s t u d y n o w , p (l) a y l a t e r

okay, simply put, i know finals are going on right now, and i know a ton of us are struggling. this post is intended to help you bounce back after a failed exam, a poorly written paper, or whatever else may be getting you down.

don’t give up! everyone has failed or will fail at some point, but i promise it’s not the end of the world. instead of calling it quits, think of why you could have failed–and don’t say “i’m just stupid” or “i can’t do it,” because i assure you that’s not the case!

were you stressed?

did you procrastinate?

did you not study enough?

did you study the wrong material?

was it something as simple as not sleeping enough or skipping breakfast?

once you know what went wrong, come up with a fix so it won’t happen again (or at least not as extremely) in the future. here’s a list of some things you could try (in no particular order):

mellow out: take some time to decompress–have some tea, take a bath, listen to your favorite music, or whatever else helps you calm down. studying for hours on end is pretty counterproductive and you won’t get as much done, so be sure to give yourself a time out every once in a while!

plan ahead: as soon as you learn when the next test will be, take the time to pick some days to study in advance. if you have a study plan in place, you’re much less likely to procrastinate or lose track of time.

set some goals for yourself: big or small goals are both fine! whatever your goals may be, just make sure they’re not too much for you; maybe your goal is to write a page a day, or study one chapter per study session. heck, maybe you’re aiming for an A this time around. go for it! just don’t push yourself too hard.

make a routine: this applies to almost everything tbh. having some sort of routine will help you in everything you do! for example, you could study on a regular basis (30 mins or 1 hr each day) instead of cramming for hours the night before a big test. the last thing you want is to pull an all nighter and then not remember anything for your exam. another example would be to go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. yes, this includes weekends!! “catching up” on sleep is a myth, it’s much better for you to get a consistently decent amount of sleep (7-8 hrs a night for most people).

talk to your instructor: their job is to help you succeed, so make use of that! they can give you pointers regarding what/how to study, or they may offer extra credit to boost your grade a bit. if they have office hours, you should definitely visit during them, or you can set up an appointment in advance. it lets them know that you care about the class and they’ll be much more open to helping you.

perhaps most importantly, don’t be so hard on yourself. find a positive source of motivation rather than a negative one–for example, think about your hopes and dreams for the future, rather than poor grades that you’ve gotten in the past. when something bad happens, you won’t feel so defeated, because you’ll still have so much to look forward to.

alongside this, practice self care, always. my self care tag is here (/tagged/self-care) and has lots of different ways for you to help yourself out. see what works for you!

and lastly: “success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” -winston churchill

other useful links:

how to stick to your plans

how to get over a bad semester

how to avoid education burnout

little things to feel less stressed

managing mental illness as a student

09.06.20 | took the long weekend to escape, though i'm not sure what i'm escaping from. i've just been feeling so unsure of everything lately.

today was all nostalgia, though: a warm late-summer afternoon spent baking cinnamon rolls with friends! i didn't realize how much i had missed them until we were all in a room together again ♡

11.02 / it's a really sunny day!

feb. 13, 2020

13/02/20

18.02.20 // writing poetry is hard! I used to find myself writing poetry all the time, little verses that no one else would see - now I’m being graded on it, it feels like nothing good is coming out! very frustrating. 

𝓂𝓎 𝒻𝒶𝓋𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓈 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓊𝓃𝒾 🍑 

In this post, I list 7 of my all-time favorite apps / chrome extensions that I use daily.  I hope I can help out some fellow uni students who are struggling.  This might help make studying less painful and a tiny tiny bit more enjoyable. 

love, edith 🌾