#actuallyhelpfuladvice

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100 days of productivity // day

More photos from the markets - these flowers are so pretty. Saturday has been pretty good, but I still feel like I am making no progress.

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100 days of productivity // day 19

Staying home was super productive and I managed to get some stuff done.

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Papers, Notes and Information

While studying there are so many bits of information that you get from so many sources and it is vital that you keep them all organized. When I was trying to figure out how to organize all the papers and notes I would get I made a flow chart that looked something like the one below (plus I really like the title “Flow of Information”)

This probably looks a bit confusing, so I’m going to break it down for you. There are four main ways that I get notes or information that I am going to need for my class

Notes I take during class

Worksheets or articles given to me in class by the teacher

Notes I have taken from a textbook, novel, or from an online resource provided by the teacher

Personal research when I felt that I didn’t understand anything

Of these four sources all but the second requires me to take notes which I do in my notebook. Maths is kind of different, but for all the other subjects I use a single Spirax A4 notebook (the one I have currently has 250 pages but I am thinking of getting one with less pages next time) (also I use the one with perforated edges and holes in the side so it can go in a binder). I use one notebook for everything but you can use different notebooks for different subjects if you want.

From my notebook the notes are torn out and placed in an organizer (something like this) I have two of these and each draw is for one of my subjects. This is also where the worksheets gives to me by the teacher come back into play, they go in there too until the weekend.

Once the weekend rocks around I pull out all the sheets in one subject, I organize them by date (which is why it is so important that you date your notes) and then I write a weekly summary of all the important things I have learnt. For this I use loose leaf refills with colored edges (to match the color coding I have going on for each subject) (this is the closest I could find but it’s not exactly the same as what I have).

Once I’ve finished the summary both it and all the notes/sheets from that week go into my binder. My binder organisation is a whole other post (that I have not written yet but will get to eventually). I also write up my weekly summaries onto a google doc I share all my friends also taking that subject so we can share our notes but I don’t always do this weekly.

Now it may seem that this method takes a lot of time what with having to rewrite notes for a weekly summary and all, but remember that learning information is all about understanding it then remembering it. By rewriting it you have to understand it (at least to some extent) so you can summarize it, and revisiting the work a week or less after you’ve done it does help you remember it. My science teacher always told me to revisit work after every lesson, but nobody’s got time for that. This way you’re remembering it better and you’re making summary notes that will be helpful when exams come around. (I also use my summary notes to make flashcards).

good luck

- Emma

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100 days of productivity // day 18

Not super productive today due to me worrying a lot about which homework is worth my time, it just seems, like there is so much to do. I am at home from school tomorrow with the aim of getting a bunch of stuff done before I go away for the weekend so hopefully I will get a LOT done.

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100 days of productivity // day 28

Sat outside in the sun and memorized quotes for my english essay with my dog. Explaining them to her helps me a lot.

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100 days of productivity // day 15

Made some notes and index cards for economics, I’m kind of feeling weird having less than forty things on my to do list.

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100 days of productivity // day 20

First day on my holiday so not as much productivity as I usually get done. But I did some things so I am proud of myself. Glad I got some stuff done. This quote is one I am using in my english essay - using The 5th Wave as a related text and it is actually working so well.

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100 days of productivity // days 17

Writing my english essay, I used this mindmap to brainstorm my ideas although I haven’t got much of the actual essay done. Luckily this is only a practice essay so there is no set due date.