CAFFEINEMASTERS

STUDYING WITH DEPRESSION INFOGRAPHIC

This topic is really close to my heart. I’ve struggled with Depression for 4 years but I didn’t reach out for help until this year because I’ve been scared. It took a toll on me as a person and especially my grades. 

If you’re suffering from the same issue, PLEASE REACH OUT FOR HELP. DON’T BE AFRAID TO SPEAK OUT. IF THEY DON’T RESPOND POSITIVELY, YOU HAVE A WHOLE COMMUNITY SUPPORTING YOU, REMEMBER THAT. TALK TO ME, OR TALK TO SOMEONE YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH. 

Some rannedom links:

THE POMODORO TECHNIQUE

ONE HOUR RULE

10 APPS THAT BLOCK DISTRACTIONS

VENT TO SOMEONE

CLICK HERE TO SMILE

FEELING LONELY?

COPING WITH DEPRESSION

CHOOSE HAPPY PLAYLIST

CONQUER SCHOOL PLAYLIST

HOTLINES FOR EVERYONE

MENTAL HEALTH HELPLINES

STUDY PLAYLIST

MOST RELAXING TUNE

WANT TO FEEL UNDERSTOOD?

Anyways, please share and add links that helps. :))

Have any questions? Send me an ask. 

@justjasminestudying

at the time, i hadn’t read any book assigned to me. ever. it wasn’t that i didn’t like to read. i loved reading. but homework took place in a function of my brain that i couldn’t access. i would sit in libraries or at my desk and just. not do my homework. i spent hours like this, days like this, years like this. just not doing what was assigned to me, no matter the consequences, no matter how badly i wanted to be doing it. i just wouldn’t. and i wouldn’t go to class because i didn’t want to deal with the fact i didn’t do the homework. and then i wouldn’t get the homework. so i didn’t do it.

i remember realizing while i was doing college applications that i had actually, real-life fucked up. that it was permanent, what i had done. that i had a C- of an average and no future to look rosy at. and i still couldn’t make myself do things. i tried to submit applications only to realize i’d shoved off the date to the very last moment. and i was fucked.

it takes me three years and two transfers and three new starts before i am actually real-life trained how to study, how to read, how to enjoy being assigned things. 

and i watch parents of my students yell at students for being the same person i was six years ago: screaming at an A-, confused at skipped classes, punishing missed homework. and these students don’t have an answer. they just don’t do things. even if they want to. and they look at me, confused and defeated and without an answer for their parents. “i just can’t,” i hear a lot, and i understand.

parents don’t like “executive dysfunction” as a reason. “anxiety” and “depression” are often misdiagnosed as “procrastinating” and “lazy”. kids just learn they’re like this. that they’re always going to be. that it’s their fault, permanently. they are surrounded by books they didn’t read. and it doesn’t feel good. it feels like suffocating.

13/01/2018

- you don’t need a pristine white background to get notes

- at the same time notes aren’t everything! if you like your content, that’s what matters

- having several cups of coffee a night isn’t good for you, and i KNOW you know that

- expensive supplies aren’t necessary, crayola supertips work great for notes and still look pretty

- just because you have a study account doesn’t mean you should always be getting straight A’s. don’t be so hard on yourself

- messy notes doesn’t mean bad notes!

How to study like a straight A student

I did really well during my first year of college, and aside from a B+ in statistics (which was really good for me, haha! I’m not good at math), I had A’s in all of my classes. I’m certain that the reason I did so well was due to the way that I figured out how to study, so here are some tips I have based on what I did to study this past year!

1. Sit in the front row.

This isn’t high school anymore, it’s not embarrassing or nerdy to sit in the front row. By sitting in the front row, you won’t be tempted to check your phone and you won’t be distracted by looking at the people around you. I focus best in the front row. This also gives you a chance to easily ask any questions you have.

2. Show up to class a little early.

Show up to class about five minutes early every day, if possible. During the time it takes your professor to get set up, read through your previous notes. If you do this every day, you’ll begin to memorize info that you certainly wouldn’t have learned if you spent those five minutes before class just scrolling through tumblr. 

3. Type your notes and print them out.

If you prefer to spend a lot of time on hand written notes, then go crazy. However, I don’t really have time to make aesthetic notes, so I prefer to just write my notes by hand during class, then copy them into microsoft word so I can organize and print them out. This makes the notes much easier to read, and it’s much easier on the eyes. 

4. Do every assignment. Yes, EVERY assignment.

I don’t know why there’s advice floating around on tumblr telling people that it’s okay to skip a ton of homework assignments, because I definitely wouldn’t recommend it at all. Of course some assignments might be stupid or seem too small to matter, but if you’re being graded on them, you need all the points you can get. Trust me, just because homework assignments only account for 10-15% of your final grade, that doesn’t mean that they won’t be the difference between a B+ and an A-. Think about it: if your homework is 10% of your grade and you didn’t do it, you would literally have to get NOTHING wrong on your exams just to get the lowest A- possible. 

5. Don’t skip. Don’t skip. Don’t skip. 

Don’t skip if you can help it. If there is a serious emergency and you really can’t make it, try your hardest to get the best notes you can from someone who was in class. There’s nothing worse than sitting down for a test and realizing that a ton of the questions are about content you missed when you were absent. 

6. Go over material in your head when you’re not busy. 

If you’re in the shower or waiting in line at the cafe, go over class material in your head. Think about what you learned that day. If you do this often, this will help significantly with retention. 

7. Make flashcards throughout the semester, not the night before the final.

Don’t be one of those students who has to relearn an entire textbook the week before finals. If you’re studying right, studying for finals should be relatively painless. Throughout the semester, make flashcards of class content and regularly go over them. The easiest way to do this is to use quizlet.com and fill in definitions and other things you need to know, and use their helpful games and quizzes to memorize the info. It even keeps track of the definitions you rarely get wrong, so you know what you don’t need to study as much. 

8. Makes specific agendas for what you need to study and get done. 

When I study, I need to have a very specific to-do list detailing exactly what I want to get done. This will motivate you to keep going because you’re able to check off what you’ve already done. 

9. Don’t get discouraged by a bad grade- take it as motivation.

remembering important personalities in history 101

I debated whether to make this post or not but received positive feedback, so here we go! 

I am probably in a minority with this, but I like taking tests and exams. By that I don’t mean that I’d voluntarily do them if I didn’t have to, but they don’t cause me much distress or make me nervous - in fact, I’m even quite excited for some of them. In this post, I want to explain how I got that attitude and how it helps me. I realise that people are different and this post won’t magically make text anxiety or stress go away, and some people just prefer essays or other forms of test-taking, but I hope it offers a different perspective on things.

Here are some things that I think are advantages of exams:

1. They’re over faster

One of the best things about exams is that you have a specific time and date for them. Essays can spread out over weeks and months, they follow you around wherever you go. You also have to do much more work yourself - outlines, thesis statement, research, maybe even whole experiments. For an exam, you study in your own way, take the test - no citing, no formatting, no looking for a topic - and you’re done and can celebrate your holidays without being haunted by deadlines. Even if you’re super nervous - in two hours, it’ll be over.

2. They force you to learn everything

If you want to or not, you’ll have to study everything that could be on the exam - and even if it seems like it sucks (which it won’t if you already start preparing early in the semester), it usually means you retain more information and almost guarantees you’ll gain an understanding of most concepts taught, which can prove very valuable in advanced classes or even your later job. It also means you can study more systematically (flashcards! mind-maps! summaries! what’s not to love). Try channelling your inner Hermione for this one - the more you learn, the better.

3. They put you under pressure

How’s that a positive point? For me, it’s the most positive thing about exams - I have to deliver knowledge on the spot, which of course puts me under stress. Instead of despairing and giving up, I learnt to make that stress work in my favour - it enhances my performance. When I write essays, I just laze about in my bed or on my balcony, browsing through JSTOR and waiting for inspiration, taking breaks whenever I want. Exams have me extremely focused for a specific period of time which usually leads to much better results.

4. They’re kinda fun

I personally get kind of a thrill out of figuring out the best answers to problems. My favourite way is “What does the professor want to hear” or “What did they have in mind when they designed this?”. Getting into your teacher’s mindset can get you pretty far in exams, especially in open answer questions, because you’ve listened to them talk about those topics for several months and can usually give a good guess about what they want to hear.