non aesthetic zone⚠️

hello! im very very sorry for answering this late, i hope this it still helps you either way❤️. So, here are some things I do:

prioritize your tasks. do the most important things first. I’d reccomend you get a planner or at least write down what those tasks are, and include their deadlines too.

remove distractions. turn off the tv, go somewhere quiet, turn off your phone and leave it far away from you. this way, you will concentrate on your tasks and be productive.

break down your tasks. if you study for 6 hours straight you’ll burn yourself out. it’s not possible to do that. instead, study for 1-2 hours taking breaks in between and giving yourself time to do other activities (going out for a walk, talk to your friends, etc)

clean up your desk. having an organized and comfortable study space will make you think clearly and study better. you can also go somewhere else -like a library, for example - having a different atmosphere may motivate you to study.

forgive yourself. You’re not perfect, you’re human. don’t feel bad for not doing anything one day, and move on. get up and go grab those books!

Recently I've been thinking a lot about how the dark academia aesthetic, whilst rich in aspects such as literature, music, and material beauty, is lacking in things such as activities.

So I've compiled a list of activities that I would personally deem as befitting the dark academia aesthetic (please do add to this list, as it's far from complete).

Sports:

Rowing (it's in literally every dark academic approved movie.)

Fencing

Tennis

Cricket

Croquet

Rugby (contrary to popular belief, women, men, and everyone in between can play this sport. It's not just for the boys.)

Polo

Equestrian sports

+ Figure/ice skating

+ Running (sprinting is handy for catching your lover when they fling themselves from a tower or something, and long distance is great for running alongside carriages that you want to rob.)

+ Boxing

+ Javelin, discus, wrestling covered in oil, think ancient Grecian Olympics.

+ Archery (how could I have forgotten.)

+ Ballet, ballroom dancing, traditional dances

+ Climbing

+ Snooker/Pool (either professionally or just for fun.)

Or, if you prefer the Oscar Wilde approach, no sports at all. That's cool too.

Games:

Chess (of course)

Backgammon

Cards (rummy, poker, blackjack, speed, whist, any game really, maybe with the exception of snap.)

Cluedo (I think it's 'Clue' in America. Don't argue with me, it counts as dark academia. It's got murder in it.)

+ Scrabble

Crafts:

Knitting (I knit socks, scarves, and am attempting a jumper. I find that it's far easier to knit your own jumper, scarf, socks, or whatever than hunting for one suitably 'aesthetically pleasing'.)

Embroidery (monogrammed handkerchiefs and shirts are so in.)

Weaving (sweet mother, I cannot-)

Making lace

Gardening

Cooking (not sure if this counts as a craft, but I'll throw it in just in case.)

Sewing (making clothes for yourself through sewing is a great way to make sure that your clothes fit perfectly, and are styled the way you want them to be. With practise, it becomes easier, and is definitely a useful skill to have.)

+ Calligraphy

+ Painting, of course. (release your inner Basil.

Outings:

Museums

Art galleries

Places of historical interests (in the UK, this might be more easily accessible with things like the National Trust. If you visit often, it might be useful to invest in a membership card with English Heritage (England), Cadw (Wales), or a National Trust card. I have a Cadw card, and I've found that it's accepted all over the UK, in the same way an entrance card specific to whichever country you're in would be too. I hope that makes sense.)

Public executions

Pubs

+ Go to a Café and sketch the people around you (I hear that charcoal or graphite is preferable here.)

Parks

Gardens

Churches, quaker meeting houses, graveyards, synagogues (sometimes the only places that are quiet are places of worship, and a lot of the time, they will be very welcoming in letting people in just to sit and think. Just remember to be respectful: don't insult people for their faith; don't scorn the place of worship; respect people buried in graveyards; don't take pictures, tempting as it may be, just to be on the safe side.)

The theatre

The opera

Concerts (classical music or otherwise)

Social events (memorial services, tours of your local university, open days, anything. It's an opportunity to learn, and spark intrigue because of your darkly mysterious and alluring demeanour.)

Things to do when you're bored.

Writing essays (it's really nerdy, but I find writing essays really interesting if they're on a topic I'm passionate about. It doesn't have to be an intellectual masterpiece, it could be 'The Top Ten Sexiest Classical Writers' for all I care. Just make it fun. Plus it's always an added bonus to that pile of messy papers that aesthetify your desk.)

Research (as above.)

Daydream about how you could have prevented the burning of the Library of Alexandria

Plan a murder / heist. Thoroughly.

Read something light (Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, Wilkie Collins or Colin Dexter novels are really good for relaxing. Murder mysteries are always good for winding down a little, whilst still keeping an active mind, so I would recommend those, but really, read whatever you want.)

Dress up

Read aloud

Perform a play alone (or to a pet, if you have one)

If you play an instrument, play through all of the pieces in your repertoire

More daydreaming

Take baths

Fake your death (by murder, of course)

Draw or paint something (no, it doesn't have to be good. Just do it to relax. See what kind of things you can create, like designing Frankenstein's monster)

Write a narrative piece

Watch a movie. A whole movie. Just sit down and watch a movie, no getting up and walking around, no flicking back and forth, no checking your phone. Just enjoy a movie without distractions.

Watch every single 'Greek Gods as vines' video on YouTube and count it as studying.

+ Listen to some classical music! I have a post on getting into classicl here:

Congratulations! You made it through!

Introduction

With mocks all over now and the run up for GCSEs well underway in my school and many others, it’s got me thinking about last year when I was in this position like all the year 11s this year. I remember it being such a stressful and quite obscure thing because I had never done external exams before and I didn’t really know what to expect. I thought I would share some of my own experiences and advice and maybe quash some myths. I hope this will help and if anyone has anymore advice or specific questions feel free to message me or add a comment below.

Also while I will be focusing on GCSEs because they are exams that I have experience with, a lot of this advice will apply to other exams so don’t be put off!

*disclaimer*

these are just my own experiences with GCSEs and therefore are by no means universal. I have tried to draw from the experiences of friends and other people I know as well but everybody is unique so not everyone is going to be the same. BECAUSE OF THIS, not all of the advice will suit you and the way you learn. But I would suggest that you try at least a few of the tips just to see if it works.

Mocks - What do I do with them?

By this point, I think everyone will have done their GCSE mocks and probably have their grades back for them. Mocks were a very stressful experience for me because I hurt my hand literally the night before my first exam so I could barely write and I was in a lot of pain for the whole week of doing them. Because of this, I got very very stressed and then started to get worried that the same thing would happen in my GCSEs.

This leads me into my first point mocks are not the real thing: they are very much a trial run and I would say that nothing can really compare to the real exams. By the time you get to your second or third actual GCSE exam you reach a point where you don’t even think about the actual process of all the stuff you have to do before the exam because you are so focussed on the information. Furthermore, if you get grades that you are disappointed with, try not to be worried by that because they, in the grand scheme of things, do not matter

Do - learn from where you went wrong

Don’t - see a mock grade and get stressed out that you are going to fail the whole subject at GCSE

I know this is very easy to say but genuinely lots of people I know went up at least one grade from their mocks. Your mock grade is not an iron clad prediction of what you will get at GCSE

Now that you have got your grade, what do you do with the exam???

First, all of my teachers gave us back the paper to look through and then went through the mark scheme for each questions. THIS WAS SO SO HELPFUL!

If you get the paper, and you get a bad grade or one that is lower than what you were expecting, this is what I would you suggest you do:

Take a deep breath

Remember that this is only your mock grade not the final thing

Resolve yourself to actually learn from this

Read through the paper: did you make a silly mistakes? Did you keep making the same mistakes? Was there a particular question and topic that you lost lots of marks on?

Make notes on the mistakes

Ask the teacher to either give you the mark scheme or through the paper with you - I personally found this really useful because a lot of the time you can use the mark scheme to make notes for each topic and write processes, definitions, etc, using exactly what they want

Make a list of the topics that you found particularly difficult so that these can be your priority for revision

Key point - use your mocks as the spring board for your revision. They are there to point out any weak areas of your knowledge.

Pre-Study Leave Revision - “I haven’t done anything!”

After mocks I planned to get very serious with revision. I was going to dedicate 5 hours a week for all my revision during school time. In the Easter holidays i was going to stick to my revision timetable and I was going to do 6 hours a day. I was going to finish all of my notes for all of my subjects by the end of the Easter holidays.

I did not manage to do ANY OF THAT

My biggest advice for revision before study leave is to give yourself a break. Remember that you are still in school and are in probably the most stressful school year you’ve had yet.

You need to prioritise your studying and use your time wisely rather than put impossible standards on yourself which only make you more stressed when you can’t achieve them.

What should your priorities be:

Do you have any exams before study leave starts? If so, dedicate a little bit of time each weekend to revise that. For me, these were my German and French oral exams and these were the exams people in my school got most stressed about so make sure you’ve had plenty of practise

HOMEWORK!!! This may seem odd because at this point you may be thinking that your teachers shouldn’t be giving you homework and should just let you revise, but actually the homework they give, in my experience, can be really helpful. It is basically revision but you also know that someone is probably going to check whether you’ve done it so you’re more likely to actually do it

If you have time, but DON’T stress yourself trying to make time, do some past papers or make some notes

Revision Techniques: Past Papers vs Notes

Which method is better?

Honestly, neither. In fact you need to use a mixture of both to get the best out of your revision.

Note Taking

Pros:

writing out information is a good way to learn it

you need to know the information at least vaguely to properly be able to do past papers

it’s more studyblr aesthetic

Cons:

it’s very time consuming

you could be focusing more on making the notes look pretty than actually absorbing the information

there is the danger that you could spend so much time learning the information that you don’t actually have time to practise exam technique

Past Papers

Pros:

exam technique and learning to recognise what the question is asking for is really really important

you need to be able to practise doing the papers under timed conditions

you can start to see trends in the types of questions that they put on the papers

Cons:

they’re pretty difficult to do if you don’t know the information

sometimes it can feel like you are just answering questions rather than actually learning and revising

it’s a lot harder to refer back to the past papers to check information

As you can see, there are pros and cons to both so you can’t just rely on one method to get you through exams. here’s how I combined the two to maximise my revision:

I downloaded/printed off the specification for each of my subjects

I went through all of my class notes to see if there were any gaps in my class notes compared to the specification - if there were I would use my textbooks to make notes on it

Go through the specification again. Rank (eg through traffic light colours) each sub-topic on how confident you feel with it. [note: think carefully about this one and actually be honest with yourself. It’s very easy to just think you don’t know anything and make it all red- but in reality you are going to know quite a lot)

Make notes on your worst topics. And try to make notes in a way that is actually constructive and lays it out in a way that you can conceptualise it more. For example, in chemistry, I just could not ‘rates of reaction’ to click. It was one of the easiest topics but for some reason I could never answer the questions right so I make a mind map (before I had just written bullet points) and condensed my notes to one A4 page so I could refer to one the most important pieces of information.

Once you have finished making notes on your worst topics, do two past papers without any notes

Go through the past papers completely with the mark scheme. In a different colour pen to the one you wrote with, actually write the answers from the mark scheme on the past papers

Then, make your notes for the topics from the past paper mark schemes. For example, in biology, which has loads of content to learn, I would write processes, such as protein synthesis and generic experiments, using all of the key words given in the mark scheme. This meant that I always would hit all the key marks

Repeat this for each past paper you do and eventually you will see that you are no longer losing marks

Why this works:

You are making sure you know enough before starting the past papers

You are practising exam technique

You are making notes on the gaps in your knowledge using exactly what examiners want- which means lots of marks

Because you are doing lots of past papers, you can start to see themes and trends in past papers and the types questions that come up all the time

Study Leave

before my study leave, I didn’t think I would get much work done because I had been so bad at doing work and focusing on revision In half term and Easter but here’s a little bit of reassurance if you are thinking along the same lines as I was: study leave is completely different to a half term

I’m not entirely sure what exactly makes it so different but for me and pretty much everyone I know, it wasn’t actually that difficult to revise and stay focused during study leave. Maybe it’s because all you really have to think about are GCSEs or maybe it’s the sort of adrenaline of exam season but I was able to be more focused than I have ever been before.

Here’s my tips to help you:

Stay off your phone: you can either use an app like forest to make sure you stay off your phone during revision time or just turn it off completely

Prioritise your study schedule: there is no point studying for a biology exam that you have in three weeks if you have a history exam this week

Prioritise your studying: there is no point studying a topic that you already know like the palm of your hand if there are three other topics that you are not sure on

Stay hydrated and well fed: have healthy study snacks and lots of water. Also don’t feel bad if you need some more unhealthy snacks As a treat after exams or after finishing a particularly long day

Get a good night sleep as often as possible: taking GCSEs is extremely tiring. I can’t tell you the number of times I came home after a long day or week of exams and just completely wiped out. So it’s really important to sleep as much as possible even though I know pulling that all nighter is very tempting

Lean on your friends and others in your year: everyone is going through the same thing and there is also going to be someone who can help you. I found GCSEs to be one of the most uniting experiences in my school life

Summary

Use mocks to find the gaps in your knowledge

Before study leave, don’t set unrealistic revision goals, instead focus on completing homework

During study leave, use a mixture of notes taking and past papers to revise

Use past paper marks schemes to guide your notes

Prioritise your studying during study leave

Sleep well and stayed healthy

I hope this was helpful and if anyone has any other questions or more tips feel free to reblog or send me an ask/message

The Classics

Browse works by Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad and other famous authors here.

Classic Bookshelf: This site has put classic novels online, from Charles Dickens to Charlotte Bronte.

The Online Books Page: The University of Pennsylvania hosts this book search and database.

Project Gutenberg: This famous site has over 27,000 free books online.

Page by Page Books: Find books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and H.G. Wells, as well as speeches from George W. Bush on this site.

Classic Book Library: Genres here include historical fiction, history, science fiction, mystery, romance and children’s literature, but they’re all classics.

Classic Reader: Here you can read Shakespeare, young adult fiction and more.

Read Print: From George Orwell to Alexandre Dumas to George Eliot to Charles Darwin, this online library is stocked with the best classics.

Planet eBook: Download free classic literature titles here, from Dostoevsky to D.H. Lawrence to Joseph Conrad.

The Spectator Project: Montclair State University’s project features full-text, online versions of The Spectator and The Tatler.

Bibliomania: This site has more than 2,000 classic texts, plus study guides and reference books.

Online Library of Literature: Find full and unabridged texts of classic literature, including the Bronte sisters, Mark Twain and more.

Bartleby: Bartleby has much more than just the classics, but its collection of anthologies and other important novels made it famous.

Fiction.us: Fiction.us has a huge selection of novels, including works by Lewis Carroll, Willa Cather, Sherwood Anderson, Flaubert, George Eliot, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others.

Free Classic Literature: Find British authors like Shakespeare and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, plus other authors like Jules Verne, Mark Twain, and more.

Textbooks

If you don’t absolutely need to pay for your textbooks, save yourself a few hundred dollars by reviewing these sites.

Textbook Revolution: Find biology, business, engineering, mathematics and world history textbooks here.

Wikibooks: From cookbooks to the computing department, find instructional and educational materials here.

KnowThis Free Online Textbooks: Get directed to stats textbooks and more.

Online Medical Textbooks: Find books about plastic surgery, anatomy and more here.

Online Science and Math Textbooks: Access biochemistry, chemistry, aeronautics, medical manuals and other textbooks here.

MIT Open Courseware Supplemental Resources: Find free videos, textbooks and more on the subjects of mechanical engineering, mathematics, chemistry and more.

Flat World Knowledge: This innovative site has created an open college textbooks platform that will launch in January 2009.

Free Business Textbooks: Find free books to go along with accounting, economics and other business classes.

Light and Matter: Here you can access open source physics textbooks.

eMedicine: This project from WebMD is continuously updated and has articles and references on surgery, pediatrics and more.

I must say I am very happy to see “real posts” on the explore page when I search for studyblrs. 

Not discrediting aesthetic studyblrs, but sometimes they portray impossible perfectionist standards. While the aesthetic is nice to strive for, showing what studying actually looks like is important as well.

I am seeing A LOT of small organic studyblrs with “non aesthetic posts”. You guys are posting the reality of student life and I👏🏼 AM 👏🏼HERE 👏🏼FOR 👏🏼IT!!! I can see that you are all working so hard to study and stay motivated and I am so proud of you! You are doing great work!!! 

Keep it up you guys!! 

22/04/2019

my first exam is in just 8 days ahhhh! my exams are quite spread out towards the start, and the further along exam season I go the closer together they become. I have school tomorrow and Wednesday, then we get exam leave. Will I be studying during exam leave? probably not let’s be honest.

Besides training your discipline, you will train your hand. You will need this, since you’ll have to answer your exam with pen and paper (sometimes for 4 hours in a row, so your hand needs training, believe me. Otherwise, you’ll cry with pain once the exam is over). - Take care of your study area The bigger the “gap” between your breakfast/shower and your study session will be, the more difficult it will be for you to start what needs to be done. So, it’s better to start at once, without even thinking about it. Do that a few times, and it will become a real habit! Hi guys! As promised, here is a simple, three steps method (packed with additional tips) that will help you become more disciplined.

If you apply these tips consistently a bit everyday, I promise you’ll see positive changes in your daily routine and that your study sessions will get less tedious.

1. Get yourself a planner

Or an agenda, or a bullet journal,… anything that will help you organize your days and schedule your activities.

Use it to keep track of all the things you need to do.

Additional tips :

- Use a color code to distinguish between your various activities

(For instance, here’s mine : Red = law school papers/compulsory activities ; green = sport ; pink = compulsory things that are not college related (doctor appointments, vet appointments for my pets, etc.) ; pink = domestic chores (laundry, cooking, etc.) and blue = spare time).

- If you opt for a bullet journal, decorate it as you wish, but do not lose time doing too elaborate things (not everyone is Picasso, right?)

Below, you’ll see the kind of bujo that I love! It’s neat, simple and straightforward.

- You can opt for a digital agenda and use your phone/computer/iPad to manage this BUT, do not forget that there will be times when you’ll need to switch ALL your electronics device off (= when you’re studying). So this might not be the more useful tool, but if you enjoy it, don’t hesitate using it.

P.S.: @emmastudies​ printables are just awesome to use on a daily/weekly/monthly basis! If you haven’t done it yet, check her studyblr and use her printables to build good, disciplined habits.

2. Know your rythm

As for anything, discipline requires that you know your rythm.

- Are you more productive in the morning or in the evening? - Do you feel drowsy after meals?

Always plan difficult subjects of demanding activities on the moments when you feel at the top of your capacities.

(For instance, I’m more productive in the mornings, so I always study a more difficult subject during my morning sessions. I feel sleepy after lunch, so I always plan some compulsory readings or some research at that time of the day and get back to “real” studying at around 2 p.m. And since I’m usually totally fed up with my books at around 6 p.m., that’s when I plan 30 to 45 minutes of sport).

Additional tips to become an early riser (if you’re more productive in the morning):

- Change your rythm step by step It’s no use trying to get up at 5 a.m. when you usually get up at 10 a.m.! Try to do it step by step and get up half an hour earlier every three days. Also, if you want to get up earlier go to bed earlier too. YOU NEED SLEEP to study and memorize effectively, so go to bed early if you need it!

- Have a shower in the morning and keep baths for the evening Showers will wake you up ; bath are more relaxing and will help you go to sleep.

3. Be gentle with yourself, but also learn to force yourself!

Of course, students need to be gentle with themselves. It’s no use blaming yourself because you “only” studied for 5 hours a day instead of 8 on your weekends –> progress is progress, no matter how small!

But sometimes, in order to overcome procrastination, we really need to force ourselves.

I’m sorry if you don’t want to read this, but if you want to become disciplined, there will be moments when you won’t feel like studying, but you will have to sit behind your desk, take your notes and books and start studying them.

There’s no miracle recipe here: sometimes, we HAVE TO be stronger than our feelings.

It’s hard, of course, but the result will be worth it. Don’t forget that success is at the other end.

Additional tips:

- Start at once Start studying as soon as you are showered, dressed and have breakfasted, Do not think about it: just go to your desk, check your planner/agenda, and start working on what you planned for the day.

The bigger the “gap” between your breakfast/shower and your study session will be, the more difficult it will be for you to start what needs to be done.  So, it’s better to start at once, without even thinking about it. 

Do that a few times, and it will become a real habit! 

- Take care of your study area

a) Clean and tidy your desk every night after you finish your daily work By doing this, you won’t lose time cleaning and tidying the next morning.

b) Prepare everything you’ll need for your next study session the night before Same objective here: everything will be ready for you to start studying at once! Do not forget to put an empty glass on your desk (this will remind you to stay hydrated) and to pack your fridge and kitchen with healthy snacks (fruits, veggies with hummus, almonds, etc.) that you’ll just have to grab when you want to take a break from your desk.

c) And don’t forget to make your desk area as appealing as possible Pin some motivational quotes on your wall; make a moodboard that will remind you why you are working so hard and what are your goals; put some pictures of your friends and family and imagine how proud they would be if they could see you right now!

- Try to avoid computers and phones when you do not need them

Of course, we need computers and phones to study. Most of universities and college make the study material available to students online; and some even organise online courses. Plus, many of us take notes with computers rather than with pen and paper.

But do not forget that computers and phones are the best way to procrastinate: you need to do some research on the web –> you end up spending an hour on Instagram.

So, use these devices carefully!

And if deep down into you, you know that you should avoid your computer/phone at all cost (because the temptation to do something else than studying will be too strong), then DO IT!

Instead of using your computer, take a pen and a sheet of paper and draw diagrams or mind maps with these, instead of using Free Mind (which is great, by the way, but “hand made” mind maps are too).

Same with flashcards: write them with a pen rather than with Quizlet (I love Quizlet too).

Besides training your discipline, you will train your hand. You will need this, since you’ll have to answer your exam with pen and paper (sometimes for 4 hours in a row, so your hand needs training, believe me. Otherwise, you’ll cry with pain once the exam is over).

Should be practising a new piece but instead of doing that I’m procrasinating by playing an old piece that I have already learnt