how to start studying after school

1. clean up your desk: it’s hard to concentrate when there’s a pile of rubbish on your desk. the chance of you fiddling with things is also higher! you’ll get more done by cleaning your desk! if you’re looking for an easy way to organise your desk, check out these handy organisers!
2. get your books: get out all the books you need to study that particular subject. if it’s geography, an atlas might be handy.
3. get a notebook: if you’re in uni or college it’s a good idea to re-write all your notes for your classes that day. make them look clean and tidy. if you’re in secondary school and you’re studying for a test, summarize everything you have learned. in any case, it’s best to have a few notebooks on your desk too. here’s a 4 pack of spiral notebooks for $7.04!
4. grab some pens: seems self explanatory! i recommend you having an ordinary pen, a highlighter and a pencil on hand. (a.k.a. the basics!) here are some super cute gel pens!
5. turn off your phone: by turning off your phone, you will get less distracted by social media. sure, people won’t be able to reach you but you’ll get some peace and quiet. obviously leave it on if you’re expecting an important call!
6. look for a study playlist: if you easily get distracted by your laptop too, skip this step. i personally find it harder to get distracted by my laptop than my phone, so i leave it on and look for some music to study to. here’s a masterpost of some good playlists to listen to!
7. get a glass of water: you really need your h2o, everyone. grab a large glass or fill up a water bottle. some super cute ones: i ii iii
8. get a healthy snack: if you’re like me and you love snacking on things while your studying, the best thing to do is to grab something healthy. cut up some apples and sprinkle some cinnamon on them (try it. it’s amazing.), grab some hummus and some celery or carrots or cucumber to dip in it, fill a little bowl with nuts, treat yourself to a square of dark chocolate! if you’re studying during dinner time or lunch time, make yourself a nourishment bowl to nibble on. for more study snack ideas, go to pinterest and snoop around the study snack tag for a while. try out my favourite smoothie bowl too!
9. take a deep breath: i know from personal experience that sometimes the workload can be really scary and freak you out. the most important thing to do is to take a deep breath and to tell yourself you can get through all your work. you can do anything if you try hard enough!
10. get cracking: now that you’ve done steps 1-9, you can actually start studying! good luck!

• relies entirely on videos to teach lessons
• rarely, if ever, gives notes
• doesn’t give reviews for tests either or any clues as to what is actually on the test
• if they do give notes, they are disorganized, scrappy, and ultimately meaningless
• doesn’t give straight answers when asked questions / answers questions with questions that don’t even make sense
• loses your homework/essays all the time
• they are genuinely surprised when their students actually do well
• tells students not to study a certain thing because it won’t be on the test. Then it’s on the test and you’re screwed.
• when showing how to do a problem, they only do the easiest examples ever. Honestly. You would be blessed to get a problem that easy on the actual assignment, where there are now super complicated problems that you have no idea how to do!
• the homework assignments they give don’t help you understand the lesson better, it’s just a bunch of busy work.
• they hand out a sheet, no explanation whatsoever, and say “alright. go do this” what? Go do what? Rip out my hair? I don’t even know what stoichiometry is and now I have 55 minutes to do it. Fabulous.
• if someone does something wrong, the teacher just makes them do it over again and again, without helping the student understand or explaining anything
• they hand back your tests five decades after you actually took it. What was the test even on? Same deal with homework and worksheets
• They often have a condescending behavior towards students and make students feel stupid when they get something wrong or ask questions

1. Teach yourself lesson by lesson. If they won’t, you will. Make sure that you are learning the right material, so that you can ace your quizzes/ tests. Yes, it takes time, but it will be worth it once you can finally understand the class, I promise. You can teach yourself by relying on other sources to learn the material, such as the textbook you already have for the class, Khan Academy, and other online resources and study aids.
2. Don’t rely only on their notes, study materials, or worksheets to study off of or understand the material. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use them, you should definitely pay attention to them, as it might give you a clue as to what is on the test. However, you should probably invest some time into making your own notes and study materials outside of class, whether the material is from your class textbook or online resources. 
3. Khan Academy!!! (It’s completely free and amazing) I honestly can not stress how many times Khan Academy has saved my life and my grades, especially in math and science subjects. If there’s a lesson (or, let’s be honest, an entire class) that you’re having difficulty understanding, just go to KA and find the lesson and they will have videos that take you through it step-by-step. Also, you can pause and rewind the videos if you need to understand something better (unlike crappy teachers) and they do plenty of examples (unlike crappy teachers). I swear I’m not sponsored by them or anything, it’s just a life saver! You can take classes on there in your free time too. For example, I couldn’t fit a personal finance class into my school schedule, so I’m taking it on KA.
4. Use online sites and resources to help you understand the material. Quizlet is an app for creating sets of flashcards. In my opinion, they are way more helpful than notecards, because they have games using the terms you put in and different methods of studying the material (by spelling, term, definition, etc). Duolingo is great for learning languages and maintaining your vocabulary in a language you are taking in school. You can use SparkNotes to better understand literature and poetry (they also have great studying/ test prep materials). Shmoop is another great resource for poetry. Khan Academy has lessons on math, science, art, music, history, and economics. The Purdue OWL is a life saver when it comes to writing essays; it has everything you need to know about grammar, writing techniques, format (especially MLA format), and mechanics. Basically, it has all the info your crappy teacher failed to give you. 
5. STUDY. Good teachers go over the material enough to ensure that their students understand the material and they make sure the students are familiar with it. They will also usually go over the same materials in different ways, so that students with different learning styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) can benefit. Crappy teachers? Not so much. Therefore, the material is not ingrained in your mind, so you need to work harder than in other classes to familiarize yourself with the material and make sure you understand it enough to recall the information and be tested on it.
6. Practice what you’ve learned. Try to find practice quizzes and tests online on the subject and material you are learning. Sometimes there will be mini quizzes at the end of chapters in class textbook. Also, some of the online resources above have quizzes on the specific material.
7. Talk/ study with other people who are taking the same course or people you know who have taken the class in the past. If your friend is taking the same class as you but they have a different teacher, study with them and ask them for help and notes. If you know someone who has taken the class a previous semester or year, as them for help with the material and advice on tests and passing the class with a decent grade. You can also study with other people in your class, because it is likely that they are in the same position as you and you can all help each other out.