure the quality  of a standardized exam and it’s called “Reliability”  (Google for “psychometric reliability” to see what I’m talking about).

[boomeyer]

Do yourself a favor. Learn to code. Here's how.

I’ve said this to my non-techie friends countless times. It’s no secret that being able to code makes you a better job applicant, and a better entrepreneur. Hell, one techie taught a homeless man to code and now that man is making his first mobile application.

Learning to code elevates your professional life, and makes you more knowledgeable about the massive changes taking place in the technology sector that are poised to have an immense influence on human life.

(note: yes I realize that 3/5 of those links were Google projects)

But most folks are intimidated by coding. And it does seem intimidating at first. But peel away the obscurity and the difficulty, and you start to learn that coding, at least at its basic level, is a very manageable, learnable skill.

There are a lot of resources out there to teach you. I’ve found a couple to be particularly successful. Here’s my list of resources for learning to code, sorted by difficulty:

Novice

Never written a line of code before? No worries. Just visit one of these fine resources and follow their high-level tutorials. You won’t get into the nitty-gritty, but don’t worry about it for now:

Dash - by General Assembly

CodeAcademy

w3 Tutorials (start at HTML on the left sidebar and work your way down)

Intermediate

Now that you’ve gone through a handful of basic tutorials, it’s time to learn the fundamentals of actual, real-life coding problems. I’ve found these resources to be solid:

Khan Academy

CodeAcademy - Ruby, Python, PHP

Difficult

If you’re here, you’re capable of building things. You know the primitives. You know the logic control statements. You’re ready to start making real stuff take shape. Here are some different types of resources to turn you from someone who knows how to code, into a full-fledged programmer.

Programming problems

Sometimes, the challenges in programming aren’t how to make a language do a task, but just how to do the task in general. Like how to find an item in a very large, sorted list, without checking each element. Here are some resources for those types of problems

Talentbuddy

TopCoder

Web Applications

If you learned Python, Django is an amazing platform for creating quick-and-easy web applications. I’d highly suggest the tutorial - it’s one of the best I’ve ever used, and you have a web app up and running in less than an hour.

Django Tutorial

I’ve never used Rails, but it’s a very popular and powerful framework for creating web applications using Ruby. I’d suggest going through their guide to start getting down-and-dirty with Rails development.

Rails Guide

If you know PHP, there’s an ocean of good stuff out there for you to learn how to make a full-fledged web application. Frameworks do a lot of work for you, and provide quick and easy guides to get up and running. I’d suggest the following:

Cake PHP Book

Symfony 2 - Get Started

Yii PHP - The Comprehensive Guide

Conclusion

If there’s one point I wanted to get across, it’s that it is easier than ever to learn to code. There are resources on every corner of the internet for potential programmers, and the benefits of learning even just the basics are monumental.

If you know of any additional, great resources that aren’t listed here, please feel free to tweet them to me @boomeyer.

Best of luck!

[arabellesicardi]

let’s all learn how to code at the same time

[videogaymer]

okay

awlright

OKAY YES

[andrea-studies-blog]

[studyof-life]

Hi lovelies!!

Earlier I was planning out my week and decided I wanted to be able to have a way to clearly and easily look at each week at a time. I have my planner but it’s kind of small so I whipped up a few quick and simple printables to try out this way and I wanted to share them with you guys of course!

Click this link to download the sheets from google drive!!

I made a few slightly different versions, I know they’re all super simple but hopefully they can help someone out!

Let me know if these help you or if you have any requests for other ones! xx

[studyof-life]

I love my uni campus ⛅️📚

[othertypist]

I was asked how I draw ribbon banners, and since I’m sick and can’t concentrate on my work, I thought I’d make some GIFs. (Sorry about the bad quality, though. Due to Tumblr’s file size limit, I had to reduce the colours and delete some frames, but I’d say you can still see how I draw some of the ribbons that I added to a page in my bullet journal.)

[studyof-life]

love your blog! 😊

Thank you so much! :) yours is very nice as well xx