GOOD STUDYING VS BAD STUDYING

GOOD STUDYING

Use recall. When you look at a passage and try to study it,  look away and recall the main ideas. Try recalling concepts when you are walking to class or in a different room from where you originally learned it. An ability to recall—to generate the ideas from inside yourself—is one of the key indicators of good learning.

Test yourself. On everything. All the time. Flashcards are your best friend. Use quizlet if you don’t want to hand-make flashcards. Get somebody to test you on your notes.

Space your repetition. Spread out your learning in any subject a little every day, just like an athlete. Don’t sit and study one subject for 2 hours, do half an hour every day.

Take breaks. It is common to be unable to solve problems or figure out concepts in math or science the first time you encounter them. This is why a little study every day is much better than a lot of studying all at once. When you get frustrated, take a break so that another part of your mind can take over and work in the background. You need breaks in order for your brain to retain the information. Try the Pomodoro method if you have trouble timing breaks!

Use simple analogies. Whenever you are struggling with a concept, think to yourself, How can I explain this so that a ten-year-old could understand it? Using an analogy really helps. Say it out loud, like you’re teaching it, whether it’s to an imaginary class or your sister who couldn’t care less.  The additional effort of teaching out loud allows you to more deeply encode.

Focus. Turn off your phone / iPad / any distractions and clear your desk of everything you do not need. Use apps like Forest if you can’t stay off them!

Do the hardest thing earliest in the day, when you’re wide awake and less likely to push it aside.

BAD STUDYING

Avoid these techniques—they can waste your time even while they fool you into thinking you’re learning!

Passive rereading—sitting passively and running your eyes back over a page. This is a waste of time, frankly, and doesn’t do anything to help information pass into your brain without recall.

Over-highlighting. Colouring a passage of text in highlighter isn’t helpful at all. It’s good for flagging up key points to trigger concepts and information, but make sure what you highlight goes in.

Waiting until the last minute to study. DON’T CRAM!!!

Doing what you know. This isn’t studying! This is like learning how to juggle but only throwing one ball. 

Neglecting the textbook. Would you dive into a pool before you knew how to swim? The textbook is your swimming instructor—it guides you toward the answers. 

Not asking your teachers for help. They are used to lost students coming in for guidance—it’s their job to help you. 

Exams are over wooooooooooooooooOoooo

31 day study photo challenge: day 3

journal/notebook collection! i don’t carry the list makers gonna list one or the small beige one in my school bag bc they’re my college/uni prep journal and 2018-2019 bullet journal, respectively! the black notebook is my bullet journal for this year and it goes with me everywhere. 

Studying while in quarantine has been a bit of a change since we can’t go to classes / the library etc so here are some tips / things I’ve realised:

Drink water instead of coffee. Bonus if the water is cold. It keeps you alert yet more focused than caffeine.

Don’t set weekly goals. A whole week at home means your goals will be pushed aside in favour of animal crossing or netflix. Set three-day goals instead.

Have a clear sleep schedule. If you’re rolling out of bed at 12pm, you’ll feel less motivated to get some studying done. Maybe wake up at 9.30, and sleep at 11. Do what works for you.

Have a plan. Know your approach to a task before you do it. Don’t just mindlessly stare at your laptop or worksheet before doing something or you’ll be sat there for hours.

Summarise the concept in your own words. It’s the key concept of note-taking - you understand things more and you haven’t just copied down textbook babble you don’t understand. If you can’t explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand the concept.

Don’t let the “studyblr aesthetic” fool you. Studying doesn’t have to be pretty. The notes you see on social media of pretty notes have been rewritten and organised after the initial scribble on lined paper. Let your notes be messy (as long as they’re readable) and if you want to pretty things up later, go ahead!

Don’t throw away scrap paper you’ve used for working out - staple it to your book, add it to your folder - if you ever come across that problem again you have a step-by-step way of working it out.

Understand that if you’re at a zero, you won’t go to 100 in a couple of days. First, you’ll need to reach 20, then from 20 to 50, and then from 50 to 80. Nobody is 100 everyday. Nobody can get to 100 overnight. Give yourself time.

Spend time relaxing. You need to have ‘you time’ every single day. Watch netflix, binge watch disney, play animal crossing, sleep for 10 hours. You need to spend some time on you, doing what you love, to make you studying effective.

Once you’re on a roll and need a way to stay on track, start writing down your studying hours. Maybe make a schedule. If you studied for 6 hours yesterday, tell yourself you need to at least 80% of that.

Don’t have a zero day, try do a little bit each day, even if you feel awful and can only do 20 minutes.

3RD OCTOBER 2020

Studyblr Community Challenge Day 3: Why did you make your studyblr?

I made my studyblr to motivate myself to actually study as well as find like-minded people who would make me want to study and succeed!! I also love aesthetics and pretty notes :D

HOW TO WAKE UP EARLY

So you have a few 9am classes which means that you have to be up early. And if you’re not a morning person - this means surviving on a WHOLE lot of coffee. Below I’ve compiled a list of my top ten tips on how to wake up early (without feeling like you want to die).

HAVE A GOOD REASON FOR WANTING TO WAKE UP EARLY. Set something to do early in the morning that’s important/fun. This might be something like exercising, checking emails, studying, cooking a nice breakfast, wearing a cute outfit etc. This reason will motivate you to get up.

DON’T GO FROM WAKING UP AT 9AM TO WAKING UP AT 6AM. Just... don’t do this. Start by waking up 30 minutes earlier, and then 45 minutes earlier, and slowly build it up. Do the same with the time you go to sleep - don;t go from sleeping at 1am to sleeping at 10pm. Start with 12am, then 11.30 etc.

PREPARE THE NIGHT BEFORE. Clothes, school bag, water bottle, food. It saves so much time in the morning and if you think about it, you can sleep in a little more if you’re prepared.

PUT YOUR ALARM/PHONE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF YOUR ROOM. This means you have to get up to turn it off and you are MUCH less likely to hit snooze. BUT if you have trouble waking up right away, have a three alarms set. First one 20 minutes before the time you want to wake up, second the time you want to wake up and the last twenty minutes after. The first one will wake you up a little and if you fall asleep for 20 minutes, it won’t be a deep sleep. The last one is to make sure you don’t oversleep. This brings me onto the next point:

STOP SNOOZING. Continuously pressing snooze in the morning to get those extra 8-minute intervals of rest can be really disruptive for your sleep. It is BEST to sleep for a solid block of time (at least one REM cycle) and then be awake for a solid block of time. 

NAP DURING THE DAY - it will help you compensate for the low amount of sleep you’ll get in the process of becoming a morning person. But stop taking them as soon as your able to get over 7 hours of sleep per night. NEVER take a nap after 4 PM though, that’s just gonna wreck up your night’s sleep!

SLEEP WITH THE CURTAINS/BLINDS SLIGHTLY OPEN. In the morning, the sunlight will naturally creep in and awaken you more easily!

NO CAFFEINE AND NO ALCOHOL. I mean this both before you go to bed, and when you wake up. Instead, have a drink of cold water to help you wake up, or an apple!! And if you need something warm before you go to sleep, drink decaffeinated tea/coffee/cocoa. 

CONSIDER: light/no makeup routine , small/no breakfast, evening showers/skin care, 8 hours of sleep, turning off electronics 1 hour before bed, etc.