My productivity diary

Here’s a list of non-aesthetic reasons to exercise:

relieves stress

keeps you healthy

improves sleep

can have a positive effect on mental health

makes you stronger and fitter

something to focus on other than work/school/uni

here’s just a small list of study tips and tricks that i learned over the course of attempting to take six ap classes all at once (don’t do that to urself pls):

take notes - take all the notes! it doesn’t matter what way you take notes (cornell, etc.) it’s just a really nice way to make sure the material really sticks in your brain

revise said notes - it’s all about beating the curve of forgetting; as long as your keep on revising and re-annotating your notes, you won’t need to super cram on test day. in addition to that, don’t highlight a dense block of text; underline, colour-code, and add notes to the margins. instead, if you just highlight like crazy, you won’t know what to focus on revising. not saying that highlighting is bad, just saying that overhighlighting is bad

actually read the textbook - a lot of teachers assign pages of textbooks but i recommend reading the entirety of the textbooks and working through the examples. sure, it’s a little bit more work, but you end up with a well-rounded view of the topic/subject you’re studying (and i also find that a lot of teachers will skip important topics in the interest of time, so be sure to read the textbook so you don’t miss out)

do all ya homework - so important! do the homework!!!!! you will not succeed if you don’t put in any effort and don’t do any of your work!!!!!!!!!

if you have time do extra problems in your textbook - just for revision/practice!

redo old hw assignments - this helps in revision, esp. in topics like math where you have to physically work out problems to understand concepts; you don’t get math by just reading the textbook, you have to physically DO problems

maybe invest in a review book - it helps some people, but don’t completely rely on it; you still should read the textbook

flashcards are the bomb - they help solidify learning and because of awesome apps like quizLIT (hehe) you can learn/revise on the go

ask questions - the teacher wont bit your head off- they’ll be grateful that at least SOMEONE was paying attention in class

pay attention to the teacher - if your teacher seems to repeat some terms over and over again take that as a hint to revise that, lots of teachers have really effective lectures too and its just a good thing to show respect to others too

make metaphors/analogies for EVERYTHING - for example, think of the declaration of independence as a breakup letter or try to string together events like the revolutionary war together in a narrative style; this helps with memorization of factually-dense topics like the ones in APUSH

study grps are aMAZING - very helpful 10/10 recommend and check out my post on this too

call a friend - don’t be afraid to ask for help. seriously. we all suck at things and its our job to get better

relax once in awhile - you don’t need to study 24/7 to succeed. study smarter, not harder and TREAT YO’ SELF

on the subject of music - listen to music if it helps you, but if you find yourself drifting off or enthusiastically singing to BTS’s new comeback, you gotta stop girl

sleep - don’t pull all-nighters unless you need to; studies show that sleep helps in the consolidation of memories, etc. so get that sleep! that way you’ll be happier and more in the mood to study - its a marathon, not a sprint

find textbook companion sites - very helpful, they usually contain self-quizzes and generally if your teacher uses the chapter tests provided, you can better tell what types of questions will be asked

revise your mistakes - don’t just discard that test with the 94%, make sure you understand what you got wrong so you don’t make the same mistake again

actively hoard your papers - old papers/tests/hw are the best review fodder so don’t loose it!

track your grades - be on top of it always! if you have a missing assignment or if a teacher put in the wrong grade DON’T HESITATE TO EMAIL THEM

find other resources when your teacher sucks at teaching - khanacademy is amazing. enough said

YOUR GRADES DO NOT DETERMINE YOUR SELF WORTH! repeat after me: GRADES DO NOT DETERMINE SELF WORTH!

self-care is important - if your sad tired or angry, YOU WONT GET ANYTHING DONE so do yourself a favor and take a nap or watch a movie, idk

figure out what works for you - i like the pomodoro technique but other people do different things so just do what works

Cleaning & Tidying

Make your bed in the morning. It takes seconds, and it’s worth it.

Reset to zero each morning. 

Use the UFYH 20/10 system for clearing your shit. 

Get a reed diffuser and stick it on your windowsill. 

Have a ‘drop-zone’ box where you dump anything and everything. At the beginning/end of the day, clear it out and put that shit away.

Roll your clothes, don’t fold them - or fold them vertically.

Automate your chores. Have a cleaning schedule and assign 15mins daily to do whatever cleaning tasks are set for that day. Set a timer and do it - once the timer is up, finish the task you’re on and leave it for the day. 

Fold your clothes straight out of the tumble dryer (if you use one), whilst they’re still warm. This minimises creases and eliminates the need for ironing. 

Clean your footwear regularly and you’ll feel like a champ. 

Organisation & Productivity

Learn from Eisenhower’s Importance/Urgency matrix. 

Try out the two-minute rule and the Pomodoro technique.

Use. A. Planner. (Or Google Calendar, if that’s more your thing.)

Try bullet journalling.

Keep a notebook/journal/commonplace book to dump your brain contents in on the regular. 

Set morning alarms at two-minute intervals rather than five, and stick your alarm on the other side of the room. It’s brutal, but it works. 

Set three main goals each day, with one of them being your #1 priority. Don’t overload your to-do list or you’ll hit overload paralysis and procrastinate. 

If you’re in a slump, however, don’t be afraid to put things like “shower” on your to do list - that may be a big enough goal in itself, and that’s okay. 

Have a physical inbox - a tray, a folder, whatever. If you get a piece of paper, stick it in there and sort through it at the end of the week.

Consider utilising the GTD System, or a variation of it.

Try timeboxing. 

Have a morning routine, and guard that quiet time ferociously. 

Save interesting-looking shit to instapaper. Have a set time where you read through the stuff you saved to instapaper and save the shit that you like from instapaper to evernote (or bookmark it properly). 

During your working hours, put on your footwear, even if you’re sat on your bed. (Why?)

Have a folder for all your important documents and letters, organised by topic (e.g. medical, bank, university, work, identification). At the front of this folder, have a sheet of paper with all the key information written on it, such as your GP’s details, your passport details, driving licence details, bank account number, insurance number(s), and so on. 

Try using StayFocusd and RescueTime (or similar apps/extensions). (I promise, you’ll find that you’re not as busy as you think you are.)

Schedule working time and down time alike, in the balance that works for you. 

Money

Have. A. God. Damn. Budget. 

Use a money tracker like toshl, mint, or splitwise. Enter all expenses asap! (You will forget, otherwise.)

Have a ‘money date’ each week, where you sort through your finances from the past seven days and then add it to a spreadsheet. This will help you identify your spending patterns and whether your budget is actually working or not. 

Pack your own frickin’ lunch like a grown-up and stop buying so many takeaway coffees. Keep snacks in your bag. 

Go to your bank and take out £100 in £1 coins (or w/e your currency is). That shit will come in useful for all kinds of things and you’ll never be short on change for the bus or the laundry. 

Food & Cooking

Know how to cook the basics: a starch, a protein, a vegetable, and a sauce.

Simple, one-pot meals (“a grain, a green, and a bean”) are a godsend. 

Dried porcini mushrooms make a fantastic stock to cook with. 

Batch cook and freeze. Make your own ‘microwave meals’. 

Buy dried goods to save money - rice and beans are a pittance. (Remember to soak dried beans first, though!) 

Consider Meatless Mondays; it’s healthier, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly.

Learn which fruits and vegetables are cheapest at your store, and build a standard weekly menu around those. (Also remember that frozen vegetables are cheap and healthy.) 

Learn seasoning combinations. Different seasoning, even with the exact same ingredients, can make a dish seem completely new. 

Don’t buy shit for a one-off recipe, especially if you won’t use it all. If you really want to try out a recipe, see if a friend would be interested in making it with you, then pool for the expenses. 

Make your own goddamned pasta sauce. Jamie Oliver has a decent recipe here, but the beauty of tomato sauce is that you can totally wing it and adapt the fuck out of it. 

Misc

Have a stock email-writing format. 

Want to start running, but find it boring? Try Zombies, Run!. 

Keep a goddamn first aid kit and learn how to use it. 

Know your OTC pain relief. 

Update your CV regularly. 

Keep a selection of stamps and standard envelopes for unexpected posting needs. (It happens more regularly than you would think!) 

Some final words of advice:

Organisation is not a goal in itself, it is a tool. Don’t get caught up in the illusion of productivity and get distracted from the actual task at hand. 

Routines and habits will help you. Trust in them.

(here are some study tips straight from my psych notes)

1. interest: the brain prioritizes by meaning, value, and relevance so u remember things better if ur interested

find a study partner

do extra practice or research

teach it to someone else (this works so well!)

2. intent: be actively paying attention. very little learning actually takes place without attention

use a concentration check sheet (every time u get distracted, put a check on ur sheet. this is supposed to program ur mind to pay attention)

while u read, talk back to the author

ask questions during lectures (this is scary ik!! but do it!)

3. basic background: make connections to what u already know

preview and skim the material before u read it. or google it!

write out a list of vocab words before a lecture and leave some spaces between them to fill in during the lecture

read ahead of lectures

watch crashcourse tbh

4. selectivity: start by studying whats important

look for bolded words, graphics, pictures, chapter review questions in ur readings

listen for verbal clues like emphasis and repetition during lectures

make urself a study guide as u read and write down questions for urself to answer later as review (kinda like cornell notes)

5. meaningful organization: u can learn/rmr better if u group ideas into diff categories

apply vocab words to ur life

make flashcards and sort them (try not to have more than seven items in one category!)

use mnemonics

6. recitation: saying ideas aloud in ur own words strengthens synaptic connections! when u say something aloud u r forcing urself to pay attention

after u read, ask urself questions

talk abt what u learned w/ classmates outside of class

again, teach someone else

7. visualization: ur brain’s quickest and longest-lasting response is to images

convert info into a chart or graph

draw it out

make a mental video of a process

look at picture/video examples

8. association: memory is increased when facts are consciously associated w something u already know. memory = making neural connections

ask urself: is this something i already know?

9. consolidation: give ur brain some time to establish a neural pathway

make a list of what u remember from class

review notes at the end of the day, every day

stop after reading each prg to write a question in ur notes

make ur own practice quiz

10. distributed practice: we all know cramming doesnt work but we do it anyway! but yeah short and frequent study sections work better

make a daily/weekly study schedule

create a time budget/time tracker (track everything ur doing for a week and see how u can be more efficient w/ the time u waste)

divide the reading/vocab by the number of days before an exam and do a little bit each day (u can use sticky notes to divide ur reading)

other tips:

stop stressing! this sounds stupid and it isnt going to be easy, but anxiety causes u to lose focus. try ur best to think positively. sleep a lot. minimize ur caffeine intake. take a walk maybe

when u need to remember something, look upward or close ur eyes (when ur eyes are open ur using visual parts of ur brain that u might not need to be using)

find a rival! (like the person right above u in class rank) secretly compete w/ them (envy can improve mental persistence bc it makes u focus more intensely) but dont overdo it! 

walking and sleeping build memory storage in ur brain

eat flavonoids! (grapes, berries, tea leaves, cocoa beans make neurons in the brain more capable of forming new memories + increase blood flow to the brain)

Becoming more confident is a long journey full of hard work. I’ve always had very low confidence but in the last few years I managed to become more confident than I ever imagined I’d be. Here are the things that helped me with my confidence the most:

Wake up with music that makes you feel good -Create a playlist of songs that make you feel alive and powerful and then listen to it every morning. If you aren’t waking up to Everybody loves me by OneRepublic… What are you even doing?

Stop being mean to yourself -So many of us call ourselves a disappointment on daily basis without realising it. I want you to imagine you are talking to a friend, not yourself. You wouldn’t call your friend useless every time they mess up, would ya?

Wear clothes you are comfortable in -I’m not necessarily talking physical comfort. You should feel beautiful in your clothes. It can be wearing sweatpants or croptops, it’s your choice!

Declutter your space -Throw away things that make you feel bad. All the clothes you don’t like wearing, all the clutter that makes you feel like crap at home. Even throwing away the shampoo that doesn’t smell nice to you is helpful.

Work out -Again it’s not as much about looking good but feeling good. You want to feel strong or fast or whatever your goal may be.

Appreciate small victories -A great journaling prompt is just to sit down every single evening and write down at least 3 small or big victories of the day.

Try new things -Get out of your comfort zone and try the things you’ve always wanted to do. For me personally it was talking to more poeple. I found more friends and realised I can make people laugh and that was a great confidence boost.

Walk with your head high -This is a sort of “fake it ‘til you make it” type of thing. Don’t look down when you walk and keep your back straight. Walk like an assassin on a mission.

Find what you’re good at -Get to know your talents.

Don’t rely on compliments from others -Learn to appreciate and compliment yourself.

Find what kind of vibes you want to have and work on that -Do you want to be a ray of sunshine? Smile more and wear bright colours. Become who you want to be.

Take care of your body -Force yourself to feel good in your skin.

Get familiar with your body -Stop avoiding mirrors. Find the things you love about it and accept things you don’t like. Be grateful for your body taking care of you the way it does.

hello! so i reached 1k recently actually 2+ months ago so here’s an overdue masterpost on the things i would usually search up before a school term starts, so i figured why not just compile this? i would update this and reblog it monthly so if you have anything you’d like to share just drop me a message! i hope you find this useful, thank you for all the support <3

I. study tips

• study plans by @marias-studyblr

• how i study by @studynostalgic

• study tips by @etudieposts

• more study tips by @samsstudygram

• revision methods by @alimastudies

• increasing productivity by @brbimstudying

• even more study tips by @annabaestudying

• small study hack by @kawaiistudypool

• recall not recognition by @annabaestudying

• how to stay focused while revising by @minimaliststudy

• literally just use all the printables by @emmastudies

II. how to: take notes

• taking notes from a textbook by @fuckingstudy

• making mindmaps by @eintsein

• note taking by @eintsein

• a whole masterpost on note taking by @elkstudies

• college notetaking 101 by @briellestudies

III. productivity & motivation

• increasing productivity by @brbimstudying

• essay help by @aestudier

• how to: efficiency by @eintsein

• don’t feel like studying? by @martiestudies

• study apps by @nightlystudying

• studying though you’re really busy by @julstudies

IV. self care

• avoiding a burnout by @neuroticmedblr

• lil self care tips by @eleanorice

• a small, but much needed reminder by @studyblr

• burnout 101 by @polcry

• some more self care tips by @55studies

• more self care!! by @littleredstudies

• bujo ideas! by @lifestylejournaling

• important things to remember @vet-life (pls live by this ok)

Rejoice fellow uni students looking for some studyspo, we urge you to take a few free lessons, as well as academic lessons provided from actual universities on several topics. Have a look at the 50 top learning sites you can find online to help you save some time.

Art and Music

Dave Conservatoire — Dave Conservatoire is an entirely free online music school offering a self-proclaimed “world-class music education for everyone,” and providing video lessons and practice tests.

Drawspace — If you want to learn to draw or improve your technique, Drawspace has free and paid self-study as well as interactive, instructor-led lessons.

Justin Guitar — The Justin Guitar site boasts over 800 free guitar lessons which cover transcribing, scales, arpeggios, ear training, chords, recording tech and guitar gear, and also offers a variety of premium paid mobile apps and content (books/ ebooks, DVDs, downloads).

Math, Data Science and Engineering

Codecademy — Codecademy offers data science and software programming (mostly Web-related) courses for various ages groups, with an in-browser coding console for some offerings.

Stanford Engineering Everywhere — SEE/ Stanford Engineering Everywhere houses engineering (software and otherwise) classes that are free to students and educators, with materials that include course syllabi, lecture videos, homework, exams and more.

Big Data University — Big Data University covers Big Data analysis and data science via free and paid courses developed by teachers and professionals.

Better Explained — BetterExplained offers a big-picture-first approach to learning mathematics — often with visual explanations — whether for high school algebra or college-level calculus, statistics and other related topics.

Design, Web Design/ Development

HOW Design University — How Design University (How U) offers free and paid online lessons on graphic and interactive design, and has opportunities for those who would like to teach.

HTML Dog — HTML Dog is specifically focused on Web development tutorials for HTML, CSS and JavaScript coding skills.

Skillcrush — Skillcrush offers professional web design and development courses aimed at one who is interested in the field, regardless of their background — with short, easy-to-consume modules and a 3-month Career Blueprints to help students focus on their career priorities.

Hack Design — Hack Design, with the help of several dozen designers around the world, has put together a lesson plan of 50 units (each with one or more articles and/or videos) on design for Web, mobile apps and more by curating multiple valuable sources (blogs, books, games, videos, and tutorials) — all free of charge.

General – Children and Adults

Scratch – Imagine, Program, Share — Scratch from MIT is a causal creative learning site for children, which has projects that range from the solar system to paper planes to music synths and more.

Udemy — Udemy hosts mostly paid video tutorials in a wide range of general topics including personal development, design, marketing, lifestyle, photography, software, health, music, language, and more.

E-learning for kids — E-learning for Kids offers elementary school courses for children ages 5-12 that cover curriculum topic including math, science, computer, environment, health, language, life skills and others.

Ed2go — Ed2go aims their “affordable” online learning courses at adults, and partners with over 2,100 colleges and universities to offer this virtual but instructor-led training in multiple categories — with options for instructors who would like to participate.

GCF Learn Free — GCFLearnFree.org is a project of Goodwill Community Foundation and Goodwill Industries, targeting anyone look for modern skills, offering over 1,000 lessons and 125 tutorials available online at anytime, covering technology, computer software, reading, math, work and career and more.

Stack Exchange — StackExchange is one of several dozen Q+A sites covering multiple topics, including Stack Overflow, which is related to computer technology. Ask a targeted question, get answers from professional and enthusiast peers to improve what you already know about a topic.

HippoCampus — HippoCampus combines free video collections on 13 middle school through college subjects from NROC Project, STEMbite, Khan Academy, NM State Learning Games Lab and more, with free accounts for teachers.

Howcast — Howcast hosts casual video tutorials covering general topics on lifestyle, crafts, cooking, entertainment and more.

Memrise — Lessons on the Memrise (sounds like “memorize”) site include languages and other topics, and are presented on the principle that knowledge can be learned with gamification techniques, which reinforce concepts.

SchoolTube — SchoolTube is a video sharing platform for K-12 students and their educators, with registered users representing over 50,000 schools and a site offering of over half a million videos.

Instructables — Instructables is a hybrid learning site, offering free online text and video how-to instructions for mostly physical DIY (do-it-yourself) projects that cover various hands-on crafts, technology, recipes, game play accessories and more. (Costs lie in project materials only.)

creativeLIVE — CreativeLive has an interesting approach to workshops on creative and lifestyle topics (photography, art, music, design, people skills, entreprenurship, etc.), with live access typically offered free and on-demand access requiring purchase.

Do It Yourself — Do It Yourself (DIY) focuses on how-tos primarily for home improvement, with the occasional tips on lifestyle and crafts topics.

Adafruit Learning System — If you’re hooked by the Maker movement and want to learn how to make Arduino-based electronic gadgets, check out the free tutorials at Adafruit Learn site — and buy the necessary electronics kits and supplies from the main site.

Grovo — If you need to learn how to efficiently use a variety of Web applications for work, Grovo has paid (subscription, with free intros) video tutorials on best practices for hundreds of Web sites.

General College and University

edX — The edX site offers free subject matter from top universities, colleges and schools from around the world, including MIT and Harvard, and many courses are “verified,” offering a certificate of completion for a nominal minimum fee.

Cousera — Coursera is a learning site offering courses (free for audit) from over 100 partners — top universities from over 20 countries, as well as non-university partners — with verified certificates as a paid option, plus specializations, which group related courses together in a recommended sequence.

MIT Open Courseware — MIT OpenCourseWare is the project that started the OCW / Open Education Consortium [http://www.oeconsortium.org], launching in 2002 with the full content of 50 real MIT courses available online, and later including most of the MIT course curriculum — all for free — with hundreds of higher ed institutions joining in with their own OCW course materials later.

Open Yale Courses — Open Yale Courses (OYC) are free, open access, non-credit introductory courses recorded in Yale College’s classroom and available online in a number of digital formats.

Open Learning Initiative — Carnegie Mellon University’s (CMU’s) Open Learning Initiative (OLI) is course content (many open and free) intended for both students who want to learn and teachers/ institutions requiring teaching materials.

Khan Academy — Khan Academy is one of the early online learning sites, offering free learning resources for all ages on many subjects, and free tools for teachers and parents to monitor progress and coach students.

MIT Video — MITVideo offers over 12,000 talks/ lecture videos in over 100 channels that include math, architecture and planning, arts, chemistry, biological engineering, robotics, humanities and social sciences, physics and more.

Stanford Online — Stanford Online is a collection of free courses billed as “for anyone, anywhere, anytime” and which includes a wide array of topics that include human rights, language, writing, economics, statistics, physics, engineering, software, chemistry, and more.

Harvard Extension School: Open Learning Initiative — Harvard’s OLI (Open Learning Initiative) offers a selection of free video courses (taken from the edX selection) for the general public that covers a range of typical college topics, includings, Arts, History, Math, Statistics, Computer Science, and more.

Canvas Network — Canvas Network offers mostly free online courses source from numerous colleges and universities, with instructor-led video and text content and certificate options for select programs.

Quantum Physics Made Relatively Simple — Quantum Physics Made Relatively Simple” is, as the name implies, a set of just three lectures (plus intro) very specifically about Quantum Physics, form three presentations given by theoretical physicist Hans Bethe.

Open UW — Open UW is the umbrella initiative of several free online learning projects from the University of Washington, offered by their UW Online division, and including Coursera, edX and other channels.

UC San Diego Podcast Lectures — Podcast USCD, from UC San Diego, is a collection of audio and/or video podcasts of multi-subject university course lectures — some freely available, other only accessible by registered students.

University of the People — University of the People offers tuition-free online courses, with relatively small fees required only for certified degree programs (exam and processing fees).

NovoEd — NovoEd claims a range of mostly free “courses from thought leaders and distinguished professors from top universities,” and makes it possible for today’s participants to be tomorrow’s mentors in future courses.

IT and Software Development

Udacity — Udacity offers courses with paid certification and nanodegrees — with emphasis on skills desired by tech companies in Silicon Valley — mostly based on a monthly subscription, with access to course materials (print, videos) available for free.

Apple Developer Site — Apple Developer Center may be very specific in topics for lessons, but it’s a free source of documentation and tutorials for software developers who want to develop apps for iOS Mobile, Mac OS X desktop, and Safari Web apps.

Google Code — As with Apple Developer Center, Google Code is topic-narrow but a good source of documentation and tutorials for Android app development.

Code.org — Code.org is the home of the “Hour of Code” campaign, which is aimed at teachers and educators as well as students of all ages (4-104) who want to teach or learn, respectively, computer programming and do not know where to start.

Mozilla Developer Network — MDN (Mozilla Developer Network) offers learning resources — including links to offsite guides — and tutorials for Web development in HTML, CSS and JavaScript — whether you’re a beginner or an expert, and even if you’re not using Mozilla’s Firefox Web browser.

Learnable — Learnable by Sitepoint offers paid subscription access to an ebook library of content for computers and tablets, and nearly 5,000 videos lessons (and associated code samples) covering software-related topics – with quizzes and certification available.

Pluralsight — Pluralsight (previously PeepCode) offers paid tech and creative training content (over 3,700 courses and 130K video clips) for individuals, businesses and institutions that covers IT admin, programming, Web development, data visualization — as well as game design, 3D animation, and video editing through a partnership with Digital-Tutors.com, and additional software coding lessons through Codeschool.com.

CodeHS — CodeSchool offers software coding lessons (by subscription) for individuals who want to learn at home, or for students learning in a high school teacher-led class.

We’ve all been there at some point, and it especially sucks if you’re interested in the subject. Sorry this is long but I really hope it helps!

These are some things that bad teachers have in common, in my experience.

Qualities of a crappy teacher

relies entirely on videos to teach lessons

rarely, if ever, gives notes

doesn’t give reviews for tests either or any clues as to what is actually on the test

if they do give notes, they are disorganized, scrappy, and ultimately meaningless

doesn’t give straight answers when asked questions / answers questions with questions that don’t even make sense

loses your homework/essays all the time

they are genuinely surprised when their students actually do well

tells students not to study a certain thing because it won’t be on the test. Then it’s on the test and you’re screwed.

when showing how to do a problem, they only do the easiest examples ever. Honestly. You would be blessed to get a problem that easy on the actual assignment, where there are now super complicated problems that you have no idea how to do!

the homework assignments they give don’t help you understand the lesson better, it’s just a bunch of busy work.

they hand out a sheet, no explanation whatsoever, and say “alright. go do this” what? Go do what? Rip out my hair? I don’t even know what stoichiometry is and now I have 55 minutes to do it. Fabulous.

if someone does something wrong, the teacher just makes them do it over again and again, without helping the student understand or explaining anything

they hand back your tests five decades after you actually took it. What was the test even on? Same deal with homework and worksheets

They often have a condescending behavior towards students and make students feel stupid when they get something wrong or ask questions

Now that you’ve verified that you indeed have a crappy teacher, here are some tips to actually do well in their class. Impossible? Nope. But it will take more effort to get a good grade in this class and understand the material because you are now both the teacher and the student. (Sorry I talk about Khan Academy a lot, but at the same time, not that sorry because it’s a life saver).

Teach yourself lesson by lesson. If they won’t, you will. Make sure that you are learning the right material, so that you can ace your quizzes/ tests. Yes, it takes time, but it will be worth it once you can finally understand the class, I promise. You can teach yourself by relying on other sources to learn the material, such as the textbook you already have for the class, Khan Academy, and other online resources and study aids.

Don’t rely only on their notes, study materials, or worksheets to study off of or understand the material. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use them, you should definitely pay attention to them, as it might give you a clue as to what is on the test. However, you should probably invest some time into making your own notes and study materials outside of class, whether the material is from your class textbook or online resources. 

Khan Academy!!! (It’s completely free and amazing) I honestly can not stress how many times Khan Academy has saved my life and my grades, especially in math and science subjects. If there’s a lesson (or, let’s be honest, an entire class) that you’re having difficulty understanding, just go to KA and find the lesson and they will have videos that take you through it step-by-step. Also, you can pause and rewind the videos if you need to understand something better (unlike crappy teachers) and they do plenty of examples (unlike crappy teachers). I swear I’m not sponsored by them or anything, it’s just a life saver! You can take classes on there in your free time too. For example, I couldn’t fit a personal finance class into my school schedule, so I’m taking it on KA.

Use online sites and resources to help you understand the material. Quizlet is an app for creating sets of flashcards. In my opinion, they are way more helpful than notecards, because they have games using the terms you put in and different methods of studying the material (by spelling, term, definition, etc). Duolingo is great for learning languages and maintaining your vocabulary in a language you are taking in school. You can use SparkNotes to better understand literature and poetry (they also have great studying/ test prep materials). Shmoop is another great resource for poetry. Khan Academy has lessons on math, science, art, music, history, and economics. The Purdue OWL is a life saver when it comes to writing essays; it has everything you need to know about grammar, writing techniques, format (especially MLA format), and mechanics. Basically, it has all the info your crappy teacher failed to give you. 

STUDY. Good teachers go over the material enough to ensure that their students understand the material and they make sure the students are familiar with it. They will also usually go over the same materials in different ways, so that students with different learning styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) can benefit. Crappy teachers? Not so much. Therefore, the material is not ingrained in your mind, so you need to work harder than in other classes to familiarize yourself with the material and make sure you understand it enough to recall the information and be tested on it.

Practice what you’ve learned. Try to find practice quizzes and tests online on the subject and material you are learning. Sometimes there will be mini quizzes at the end of chapters in class textbook. Also, some of the online resources above have quizzes on the specific material.

Talk/ study with other people who are taking the same course or people you know who have taken the class in the past. If your friend is taking the same class as you but they have a different teacher, study with them and ask them for help and notes. If you know someone who has taken the class a previous semester or year, as them for help with the material and advice on tests and passing the class with a decent grade. You can also study with other people in your class, because it is likely that they are in the same position as you and you can all help each other out.

To celebrate 1.3K+ followers on tumblr, I’m making my first masterpost on how to create a study space! I’ve also included some tips I’ve discovered in creating my own study space :)

My Personal Tips

Have lighting from the front - so there are no shadows on your work. I put my desk right in front of my window, and adjust the blinds to control the lighting levels. If you’re lucky, aim for a west-facing window if you’re a morning person - I can’t study when the sunlight lands directly on my work, so I prefer ambient sky lighting in the mornings. 

Have a document organiser - the best ones are the pull out drawers, one quick pull in and out to chuck the sheet in; it’s better than a manila folder. Don’t get open ones like paper trays (they collect dust easily as I discovered). Try and get one with the same number of subjects that you do + one spare for admin (they usually come in 5 sections anyway :D), so you can file all worksheets by subject. Archive at the end of each semester. 

It’s fine for your desk to get messy at times when you study. It’s a reflection of the way you study; when I study I already get the main gist, so I don’t always go chapter 1.1, chapter 1.2, etc. I usually just see something that I don’t know, then go and search through my notes for the information. Make sure that everything has a “home” though - something you return it to at the end of a study session. Since I use loose leaf, and multiple textbooks at once, it wastes time to put everything back every time I look up one statistic. 

For example, __% of all retinal detachments are causally associated with a cystic vitreoretinal tuft. I remembered there’s a percentage, but not what the exact percentage is. I know it’s located in Module 6 of OPTM3231, and vaguely remember it’s in one of the lectures and not the study guide. So that means I have to whip out at least 3 lecture sets from a subject a whole year ago to find that information. (it’s 10% just in case you wanted to know)

Study at a temperature of 21′C (71′F). Numerous studies have shown that this is the ideal temperature for studying. Not too cold or warm. 

Leave your drinks and snacks outside so that it forces you to get up. I think a lot of studyblrs recommend you have every single thing that you need with you when you study. They recommend that you just stick your butt in your chair and buckle down and do the hard yards. However, many studies have shown that those who sit down less have better productivity. In fact, boys in school who had less moderate physical activity actually found it harder to improve their reading skills, and math skills were also negatively impacted. 

Recently, many offices have implemented standing desks, which is much better for your physical and mental health. I always get up at the end of every hour or pomodoro period and get a small glass of water. And usually I’ll also cut up a pre-measured portion of fruit and stick it in the fridge so that I can eat it in between breaks. Sometimes if you have a hard question, you need to take a break and come back to it so that you can look at it from a different perspective. 

Make sure you only do physically repetitive tasks during a break. Some people will browse the internet or their phones. I don’t advise this, because I’ve lost track of times way to many times for that. Best if you do something that doesn’t require any mental engagement. Drinking, eating, washing dishes, taking a shower, star jumps, etc. It makes it so much easier to get back into it. 

And sometimes you just gotta change your study space. I study in one place for about 4-5 weeks before I need a change of pace. I usually switch between the optometry computer labs and my desk at home (pictured in the banner). Even at home, in the afternoon I like switching to an east-facing window so I don’t get sun. And if I can’t study at uni any longer? Get on the train home, and study for 50 minutes there. A change of pace does wonders for increasing your productivity. 

Studyblr Posts

teeny tiny study spaces by @etudiance

general tips by @lycheestudy

mindful study space by @succulentstudy

study space checklist by @study-site

perfect study space

study cove by @hexaneandheels

how to create a study space by @studyign

how to set up your study space by @maddiemoate

study space guide by @study-well

Around the web

how to create a study space in your room by collegeinfogeek

creating a study space by charles darwin university

10 tips for creating your ideal study space by ameritech college of healthcare

create a study space by about education

how to set up your perfect study space by kikki.k

12 tips to create the perfect study environment by rassmussen college

create a good environment for studying at home by Art Markman at edutopia

how to create a good study environment at home by hackmystudy.com

how To decorate and furnish a small study room by homedit

14 strategies for creating a workspace… by paid to exist

MY WEEKLY STUDY TIPS

WHAT I WISH I’D KNOWN BEFORE UNIVERSITY STUDY TIPS SERIES

0 Choosing a Degree , 1 Administration , 2 Getting to Class

3 Studying , 4 Extra-Curriculars , 5 Exams , 6 Social Life

7 Part Time Work , 8 Four Secrets Uni Tells You

new!! 9 Best Study Spots on Campus new!!

new!! 10 Saving Money 1 (Food, Transport, Entertainment) new!!

coming soon!! 10 Saving Money 2 (Textbooks, Tax, Scholarships)

SEE ALSO

Study Spaces Masterpost , Studying and your Visual System

Catching Up with Your Studies , Dealing with Bad Results

Sleeping and Waking Up Early , Google Keep

My 2017 Planner and Bullet Journal , Study Space , 2017 goals

28.12.2018 | studying for my exams (6)

Made extra exercises on chapter 4 (Linear Algebra)

Plan for tomorrow: Finish chapter 5 & maybe chapter 6

Hii! I think one of the most important things when trying to improve your handwriting is your materials. 

Pens obviously make a huge difference to your writing for three main reasons. The main reason is the size of the pen itself. If you would like your handwriting to be bigger, you should choose a pen with a bigger body (I really like the Zebra Sarasa Clip Pen) whereas if you’d like your writing to be smaller, your should pick something with a smaller body (Muji Pens, Cute Cat Pen, There are a bunch of cheap ballpoint pens that are smaller too!)

The next thing that makes a difference is tip size. I have pretty small writing and I normally won’t write with anything above 0.38mm. It’s pretty difficult to find good pens at this size so I may write with 0.5mm. Once again, if you want your handwriting to be bigger, use a bigger tip size (1.0mm - 0.5mm), If you want smaller writing, use a smaller tip size (0.5mm - 0.38mm).

You also want to pay attention to the type of pen that you are using.

Ballpoint Pens are good for people who have bigger writing, they dry quickly so you don’t have to worry if you write fast and they are long lasting. However, they can look quite messy, they aren’t super smooth and the ink can gather sometimes. They also aren’t too good if you want to write for long periods of time (I find that my hand usually aches after a while)

Rollerball Pens are similar to ballpoint pens, they are also good for people with bigger writing, you get a really dark line, the ink dries quickly and you don’t have to apply much pressure (good for long periods of writing). They can sometimes bleed/feather, they don’t last too long and they leak when left without a lid. 

Gel Pens are really good for people with smaller writing. They are often very smooth and they leave a neat line that looks very clean. You can often get gel pens in a variety of colours too. They don’t bleed much which makes the page look really tidy. They take a while to dry which can be frustrating and they also run out pretty quick.

Fountain Pens are good for people who write in cursive. They have a good colour range and you can also get a lot more line variation. They can be difficult to write with though and I wouldn’t recommend them for people who are trying to improve their writing.

After you have chosen a pen that you like, you can either just practice writing by doing it often (slower results but less effort) or you can write out the alphabet and pick out the things that you want to change and then practice a LOT, (continuously writing out the alphabet, writing drills, handwriting worksheets). You should also try just writing slower (when you have the time, don’t fall behind in a lesson because you’re trying to write slowly). I find that writing slower massively improves my writing. 

As you get more practice, you can start writing faster and it should start to become easier.

I’ve been struggling with it since day one and even now I don’t think it is perfect, but with some help, it got better and better every time. Here are a few links with tips that definitely helped me out!

7 French Pronunciation tips to avoid sounding like a tourist 

How to sound more like a native french speaker

How to pronounce R in French

How to pronounce “EN, EM, AN & AM” sounds in French 

How to pronounce “AI & EI” sound in French

How to pronounce “Œ” sound in French

How to pronounce “EU” sound in French

How to pronounce “EAU” sound in French

How to pronounce “GN” sound in French

How to pronounce “AIN” sound in French

How to pronounce “OIN” sound in French

How to pronounce “OI” sound in French 

How to pronounce “ON” sound in French

How to pronounce “OU” sound in French

How to pronounce “TH” in French 

How to pronounce the “CH” sound in French

How to pronounce PSY, PSO & PSEU in French

Vowel Sounds in French

Phonétique : les nasales

Phonétique + Phonétique opposition + Phonétique visuelle + Syllabes

French Pronunciation Awareness: 8 Major Points You Should Learn ASAP

200 MINUTES TO MASTER FRENCH PRONUNCIATION

5 COMMON FRENCH PRONUNCIATION MISTAKES

How to Improve Your French Accent: 6 Practical Tips 

French Mistakes to Avoid - French Pronunciation

10 TRICKS TO TALK LIKE A NATIVE FRENCH

Introduction to Perfect French Pronunciation 

4 Great tips for easy french pronunciation 

Pronounce French brands like a pro

French pronunciation - The accents

What NOT to pronounce in French 

How to Pronounce the French “R”

Lesser seen french tips

French Podcasts 

Also, if you want a fun way to do it, I recommend listening to music and singing along.

Maître Gims - Est-ce que tu m'aimes ?

Sindy - Sans rancune ft. La Fouine

Frozen - Let It Go (French version)

Lara Fabian - Je Suis Malade

Black M - Je suis chez moi

Kendji Girac - Andalouse

Simon Morin - Elle veut

Indila - Dernière Danse

Lara Fabian - Je t'aime

Black M - Sur ma route

Stromae - Formidable

Simon Morin - Reste

Stromae - Papaoutai

Sindy - Aïe Aïe Aïe

Maître Gims - Bella

Willy William - Ego 

Stromae - carmen

Alma - Requiem

Zaz - Je Veux

Zaz - On ira