study + cake

19.12.20

Wondering if I’ll be able to get time in to read / finish the books I started this year 😅

I  School Days 

1. Show up to class a little early. It’ll give you time to set up, read over some old notes, put your water bottle/thermos on your desk, fill out your planner if you couldn’t in the previous period(s), check your planner to see if you have something on that day etc.

2. Sit in the front or second row. I’m serious, you will definitely benefit. Write detailed class notes. Pick whatever system works for you. I usually write my titles in red pen, notes in black pen, underline points that are repeated/emphasised, highlight keywords at home

3. If you have time at school, do as much homework as you can. If you know you have commitments that day, please for the love of your education do your homework at lunch. I know you might feel awkward, but your friends will understand. 

4. When you get home, first list down all the homework received that day on a q card (cross off as you go). Then write the same tasks in your bullet journal, but as a daily spread. Use stayfocusd or self control for mac + leave phone in a different room. FINISH ALL OF YOUR HOMEWORK. If for some reason you couldn’t complete a homework task, write it on a sticky note and place it on your wall. After homework is done, write your revision notes (flashcard the info as well). Place the notes in your accordion folder/binder. If you have some loose sheets at any point, place them in a ‘To Be Filed’ box. Sort that out when you’re packing your bag for the next day.

5. Go through the flashcards made that day and the flashcards made on the previous days.  List out all assignments/assessments on another q card with their due dates. This will come in handy later.

6. Pack your bag the night before. Remember your accordion folder + make sure your ‘To Be Filed’ box is empty. Put water bottle in the fridge and make meals for the next day.

7. The next day, wake up early, complete any unfinished homework, go through flashcards again, read through revision notes, make lunch for the day, put laptop in bag, put food + water in bag, exercise (esp if you have commitments after school), shower, change, blah blah blah. Only do this if your schedule is packed, and in my case, this is a must.

II  Weekends

1. On Friday nights, first off, do homework. You will thank yourself for it. Whip out that list of assessments/assignments and allocate half days to knock off at least two of these little assholes. Work ahead, you will feel much better.

2. Do your readings. For English, knock off some wider reading novels, for HSIE, knock off some textbook unit readings (two units ahead), for science, knock off some more textbook readings. Write summaries of each page. Type these summaries. Print these summaries. Place in accordion folder/binder. Flashcard the info. Spend like half a day doing this lmao.

3. Spend 1-2 hours going through the flashcards you made that week for each subject. This counts as studying my friend. 

III Weekends When You Actually Have Assessments 

1. Due to your working ahead, homework completion and readings, you shouldn’t be panicking too much. Get those revision notes and slot in the textbook readings notes. Highlight, annotate, read aloud, go through flashcards and get someone to test you on the content. Make sure you know all terms, formulae, key concepts, vocabulary etc etc

2. As for assignments, again due to your working ahead just print them out and heavily edit those little asshats. Then type the edits into the doc. Repeat this process four times. Then get someone to read it. Make sure all your assignments are on your USB + email them to yourself because you never fucking know tbh. 

3. You’ll probs have to sacrifice your reading time but that’s chill because the teacher/prof will probably be focusing on prepping you for the actual assessment + you gotta do what you gotta do.

SUMMARY

Even if you never thought of your upbringing as painful or malicious, you can and should still give yourself things you missed out on. Take that class! Learn that skill! Eat the foods you like, or branch out into new ones! Jump in piles of leaves and decorate your walls the way you want them.

Perfectionism is not a growth mindset. Getting things wrong, making mistakes, and learning from them is the basis of learning. If you got perfect grades, you’re not challenging yourself enough.

Perfection is an impossible, vaguely-defined endgoal. If you were the best, what is there left to do? You’re not here to perform feats of academic success - you’re here to learn.

Don’t sweat the small details. Will a couple percentage points on an assignment or even a final grade matter in the long term? Employers often don’t look at your GPA. They look at your skills. Focus on becoming a flexible learner, not a rigid perfection-driven drone.

You need to finish. Your assignment will never be perfect and there will always be room for improvement. It’s better to hand in an imperfect product than to not hand in anything at all.

Set reasonable goals. To err is human. Don’t set yourself up for failure. Develop reasonable goals and strive for them. Celebrate reaching a standard of good enough, which isn’t always perfect.

Just do it.  You need to get something done. Don’t let your idea of perfection paralyze you. Make a messy product. You’re not going to get it right the first time. You can always edit and refine the product later. 

listening to mozart, brahms, chopin (!!!), classical music in general at midnight with airpods

drinking carbonated water in a wine glass

drinking a p p l e j u i c e in a wine glass

cheap instant tea in an antique teacup that you're sure is haunted and has been passed down for at least two (2) and a half generations

playing bach on an electric piano

reading the secret history as an ebook

doing research on alkaline hydrolysis in that brand new library that appeared out of nowhere three blocks from your house

blasting operatic arias on bluetooth speakers

going to class gussied up in yout finest tweed, linen, silk, etc. with a worm on a string attached to the loop of your trousers

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.