JUST DO IT ✔️

During High school I was one of those students who never really had to work for my marks, I had the uncanny ability to leave my assignment till the night before and still manage full marks that is ..till I got to university, my first year was a disaster I was barely passing my units I was stressed and depressed, what got me through high school was clearly not working in university. So to stop my second year in university from being a disaster as well and to save my gpa I decided to learn how to study from scratch!  spoiler: It worked and my marks have tripled since I adopted these habits. So here are the things I started doing!

- I invested in school supplies that I NEEDED and not just for aesthetic, example I bought tons and tons of basic cheap notebooks because I knew I was going to do a lot of writing and things like flashcards. My rule of thumb was if its functional its perfect.

- I attended every lecture and every class no matter what the time was! This is essential as it saves time later when you are rushing around trying to catch up. 

- I tried to stay up to date no matter what! Before I would let lecture after lecture pile up but ever since doing this, my study life has been much easier to cope with. 

- UNDERSTANDING EVERYTHING YOU LEARN FROM THAT WEEK, I cannot stress how much this has helped me. If I am learning about a topic in week 5, I have to understand it fully in week 5, not when I am in finals week and stressing out. I use resources such as textbooks and the internet to help me understand or I will ask my teacher. The important thing is I understand it fully.

- Be organised!  Know when you have an assignment due, there are so many ways to do this. Handheld planner, wall planner, phone reminders, there is apps such as my study life. Anything that will remind you to get started on the thing before it is too late.

- Review your notes weekly or fortnightly!!! Memory works by relearning, instead of cramming the night before exams, review weeks before.

- Break down your essays weeks before its due, you don’t have to start writing them right away but at least start thinking about them.

- Utilise any free time, for example instead of listening to music on my 45 min bus ride to uni I started listening to a psych podcast or doing my readings for that day.

- Have mental health days, I found out how difficult it is to study and how necessary it is to take breaks. Studying is stressful, have days/half days where you relax and look after yourself.

-Cut down on caffeine, I was a serial coffee addict, Im talking 4 shots a cup three times a day. Cutting down reduced my anxiety and got me sleeping more, which improved my mood and energy.

- Have a study buddy/group, find someone who is serious about their study and have study sessions with them, you get to study and have a social life.

- Find a study schedule that suits you, don’t feel pressure to get up at 5 am if you find it easier to study at 6pm.

2018 Student Planner Printable Pack

Super excited to have published my first proper planner for 2018! I’ve made it to include 85 pages of content which are going to help you in organising, planning and improving your grades! 

It is an instant download purchase so you have the planner immediately and can use in any way you want! Either in a discbound planner, as individual pages or bound together.

It includes 3 files: A4, A5 and letter to suit your needs!

I hope you guys like it! I’d love to hear your thoughts!! xxx

Download from this link!

1. “I Don’t Know where to Begin.”

Make a list of all the things you have to do. Break your workload down ito manageable chunks. Prioritize. Schedule your time realistically. Begin studying early, with an hour or two per day, and slowly build as the exam approaches.

2. ‘I’ve Got So Much to Study…And so Little Time"

Preview. Survey your syllabus, reading material, and notes. Identify the most important topics emphasized, and areas still not understood. Previewing saves time, by helping you organize and focus in on the main topics.

3. “This Stuff is so Dry, I can’t Even Stay Awake Reading It”

Get actively involved with the text as you read. Ask yourself, “What is important to remember about this section?” Take notes or underline key concepts. Discuss the material with others in your class. Stay on the offensive.

4. “I Read It. I Understand It. But I Just Can’t Get it To Sink In”

Elaborate. We remember best the things that are most meaningful to us. As you are reading, try to elaborate upon new information with your own examples. Try to integrate what you’re studying with what you already know. You will be able to remember new material better if you can link it to something that’s already meaningful to you.

Chunking: Example: to remember the colors in the visible spectrum, Rog G.Biv –> reduce the information the three “chunks”.

Mnemonics: Associate new information with something familiar.

5. “I Guess I Understand It”

Test yourself. Make up questions about key sections in notes or reading. Examine the relationships between concepts and sections. Often, imply by changing section headings you can generate many effective questions.

6. “There’s Too Much to Remember”

Organize. Information is recalled better if it is represented in an organized framework that will make retrieval more systematic.

Write chapter outlines of summaries; emphasize relationships between sections.

Group information into categories or hierarchies, where possible.

Information Mapping. Draw up a matrix to organize and interrelate material.

7. “I Knew It A Minute Ago”

Review. After reading a section, try to recall the information contained in it. Try answering the questions you made up for that section. If you cannot recall enough, re-read portions you had trouble remembering. The more time you spend studying, the more you tend to recall. Even after the point where information can be perfectly recalled, further study makes the material less likely to be forgotten entirely. How you organize and integrate new information is still more important than how much time you spend studying.

Hey, guys!

I don’t know about you, but I personally find audio stimulation incredibly necessary to my study sessions, drives, and whenever I go running. One of the best (free!) resources for this are podcasts. Not only do you get to listen to real people and expand your worldview, but you can learn something as well! I’ve listed a few of my favorites, feel free to add your own!

Planet Money is a fantastic foray into economics, sociology, and special interest for beginners and veterans in those fields alike. The hosts are always humorous and you will always come out of one of these 20-minute episodes understanding the world around you a little more.

Stuff You Should Know feels like How It’s Made for your ears. Even those boring topics you’d never look into a million years are brought to life with these guys!

Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History helped me pass my AP World History exam. He takes the time to explore an incredibly complex era in history with intricate and enticing detail. Coupled with excellent storytelling abilities, you just might be able to cite the succession of the Mongol empire by heart.

TED Radio Hour is a great way to take your TED talks to go. 60 minutes of experts, professors, parents, widows, and so much more of real humans sharing their insights, experiences, and livelihoods with you. What else could you ask for!

Mac Power Users helped me understand that to master your craft, you have to master your tools. Hosts David Sparks and Katie Floyd explore how we can make iPhones, iPads, and Macs work for us and expand our productivity past where it ever could be.

Cortex focuses on the workflows and systems of a popular educational YouTuber, CGP Grey. They talk about email, current events in the tech industry, and how an output-based skillset has to evolve over time. It also brings up the importance of side projects to keep you engaged (Which is what this studyblr is for me!)

College Info Geek is quite possibly the most useful podcast I’ve ever listened to. It’s hosted by Thomas Frank, a college grad who managed to turn his college blog into a very successful small business. He reads hundreds of books on productivity and education and distils them down to bite-size chunks while also taking important questions about college, business, and learning.

Beyond the To-Do List is a podcast that explores the tools that a variety of industry leaders use to remain successful. Each person is unique and brings their own chemistry to the question of how to get your work done with as little resistance as possible.

Serial is a murder mystery. It blew up overnight and brings to light the questions of morality in the criminal justice system. A classic “Whodunit” with a good deal of investigative journalism.

Invisibilia is a podcast for those of you who love psychology and sociology. Through personal epitaphs from around the world, the invisible concepts that shape how we feel and how we see the world are discussed. This podcast gets browny points for being incredibly addictive and informative to boot.

S-Town is unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. It was a heart-wrenching, confusing, absolutely stunning piece of auditory journalism from an unexpected source. Warning: heavy language content and discussion of prejudice.

The Mind Palace is an intensive exploration of the history and art from unconventional and fascinating perspectives. Excellently edited and curated for massive historical enjoyment. Perfect for those of you who love Sherlock references and literary media alike!

That’s all, folks! Happy listening! Let me know what you listen to!

30 March, 2017 | nerdybun’s printables!

hey guys! I have not been v active (again), so I’m sharing some printables I made for a friend after a few edits to make up for my absence ahhhh.

I do not see a lot of printables for history class, so I thought I should post them first before I post the other common ones (planners, grade tracker, etc.) yass many more printables from me are on their way but I’m not satisfied w my edits yet so you guys are gonna have to wait a lil longer tho.

To Do Lists

to do lists by @apricot-studies​ let’s do this! by @thearialligraphyproject​ assignment tracker by @thearialligraphyproject​ hand drawn to do list printable by @setldwn​ to do lists by @studeying​ unresolved matter by @boligraff​ brain dump by emily ley to do lists by me 

Daily

daily planner v2 by @boligraff​ daily planner by @arystudies​ daily planner + today’s meals by @studyvet​ the simplified planner by emily ley daily schedule by buttoned up daily planning page by day designer

Weekly

weekly planner by @cofene​ one step at a time by @vestiblr​ weekly planner by @theorganisedstudent​ weekly planner by @arystudies

Monthly 

calendar series by @thearialligraphyproject 2016 calendars by @annistudio​

Studying

definitions of terms by @thearialligraphyproject​ exam study pack by @ennui-for-me​ formula sheet by @studyvet​ polyglot starter pack by @ennui-for-me​ overcoming the curve of forgetting by @studyingalpacas reading academic articles by @ennui-for-me

Trackers

productivity tracker by @hexaneandheels habit tracker by @studyvet goal getter by @theorganisedstudent monthly spending by buttoned up

Other

I won’t pretend to be an expert on anxiety, but I have experienced feelings of anxiety of the social kind as well as general anxiety towards various aspects of my life. I spent over a year and a half in what I can only describe as a depressive state which, combined with these crippling feelings of anxiety, affected my ability to focus on school work. My motivation to make this post was triggered by several messages I’ve received in the few months that I’ve been a studyblr, asking me how one can balance studying and anxiety. I have attempted to compile a list of resources that will help anybody out there who suffers from anxiety, no matter how severe. Some of these resources are external sources and some are just personal views/pieces of advice based on things that really helped me. Some will relate specifically to studying whilst some will relate generally to taking care of oneself. They won’t work for everyone, but I hope these help at least one person feel better.

Apps

Pacifica From simply telling the app how you feel to conducting deep breathing exercises, this app aims to flush away as much of your anxiety as possible by combining elements of mental and physical relaxation. Logging your feelings like this can help you track patterns and triggers in your anxiety, which can help you prepare or control for those triggers in future. Nobody’s anxiety is the same, so this helps you understand your own anxiety as opposed to the general umbrella-term definition of anxiety they give online. This technique might not be equally effective for anyone, again partly because of how diverse anxiety is, but part of understanding your own anxiety is also understanding what doesn’t work. So trial it for a week or so, and if it doesn’t work you absolutely don’t have to continue using the app.

Self-help for Anxiety Management (SAM) Similar to Pacifica, SAM was developed by a team of Psychologists, Computer Scientists and students at the University of West England. This app has great reviews and not only has it been trialled by the student demographic but it was developed in part by them too. This app also enables you to build your own bespoke toolkit of in-app resources based on what you find personally helpful.

Other resources

My self care tag features a lot of posts (by other people) that have resources to help you look after yourself. Most of these are nothing to do with studying or academia; Instead, they focus on general wellness and self care

How to deal with anxiety when learning by David Mansaray

Printable anxiety self-help guide by Moodjuice

Anxiety and panic attacks by Mind

Managing anxiety with creativity by Mind

10 best ever anxiety management techniques by the Australian National University

How Do You Feel? By This Way Up This page helps you establish exactly what emotions it is that you’re feeling and gives you self-help advice based on that specific feeling/those specific feelings. They even offer courses to help you control and hopefully overcome your anxiety. They report that 80% of users benefit substantially from using their programmes, whilst 50% emerge reporting that they are no longer affected by anxiety. A 3-month supervised course costs $59 AUD. Online courses/iOS courses are also offered, but those are only available in Australia. If you’d require a parent or guardian to pay on your behalf, please ask the cardholder’s permission before you purchase the course. Courses are viewable here but you can navigate the site to find courses that fit different, specific needs.

20 scientifically backed ways to de-stress right now

Personal advice

These are things that have worked for me personally, so I’m sharing them with you in the hope that they help some of you too.

Break things down. Looking at the big picture can be daunting and triggering. This works for general tasks as well as for academic ones. Break down your day into a list of all the individual things you need to do. First of all, externalising the information and making it a visual list as opposed to a jumble of thoughts will help you make sense of everything. Then, look at the tasks you have and see if they can be broken down further. For example, if you have a 30-page chapter in a textbook you need to read, break that down into 6 sets of 5 pages as opposed to one big lump of 30 pages. Then, take it five pages at a time. Each fifth page that you read is a stepping stone achievement towards the main achievement and having those smaller, more readily achievable goals to aim for really will help. This also works with academic topics in general. If you have a really complex concept you need to digest and remember that you just can’t make any sense of, break it down into the simplest terms possible. For example, start with “In the English language, there are consonants and vowels.” Once you’re certain with that, try and further that to “There are front, central and back vowels.” And “There are nasal, plosive, fricative, etc. consonants.” Get comfortable with each extra step you take before you take another step towards the more complex stuff. Learn things and break them down until you could teach them to someone else.

Widen your margin of error. This one was the most difficult for me to achieve, but if you work towards it, you will get there. It’s all about accepting that perfection is unattainable. Nobody is perfect. Everyone messes up, everyone makes mistakes, and everyone makes wrong decisions. It’s a part of life and it’s a part of how we learn. Whether it’s tripping over your words whilst talking to someone or failing a test, you need to allow yourself to accept that it’s happened and you can’t change it. Focus on what you can change (i.e. your future) as opposed to what you can’t change (i.e. the past). Sure, you could have gotten a B on that test if you’d studied more. But you didn’t. And you can’t change that now. So why worry about it? Worry about making sure you do get a B on the next test by studying further in advance. It took me so long to learn to think like this but now I’m able to put things into perspective. If I’m worrying about something I ask myself “Why am I worrying about this?” and then “Can I change this?”. I often find that the things I’m worrying about are either things that have already happened and I no longer have control over, or things that are yet to happen that I am totally capable of controlling for.

Try to avoid catastrophizing. It’s all so easy to think “I’ll never get this done today.” When you’re working on a really long, difficult piece of work.  Sometimes, you get so caught up in thinking that you’ll “never get this done” that you waste precious time worrying about it when you could be making progress. Instead of saying “I’ll never get this done.”, try thinking “Okay, maybe I don’t have as much time as I’d like to complete this. But I’ll make the most of the time that I do have and do as much as I can.”

Trick yourself with early deadlines. This one was a game changer for me after dragging myself (and what felt like 1000 tonnes of anxiety through my third year at Uni). This year, when I’m told a deadline by a lecturer, I write it down in my planner two days before that date. So if a deadline for an assignment is 11:59pm on Friday the 15th of January, I write it down in my planner that the deadline is 11:59pm on Wednesday the 13th of January. Then I work towards that deadline as though that’s the actual due date. This means that even if I don’t start the assignment until “the day before it’s due” (the 12th), I still then have a couple of days to fix it up before the actual deadline. This won’t work for everyone, but it’s changed my life.

Change where you’re studying. Sometimes, you develop negative connotations with a certain room or space. Sometimes it’s good to associate a certain activity with a certain space, but a lot of people study in their bedrooms which is also the place they tend to go when they’re feeling anxious/depressed. So try switching it up. Study in the kitchen, or the lounge, or the library, or outside someplace, or at a coffee shop. Somewhere different that extracts you from the environment you associate with negativity and into a new, positive-feeling environment.

Talk yourself out of it. Quash negative thoughts as soon as they sprout. All it takes is a spark to start a fire, so you need to stamp that spark out before it can do any damage. This relates back to catastrophizing, where you feel like you’ll never get something done and then your mind takes you down this long, winding path of catastrophe after catastrophe and before you know it you’ve given up entirely on studying because what’s the point? If you counteract these negative thoughts with something more productive like “I might be starting a couple of paces further back than I’d like to be, but at least I’m starting.”

Hold a pen between your teeth. I know this seems ridiculous, but this is something that absolutely works for me. You know how people tell you to smile even when you’re not happy because it tricks your brain into thinking you’re happy? Well bullshit to that. Sometimes you just don’t feel like smiling right? Sometimes, even, you can’t smile because you feel so down. Instead, pop a pen between your teeth and hold it there, with your teeth bared. This has the same effect on your brain, only you’re not having to force yourself to smile. Besides, it might even cheer you up because you’re sitting there now biting down on a pen because some stranger on the internet told you to. But it genuinely works. You might not feel happy and dandy just because you held a pen in your mouth, but your mind will react in ways that you don’t necessarily pick up on.

Keep a diary. Don’t make it so that you have to write a page-long entry about your feelings every day because this can be as triggering as anything else. Instead, keep a little pocket book somewhere that you can access easily if you need to. Split the pages into three columns: How I feel; What caused it; and Action. In the how I feel column, write the emotion you’re experiencing. In the next column, write what triggered that emotion, whether it’s school work or a friend or a family member or a social situation. Next, write down what you’re doing to turn that emotion into something positive or something you can learn from. I used this technique last year, and it’s basically a way of logging your feelings in the same way as you do with the apps Pacifica and SAM. It helps you visualise your triggers but you have the added, positive element of seeing the action you’re taking to try and elevate your anxiety. Externalising your thoughts by writing everything down makes them seem more manageable.

Exercise. Exercise really helped me overcome my anxiety. Even if it was just 10 minutes, there was something so invigorating about it that I just wanted to keep going, mentally and physically. After I was done working out and I’d showered and felt good, I’d want to keep that feeling going by doing more productive things. Plus, working out helped relieve stress through physical exertion. Exercising always boosts my focus, motivates me, and releases stress, plus you can get fitter at the same time.

See a counsellor/doctor. Some people aren’t comfortable visiting a doctor because they think they’ll immediately be put on medication. This is when it might be advisable for you to visit a counsellor. Most universities offer a counselling department where trained professionals listen to your problems and provide advice where they can. They can recommend that you visit a doctor if they believe that you need medical assistance. If your anxiety is really bad, though, I wouldn’t rule out the option of going to your doctor.

i’ve just watched first episode of Legion and omg this is the best series i’ve ever seen