#eintstein

|Day 22 of January Study Challenge|  c/o #stu-dna challenge

January 22, 2021- do you use colour-coding? explain your system!

*gasp* the introduction post Hi! Hello, my name’s Sabrina, i’m 19 and this is me getting around to running an active study blog (it’s actually my 2nd time creating a studyblr, senior year kinda screwed up my plans the first time around). 

Can you believe i procrastinated writing this post for 4 years? yeah, i know. Though if that isn’t like half of me idk what is. The rest 50% could be summed up with ▫︎ books ▫︎ coffee ▫︎ stationery ▫︎ bullet journaling ▫︎ plants and ▫︎ music. 

I’m starting med school in October and i also enjoy learning languages, so this blog really is gonna be just a wild mix of everything from literature to biology. Original posts are (hopefully) coming soon :)

some less significant facts about yours truly:  ▫︎ i’m a fangirl and incurable perfectionist at heart ▫︎ will sacrifice self for a quality meme ▫︎ i rarely bother to capitalise my writing (it’s a miracle most of this post’s sentences begin with an uppercase letter, honestly)

that’s it, that’s the post guys, i’m tagging a few of my favourites below, i’m v excited to finally have this out there and hope to make new friends soon (i love meeting people so feel free to message me sometime:))

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hiya folks! it’s been a hot second since i’ve used this blog, and i don’t know if any of you guys remember me but i’ll just re-introduce myself: my name is esther, i’m a rising junior, and my passions involve writing, the visual arts, the liberal arts, and social justice! i love tea, books, and nineties movies. :)

ok, now moving on: this is a whole post with advice for incoming high school freshman. throughout my two years of high school, i’ve picked up some pretty valuable tips i think i’d like to share with you. i’ve split up advice into three categories: academics/extracurriculars, productivity/organization, and mental/social health! some of these categories might intersect each other, sorry about that. let’s begin!

1. PRODUCTIVITY/ORGANIZATION

HONE YOUR WORK HABITS NOW (use your summer wisely!)

what i mean by this is that when i was in middle school, i thought that i didn’t have to try that hard and i could just channel all of my power into high school. this isn’t the case, you need to start building up good habits early on! if you have/had this mindset, try to use summer as a way to start helping yourself. you got this! (this doesn’t mean you’re inferior/high school will be hard, it’s just helpful to have good habits) iif not, and you’re already a great student good job!

GET AN ORGANIZATION SYSTEM

buy your folders/binders/notebooks and formulate a good system! what’s most helpful for me and a few other people i know is carrying notebooks and materials in an accordion folder and only keeping relevant work in your backpack. keeping binders at home for each subject to file after every week is really helpful in conjunction with this.

USE APPS/GOOGLE CALENDAR!

apps such as Forest, Momentum, and Google Calendar really help with organization! Google Calendar, especially, is a great tool to organize your events on the go.

TRY NOT TO PROCRASTINATE/KEEP A PLANNER

write down assignments and tasks in a planner right away! this will make you less stressed. refer to your planner often so that you remember what you have to do.

POMODORO TECHNIQUE

not freshman specific, but this study technique really helps, and since workload will intensify it’s important to find a good study technique!

https://francescocirillo.com/pages/pomodoro-technique

2. ACADEMICS/EXTRACURRICULARS

IT’S OKAY (GOOD, EVEN) TO ASK FOR HELP

usually, people are willing to help you if you have problems with your schoolwork. if you have a question in class, ask it right away: don’t worry about other people questioning you/making fun of you because they think it’s a stupid question! even if they think that, their opinions don’t matter and you should prioritize yourself/ your education over their ignorance. if you don’t understand it in class, it’ll be much harder to understand at home.

JOIN THINGS! GET INVOLVED! (BUT NOT TOO INVOLVED)

don’t make the mistake of joining too many clubs (me in freshman year haha)! join only things that you’re genuinely interested and passionate about/have past experiences in. sports and clubs are a really good way to make new friends as well. organizations such as speech and debate, MUN, academic decathlon, science olympiad, etc are pretty time consuming but really enrich your experience + since you spend a lot of time with your team you form a good bond!

DON’T WORRY ABOUT PEOPLE’S EXPECTATIONS/EXPLORE THINGS

i’m sure many of you have people pushing you towards STEM jobs and occupations. if you really love STEM, that’s great! science and math are interesting subjects and i really appreciate them. however, i’m definitely a humanities/art-based girl and if you relate, you might feel boxed in by others’ expectations. however, high school is really a time where you grow and make your own decisions. i’m not telling you to go off the rails, but you’re practically almost an adult (soon lolol) and you should do things that you want and like!)

KEEP TRACK OF YOUR GRADES AND TEACHERS

have a good relationship with your teachers! they’ll help you in the long run! and always check your grades because there’s been so many incidents where teachers have screwed up in entering things.

in the beginning of the semester, make a list of your target grades and what you have to do to achieve them. keep the paper you make your list on somewhere around your desk to motivate you. this works with other things/goals too!

ORGANIZATION PART TWO

keep a homework folder! used in conjunction with your planner it’ll keep you clear on what you have to get done. you can also use this is your turn-in folder. also, you should definitely determine what your learning style/meyer’s brigg personality is so that you can make things accordingly (ie, audio learners can make flash-cards to study, writing-oriented learners can have several notebooks, etc)

Meyer’s Brigg: https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test

Learning Style: http://www.educationplanner.org/students/self-assessments/learning-styles-quiz.shtml

APPLY TO THINGS IN THE SUMMER

i know i’m getting ahead of myself, since this post is about starting freshman year, but think about it: there are only three summers in high school, and you should do each to do something that you’re passionate about/explore a field that you’re interested in :) so here is, for future reference, a list of cool summer camps and such! if money is a problem, that’s fine! you can always do other things like read, enter online competitions, start a club, etc. as long as you’re busy and doing things you love there’s no problem.

https://cty.jhu.edu/imagine/resources/summer_programs/index.html

3. SOCIAL/MENTAL HEALTH

MAKE FRIENDS! I KNOW IT’S HARD BUT!

yoooooo i know for sure that freshman year was hard for me because i was new to the school and area and because i didn’t have many friends, but luckily at the end of sophomore year i’ve surrounded myself with some phenomenal, creative people and feel much happier and hopeful. reach out to people! you never know what their response will be and it never hurts to try. you could be friends with the most unlikely people (as i am now)! reach out to classmates in clubs and in your class and just radiate positive energy. of course, i do understand that mental illness/other circumstances may make this hard from first-hand experience. in this case, making friends through classes and organizations where people spend a lot of time together is good. however, you deserve people who make you happy!

DON’T FOLLOW THE CROWD.

social status is a myth. don’t worry about popularity! do what feels right (unless it’s … like… weed or smth idk,.. :-))))) )! be yourself and you’ll always find understanding people who accept you for who you are. this really troubled me because i wear hecking funky outfits and i was always scared of being too much, but now i literally just wear anything i want hahahah. and the thing is, people have been really accepting and nice and now i’m lowkey known as the girl with cool outfits! which is a nice title to have!

GIVE YOURSELF SPACE / ADJUSTING TO FAILURE

i (lmao) experienced some of my first instances of ‘failure’ in high school and gave myself a really hard time over it. don’t be negative or self-accusing if you ‘fail.’ remind yourself how insignificant the thing you failed is: in the scope of life, the planet, the universe. then take a deep breath, analyze what you did wrong, and see how you can solve it. give yourself some time to heal, drink some tea, wear a face mask, etc. your mental health is so important, don’t lose yourself to one bad grade because you are so much more.

TAKING CARE OF YOUR MENTAL HEALTH

this one’s really hard! but for me, when i’m in the dumps because of circumstances/depression/anxiety,, here’s what i do:

unplug. the internet, sometimes, only makes things worse.

EXCEPT if you’re gonna text/message/talk to someone online! linking up with a trusted friendo helps.

draw! even if you aren’t an artist, it releases stress. writing your thoughts helps too.

take a walk.

listen to your favorite bops. (i have a collection of playlists on spotify under the name chocobonbon123 if you wanna check it out)

make a cake. or food. or something.

organize your room

if you’re angry: ripping paper really calms me idk hahah

and sometimes: you just need to have a Big Cry. let it All Out.

well guys! that’s it! basically this is all my advice for incoming freshman/what i wish i did my freshman year and i hope it helps someone out there. <3 <3