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Vintage Dinosaur books from Japan

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Hello Japanese language learning friends and media enthusiasts! It’s time to dive into my favorite guides, resources, and tools to get the perfect Japanese language immersion learning setup. All for free!

It is never too early and never too late for you to start consuming native Japanese media. Whether you’re a complete beginner, stuck in the intermediate plateau, or an advanced Japanese language learner looking to improve, you are bound to find something useful in this list. These are guides and tools that I have tried and tested, and I plan to add on to this list when I encounter something new and good.

ANKI: The Ultimate Spaced Repetition System

Let’s just say that if I had never discovered Anki, I would still be having the worst time of my life trying to memorize vocabulary using paper flashcards, writing them repeatedly, and eventually just forgetting them anyway. With Anki, I have thousands of vocabulary and grammar flashcards from the media I’ve consumed - also known as sentence mining - with native audio, context sentence, and images.

Even if I complain about Anki sometimes, it has fast tracked my learning so much that I will never go back to whatever I was doing before. I would highly recommend starting Anki at twenty new cards a day (never more!), and be familiar with 600 new vocabulary in a month. That’s 7,300 words a year all on one application.

If you’re a complete beginner and don’t know how to sentence mine yet, there are vocabulary decks (Tango N5 and N4 and Core 2.3k VN Deck) from TheMoeWay that you can use to start.

ANKI SETUP GUIDE: Animecards/Vocabulary Cards

Speaking of adding words to Anki, I recently switched to vocabulary cards or anime cards and it has been better for my recognition in the wild, and my time in Anki has been reduced to less than half the time I used to spend using sentence cards even when I have 300 reviews for the day. Check this Anki setup for animecards to start your sentence mining journey.

YOMICHAN: The Best Dictionary Browser Extension

Read anything Japanese on your browser with Yomichan as your dictionary extension and instantly add words you don’t know to Anki with a few clicks. Check this guide to setup Ankiconnect and Yomichan. I also recommend setting up Yomichan on KiwiBrowser on your mobile so you can read and lookup words on your html or epub on the go with Ttu’s Reader.

MONOLINGUAL DICTIONARIES: TheMoeWay’s Monolingual Transition and the Best Dictionaries for Yomichan

Of course, you can’t use Yomichan without a good set of dictionaries. Boost your Japanese comprehension in both vocabulary and grammar with monolingual dictionaries. All of my Anki cards have monolingual definitions on them, and my lookups while reading (save for common nouns, technical terms, etc.) are monolingual.

TheMoeWay has the best compilation of resources and dictionaries out there and it is constantly updated. My most used dictionaries are 大辞林 第三版, 新明解国語辞典 第五版, and 旺文社国語辞典 第十一版 since I found that they are the most comprehensive and easiest to understand.

ViSUAL NOVEL GUIDES: Easy Setup Guides to Reading Japanese Visual Novels

I learned how to setup Visual Novels through theMoeWay while the animecards site walks you through how to sentence mine from them for Anki, which makes use of programs like Textractor and ShareX. These guides are extensive and may seem complicated at first glance, but since it helps you read raw text and make cards that come with the target word, context sentence, image, and audio if available, they are not only high quality, but also makes reading easy and fun even for beginners!

GRAMMAR

Tae Kim’s Grammar Guide - Read through this and get a decent grasp of grammar from basic to advanced

Cure Dolly - I haven’t watched every video robotic voice rip but I did learn a lot from the few that I have

Dictionary of Japanese Grammar Series - Not free unless you read TheMoeWay then it totally is and comes with an Anki deck too but a very good textbook reference to most if not all grammar points that exist.

Yomichan with Monolingual Dictionaries - probably the best way to learn grammar but may be intimidating for a lot of people

DISCORD COMMUNITY

TheMoeWay has a language learning Discord that I spend too much time in that has a ton of resources shared daily, monthly reading challenges, anime and movie streams, and pretty sweet immersion leaderboards to help gamify the process of language learning.

I highly recommend reading the site thoroughly before joining the Discord especially the resources page, since it provides you with a lot of information on how to learn Japanese at all levels, and it overall offers good advice on language learning through immersion.

I go by meimae there as well. Come say hi!

-☆-

It’s time to finally update this post with some more cool new Japanese language learning addons, extensions, and tools I’ve been using for the past few months.

This new set of resources are all made by my friend Kamron (@KamWithK) from TheMoeWay Discord server. If you like any of his tools, please go buy him a coffee, he truly deserves it for making everything language learning automated and therefore so much easier!

ANKI ADDON

Field Reporter reorders Anki cards based on a designated field. I use this to sort my cards by frequency order so that when I review new cards, I always get the most common words to learn first. Excellent tool for beginners who would like to have a huge advantage in reading very early on.

MOBILE MINING SETUP

Ankiconnect Android is an absolute gamechanger for mobile anki mining. Just have TTU reader and Yomichan installed with your dictionaries of choice in Kiwi Browser and turn on the app to get the Yomichan mining button. Easy peasy and no hassle mining on mobile!

BROWSER EXTENSION

exSTATic is a high quality reading progress tracking browser extension that currently supports VNs and manga thru Mokuro a yomichan-able manga reader for your browser. With exSTATic, you can now record your daily reading progress without a sweat as it starts (and stops automatically when you accidentally leave it on!) every time you hook a VN line thru Textractor or scroll thru your manga. You can also toggle the timer by double clicking.

Here’s a look at my entire average reading speed progress for VNs using exSTATic.

Being a lover of graphs, as you guys know, this extension provides some of the most drool worthy and satisfying overviews to my reading growth, and I’m positive that you’ll agree when you try it out and see your gains every single day! A full and easy to follow setup tutorial is up on his GitHub page.

-☆-

Hey! So I really like to do challenges for some reason lol And I feel like there is a lack of challenges focused on reading or on beginner levels so I came up with this idea!

Get yourself a thermos or insulated pitcher. Fill it with hot water. Bring a mug and a few tea bags back to your room. Now you have a day’s worth of hot tea at your fingertips.

Get away from the computer and take some pen-and-paper notes. I know it may be tempting to just stare at your screen all day, but any chance to rest your eyes is a good one.

On that note, invest in some computer glasses, or a blue light filter program for your computer. We’re all in the digital realm these days, and protecting our vision is important.

If you need to, set yourself a weird sleeping schedule. All of my classes are in the afternoon or evening, due to classmates in other time zones. I stay up til 2:00 am and sleep in until 10:00 am or later most days.

Have different clothes set aside for class. I understand the temptation to show up to that Zoom call in your pajamas, really I do. But your mind connects certain physical objects with certain activities, and it can be difficult to truly wake up when you’re giving your brain signals that it’s time to sleep.

For the same reasons, do not study in your bed. If you get sick of your desk or table, try spreading out on the floor instead.

Do not check the news before studying or class time. You will be distracted, anxious, and unable to focus. Get your own day in order first, then worry about what’s going on outside.

If you are struggling to feel productive even while you’re getting your schoolwork done, take breaks to do chores. It means you’re still getting things done, but you’re switching from mental progress to physical, tangible progress.

Go sit outside for a while. Leave your phone in the house and just sit on the front porch, or in the back garden. Being shut inside is not good for creatures like us, so we need all the sunshine and fresh air we can get.

- I decided to say screw it all and slap down my current resources bc it’s getting out of hand (✿ᵒᵕᵒ) - bolded are my faves - my tagalog resources

頑張りましょう！

♡ DICTIONARIES ♡

語源由来辞典 etymology

故事ことわざ辞典 proverbs

日本語俗語辞書 colloquial language

Imiimiimi : slang

Jisho

JLect : search by dialect

Kanjikai

kotoba.ne.jp

日本語 eな

Tangorin

Weblio - シソーラス

♡ KANJI ♡

クルミの日本語

1,900 readings (on+kun)

All Kanji by grade

Kanji Koohii

Kanji level checker

Kun vs On

Learn Kanji fast

Moji.Tekkai: kanji in different styles

Radicals

Repeater (no readings!)

Radical cheat sheet

Riraikun

Suiren: words by kanji

Tobira: exercise sheets

Yojijukugo: 4-kanji compounds

♡ GRAMMAR ♡

日本語ください

Bc of Dreams: full list

Bite-sized grammar

By JLPT level (full list)

Find sentence examples

Maggie-sensei

Mistakes and differences

Particles

The ~small~ letters

300+ pages of grammar

♡ JLPT ♡

Grammar plan

Study plan

Level requirements

Level summaries

MLC: Short questions by grammar

Mock tests (ジェイグラム) (jtest)

N2 study (books)

♡ LEARNING ♡

みなと

ぷにぷに

Clozemaster (+ writing challenges)

Duo

General situations

Memrise

OnomatoProject

Quizlet

U-biq

Verb conjugator quiz

Vocabulary size quiz

YT: 国語－文法 (middle school grammar)

YT: N2 grammar

♡  READING/ LISTENING / WATCHING ♡

Apps for a language partner

Bookmeter (Japanese Goodreads)

Media by Level

朝学

Aozora Bunko (Jp. Project Gutenberg)

Bum Detective / おしりたんてい

天文学辞典

Alice in Wonderland

Buzzfeed

Calvin & Hobbes

Fairy tales + short stories

Japanese children’s stories

子供朝日 - children’s newspaper

KC読む読む - preschool books

Japanese.io

News Web Easy

日本語学習読本

Reading

小説を読もう - light novels

Stories - Tokyo Intl. University

Tadoku graded readers

Tatoeba Corpus

Unesco: About Japan in Japanese

ひろがる

福娘 - short fairy tales

Hearing numbers practice

Japanese documentaries

Listening - daily life

Lyrics training

Mykikitori

SuperNative

Top JPop tracks

Daiweeb

Isle of Dogs

モンポケ

YT: はじめしゃちょー

YT: fairy tales

YT: PDRさん

♡ REFERENCES ♡

世界の国・漢字略称

時雨の町 (grammar examples)

CEFR level test

TTBJ proficiency test

What’s your level? (self determine)

Adjective list

Cotoacademy

Date converter

General Japanese refs　

Humble and Honorific

How to write on essay paper

Improve speaking skills

Keigo cheatsheet

Language level challenges

Math terms

Naverまとめ - slang articles

Onomatopedia

Verb conjugator

World map

♡ VOCABULARY ♡

“All”

Counters

Fake your fluency

Harry Potter

Hobbies

Water cycle (英語で）

それよく言われる - I get that a lot.

参加します！ - I’m in!

今向かってるとこ。 - I’m on my way.

口が滑っちゃった、ゴメン - Sorry, my mouth slipped

〜することを目指す - aim to do~

〜するフリをする - pretend to do~

正直言うと - To be honest, 

私の知る限り - As far as I know,

Aが〜するのを禁止する - Ban A from doing~

死ぬほど〜がしたい！ - I’m dying to ~ 

ビビったー。 - I freaked out.

何が何だか - what is what

Get ready to impress them with your knowlage of Japanese phrases!

I want to take the time to mention that there ia an app called HelloTalk and it is made spesifically for you to make friends who speak the language you are learning! And yes, I AM on there (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧ Talking with Japanese speakers in a setting like in the HelloTalk app will help you use everything you have learned here, and teach you new words!

In fact, I learned how to say “pizza bagel” the other day, which is ピザべグル (piza beguru).

Here is a nice infographic to teach you some great things to say when meeting someone new!

みんな、おはよう!　今日はこのポストで私の勉強の方法を話します。

始めましょう！

List of 188 Japanese particles with meaning / usage

は (wa)Indicantes the topic of a sentence

か (ka)At the end of a sentence indicating a question

が (ga)Indicates the subject of a sentence

に (ni)Indicates a location

の (no)Indicates possession

は (wa)Indicates a contrast between 2 items

に (ni)Indicates time or frequency

へ (e)Indicates direction

を (wo/o)Indicates the direct object of a verb

と (to)Used to connect and list up multiple items

や (ya)Used to connect and partially list up multiple items

など (nado)Used with や (ya) to partially list up multiple items

も (mo)means “too”, “either”, “also”

も (mo)both…and…, neither…nor…

に (ni)Indicates the indirect object of a verb

に (ni)Indicates the surface of a object where some action takes place

で (de)Indicates the location of an action

と (to)Together with

の (no)Indicates an apposition

から (kara)Indicates a starting point in time or place

より (yori)Indicates a starting point in time or place but more formal than kara (20)

まで (made)Indicates a limit on time, space or quantity

くらい (kurai)Indicates an approximate amount

ほど (hodo)Indicates an approximate amount

ばかり(bakari)Indicates an approximate amount

で (de)Indicates a means or material

か (ka)Indicates a choice or alternative

を (wo/o)Indicates a point of departure

を (wo/o)Indicates a route of a movement/motion

に (ni)Indicates a point of arrival

に (ni)Indicates an entering motion

に (ni)Used together with a verb to express a purpose

と (to)Used when quoting someone

と いう (to iu)Indicates the name of something

とか (toka)“something like”

で (de)Indicates a limit or scope

と (to)Indicates a comparison

より (yori)Indicates a comparison

より (yori)Indicates superlative

くらい (kurai)Indicates a comparison

ほど (hodo)Indicates a comparison in a negative sentence

か (ka)someone, something

も (mo)“nothing”, nobody”, nowhere” if used with an interrogative word

に (ni)Used with a verb to indicate a change or choice

をする (wo/o suru)Expresses an occupation or position

でも (demo)Indicates emphasis

でも (demo)Together with an interrogative word it means “anything”, “anyone”, any time”

で (de)Indicates a cause or a reason

から (kara)Indicates a source such as a giver, a cause or material

に (ni)Indicates a person who gives something or who provides a service

は (wa) + が (ga)Indicates the relation between an object / subjects and a verb or adjective

が (ga)Connects two sentences with the meaning “but…”

を (wo/o)Used with an verb expressing emotions, it indicates the cause of this emotion

で (de)Indicates a state / condition of something

で (de)Limits numbers

だけ (dake)Indicates a limit on things or amounts

だけ (dake)Indicates a limit on an action or state

で (de)Indicates the time of completion or expiration of something

でも (demo)Following a noun, means “or something like this”

も (mo)Emphasizes in a positive or negative way

でも (demo)Indicates two or more items as an example of a larger list

ばかり (bakari)Indicates that an item, state or action is a single one

ばかり (bakari)Indicates an action was just completed

ところ (tokoro)Indicates that an action takes place, just took place or is about to take place

が (ga)Indicates the subject of subordinate clause when it is different from the subject of the main clause

から (kara)conjunction meaning “after” or “since”

ながら (nagara)Indicates that an action is happening simultaneously

が (ga)Indicates the subject of a relative clause

の (no)Indicates the subject of a relative clause

から (kara)Used as a conjunction and indicates a cause or reason

ので (node)Indicates a strong reason

の (no)Indicates a modified pronoun

の (no)Used to nominalize verbs & sentences

なら (nara)Used as a conjunction and indicates a supposition or condition

なら (nara)Indicates a topics and is used as an alternative to wa (No.1)

と (to)Indicates a condition that results in an inevitable outcome

ば (ba)Used as a conjunction to express a probable results

ばいい (ba)“all you have to do…”

ば (ba)Used to enumerate two or more actions or states

たら (tara)Used as a conjunction, indicates a supposition or condition

たら (tara)Used as a conjunction to indicate that one action takes place before the action described in the main sentence

ところ (tokoro)Used as a conjunction to indicate a condition that brings about a discovery

ても (temo)a conjunction meaning “even if”

ても (temo)Used with a set of contrasting verbs and adjectives

ても (temo)Together with an interrogative word it means “no matter what/where/who”

ては (tewa)Indicates a condition which will bring a negative conclusion

のみ (nomi)Indicates a limit (similar to だけ　dake)

まで (made)“even”, used to emphasize

さえ (sae)“even”, used to emphasize

さえ (sae)“if only” or “as long as”

のに (noni)“although”, “in spite of the fact that”

ながら (nagara)“although”, “though”, “but”

とか (toka)Indicates that a list of two ore more things or actions is not exhaustive

たり (tari)List of two or more actions in no particular sequence

たり (tari)Indicates actions or states that alternate

のに (noni)Indicates a purpose or function

のです (no desu)Asks for an explanation or reason

きり (kiri)Indicates a limit to an amount

きり (kiri)Indicates the last time a certain incident occured

とも (tomo)Used with numbers and counters to mean “both” or “all”

ながら (nagara)Used with numbers and counters to mean “both” or “all”

しか (shika)Used with a negative verb to indicate limits on conditions or quantities meaning “only”

しかない (shika nai)used with a verb meaning “to have no choice but to”

し (shi)Used as a conjunction, indicating two or more actions or states

し (shi)Used as a conjunction indicating a reason

とも (tomo)Indicates inclusion

に (ni)Indicates the one acting or the one acted upon

か (ka)Indicates uncertainty about something

か (ka)Indicates uncertainty about a state or reason

だの (dano) Indicates two or more items or actions of a longer list (similar to toka とか)

だの (dano)Indicates a pair of opposite actions or states

など (nado)“something to the effect”

やら (yara)Indicates two or more items of a longer list

やら (yara)Indicates uncertainty

ても (temo)Indicates an approximate limit with the meaning of “at the most”

とも (tomo)Indicates an approximate maximum or minimum

は (wa)Indicates that a number is the higher or lowest limit

と (to)Emphasizes a number in a negative sentence

など (nado)Indicates examples

くらい (kurai)Expresses an extent of an action or condition similar to ぐらい gurai

ほど (hodo)Indicates the extend of an action or condition

ほど (hodo)“the more… the more…”

だけ (dake)“as… as…”

だけ (dake)“the more… the more…”

と (to)“about to do something”, “trying to do something”

と (to)“even if…”, “whether… or not”

なり (nari)“either…”, “whether…or”

なり (nari)“anything”, “anyone”, “any time”

こそ (koso)Emphasizes the word preceding it

こそ (koso)Emphasizes a reason or a cause

ては (tewa)Expresses repetition of an action

に (ni)Joins two or more nouns to indicate a list of items

に (ni)Connects two or more items to indicate a matching or a contrast

にしては (ni shite wa)Indicates a generally agreed upon standard

にとって (ni totte)Indicates an effect or value of a person or thing

について (ni tsuite)“about”, “concerning” something or someone

とも…とも (tomo… tomo)“can’t say whether… or…”

が (ga)“even if”, “whether… or not”

は (wa)Emphasizes contrasting elements

として (toshite)Indicates status, capacity or function

として (toshite)Provides emphasis in a negative sentence

ばかりでなく(bakari de naku)“not only… but also”

だけ (dake) used to express “not only…but also”

のみ (nomi)used to express “not only…but also”

なり (nari)“as soon as”

146がはやいか (ga hayai ka)“as soon as”

やいなや (ya ina ya)“as soon as”

かないうちに (ka nai uchi ni)“no sooner had”, “hardly had”

ばかり (bakari)Indicates the only action left to do

ばかりに (bakari ni)Emphasizes a reason or cause

すら (sura)Emphasizes in the meaning of “even”

など (nado)Expresses a humble attitude towards an item

とも (tomo)“no matter what”, “even if”

ともあろうひと (tomo aroo hito)To express that someone did something not to be expected

どころか (dokoro ka)“far from”, “not to mention”

だけに (dake ni)Indicates a cause or reason

までもない (made mo nai)“there is no need to…”

ものの (mono no)“but” or “although”

ところで (tokoro de)“even if”

けれども (keredomo)Connects 2 sentences meaning “but” or “although”

けれども (keredomo)Indicates a preliminary remark

が (ga)Used to soften a statement or refusal

けれども (keredomo)Indicates a desire

ね (ne)At the end of a sentence to confirm a statement

ね (ne)At the end of a sentence to soften a request or suggestion

ね (ne)At the end of a sentence to indicate a reason or cause

ねえ (nee)At the end of a sentence to indicate emotion

よ (yo)At the end of a sentence to state a strong conviction

よ (yo)At the end of a sentence to articulate a request or suggestion

かしら (kashira)At the end of a sentence to express uncertainty, a request or a question and mainly used by women

かな (kana)At the end of a sentence to express uncertainty, a request or a question and mainly used by men

な (na)At the end of a sentence and used by men to confirm a statement

な (na)At the end of a sentence to express a prohibition, used by men

なあ (naa)At the end of a sentence to express emotion, used by men

なあ (naa)At the end of a sentence to express a desire

の (no)At the end of a sentence to express a question or soften a command, used by women

わ (wa)At the end of a sentence to soften a statement, used by women

さ (sa)At the end of a sentence to indicate slight emphasis, used by men

こと (koto)At the end of a sentence to indicate emotion, used by women

こと (koto)At the end of a sentence to express a suggestion or invitation, used by women

もの (mono)At the end of a sentence to express a reason or excuse

とも (tomo)At the end of a sentence to express an assertion

ものか (monoka)At the end of a sentence to express a negative determination, used by men

や (ya)At the end of a sentence to soften a statement, request or suggestion, used by men

たら (tara)At the end of a sentence to indicate a suggestion or proposal

やら (yara)At the end of a sentence to indicate a rhetorical question with a negative implication

ぜ (ze)At the end of a sentence to add for to sentence, used by men

1. Don’t study the course material the summer before the course start date

I’ve known so many well intentioned students to do this (including myself!), but it is a fruitless enterprise that ends up wasting precious relaxation time. For a start, lecturers and course coordinators are constantly changing the material that ends up on the exam year upon year, and so in most instances students end up studying subjects with little or no current relevance for the course they are about to embark upon. Furthermore, course prospectus’ are infamously vague, and on more than one occasion I have studied material based upon the course plan that has no relevance whatsoever! University is stressful no matter what year you are entering, and as a first year you may be facing many other new experiences, such as living on your own, being independent and self-sustaining, that bring challenges and difficulties of their own. So don’t spend the summer stressing; use it as a reset point to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed upon that first week of university, so you can face up to those changes! If you want to be proactive but not waste your time, I suggest looking at the reading lists for each course, and lightly looking over any topics that peak your interest. From my experience, reading lists are much less likely to change year to year, and can provide interesting background information for your course- but keep the stress to a minimum!

2. Try not to party too much in Fresher’s week!

This one is so tempting to do, but there’s a few reasons why this isn’t a good idea! First off, fresher’s weeks or ‘Fresher’s festivals’ are often very overpriced and aimed at getting naive students to spend as much of that new student loan as they can before they realise how expensive food shopping and laundry is (tip; it can get very pricey!). Also, in most universities, and definitely in my case, important orientation lectures are held where attendance is mandatory on that first week of term, and it is vital you attend. In the case of science students such as myself, this includes proper usage of microscopes, lab safety protocols, grading schemes and how markings work, your tutorial assignment and can even be work due the next week! I know you might be thinking ‘I’ve heard all this in A-levels’, but universities operate to a different calibration entirely; marking is ranked on percentages rather than a curve, there are no As and Bs, and lab protocols are ALOT stricter. You are working in a higher academic environment, and as such higher academic conduct is expected of you! And this does not just apply to science students; those studying classical subjects will have specific referencing lessons (science students also have this, but only use the Harvard format), new academic writing styles, research methods etc. With all this important information, you don’t want to be hungover or worse miss the orientation and start off on the wrong foot. But if you’re worrying that not going out every night will mean you won’t make friends, don’t fret; most students, including myself, made friends with those on their course after a few months, or through living arrangements. Freshers is by no means your only chance to make friends, there are plenty of opportunities at university to do that, and after a couple of weeks you’ll find great mates!

3. Wait a bit before buying all those expensive textbooks

I’ve been guilty of this, every single year! The fact is, you don’t need every single item on the reading list, and this can even rack up to hundreds of pounds! You can find out which books you might need to buy in the first few weeks of your course, depending on library availability, how much your lecturer relies on the text for course support and content, and your personal ability in the course. Books that are in high demand at the library and the ones you can never seem to get hold off you may need to pay for, but if the book is available the majority of the time you can often rent for weeks on end, and just renew the rent when the time is up. In that case, there is no reason to buy your own copy if the library has enough to sustain demand. In the case of course content and lecturers, the reliance on the textbooks recommended varies greatly; in one course the textbook didn’t feel necessary whatsoever, in another it was a great supporting body that followed the course accurately, and other times the lecturers had used the entire information within the textbook AS their lecture content. It is only when the textbook can be utilised as supporting information that it can elevate your study, otherwise it can be irrelevant or the exact information you just heard in your lecture. Get used to each teaching style in those first few weeks, and make an informed decision whether the information required by the textbook is already fulfilled, irrelevant or would prove to be an excellent resource. Furthermore, textbooks are dense in information, but lacking in higher qualities of information that can push your grade into those top marks, so adjust your need for the textbook according to ability. If you are excelling at a certain course, the information a textbook can provide will be too basic and I would encourage you to push yourself to reading academic journals and papers to earn those top-tier marks. However, if you are really struggling with a course, stick to the basics and give a good thorough read of the textbook; it is unlikely you will understand those higher materials without at least understanding the basics, and you can still get a good grade without reading those complex sources. Both of these scenarios occurred to me in second-year; I bought textbooks for both microbiology and molecular biology, and while I found my microbiology textbook too basic and looked to higher scientific journals, the molecular biology textbook turned out to be a godsend! Everyone has different natural abilities, so I suggest to adjust your study to those needs, and your wallet will thank you in the process!

4. Find a method of note-taking that works FOR YOU

I’ve seen so many peers struggling because they just haven’t found the right form of note-taking for them, and instead follow a method that most do which I highly discourage! The method in question is where the student preemptively downloads the lecture PowerPoint, and makes notes in the space below of details the lecturer may mention. Now, this method works great if you are really on top of your note-taking and have a lot of extra time, but there’s a few reasons why I don’t recommend it. First off, by only making notes on those specific details students often miss the main body of text that acts as the core material, and as such must complete this mass of information at a later date. From my experience, students don’t have the time to do this and as such the material never becomes completed, leaving notes weeks or even months behind. Another method is handwriting. EVERYTHING. While I do agree that you remember more when you are handwriting notes (because it takes longer), this is way too time consuming and results in the same backlog of the previous methods, where your notes are always constantly behind on the lecture material. What I would recommend is a note methodology that incorporates both handwriting and typing up lecture notes, in a way that is not time-consuming. My own personal method utilises a Cornell template, whereby I copy and paste or type up the main body of text from the lecture the night before, and handwrite details of what the lecturer is saying in the columns. If you have the extra time, try reading through the lecture the night before also, and thinking of questions you have for the lecturer about any information you don’t understand. There are multiple iterations of this that I’ve seen, such as using post-its or writing on typed lecture notes, but all the most efficient in terms of time and memory utilise both typing and handwriting. That way you avoid that nasty note backlog, and can experiment with structures and templates that work with your study style. So don’t follow the crowd, and find a method that works best for you!

5. Have Fun!

University is a life-altering experience where most find their independence, and make friends for life. Whilst you should study hard and invest in your future, I wish I had told myself to go easier in my first year; you can still get a First whilst having fun, and you’re only going to have this period of your life for a few short years before you enter the world of work, so enjoy it! Study should never be your entire life, and those rest days are just as important, so try not to overdo your first year and just focus on enjoying that university experience; you’ll have plenty of time for study and stress in those second and third years! (Trust me...)

Soooo I made myself an infographic to remember those tricky Japanese Counters.

Organisation and Planning

Have a planner or some area where you can write your plans for the day so you can easily see when you have a class or event.

Update your planner/ calendar every day

Have weekly to do lists. I taped mine in each week of my planner so i can see all tasks and events in the one glance.

Clean your desk or work space every night or after a session, this way it’s so much easier to get started the next day.

Have a post it note near you to jot down important things you remember for you to do later that way you don’t get sidetracked. 

Get out any power cords, pens, food etc. that you need for a study sesh before you start.

Stick on your wall a list of upcoming assignments or class work due dates and tick of as you do them, or post it note them and remove when done.

Break down tasks on lists so it seems more achievable. 

Always make a plan before starting an assignment, maybe a mind map of what needs to be done and where you’ll get what info. I love doing this for essays.

Make sure you know what things you need to do before each class whether its reading or printing slides, come prepared.

Keep all notes for a subject together whether in a folder or digitally, this will help in exam season and don’t leave papers in your bag to be forgotten about.

Empty your bag everyday and put handouts or information in its appropriate place.

Studying

Pomodoro! Most people i know do the 30 mins study 5 min break but this has always been too short of time for me to accomplish something with too little of a break so i tend to do 45 or 60 minutes with a 10 minute break which is pretty much the same time it just works better for me.

ASMR! i know this sounds cringe or cliche but asmr can be super relaxing and provides that white noise that we like without listening to music which may prove distracting. I suggest the Harry potter common room ones they are beautiful.

Attitude. This is so important because if you go into studying pessimistically you will end up annoyed, go in with the mindset of getting a lot done and reaching your goals.

A pretty work space is a used work space, well at least for me. When my walls are covered with artwork and my desk is neat i feel most motivated, cleaning your desk is a small task that might inspire you to get working. 

Candles, see above. 

Watch YouTube videos on the subject you’re studying, for visual and auditory learners this is especially helpful. 

Make summaries after your notes, mainly focusing on explicit points in the syllabus.

Make sure your summaries are done as you complete the course work so you are prepared for exam season.

A few weeks before exams make a list of all you want to get done before then and start working!

If you have your textbook on your device get a program that will read the text to you, save your eyes and this is normally a quicker way to digest material.

Find the study space that works for you, e.g. home, the library etc. 

As much as i love it, coffee makes you peak and come down so if you can water and good snacks can be better for sustained energy.

DO PRACTICE QUESTIONS! For some reason i thought it was okay to think about a practice question and then just look at the answer? No, this did not work, you need to actually see what you know and write a response. 

When possible work under exam conditions, it’s going to be stressful to be put under those circumstances but you need to actually get used to working that way.

Set a time and write down all you know about a small topic on a page, what you miss is what you need to go over.

Most textbooks are a base resource that can help you if you don’t understand a concept but there shouldn’t be too many notes to gather that you shouldn’t have already gotten in class, this is obviously different for each class but for me this has been the case. Don’t waste good revision time relearning what you know.

Highlighting allows us to tune out of the actual reading so avoid when possible and take notes as you go if you need to as this makes you focus more.

Flashcards are fun to make and they are proven to work, just make sure if you make question cards you don’t cheat when using them and look at the answers. 

Making your notes is pretty but time consuming, don’t feel pressured to have that aesthetic all the time, the work is more important.

Find online quizzes on the topics you are studying. Many people have done your course before and already put in the hard yards, take advantage of this.

As above there are many resources for topics online, find these before you start a new section to be extra prepared. 

Rereading notes before bed makes sure it stays in your head as your brain will be processing it overnight or some science but it does work.

When studying put your phone in another room to relieve the urge to check it all the time.

Stationery 

Have a good trusty pen. Mine is the uniball signo. We have a friendship, it’s good.

I’ve learned recently you don’t need 100 coloured pens and the entire fine-liner collection because i only like a few colours and often don’t have enough time to use a brush pen, markers, highlighters and pens all in the one page of notes.

Don’t feel pressured to have pretty equipment, functional equipment is 100 times more important

Small dot or grid notebooks to do summaries in or mind maps really has helped me feel motivated because they do look really pretty and gets me focused in exam times.

There is a movement towards digitising notes but i think it is still good to have a binder for handouts and articles etc.

Only take to college/school/university the essentials and save your back.

Keep a few bad ballpoints in your bag to save giving friends your nice pens and never getting them back.

Don’t buy stationery that doesn’t work, yes the New York post its i got were beautiful, did they stick at all, no. This clutters your work space and steals your money.

Personal Care

Don’t feel guilty for taking breaks, realistically know your limits and think of it as refuelling.

Try to eat healthy not for weight or looking good but because your body will hate you when you are always giving it takeaway and then asking it to do 14 hour study sessions.

When struggling to focus of a morning, get up and have a shower. This will wake you up and get you feeling motivated.

Have a support person. Mine is my boyfriend and is the person i can just let out all the stress onto, have a cry and then get back to work. You just need to let it out sometimes.

A more relaxed study method is to group up with friends and test each other, create little games etc.

Make sure you still socialise and go to events during crazy stressful periods because you need an outlet and a break.

write out your goals for a term, semester, class or year and refer back to them when you get your results, this will make sure you are judging yourself by your own standards and not compared to anyone else’s.

Hey so if you are interested in coding/compsci at all, at any level, we would love to have you on our discord server! Its been set up by the lovely @safmiute and we’re a very talktative group so if you need friends/advice/help/a place to share/etc you should definitely come check it out!

You can join the server by clicking here or by pasting this link into your browser: https://discord.gg/ef697gq

Hello again!

First I would like to thank you all for the wonderful support for this project!! I never expected so many people to participate. If you would still like to be added please continue to reblog with your information to be added!!

Here is the link to the completed Directory!! If anything is incorrect or you would like something about your bio changed please feel free to reach out!!