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“It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.”

Hi, everyone! If you’re like me and you love a good game soundtrack or a great playlist of all sorts of game music, this is the masterpost for you. I’m one of those people who studies better with some music in the background, and what better way of making a study session more enjoyable than by listening to the soundtrack of your favourite game?

Why listen to music while you study?

Multiple studies have proven that certain students who listen to music while they study perform better academically. Unfortunately, it’s not for everyone, so you should really figure out if this is the right method for you before commiting yourself to it! The main arguement for studying with music is that research has proved that listening to classical music in particular helps the brain absorb more information and also helps stimulate one’s thinking! 

On the other hand, some people tend to lose all concentration when there’s any music or noise in the background, which leads to procrastination and lower productivity. In short, if you can’t concentrate on the task at hand and get distracted easily, this isn’t the best method for you! 

Playlists

I started actively looking for playlists with game music about two years ago and instantly fell in love. There are so many good playlists of various lengths and genres that are accessable on platforms like spotify, 8tracks, youtube, etc. All of the playlists include the tracklist in the description below them! 

Note: I won’t be adding any playlists from 8tracks because they only work in the US and Canada. 

i. General

Game music for studying: Some of you might have already heard of these videos before. They’re roughly an hour and a half long and include some of the more calming tracks from a lot of different games. All the names of the tracks are listed in the description below, which is super handy if you want to find out which game it’s from! I thought I’d put in the playlist of all of them so you can just press play and enjoy!

Video game music! 2.0: Probably the longest playlist you’ll find anywhere. a n y w h e r e. 223 hours of amazingness that you’ll never regret! 

ii. Calming/ relaxing

5 hours of atmospheric game music: This is one of my personal favourites. It’s very long so you don’t have to worry about looking for another playlist when this one finishes. 

Relaxing video game music: Another gem! Once again with all the tracks in the description. This one’s great for shorter study sessions since it’s only and hour long.

More relaxing  video game music: If the previous playlist was too short for you, check out this 3 hour one! I used this one a lot last year! 

Calming Nintendo music: A super great playlist for all you Nintendo fans! It includes some really nice tracks from the Legend of Zelda series, if you’re into those soundtracks!

Jesper Kyd playlist: Ever since I first played Assassin’s Creed 2, I’ve loved Jesper Kyd’s work. This is quite a long playlist including some of his best tracks from various games. My favourites are towards the end!

Relaxing Legend of Zelda music: You had to see this one coming. The LoZ series has some of the best soundtracks to study to (, in my opinion,) and some of the prettiest and most calming tracks. I highly recommend this 42 minute playlist for those times when you just don’t feel like working.

2 hours of sleepy video game music: This is also a little series of playlists. There are 4 of these videos in total, which adds up to 8 hours of sweet, sweet music. 

iii. Epic/ badass

Epic video game music: For all of you who need a little badass music in the background! 2.5 hours of epic and awe inspiring music to really get some work done! 

Focus - video game music: Spotify has some really great playlists, so I thought I’d include a few! This playlist is a little more epic and loud, but if that’s the mindset you really need to push through, this would be great for you. It’s an amazing 11 hours long so you’ll never run out.

Orchestral video game music: Another epic playlist, including the occasional lullaby. This is a 7 hour long playlist, so a little shorter than the previous one, but by no means less epic and badass!

Soundtracks

Compared to the playlists, soundtracks tend to be a mix of epic and calming music. Most games have their perilous moments and their I’m-so-relieved-I-managed-to-beat-that-boss-with-only-one-heart-left moments. The world of video games is vast, so I’ve selected a few of my favourite soundtracks to share with you instead of listing all of the ones I can find.

Legend of Zelda - Skyward Sword: One of my favourite all time games! The soundtrack is long too, so you don’t have to worry about looking for a new one afterwards. 

Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time: This game is widely believed to have the best soundtrack in video game history. All I can say is so sit down, gather your work and to just enjoy.

Final Fantasy VI: This 1994 gem has an avarage playtime of 65-70 hours. The game has such a good storyline and the soundtrack is a little old school with a lot of non-orchestral tracks. I’d still recommend this to everyone who likes an older style of video game.

Suikoden Tierkreis: I have memories of me just going to the overworld map so I could listen to the music. It’s that good. 

Bioshock Infinite: I’ve only ever played the first in the series, but I watched a walkthrough of this particular game and I loved it so much! The music is slightly creepy and loud sometimes but it’s a really great soundtrack overall.

The Last of Us: Another game I’ve never actually played, but the walkthrough was amazing. The soundtrack is very atmospheric and doesn’t have a lot of loud parts, so it’s generally calm. 

Assassin’s creed 2: My all-time favourite game ever. As you know from before, I think Jesper Kyd is amazing, so putting these two elements together makes a truly great game. The soundtrack is actually quite well known because a few of it’s most popular tracks are featured a lot in other playlists. E.g. Dreams in Venice and The Madam. 

The Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim: I’ve listened to this one a few times and I think it’s really good! It starts off quite strong but it has a lot of calmer songs too.

Fable 2: The Fable series is well-known for being short, so the soundtrack is also on the shorter side. I know the dialogue in the game almost by heart and I can guarantee you that there’s a lot of atmospheric music in this soundtrack. 

Fragile: This one was recommended to me by a friend on tumblr years ago. It has really sweet songs and has a lot of piano centered tracks. 

Now get to work!

I hope I’ve helped you find the perfect game music to accompany you while you study! If you have any recommendations, feel free to send me a message! I’m always up to discovering new playlists/ soundtracks.

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starting a bullet journal, a guide by studypetals

hey everyone! it’s rhianne, or studypetals. i’ve gotten a lot of questions and concerns about how to start a bullet journal, so i decided to start a new one myself to show you how i set mine up!

GENERAL INFORMATION:

so what’s a bullet journal? well, it’s not an actual journal, per se, but rather a system of journaling! the “bullet” word comes from “bullet points,” the way tasks/events are jotted down in this journaling system. (source)

what is a bullet journal used for? a bullet journal can be used as a simple planner system, but it can also be a creative way to plan your daily/weekly tasks! some people even use it as a half-scrapbook/half-planner (like me!)

what’s the difference between a planner and a bullet journal? this is a great question i’ve gotten before. a planner already has the dates/decorated pages/etc. all you have to input into a planner is tasks and events. a bullet journal is a book of blank pages, so it allows more creative freedom than a planner does. if you aren’t patient enough for free-handing everything, stick to a regular planner. if you like having a unique journal/planner and like customizing your spreads, look into starting a bullet journal!

MY SETUP:

picture 1: material starter pack here’s what i use for my bullet journal (aside from the decorative things like washi tape, magazine cutouts, etc.)

moleskine notebook, regular, squared, soft cover

zebra mildliners

pilot g-2 pens

muji 0.35mm pens

picture 2: cover page i just have a cover page to catalogue what this journal has in it. you can always put anything you want on the cover page, like:

the semester you’re using it in

your name

“bullet journal” or “planner”

a simple quote

etc.

picture 3: index so for my first journal, i didn’t even use an index. it’s up to you whether you want to include one or not. if you use an index, remember to number the rest of the pages after it! you can either catalogue every page after you’re done with it, or only the pages you really want to reference.

picture 4 (left): legend this is super important, especially for a bullet journaling system! so in this particular system of journaling, each task has a bullet point next to it. the most regular one i’ve seen is a square, so that’s what i use. what the legend does is keep track of what each symbol means. of course, if you just want to fill the squares in after you complete a task, then you don’t need this. however, if you want more organization, then make up whatever symbols you need to for this part! there isn’t one concrete symbol system, so do what works for you!

picture 4 (right): testing stationery page i like seeing what each pen/highlighter writes like before i really use it, so why not make a page for testing them! what i do is write what type of stationery it is with the actual pen/highlighter so i don’t forget which stroke is which.

picture 5 (left): favorite washi page ahhhh one of my favorite pages. you can put your washi collection on this page, or just strips of the ones you like a lot! they can be as long or short as you want them to be.

picture 5 (right): youtube ideas! (or other filler pages) this isn’t for everyone, of course, but it’s one that i added! i just showed it to you guys since i wanted to show the washi tape page. anyways, there are a lot of cool pages you can add throughout your bullet journal, such as:

books to read/movies to watch/etc.

life goals

expenses

favorite quotes

moodboards

class schedule/information

recipes

AU ideas (for writers!)

favorite art pieces

favorite lyrics

etc.

picture 6: weekly spreads the big one! so this is what i primarily use my bullet journal for. step-by-step, this is how mine are created (but you can always make yours unique):

make the title (“week #,” or something)

write the days

write the dates

write down the tasks for each day

make a section for something you have to do each day (the “essentials”)

write down the extra sections (goals, important dates, quote of the week, habit trackers, etc.)

decorate with washi tape, doodles, printed pictures, magazine cutouts, leaves, flowers, movie tickets, etc.

extra resources from me to you:

doodle references

banner references

font references

journal setups

some bullet journal examples and blogs:

setup by @studyblrholla​

weekly spread by @somnolencex​

setup post by @tbhstudying​

setup by @theoverstuffedpencilcase​

weekly tasks and trackers by @journalsanctuary​

@genspen​‘s bullet journal

@studyrose​‘s bullet journal

@studytildawn​‘s bullet journal

@studypenguin​‘s bullet journal

@studie-s​‘s bullet journal

@chic-studies​‘s bullet journal

@asazora​‘s bullet journal

WHEW. that’s all i have for this topic (for now.) i hope any or all of this helps you guys out there wanting to start a bullet journal. if you want to make one, we’re gonna be in this together! have fun and remember the most important thing: it doesn’t have to be perfect. not all the pages are gonna be great, you’re gonna make mistakes, and some pages are just not gonna be what you wanted them to be, but that is 100% okay. just remember to have fun with it, and just.. start!

26/05/16 (May 26th, 2016)

Stayed in bed all day cause I haven’t been feeling too well 

It was raining outside (my favorite weather) 😊 

Binge watched tv shows on Netflix 

Tried to be productive but failed miserably 

Academic Tips

“You are responsible for your own learning.”

1. Always do your work when you get it and don’t wait until the last minute. Waiting until the last minute to get work done will sometimes allow you to still get things done by their due date but it leaves little room for studying and reviewing between then and in the end will hurt you on exams. 

2. Work alone. The best way to learn new material is to do it on your own and struggle through and figure it out ON YOUR OWN. I wish someone had told me this because I really struggled to catch up in classes this past semester because I would do my homework with friends instead of learning how to do things on my own and it hurt me a lot on exams. 

3. Find friends you can study with.You want to be able to be productive if you choose to do a study session. Studying with friends might be okay if you work well together but chances are you’ll get distracted. Find people you work well with to study because you tend to learn more that way. For me, that was people I met in class and at office hours.

4. Please oh, please use office hours This is such a big one that freshman don’t use until the last minute. These are your best bet for getting questions answered if you didn’t understand something in lecture, on your homework, etc. Plus, getting to know your prof is very important because they tend to be more helpful if they see you are working hard in their class and they give good letters of recommendation if you make a good impression on them. If you can’t make their office hours, email them or set up an appointment. It’s very important to have good communication. 

5. Sit in the front and ask questions Be the nerd of the lecture by sitting in the front and don’t be afraid to ask a question. However, if its a question that requires a lengthy answer, save it for office hours so you don’t the lecture behind schedule. 

6. BUY AND READ THE DARN TEXTBOOK So many people tell you not to buy the textbook if you don’t truly need it for assignments but that is so wrong. You will always need the textbook if it is in the syllabus. Period. Read the chapters BEFORE lecture and review it afterward if material still doesn’t make sense. You will learn so much more and remember so much more in a faster time period than if you don’t read it at all. The book is also extremely important for covering details that won’t be covered in lecture.

Social Life 

1. Meet new and DIFFERENT people instead of people like yourself. These people will show you so many cool new things that you’ll never experience otherwise. Meeting new and different people can be challenging and uncomfortable at first if you’re shy like me but it will make your college experience much more worth it. 

 2. Join clubs but not too many. Take part in activities and clubs that you enjoy but be careful not to overload yourself. Freshman year you should start off by just trying a few clubs here and there just to see what you like before committing to a lot of anything.

3. Don’t be afraid to say no to alcohol, drugs, and even hanging out. College students say “You do you” and they really mean it. You don’t have to feel pressured to do anything you don’t want to do and no one will judge you for that. If you find “friends” who do judge you, make some new friends. Also, remember that school comes first so if you have a large project to do and your friends want to go out, its ok to say no. Your friends should understand that in college, you really need to get stuff done and that schedule can be different than theirs.

 4. Be okay with being alone but completely surrounded by people. You are almost guaranteed to different schedules than your friends so you’ll learn that you’ll often be eating or doing school work alone. This is perfectly normal! Learn to like it because it’s nice to do things on your own. You may feel lonely sometimes but you’re also always surrounded by people. It’s hard to find actual privacy in college especially when you live in the dorms and share a room with a roommate. It will be strange at first but you’ll find the right balance of being along and being with people over time. 

Roommates and Dorms 

1. “A clean room is a clean mind.” Keeping a clean room will help you to study because you’ll be able to easily find everything you need instead of digging through piles of clothes and other belongings. Dorm rooms are also very small so putting things in their rightful storage places is essential for keeping a tidy room.

2. Study outside of your room as much as you can. If you’re like me, you can distract yourself easily especially when you don’t want to do something (like study). By getting the majority of your work done in the library or somewhere else on campus other than your room, you have less options to distract yourself whereas in your room, you have all your stuff to pick up and lose hours of study time with. 

3. Be straightforward with your roommate. If your roommate is doing something that bothers you, tell them clearly right away (politely). Otherwise, they’ll never know and continue to do what is bothering you. In order to avoid arguments, tell them right away very nicely and they should stop. It might be their room too, but you need to make sure that you’re happy as well.