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The @thestudyingapollo‘s guide to summarising dense and long subjects!!

Hello guys! I’m back to normal posting schedule with something that I had been asked before and that is: how can I turn my big ass dense pile of notes into effective little summaries? Well, brace yourselves because this is something that has saved my ass in more than one occasion, and I’m hoping it will help at least one of you too!! 

As you can see in the first picture, I was working on my pathology notes, which is one of the longest and most dense subject at my uni. I had to learn lots of structures, pathologies, test and names, and I was going crazy before I paired with one of my friends and the two of us turned that scary set of notes (seriously, 700 pages for one subject is no joke) into a manageable little pile of summaries, charts and diagrams! Here is the process we followed: 

First of all, we worked wit our original class notes. They were dense, so we tried to highlight, following a colour-coding system, the most relevant bits of information. And you may ask yourself: how do I know what is important and what not? Well, if there is one word or sentence that helps you remember the simplest concept you’re working with and construct all the details around it, that’s what you MUST highlight. Doing it like that, you can look at your notes and remember the core of the concept, and work on remembering the rest from that simple concept. 

This is no magic trick, you need to work in order for this process to work, but I assure you, it makes difficult ass subject with a lot of material much more manageable. So, don’t leave this for a week before your exam, you will die guys! Working on the notes from your class of that same weeks helps you in remembering what your professor stressed in class and you will identify the essential information much more easily! Of course, if you don’t understand something, look it up, ask your classmates and specially your professor, it’s their work help you understand the material!!!

Doing little diagrams and drawings in your original note will help you in remembering stuff and you can skip all the little details while making your summaries, concentrating only in the important stuff. The basic concepts will help you answer lots of questions in the exam and understand the little details and bits of information much better!

Try to make these little summaries after you have studied each chapter. To keep your notes organised, pick a color for each section: for example, I used orange for the digestive system, pink for the cardiovascular system, yellow for the nervous system, green for the lymphatic organs, and so on. Using bold titles written or highlighted in different colours for each section will improve your memory! Also, using BOLD TITLES is essential, and will organise your memory in little boxes and sub-sections. That way, you will remember the information easily, it will be like opening a Matryoshka doll! Of course, number each section of every chapter. Organisation is the key to success! (look at image number 3)

If there is one central branch of information, use diagrams to organise your thoughts! (just like in image 4). If there is something that refers to that information but doesn’t fit in the structure of your diagram, simply use little sticky notes! Again, use little drawings!!!

If something is too complex or there is a section that has lots of information, try to condense it into a table like in image 5! For example, in the table that you see in image 5, I compared the characteristics of the different types of Lymphoma! I put the different points I need to know of each one, and that helped me in realising the points they had in common and their differences; by doing this, you can learn the info that is common for all of them just one time, and then use your energy in memorising the differences, which is what your profs will probably test you in! 

Something important you need to know is that you only need to write IMPORTANT information. Especially in college and university, professor tend to ramble a lot when they’re teaching a class, and that’s why you can’t put absolutely everything in your summaries notes, because this is not a guide on re-writing your notes, this is a guide on how to understand and organise the most important information! The basics of your subject are what are going to give you the most chances to pass, extra details are going to give you extra points, but if you don’t know the basics, extra details are useless! Also, if you have to learn difficult structures, color your drawings (like in image 6), that way you can visualise its different parts when you’re sitting the exam! 

Use red or another bold color for essential info! Also, remember that you can fit a lot of info in a single sheet of paper, so try not to over do it! Too many colours can get overwhelming, and using a super duper small handwriting to fit everything in your notes is a waste of time. I know that the summaries in image 7 look super menacing, but believe me, my class notes were much, much worse. It doesn’t have to be super pretty or colourful, you can do extremely useful summaries with a blue or black byro and a couple of contrasting colours. You may think this is time consuming, but there was no way I could fit 700 pages of info in my head in top of three other subjects that were not much better! It also helped me make revision much more peaceful: when I looked at the massive pile of class notes I got nauseous even, but I could take my little set of summaries anywhere around the house and revise easily. Also, since I had already worked on all the info, revising was much easier, because I had already worked with my chapters and tried to understand them as best I could so my summaries and tables and charts made sense!!! 

So, this is the process I follow for super dense subjects, and it works wonders for me, but it may not work for you! I learn a lot of stuff by writing it down in a much simpler way than it was given to me, and it makes revision for me much easier because I already worked with that. I hope this helps some of you, and if you liked this little guide, I’m open to suggestions on different ones that you may find helpful!!! 

The @thestudyingapollo‘s guide to summarising dense and long subjects!!

Hello guys! I’m back to normal posting schedule with something that I had been asked before and that is: how can I turn my big ass dense pile of notes into effective little summaries? Well, brace yourselves because this is something that has saved my ass in more than one occasion, and I’m hoping it will help at least one of you too!! 

As you can see in the first picture, I was working on my pathology notes, which is one of the longest and most dense subject at my uni. I had to learn lots of structures, pathologies, test and names, and I was going crazy before I paired with one of my friends and the two of us turned that scary set of notes (seriously, 700 pages for one subject is no joke) into a manageable little pile of summaries, charts and diagrams! Here is the process we followed: 

First of all, we worked wit our original class notes. They were dense, so we tried to highlight, following a colour-coding system, the most relevant bits of information. And you may ask yourself: how do I know what is important and what not? Well, if there is one word or sentence that helps you remember the simplest concept you’re working with and construct all the details around it, that’s what you MUST highlight. Doing it like that, you can look at your notes and remember the core of the concept, and work on remembering the rest from that simple concept. 

This is no magic trick, you need to work in order for this process to work, but I assure you, it makes difficult ass subject with a lot of material much more manageable. So, don’t leave this for a week before your exam, you will die guys! Working on the notes from your class of that same weeks helps you in remembering what your professor stressed in class and you will identify the essential information much more easily! Of course, if you don’t understand something, look it up, ask your classmates and specially your professor, it’s their work help you understand the material!!!

Doing little diagrams and drawings in your original note will help you in remembering stuff and you can skip all the little details while making your summaries, concentrating only in the important stuff. The basic concepts will help you answer lots of questions in the exam and understand the little details and bits of information much better!

Try to make these little summaries after you have studied each chapter. To keep your notes organised, pick a color for each section: for example, I used orange for the digestive system, pink for the cardiovascular system, yellow for the nervous system, green for the lymphatic organs, and so on. Using bold titles written or highlighted in different colours for each section will improve your memory! Also, using BOLD TITLES is essential, and will organise your memory in little boxes and sub-sections. That way, you will remember the information easily, it will be like opening a Matryoshka doll! Of course, number each section of every chapter. Organisation is the key to success! (look at image number 3)

If there is one central branch of information, use diagrams to organise your thoughts! (just like in image 4). If there is something that refers to that information but doesn’t fit in the structure of your diagram, simply use little sticky notes! Again, use little drawings!!!

If something is too complex or there is a section that has lots of information, try to condense it into a table like in image 5! For example, in the table that you see in image 5, I compared the characteristics of the different types of Lymphoma! I put the different points I need to know of each one, and that helped me in realising the points they had in common and their differences; by doing this, you can learn the info that is common for all of them just one time, and then use your energy in memorising the differences, which is what your profs will probably test you in! 

Something important you need to know is that you only need to write IMPORTANT information. Especially in college and university, professor tend to ramble a lot when they’re teaching a class, and that’s why you can’t put absolutely everything in your summaries notes, because this is not a guide on re-writing your notes, this is a guide on how to understand and organise the most important information! The basics of your subject are what are going to give you the most chances to pass, extra details are going to give you extra points, but if you don’t know the basics, extra details are useless! Also, if you have to learn difficult structures, color your drawings (like in image 6), that way you can visualise its different parts when you’re sitting the exam! 

Use red or another bold color for essential info! Also, remember that you can fit a lot of info in a single sheet of paper, so try not to over do it! Too many colours can get overwhelming, and using a super duper small handwriting to fit everything in your notes is a waste of time. I know that the summaries in image 7 look super menacing, but believe me, my class notes were much, much worse. It doesn’t have to be super pretty or colourful, you can do extremely useful summaries with a blue or black byro and a couple of contrasting colours. You may think this is time consuming, but there was no way I could fit 700 pages of info in my head in top of three other subjects that were not much better! It also helped me make revision much more peaceful: when I looked at the massive pile of class notes I got nauseous even, but I could take my little set of summaries anywhere around the house and revise easily. Also, since I had already worked on all the info, revising was much easier, because I had already worked with my chapters and tried to understand them as best I could so my summaries and tables and charts made sense!!! 

So, this is the process I follow for super dense subjects, and it works wonders for me, but it may not work for you! I learn a lot of stuff by writing it down in a much simpler way than it was given to me, and it makes revision for me much easier because I already worked with that. I hope this helps some of you, and if you liked this little guide, I’m open to suggestions on different ones that you may find helpful!!! 

hello 2019, please treat me well

wait until after syllabus week to buy your textbooks. they might not be required. it’ll save you money 

prioritize your classes by number of credit hours. more credit hours = bigger impact on your GPA. sometimes there’s not enough study time to go around  

if you wanna dress up for class, dress up for class. if you wanna pull up in the sweatshirt you wore yesterday, that’s okay too 

locate your classes before they start, so you don’t get lost on the first day. check and see if your college has an app of some sort with a campus map! 

old exams are more valuable than life itself  

set your class schedule as your home screen until you’ve got it down 

Chegg.com. you’re welcome 

carry a sweatshirt. it may be 100 degrees outside but chances are it’s 30 degrees in your lecture hall  

keep your syllabi  

write things down!! planner, phone, laptop, etc.  

sit in the front. go up and introduce yourself to your professor after the first day, say you’re looking forward to the class. build a relationship! Professors do not round grades for students they don’t at least recognize 

bring your chargers with you everywhere 

sometimes it’s easier to wake up early and study for an exam than stay up late the night before  

shower shoes. have you ever heard of toe fungus 

the dorms are bad BUT you will get through it (and make friends while doing it) 

there’s no such thing as a condom that doesn’t fit    

every time you skip class it costs you money. go to class. (unless you are dying or have no other time to finish something for another class)

your mental health is important. college can be overwhelming. know your limits. seek help if you need it. 

sometimes if you go to your professor’s office hours and ask questions a day or two before an exam they will steer you towards information that will be covered 

find your study space. the library is your friend  

parking is a bitch and a half 

it’s okay to miss your parents. call them. (they miss you too) 

talk to your advisor!!! let them advise you!!!

don’t study yourself into the ground. after college you’re a real life adult - enjoy college while it lasts. go out, make friends, if you drink, do so responsibly. uber exists for this very reason 

keep an eye on your drink at all times 

don’t feel pressured to go out and drink because college. it’s not for everybody  

on a related note: pedialyte is your friend  

don’t be afraid to drop a class that doesn’t fit you, but talk to your advisor first 

chances are you’re paying a lot of money to be where you are. party if you wanna, but do not let it interfere with your grades.  

you’re gonna get a lot of free stuff. take advantage 

if you can handle it with your class load, get a job. it’s a good way to make friends. 

it’s okay to change your major. really! 

first semester is easier if you get involved with something!!   

there will be weeks when you have nothing due, and then there will be weeks when you have 5 exams 14 assignments and 2 papers due all at once. take advantage of down time. work ahead!! make life easier for your future self  

carry a water bottle  

exercise will not only help avoid the freshman 15 but also make you feel better  

it’s okay if you’re not best friends with your roommate 

communicate if they are doing something that annoys you  

keep your dorm clean. the only thing worse than a tiny space is a messy one 

Keep any contracts you sign, even if they’re no big deal.

Sleep. Please. A real amount.

Dry shampoo will be your friend

Keep a shower cap. They come in handy

Set a day to clean. School is stressful, and sometimes your room will suffer. A clean space will not only keep things organized, but it’ll actually help your mental health.

Eat mostly real and healthy food. Pizza and junk food is great and all, but it’ll eventually start making you sick. You don’t have time to be sick, and being sick sucks.

Set a day aside to relax. You’ll thank me.

Do something outside your major. It’ll help with burn out. There will be times that you’ll be annoyed with everyone in department. It helps to have a second home.

Start early. If you need to, set the due date in your calendar like a day or two early to avoid doing it last second.

Network network network!!!

Be kind to people.

Be kind to yourself.

Try to get out of your comfort zone! Try new things (as long as they are safe)! That’s what college is about.

Try not to be arrogant. We’re all in the same boat.

It’s ok to graduate late. Do what’s best for you!

Drink water!!!!