ways to study for exams that are actually productive

use actual note cards for vocab. yes, apps like quizlet are dandy when you’re on the go, but actually physically writing out each note card helps put the information into memory faster than typing them.
visual learner? make charts and diagrams. they don’t have to be pretty. the lines don’t have to be perfectly straight. it doesn’t have to be photogenic. but if it helps you learn, do it.
after you take notes (in class or at home/from your text book), write down possible quiz questions about the material on the next page while it’s still fresh in your mind. later on when you’re studying for the test, use these questions to gauge what specifics out of that chapter you need to work on the most.
start sooner rather than later. i know, you’ve heard this a million times from every teacher ever. but it’s legit. especially as you get into harder level classes and college courses because there is literally so much material that the tests cover that you simply can not accurately learn all of it over night. instead, start about 10 days in advance (but of coarse, the sooner the better).
studying doesn’t have to be a big giant study session that takes hours. if you start far enough in advance, study sessions can be around an hour, hell even 45 minutes is a good. if you go too long in one study session your brain will be fried and studying will be pointless because your brain won’t be processing any of it. that’s why it’s important to take breaks and not just cram for 5 hours the night before an exam.
actually study. hold yourself accountable and make your education a priority. if you have homework and studying to do, make it a priority over going partying or watching tv. there will be another party. you can dvr your show. you can’t take your test on a later day because you don’t feel ready. so be ready.
be careful with study groups. if you have a study group with all of your best friends, lets face it, you’re going to end up spending more time talking about harry styles and supernatural than actually studying. it’s better to have a study group with people who are your friends, but not best friends. and it’s better to keep it between 5-7 people so that everyone can be involved.
if the material is just super confusing and you can’t seem to understand it no matter how hard you study, it’s not you. it’s the way you were taught it. each teacher teaches a bit differently, and maybe their style of teaching just isn’t for you. if this happens, find a way that explains it the best for you. for example, if chemistry is just super confusing for you, try watching the Crash Course chemistry videos on youtube or have a friend explain it to you. this will give you a completely different perspective on the material and will help you understand it better.
at the end of the day, remember that everything will be okay. studying can be stressful, especially if it’s in a class that you struggle in. but i promise you that you are not the only one who struggles sometimes in school, it’s a part of being human. as long as you actually put in an effort and try your best, be proud of yourself. take a deep breath. and remember: you got this.

These are all good tips, but it’s the first one that gets me. I know handwritten flashcards are better, but I’m too lazy to stop using quizlet.

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belezaesperta

briellestudies

college note taking 101: how i take notes and use them to study for exams

in lecture:

i like to take quick/shorthand notes because i think learning to discriminate between what is and isn’t important material is a good skill to have so i’m not drowning in useless information when it’s time to study for a midterm or final.
i like to bring my ipad and use the notability app. it’s easier for me to just carry an ipad mini and stylus than it is for me to lug around a heavy notebook/binder and several pens/pencils.
if the professor makes lecture slides available to students online (via a class website), i like to download them onto notability and annotate them as the professor goes along. that way, i can focus more on what the professor is saying and less on merely writing everything down.

if lecture slides aren’t available, i type out my notes as i find it faster than handwriting them.

at home:

once i’m home, i take out my ipad and copy down my lecture notes into a specified notebook for that class, explain everything more thoroughly, make them neater, and organize them in a way that makes more sense to me (as opposed to copying them down exactly as how they were presented in lecture).
i like to use lots of colors, highlighters, and etc. and make them as pretty as possible so i actually want to use them to study from in the future.

integrating reading notes:

normally, what professors will do is assign reading from a textbook and base their lectures around the reading (or have the reading be based on the lectures). usually exams/tests will rely mostly on what was said in lecture instead of in the reading and this is partly because they overlap so much. what the professor says in lecture, you should consider the “important points” in your reading. sometimes, though, there are things in the reading that seem important and weren’t mentioned in lecture.
what i’ll do if this is the case is take post-its, write the piece of information down, and stick the post-it in my notebook in the corresponding section (i.e. where it fits best with my notes)

i like this method as opposed to taking notes directly in my textbook or having a separate notebook for only reading notes because 1) i’ve consistently found that reading material is not as heavily focused on in tests as lecture material and 2) i like to have all of my information in one place

using my notes to study:

when an exam is coming up, what i like to do is take all of the information in my notebook and condense it into a study guide that i can use to study from.
the format of my study guide varies depending on the class and which type of study guide and method of studying i think will help me best. my study guides range from flash cards to mind maps to sheets of paper with a bunch of condensed information.

if i come across a concept on my study guide that i can’t completely explain to myself/don’t fully understand, that’s when i’ll look back in my notebook for a better and fuller explanation of it.
i also like to give myself some time before an exam to completely read through my notebook and look at all the notes i’ve taken (not just what i have on my study guide) because i think it’s a good refresher of all of the lecture and reading material and all of the information will be brought forward in my mind.

[* a few of you have asked me for a advice on note taking: how i take notes, methods i use, how i study from them, and etc. i hope this post was helpful to you! feel free to message me if you have any other questions. happy studying! ^_^]

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ravenlesslangblr

9 points about language learning and how I’m learning 20+ of them

I’ve had a few requests to write about how I learn my languages. To different degrees, there’s currently 20+ of them and I don’t see myself stopping yet. The thing is, learning languages comes really easily to me and I want to share, maybe it will be helpful to somebody else.

First, I’d like to have a look at first versus second language acquisition. I’m a linguist and I’m super interested in Child Language Acquisition. That however, has a critical age of 14 (or so I was always told) and is then no longer possible and any language learned after that age will never progress as quickly or can’t be learned perfectly. Well. I disagree. The simple difference is - first language acquisition is how you acquired your first language(s) as a child. By imitating, finding patterns, etc. Second language acquisition is what you know from language courses. Vocabulary, irregular verb tables, endless exercises. Now that we got some of the terminology off the table, let me see how I actually learn languages: 1) I utilise elements of the first language acquisition rather than second language I’ve only studied vocab a couple times at school, when I put them into Quizlet or when someone forced me to. I’ll get back to it in another point. I don’t learn patterns. I know there is one and I let the input do its magic of slithering into my head. Again, more on that in point 2. You always get told you’ll learn a language better when you’re thrown into the country where they speak it. And it’s so true because of the processes behind it. Because input and immersion are the keys and that’s how children learn, too.

2) I don’t cram languages. I process them.

Around langblrs, I keep seeing all the ‘crying over verb tables’, ‘trying to learn a 1000 words this week’ and the like. That may work for you, sure. But I’ve never done that. I did learn a few irregular verb patterns for German in class, but while I could recite them, it wasn’t helpful. In Irish, I sometimes still wonder which verb ‘An ndeachaigh tú?’ comes from. The thing is, you’re able to process language. You know this word is probably irregular. If you come across it and don’t know what the irregular form is, look it up. After you’ve looked it up for the tenth time, you’ll probably remember by then. Same with anything else. Don’t try to learn things by heart when it comes to languages. 3) Vocab?? Same rule applies here. I’ve only learned vocab at school and then a handful of times when I wasn’t too lazy to put it into Quizlet (which is fun and I learn something, but it’s more of a useful pastime than anything). When you read, just skip the words you don’t know and only really look them up if you can’t tell by context. NEVER translate vocabulary. I mean, sure, look up what it means, but don’t connect it to the word itself. Connect it to the meaning. Pictures work better. As for abstract words, imagine the concept. Just try not to bridge the meaning of the word with your native language. Languages in your brain are meant to be two separate units. Unless you’re working on a translation piece, they shouldn’t be ‘touching’. 4) I use example sentences for everything.

Grammar guides are useful but rather than learning all the rules at once, take it one step at a time and remember some example sentences and let them guide you through the grammar rule you need.

5) Input is everything. Output is hard, but you’re basically imitating input and utilizing patterns you know (or think you know). Let me give you an example. Let’s say I’m writing a piece on my daily routine, for example. I make use of the example sentences and try to tailor them to my own needs. Trial and error, if I make a mistake, it’s okay, if somebody points it out, I probably won’t make it next time. As I progress, I will gradually remove the mistake. Same goes to new words and new verbs. Use the input you’ve got. Does this verb sound like some other verb you’ve heard before? It’s might have a similar conjugation pattern. You can check it, you don’t have to.

6) Learning languages should NOT be stressful! I never stressed over learning a language. Sure, I’m frustrated that after a year and a half of learning Irish, I’m not 100% fluent, but I’ve never stressed over it. I’ve never cried over it. I’ve never cried over a language (I only cried after a French oral exam which I thought I failed). Don’t be hard on yourself and try learning through a method that’s not stressful. Watch videos for children. Read books for children. Write down cool things in your target language(s). 7) You’ve learned a language before. Why wouldn’t you be able to learn it now in a very similar way? This is basically me saying that I have little belief in the efficiency of pure second language acquisition. Maybe a few individuals can reach fluency by cramming a language, the thing is, I think that if we concentrate on processing instead of remembering, just like we did when we were children, we can reach better results in a shorter amount of time. Also, if this is your third or fourth language, compare to languages you already know. 8) I don’t start with basics. I start ‘somewhere’.

Delve into the language the second you’ve started. Are you overwhelmed? That’s fine! You’ll find your way around it. Start with word meanings, finding out what kind of sentences those are and then build your way around it. Don’t start saying ‘hello’ and ‘I’m from’. Those are cool, but usually, they are used in a different way when you actually go out and speak. You’ll get them along the way.

9) Don’t rely on instructions (only). Rely on yourself.

This is just my two cents. I’ve pieced this together trying to remember how I’ve learned what I’ve learned and comparing it to how others around me learned. Please, let me know if it makes any sense. I may edit this and post this again later if I have any more ideas. Feel free to contribute or to bombard me with questions. I’m happy to answer.

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yidquotes

Unlike Christian myths of Hell, the Jewish Gehenna is not a place of eternal punishment. It is seen as a place where one’s sins are burned off like dross, so that the soul may be purified. There she is brought back into the arms of God, to await the final redemption. This is to emphasize that God is ever merciful.

Matthew Kressel

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bigleoenergy

teaboot

I noticed when I was a kid that adults seem to forget that everything is real, no matter how young you are. A seven year old doesn’t feel like a helpless infant, they feel the oldest and most mature they’ve ever felt. And they will when they turn eight, too. And nine. Twenty. Thirty. Fifty.

You never feel as young as you are, because you’re always the oldest you’ve been. You can only look back and equate childhood with ignorance and silliness, because there were things you didn’t know then. But there are things you don’t know now, too, that someone older is looking down at you for.

I promised myself I would never forget that, growing up. I put it in a time capsule when I was nine because I wanted to be certain. And sometimes it slips away, and I catch myself scoffing at people younger than me, but you have to fight that. You have to hold on. You have to keep a little bit of your younger mind inside you, so you don’t forget.

I think that’s important.

Remember that you’ll always change, but know that the person you’ll become isn’t going to be any more real than the person you are, or the person you were. They’re still going to feel like You.

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fairy-pie

twoweeks

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gothhabiba

Anonymous asked:

Hi! you are so so smart, which is why I am reaching out to you. I don't think I can make it into grad school with my grades, I want to write a long, hopefully impressive research paper, I was wondering if you had any general tips and also how to formulate big ideas to tie the subject into? I feel limited my fear that i don't know anything, that I'm not smart. I wake up everyday feeling blank. I'd happily venmo you for any advice you could offer, or literature u could rec? if you have the time!!

gothhabiba answered:

1. what do you want to write about? what do you want to say?

2. what primary texts will help you to talk about what you want to say (novels, poems, political speeches, scientific treatises… do you want to use more than one primary text? how do they connect to each other and to the point that you’re making? what threads can you follow within and between them to base your argument on?)

3. what have other people said about your topic or about your primary texts? what are the limits of the approach that they’ve taken? where do you agree and where do you disagree? how can you use their writing to formulate your own argument and where & why do you depart from their ideas?

if you’re not sure about the basic idea that you want to write about, you might start with 2 and try to decide on primary texts first (what have you enjoyed reading? what did you read that you really disliked? what do you think contributed to those reactions on your part?), then move on to 3 (just look up the text in a database and try to find a literature review, or look at what’s most highly cited, in scholarship about that text. what sorts of approaches [e.g. ethnicity studies, gender and women’s studies, queer studies, critical theory, new criticism, affect theory] have scholars taken to that text? in reading through their writings, what do you find yourself having the most opinions or formulating the most ideas about? is there a gap in what other people have written that you can fill? can you connect these ideas somehow & add more to them?). that should lead you back to 1. for a grad school admissions essay it may be best to focus on a popular text with a large body of research discussing it.

I may be able to recommend specific readings if you let me know once you get an idea of a primary text & an approach that you’d like to use! & I can give you a drive link to the essay that I used to apply to grad school. keep me updated

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gothhabiba

Anonymous asked:

my dad used to shame me a lot when i was younger, and although it was usually for academic stuff, he always made a deal out of something not being perfect. it scared me away from artsy stuff (which he would get super involved in and make me more anxious :p). i’m 20 now, and while i feel like i’m starting too old, you’ve been an inspiration for me to get back into writing and just creative stuff in general like makeup and painting. i really appreciate you 💕💕

gothhabiba answered:

you’re never too old to start anything!!! 20 is a baby and even if it weren’t, our culture’s fetishisation of youth has us all and especially women thinking that we have to know everything we’re ever going to know by the age of like 25-35 & it’s all over from there…….. in fact once you let go of this idea you’ll realise just how much TIME you’ll have inchallah to learn things and practice skills throughout the rest of your life. try to let go of the idea of ageing as a detiorative process & the idea that time passing must = constant upwards ‘progress’ rather than something more cyclical or constantly shifting. you can do whatever you want to do because it’s pleasurable in the moment & is its own reward rather than thinking of ‘building’ skills or getting things ‘done’ when it comes to hobbies. you will gain skill anyway and you won’t be so stressed about it.

a lot of adult learners of things even without this kind of background (& I’m very sorry this happened to you, it was wrong of your dad & you didn’t deserve it) express feelings of embarrassment when they start learning new skills because their ‘taste’ so to speak is more developed than a child learner’s, but their ability to perform according to that taste isn’t there yet. but it can be very rewarding to push through that feeling and watch how your skill develops and changes anyway. we lose sight of this a lot of the time but I do think we really benefit from new experiences, fun and play long past ‘childhood’ (which is a historically nebulous, changing and socially created concept anyway) & in fact for the rest of our lives. just do things and don’t sweat it. nothing you do has to be perfect & it doesn’t even have to be ‘good.’ it’s just a human thing to play with and create things & it’s not something that anyone doesn’t ‘deserve’ to do because they don’t magically have enough skill (yet).

gothhabiba

it’s so great to realise that you can literally just start doing something. I’m learning German right now because like, why not learn German? I’m considering fucking around & learning another instrument because why not learn, uhhhh, the oud? the mandolin? if you have 10 minutes a day you can do it. it literally does not matter how old you are or how good you think you will be at it. crazy how you can just do things as a grown adult and no one will physically stop you

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wafflehousegay

how to study when you REALLY don’t want to

we’ve all been there. You have a paper due in the morning, it’s 10 pm, and you’re sitting at your desk, feeling dead. Or maybe it’s 3 pm, and you’re just SO overwhelmed with an endless to do list and so many pages to read or annotate or take notes on that you just think,

screw it. I just won’t do anything.

Listen, I get it. I understand. I LOVE learning, but I often find myself bogged down by homework, that incessant, painful reminder that you’re being forced to learn. Nobody likes that.

So below are some of my tips for studying, especially when you really, really don’t feel like doing it.

What’s your absolute dream school? Columbia? That’s amazing. Harvard? Incredible. Florida State? Awesome. Wherever you want to be in two years- whether it be college, grad school, teaching, etc. Picture yourself learning in your dream learning environment, doing what you love the most. Maybe for you, that daydream means picturing yourself in a New York City coffee shop, working on Literature homework from Barnard College. Or maybe it means cramming biology in a crowded, raucous library at UMass. Whatever makes you get excited about learning- take the fuel you feel from those daydreams and use it to fan the flames of your love for learning.
Treat every single class like it’s your absolute favorite class ever. Listen. I don’t care if you have the shittiest teacher on planet earth. I don’t care if you couldn’t give less of a fuck about quantum physics or functions or whatever. You have the privilege and the opportunity to learn anything and everything, and we could all do good to stop taking that for granted. Treat AP Calculus like it’s your favorite subject EVER, even when- especially when it feels like pulling teeth. But how? You might be asking. The secret is that it’s really, really not that hard. There are so many ways to motivate yourself to do that subject you’ve been putting off for days, and you know it!! Use studyblr to find inspiration for That Subject™, make a study group, trap yourself in your dorm/library/coffee shop until you just finish one problem set, just START. Chances are when you see other people being productive and getting shit done in that subject (cough studyblr cough) you’ll want to do it too.
Eat, sleep, and live. Listen to me: you HAVE to stop killing yourself to do more school. Your to-do list ISN’T GOING TO JUST GO AWAY. There’s always going to be things you have to do and things you could be stressed about. But stress, school, and homework are not excuses to abandon self-care, friendships and having a social life. Go out with your friends! Go to the movies! Go to that football game! Get the important stuff done and stop worrying about your endless list! Having somewhere to go will motivate you to get done faster, and you’re going to feel a lot better after going out and having fun than sitting at home alone procrastinating. Chances are, you’ll be more energized to get some work done too.
Pay attention to what your body’s telling you. Switch out midnight iced lattes for smoothies and fruit. Eat lots of food that makes you feel good, healthy and fulfilled. Stop snacking on the same 4 chips every time you study and start learning how to fuel your body and your brain. If you know you can’t eat a full breakfast before school, find things you can eat, and I mean MORE THAN JUST COFFEE STRAIGHT FROM THE POT. Track what you eat for an entire week, and I mean EVERYTHING. Track your water intake, coffee intake, and soda intake. On top of food tracking, also track your mood, productivity, and overall feeling of wellbeing. At the end of the week, see what’s up! Look for patterns, dehydration, food inconsistencies, gross stuff you eat a lot, things you want to change, all of it. And then actually MAKE THE CHANGES.
I know I’m going to sound like your mom friend here, but that’s kind of what I am, so: drink👏🏻more👏🏻water👏🏻!!!!!!! I cannot STRESS THIS ENOUGH!!!!!!! FUEL YOUR BODY!!! YOU WILL FEEL BETTER!!!

in conclusion…

- picture yourself learning in your dream learning environment

- picture the payoff, you doing what you want to do - nursing or teaching or building fancy ass AI robotos or whatever it is

- do NOT take your education for granted!!!! learning is such an opportunity and not everyone gets it

- treat yourself like a normal human being. take care of yourself. shower. eat.

- pay attention to your body. pay attention to what you need. pay attention to what you WANT

- drink your water, listen to some jazz, and just start somewhere.

- small progress is still progress

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moonbroth

for some reason the ask about study guides would only show up on mobile but here are some examples:

part of one for my death and dying class:

part of one for my bio class:

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moonbroth

dummilite asked:

You seem very organized How do you do it?

moonbroth answered:

honestly school is where i am the most organized + its mainly because i take five classes so i haveee to stay organized or i’ll miss something. what i do, is write down my assignments as soon as i get them with their due dates, put any bigger assignments in my calendar, and i color coordinate all my classes so they’re more distinguishable for me. then i create a to do list in order of priority / when my assignments are due / how big they are. i also make my own study guides for tests which i can post examples of if anyone would like. i hope that helps!

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sugar-cafe

lostlxmb

made little mistakes here and there, but when don’t i haha :’-) happy new year everyone! i hope 2018 is going well for everyone so far <3 (taken from my studygram)

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sugar-cafe

studyingkoala

Rearranged my desk yet again. It’s cute to have lots of things out on display, but when it came down to doing assignments, I got super stressed and distracted. So I rearranged and opted for a slightly more simple and open look.

Source: instagram.com

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goodteastudies

november

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openmarginalis

Signs of the Zodiac

“Festival prayer book for Shavuot (Feast of Weeks) and Sukkot (Feast of the Tabernacles), German rite (aka the ‘Tripartite Mahzor’ ) including biblical readings: The Book of Ruth and the Book of Ecclesiastes with Joseph Kara’s commentary” by Joseph Kara, Germany ca. 1322 via The British Library, Public Domain

#hebrew

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mirestudyblr

armchairstudy

Sleep who? Idk her.

haha I’ve been studying biology while being very high on coffee for the past few hours and in conclusion: I don’t like plant morphology.

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mirestudyblr

caffeinated-engineeringstudies

July 29, 2019

How do people keep their desks organized for more than 2 minutes?

(One more night of cramming and then I‘m a free woman)

// Sugar, Sugar - The Archies //