Studyblr

If these help anyone, great!

Set your timetable as your phone background for the first few weeks. Use this method for no. 6 too if you can be bothered. 

Wear sports bras/bralettes to lectures instead of the ones with a buckle at the back. They tend to poke and prod your back after a while if you’re leaning back. Sports bras don’t. 

Lay a towel on your bed a few days before your period is due. If you leak on a towel you can just wash it or throw it away. Easier than washing and changing the sheets (esp. if you’re in a rush to get to a lecture!).

When you’re in a lecture taking notes on a laptop remember to turn down the brightness on your screen, especially if the lecturer has dimmed the lights. Otherwise you’ll annoy others and drain your battery. 

Save your recordings at every given break instead of making one continuous one through pausing. Sometimes files are too large to save and you don’t want to risk losing the entire lecture recording. Save as you go along.

If you need to remember something (e.g. a library book, USB, locker key..) write it on a post-it note and stick it on your shoes before you sleep. Make sure they’re the shoes you intend to wear the next day!

Don’t shoot me: if you have left an assignment really late, stay up as long as you can completing it (yes, that means an all-nighter may be needed). Sleep as soon as you’ve handed it in. 

If you use tech in a lecture e.g. phone for recording or electronic notetaking on your laptop, then mess around with it before uni begins. Know what buttons to press and when, otherwise you’ll mess up your notes and annoy others, with your excessive clicking. 

Always, always, ALWAYS carry a plastic bag/carrier bag. You might need to make a trip to the library, drink may spill in your bag so you’ll need an alternative. Seriously, just carry one.  

Find out where coursework/assignment are submitted within your first week on campus. Ask admin how the procedure works and make sure you know it inside out. 

Spend a day wondering around campus (before timetabled lectures start). Find out where the library is, talk to the librarians and ask them how to borrow/return books and also how to reserve!

When you get your timetable be sure to visit the lecture halls and seminar rooms a few days before the term starts so you know where to go. Find out where the toilets are in those buildings too. 

Find out where your lecturers offices are. Know the building and floor that they’re on (they’re usually all in the same place). 

Carry cereal bars and other non perishable foods that take up little room. Sometimes your tummy rumbles really loud in a lecture, give it some love.

Volunteer in your first year of university, these is the least hectic year (usually!). You want something to put on that CV and those post grad applications! 

In the UK the first year generally doesn’t count toward the final degree classification but those grades WILL show up on your transcript. Make sure they look decent. When you apply for post grad courses, if you don’t have the certificate yet (because you’re still completing the course) the university/institution will ask for your grade transcript. First year grades come up first! 

A huge part of your degree classification/GPA comes from the final year thesis. Talk to as many older students as you can and ask them what topics they picked and how they went about it. A great thesis/dissertation will literally move you from a 2:1 to a 1st. 

When you have a meeting with your supervisor take notes and write up a short summary of what was said, similar to writing up “meeting minutes”. This will be helpful for you and your supervisor. Especially if you take long breaks before meeting again. 

Some tips for anyone who is stuck at home due to Covid - 19

As many of use are stuck in self-isolation as work and school moves into an online format, I was wanted to share some of my best tips for remaining productive, and not going crazy, when you can’t leave the house.

1. Keep your space clean.  A simple concept but good to keep in mind, give your space a really good deep clean right now, and then keep things keeps by wiping down counters, doing your dishes, making your bed, and putting away clothes daily. 

2. Keep yourself clean When you are not seeing anyone it can be easy to fall into a rut of wearing the same sweatshirt every day and not washing your hair, but it is so important to stay feeling clean and fresh when you cant leave the house. Feeling good about yourself will help you stay more productive, and the acts of showing, doing your hair, and changing your clothes are little self-care things that are easily overlooked when you are not leaving. 

3. Build new routines Now that you don’t have to leave the house this is a great time to introduce new habits into your life. Always wanted to wake up at 5:00am? Give it a try! Want to do a meditation every evening? Go for it!

4. Connect with friends Don’t sacrifice your group meetings, Skype them in. Study with friends over FaceTime, or just call a loved one to chat for a little. Self isolation doesn’t need to feel lonely. 

5. Freshen the air Try to open the windows at least one a day to clean out your space. Have a nice candle going at night, or put your diffuser on during the day. Keeping you space smelling fresh is essential to not feeling like you are trapped.  

6. Make a plan Know what you have to do and schedule it. Try to schedule blocks of work and rest for yourself.  And ensure you are accomplishing a few things on your to-do list every day so that you don’t feel like you are falling into a slump! (Note: this can be something as simple as make the bed, take a shower, or eat a nice meal.)

Extra Little Tips:

Move every day (some yoga, a dance party by yourself, anything)

Drink lots of water 

Make sure you practice self-care: this is a stressful time!

Do a face mask, or paint your nails

Don’t wear pajamas all day, but you can stay comfy!

Bake some yummy snacks

Watch new movies or start a new tv show 

1. “I Don’t Know where to Begin.”

Make a list of all the things you have to do. Break your workload down ito manageable chunks. Prioritize. Schedule your time realistically. Begin studying early, with an hour or two per day, and slowly build as the exam approaches.

2. ‘I’ve Got So Much to Study…And so Little Time"

Preview. Survey your syllabus, reading material, and notes. Identify the most important topics emphasized, and areas still not understood. Previewing saves time, by helping you organize and focus in on the main topics.

3. “This Stuff is so Dry, I can’t Even Stay Awake Reading It”

Get actively involved with the text as you read. Ask yourself, “What is important to remember about this section?” Take notes or underline key concepts. Discuss the material with others in your class. Stay on the offensive.

4. “I Read It. I Understand It. But I Just Can’t Get it To Sink In”

Elaborate. We remember best the things that are most meaningful to us. As you are reading, try to elaborate upon new information with your own examples. Try to integrate what you’re studying with what you already know. You will be able to remember new material better if you can link it to something that’s already meaningful to you.

Chunking: Example: to remember the colors in the visible spectrum, Rog G.Biv –> reduce the information the three “chunks”.

Mnemonics: Associate new information with something familiar.

5. “I Guess I Understand It”

Test yourself. Make up questions about key sections in notes or reading. Examine the relationships between concepts and sections. Often, imply by changing section headings you can generate many effective questions.

6. “There’s Too Much to Remember”

Organize. Information is recalled better if it is represented in an organized framework that will make retrieval more systematic.

Write chapter outlines of summaries; emphasize relationships between sections.

Group information into categories or hierarchies, where possible.

Information Mapping. Draw up a matrix to organize and interrelate material.

7. “I Knew It A Minute Ago”

Review. After reading a section, try to recall the information contained in it. Try answering the questions you made up for that section. If you cannot recall enough, re-read portions you had trouble remembering. The more time you spend studying, the more you tend to recall. Even after the point where information can be perfectly recalled, further study makes the material less likely to be forgotten entirely. How you organize and integrate new information is still more important than how much time you spend studying.

Hey guys, so I’m nearing the end of my senior year, and it’s been great so far! I accomplished my academic tasks efficiently and didn’t burn myself out, and I think the main contributor to my success as a student is my organization system. This system has been refined throughout my high school years, but I think now I’ve finally found the most effective methods.

Please remember that this isn’t the only organization system you can adopt; this is just the one that works the best for me, and I hope that by sharing it with you, you’ll gain a new perspective on how to stay organized as a high school student.

The first thing I wanna talk about is my notebook system, which I briefly mentioned in my Guide to Note-Taking.

My notebook system comprises three types of notebooks: the Everything Notebook, the subject notebook, and the revision notebook.

The Everything Notebook

The first stage is in-class notes. I only bring one notebook to school every day. I call it my Everything Notebook, and this is where I write down all of the notes I take in class. This way, I don’t have to lug around six notebooks where I’m only going to use a few pages in each of them that day.

Subject Notebooks

At the end of the day, I would revise my notes and compare them to the syllabus so I know where we are in the learning process. I would then transfer my class notes from my Everything Notebook to my different subject notebooks. This is stage two. I also start to jazz up my notes because I use the notes in my subject notebooks to study for tests.

In addition to my class notes, I include material from my teachers’ notes that they might not have elaborated on, as well as points in the syllabus (I’m currently taking A2) that were only glazed over briefly, or not at all, in some cases. (Note: this does not mean they completely skip a chapter or topic; it’s more like they missed a few bullet points that should be in my notes but aren’t. An example would be if we’re learning about phenol reactions and the teacher forgot to mention the use of FeCl3 as a test for phenol.)

Revision Notebooks

Stage three comes a little later, when exam week is just around the corner. Essentially, I rewrite and improve my notes from my five different subject notebooks into a single revision notebook or binder. (Recently, I’ve opted for a revision notebook because they’re lighter and easier to carry around.)

Because my teachers don’t always teach in the order of the syllabus, the first thing I do is organize my notes according to the syllabus. I would then fill in any other missing gaps in the material that hadn’t been filled in stage two.

When compiling material for my revision notebook, I use as many sources as possible: my own notes, my teachers’ notes, youtube videos, online sites, and my favorite, the mark scheme! I add in some answers from past papers (explanations only, so no calculations) mainly to secure marks. It’s safer to memorize definitions straight from the mark scheme than from the textbook or from handouts. I also do this to ease my memorization, especially for topics that require lengthy explanations. It’s a lot easier to remember the 6 points I need to explain the principles of NMRI than to remember everything in the four-page handout my teacher gave me.

Folders and binders are essential to organizing your papers. Some people keep a single accordion folder for all their papers, but for me it’s just too heavy to carry around all the time. The same goes for subject folders that are brought to school every day.

Instead, my binder/folder system comprises my Everything Folder and my subject binders.

The Everything Folder

The folder I carry with me to school every day is this A4 folder I got from Tokyu Hands. It has 5 pockets, one for each day of the week, so all the papers I receive on Monday will go behind the first divider, and so on.

Some people also keep blank papers in their folders; I don’t because my school has its own lined paper and graphing pads that I keep under my desk that I use if a teacher asks us to do an assignment on those papers. If I do work at home, I prefer to just use a plain A4 paper or a legal pad.

Subject Binders

At the end of the week, I’ll sort my papers into my subject binders. Sometimes I’ll keep some papers in the folder if I think I’ll be needing it the next week. This usually only applies to worksheets because all my teachers’ notes are available on Google Classroom, so I can access them even if I don’t physically have them.

Each of these binders have sections inside them:

Physics: 1 for handouts, notes, and tests, 1 for Paper 4 (Theory), 1 for Paper 5 (Practical Planning). I included extra tabs to mark the different topics in the handouts section.

Chemistry: same as Physics.

Economics: 1 for Paper 3 (MCQ), 1 for Paper 4 (Case Study and Essay). A lot of my Economics material is online, though.

English: 1 for Paper 3 (Text and Discourse analysis), and 2 for Paper 4 (Language Topics, which includes 1 for Child Language Acquisition, 1 for World Englishes). Past papers, handouts, and notes all go under their respective topics.

Mathematics: I just keep everything together because I never revise math and just constantly do past papers.

This makes it easier for me to revise each subject because I can just take one binder with me instead of a messy folder with everything just shoved in there.

I keep a magazine file for each of my A-Level subjects (English and Mathematics are combined). All my textbooks, revision guides, and subject notebooks are kept here, so if I need to revise one subject, that’s the magazine file I’ll take out.

These magazine files prevent any small things (like my book of flashcards) from being shoved to the back of my bookshelf, or materials from different subjects from getting mixed up.

In my senior year, I mostly plan using this app called Edo Agenda. It syncs across all my devices for free and has all the features I need: a to do list to organize tasks, monthly and weekly calendars to organize events, a journal to organize notes and memos.

I used to bullet journal regularly, but it takes too much time during weekdays, so now I just bullet journal for the therapeutic effects it gives me, and I use an app for organizing tasks and events. Sometimes at the end of each week, I’ll transfer my tasks to my bullet journal and then decorate the page, but again, this is just for its therapy.

Organizing your school supplies is just as important as organizing your papers and notes. With a more organized backpack and pencil case, you won’t waste time looking for your things at the bottom of an abyss.

Pencil Case

I don’t find it necessary to bring so much stationery to school unless I plan on making notes at school (usually during revision week).

Backpack

Because we’re already in the revision term, I don’t really carry a lot of things in my everyday backpack, just the following:

Pencil case

Everything Notebook

Everything Folder

Revision notebook

Kindle

Phone

Wallet

Earphones

Calculator

Speaker

Drinking bottle

A pouch with things like a hairbrush, pads, and lip balm

1. start studying a week before every quiz/test. seriously.

2. watch youtube videos/ted talks on the topics you are learning about.

3. get lots of sleep! sleep helps you process the day’s events, including what you learned.

4. write out your notes. it’s proven that handwritten notes help you learn better than typed out notes.

5. don’t just read what your professor gives you. find academic journals, books, etc. that correspond with your subjects.

6. read the news! especially in the social sciences/humanities, connecting concepts with current events helps you understand and process more easily.

7. exercise! this doesn’t have to be going on runs or lifting weights, it could even just be going for a 20 minute walk. just get your blood pumping, it’ll help you focus.

8. study at your desk. it may be tempting to study in bed, but your brain connects your bed with sleep, so you’ll get tired more quickly.

9. reviewing notes doesn’t have to be something you sit down and do for an hour. skim through them and test your memory while eating breakfast!

10. expand your study time throughout the day to avoid burnout. for example, rather than studying for 5 hours straight, study for an hour here and there in between your activities.

11. make your notes organized and easy to read, but not distracting. bright colors and flashy notes may seem better, but can sometimes distract from the purpose of the notes.

12. use apps such as quizlet. this way, you can go through definitions while waiting in lines or walking to class.

13. it’s more important to know concepts rather than facts. for example, you should be able to take what you know and apply it to different situations, not just the situation the textbook gives you.

14. just because the professor doesn’t require you to read textbook, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. it helps explain concepts in a different way than your professor, and a lot of times hearing two different explanations for the same concept helps you understand it.

15. read in advance. read the textbook before your professor begins going over the chapter, so when he/she does, you can easily follow what they are saying.

16. do any extra credit work that comes your way. even if you don’t need the extra boost now, you might later.

17. go to class!! if you always skip class and show up at office hours completely lost on the concepts, they’ll laugh in your face. they’ll take you 100x more seriously if you show up.

18. however, if you are sick, take a day off. it’s more beneficial to you in the long run. 

19. learn how to say “no”. if you have an 8 am the next day, don’t stay out until midnight with your friends. 

this is the perfect grade of good luck

A compilation of chrome extensions and iOS + Android apps (some are paid and some are free)  °☆.。.:*・°☆

| For your computer |

fliqlo

momentum

lanes

clarity

embark

minimal clock

infinity

currently

polar clock

caffeine

f.lux

be limitless

leoh

dream afar

| For your note taking |

evernote

onenote

simplenote

somnote

iNotes

notability

notes plus

google keep

quip

inkflow visual notebook

jot

good notes

noteshelf

| For your to-do lists | 

wunderlist 

moo.do

todoist

habitica

trello

any.do 

priority matrix

do

glass planner

swipes

timetune

| For your planners + calendars |

myStudyLife

myHomework

sunrise calendar

google calendar

plan

sol calendar

| For your timing + focus | 

tide

forest

pomotodo

flat tomato

pomello

pomodrone

clearfocus 

tomato timer 

30/30

focusnow

tasks and measures

self control

stayfocusd

timewarp

cold turkey

atimelogger

writer’s block

| For your presentations |

prezi

powerpoint

emaze

raw shorts

powtoon

| For your storage | 

google drive

dropbox

| For your mindmaps + diagrams | 

mindmeister

lucidchart

goconqr

gliffy

google drawings

| For your tests + flashcards | 

goconqr

quizlet

flashcards+

anki

| For your writings | 

zotero

grammarly

hemingway

| For your health |

fabulous

plant nanny

safetrek

sleep bot

sleep better

to bed

nike + running

waterlogged

period tracker

weight loss coach

health mapper

medisafe

| For your inner peace  | 

stop, breathe & think

headspace

pacifica

noisli

sleepio

infinite storm

relax melodies

calm

sam

thunderspace

mindshift

taomix

i am

pillow