Study Blog

My name is Sophia and this is my first year of the IB Diploma program. Let's see if I survive! Main blog: quasar-t.tumblr.com Insta: quasar.t

[pinksugarrrr]

school is back in session : tues aug 23 🍉

[mindelevator]

HOW TO STUDY A WEEK BEFORE AN EXAM

Day 7

List out all your topics, and highlight those you are least familiar with. I also love listing out the resources/materials I have to study. 

You should start reading and annotating the materials you are unfamiliar with.

Day 6

If you have not started making notes at all, it wouldn’t be wise to start making notes now. 

Instead, try to annotate things, write down explanations next to the things that you don’t understand, or definitions that you think can be elaborated.

Remember to be exam-oriented. Don’t spend time on things that are very trivial, or things that won’t be covered in the exam anyways.

At this stage, you should be focusing on annotating and enhancing your understanding of the materials.

Day 5

You should make sure you have most of your notes ready and that you have digested everything.

If you haven’t done a summary card, you should probably do it at this stage. This is a great way to consolidate your information.

Get a bunch of index cards. Write out the title of each chapter on each card.

Write the outline of the chapter. Alternatively, you can make a question attack plan for each chapter.

Turn over and write down some key terms that you don’t know. Or, you can write down some common mistakes, formulas etc, depending on your subject.

Day 4

With 4 days left, you should start memorizing things now. Focus on spellings and key terms. 

By memorizing, you can do the following:

Read the notes out loud, and repeat them by not looking at the paper (this is the way I personally use!)

Try to memorize, and cover the sheet and rewrite everything

Teach yourself, or to an audio recorder, or to a friend

Draw a mindmap without looking at your notes.

Day 3

You should go for some practice questions by chapter. 

You may also try to complete the exercises at the back of the chapter in your textbook. 

Don’t just do the practice question and throw them away. Make full use of it:

Check the answer. Find out what you failed to get right and failed to write down on the answer paper.

Understand your mistake. Understand why you make the mistake, and how you can avoid it.

Take notes of your misunderstanding and mistakes (as well as the correct answers). This will help you to avoid making the same ones.

Day 2

Repeat what you have done on day 3. 

Some teachers may also offer some mock papers or practice papers, or you may also try to complete past papers here. 

Day 1

You should do your very last review here. You should make sure you read through the following this day:

Your summary cards

Your notes

The notes you have made while doing the practice questions and papers

If your exam involves some formulas or difficult keywords or definitions, you may need to memorize them again this day.

Day 0

Now that’s everything. With all the preparation above, you should be very confident since you have got everything covered! All you have to do is to take a good breakfast and focus during the exam! Good luck!

For more details, check out the article on Students Toolbox!

For more updates of Students Toolbox and Strive-for-da-best, make sure to follow my Facebook- Instagram -Twitter -Pinterest- Bloglovin!

[torevise-ornot-torevise]

03.04.16 Physics keywords today!😊

[intellectys]

For your use, I present a handful of synonyms you can use to spice up your writing, based on some flashcards I made for AP English! They’re divided up into categories according to their use, so you can easily identify the most helpful word.

Addition: for use when providing more info on a topic

Reference:  to refer back to something previously mentioned

Introduction: when you’re introducing an entirely new subject

Similarity: to draw a comparison between two ideas

[studyquirk]

This is great! Here are some contrast words that may also help!

On the other hand

Although

Contrarily

Notwithstanding 

Whereas

In contrast

Conversely

[sfstudy-deactivated20190120]

Midterm Studying Session

[thestudieclub-blog]

March 4th 2016 // Finally done with my History cold war notes!!! ft. 5sos (bc I saw them last night and I’m still suffering from PCD :’( ++ my throat still hurts from the screaming lmao)

[thereshegoghs]

//3.15.16// “With my minutes before sleep preoccupied with the future.” 55/100 Just some paperwork.

[mflorghi]

6/100 days of productivity | Jan 31st, 2016

My bullet journal is ready for February -I’m not.

P.S.: that coffee cup is from a set that belonged to my grandparents - they owned a coffee shop back in the ‘80/90s. 

[for-your-dream]

8.3.2016 2.00 p.m. - 64/100 days of productivity - More English exercises… Starting to be really done with these :( Oh well, only a week and three days to go! So disappointed Tumblr failed to post a picture I scheduled yesterday… :( Will have to make sure more carefully that the pics I schedule actually end up on my blog. Happy studying everyone! X

[trying-to-survive-ib]

First productivity post in a while. I've kind of given up on school to be honest so I'm going to try and start posting to keep myself accountable// (1/100 days of productivity)

[studiesstudy]

Throwback to when the sun threw some shine on my messy desk 🌺.

[getstudyblr]

29 . 02 . 2016 // “You know what? Forget about them, focus on your goal, focus on yourself. That should be enough to keep you going” – my amazing friend

[studyfulltime]

2•3 It’s a grey, windy and rainy day in good old London, I want to stay in bed but I have to go to uni and then work. Just try to keep your heads up and think of Spring darlings🌸

[studyparadise-blog]

16.12.15 planning what to do in the holidays + crying at the thought of going back

PS on the screen is a chrome extension- momentum

[aparisianstudent]

1/100 days of productivity

22.11.15 - Here we go ! I have a bottle full of water, my computer, my planer and bullet journal, my notes, some extra documents I printed yesterday to help me on the subject and now I can work as hard as Hermione Granger. I’m now doing my english lit. essay which is for thursday. Bon courage.  ❥

[acahdemia]

Quick IB Tips, Pt. I

Finish CAS in year 1. Do most of it in the early months when the work load is less

Complete the first draft of your EE by September of Year 2. Obviously the earlier done, the better. Just don’t let it drag on to the second year because you’ll be busy with uni applications, IAs and studying.

Don’t take TOK too seriously. Have fun, debate ideas, question your teacher.

Don’t neglect what you’ve learned in TOK. Keep your notes because they’ll come in handy when you have to write your essay.

Do lots of past papers. Get used to the exam style. Even if you know your stuff, the mark schemes are really specific and you only get points if you answer the question properly. Don’t just regurgitate.

If you really need to pull an all-nighter for your IAs, do it. Your IA grades count a lot. Do whatever you can to get the highest mark, because if you screw up on exam day, your IA grade will save you. Sure, you’ll be tired the next day. Just drink coffee to make it less stressful. Warning: I really do not recommend doing this too often, because it interferes with your learning the next day. Only do this when absolutely necessary. 

Don’t pull all-nighters if you’re trying to cram. You’ll think slower, make bad decisions and probably fall asleep during the test.

Start thinking about your math IA topic ASAP.  You need to investigate something that you’re ~passionate~ about, is specific and is beyond your current level. Do it early because you will have to adjust it a lot.

Bullshit some childhood story in your math IA. I did mine on ‘The 4 Bug Problem’ and said I was “fascinated with the behaviour of insects ever since I started collecting beetles as a child.” I made all of that up, but I got full marks for personal engagement. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt to sprinkle in an exclamation mark or two! 

Speak your foreign language as much as possible. Even if you know all your vocabulary and grammar rules, they won’t be as useful to you if you can’t speak naturally.

Give your friends questions to ask you for presentations. For the IOP, TOK presentation, etc. Give them questions that you already know the answer to so it’ll make you seem like you really know your shit. Also, if you get enough people to do this, it’s most likely that your teacher won’t have time to ask you his/her questions, so you won’t have to be put on the spot.

If you’re studying for your IOC, study key quotes. With the exception of poems, because you should study the whole thing. Your teacher will probably pick out famous quotes from your text for the IOC, since a lot more analysis can be done. Search these up on Google and study what other people have to say about them. 

For English, never tell the reader what the text is about. That’s not what the examiners are looking for. They want to see how well you can use your knowledge of literary terms and apply it to the text. A fool-proof structure you can use is:

Point - Your main idea 

Example - Give minimum 2 examples from the text that illustrates your point 

Explain - State the literary technique used for each example, as well as the effect it creates

Mini-conclusion - Briefly tie your explanation up with your main idea, then relate it back to the question

You don’t have to read all the texts for English. It’s probably best to read the ones for Paper 2 and the IOC. However, for your IOP and written assignment, read the synopsis of your selected texts, pick the one that interests you the most, read that, then study the hell out of it. Don’t neglect the other texts entirely, but just read through their Schmoop page, or something.

Don’t rely on the revision guide for everything. They cover the bare minimum. Only use it once you’ve understood the topic.

Don’t slack off in Year 1. If you’re applying anywhere outside the US, universities will look at your predicted grade, which is affected by your performance in Year 1. Work consistently hard from beginning to end.

Cry if you have to. Take 5 minutes off to have a nice cry. Then get back to work.

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