Study S'more

You can take the SAT / ACT at numerous points in the academic year. SAT testing dates take place often in Jan, March, May, June, October, November, and December (source). ACT takes place in Sept, Oct, Dec, Feb, April, and June (source). 

You’ll have to register approximately a month before. I’d do it sooner if you know you’re going to take the test that day. 

1. Listen to your body.

You cannot study in an emotional state–it’s just not compatible with digesting material. I personally tried for years to study through anxiety and panic attacks, through tears, through constricted chests and racing hearts; even when I managed to “pull it off,” the performance would end up average at best. Before you approach your work, try practicing mindfulness (i.e. any practice that grounds you). Here’s a helpful introductory article.

2. Study in an environment catered to YOU.

Once you’ve listened to your body, cater your study environment to it. You should not have to bully or discipline yourself into working. For some people, working in a windowless white room is where they work best; however, if for you that sounds like pure torture, don’t do it. Don’t settle for a workspace just because someone told you its optimal study set-up. Try it out, of course, but if it’s not for you, that’s okay. Then you can try studying outside, on the porch, in that one comfortable chair in the living room, at your desk surrounded by candles with some hot chocolate, on the living room floor with pillows near some plants, and so on!

3. Forgive yourself for the inevitable missteps.

Disappearance of the author: Treating the context and circumstances of the work’s authorship as entirely irrelevant with respect to its interpretation, as though the work had popped into existence fully formed just moments ago.

Taxidermy of the author: Working backwards from a particular interpretation of the work to draw conclusions about what the context and circumstances of its authorship must have been.

Undeath of the author: Holding the author personally responsible for every possible reading of their work, even ones they could not reasonably have anticipated at the time of its authorship.

Frankenstein’s Monster of the author: Drawing conclusions about authorial intent based on elements that are present only in subsequent adaptations by other authors.

Midterms are approaching, and one thing that I’ve always noticed in my own students is that some of them are really anxious about e-mailing me to ask for things. This is frustrating for both of us, because I can’t help them if they don’t ask for it, and they can’t get what they need if they’re too anxious to ask for help! So, I’ve written up a bit of a guide with some advice. 

Generally, the types of e-mails students are anxious about are requests for things like extensions or excused absences. I’ve been a TA/head lecturer for six years now and have gotten literally thousands of student e-mails. The fact is, your professor isn’t going to dissect your e-mail for every little tonal shift. Don’t worry about it! I give you official permission to not over-analyze the e-mails you’re sending to your professor/TA/whomever asking for a couple extra days on that paper! Just be polite, honest, and succinct. Generally, student e-mails are read very quickly, unless there’s extenuating circumstances or the request is unusual. The format I suggest to my students and that I often use when I’m contacting someone for the first time professionally goes like this:

Greeting Introduction, if it’s a big class or you don’t know the professor well. Description of problem/Question. Steps you’ve taken so far to correct your problem. Where you’re at now. Query about further steps. Thanks, Your name (first and last)

This is just a skeleton- you don’t necessarily need every single part. But it is good to let your professor know what you’ve done to fix the problem on your own- whether that’s getting notes from a friend, taking things to the writing center, etc. Not all problems have an obvious solution, but if you’ve done something, letting them know shows your instructor that you’re taking ownership of the situation.

A formal e-mail like this also helps you judge their response to your situation. If you’re overwhelmed and having emotional distress, that’s not something that every professor is sympathetic about, unfortunately. If you don’t have a good gauge on how they react to students, keeping your e-mail very task-oriented without giving too much away about your emotional state can be healthier for you and will lead to better outcomes re: the thing you need.

A couple of good tips:

- Check your syllabus for your teacher’s absence policies. Many universities and/or departments require documentation, and if you can provide this ahead of time, it’ll be easier for you. 

- Talk to the person who has the most direct contact with you in the class. This means that if you have a TA who leads your section, ask them your questions before the professor or head lecturer. Most likely, the TA is the one who’s handling the direct permissions for excused absences or extensions. If you’ve gotten to know your TA a bit, they can advocate for you for things like permission to take a test earlier or later. 

- If you need to make arrangements for alternative test dates, always go earlier if you possibly can. 

- Don’t make up fake excuses or exaggerate; honesty is important, and professors have seen some very creative lies. By now, we’re good at detecting them. I once had a student who e-mailed about a car accident and attached a photo of a car with a smashed headlight as “evidence.” The picture was the fourth result on google for “car with broken headlight.” Had the student just asked for what they wanted, they may have gotten it; instead, all they did was infuriate their TA and give me a good example of why you shouldn’t lie about why you’re missing class. 

- If you have a disability that affects your work or your ability to attend classes, your school should have an office of disability/disability resource center. In the US, disabled students’ accommodations are protected by the ADA, and getting a letter of accommodation will ideally ensure that your needs are met. If your professor pushes back against your accommodations (unfortunately, that happens sometimes), go back to your DRC and let them know, because that’s a violation of federal law. Remember that learning disabilities, physical disabilities, and mental illness are all protected by law- you can get accommodations for any of those conditions! 

- Always end your e-mail with a question. The question mark flags the e-mail as something actionable, something the person can answer immediately. Just seeing the ? makes your e-mail something to deal with now rather than later. 

  - Boomerang is a free* tool for Gmail that can:      o Schedule your e-mails, so if you’re writing an e-mail at 3 AM and you feel         weird about your instructor seeing you’re up that late, you can set the mail         to send at 8 AM instead.      o Attach read receipts that tell you when the e-mail was opened, if you’re            worried about it not getting read.      o Score your e-mail on how likely a response is based on subject length,             word count, question count, reading level, and advanced features you can         pay to unlock including positivity, politeness, and subjectivity. *Mostly free- a lot of the basic tools are free, but some you have to pay to unlock. I’ve never used any of the paid features.

How to Use Boomerang

The screenshot below shows you how Gmail integrates with Boomerang- if you install it as a browser extension, it automatically generates the buttons. No special work required. There’s also an app for iOS and Android. I wrote this e-mail using the template that I’ve provided at the end of this post; it’s short, polite, and gets the message across clearly. For initial contact e-mails, you really can just fill in the blanks.

The little blue envelope in the bottom center-right is how you turn on the read receipt feature. Your recipient will not be notified that you got a read receipt, so don’t worry about that. The green bar in the bottom right is the respondable score, and the red button on the bottom left is how you schedule your e-mail to go out at a scheduled time. 

This is a screenshot of how the respondablity is graded. There’s sweet spots for different aspects of the e-mail. It can tell you if your e-mail is too wordy or too concise to be helpful, based largely on statistical estimates. It’s not always right! Some e-mails need to be wordier or more complicated than others! But it’s a helpful guideline.

Copy and Paste (and then edit) (unless your name really is [Your name]

Finally, a template that you can just copy and edit to your heart’s content. Don’t be afraid to talk to your professors- even if they are brusque or don’t give you the response you want, polite communication wherein you outline your problem and your solution is a really worthwhile skill to develop. And the more you communicate with your teachers, the more comfortable you’ll feel. So don’t be afraid! Reach out to your instructors whenever you need something!

Dear [Name],

My name is [Name] and I’m in your [Time] [Course title and course number] class.  [Brief explanation of problem], and was hoping that I [brief description of solution]. I currently [steps you’ve taken- pages written, are you getting notes from a classmate, etc.], but need [state exactly what you need]. Is there any way I [proposal for solution]?

Thanks, [Your name]

Just a lil side note: i almost failed maths in grade 5-8. Now, I’m doing 2 Maths subjects (straight A+’s) and ranked the third highest in my class for the harder maths subject (out of 20 students). You can do anything if you set your mind to it. Be persistent. Happy studying! :)

1. Keep up do date with the class

Even if the teacher doesn’t set homework, there is always an expectation that whatever excercise isn’t finished in class, you do at home! My maths class moves very fast (we do about 3 concepts/excercises each class) and so its crucial that the first thing I do when I get home, is finish off my maths questions! This is particularly important in the learning process, because if you understand it when you learn it, you will be far ahead of anyone else in an upcoming test- all you will need to do is revise!

This means:

- don’t sit next to anyone distracting

- work efficiently in class

- the time that your waste in class, is the time you will have to spend at home

2.  Do ALL the practice questions in your textbook

In my harder maths class, there are about 20 questions per excercise/concept (100+ per chapter) and so we might only get told to do about half of that. But, I strongly reccommend doing all of the questions! It is great practice and really consolidates your learning! 

ALSO, as the questions go on, they tend to get harder. DON’T GIVE UP IF THEY’RE TOO HARD. Ask the teacher’s help, persevere, or look for a video on YouTube. These are the questions that will most likely be in your tests/exams.

If you can do the hardest question, you can most likely do all the questions!

If you get a question wrong, do AT LEAST 5 more of the same style, make sure you know it well!

3. Practice is everything

You cant really study for maths the same way that you might study for science. There is nothing to memorise (apart from formulas, but the best way to remember them is to practice). Studying for maths IS doing practice questions. That’s all there is to it.   

 - listen to some tunes (music with lyrics is fine for maths!)   

 - put on a movie ( just try to not get too distracted)    

- find a comfy space   

 - just start studying.

4. How to study for maths when you’re sick of it all

Humans are creatures of habit. We like routines and we stick to them. BUT, studying maths can become tedious if you are constantly doing the same thing every time.

CHANGE IT UP Y'ALL:

    - ditch the notebook and pencil. Buy some non-permanent glass markers and do some maths on your windows or mirrors! I do this ALL THE TIME! It’s actually really fun and it makes me feel like Russell Crowe from ‘A Beautiful Mind’ (haha). Alternatively, you could also use a whiteboard if you have one!   

    - study in the library or another part of your house! 

    - buy some different stationery (this is always so fun)

5. For an upcoming test…

do all the chapter review questions in your textbook. These tend to be a compilation of all the most important questions you will need to know. Take your time, don’t give up.

Seek external resources for questions. I own other revision books for maths that isn’t part of my school’s recommended material. These really help when you need more questions to test yourself on.

Do practice papers. THESE ARE CRUCIAL. Most of the time, the material that they test you on will be from past papers, the questions are the same, but they change the numbers!

Take a deep breath. Drink some water. Focus. Time management is the issue for most people (including me :)), so when you feel like a question is too challenging, move on, come back to it when you finish with a fresh mind!

Hey guys! As my fall semester draws to a close, I was thinking about what I need to do over Christmas break and what I need to do to get ready for next semester, and I thought I would share some of the things I either have done or would like to do to make next semester as easy as possible for the non-academic parts of my life.  Some of them are habits, and some are routines, so I am hoping to start doing some of them over the break so it’s not as stressful once spring semester begins.

1. Make Your Bed Right When You Wake Up

I know it can be hard to get up on time, period, let alone in time to make your bed, but it can be a really helpful habit to have.  First of all, it helps you by starting your day out with something productive, which helps you stay in a productive mood for the rest of the day.  Secondly, if it’s already made when you get home, it’s not as much of a temptation to crawl into bed as soon as you get to your room.  

2. Plan Your Outfit the Night Before

This is not as much of an issue for me anymore because I’m in scrubs 80% of the time, but for the one day a week I don’t have to wear scrubs, having my outfit planned and ready to go the night before makes my mornings much less stressful.  If you want to, you could even plan your outfits out for the week, but I usually change my mind too many times by the time it gets to Friday, and sometimes the weather does too.

3. Make a Night-Habits Routine

Get yourself into a bedtime-pattern.  Get whatever you need to get done taken care of before you go to bed.  If you already have a pattern in place, the nights where you have to pull an all-nighter or the nights you only get an hour or two of sleep are not as bad.  Get all your dirty clothes in the hamper.  Any clothes that can go one or two more wears before washing like jeans should be folded up and put away.  Plug in all of the electronic devices you’ll be bringing to school.  Make sure anything you need to print is printed and in your backpack (not left on the printer).  Wash your face. Take a shower.  Get tomorrow’s outfit out.  Get your lunch together.  Get your work/work-out/extracurricular clothes together and packed up if you won’t have time to come home.  Do whatever you need to do to be ready for the next day.  If you do have to pull an all-nighter or you know you’ll only sleep for a couple hours, do these things before you buckle into a study session so you can just go to bed when you’re done.

4. Assign a Daily Chore to Each Day of the Week

Sometimes I’ve had to have whole weekends just dedicated to cleaning because I neglected my chores over the course of the week.  Don’t rob yourself of your weekend; do the easy ones throughout the week.  Any chores that take up more time can be saved for the weekend.  For me, I save laundry and deep-cleaning my car for Saturday, but try and do all of my other chores during the week.  A few days don’t have a chore because I’m at school for so long and then I go to work, so all I really have time for when I get home is sleep.  Doing this helps leave more time for fun things or solid study sessions over the weekend, and it helps keep things under control.

So I hope that some of these will help y’all out with your next semester.  It’s just a few things, but I’ve found that they help me keep the non-school related stuff easier to manage.  I will be making a subsequent post about some school-related habits to get into to help make next semester as easy as possible!

1. Get up early.

I know, it’s easier said than done. But it is going to be hard for the first 15-20 minutes, maybe even the first hour, but make yourself some coffee, and get the fuck out of that bed.

2. Do 3 useful things right after you get up.

This doesn’t have to be ‘cram one lesson’ or ‘take 500 pages of notes’. No. Brush your teeth, make yourself something nice to drink, comb your hair. Wash your face. Literally whatever you find useful, do it. It may take 10 minutes, but you will feel instantly better when you see you’ve done something.

3. Organize your study space.

I don’t mean organize all your highlighters by color. I mean arrange everything so it is within your reach. That means when you sit down to finally study, there won’t be any need for you to get up and get something.

4. Take breaks.

It’s easy to start scrolling through instagram, or facebook when you sit by a 200 page book. Trust me on this. But set an alarm when you plan on taking a break. Make the break your instagram time, or facebook time, or just chill time. Whatever you do, organize your time so you don’t leave anything out.

5. Divide your shit.

So you have a 300 page chapter to read. Or a 30 page paper to write. Divide it into smaller parts. For example, I will read through the first 30 pages and then take a break. Repeat. Or, I will write 3 pages and then relax. Repeat. Literally whatever shit you have, divide it into smaller chunks and then just tackle the chunks.

6. Don’t listen to music with lyrics.

There are a ton of ‘study music’ or ‘motivational music’ playlists on Youtube. Blast that. That way, you won’t find yourself mouthing the perfect lyrics to Shape of you, and not knowing shit about what you’ve been reading. I’ve been there one too many times and it’s just wasting time.

7. Don’t feel bad about not responding to texts, or not hanging out with friends.

There is time to study and time to play. No between. By all means you should go out and have fun. But your work time can only be your work time. That text can wait, that coffee date can wait. During the break you will have more than enough time to catch up. And your friends should understand that, after all, this is important to you so it should be for them too.

8. Drink water! ! !

This is the most used tip, but trust me, you get tired much quicker if you’re not hydrated. Get a nice ass bottle of water and fill that shit up. Everytime you finish a paragraph take a sip. (At least!)

9. Don’t worry too much.

I’ve lost countless hours by panicking and trying to reason with myself why I should just quit. And let me tell you, it’s very easy to get stuck in that vicious circle. But when you begin to worry, take a deep breath, drink some water and just do. Read that sentence. Write the opening line to your paper. Underline that unknown word. Just do. It will not go in vain. No effort is ever useless.

10. Relax.

You are not the first one to have trouble with this. You are not the only one struggling with this material. But you can do it. It is possible. In 10 years you won’t remember that godawful task or chapter. But you will remember taking shit into your hands. And that feeling when you accomplish your goal is going to be worth all the while.

have 3 achievable goals a day: having a laundry list of things to do everyday is super unrealistic, and you just end up feeling bad about yourself because you didn’t accomplish your goals for the day.

leave your sundays open: i love sundays because they’re my day to chill out and catch up on school work that i wasn’t able to finish during the week.

recognize when you’re at your emotional limits: forcing yourself to get work done when you are unable to comprehend your study material does not benefit anyone.

learn how to say no: people will ask you for your time and it will stretch you to the limit, whether it be at your job, in your extracurriculars, or in your personal life. know when to step back and say no.

take care of yourself physically: take breaks, go for walks, shower regularly, get enough sleep, eat healthy, see your friends

celebrate your accomplishments: go out to eat with friends after a big exam, indulge in a night off after a busy week with some netflix and wine

make a study plan beforehand: it can be daunting to see how much work you need to put in to a class or task beforehand, but this allows you to spread your work evenly so you don’t become overwhelmed.

learn how to ask for help: it is very rare that people make it through school, whether it be high school or university or any graduate program, without needing the advice of others or just a kind soul to vent to. find that person.

never forget your hobbies: you will need things that keep you sane. if you love to play music, write, play volleyball, or cook, make you sure you don’t lose these things. they will become your escape when times get tough.

Since my classes begin tomorrow and it is mostly online I thought I'd share some simple study/self care tips that I will be sticking to.

Decide where you will work - even if it is at your kitchen table, having a designated work spot is so important for online classes and study. I understand that for some people this can be difficult, so you could break up your day instead of sitting down for a few hours straight.

Get enough sleep - Summer is over, it's time to settle back into a semi-normal sleeping pattern. Being tired can be a terribly difficult roadblock for concentration.

Get up early - by this I don't mean "get up at 6am every day". I mean don't stay in bed until five minutes before your class starts. Get up maybe an hour or so beforehand, which leads me to my next point-

Eat breakfast! - it will help you concentrate on your study. Plus, now you're at home you can snack throughout the day as well!

Hydrate! - It is SO important to drink water regularly. Try to keep a tall glass or a bottle nearby when you're working.

Wash and Dress - if you don't have the time or energy to shower, you can brush your teeth and wash your face. Trust me, it will makes a world of difference. It also might be tempting to throw a sweater on over your pyjamas for lectures, but you will feel a lot more alert and ready to work if you change out of the clothes you slept in. A change of underwear and even clean joggers and a shirt can freshen you up a lot.

Take your breaks! - even a 15 minute break for you to stretch your legs and grab some air will help so much!

Stay in touch with your friends and classmates - working alone can feel very daunting, so it might be a good idea to reach out to friends and organise a study session on a group call or video chat. You needn't be lonely just because you're alone.

Keep any medication you take close to where you work - I started doing this not long ago. It can be frustrating to have to break the flow of work to get up and take it, so it may be tempting to leave it until later. If you have it within arms reach you can take it without disruption. It also might help to set an alarm if it is time sensitive.

Classical Language Learning Masterpost

I’m not studying any Greek or Roman this coming year (I sacrificed intro classical languages for gender & history), but I will be doing a Roman history module and engaging with the language is always useful. I know a few people who have been looking for Greek/Latin learning resources, which is how this list came about. It includes MOOCs, youtube videos and websites. Not really knowing much Latin or Greek I can’t vouch for them 100% but my googling skills are pretty on point, so they should be okay. Feel free to correct me or add to this.

Latin

Getting started on classical Latin

Duration 10 hours

Introductory level

This free course, Getting started on classical Latin, has been developed in response to requests from learners who had had no contact with Latin before and who felt they would like to spend a little time preparing for the kind of learning that studying a classical language involves. The course will give you a taster of what is involved in the very early stages of learning Latin and will offer you the opportunity to put in some early practice.

Continuing classical Latin

Duration 4 hours

Intermediate level

This free course, Continuing classical Latin, gives you the opportunity to hear a discussion of the development of the Latin language.

FLVS Latin

As we build our Via Latina, we will travel back to ancient Rome. On our travels we learn about their culture, history and literature.

National Archives: Beginner’s Latin

Welcome to the beginners’ Latin tutorials. These lessons cover the type of Latin used in official documents written in England between 1086 and 1733. This can be quite different from classical Latin, as used by the Ancient Romans.

Learn Latin

Here are two dozen short lessons on learning Latin designed for “mountain men” (and women: montani montanaeque), engineers, philosophers, and anyone else looking for entertainment and with lots of free time by the campfire. My course is quite different from Peter Jones’ Learn Latin (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1997), but it is just as devoted to interesting you in Latin.

Learn Latin (Learn101)

I would like to welcome you to the Latin lessons. I’m here to help you learn Latin, by going step by step. All the lessons contain audio and are all offered for free.

The London Latin Course

170 videos

Learn Latin from the ground up. This is a serial course, structured to bring you to a high level of Latin fluency. The pace is slow and unhurried. This course is suitable for all ability levels. Restored Classical Pronunciation.

Latin Online

Latin is probably the easiest of the older languages for speakers of English to learn, both because of their earlier relationship and because of the long use of Latin as the language of educational, ecclesiastical, legal and political affairs in western culture.

Latin Excercises

Welcome to UVic’s practice exercises for Wheelock’s Latin (6th edition). There are 40 units comprising many hundreds of exercises to help you consolidate your progress in the classroom and with the textbook.

Ancient Greek

Introducing Ancient Greek

If you are starting to learn Ancient Greek, this site is for you! This site will help you prepare for a Beginner’s Ancient Greek course.

Classical Greek Online

Greek has been important in the intellectual life of western civilization, but not to the extent of Latin except for ecclesiastical matters. In years past, Latin was introduced in the first year of High School, followed by Greek in the third year.

Ancient Greek Online

This site was designed to be a learning environment for students as well as a reading room for scholars. The large print Greek is easy on the eyes. The Internet has returned us to the scrolling method of reading texts, which lends itself particularly well to the project at hand.

Teach Yourself Ancient Greek

The material presented here will be of use to anyone beginning ancient Greek, but is specifically designed to accompany our book.

Ancient Greek Grammar

103 videos

Including pronunciation tips. I haven’t personally watched this and there’s no real description, but it looks pretty comprehensive from what I can see.

Greek & Latin

Introducing the Classical world

Duration 20 hours

Intermediate level

How do we learn about the world of the ancient Romans and Greeks? This free course, Introducing the Classical world, will provide you with an insight into the Classical world by introducing you to the various sources of information used by scholars to draw together an image of this fascinating period of history.

Discovering Ancient Greek and Latin

Duration 12 hours

Intermediate level

The free course, Discovering Ancient Greek and Latin, gives a taste of what it is like to learn two ancient languages. It is for those who have encountered the classical world through translations of Greek and Latin texts and wish to know more about the languages in which these works were composed.

Textkit