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sarah

@sarxhstudies / sarxhstudies.tumblr.com

20 🫀Medstudent
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Hey! What are some of your tips for studying in the days you really cannot focus?

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hi there friend! hmm, that’s a good question! here are some suggestions:

  • remember to drink water and eat a snack. a lot of the time, if you’re feeling badly mentally, it will also manifest in your body in the form of fatigue. likewise, if you’re not feeling one hundred percent physically, you’ll start to lose focus. make sure you’re not hungry or thirsty before a study sesh so that you aren’t distracted by how icky you feel the whole time.
  • if naps work for you, take a power nap before you start. i can’t nap (i just can’t sleep during the day but i sleep like the dead at night) but if napping helps you, maybe a little sleep will help you feel a little less tired.
  • go somewhere where you can study well and effectively. for me this is the law library, which is almost deafeningly silent, but it might be a coffee shop or a room in your house for you. make sure you have a space clear from clutter (when things are messy, i always get anxiety) and try to get some natural light in your room. sunlight honestly can solve anything for me lol
  • depending on if you can study with music, try a classical music playlist (i have made a lot of these) or some playlists on spotify of rain sounds. those really soothe me and help me feel less anxious.
  • i know a lot of people say you should try getting the hardest things out of the way first, but honestly, i do it the opposite way around so that i feel like i’ve done something and i can build momentum to get to harder subjects i need to study. for example, i’ll send some emails or submit an easy assignment before studying for a difficult test. i write these accomplishments down in a list (you’ve probably seen these lists pretty often during the spring) and that serves as a tangible reminder that i did something that day, be it for myself or for school/work.
  • i don’t like studying with friends because they can be distracting, so i tend to do things by myself. but if friends or studymates can help you focus and retain info, especially if it’s near test day, you should spend some time (not all the time) with them to solidify information.
  • finally, if you can’t study at all, do something else you consider productive or important to you. practicing piano and exercising really helps me reset my brain and screw my head on in a way that is more conducive to studying. you shouldn’t be studying when you feel really anxious or nervous; you’ll never be able to retain information like that. some other things you can do to reset your brain might be journaling (one of my best friends does this every day after school to get out all her emotion), cooking or baking something fast, cleaning up your room or house, reading, doing a different assignment from another class, taking a shower or bath, doing some exercise, or playing a musical instrument. however, don’t go on netflix, youtube, or any social media- it’ll never end and you’ll never be focused if you spend time online.

hope that helps!! feel free to ask me anything else about studying!

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laenotes

Good afternoon! This is a guide to how I take my notes; I hope you find this helpful! :)

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sunflorally

back to school reminders:

  • your grades don’t define you
  • mental health is a priority
  • not doing some homework assignments isn’t the end of the world
  • turn things in on time even if they aren’t completely done
  • you don’t need a perfect GPA to go to college
  • apply for scholarships
  • drama is exhausting; try to avoid it
  • ask for help when you need it
  • you aren’t stupid for not knowing everything
  • not every friend is a real one
  • teachers aren’t always right
  • everyone makes mistakes
  • you can do it
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crimstudies

i’ve compiled a masterpost of tips that i have reblogged over the past few months and i thought it would be easier to have it all in one place. none of these posts are by me! huge thanks to everyone that has created these tips.

exams

how to

productivity

school

study tips

misc.

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10 Angry College Tips For Incoming Freshmen

(I finished my freshman year this spring with a 4.0 GPA, an off-campus research internship, and three professors contacting me suggesting that I apply for a fulbright scholarship.  These tips aren’t coming out of my ass.) 

1. LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SAY THIS: YOU DO NOT NEED TO “GET INVOLVED” IN STUPID CLUBS IF YOU DON’T ENJOY THEM.  Hear “get involved! :)” for the 1000th time and just barf in your mouth a little and move on.  If you work hard and get good grades, and socialize with people on campus when you have free time (it comes more naturally than you think) YOU WILL.  BE.  FINE.  Actually better than fine.  You’ll have time to get a real job/internship, which by the way, is what the real world wants to see you prioritizing.  Moral of the story: Only join clubs if they help your personality thrive and feel healthy.  Don’t do them because you feel pressured.  

2. DON’T TAKE SHIT FROM A N Y O N E. I know you’re trying to fit in and take the stance of trying to make everyone happy to make sure you’ll have plenty of friends.  But you have to realize that you literally just met these people, and they just met you.  If they create an uncomfortable environment for you that makes college harder to cope with, get them the fuck out of your life. Ain’t nobody got time for people’s high school-ass drama.  

3. SKIP YOUR CLASSES SOMETIMES.  If you really have your shit together, it won’t matter.  Your school will say the amount of skips you can get away with before it harms your grade.  Use. Them.

4. BECOME THE MASTER OF WRITING ESSAYS IN ONE NIGHT.  You will have to.  I’m telling you right the fuck now.  And you can get an A, if you work your lil ass off. I’ve done it many times.  

5. DON’T CARE FOR EVEN 1 SECOND WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK OF YOU.  If you wanna wear sweats and no makeup, do it.  If you want to dress up and take time to put on makeup, do it.  If you want to stay away from partying, do it.  If you want to party, have a good ass time.  If anyone has enough time to judge you, they need to be studying harder or getting a hobby.  Make yourself comfortable and happy as fuck and enjoy your time in college worry-free. 

6. BE THE ASSHOLE WITH A TABLET OR LAPTOP IN LECTURE.  You won’t have time to copy it all down.  You’ll be miserable.  Just trust me.  I know studies say its more effective to write stuff down for memory, but, write them out later or something.  Learned that one the hard way.

7. DON’T REWRITE YOUR NOTES IF IT DOESN’T HELP YOU STUDY.  If you know doing that doesn’t help you memorize, don’t do it, period.  Or, if you have a collossal asston of notes (like I did) it isn’t even worth rewriting them all in the first place. I’ve fallen down that hole and lost motivation and time.  Just reread them or make flashcards or whatever.  Study for effectiveness, not aesthetic.

8. BE PREPARED FOR LAB TO GO THE “WHOLE TIME.”  Yah, you’re gonna see 3 hours on that brand-shiny-new schedule of yours and be like there’s no way it’ll go that long, right? LOL about that.  Just mentally brace yourself.  Eat and drink beforehand for the love of god we don’t need hangry people handling chemicals.  

9. COMMUTING DOESN’T MAKE YOU A LONER.  Just.  No. If you live close to campus, are comfortable with commuting, and know you’ll save yourself MAJOR debt by doing it, do it and don’t feel a fucking ounce of guilt about it.  It’ll be some early mornings, but your fresh out of college broke ass will thank you, and you’ll use your time more effectively.  (Plus you get a non grimy shower like??)

10. LOVE YOUR NEW FINE ASS SELF.  College is a fresh start.  Put energy into who you have always wanted to be.  And don’t compromise that out of social anxiety and embarrassment.  You’ll be happy and thank yourself if you step out of your comfort zone to be the person you’ve always had in mind.  

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ginsengstudy

Tumblr Resources to Get You Through the School Year!

Hi guys!! Thank you all so much for your support!!! Happy 250 (EDIT: I SPENT A DAY ON THIS AND NOW IM PAST 300) and hope you all have a great start to the month! The community is more welcoming with all of you - I haven’t faced negativity from anyone at all. None of these are my posts - but they’ve helped me out a lot. With that said - let’s get started:

For bujos/planners:

This is one of my side blogs, and has tons of inspiration for weekly and monthly spreads, as well as a few aesthetic ideas and how to start one. I update this constantly.

Printables (the same as some used down there but in a different category):

For students:

Exams & Studying:

Study tips!! (its a masterpost)

Note - Taking:

Life, man & general school stuff:

English:

Chemistry (I’m taking chem so i have a few resources aha)

History/Social Studies

Math 

Test Prep

100 words for the SATs (start studying early!!)

Thank you so much for the support! I couldn’t have done it without all of you. A simple reblog or like will help others see these tips, and will be very appreciated. I hope these links work - feel free to message me with questions and other links!! A possible part 2 might come out at the end of august, and one for languages!!!

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Hello everyone! I’ve had some questions about the assignment schedule I posted here.

The idea was born out of my desire to eliminate the “Oh shit is that due tomorrow?!?!” late night moments of panic. I knew I wanted to have one master list of all of the things I needed to get done. Something about having absolutely everything I need to do written down and in front of me makes a challenging semester seem less daunting and more doable.

The best part about this schedule is that you can tweak it until it works for you! I chose to use Excel because it was more flexible than writing it in my planner, and I could add/delete tasks as the semester went on (and as professors changed the due dates a million times). 

During syllabus week, I go through each syllabus and list every task, reading, assignment or exam from the beginning of the semester all the way through finals week. By the end of the week, I have a comprehensive list of what I need to do for every single class, all in one place. I’m getting ready for the new semester and thought I’d walk everybody through how I organize mine:

  • Completed: mostly because I like to mark tasks off as I complete them, but also because it made it easier to quickly scan and find where I’m at in the list.
  • Type: I used this to discern between assignments and tests or quizzes, which I put in bold. I also put in the readings I assigned myself, and projects assigned by teachers.
  • Due Date: Alternating colors to block tasks by due date, so you can see at a glance how many things you need to do for that day.
  • Assignment: Quick description of the task or assignment. I put in any information given by the syllabus about the material the test covers. 
  • Class: Color coded! Amazing!

You can add or delete the categories to fit your needs! I’m adding a “Grade” category this semester. Let me know if anyone tries it for the new school year, and as always, send me an ask if you have any questions!

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170618 // I haven’t made a post like this in a while, but I’m revising for an exam right now and it’s the last thing I want to be doing so I’m procrastinating (don’t follow my lead kids).

How I use Digital Notes

I’ll make a more detailed post about how I study at some point, but for now:

  • I use microsoft onenote, but you can use whatever program you feel comfortable with.
  • Useful features of onenote include the organisation into notebooks, sections, and tabs, search function, equation support, tagging, and formatting options (inc. different heading styles).
  • You can find really great posts about onenote quite easily if you’re interested in how it works (I would 100% recommend it).
  • Throughout the year I type up my class notes, summarising information and organising it into a sensible order.
  • This took a lot of discipline and I fell off the bandwagon quite a bit. I initially intended to type up my notes from the day every evening, but I found it’s more realistic to just do it as often as possible and to aim to finish each topic’s notes before I move onto the next one.
  • When I come to revise for exams I will rewrite and summarise my notes on paper (writing out notes helps me remember them, but this may not work for you)
  • When I’m doing the first few past papers I’ll have my notes with me so I can look things up until I can do a paper without them.
  • I find this is more effective than using the mark scheme to help as the mark scheme basically gives you the answers.

Why Make Digital Notes?

Obviously digital notes don’t work for everyone, but I find they’re much more useful to have than notes on paper, at least before you start revising.

  • The main benefits of digital notes are:
  • typing is faster than writing
  • search functions (depending on the program) to look up information quickly
  • neater and faster formatting
  • you can back them up somewhere else so you don’t have to worry about losing or damaging them
  • you can bring all your notes with you without it weighing a tonne (assuming your laptop/tablet doesn’t weigh a tonne)
  • copy and paste! Ofc use this as infrequently as possible, but it’s useful for quotes etc.
  • pictures without the effort of drawing or printing out and sticking in
  • cheaper as you don’t have to buy pens and paper as often
  • an excuse to bring your computer into school and then go online shopping and play games during really boring classes no I haven’t done this what are you talking about so you have access to google etc. to look things up whenever

Prioritising

  • The only reason I’ve managed to keep up with my notes throughout the year is because I don’t take any for maths and I’ve kind of fallen off the bandwagon for French (whoops). It’s a bit unrealistic to expect to keep up with all the notes for all your subjects (particularly if you’re doing gcses), so prioritise.
  • Subjects like maths tend to assess a skill rather than knowledge, so it’s probably more useful to do practice questions rather than make notes.
  • If you’re dropping a subject in a year and won’t touch it again make sure it’s actually worth making notes for the whole year.

In Class or After Class?

Whether you write notes on the computer during class or afterwards depends on the class.

  • I’ve got one particular teacher who flits back and forth between topics and often mentions things without going into detail because she assumes we’re too stupid to understand (not my favourite teacher ngl). So I use my laptop in her lessons so I can go back to topics we’ve already done and so I can google things to fact check (she frequently dumbs stuff down to inaccurate levels) and expand on points that she makes.
  • If you’ve got a teacher that tends to move super fast it might be worth having a computer with you as typing is generally much faster than writing.
  • If you can’t touch type learning is a really good idea, even just to improve the speed of your typing (I can’t actually touch type but I took a course until I learnt to use all my fingers when typing and now I type much faster). There’s lots of free online courses available.
  • Alternatively, you can just make all your class notes on paper and type up the important information when you get home.
  • This means you don’t have to worry about your class notes being neat enough to revise from; after you type them up you can file them or even throw them away to save space.
  • It also works as a review which is really good for putting the information into your long-term memory.
  • However it is also pretty time consuming so you’ve got to be super disciplined to keep on top of it.
  • In my school at a levels I’ve found it’s not too unusual to have a laptop out but it’s a bit odd to have one at gcses (idk about other schools). Obviously you shouldn’t care about what other people think, but if having your laptop/tablet with you will make you feel self-conscious and uncomfortable then leave it at home.
  • Also laptops and tablets are expensive and it’s understandable if you’d rather keep them safe at home.
  • That said, people do get used to it. Even if you’re the only one with a laptop/tablet, the novelty wears off quickly.
  • Some teachers don’t actually like students using laptops and tablets during class, so do check before you bring it in.

I hope this helped! Of course if you have any questions about this (or anything else) my ask is always open please ask me something

Here’s where I post this and find 56 typos :/

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Hello Everyone, 

I’m Brianna and this is my first ever masterpost! I have decided to show you how to use one note for a student, I’m a first-year psychology student and have found one note extremely useful. 

I have a notebook for each subject as well as an overview/planner. This enables me to be able to organise everything very effectively. Each notebook is colour coded, I use the same system in my bullet journal to distinguish subjects.

Then I have created a semester planner, with a tab for each subject. I include any readings, assignment and exams I have. When using one note there are tags, much similar to the bullet journal, for my planner in front of every task I have an ‘to do’ box, this helps me prioritise and understand on a large scale of what I have to do.

For the other sections of the College Overview, I have a highlighting code, which is very important for me because I often forget it, as well as my timetable and my study planner. If you would like me to discuss these more in-depth, please let me know!

In my class notebooks, I have five sections; Lectures, Tutorials, Workshops, Textbook Notes, and assignments. In all sections but the assignment one, I have a page for each week. In these pages I write all my class notes down, this makes it extremely easy for exams when I am revising!

As a bonus One Note automatically syncs with your Microsoft account, thus if your computer crashes and deletes everything, all your notes will be safe! 

Thank you so much for reading my masterpost! if you have any questions about one note or anything else please feel free to message me! much love, bri xx

Check out my insta: https://www.instagram.com/bristudiespsych/ I follow back! ✨

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⭐how i stay organised ⭐

Hey dudes, today I wanna share how I stayed organised in my first year of uni. This system worked super well for me and going into my second year I wanna try new systems, but I thought I would share because it may help or inspire you.

🌟 Onenote

This is my main organisation system and place where all my uni work goes! Im gonna show picture of my last year set up and what ive altered this year to work best for me. This is the most important part of my organisation system!

*SEMESTER CALENDAR*

What I do is make a table with my classes and their colour code going along the top and each of the weeks within the semester going down the side (I also add the dates). When I finish a week I make the boxes another colour so I can see where im up to. This is where I keep all the tasks I need to do each week like textbook readings, assessment and modules I need to complete. This year im also adding when ive got my tutorials so I know when I need to be on campus. So I have a key for all my stuff: for my readings and other tasks I use the to-do box tag a, for my assessment I use the important/star tag and for my tutorials I use the cute little rose tag. A thing to note is that last year I had to participate in psych research studies so theres another box called studies in the table where I tracked that.

In the same notebook i also have my timetable and the yearly calendar for my uni. i use to also have a grades and thoughts tab but i never used it cause i track both on my phone notes.

2018 layout + scroll through:

2019 layout + scroll through (not yet completed but you get the gist):

*CLASS BOOKS*

For all my class notebooks I have a syllabus tab, a textbook tab and a tutorial tab. In my syllabus tab I have the dates of each week and what we are learning in the lecture & tutorial, what the readings are and if there is an assignment due. In my textbook tab I just keep all my reading notes. Then for my tutorials tab I just take class tute notes. You may be wondering where I keep my lecture notes, I type them out in word and save them to my class folder. Nothing really has changed here from last year.

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🌟 Edo Agenda

This is a great website (plus app) that I feel like not a lot of people know about! This is by far the best calendar I have ever used, it is so practical, simple and functional. 

Heres an example of mine from last year.

How I use it is each class has a colour that is the same as on onenote. Each week i look at my onenote trimester calendar/table and put down all the tasks i need to complete on certain days and when i should start assignments and studying.  I add the task using the ‘task’ function that gives you a checkbox. When its completed I check it off. Anytime that I had an exam I would add it as an ‘event’. A great function is that you can drag tasks between days making it super easy to reorganise your week. 

Heres a little walk through of the functions i use:

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well i think thats about it in terms of how i stayed organised in uni last year. hopefully it made sense. if i find anymore methods this year ill be sure to post about it. if this helps you out please let me know!  have a great day!!

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reblogged

Hi, there! I have a big exam next month and decided to create an exam study kit to organize and increase my productivity. I hope this exam study pack help your final exam. Good luck with your exam, everyone! We can do it!

Exam Study Pack Including

  • Final Exam Schedule 
  • Final Exam Time Schedule (week)
  • Weekly Study planner
  • Monthly Style Study planner
  • Essay Planner
  • Glossary (definitions & terms)
  • Note

Click HERE to download the printable (PDF). Please save the file to your computer and open with Adobe Reader DC. Use Adobe Reader, otherwise, it will not work correctly and colors may display completely different. Please let me know if you are having trouble downloading the file.

* Important note: All files are Personal Use (non-commercial) ONLY! Please Do NOT Copy and Edit. Please Do No distribute and sell these files or upload them to other websites.

By the way, I decided to post a new printable item each week (every Saturday). Tomorrow I will post “Free Printable Thanksgiving 2018 Wine Labels” including using a Japanese pattern.  So please come back to my blog tomorrow!

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reblogged

a quick tutorial on how i set up my one note bullet journal !! 

one note has recently released a new update so my version might look a little different, but it’s still reasonably similar so hopefully this is easy to follow (-:

obviously you can customise this as much as you like, but this is the base which i tend to follow lately. here are some of my older spreads as well:

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Essay basics.

See my previous powerpoint post on note-taking and thesis statements for additional advice.

Contact me if you need clarifications.

EDIT: With regard to paragraph structure, I was describing one body paragraph - assertion, context, evidence, commentary - with two slides. Don’t devote an entire paragraph to the assertion and context and another to the evidence and commentary - that’s a little nutty.

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myeco-chi

random studying 101

  • Remove all distractions. When I was in 9th-10th grade, I let my sister hide my phone and I also said to her that don’t give it to me until the specific time. Now, I hide it in my cabinet or under my pillow. Hide it so that it will be gone in your sight. 
  • Music. Don’t play music that is distracting and with lyrics. Make sure they make you concentrate and focus on the task. (Use earphones or headphones!)
  • Motivate yourself. Sometimes, no one will motivate you so you have to motivate yourself. Find quotes, videos and things that will motivate you enough to study.
  • Study beverage. This is really important to me. I always study while drinking something. Tea, hot chocolate or coffee. I don’t know but they help me focus. 
  • Study in places with natural light. 
  • If you can’t focus in your room, study in the library. Sometimes, my siblings are noisy and I can’t really understand my lessons anymore, I will go to school early. ( I have afternoon class.) So, I will go to school two hours before class. 
  • Don’t wait until the day before or cram because you will not remember anything. When you cram, your brain can’t encode the information to your long-term memory. Because of that, you will not remember anything in the morning. 
  • If you believe that you can’t keep up in the lesson, make sure that before the lesson you advance study. I always do this especially in math because I need tons of practice before I get it. 
  • Organize your time and follow it. Don’t just make a time plan, you need to implement it in your day.  
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historixn

you know, life doesn’t have to be competitive. you don’t have to get in the very best university; you don’t have to get the highest paying career there is. you don’t need to compare and compete with everyone else in the world. you need to do what’s right for you. you need to relax, take a breath, and say ‘what do i want, for myself, to live as i want to’. and, if that involves high ambitions, then that’s fine. because you chose those ambitions on what you desire as an individual, and not on what is expected in order to succeed. let’s be ourselves this year.

okay woah needed this

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