dream big work hard

Okay so I just finished exams and I have firsthand experience with this situation so I figured I’d put together some tips/advice for anyone else who is going through this!!

1 >> DO. NOT. PANIC. There’s absolutely NO use in stressing out or regretting waiting until now to study. You can’t go back and fix things, so it’s best to work with what you have now!! If you’re going through a breakdown, try to relax  + focus on what’s now. Try listening to some rain and taking deep breaths to calm down. 

2 >> Don’t procrastinate any more!! I find that sometimes I freak out enough to procrastinate even more (checking Tumblr, etc), making myself even more stressed. Put ALL the distractions away. If you’re having a problem with constantly checking your phone, try Forest. (also on Apple) I also use apps like StayFocusd on Chrome so that I block websites I tend to procrastinate on.

3 >> Set up and get started right away! Basically part two of step 2. Get out your notes/worksheets/whatever you need right away. Some music/sounds is usually preferable for people. (music masterpost by @areistotle, white noise masterpost by @killjoyjournal, a playlist for procrastination by @studyign) or just your own music!! Try to avoid things with lyrics, though. 

4 >> Set up a Pomodoro! Yes, you might not have much time, but that doesn’t mean you should study non-stop without any breaks whatsoever. A pomodoro is a 25 minute study/work block with a 5 minute break. Every 4 pomodoros, you take a longer break. However, since you’re on a bit of a deadline, it might be better to study for 25 minutes, get up, stretch, grab a glass of water, then head right back. (maybe not a full 5 minute break) That way you won’t become too unfocused in between pomodoros. 

5  >> Don’t read the textbook! If it’s the night before the exam, you don’t have enough time to read through the whole textbook. Also, it’s not the most effective method of getting stuff to stay in your brain. If you’re stressed, you could be reading it and nothing is staying in your head. Do things that will make you think about the info you’re going through.

6 >> Go through review sheets/old tests if you have them! Instead of trying to go through every single note/worksheet you have, look through some past evaluations. Redoing your old tests will make you think about what you’re doing, and if you come across some of the same problems you had before, you’ll know exactly what notes to go back over. If you have a review package with questions that your teacher gave you specifically, make sure you do as much of that as you can.

7 >> Write quick little summaries of the lessons! It’s a quick way to review what happened in the lessons without going too in depth or spending too much time. Sometimes I’ll write the topic name on one side of a cue card and write the summary on the other side, so that way I can test myself on each topic later. 

8 >> Talk to a friend! Talk to someone else taking the exam via social media/skype/whatever (don’t procrastinate though!!) and make sure you’ve covered everything. You can also try testing each other to make sure you know the content. 

9 >> Don’t forget to take care of yourself! Drink lots of water and eat healthy things while you’re studying. The water will keep you alive and hydrated as well as focused. The snacks will keep the energy coming. Also, don’t sit at your desk the entire time. Get up and walk around every once in a while. Remind yourself that you can get through this!!

10 >> DON’T STAY UP ALL NIGHT CRAMMING!!! The information will NOT stay in your head and it’s MUCH more beneficial to get as much sleep as possible!! This is especially important if your exam is early in the morning! Go to sleep at a reasonable time (that is not after 12, even 12 is pushing it) Try to fit in 5 or 10 minutes of meditation sometime before you sleep, too. It’ll help you relax and calm down enough to sleep instead of stressing.

11 >> Review what you studied in your head before you sleep. While you’re brushing your teeth, getting changed, before you fall asleep, go through the list of things you studied. Again, a way for you to think about what you reviewed. Also, try getting up everything you need for your exam. (Sometimes I forget stuff if I’m rushing in the morning, and that can lead to problems)

12 >> The morning of your exam: Eat a super healthy breakfast that will keep you going!! Try to keep it balanced: grains, dairy, fruits and protein. Take a walk outside, get some fresh air, and shower if you can. Review stuff in your head before, and try not to stress yourself out. You can totally ace that exam!!

How to be less prickly when stressed

We’ve all been there. Feeling so stressed that you take it out on other people. I personally suffered from this a lot, because I didn’t know how to cope with stress properly. This little guide is for all of you that don’t know how to cope with the prickly behavior and anger that may come with stress.

Take breaks!

I know how it feels to just want to plow on and not take breaks. The stress gets the better of you and, in the end, you don’t get much work done. You work slower and less effectively under stress so taking breaks is what you should do! During your breaks, you should really look for something that involves you leaving your desk. Things like sports or hobbies will help you clear your head and get rid of some of that anger.

do your fave sport

walk your dog

go for a walk or run

box on wii sports

scrapbook

colour in a picture

bake something

tidy your room

decorate your bullet journal

organise your study materials

take a nap (20-30 minutes work best!)

drink some tea

talk to a friend/sibling

play an instrument

dance

listen to an audiobook

play with a pet

make your bed

try meditating

Be organised

If you’re all over the place with your notes and aren’t organised, the stress-levels will rise. Keeping a bullet journal or making a study planner will help with this!

bullet journal masterpost

study planner printable (1)

study planner printable (2)

how to make a study plan

do your work according to it’s priority

start studying at least a week earlier for a test

STAY OFF TUMBLR

Studying = fun

The source of your stress might be the way you’re studying. If you dislike studying or the technique you’re using isn’t working for you, you might feel more stressed. Figure out what kind of learner you are and change the way you study!

what kind of learner are you? (video)

8 advanced study tips (video)

listen to music while you study: x | x | x

change the way you take notes: x | x

Support system

Having a good support system behind you can really make the difference.I know I can turn to my family or friends if I need to talk about anything. Unfortunately, not everyone has a support system like mine. It’s important to remember that there is always somewhere for you to go. 

Your parents: they probably know you better than you do.

Siblings: if you’re reluctant to go to your parents for various reasons, you can turn to your sibs for some family comfort

Friends: they might have different opinions than you and your fam, so they can offer you a fresh perspective

Teachers: if you’re having a hard time with school, you can go to your teachers for help! most teachers really want their students to do well, so they’re likely to help you

Studyblr community: the studyblr community is such a nice place to turn to for help. i’ve personally gotten a lot of help for various assignments!

Self care

Looking after yourself is super important!!! Taking some alone time can calm you down and relax you. Taking breaks and self care are often linked, because they have a similar effect.

meditate

do some exercise

take a long bath/ have a shower

diy a scrub

diy a mask

nap for a while (here’s an inforgraphic)

eat something nice (healthy snack masterpost)

Good luck!

I know how it feels to be stressed and take it out on others, but I really hope that this little guide will help the both of us be less prickly! :^)

More posts

upgrade your notes!

how to start studying infrographic

handy apps for economics students

five easy steps to becoming a better you

feed yo’ brain

dealing with lazy groupmembers

Studying and gaming: playlists and soundtracks

When I started this blog a year ago, I never thought I’d have nearly 14k followers a year on!! I’ve put together this post on my one year anniversary to help new studyblrs get to grips with the basics of studyblr, begin studying more effectively and get started with sharing original content.

Who do I follow????

find nearby studyblrs with the world map

find people studying your subjects with the community list

here’s some popular studyblrs you might want to follow:

@theorganisedstudent

@reviseordie

@study-well​

@academla​

@studyign​

@elkstudies​

@studyrelief

@saturdaystudying

@areistotle

@hayley-studies​

Making friends is always good so send your fav studyblrs a polite ask to introduce yourself - If a studyblr replies to you publicly, you’ll get a promo to all their followers. Don’t just bluntly ask them to check out your blog, remember to include a genuine question to make it worthwhile for them to answer you!

What are those weird apps/websites everyone uses???

Momentum - that website that shows the time over a pretty photo

Lanes -  shows the time on a colourful background, and also has loads more useful functions like a to do list and a pomodoro timer!

Forest - super useful app to help you stop procrastinating

Pomotodo - a pomodoro timer with loads of other productivity tools

Khan Academy - it can teach you anything!!

Duolingo - it can teach you anything (as long as it’s a language)

Coffivity - a website that makes coffee shop sounds to study to

Noisli - you can mix your own sounds + has a nice chrome extension

8tracks study playlists

masterpost of great study playlists

masterpost of studygrams

masterpost of study channels on youtube

masterpost of more study apps

What’s all that snazzy stationery??

sidenote - as long as you study you can be a studyblr, you absolutely don’t need to own these things!! This is just a handy outline of all the stuff you might see other studyblrs using

Mildliners - those nice coloured hightlighters everyone has

Stabilo Fineliners

Staedtler Fineliners

Moleskine Notebooks

Leucchturm Notebooks

everything from muji

washi tape 

masterpost of more stationery

How do I start studying more effectively???

stop procrastinating!!

manage your time effectively

try making a bullet journal

find new ways to study

try decorating your notes

highlight properly!

try making mind maps

try making flashcards

how to reduce stress

how to improve your memory

studying with a mental illness

study tips masterpost

masterpost of studyblr masterposts

How do I post original content??

reblog don’t repost!! This is an obvious one but if you’re new to tumblr altogether you need to know that it’s never ok to steal someone else’s content. Also don’t reblog from weheartit because all the stuff on that website it stolen!!

the most common posts on studyblr are photos of notes - it’s a good idea to make sure the colours in your photo are aesthetically pleasing, and that you have a good source of light. Natural light is best but lamplight will work as well. If your photos need more light, increase the exposure on your camera/phone. People don’t need to see the whole of your notes, try taking photos of them from different angles to show off the bits you’re most proud of! more tips in this post

share some motivational quotes - I use picmonkey to design quotes

make a masterpost of your favourite resources

make a study playlist on 8tracks and share it on your blog

tagging is the most useful thing ever - tag your posts with #studyblr and #studyspo so that other people in the community can find you! More tags = more ways for people to find you, so make sure to add plenty of tags to everything you upload. If you tag a studyblr in your post, it’s likely they’ll reblog it.

open your ask box - it’s a great way to get suggestions for new posts, and its always lovely to hear from other studyblrs in the community

Welcome to the studyblr community, good luck with your studies!

ETA: Now let me proceed to add on a million things so sorry again

Totally agree with your tips although as the recipient of a lot of “can you check out my blog” messages and messages in general, I will say that 1. Do not be offended if somebody doesn’t reply once or even a second time. It’s not personal. If it was personal you would probably know. I promise. Don’t sweat it. And 2. If you send a message to someone, which you should, do it because you genuinely want to message them and talk to them, not with the motive of trying to get a promo to another blog’s followers.

I would say that the bulk of people I follow (and I follow 1k+ studyblrs yikes) is through things like follow sprees and awards. Keep an eye out and reblog any follow sprees because as some people who I followed through a follow spree can attest, I really do go through the blogs, and I’m sure other studyblrs do too! Enter awards because even if you don’t win the people running them look at every entrant’s blog and I for one follow the bulk of people who enter my events.

Other blogs I follow are usually from my tag and my notifications. It’s totally okay to spam me (and I’m assuming other blogs are cool with it too) with notifications or tag me in posts! I notice and recognize URLs if they appear frequently when I scroll through my notifs (not all of them but every day I try to scan my notifications and check out new follows or blogs that have been noticeably active on my blog).

Speaking of URLs, choosing a good one is more important than we’d like to think. People judge books by their titles and having a good URL goes a long way. I’m far more likely to check out a blog with a URL that’s clever and not too long or misspelled or wordy than a blog that’s like princessn3rdx0x-o177-luv (ok you know what I mean). If you need URL ideas you can always hmu because I love coming up with URLs.

And (IM SO SORRY I CANT DO READ MORE ON MOBILE) I’m sure it’s been mentioned before but obviously working on a good theme and navigation etc is a plus - which goes for any tumblr really! If you need help you can ask me but I’m really terrible at answering promptly or sometimes at all so you’ve been warned and I apologize in advance. ILY THOUGH!

All in all, be here to have fun, post and reblog stuff, collect resources, make friends, etc but remember not to get too caught up in followers or aesthetics or some of the less positive attitudes towards studying. YOU DO YOU and you can make this a fabulous experience all on your own!

wow so I just hit 1k followers the last tumblr i had only got 68 so you can see why this is a big deal for me so I thought about what I could do to say thanks, and I decided on a studyblr awards!

(don’t feel discouraged against entering if you don’t have thousands of followers or the most beautiful aesthetic notes, I want to include blogs with not many followers and blogs with thousands)

RULES (literally no different to any awards rules ever but still)

be a studyblr (or majority of what you post be study related)

reblog this post (likes as bookmarks)

follow me

tag/message me your studyblr if its not your main

message me your follow count if you’re under 1k

this has to get 40 notes or it never happened

ends 11th April 

CATEGORIES (no limit to number of winners)

Favourite overall 

Favourite small blog

Favourite originals (tag me in your posts with #catestudies/message me your original post tag so I can find these pls)

Favourite url

Favourite theme (mobile/desktop)

Best advice/masterposts/tips etc (again pls tag me or message these to me so I can find them)

WINNERS WILL GET

a spot on my favourites page

promos as and when you want them

follow back (if not already)

a friend who will give you advice, study related or otherwise, when you want it (although this is pretty much available to everyone already so)