q's playlist

:)

since it's the end of 2025, I thought I'd use the time to count down a few things from this year!

5 things I'm grateful for

community. I have had the most wonderful and supportive people around me this year, and I could not be more grateful for them. 2024-me was crying about not having true friends I could spill my heart to, and I’ve spilled my heart to so many loving people this year (it's kinda embarassing) also grateful for all the people who read my tumblr yapping <3

opportunities that have come my way this year, including getting the help that I need academically, people who have approached me, and all of the summer programs I was able to be a part of.

all of my teachers, not just this year, but these past five years. I may complain every day that my teachers’ classes are so difficult, but at the end of the day, I learned the most from them. I think every single english class I’ve been a part of has been a year-long life-changing experience

my friends who listened to me rant and cry about school basically every day. Without their patience and kindness, I would have crashed out a whole lot more.

my family, who also endured all of the ranting and crying about school

4 accomplishments I'm proud of

finishing most of my college applications

getting my Eagle scout rank!! genuinely didn't think I would ever be able to get it, but I did this year! I just needed a little pushing from friends/family, and a lot of hard work

getting a 5 on the ap physics 1 exam

winning gold in a piano competition for the first time in 2 years. it was genuinely surreal seeing that certificate, ngl

3 things I learned this year

start any time. I didn’t need to wait for a new year, a new month, a new week, or even a new day. I learned that it is okay to start as I am.

stop overcomplicating things. If I wanted something to be done, I needed to stop blowing each task way out of proportion.

listening more. I’m a certified yapper. this year taught me how to listen, even a little bit more. (listening is definitely something I’m working to grow in next year)

2 things I'm leaving behind

impatience. sometimes I look at things like my grades, my subscriber count, and so many other parts of my life and think “why aren’t they improving yet?” I think being chronically online has trained me to expect instant gratification, so when things don’t improve quickly, I start feeling like I’m doing something wrong, or like I’m already behind. but growth never really works that way, and I'm trying to remind myself more of that truth

constantly watching other people’s lives, and forgetting to build my own. I felt like it was really easy for me to focus on what other people were doing: what vacations they were going on, what grades they got, and, more recently, which schools they got in. I want to leave behind spending too much time watching what others are doing

1 truth I'm taking with me into 2026

the mindset that I am capable. no matter what challenges and circumstances I was thrown into this year, everything had always worked out. even if “worked out” means that situation is over lol. maybe not everything worked out exactly as I had planned or imagined; actually, barely anything worked out exactly as I had planned. but it worked!! no matter what challenges I face and how it “works out”, I am capable of overcoming it.

what are some things you're grateful for this year? or, what is one lesson you're taking with you into 2026?

for my girlies who are struggling

usually, science and math-based subjects have only one way to guarantee success in test taking: doing practice problems.

this all-inclusive guide provides some of my tips on how to study for these kinds of tests, starting with most amount of time before a test (1-2 weeks) to the least amount of time (the day/night before the test):

1. I have so much time (1-4 weeks before test)

practice problems. good teachers usually provide practice problems not covered during class, or materials to find such practice problems. I also like the kuta software for math problem worksheets by unit with solutions

flashcard method. now you have the problems, you want to solve some of these problems on a separate sheet of paper one by one. keep the solutions near you (but don't look at them!). if you got the problem right, mark it with a ✔︎. if wrong, mark it with an X. review the correct solution and method. repeat with the next question.

redo the problems you got wrong. go back to any questions you've marked with an X and redo them. if you get them correct, you can now replace the X with a checkmark! if you get them wrong, they stay as an X and you move on to the next X'ed problem.

try to turn all the X's into ✔︎'s!

rest. I believe the best way to know if you are familiar with these concepts is to do practice in intervals

new practice sheet, and repeat. make sure you do some problems from each concept/unit that you are being tested on.

before the test, do a few problems from classwork/lecture as warm up

2. less time (3-4 days before test)

lecture examples. write down all the classwork/lecture note problems you got wrong on one sheet of paper

flashcard method! make sure you write down why you got the problem wrong (incorrect method? formula issue?)

before the test, review the problems you got wrong the most frequently and their correct solutions

3. girl I have no time left (day before test)

classwork problems you got wrong. go through your notes and only redo the problems you got wrong during the class. it would be best to do them on a separate sheet of paper without looking at the solutions

mark the correct solution with a different pen if you get the problem wrong. make sure to add why you got that problem wrong and how to avoid making the same mistake (e.g. read the problem more carefully, use a different formula when talking about XY case vs. Z scenario). you can write it next to/underneath your incorrect work

review the correct solutions. before your test, review everything you marked in a different color.

STEM courses are super challenging, but they're also very fair. once you've set up a good problem-solving instinct, it's difficult to go wrong! I hope you now have a few more tips under your belt to conquer all of your STEM subjects. I believe in you :D

for the busy girlies like me who are stretched thin but have no time

facemask while you focus. put on a calming facemask while you review notes or tidy up your space. double productivity whammy !

take a tiny walk. even just 10 minutes. no music. just ambient sounds. look for small things, like animals in the clouds or clovers in the sidewalk cracks. let your mind wander freely

20 minute nap. set a timer, curl up in a blanket, and give yourself permission to stop. guilt free naps only!

romanticize hydration. fill your prettiest mug or glass with warm water. bonus points if you have a straw

get a tiny plant friend. succulents are great. I also have a giant plant friend named Bob (snake plant), who helps filter the air I breathe.

reset a corner, not the whole room. don't deep clean everything. just make your bed. tidy one desk drawer.

stretch for 5 mins. reach up. fold down. roll your neck. open and close your eyes dramatically for a few seconds (reading/staring at screens reduces how much you blink, and your eyes need hydration too!). roll your neck. get up and touch your toes if you want

draw a small picture. put it on a sticky note and stick it onto your computer, wall, book, anywhere.

you deserve rest, care, love, and all the most beautiful things in this world. thank you again for reading all the way through, and I hope you have a blessed rest of your week <3

and how you can too!

the problem-solving strat:

visualize concepts: when learning torque especially, it helped if I used an object (usually my pencil) and actually tilted it or rotated it. this helped me visualize pivot points and which direction the object would rotate based on the direction of forces

visualize problems: always draw out the problem. no matter if the question seems easy, still draw everything! it's generally a good habit to get into, and it really helps with all the problems

multiple choice questions (mcqs...):

units, units, units: look what it's asking for. what are the units for what it is asking for? look at the values you are given. now how can you go from the given units to the wanted units?

know how each formula works: yes, you're given a formula sheet, but it's useless when you don't know the types of formulas for the types of problems. review your formulas and, more importantly, do those practice problems.

practice problems: they are important. more important that taking notes or watching videos on the concepts. there will be no "grasping of the content" until you've done practice problems. and do hard ones, too. not the ones on khan academy, but actually tough ones, especially towards ap season.

free response questions (the dreaded frqs):

FRQ's are your best friend: why? the graders give you points for correct steps, even if your answer is wrong.show what formula you’re using, plug in numbers clearly, and always include units. think of it like showing your work for partial credit…because it is showing your work for partial credit

practice the lab format: practice writing clear step-by-step procedures that are specific and account for any potential error. usually that means doing more than one trial. know how to list materials properly, like you're setting up a lab for someone else.

learn how to change equations into graphs: identify which variable is changing and which is constant. think: if I graphed this, what would the slope of the line of best fit represent? in many problems, slope of the line = a key quantity that you need to look out for!

okay so AP physics 1 has the highest fail rate of any AP exams. but somehow?? ur girl got a 5. and now you've just got a few more strategies so you can bag that 5 too!

for the girlies who got their ap scores today...bc same

my self-worth is NOT tied to a number

I did the best I could with what I had, and that's enough

colleges care more about my whole story than pure test scores

I showed up for the test, and that is enough

I release the pressure to be perfect

I deserve kindness and love, even when I mess up

I am learning to be proud of myself no matter the outcome

my dreams have already started blooming

and remember:

you can choose not to report the scores

focus on your GPA, extracurriculars, strong letters of rec, and essays

I'm sure you did amazing, despite all the worries. and if you didn't get what you expected? AP tests are hard, college-level material, and the scores don't define how smart or intelligent you are

you’ve got this!! whether you took an AP test, tackled a tough class, or just made it through a challenging season, I’m so, so proud of you. seriously. it takes courage to show up and try, and you did that. your dreams are already blooming right in front of you, even if you can’t fully see them yet. trust yourself. the best is still coming, and you’re walking straight toward it 💖

lots of love, q's playlist

Reclaiming our ability to think

“Why is my writing getting worse?” I groaned as I stared at a blank Google Document. 

Well, it wasn’t blank. Not two minutes before. I had written out a messy outline, deleted it, rewrote it, reworded it, hated it, and you probably know how the rest went. I ended up with a completely blank Google Document, an unplanned essay, and no direction for my writing whatsoever. I have always prided myself in my ability to not only write, but write well, so what was happening? Why was I grasping at straws, unsure how to formulate any opinion on the prompt that I was given, and generally stuck? 

When I started this new school year with harder classes, teachers, assignments…harder everything, writing essays had become less about writing and more about fulfilling a certain standard that the teacher wanted me to follow. The topic needed to add to the discussion, not be something that was easily found by just searching it up on the internet. It needed to use complex language. It needed to argue well. It needed to use different sentence structures. Show not tell, but also use the specific writing term if necessary. No writing “logos,” “pathos,” or “ethos”. Abandon those five-paragraph essay structures. On and on, these guidelines that were supposed to make my writing more personal, more stylistic, more me, became burdensome restrictions that made me scared to write. 

Or, at least, that is what I wanted myself to think. As a perfectionist, I criticized myself for my inability to write well when, in reality, I just couldn’t write well instantly. I had spent two hours writing a draft and, to my astonishment, it did not sound like a revolutionary, never-heard-before opinion essay about the Crucible. Crazy, I know! So, I became reliant on the resources around me, things that will give me instant answers to whatever I was writing about. Looking up what other people have said about what I was arguing became looking up what to say about the topic I need to write about. And from that, using AI technologies for writing became more and more tempting. 

I found a loophole in my own thinking, where I realized that I didn’t have to really use the AI to write my essays for me. I could keep my moral high-ground by just writing most of it by myself, and asking them to “improve” my writing. Grammarly or whatever platform would then provide me a mediocre regurgitation of my ideas, and I truly thought that I had accomplished something. I didn’t use it to write my whole essay, necessarily. Technically, I was still writing my own essay. It was just improving the ideas I already had. Right? 

The danger of modern technology isn't just the sheer amount of distraction it creates—though that is a factor—but also our growing dependence on it. This dependence is not surprising at all. The internet is a wealth of knowledge and all the tools on there are just so reliable, so quickly accessible. Don’t know something? Just google it. Can’t find where something is inside a store? Just order it online. Don’t remember how to say “can I have a can of apple cider” in Spanish? Just translate it. 

But, this convenience comes at a cost, and I have felt this cost personally. I have become so consumed by needing to be good, and good right away, that this dependence emerged easily. I found myself so insistent on getting a beautiful masterpiece of an outline right away that I did not even think to put in the time to think and reflect. I could easily have taken a few minutes, or even a few days, to ponder about the prompt, to think. Not just with essays, but with everything else in life as well. Do I think about the material I read, or do I just search up an explanation for the things I don’t know? Do I try to solve a problem, even when I have gotten it wrong a million times before, or do I just give and search for the answer? Do I check if the AI generated answer at the top of the search results is accurate, or do I just trust what it says because I’m too tired to bother looking through the tens of other articles about the stuff I search? But no, I wanted the beautiful essay right away, those answers right away, that elegance and eloquence and the careful mincing of words right away. And the internet provided me with just that: elegance and eloquence, and a whole lot of nothing.  

Then I find myself asking, on those days of self-reflection and rare lucidness, whether or not I actually know anything at all. And, perhaps, this question applies to you as well. When we learn something, do we truly internalize it, or do we prioritize convenience, knowing we can always look it up later? Not just look it up, but access it instantly, effortlessly. Our habits have shifted toward "googling" everything, which is remarkable, but what does this instant access to information do to our critical thinking, memorization, and willingness to deeply learn? And why do we resort to these options in the first place? 

I think the answer is the cultural norm of wanting everything quickly. Efficiency, productivity; this culture has pushed everything to be as quick as possible, the most product with the least amount of time and effort. I’m not saying productivity is bad; rather I believe that this mindset has permeated into other aspects of life as well. We lose our patience when reading a book because the information isn’t presented to us right away. We grow frustrated at the recipe when it starts with a sob story about some guy’s grandma. We become irritated when the perfect essay idea or writing does not emerge right away. 

I’m not totally clear what this impact is, at least not in terms of statistics, numbers, or experiments. But, one thing is for sure: we have to keep thinking. No matter what topic it’s about, try not to rely on “searching it up” as the first resort. When writing an essay, maybe don’t search for topics right away, or even have generative technology refine what you write. At least not right away. Try to think about the topic yourself, ponder about it. In writing this post, I spent a lot of time thinking and reflecting. I wrote many drafts, deleted several paragraphs, and ignored this document completely for several weeks. 

for those who need it

Your notes do not need to be stunningly pretty or aesthetic. 

You do not need to rewrite your notes in order to study effectively, or highlight them extensively 

Annotations on books do not need to look straight out of an instagram post

It’s okay to write everywhere when reading a text 

Writing more in an essay is not equivalent to having meaningful points, or even better-communicated ideas 

Sometimes, drawing diagrams multiple times or doing practice problems on a piece of scratch paper is more effective than reviewing notes or rereading the textbook  

Even five minutes of studying counts 

Nothing has to be figured out yet 

You have the ability to overcome 

You are worthy, you are intelligent, you are loved 

You’ve got this <33