studious

[svnnystvdent]

started 25.10.2015 - completed 28.11.2015

hello friends! this is my (pretty big) masterpost of all things romanian. this includes sites originally meant for romanian speakers (children, teens, adults). masterposts regarding romanian grammar, english-romanian dictionaries and books meant for foreigners are at the bottom.

Keep reading

[svnnystvdent]

reblogging this again

[studiousbees]

-다가, -아/어다가, -았/었다가, -다가는, -에다가

This has been a much-requested grammar form! -다가 is a really useful grammar point that is used often in speech, so it would be really helpful to learn how to use it well.

I will cover four different “forms” of -다가, each of which has its own meaning(s). The four forms I’ll cover will be -다가, 아/어다가, -았/었다가 (-다가 attached to a verb conjugated to past tense), and -다가는. Also, while it’s not the same as the verb endings that use -다가, I’ll explain the particle -에다가 as well.

-다가

Function

The -다가 grammar form is used to indicate interruption of an action. In English, we could translate this form roughly as “While doing X…”

Usage

-다가 is very simple to use! Just attach it to an action verb root in present tense! You can optionally remove the “가” at the end and just use it as -다 as well. Just make sure that the subject of the preceding and following clauses stays the same Let’s check it out:

Interruption of an action:

요리를 하다가 접시를 떨어트렸어요. (While cooking, I dropped a plate.)

영화를 보다가 잠들었어. (While watching a movie, I fell asleep.)

화랑 씨는 숙제를 하다가 친구들과 전화도 했어요. (While doing his homework, Hwarang  talked with his friends on the phone.)

수하 씨는 오랜만에 못 본 친구랑 통화하다가 울었어요. (While on the phone with a friend she hadn’t been able to see in a long time, Suha cried.)

NOTE: This section originally listed a second meaning for -다가, that being the introduction of the simultaneous occurrence of two actions. After looking into it a bit more, a true feeling of simultaneous occurrence can not be achieved by using -다가 and -(으)면서 must be used, otherwise the sense of interruption persists. You can read a little more by clicking this paragraph. I apologize for any confusion caused.

-아/어다가

Function

-아/어다가 is a grammar form indicating sequential actions. The action in the preceding clause is done first, and then the action in the following clause occurs in a different location. The two actions must be related to each other, so that the action in the following clause happens dependent upon the completion of the action in the preceding clause. You can think of it as meaning “First… and then…” in English, though of course you might have to change that a bit for a more natural translation depending on the circumstances.

Usage

To use this form, simply attach -아/어다가 to the root of an action verb in the present tense. Remember to change the root as needed depending on whether or not it’s irregular!  You can optionally remove the “가” at the end and just use it as -아/어다 as well.

제 가방 좀 가져다 주세요. (Please get my bag and give it to me.)

아름 씨는 김밥을 만들어다가 친구에게 줬어요. (Areum made kimbap and gave it to her friends. 

언니는 선물을 사다가 어머니께 보냈어요. (My older sister bought a gift and sent it to mom.)

-았/었다가

Function

Using -다가 on an action verb conjugated to the past tense indicates completion of an action, after which another action action occurs. This is in contrast to -다가 with a present tense action verb, which indicates interruption of an action or simultaneous occurrence of two actions, as seen above. The verbs used in the preceding and following clauses are often contrasting or opposite, though this is not always the case.

Usage

Just conjugate the action verb that you want to use to past tense and add -다가! You can optionally remove the “가” at the end and just use this grammar as -았/었다. Also, the subject of both the preceding and following clauses must stay the same.

갔다 올게요! (I’ll go and come back! [More naturally, “I’ll be back!”])

편의점에 들렀다가 집에 갔어요. (I stopped by the convenience store and then went home.)

NOTE: This form can also be used to express that something unexpected happened after doing the action in the preceding clause.

집에 갔다가 문 앞에 웬 소포가 있었어요. (I went home and there was an unexpected package in front of the door.)

기차를 탔다가 6년만에 못 본 친구를 만났아요. (I got on the train and met a friend I hadn’t seen in six years.)

-다가는

Function

This grammar point is used to give warnings, indicating that if the action or condition of the preceding clause continues, then the negative result in the following clause will occur. It can be translated as “If… then…”. Just keep in mind that it must be used with negative consequences only!

Something important to note with this form is that, while it might seem similar to -(으)면, the two are not totally interchangeable! -다가는 refers to an action that is already known to be in progress, regardless of context, while an identical sentence that changes only -다가는 to -(으)면 refers to a condition in the preceding clause that may or may not be in progress (unless prior context makes it clear that the action is in progress, in which case the two sentences are identical).

Usage

Unlike the other -다가s that we have looked at so far, this one can be used with action and descriptive verbs both! Just attach -다가는 to the root of the verb in either present or past tense. Using a verb conjugated to the past tense changes the preceding clause from a situation that is currently in progress to speculating about a present or future event.

PRESENT

Action verbs: -다가는

담배를 계속 피우다가는 폐암에 걸릴지도 몰라요. (If you keep smoking, you might get lung cancer [LIT-I don’t know whether or not you’ll get lung cancer].)

이렇게 공부를 미루다가는 기말 시험에 떨어질 수도 있어요. (If you put off studying like this you could even fail the final exam.)

Descriptive verbs: -다가는

미세먼지가 이렇게 심하다가는 호흡기 질환 환자들이 많아질 거예요. (If the pollution stays severe like this, the number of respiratory illness patients will increase.)

날씨가 이렇게 덥다가는 특히 노인들이 열사병에 많이 걸릴 것 같아요. (If the weather stays hot like this, it seems that especially many elderly people could get heat stroke.)

PAST— I actually struggled over this section quite a bit! I had to ask some native speaker friends to help me work through it. In general, the consensus we reached is that the examples that I wrote here are correct, but it is far more common to just use -(으)면 for the same meaning.

Action verbs: -았/었다가는

어제 처럼 경기했다가는 질 거예요. (If we play like we did yesterday, then we will lose.)

음식을 너무 많이 먹었다가는 배탈이 날 거예요. (If you eat too much food, you’ll get a stomachache.)

Descriptive verbs: -았/었다가는

집안 습기가 계속 이렇게 높았다가는 곰팡이가 쉽게 생길 거예요. (If the humidity in your house is constantly high, mold will form easily.)

출산율이 계속 낮았다가는 인구가 감소할 거예요. (If the birthrate stays low, the population will decrease.)

-에다가

Function

The particle -에다가 has two main functions. One of those functions is to indicate the specific location of something, and the other is to add more information in addition to something else. You can drop the final “가” and just use this particle as -에다.

Usage

When used to indicate the specific location of something, -에다가 is attached to an adverb. When used to provide additional information, it attaches to nouns.

Specific location:

종이 밑에다가 사인해 주세요. (Please sign the bottom of the paper.)

가방을 책상 위에다가 놓았어요. (I put my bag on top of the table.)

어디에다 둘까요? (Where should I put it?)

Additional information:

김밥을 만들었어요. 게다가(그에다가) 음료수도 준비해 놨어요. (I made kimbap. In addition to that, I also prepared drinks.) 

소윤 씨는 알바하는 데다가 봉사 활동도 해요. (In addition to working a part-time job, Soyun also does volunteer activities.) NOTE: 데다가 = 데 + 에다가. For more info on -는 데, click here!

이번 주 가스요금에다가 전기요금도 내야 돼요. (This week I must pay my electricity bill in addition to my gas bill.)

And that’s about it for -다가! There’s a lot of information in this post, so take your time reading through it and feel free to ask if you find anything confusing. Happy studying, everyone~

[blondie-studies-deactivated2019]

colors in korean

[koreangrumblings]

-는데도 vs. -더라도

I saw a post circulating claiming that these two grammar points are interchangeable, and I’d just like to take a second to say: no, they’re not.

-는데도 can be thought of as a the abbreviated version of -는데 그래도.  With this in mind, we know that the result in the second clause following -는데도 is contrary to what we would expect based on the information in the first clause.

나는 주연 씨를 매일 만나는데도 친하지 않아요.  I meet Ju-yeon every day, but we’re not close.  (Even though I meet Ju-yeon every day, we’re not close.)

From the first clause, you know that I meet Ju-yeon every day, and following that, the logical assumption is that we’re close.  However (this is where 그래도 kicks in), the truth is that we’re not close at all.  The information in the first clause has no bearing on that in the second.

방을 하루종일 청소했는데도 아직 더러워요.  I cleaned my room all day, but it’s still dirty. (Even though I cleaned my room all day, it’s still dirty)

열심히 공부했는데도 시험에 떨어졌어요. I studied hard, but I failed the test.  (Even though I studied hard, I failed my test.)

-더라도 is similar in that the information in the first clause has no effect on the information in the second clause.  However, with -더라도 we are working with a hypothetical scenario.

약 맛없더라도 꼭 먹어야지. Even if the medicine tastes bad, you should take it.

In this sentence, we don’t know what the medicine tastes like, presumably because it hasn’t been taken yet.  However, regardless of whether it tastes good or not, the speaker is advising that the medicine must be taken.

방을 하루종일 청소하더라도 더러울 거예요.  Even if I (were to) clean my room all day, it’ll be dirty.

열심히 공부하더라도 시험에 떨어질 거예요.  Even if I (were to) study hard, I’ll still fail the test.

When used in the past tense, -더라도 has a feeling of inevitability when it comes to the final outcome: regardless of whatever past action taken, the result would remain unchanged.

방을 할루종일 청소했더라도 아직 더러웠을 거예요. Even if I had cleaned my room all day, my room still would’ve been dirty.

열심히 공부했더라도 시험에 떨어졌을 거예요. Even if I had studied hard, I would’ve (still) failed the test.

Again, we can see that the information in the first clause of the sentence has no influence over the result in the second clause of the sentence.

The difference between the two grammar points can be summed up thusly: -는데도 can be translated as “Even though”; -더라도 as “Even if”.

I hope this post helps to sort out any confusion!

[languagenerds-archive]

Weather ☁️☔️☀️

天气 (tiānqì) - weather

天气预报 (tiānqì yùbào) - weather forecast

下雪 (xià xǔe) - to snow

下雨 (xià yǔ) - to rain

风 (fēng) - wind

有风 (yǒufēng) - windy

阴天 (yīntiān) - overcast day

晴天 (qíngtiān) - sunny day

热 (rè) - hot

暖和 (nǔanhuo) - warm

潮湿 (cháoshī) - wet, humid

闷热 (mēnrè) - hot, stifling

凉快 (liángkuai) - pleasantly cool

[vivavachey-deactivated20181115]

~든지

Who: 누구 What: 뭐 When: 언제 Where: 어디

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Whoever: 누구든지 Whatever: 뭐든지 Whenever: 언제든지 Wherever: 어디든지

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Ex. 누구든지 올 수 있어요. Anyone can come.

뭐든지 노래 할 수 있어요. I can sing anything.

우리가 언제든지 만날 수 있을까요. We can meet whenever.

우리가 어디든지 갈 수 있을까요. We can go anywhere.

[echineselearning-blog1]

Cartoon Characters in Chinese

A lot of your favorite cartoons are popular in China. Believe it our not, but South Park and The Simpsons are growing in popularity among young Chinese. They watch them because they’re stereotypically American, and American stuff is popular among young people.

Bambi 小鹿斑比 (Xiǎo Lù Bānbǐ) Bugs Bunny 兔八哥，宾尼兔 (Tùbāgē, Bīnnítù) Casper 鬼马小精灵 (Guǐmǎ Xiǎo Jīnglíng) Daffy Duck 达菲鸭 (Dáfēi Yā) Donald Duck 唐老鸭 (Tánglǎo Yā) Dumbo 小飞象 (Xiǎo Fēixiàng) Felix the Cat 菲力猫 (Fēilì Māo) Garfield 加菲猫 (Jiāfēi Māo) Goofy 高飞 (Gāofēi) He-Man 希曼 (Xī Màn) Micky Mouse 米老鼠，米奇 (Mǐ Lǎoshǔ, Mǐqí) Miffy 米菲兔 (Mǐfēi) Mulan 花木兰 (Huā Mùlán) Peter Pan 小飞侠 (Xiǎo Fēixiá) Peter Rabbit 彼得兔 (Bǐděi Tù) Pinocchio 皮诺曹 (Pínuòcáo) Popeye 大力水手 (Dàlì Shuǐshoǔ) Roger Rabbit 兔子罗杰 (Tùzi Luójié) Scooby-Doo 史酷比 (Shǐkùbǐ) Shrek 史瑞克 (Shǐruìkè) Snoopy 史奴比 (Shǐnúbǐ) South Park 南方公园 (Nánfāng Gōngyuán) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 忍者神龟 (Rěnzhě Shénguī) The Simpsons 辛普森家庭 (Xīnpǔsēn Jiātíng) Tintin 丁丁 (Dīngdīng) Tom and Jerry 猫和老鼠 (Māo hé Lǎoshǔ) Transformers 变形金刚 (Biànxíng Jīngāng) Winnie the Pooh 小熊维尼 (Xiǎo Xióng Wéiní)

[polyglossa]

Polyglossa’s 55 Days of Vocabulary Challenge

I thought I need a challenge to motivate myself to learn more Greek vocabulary, because I really need to get back on track with at least some language learning. So I came up with this idea. This challenge is about learning new vocabulary in different topics. For this challenge you only need to pick at least 5 words per day. The topics are the following:

Jewelery 

Love

Grain

Forest

Kitchen 

Family 

Make up

Clothing

Computer activity

Musical instrument 

Wedding

Tableware

Easter 

Spring

Favorite dish 

Friendship

Pets 

Bedroom

Outdoor activities 

Breakfast   

Bevarage

Night out

Crafting    

Christmas

Lunch

Accessories

Body

Book genre

Birthday 

Summer 

Beach

Dinner 

Meat    

Film genre

Holiday

Vegetarian Food 

Work 

Hair cut

Living room

Dairy 

School

Autumn

Bakery

Cutlery

City buildings

Electronic device

Bathroom    

Fish 

Winter

Vegetables

Board games

Garden 

Fruit

Decoration

Take away food

If you would like to take this challenge I would be glad if you let me know. If you post about it use the tag #55daysofvocabulary so I can see your post and all the vocabulary you’ll be picking :D

[shinee-studies]

Some helpful things

[ling-n-lang]

English + Korean - Days of the Week

[wonderful-language-sounds]

Free Online Language Courses

Here is a masterpost of MOOCs (massive open online courses) that are available, archived, or starting soon. Some are short, some are very interactive, some are very in-depth. I think they will help those that like to learn with a teacher or with videos. I checked each link to make sure they are functioning.

Arabic

Arabic for Global Exchange (in the drop down menu)

Arabic Without Walls

Intro to Arabic

Lebanese Arabic

Madinah Arabic

Moroccan Arabic

Read Arabic

Chinese

Beginner

Basic Chinese

Basic Chinese I

Basic Chinese II

Basic Chinese III

Basic Chinese IV

Basic Chinese V

Basic Mandarin Chinese I

Basic Mandarin Chinese II

Beginner’s Chinese

Chinese for Beginners

Chinese Characters

Chinese for Travelers

Chinese Made Easy

Easy Mandarin

First Year Chinese I

First Year Chinese II

HSK Level 1

Introduction to Chinese

Learn Oral Chinese

Mandarin Chinese I

More Chinese for Beginners

Speak Chinese like a Native Speaker

Start Talking Mandarin Chinese

UT Gateway to Chinese

Chino Básico (Taught in Spanish)

Intermediate

Chinese Stories

Intermediate Business Chinese

Intermediate Chinese

Intermediate Chinese Grammar

Dutch

Introduction to Dutch

English

Entire post here

Finnish

A Taste of Finnish

Basic Finnish

Finnish for Beginners

Finnish for Immigrants

Finnish for Medical Professionals

French

Beginner

AP French Language and Culture

Basic French Skills

Beginner’s French: Food & Drink

Diploma in French

Elementary French I

Elementary French II

Français Interactif

French in Action

French for Beginners

French Language Studies I

French Language Studies II

French Language Studies III

French:Ouverture

French Through Stories and Conversation

Improving Your French

Mastering French Grammar and Vocab

Intermediate

French: Le Quatorze Juillet

Passe Partout

Advanced

La Cité des Sciences et de Industrie

Reading French Literature

Frisian

Introduction to Frisian (Taught in English)

Introduction to Frisian (Taught in Dutch)

German

Beginner

Basic German

Basic Language Skills

Beginner’s German: Food & Drink

Conversational German I

Conversational German II

Conversational German III

Conversational German IV

Deutsch im Blick

Diploma in German

German Alphabet

German Modal Verbs

Rundblick-Beginner’s German

Study German 

Advanced

German:Regionen Traditionen und Geschichte

Landschaftliche Vielfalt

Reading German Literature

Hebrew

Hebrew Alphabet Crashcourse

Know the Hebrew Alphabet

Hindi

A Door into Hindi

Business Hindi

Virtual Hindi

Icelandic

Icelandic 1-5

Indonesian

Learn Indonesian

Irish

Introduction to Irish

Italian

Beginner

Beginner’s Italian: Food & Drink

Beginner’s Italian I

Oggi e Domani

Survive Italy Without Being Fluent

Intermediate

Intermediate Italian I

Advanced

Advanced Italian I

Italian Literature

Italian Novel of the Twentieth Century

La Commedia di Dante

L'innovazione Sociale (Check language under translation)

Reading Italian Literature

Japanese

Beginner’s Conversational Japanese

Genki

Japanese JOSHU

Kazakh

A1-B2 Kazakh (Taught in Russian)

Korean

Beginner

First Step Korean

How to Study Korean

Learn to Speak Korean 1

Pathway to Spoken Korean

Intermediate

Intermediate Korean

Latin

Latin I (Taught in Italian)

Nepali

Beginner’s Conversation and Grammar

Norwegian

Learn The Norwegian Language

Norwegian on the Web

Portuguese

Brazilian Portuguese for Beginners

Curso de Português para Estrangeiros 

Pluralidades em Português Brasileiro

Russian

Beginner

Basics of Russian

Easy Accelerated Learning for Russian

Russian Alphabet

Russian Essentials

Russian Phonetics and Pronunciation

Reading and Writing Russian

Travel Russian

Advanced

Reading Master and Margarita

Russian as an Instrument of Communication

Siberia: Russian for Foreigners

Spanish

Beginner

AP Spanish Language & Culture

Basic Spanish for English Speakers

Beginner’s Spanish:Food & Drink

Fastbreak Spanish

How to Self-Study Spanish

Introduction to Spanish

Restaurants and Dining Out

Spanish for Beginners

Spanish Verbs Basics

Intermediate

Español en línea

Spanish:Ciudades con Historia

Spanish:Espacios Públicos

Advanced

Corrección, Estilo y Variaciones 

La España de El Quijote

Leer a Macondo

Spanish:Con Mis Propias Manos

Spanish: Perspectivas Porteñas

Reading Spanish Literature

Swedish

Intro to Swedish

Swedish Made Easy 1

Swedish Made Easy 2

Ukrainian

Read Ukrainian

Ukrainian for Everyone

Ukrainian Language for Beginners

Welsh

Beginner’s Welsh

Discovering Wales

Multiple Languages

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/global-studies-and-languages/ : MIT’s open courseware site has assignments and course material available.

http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/: Ancient Languages

https://www.fun-mooc.fr/: MOOCs taught in French

http://univesptv.cmais.com.br : MOOCs taught in Portuguese

https://miriadax.net/home:MOOCs taught in Spanish & Portuguese

http://ocwus.us.es/Courses_listing: MOOCs taught in Spanish

http://www5.fgv.br/fgvonline/Cursos: MOOCs taught in Potuguese

http://interneturok.ru/: MOOCs taught in Russian

http://www.open-marhi.ru/courses/: MOOCs taught in Russian

https://www.rwaq.org/: MOOCs taught in Arabic

http://ocw.nthu.edu.tw/ocw/: MOOCs taught in Chinese

http://ocw.uab.cat/: MOOCs taught in Catalan

https://ocw.tudelft.nl/ : MOOCs taught in Dutch

http://ocw.hokudai.ac.jp/: MOOCs taught in Japanese

http://ocw.tsukuba.ac.jp/: MOOCs taught in Japanese

http://open.agh.edu.pl/ : MOOCs taught in Polish

I’ll keep an eye out for new courses and if you know of any, let me know so I can update this list.

Last updated: July 1, 2016

[andromedesque]

Weather in Turkish (hava)

bulut - cloud soğuk - cold gün - day kuraklık - drought çevre - environment (doğal çevre - natural environment) sonbahar -  fall (autumn) sel - flood sis -  fog (mist) dolu -  hail sıcak -  hot kasırga -  hurricane buz - ice şimşek -  lightning muson -  monsoon gece - night bulutlu -  overcast yağmur - rain gökkuşağı - rainbow mevsim  season kar - snow kar fırtınası - snowstorm ilkbahar - spring fırtına - storm yaz - summer güneş - sun güneşin doğuşu - sunrise gün batımı - sunset gök gürültüsü - thunder kasırga - tornado tsunami - tsunami hava - weather hava tahmin - weather forecast rüzgar - wind kış - winter

[studywithinspo]

September calendar // “ I am the wisest man alive, for i know one thing, and that is that i know nothing” -Socrates

[gclaxybee-deactivated20181115]

some pretty things in turkish ✨

gökkuşağı - rainbow

parıltı - glitter

kelebek - butterfly

bulutlar - clouds

çiçek - flower

papatya tacı - daisy chain

ipek - silk

inci - pearl

cupcake / kapkek - cupcake

arı - bee

deniz kabuğu - seashell

uğur bilekliği - charm bracelet (However, it is not common to say charm bracelet in Turkish. We would say bileklik which means bracelet, basically)

kolye - necklace

bisiklet - bicycle

yıldızlar - stars

okyanus - ocean

ay - moon

gün doğumu - sunrise

gün batımı - sunset

dolunay - full moon

alacakaranlık - twilight

elbise - dress

unicorn / tek boynuzlu at - a unicorn

Translated from @frenchaise‘s  some pretty things in french ✨ vocab list

My other Turkish vocab lists:

Turkish Space Vocabulary

Edited: 24.09.16

[oikawastudies]

idk what i want to do for my new bujo omg.. i wanna try new styles out but i dont want to like be dissatisfied with what i do :-/ also winter break is almost over im so sad ig:oikawastudies

[raincoffeebooks]

FREE SAT & AP PREP MATERIALS

Dear appblrs if you want to save some money and not spend hundreds of dollars on prep books these are some nice alternatives. (Both these files belong to me. )

Spread the word! Good luck studying :) 

SAT 

AP

I may have some additional stuff in october (past sat & psat exams) 

[apps-and-academia-blog]

THANK YOU

[an-elysian-metanoia]

DO NOT SCROLL PAST THIS. 

I REPEAT, DO NOT SCROLL PAST THIS. 

GUYS. THIS IS LITERALLY A MASTER POST OF SAT & AP BOOKS SCANNED ONTO THE LAPTOP. LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE PAGE. AND THE QUALITY IS AMAZING. AND THERE ARE SO MANY. FROM BARRON’S AP BIO TO MCGRAW HILL’S SAT REVIEW. SERIOUSLY CHECK THIS OUT.

YOU CAN SAVE SO MUCH MONEY BY USING THESE. THANK YOU YOU SWEET KIND SOUL. YOU ARE AN ANGEL, A GIFT FROM HEAVEN AND I HOPE ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE. 

[caffeineandcreatine]

Not happy with your grades? Here are some things you can do to get back on track!

Hey guys! I was sent an ask by a new friend of mine asking how to do better on Organic Chemistry tests. I thought about it, and I think a lot of people could be disgruntled with their grades around this time of year, so I’ve made a short list of things you can do starting TODAY to get a better understanding and bump your grade.

*Note: These tips can apply to classes other than Organic Chemistry!

Evaluate your weaknesses - Whip out those old exams. What did you get wrong? Did you understand the concept but succumbed to test taking anxiety? Did you get confused by the question? Can you do the problem now? Chances are, if you can’t do the problem now, you never understood the concept in the first place. Make a list of these concepts. Highlight and sticky note your exams so that you know to rehash these concepts for the final!

Analyze the way you’re taking notes - Go back through your notes and look up the concepts you didn’t understand from your exams. Did you take good notes on the topic? Do you have notes about it at all? One thing I realized far too late in college was that I didn’t take ACTIVE notes. I passively copied whatever the professor was doing. If you’re given a PowerPoint before class, USE IT!! I’m a big fan of WRITING my notes, especially in classes with a plethora of practice problems, so print out the PowerPoint and write on it. Or use it as a guide and write down your thoughts on the material onto paper. There is absolutely no reason to passively copy material - You should be ACTIVELY copying in your own words. If you’re given a practice problem, try to work it out on your own before the professor starts. There are plenty of resources on the internet about note taking, and if you need extra help or don’t know where to start, shoot me a message. Star or circle concepts that you didn’t understand in class and look them up in the book. Leave some blank space for extra notes when you go back over it! Leaving white space is a good rule of thumb in the first place so that you can add in information you missed the first time. Don’t be afraid to ask questions in class. If you got confused by why the professor moved an electron, where he got a 5 from, or anything else, ask!

Get ready to change - Something you were doing before wasn’t working. Laziness won’t get you ahead, and neither will pride. If you weren’t doing well on tests, it means that you didn’t understand the material, no matter how well you think you ‘recognized’ the topics. Studying is ACTIVE.

Practice, Practice, Practice - You may hate drilling reactions and think you’ll never use them again, but a physician once told me, ‘Organic Chemistry is just a test to see if you care enough. If you don’t care about doing well in this class, who’s to say if you’ll care enough about the patient?’ If you don’t care about a pre-requisite course for your professional program, or a required course for your degree, you don’t care enough about what you’re trying to do. Use your passion for your end goal as a fire to power through tough classes.

Ask for help - Your professors should be there for you, but if you went to a school like mine, your TAs will be there for you too. Look into utilizing every resource you don’t have if you don’t understand. Email the professor. If they seem unhelpful, go to the TA’s office hours. If they didn’t work for you, seek help from your university tutoring center. Be sure that when you go to your professor or to your TA, you have specific questions you want to ask. You can’t just go in and say, ‘I don’t understand any of this. Please reteach me everything.’ You have to show that you’ve done the work and TRIED. Then they’ll be able to help you. If you haven’t even done the work, they’re not going to want to help you, and you can identify that as one of your major problems that you need to fix going forward.

If you have upcoming tests, you probably want to focus on your new material rather than your old material. Keep in mind that most classes build, so concepts that you didn’t understand will come back and hurt you later. If you take just 30 minutes to go through one of your exams and the accompanying notes, you will absolutely recognize patterns, and isolate some variables for change. Take charge of your destiny and act now so that you’re not bumbling for an excuse for why you have a C in a hard class. You can get an A!

As always, shoot me an ask if you have any questions. Happy studying!