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WHY HAVE I NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE?

Hello everyone! I’ve had some questions about the assignment schedule I posted here.

The idea was born out of my desire to eliminate the “Oh shit is that due tomorrow?!?!” late night moments of panic. I knew I wanted to have one master list of all of the things I needed to get done. Something about having absolutely everything I need to do written down and in front of me makes a challenging semester seem less daunting and more doable.

The best part about this schedule is that you can tweak it until it works for you! I chose to use Excel because it was more flexible than writing it in my planner, and I could add/delete tasks as the semester went on (and as professors changed the due dates a million times). 

During syllabus week, I go through each syllabus and list every task, reading, assignment or exam from the beginning of the semester all the way through finals week. By the end of the week, I have a comprehensive list of what I need to do for every single class, all in one place. I’m getting ready for the new semester and thought I’d walk everybody through how I organize mine:

Completed: mostly because I like to mark tasks off as I complete them, but also because it made it easier to quickly scan and find where I’m at in the list.

Type: I used this to discern between assignments and tests or quizzes, which I put in bold. I also put in the readings I assigned myself, and projects assigned by teachers.

Due Date: Alternating colors to block tasks by due date, so you can see at a glance how many things you need to do for that day.

Assignment: Quick description of the task or assignment. I put in any information given by the syllabus about the material the test covers. 

Class: Color coded! Amazing!

To Note:

This is how I study literature and it works for me( my lit exams marks are typically above 75) but everyone is different and it is important that you use what works for you! I hope this helps you in any way big or small!

1: Read the novel. Just read it with no stopping to take notes or highlight, if possible try to enjoy it. This gives you a general idea of all the themes, plots,characters and others.

2: Get a notebook  or leaflets of paper binder/folder to keep it all in one place. I prefer a notebook. What I have in this notebook:

I tend to leave the first page blank and later paste a quote on it.

table of contents.

summary of full book.

any research on particular topics (this was homework but i would recommend researching a little if the book mentions a lot of like historical stuff or things you just don’t know).

the main character’s family tree.

a page each for the main characters then I put a page for important families in the book (examples Radley and Ewells family in To Kill A Mockingbird). As well as one or two pages titled ‘minor characters’ where any little detail about these characters can be jotted down here. More on what these pages contain later on.

chapter summaries in order, with beginning and ending page numbers along with a short analysis (on a post-it). I also add a quote that I i liked or felt was important but that isn’t necessary as quotes are covered later down. These summaries are written after I reread that particular chapter, where I underline words I don’t know the meaning of and you can highlight important thing if you want,preferably to a colour code system. here’s a nice little guide to annotating by @mildstudies

3: So what I usually have on these main characters’ pages are:

basic character information (name, age, race.

character sketch (basically the qualities of the person like bravery and kindness).

character growth (more so for the protagonist).

an important quote or two that was said by the character but again that’s not necessary.

my thoughts on the character which I think is really important.

4: Quotes are very important in literature and most if not all teachers will encourage you to use them in your essays so these are two things you can do:

just write quotes that each person said on their character’s page and quotes from the narrative itself on a separate page.

or the second way which I prefer is to arrange these quotes by chapter, highlighting which character said it and then writing a brief analysis on it. You can also arrange them by person and highlight the chapter and page number. I love either ways.

5: Vocabulary is also important ( my teacher once told me about a question asking for the meaning of 'spittoon’ in To Kill A Mockingbird.) When reading over the novel I underline words I don’t know and transfer them onto a separate sheet of paper (arrange by chapter) and write down the meanings. You can use two columns to do this, one with word and the other definition. You can also use studyign’s summary foldables method and make (online) flashcards to test yourself.

6: Reviewing for exams can be hard, especially if you don’t have the time to reread the entire books. But that’s okay because you have the chapter summaries and analysis and all your other information although I do recommend reading or simply skimming the really important chapters. Here are some other tips:

know your exam format and the type of questions. My exam typically gives us two choices for the novel, each of which gives us a particular topic (one example is Jem’s punishment for what he did to Mrs. Dubose) and then three to four things they’d like us to include (example: why did he do that to Mrs. Dubose.) We are to write these in essay formats.

write essays on the book to review later (for TKAM I’m writing an essay on the theme racism using references from the book as well as I wrote a view on Scout’s character and Atticus’ parenting style.) This is really good to read before an exam.

do mock papers, preferably within the usual time period of your exams.

APUSH The Musical Part One: songs from musical theater that explain concepts from apush chapters 2-26 of american pagent 

8tracks / playmoss / youtube 

1. Molasses to Rum from 1776: explains the triangle trade as well as the hypocrisy of the revolutionary era on the topic of slavery 

2. Sit Down John from 1776: the apprehension of moderates to declare independence during the continental congress

3. But Mr. Adams from 1776: the declaration of independence (this is partly on here bc it’s about jefferson wanting to bust his nut) 

4. Non-Stop from Hamilton: the formation of the federal government, the constitutional convention, and the federalist papers

5. Cabinet Battle #1 from Hamilton: arguments between federalists and democratic republicans over assumption, excise taxes on whiskey, and slavery 

6. The Room Where It Happens from Hamilton: the dinner that jefferson hosted which decided assumption as well as where the capital would be located 

7. The Election of 1800 from Hamilton: the election of 1800 would lead to the creation of political parties 

8. Alll American Prophet from Book of Mormon: the formation of mormonism and its westward expansion 

9. Rock Star from Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson: the anti-elitist sentiments that would lead to an increase in populism as well as how jackson’s anti-elitist populism contradicted with his own superiority complex 

10. Corrupt Bargain from Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson: the bargain which got JQA elected during the tie breaker for the election of 1824

11. Populism Yea Yea from Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson: the rise of populism and jacksonian democracy 

12. Ten Little Indians from Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson: the awful awful treatment of native americans (especially during jackson’s administration) 

13. Someone In a Tree from Pacific Overtures: the treaty of kanagawa and the “opening” of japan 

14. The Wild Wild West from Harvey Girls: westward expansion and the wild west

15. Paint Your Wagon from Paint Your Wagon: the california gold rush and westward expansion 

16. A Peculiar Institution from Civil War: the awful awful treatment of slaves 

17. The Glory from Civil War: the civil war in general 

18. The Ballad Of Booth from Assassins: john wilkes booth’s assassination of abraham lincoln 

19. The Ballad of Guiteau from Assassins: charles guiteau’s assassination of president garfield because he wanted to place chester a arthur in power so his faction would reap benefits of patronage 

20. The Bottom Line from Newsies: business owner’s cost cutting methods which often disenfranchised the workers 

21. The World Will Know from Newsies: the organization of labor unions against big business during the gilded age 

Back to school in two days and I can’t be more excited!!!! Honestly, the last time I was this excited to go back to school was in my third year in high school. Now as I am entering my third year in university, four years after, I’m feeling it again. Maybe there’s just something about third years. Haha. Anyway, here’s a little something from my first semester last year!

This is an 8-page bullet reviewer from my HST 201B (Mainland Southeast Asia) class about the country of Laos. Basically, I annotated and highlighted a lot which made it easier for me to understand everything. I don’t really do this to other subjects/courses (forgive my bias) as I take my history classes VERY seriously for everything about history will always be my favorite subject. 

Details:

ANNOTATIONS & HIGHLIGHTS: I printed the reviewer with a 4-inch (not sure) margin on the left side which is where I will place details about the bullets. For example, the first bullet states “LDR: The Lao People’s Democratic Republic”, and what I’ll do is highlight the main point which is “Lao People’s Democratic Republic” and put what it’s about on the left side of it. In this case, the answer is “Official name”. So if I decide to test my self, I will simply cover the right portion and try to answer them myself.

COLORFUL POST-ITS: As you can see I placed colorful post-its for mnemonics or figures or additional info about the bullet. For example, the second bullet states the countries that share borders with Laos which are Thailand, Burma, China, Vietnam and Cambodia. So I put a small post-it underneath and place the first letters of the countries– “T-B-Ch-V-Ca” for easier memorization.

YELLOW POST-ITS: I put those yellow post-its at the bottom right part of the reviewers labeled as “POINTS TO REMEMBER” to put anything that I think would be significant answers on the exam in that particular page. They could be people, dates, doctrines/treaties, etc.

VOCABULARY: I basically underline (with a black pen or any pen) a word that I don’t understand and put its meaning beside it.

Color-coding content:

ANNOTATIONS & HIGHLIGHTS: I use two colors to highlight the bullets. Nothing is color-coded because I just want to use them alternately so that words would be easier to find and the reviewer won’t look like a coloring book. As for the annotations, two colored pens were used as well, which were then partnered with a corresponding highlighter. 

yellow highlighter on the right side, blue pen on the annotations on the left side

orange highlighter on the right, green pen on the left

black for the chapter/titles and vocabulary

COLORFUL POST-ITS (mnemonics):

pink for mnemonics

green for figures (land area, population, stats, etc.)

blue for other/additional info

YELLOW POST-ITS (important terms):

green for general state description/events

blue for politics

orange for places

violet for important people

That’s it! This is how it works for me but I’m pretty sure it looks messy for others. Anyway, it’s been a while since I posted so I wanted to share this, and if it helped/something isn’t clear, just let me know! 

x

How to Annotate! 

I thought I’d do a lil post about how I annotate books! This is a new system for me but I like it a lot considering I always use post-its (I hate writing in books) for my annotations. This is a book I’m annotating for my AP Lit class that I start in the fall!

Organize your annotations.

The system I showed above is a simple color-coordinating method that lets you easily flip back and find specific things. For example, if you have vocab words assigned with the text, you can flag them with a green post-it; when you need to go back and find them later for studying, they can be found without effort. 

Summarize plot info.

My blue post-its are basically paraphrased or broken down versions of the text. If you’re reading complicated works, this will probably be necessary for you to understand the text. Additionally, I extract the meaning from the text and jot it down on the blue post-its. Candide by Voltaire is a satire, which means I have to really closely read to figure out what he’s actually trying to say, even though the text itself isn’t that complex. 

Define terms. 

Define, define, define- always! This is necessary for aforementioned complicated texts. Collect background info for historical texts- if a book alludes to something and you’re not sure what it means, google it and write it down. Also, ask questions- if a character does something out of place, ask yourself why they did so; it’s probably important. This is demonstrated on my yellow post-its. 

Always look for literary devices. 

If you’re going into AP Lang or another AP language arts class, I strongly suggest you become acquainted with literary devices before the school year starts. They’re a major part of the AP test and if you notice a reoccurring pattern of certain literary devices in a text, it’s how the author is developing their point! I marked these for Candide on the pink post-its. 

Lastly- annotate for the prompt or for what your teacher tells you to.

In honor of our 300+ followers (WHAAAAAT?!) and PRIDE MONTH and Tony Awards Week! We’ve decided to do our FIRST PLAYBILL GIVEAWAY

To enter, you have to follow some simple rules:

You must be following this account (and if you like, you can follow my main account too!)

You must reblog this post. Only one reblog per account please!

Likes don’t count, sorry :(

Please I ask you that if you already have a Falsettos playbill, you don’t enter this giveaway because I would like to give this to someone who didn’t got the chance to see this amazing musical. (I know this won’t stop you but anyways, it is worth the try)

This giveaway is open internationally (because I know how hard it is to not live near NY, as I, myself, don’t even live in the US)

You must be comfortable on giving me your address (I promise once I send you the playbill, I’ll delete it)

The giveaway will end on June 30, 2017 and I’ll contact the winner the following day. Once you are contacted, you only have 24 hrs to respond.

GOOD LUCK!

** THIS ONLY WORKS FOR PHOTOSHOP CS6 2014 **

I will be doing a lot of photoshop tutorials on my instagram  @xeditsouce

so for those of you who have not or don’t want to purchase photoshop bc its like 7 trillion dollars I understand. Follow this tutorial and you’re good to go! 

IMPORTANT: This is a tutorial for windows (Microsoft® Windows® 7 with Service Pack 1, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 *). Not sure if it will work for mac. (UPDATE: FOR MAC Check bottom of this tutorial)

Firstly, you will need to create an adobe account (unless you already have one). Sign up here.

Step 2: 

Download the 30 day Trial version of Photoshop here. Follow the steps indicated to complete your download and installation. (Yes, you will have to install creative cloud because Photoshop is downloaded through it. You will see other apps there (hosted by Adobe), but only download Photoshop CC.There’s no way around it. It takes a little while, of course depending on your internet speed).

NOTE: DO NOT OPEN PHOTOSHOP AFTER INSTALLING.

Step 3:

Download this .dll file here. (This is the file that makes photoshop permanent). You will see two folders, so just click the download button on top to download the zipped folder.

Step 4:

Find the downloaded folder and open it. (If it isn’t opening, right click > open with > windows explorer).

Step 5:

Leave the “Photoshop CC files” folder opened.

Step 6: 

Click start menu. Go to Computer » Local Disk (c:)

Step 7:

Click Program Files (There will be two: ‘program files’ or ‘program files (x86)’. Click on the folder that is compatible with your operating system. Need to know the difference?

Step 8: 

Click on Adobe folder » Adobe Photoshop CC

Step 9:

Find (ctrl+f) the amtlib.dll file and rename it to amtlib1.dll (VERY IMPORTANT)

Step 10:

Leaving the “Adobe Photoshop CC” folder open, go back to your downloaded folder ”Photoshop CC files”. 

Step 11: 

Open your compatible folder (x64 or x86) and copy the ‘amtlib.dll’ file inside. (Right click and select copy)

Step 12: 

Go back to your “Photoshop CC” folder in step 9/10 and paste the copied ‘amtlib.dll’ file.

Step 13:

It should look like this:

———————————-

UPDATED FOR MAC:

1. Follow the relevant steps (in downloading and installing photoshop)

2. You have to download THIS folder instead of step 3 above.

3. Unzip the folder (double click it and it would start to unzip) and copy the framework inside

4. Open “Finder” and click on the applications menu

5. Open your “Adobe Photoshop CC” folder.

8. Right click on the app Icon and select “show package content”

You will see two folders, proceed to open the “Contents” folder.

9. Go to frameworks and paste the downloaded framework

Here is a video tutorial.

There you go! (Im not too familiar with mac, so sorry for the vague steps. But it should be clear as to what you have to do)

NOW YOU ARE DONE!

You can open photoshop now without getting the trial message. :)

Happy New Year! I’ve been Photoshopping since 2014 and over these years I’ve compiled a range of resources & techniques that have made my life easier on Photoshop. Since many of you have been asking about my editing processes, I thought this is a great time to share my favourite resources :D

This is a long post so the rest is below the cut. The structure of the masterpost is as follows:

Getting Started

Making GIFs

Graphics

Other Edits

General Tips

Additional Resources

Please Like / Reblog if you find this useful. 

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