#studyblr guide

[artnamjooning]

Using Pomodoro Technique With ADHD

I've seen a lot of people with ADHD debating whether Pomodoro timers are helpful to them when studying. They're indispensable to me and the way I study with primarily inattentive type, so I thought I'd share a few ways I've tweaked it to work for me! ✧˖°――♡――✧˖°✧˖°――♡――✧˖°✧˖°――♡――✧˖°

1. Use a physical timer (and maybe a visual one)

I find my brain takes it more seriously if I use a separate timer, and it also is very handy for breaks! I have a digital timer I use, but recently I got a visual timer and think it's even more helpful. Let's face it. We're time blind. Being able to really see the time left helps an embarrassing amount. If a physical timer isn't an option for you, try something like Study With Cats, which has a timer in their videos. Plus, lofi! Which leads us to...

2. Lofi/Classical/Film soundtracks will save you

Need to turn off all the thoughts telling you to do other stuff? Music helps with that. I had an old therapist who specialized in ADHD tell me that it takes more inputs to focus an ADHD brain. You can "plug in" your studying, and if that's not enough, "plug in" some chill music. I was skeptical and used to study in complete silence, but now I need music. Music without vocals is best if you find yourself paying attention to lyrics. If music is a little too much, rain sounds can be great.

3. Take longer breaks (animedoro)

For me, 5-10 minutes is enough to use the bathroom and grab either a snack or an instant coffee. It feels rushed, and I find myself tired by the time my long break starts. Last semester I took ten minute breaks religiously using 50/10, but now I'm experimenting with 60/20 and finding my energy levels renewed. I like having time to watch a study vlog or an episode of Run BTS!. This is popularized as animedoro: work for 40-60 minutes, then watch an episode of anime for 20 minutes. This builds a real reward into studying! Yay!

4. You may need to adjust focus time along with your meds

Anyone who's been on stimulants (or anyone with ADHD lol) can tell you they can be fickle. Their effectiveness and length of focused time can vary depending on factors like diet and sleep. If you find your meds aren't working as great, or they're wearing off faster than usual, don't push through or you're in for a big burnout. Adjust your focus times instead. If you were doing 50/20 pomodoro and now 50 minutes of concentration feels like pure torture, just bring it down to 30, 25, or 20 minutes. You'll be so much better off with 20 minutes of concentrated study than 50 minutes of, "why can't I focus? Why can't I just be like everyone else? Oh god I haven't been watching this video."

5. If it's not working, don't force it.

Listen, this works for me--I desperately need that structure or I'll get lost in a bunch of stuff that doesn't matter (hi Wikipedia). If it's not working for you, and you prefer to hyperfocus for three hours at a time and then take a nap for an hour, do that! Don't try to force study techniques that don't work for you just because they work for others. Our brains work differently and that's okay.

[starryuniversitas]

digital planning

So I’ve dabbled in bujoing for a year or two now and I found out that paper planning just doesn’t suit me, no matter how much I love it. I naturally just gravitate towards digital planning due to it being more conducive for busy schedules or schedules that change a lot. I’ll give you a quick rundown on my digital planning habits and what I find to be useful; I hope you pick up something useful from this post and let me know if you are making the leap into the world of digital planning!! Let’s start:

Notion

Notion is an actual life saver and free for students which I really appreciate. On my Notion I have a homepage for all of my pages and as you can see, it’s divided into a uni section and life section. You can include anything you want into these but my fave is the degree template by @janicestudiess​ , please watch her video on Youtube on how to use it. I have mildly tweaked it to fit my specific needs such as adding the study periods for the upcoming semester and including a separate Bachelor’s schedule that includes any plans for my degree. 

The University tab also includes any study plans for subjects/courses, reading lists, a list of study tips I’ve compiled, and plans for various routes for my future Master’s degree (still in progress). The Life tab includes spreadsheets for bills, chores, beauty stuff and a journal I’ve just started. 

Google Calendar & Google Keep

I use Google Calendar for daily planning and time-blocking my activities, I also leave some gaps for breaks and whatnots like miscellaneous activities or unplanned stuff because it’s important to keep in mind that you literally cannot schedule every second of your life and it can border on unhealthy behavior and be a factor in burn-outs so please take care y’all. I usually plan about 3 days in bulk and I can just easily move the blocks around when any changes occur or I just don’t Feel Like It. My university also provides an app (I think most if not all universities in Finland use this app) that shows us various things, including our timetable which can be extracted into external calendars (mine is attached to GC but you can also add it into your phone). If your uni provides anything similar I highly recommend looking into it. 

My calendar also works with a color-coding system and I recommend coming up with your own with colors/tasks, here’s mine for reference (these are the actual names okay):

flamingo - assignment (non-priority)

tomato - assignment (priority)

banana - lunch

lavender - miscellaneous activities (not related to academic work)

tangerine - exam

grape - lecture

I also use Google Keep in conjunction with my calendar and that works as a to-do list wherein I add stuff whenever I think of something to remember/do and I pin the most important tasks and just start assembling them onto the week’s calendar layout. You could also color-code it though I haven’t done that. Whenever I have placed a task on a certain day, I unpin the task from my Keep but I won’t delete it until that task is for sure completed. 

And voila!! I hope you like my post and my planning system, it’s nothing too special but it works for me :]. 

studygram

[greenstudies]

How to create a studyblr

Even though my blog is still pretty small, I think I successfully created a nice community here! Today I wanted to share some tips on creating a studyblr/lifestyle blog.

Do it for fun -Followers are great and all but if you start a blog just to be internet famous, you won’t last. This goal is not enough to keep you going after you loose the hype and motivation caused by doing something new.

Have a short and original url -My own url is a mistake you all should learn from. My url isn’t completely unoriginal, but it’s long, hard to remember and annyoing to look up. I’m keeping it just because people connect me to it after these months of posting. Keep it short and memorable. 

Post about whatever you want -Just because you want a studyblr, do not limit yourself to study related things only. Post art, personal rambles and lifestyle related things! Same goes for any other type of personal blog.

Post often -If you post once a week or less, you won’t catch attention. I try to post daily but that’s not necessary either.

Aesthetic isn’t that important -Sure it’s nice to have great stationery or work out clothes to take photo of. But you don’t need that. You don’t need perfect bullet journal spreads or notes.

Schedule posts -Write more than one post in one sitting and the schedule them! This way you don’t have to stress so much over regular posting.

Use tags -Sometimes it’s annoying to add all the tags relating to whatever I’m posting about, but it helps people find your posts.

Have things to say -If you have tips to share, stories to tell and pictures to show then you are already on a great path. But if you’ll post about something you don’t even care about/like, your blog won’t be doing well. And neither will you, because soon the blog will feel like a chore.

Be patient -It will take time. Slowly gaining followers is better than having a huge one time success. You will create a steady community, that won’t leave you the second you run out of inspiration.

Write all the post ideas down -Don’t lose a single idea. Write everything down and then decide whether it’s worth writing and all that other stuff.

I hope I helped and let’s be friends! Like I mentioned before, this is a community! See you in my messages :)

[sensiblestudy]

would you guys be interested in a First Year of Uni Survival Guide type thing? I was thinking of writing one since I finished first year not too long ago! also I'd like to make it more of a realistic one, you know? idk I just thought it would be fun to do! give this a like if you'd be interested in reading it!

[studywithacat]

8-22-17//Tuesday

hello! sadly, our classes was cancelled due to the typhoon buttttttttt hey I have plenty more time to post :-) tomorrow marks our second quarter of the school year which means i’ll be busy (again). let’s get started

being part of the studyblr community is a great motivation for everyone. i’ve been into studyblr for a year now but this one of the first posts i’ve done since i was afraid of posting things that weren’t even close to the word goals. 

i learned a lot of things in the community :-) i would like to share all of it to you guys, as a starter for my new blog :---) 

10 things that i learned in the studyblr community:

you don’t need a fancy camera to take pictures of your things: having high-end phones or camera is never a requirement. stick with the current gadgets you have :-) having expensive equipment doesn’t really matter in the studyblr community. 

fun filters!: play with your current camera! not-throwing-to-the-floor kind of play you control what you post. your blog, your own style :-) its okay if you want your photo to be natural. its also okay if you want to put shiny diamonds or colorful rainbow stickers in it. as long as it makes you happy :-) 

your photo, your subject: not because everyone is posting pretty stationery in their pictures, you should too. make other people’s picture your inspiration in doing yours :-) DON’T STEAL. no matter how pretty other people’ s post it, don’t claim it that its yours. 

mildliners, muji stationery, pastel backgrounds, white tables, a box full of washi tape and other things that you always see in studyblr is not required: its okay to be different :-) i, myself, don’t have mildliners, muji branded notebooks, white tables, expensive af planners or anything like that. cheap/expensive stationery doesn’t matter anyways. just like what i said earlier, your post, your subject. embrace your current stationery :-) 

SELF CARE!!!!: studyblr is not always about studying. along the way, you’ll actually know yourself more. from taking long naps in the weekends, rewarding yourself for acing a test, studying with your favorite humans, and so much more. studyblr is my our happy pill :-))

its okay not to be the top 1 student: we all have our own abilities :-)) its okay to commit mistakes. remove that “oh no i have failing marks in my grades, i dont want to be part of the studyblr community because of my grades :-(” idea, make your past a motivation :)

learning to communicate with other people: be open to your followers :-) or talk to other studyblrs :-) exchange ideas and tips. be friends!!!! (be my friend)

have your own style of studying: a planner is a starter for everyone who likes to manage their time. but planners doesnt work for other people. create your own way of organizing your schedule :-) 

sharing is caring: don’t be afraid to share ideas that work with you that might also work with others :-) be open to the studyblr community :-)) 

YOU DEFINE YOU: dont force yourself to be like others. love yourself :) dont let other people bring you down.

That’s all~ 

All of the things i’ve listed are based on my opinion oki?

DON’T STRESS YOURSELF, TAKE TIME TO BRING YOURSELF TO YOUR LOCAL COFFEESHOP :-) 

love, faith

[tetsstudies]

Tets’ guide to becoming a pro at multiple choice exams, AKA my simple guide as to how I managed to complete two multiple choice exams in under an hour and still manage to get good results. These techniques may not work for everyone, but this is how I try and take multiple choice exams.

USE PERUSAL TIME WISELY

During perusal, you’re not allowed to write down on the paper or mark your answer booklet, however, there are still ways you can answer the first few questions without picking up a pencil. First, always flip through the entire exam and find as many key words as you can - the first read through should be quick and you should not look at any of the answers. Then, from the front of the book to the back, with as much time as you have left in the perusal, work through the questions. If you find yourself stuck, as always, move on. With your nail, carefully scratch a tiny mark next to the answer you believe to be correct. Don’t dwell on it and move on. Do this until the supervisor tells you to start.

DON’T OVERTHINK

If you think an answer is right, mark it and move on. Don’t waste 20 minutes of test time on one question. There should be time left at the end of the exam for you to check the answers you put and see if they are correct, or whether you were rushing through your thinking. More often than not, for simple questions, it is the first answer you select.

HIGHLIGHT

If your exam permits it, highlight the paper. If possible, highlight it the way you highlight your notes so that the relevant information sticks out more. Be sure to highlight key words and phrases, and the instruction. This is to help the exam not to be a wall of black and white, and it will make the relevant parts of the question stand out so that your brain knows what information it’s searching for. In saying this, don’t spend half the exam highlighting, it will be to your detriment.

RULE OUT ANSWERS

We’ve all heard this, but I’m going to reiterate. If you truly have no idea of the response, rule out the ones that it absolutely can’t be. Generally, there is one impossible answer, one that is not possible but may be mistaken for it. That leaves you with a 50/50 chance of picking the right answer out of all of them, assuming that the responses are from A-D. From there, there is one answer that is a distractor, and the actual answer. If you can pick out the distractor, you have it! But if not, there’s still that 50% chance that you’re right. That in itself is better than a 25% chance, which increases your odds and your confidence drastically.

ONLY CHECK YOUR ANSWERS ONCE OR TWICE

This can fall under overthinking as well, but only check your responses one or two times. If you do it more than this, you can fall into the trap of becoming paranoid, and change your answers twenty times. I usually try and check my responses just after I finish answering every question, and about ten minutes before the exam is over. This gives me time to mull over it, and if you give yourself a break to think and not be staring at the answers, you can re-read with a clearer head.

IF ALL ELSE FAILS, PICK A LETTER.

I hear a lot of people say to pick C, because “statistically it is more likely to be C”, but look. Most of the time the answers are randomised, so that doesn’t really take affect anymore. There’s still a 1/4 chance of it being any of the letters, and I personally always go for D. You never know, your wild guess could be right - and it will mean you answered every question, which is a great confidence booster.

I hope this guide helped, and I hope you all do well on your multiple choice exams in the future!!!

[saripleats]

3&4/100 Days of Productivity

I wish I was more productive. But. I was not.

9:36 pm

These past two days have been busy, but not with MCAT studying. I have a shadowing practicum starting tomorrow, and the orientation was yesterday! I’m shadowing in the OB/GYN department and it starts tomorrow (did I mention), so I’m super nervous.

- Yesterday, I studied some endocrinology in the Kaplan books. I think I got a pretty good grasp of it, but I was super drowsy when I did the UWorld qbank, so I did not do well :(

- DId my flashcards yesterday, probably won’t get them done today because I’m super tired.

- Did my CARS practice today and yesterday! Today’s passage was actually an excerpt from an essay I read for my theory and criticism class a couple semesters ago. Felt the wave of nostalgia, but did not do super well :( I need to focus on getting the main idea!

- Applied to this super competitive summer research program! The application took all day so I hope I get it!!

I started taking melatonin to help me sleep, and boy oh boy it does a number on me. Going to pack my bag for tomorrow and get some sleep. Not going to beat myself up about the MCAT. I’m getting stuck on Biology, so I might just take chunk out of the week and then move on to other topics. 

[flyersstudies]

Alright so I’ll start this lil guy off by posting a disclaimer that I am by no means an expert -- but I’ve been on the college scene quite a while now, I’ve been keeping track of different resources as I become more money-conscious, I know exactly how much your college bookstore wants to rip you off (trust me, they do), and I know how overwhelming it can be for people entering college to figure out alternatives! So here’s some links I’ve gathered over the years, most of which I can personally vouch for.

Rest is under the cut since it’s a bit long! (:

Note: I’m not including links to places to download textbooks for free. Honestly, I’ve never had luck finding what I need on those websites. That said, if you want to try, I have reblogged a few masterlists you can try: one // two

Also, as far as free textbooks go, you might try your luck with OpenStax. From what I gather, it’s a nonprofit by Rice University with openly-licensed textbooks -- free to download. This has not come in handy for me, but, hey, maybe it will for you. I’m hoping it gains popularity.

#1 Most Important Thing -- if you don’t have *** to buy textbooks from your school’s bookstore... just... Don’t. Ever. Seriously.

Some nifty price differences I’ve experienced between my own school’s bookstore and finding textbooks through some of the following links have included...

My bookstore’s price: (only option- buying new) $211.00 // Paid on B&N.com: (buying used) $25.62

My bookstore’s price: (cheapest option- buying digital) $55.75 // Paid on Amazon.com: (renting used) $25.49

So... some of these aren’t giant differences, but every penny us poor college folk can save is a penny saved, right? I literally cried at the beginning of this semester because I was so relieved about how cheap some of the books I got were, compared to what I would have spent at my bookstore.

***  Some financial aid packages require people to use vouchers only redeemable at their school’s bookstore... If you’re not sure, please check what your financial aid details are and do what you need to do!!

Be prepared to dig a little -- sometimes you might have to look around a bit. I like to keep a list somewhere of what books I need for my class(es), and write down the various prices I come across (starting with my school’s bookstore) so I can go back to the cheapest after I’ve done a bit of browsing. Sometimes you might just have to take a chance on getting a really ratty copy of what you’re looking for. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

So that said... Here are some links!

Amazon.com: Personally my favorite right now, as they started renting textbooks. I’ve had a lot of luck with renting my textbooks from amazon the past few semesters, and they only seem to be adding more and more books. They’re also doing e-text rentals for Kindle now? Which I think is super neat. I’m currently trying this out for one of the books I needed and I like it so far; you get to pick the date you “return” the rental and the price adjusts (so you don’t have to pay until, for example, 5/30 -- if your semester ends 5/12, you just pay until 5/12, and save yourself a couple dollars).

Barnesandnoble.com: This is my second go-to site. I’ve bought a few textbooks from the B&N Marketplace so far. It works similarly to amazon, where you’re buying from another seller through B&N. I’ve had good luck so far getting used books this way (refer to the $211.00 v $25.62 listed above). B&N also offers textbook rentals and such, although I don’t think I’ve actually tried it yet; but, their prices look cheap, and they offer you different rental periods (e.g. 60 days, 90 days) that fluctuates the price.

AbeBooks.com: I think I used this once a few years ago? But I see/hear a lot of people recommending it, so I think it should probably go on here.

DirectTextbook.com: Is more of a resource to get a masterlist of prices all over the internet. It’s been good to me so far, and is how I stumbled upon B&N Marketplace when I wasn’t having luck on amazon. There’s a lot more websites you can find through this method. Just C&P the ISBN and it’ll do the work for you!

Good luck out there, friends!! Always feel free to hmu for questions!