trying

heyy! with school starting again, I decided to combine a lot of helpful post, so you can rock the new school year! I’ve spent quite some time going through different masterposts and the ones i included here are very helpful resources. good luck for the new school year! <3

STUDYING

study effectively

revise method

take a break

study journal

planning the perfect study schedule

all the things that got me studying after one year of living through tv-show characters and wasting time on youtube (be honest, we all need this)

how to memorize

flashcards

preparing for exams

how to pull an all-nighter (but pls only do this in extreme situations)

how i study

SCHOOL

how to wear what you want to school

first day of class

emergency kit

list of tips (this is super helpful)

test taking tips

help! i hate my teacher

how to annotate

NOTE TAKING

how to take notes from a textbook

tips

what to do when you ruined your notes

upgrade your notes

ESSAYS

five paragraph essay

how to  write 20 pages

battling essays

STATIONERY

essentials

backpack buying guide

cute and cheap stationery

LANGUAGES

tips + resources

different ways to learn a language

how to learn a language by doing nothing

SELF CARE / PERSONAL

self care

some advice

back to school glow up

morning routine

night routine

skin care

stress route

mental health tips

school and heartbreak

tests for when you don’t know what to  do with your life

burnout - a guide for students

FOOD

study foods

ideas

easy recipes for students

ORGANIZATION

organize & refresh your phone and laptop https://youtu.be/3b00aqUqoZI

staying organized

guide to bullet journals

bujo for students

PRODUCTIVITY

beat procrastination 

how to increase productivity

sort out tasks

self-discipline

MOTIVATION

study moods

motivation

gentle reminder

how to motivate yourself to start studying

MUSIC

mildliner inspired study playlists

best spotify playlists and albums for your study session

playlists for different moods

study music

PRINTABLES

binder covers

grade tracker

study pack (task tracker, formula list, habit tracker, task tracker)

go to sleep

back to school kit (class data, study group sheet, supplies list)

APPS

google chrome extensions

my favorite study apps

THIS SHIT WORKS OKAY, I AM DEAD SERIOUS.

The last time I saw this on my dash, I didn’t think it would happen, so jokingly I wished I could go to a fun. concert.

AND GUESS WHAT, I WENT TO A FUCKING FUN. CONCERT.

I SAW THIS ON MY DASH THE OTHER DAY AND THOUGHT “ITS WORTH A TRY” SO I WISHED I COULD GET A 3DS

LITERALLY LIKE 4 DAYS LATER MY DAD SENT ME A PICTURE OF THE 3DS XL HE BOUGHT FOR ME WHILE I WAS AT SCHOOL

GUYS.

HE FUCKING CALLED ME 20 MINUTES LATER

20 FUCKNG. MINUTES. LATER.

A friend once asked me how I manage to do my tasks so efficiently. I wrote a 500-word essay in 20 minutes. I finished my math homework and studied for a quiz in the half hour before morning assembly. I sleep at 9 pm on most nights. But how can I possibly achieve that?

I’ve seen people, even good students, check their phone every minute or two as they’re studying. I’ve seen students “study” for six hours straight, meaning taking down some notes then watching a YouTube video then reading their textbook then opening Instagram… you know what I mean.

My advice is to commit to whatever you’re doing. Not too long ago, another friend asked me, “Jo, do you ever get distracted at home?” to which I replied, “Distracted by what?” They told me about how they always have the urge to check their phones, talk to their friends, or get some food.  I can’t say I never get distracted, but it very rarely happens to me because I focus on what I’m doing–and only what I’m doing. Here’s how:

1. During the time I allocate for working, I turn my phone to airplane mode (with WiFi switched off, of course). No messages or notifications will distract me from what I’m currently doing. Recently, though, I’ve left my phone on in case there’s anything important. There might an RMUN photoshoot tomorrow, or a Physics quiz, or a music showcase. I know myself well enough to know that I have the discipline to do nothing more than glance at the notification. However, if this isn’t true for you, then I suggest you keep your phone on airplane mode.

2. When I allocate time for relaxing, that’s all I do. No homework. No textbooks. No opening emails as they come. Just me and a good book or Photoshop or the piano or something. That way, I can satiate my thirst to relax within the half hour or so and not crave more when I start working

As for music, it’s been proven that music makes you less productive when trying to recall and absorb information (studying, in other words). Music only makes you happier when you’re doing things but not more productive.

By this, I don’t only mean which ones are most urgent, but which ones you can’t accomplish anywhere other than at home. For example, let’s say you have these three tasks: a) research about structural unemployment; b) write a poem with the theme of death; c) answer some questions about quantum physics; d) do a problem set about implicit functions; and e) memorize a set of chemical reactions. This is how I would do them:

Write the poem on the way to school. Maybe this is just because I like poetry. And because I can’t write when other people are around. I’d probably get a first draft done by the time I get home.

Do the research about structural unemployment. My school’s WiFi is terrible.

Answer the quantum physics questions. The new information is still fresh in my brain and doing the homework will help me revise, easing the process of spaced repetition.

Memorize the chemical reactions before I go to bed. Studying before you sleep is supposed to improve your memory, and since my memory is terrible, that’s exactly what I’ll do.

Do the implicit functions problem set as soon as I get to school the next morning. Math is undoubtedly my best subject, and it’s very refreshing to do math at 6:45 AM in the morning.

If you saw the pattern, I assigned each task a time slot when I would be most productive. I also did them from easiest to most difficult to the easiest again. Because everyone works differently, I suggest you find out which types of tasks are the most difficult (memorizing, in my case) and which types of tasks require a certain environment (e.g. requiring WiFi for doing research).

I guess that’s pretty much self-explanatory. I like to nap right after I get home from school if I’m feeling especially tired. As for breaks, I prefer to take them between tasks instead of every 25 minutes because of my high study inertia.

Commit to what you’re doing

Delegate and prioritize

Give yourself shorter deadlines

Take breaks!

Thank you!!

Full disclosure: Iwas a joint political science and international relations major, so some of thefollowing resources may be more international relations focused.

Generally, the most‘useful resources’ will depend on the region and system you’re studying. I’veincluded a range of general sources (for those pesky ideology based topics),and some region-specific sources.  

 Penguin Dictionaryof International Relations (.pdf format) 

Using a subjectdictionary is a brilliant way to get an overview of a new topic. You can use the concepts and theorists noted in the definition to expand your research and refine your understanding on the topic.

Note: don’t followdefinitions blindly - even"official" dictionaries hold some politicalbias.

Open Yale Courses:Introduction to Political Philosophy

[Resources] [Watch Lectures Here]

Yale (and otherleading universities) offer online “intro courses”, recorded onyoutube. While the topics are US centric, the lectures on philosophers andtheories (e.g. Hobbes, Locke, John Stuart Mill, Marxism etc.) provide a usefulintroduction, regardless of region.  

The Conversation

Editions: Australia, UnitedKingdom, United States, France, Africa

Stay ontop of “current issues”. They may serve as useful examples to illustratetheories, explain concepts and solidify your argument. A good way to do so isto follow a monthly magazine or read academic journals (See below) 

For example, TheConversation is written by leading academics and practitioners, but targeted at the layman. It deals with contentious current (and often complex) affairs in anaccessible manner. I find that it’s an easy way to get a brief intro into current events, without getting bogged down by political jargon etc. 

Academic Journals(e.g. accessed through JSTOR)

Dear god, pleaseutilise your university/ school’s access to academic databases. They should beyour point of call when doing a research essay/ any other assignment - notgoogle.

Look at the authoritative journal in your region. It’ll give you agood idea of 1. what the important issues/ discourse in the current literature are and 2. The opinionsof the leading academics. For example, the Australian Political ScienceAssociation ranks and lists a variety of academic journals here.  

OxfordUniversity Press Resources

Aside from being a leading publisher of introductory textbooks, OUP has an interactive site to support its publications. It contains flashcards, revision exercises, examples, and further commentary by the authors. It’s very handy regardless of whether you have the textbook or not. 

Crash Course

Sometimes, simple isbest! With particularly complex topics,I find its always easier to take a broadstroked view, and then slowly build upon the detail. For example, Crash Course does abrilliant intro to the US system.

Ted ed: GovernmentDeclassified

Many of these videos are US centric. Nevertheless, there’s a few interesting videos on political philosophy. And heck, its always a lot more interesting to watch a video than struggle through a 20+ page article!  

By region/ subjectarea

The following resources list a range of additional websites etc which are helpful if you want specific information on a particular region. 

UK: Keele’s Guide 

US: Library ofCongress 

AUS: USYD’s resources for political science and international relations and you can find a list of uni resources, think tanks and other orgs here.  

Hope that helps! 

I believe in free education, one that’s available to everyone; no matter their race, gender, age, wealth, etc… This masterpost was created for every knowledge hungry individual out there. I hope it will serve you well. Enjoy!

FREE ONLINE COURSES (here are listed websites that provide huge variety of courses)

Alison 

Coursera

FutureLearn

open2study

Khan Academy

edX

P2P U

Academic Earth

iversity

Stanford Online

MIT Open Courseware

Open Yale Courses

BBC Learning

OpenLearn

Carnegie Mellon University OLI

University of Reddit

Saylor

IDEAS, INSPIRATION & NEWS (websites which deliver educational content meant to entertain you and stimulate your brain)

TED

FORA

Big Think 

99u

BBC Future

Seriously Amazing

How Stuff Works

Discovery News

National Geographic

Science News

Popular Science

IFLScience

YouTube Edu

NewScientist

DIY & HOW-TO’S (Don’t know how to do that? Want to learn how to do it yourself? Here are some great websites.)

wikiHow

Wonder How To

instructables

eHow

Howcast

MAKE

Do it yourself

FREE TEXTBOOKS & E-BOOKS

OpenStax CNX

Open Textbooks

Bookboon

Textbook Revolution

E-books Directory

FullBooks

Books Should Be Free

Classic Reader

Read Print

Project Gutenberg

AudioBooks For Free

LibriVox

Poem Hunter

Bartleby

MIT Classics

Many Books

Open Textbooks BCcampus

Open Textbook Library

WikiBooks

SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES & JOURNALS

Directory of Open Access Journals

Scitable

PLOS

Wiley Open Access

Springer Open

Oxford Open

Elsevier Open Access

ArXiv

Open Access Library

LEARN:

1. LANGUAGES

Duolingo

BBC Languages

Learn A Language

101languages

Memrise

Livemocha

Foreign Services Institute

My Languages

Surface Languages

Lingualia

OmniGlot

OpenCulture’s Language links

2. COMPUTER SCIENCE & PROGRAMMING

Codecademy

Programmr

GA Dash

CodeHS

w3schools

Code Avengers

Codelearn

The Code Player

Code School

Code.org

Programming Motherf*?$%#

Bento

Bucky’s room

WiBit

Learn Code the Hard Way

Mozilla Developer Network

Microsoft Virtual Academy

3. YOGA & MEDITATION

Learning Yoga

Learn Meditation

Yome

Free Meditation

Online Meditation

Do Yoga With Me

Yoga Learning Center

4. PHOTOGRAPHY & FILMMAKING

Exposure Guide

The Bastards Book of Photography

Cambridge in Color

Best Photo Lessons

Photography Course

Production Now

nyvs

Learn About Film

Film School Online

5. DRAWING & PAINTING

Enliighten

Ctrl+Paint

ArtGraphica

Google Cultural Institute

Drawspace

DragoArt

WetCanvas

6. INSTRUMENTS & MUSIC THEORY

Music Theory

Teoria

Music Theory Videos

Furmanczyk Academy of Music

Dave Conservatoire

Petrucci Music Library

Justin Guitar

Guitar Lessons

Piano Lessons

Zebra Keys

Play Bass Now

7. OTHER UNCATEGORIZED SKILLS

Investopedia

The Chess Website

Chesscademy

Chess.com

Spreeder

ReadSpeeder

First Aid for Free

First Aid Web

NHS Choices

Wolfram Demonstrations Project

Please feel free to add more learning focused websites. 

monday to thursday - semester six, week three

He asked somebody to raise their hand and ask him when we would use calculus in our everyday life. So one student rose their hand and asked, “When are we going to use this in our everyday life?”

“NEVER!!” the teacher exclaimed. “You will never use calculus in your normal, everyday life. In fact, very few of you will use it in your professional careers either.” Then he paused. “So would you like to know why should care?”

Several us nodded.

He picked out one of the varsity football players in the class. “You practice football a lot during the week, right Tim?” asked the teacher.

“Yeah,” replied Tim. “Almost every day.”

“Do you and your teammates ever lift weights during practice?”

“Yeah. Tuesdays and Thursdays we spend a lot of practice in the weight room.”

“But why?” asked the teacher. “Is there ever going to be a play your coach tells you use during a game that requires you to bench press the other team?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then why lift weights?”

“Because it makes us stronger,” said Tim.

“Bingo!!” said the teacher. “It’s the same thing with calculus. You’re not here because you’re going to use calculus in your everyday life. You’re here because calculus is weightlifting for your brain.”

Planning helps to clear my head and makes the mess I make during studying a bit more bearable.

Masterpost 4 out of 50: The Motivation  Self-Discipline Masterpost