Geek Monkey Studies

Justin Timberlake Pulling Panicked All-Nighter After Realizing New Album Due Tomorrow

do your research before reading the book, it’s always a good idea to look up the author and when the book was written and published. by looking that up, you can learn about the historical context of the book and get a deeper understanding of the plot, characters, and the author’s purpose behind reading the book.

read the intro and summary of the book before beginning if there’s an introduction to the book, be sure to read that for any relevant information that may help you analyze the book. find a summary of the book online to prepare yourself for a good reading. i know, i know, it feels like a bit of a letdown if you know the ending beforehand, but without it, you may get caught up in the plot and lose the important thematic details of the book. it’ll allow you to read the book with an open mind.

figure out what you need to do do you have a list of vocabulary for the book? find out each definition. do you need to analyze a character? get a sheet of paper and get ready to take notes on the characters. do you need to write about the theme? get post-it notes and mark the quotes that you think are relevant to the plot. either way, just be prepared for what you have to do with the book.

don’t highlight; write oftentimes, people will simply highlight pretty much anything in the book. i’m not a huge fan of the highlighting - annotating method because you may want to sell the book later on or reread it without bombarding your eyes with bright color. the highlighter ink may even bleed to the other side of the paper. i think that it just ruins the reading experience and future potential. it also encourages passive reading. instead, use sticky notes or sticky tabs to write down notes and place them in the book. keep a piece of paper by your side to take note of every character’s name and important plot points. using a color key with sticky notes may be helpful as well. if you must, i would suggest underlining with a pencil so that you can erase it after you’re done with the whole process.

take copious notes write down the words that you don’t know in the story and look them up. write down characters and their changes over the course of the book. write down times / settings when they show up. write down important quotes and passages + page numbers. write down every single thought that you have about the book because it may become relevant later on.

make a summary of the chapter after you finish one i personally like doing the summaries on index cards and then put them in order after i finish the entire book. i can then look through them to see the plot progression and character growth over the course of the story without hunting through the book or my notes.

wait until you finish the entire paragraph / passage before writing notes if you stop halfway, you may miss important information that’s revealed at the end of the passage. besides, you may develop new thoughts after reading the entire passage / paragraph.

look for literary devices you know, your metaphors, allusions, similes, personifications, etc etc etc. it’s good to be familiar with literary devices because they will often give an insight to the story and frequently become relevant to questions on the test / writing things. here’s a good site on literary devices.

This post is for those times when you feel completely overwhelmed & incapacitated by all of the school work and life responsibilities you have to do but just don’t know where to start! This might happen after procrastinating and avoiding studying for a week or maybe after you’ve been sick and unable to do anything except cough and sleep. This is what works for me, and I hope it can help you!

1. Clean Up Your Study Space

Take 30 minutes to an hour tidying up your work area. My desk is in my office, so I not only clean up my desk, but also tidy my room and put away anything out of place.

Set an alarm so you don’t get distracted or carried away. The goal is to take care of a lot in one day, which can’t happen if you start to reorganize your closet ;)

2. List Assignments by Due Date

Make a list of any assignments which are overdue. 

If you have a medical reason for missing these assignments, print off or get the paperwork needed for late submissions (or contact professors/ teachers via email) so you won’t receive late marks.

Now, make a list of all assignments coming up in the next two weeks in order of due date. 

3. Create Assignment Folders

Count the number of assignments you have, and take out that number of folders. If you don’t have folders, that’s okay- you can use binder or paper clips.

For each folder, label it and then put the assignment instructions, research, notes, and anything else you have that is relevant to the assignment. 

If you think it will take 15 minutes or less, do a bit of research for the assignments, print the research off, and 

Store or stack these assignment folders by due date.

CHECK IN: If you have any overdue assignments which you don’t have a medical note for, stop here and complete them now. Start with the shortest ones and continue to the more time consuming assignments. You might be staying up very late today, but you can do it!

4. List Tests and Exams by Date

Make a list of all midterms, quizzes, and exams coming up in the next two weeks.

On this list, include all you know about the content of the quiz. For example, write down the lectures and textbook chapters you will be studied on, as well as any key concepts or questions you think will be covered.

5. Create Course Priorities for Studying

Start with the tests & assignments that are coming up first!

Then, look at how you are doing in each course. For example, in two of my courses I have grades back that are above 90s and one in which I have an 85. My other two classes I have an 80 and in my fifth class I have no marks yet. 

After I finish my assignments due this week, I will start working on my Anatomy & Physiology course work and studying first because I haven’t handed anything in yet so it is the most important right now! Then I’ll study for the midterm coming up in the class where I have an 80, and so on.

The basics

a brief guide how to take notes

note-taking 101

college note taking 101

symbols and abbreviations for note taking

how to take great notes (and actually remember them)

how to take notes (like someone who hates taking notes)

how to maintain good notes

in class notes

taking lecture notes

how to take lecture notes

how to take notes during and after a lecture

how to take notes from a textbook

a visual learner’s guide to textbook note taking

the Cornell note-taking method

a guide to the Cornell method

more about the Cornell method

how to do outline notes

a note taking method

another note taking method

another note taking method 2

another note taking method 3

another note taking method 4

typing your notes

how to make notes on a laptop

how to make Math notes

how to make History timelines

my study notes tag

Make your notes pretty + color coding

how to color code

how to color code notes

another color coding system

use sticky notes

how to use post its when taking notes and annotating

how to draw banners

my studyspo tag

my handwriting tag

Mindmaps

how to mind map

how to mind map 2

how to make a mindmap for summarizing

my mindmaps tag

Flashcards

how to make flashcards

how to make flashcards 2

guide to making flashcards

quick flashcards tips

tips for flashcards

more tips for flashcards

how to use flashcards

a quick guide to using flashcards

studying effectively with flashcards

my flashcards tag

+ back to school masterpost

+ productivity masterpost

I’ve seen a lot of appblrs posting their tentative college application lists and I just wanted to offer some advice. From the few lists I’ve seen, many of you still have a huge variety of schools on your lists. So seeing as though many of you are trying to narrow those lists down/finalize them, here are some things to keep in mind:

Make lists of things you like and don’t like about each school. If the negatives outweigh the positives, you might want to reconsider applying.

Research each school as if you were writing a “why this school?” essay. If you can’t find enough information you like to write one of these essays, it probably isn’t the best fit for you.

Don’t apply to all 8 Ivies. I know Ivies are top schools known for academic excellence, but that doesn’t mean you need to apply to every single one. Research them all and then pick the one or two that best fit you if you really want to apply to some.

Don’t apply to schools just “to see if you’ll get in” if you want nothing more than to be able to say that you got into school X.

Consider location and campus culture which is often related to the geography of the school.  If you can’t see yourself being able to handle the weather extremes of a school, you might need to rethink things.

Consider the size of the school overall and the size of your individual classes. Make sure the schools on your list offer a learning environment in which you will be able to succeed.

If possible, talk to students who go to each of the schools to get a more personal vibe of the school. Even if you can’t physically go to the school to talk to them, you can try appblr. I’m sure someone out there will be able to help you out.

Look into their student clubs/activities and what students do for fun on Friday nights/weekends. You’ll be spending a lot of time there, so make sure you’re comfortable with all aspects of student life, not just academics.

Make sure you have safeties, and make sure they’re true safeties. A school with a 20-30% acceptance rate is not a safety for anyone.

Make sure you consider finances and have financial safeties if necessary.

Make sure you genuinely like every single school you apply to, especially your safeties. You never know where you’ll end up.

Have match schools. There will most likely be a huge gap between your reach schools and your safeties. Match schools will help fill that and give you more options later down the road.

If you find yourself stuck on one or two “dream schools” do apply to them, but also take a step back and figure out what specifically you like about them and look for other schools with those things. This will help you find more schools that are similar to the school(s) you love, and it might help eliminate schools that are lacking in too many areas.

Soooo it’s no secret sometimes finding the best technique to take notes can be tough, especially towards the beginning of the school year when you haven’t taken notes for at least two months. Math can be especially tricky because people often say “how do you study for math?”…

Mercutio does not actually die on-stage. He is stabbed by Tybalt, makes a few puns and the odd dick joke (as one would), and then asks Benvolio to help him “into some house”. They go off-stage and Benvolio re-enters a few lines later (suspiciously few, in fact) to report Mercutio’s death.

Benvolio himself then promptly disappears from the play at the end of the scene.

How do you brush your teeth?

a) bravely

b) while making a sandwich

c) while reading a book