#studying saturdays

[ladyhannahjane]

Everything Online: A Minimalistic Semester

GUYS, I’VE BEEN BUSY,

And I should probably spend a few paragraphs explaining where I’ve been and why I dropped off the face of the earth, but no one REALLY wants to hear that, so let me just get to the post.

This semester I am taking 18 hours of classes again (yeesh), working part-time, and I have had a TON of personal life issues and changes. I love the pretty notes of studyblr and making everything aesthetically pretty, but this semester, it just wasn’t practical. Even taking notes by hand wasn’t practical. So I am doing a new thing: I have gone digital.

Going digital is dangerous because

You don’t learn as effectively. Taking notes by hand is slower and takes more fine motor movements, so naturally, you try to summarize the textbook and lecture information as much as possible (thus cementing it into your brain better). 

You have to lug some sort of technology around with you all the time. For me, it’s my laptop, and it’s a pain to keep it charged and to have to carry around a bag that big. 

Going digital is wildly addicting.

Being able to keep (almost) everything in one place is so crazy easy. It clears up so much clutter and saves so much time. I’m actual,y able to read all of the chapters I need to each week (and these are not short chapters). I don’t retain the information as well as if I had written notes by hand, but because I am now taking major-specific classes, all of my coursework is actually relevant to my career. It’s easier to be interested.

I use OneNote to take my notes because it is such a useful program. You can click anywhere on OneNote and it will let you type there. You can draw, include files, and sort them by categories, subcategories, and pages. OneNote also syncs with my OneDrive (which is what I use for school and important stuff) and is available across multiple devices. 

 I have the following system:

During the lecture, I take notes by hand on a legal pad or loose paper. 

When I get home from classes, I type of the notes. This allows me to be as messy as possible with my notes from class. When I type notes, I make things more coherent and also include information that I remember but didn’t get a chance to write down at the time. In other words, typing my notes allows me to elaborate.

Because I stacked my classes Tuesdays and Thursdays, I do the bulk of my reading assignments on Friday-Monday. Money has been a big priority this semester, so I saved literally thousands of dollars by renting my textbooks online through Amazon. (A textbook that was originally $200 was down to $30.) 

When I take notes from the textbook, I put both the Kindle screen and my OneNote screen together like so:

Depending on the length, the chapters will take me about 40 minutes to three hours to get through. 

However, I didn’t go entirely digital. I still have a plastic folder for handouts and other homework that needs to be turned in, and a few sheets of paper to take lecture notes in. 

Going digital saves a lot of time, money, and effort. It also saves space. If I had a notebook for every class and was trying to carry around textbooks and pencils besides, I would be burdened down with too much of a load to practically carry around campus. If you can, I would recommend trying this method of studying and schooling. It can really reduce clutter.

[ladyhannahjane]

The College Backpack

Hello! If you’re just starting out at college or you’re returning to college, I hope you can find this list helpful. This is sort of a checklist -- and by no means should you include into your backpack everything on it. But, using your own judgement, you should be able to choose which of these items would be most useful to you in your backpack. :)

I hope everyone has wonderful back to school experiences!

School supplies

textbooks

folders/binders/notebooks

pencil case with appropriate contents

planner

mini stapler

sticky notes

Tech

phone

laptop (w.case)

tablet (w.cover)

charger

USB

headphones/earphones

calculator

speaker (for those impromptu student lounge parties)

Hygiene

tampons/pads

makeup

deodorant

hand sanitizer/hand wipes

tissues

spare pants (leggings) in case of period mishaps

jacket

nail file

mints

lip balm

lotion

Tide-to-Go pen

glasses/contact case

ponytail holders

sunglasses

Other

snacks

water bottle

keys

student ID

wallet

books (for fun)

umbrella

gum

lunch

Previous #Studying Saturdays post: Planner Organization for School

[ladyhannahjane]

Before School Checklist

I wrote something similar to this a few months ago, but I think it would be more helpful to be in checklist form instead of a sequence of things to do like I had before.

The Night Before:

Do your nightly routine - wash your face, brush your teeth, shower, lotion, moisturize, comb your hair, take your medicine, remove your makeup

Check your planner for any assignments you may have missed

Plan for tomorrow

Make your lunch

Set your alarm!

Briefly review what you learned/studied today

Pack your backpack for tomorrow. Check to make sure you have your wallet, ID, keys, material for each class, due assignments, notebooks, folders, etc. that you need, a pen/pencil, highighters

Tidy up your space a bit

Drink a glass of water before bed

Do something to relax

The Morning Before:

Eat a healthy breakfast -- seriously, brain food

Get ready -- wash your face, brush your teeth, do your makeup, get dressed, take your medicine

Double check your backpack and planner, in case you forgot anything

Complete any of the tasks you forgot or just didn’t do last night, like making your lunch

Previous #Studying Saturdays post: Studying in Summer.

[ladyhannahjane]

School Supply Minimalism

If you’ve been following my blog, you know that I love the concepts behind minimalism -- when it comes to everything but school supplies. When stationery is involved, I go to the store and just 

But this semester, I am making a concentrated effort to streamline my school supplies! And here are some tips and steps I have taken to implement this goal.

Take inventory of the school supplies you have, and then declutter. How many extra highlighters do you have? How many spare notebooks? How many pens do you keep in your bag that have been limping along on their last vestiges of ink for awhile now? Whatever you don’t need, get rid of. Some things (like dried out sharpies) need to be thrown away. Other things can be donated. 

Look at your methods of studying and ask yourself what you frequently use. When I consider the way I take notes in class and the way I study, I can think of four staples that I absolutely need: paper, pens (in black, blue, and red), highlighters, and stick notes. Last semester I took a lot more than this to school with me, but now that I’m trying to streamline, I realize I can fit 3/4 of those items in my purse and the paper I can carry in a binder. No backpack necessary.

Keep what you want. Carry what you need. Now, I am one of those people that finds immense satisfaction in school and office supplies. I still have a lot of page flags, pens, markers, etc. that I use in my studying, but my point is to only carry to class what you need. This makes it so much easier, and instead of trying to use the correct colored pen for each type of information in the lecture, you can focus more on what’s being said.

Relegate everything to pouches. Pouches make it easy to always keep the necessities with you. For example: a pencil pouch/case. I can stick my pens, highlighters, and sticky notes in it and then throw it in my purse or backpack as needed. Another handy pouch to take is a cosmetic bag. 

My semester starts on Monday, eek! I will try to post as regularly as possible, but I may miss one of my usual masterposts depending on my homework load. I hope everyone has amazing back-to-school experiences!

Previous #Studying Saturday masterpost: Planner Organization for School

[ladyhannahjane]

Prepare for a Study Session

It’s time to buckle down and start doing some hardcore studying now that school’s started. One of my biggest hurdles (personally) when it comes to studying is actually starting. I have a sort of routine to get myself prepped for studying, and here it is! :)

Take off all my makeup - Unless I’m planning to go somewhere later, having my face clear and clean feels so much better.

Get dressed in comfy clothes - I highly recommend this. Why make studying any more uncomfortable than it already is?

Put my hair up - I have long hair, so I like to keep it out of my way with this simple and easy ballerina bun. (I usually skip the last two steps and secure the bun with a hair tie, though!)

Tidy my room or study space - I work much better in a clean study space with minimal distractions. It’s also essential to clear off my desk because I will have to spread out my binder, textbook, and usually my laptop. This step kick starts your productivity.

Look at other people studying (optional) - By this time, I am usually ready to study, but if I still don’t want to sit down and work, I scroll through some of my primary sources of motivation. (The list can be found in the latter half of this masterpost.)

Turn off technology - The urge to check Instagram while trying to learn about genomics is a little too strong for me to resist sometimes -- and that’s why I stow my phone away and turn on quiet hours. Try not to break your concentration.

Make a list of topics and/or homework you want to cover in that study session - This will help you keep on track and also keep you going. I place a lot of stock in that sense of satisfaction you get when crossing things off of your list.

Gather your study supplies for the immediate task - Sometimes I have so many supplies/books/papers for one subject that I’ve got to rest a bunch of them on the floor beside my desk chair, but try to keep them near and accessible. It breaks your concentration to have to get up and go get something you need.

Play your study music (optional) - I always play the same 7 or 8 songs when I study on repeat, and my brain now acquaints that music with studying. 

Set a timer - If you don’t have an easy-to-work-with timer, here’s a Pomodoro style timer!

Good luck and happy studying!

Previous #Studying Saturdays post: Planner Organization for School

[ladyhannahjane]

The Master Binder

What is the master binder? The master binder is where you place all of your notes, syllabi, etc. into one giant binder.

Why have a master binder and not notebooks and/or folders?

When you have time between classes or, for whatever reason, you have to stay on campus for any period of time, you have all of your notes to study of different subjects.

It’s easy to customize.

Unless you had a lot of other things you needed, you could ditch the heavy backpack and simply take your binder and (in my case) a purse.

How do you organize your master binder?

I use one folder for returned homework/due homework. With my last binder, which had circle rings, I placed it at the back since I also used it as a buffer, trying to prevent the other pages from tearing. With this D-ring binder, I plan to keep the folder in the front. I also have a small flashcard with my class times on it.

I use simple dividers to separate subjects. These dividers also serve as a “dashboard” on which to stick hasty notes or reminders per subject.

The way I organize the pages vary by subject. (Here’s my method for how I take the history notes shown below.) However, for the syllabi, I tag it with a page flag of each class’ “color.” (For example, English is green, so for English I use green highlighters, sticky notes, folders, etc.)

For those classes that I use flashcards, I stick them in a plastic bag and punch holes in it. I place it near the notes it’s relevant to. This makes turning pages a bit more of a pain, but tbh I had no idea where else to store these flashcards lol.

Why not use multiple binders? An alternate choice would be to have two (or more) binders for however many class days you have. For example, I have the same classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I could have a MWF binder. On Tuesday and Thursday I have the same schedule as well, so I could have a TR binder. The reason I personally don’t do this is because

I tend to hang around campus and study, and I may want to study a subject not in that day’s binder. I’m a lil finicky like that. ;)

I’m forgetful LOL and I can just see me running late in the morning and grabbing the wrong binder.

Sometimes I may want to reference things from other classes. While in Government, sometimes it’s helpful to have your History notes nearby.

Previous #Studying Saturdays post: Planner Organization for School