Study Sesh Vibes

190219

drawing has kept me sane during isolation and it makes my pics pretty darn cute so I’d say that’s a win-win 💗

Walt Whitman, ‘Song of Myself’, Leaves of Grass

Hello people! Your beshy’s back again with another guide for those students who will face new year with a new semester :) 

FIX YOUR BODY CLOCK.

Create and stick to a routine. Set a time when you are supposed to go to bed /wake up and follow this everyday. Keep in mind that it is recommended for you to sleep for at least 8 hours (if possible). This might be the hardest thing to do, but it can totally help you in the long run. 

KNOW THE COURSES / SUBJECTS YOU WILL BE TAKING.

Start researching about them so that by the time you attend your first class, you already know what to expect. Stay interested even though your university forces you to take these/that subject (just like in our uni where we just follow the curriculum and students aren’t allowed to take subjects they personally prefer). 

FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH YOUR CLASS SCHEDULE.

Start organizing your class schedule. Print them out, keep one on your desk, paste it on your planner/ bujo, set it as your mobile or desktop wallpaper… whatever you like! 

READ IN ADVANCE.

No further explanations. Advance reading for your courses is the 🔑!

SET GOALS.

Do you want to be a Dean’s Lister? Make new friends? Nail all exams and quizzes? and etc. Right it down! Have a list of clear and measurable goals to work toward. 

GATHER YOUR SUPPLIES.

We all know that feeling we get from buying cute school supplies / stationeries right? Even if it’s just for the purpose of #aesthetic to some, it all makes us want to study! 

UPDATE YOUR PLANNER. 

Take note of the important dates and write it down on your planner. I swear, having a planner is really a great investment for school/college! 

START A BULLET JOURNAL.

If you’re not the planner-type of a person and wants everything personalized. 

FIND MOTIVATIONS. 

Listen. I respect the hell out of teachers. The vast majority of them work crazy hard and have a greater impact on children than some parents. And most of the time, including the times they give you well-meaning ‘writing rules,’ they only want to instill good and helpful habits into you.

That doesn’t change the fact that many of these rules are stupid. 

Here are my top five ‘writing rule’ pet peeves, and five rules that should be followed.

✗ Don’t write ‘said.’

Okay, I know this is common knowledge by now, but it’s so important. The concept that you can never write ‘ so-and-so said’ is hurting novice writers’ narratives. Said is invisible. Said is powerful. Said is transformable. If every quote ends in a strong synonym, it is distracting. Sometimes, in an established repartee, quotes don’t need to be tagged at all. Or an adverb following ‘said’ might be better for the narrative than any single verb.

Eg. // “I hate the rain,” grumbled David. “I love it,” Claire announced. “You love everything,” he muttered. “Including you!” she giggled.

versus.

“I hate the rain,” grumbled David. “I love it,” said Claire. “You love everything,” he said impatiently. “Including you!”

✓ Don’t write ‘something.’

Cold hard truth, baby. ‘Something’ is a draft word. It’s what you write when you want to think of a replacement. I cringe when I see it in a sentence that would have been improved tenfold by a specific noun or descriptive phrase in its place. There are times when ‘something’ works or is the only option, but experiment by replacing that word with more description before deciding it’s necessary to keep.

Eg. // He pulled something shiny from his pocket. She craned her neck to see what it was. A metal flask. versus. A flash of light caught the metal he pulled from his pocket. She craned her neck to see what it was. A drinking flask.