#study tutorial

I like studying from video rather than photos because it gives context and flow to the gesture and makes it easier to remember where the legs are.

It doesn't have to be amazing video either. In fact blurry vids are better for gesture than clear ones because you can't get stuck on details. Your brain has to process the movement and therefore the bones.

I used this random one from youtube (mostly after 4:35) and let myself draw a sequence in a snakey pattern that makes sense based on where the deer is in space.

OneNote – буквально подарок небес этому миру.

О нем я узнала из инстаграмма emmastudiess [вот этот пост] + [у нее потрясающий мотивирующий тамблер, обязательно проверьте его (!) - emmastudies]. Меня удивило, как мало людей пользуется этой замечательной программой в процессе своей учебы, ведь она намного удобнее и функциональнее обычного Word`а.

OneNote – часть пакета Office, и уже был установлен на моем компьютере. Для работы мне понадобилась лишь моя учетная запись Microsoft. Так же OneNote может быть установлен на телефон и при каждом запуске приложения все записи и документы будут синхронизированы [кстати, приложение OneNote в Маркете абсолютно бесплатно]. 

Я активно использовала OneNote весь май и июнь, пока готовилась к экзаменам и вела дневник практики. В нем я писала все ответы на вопросы и чертила разные таблицы и схемы. OneNote подойдет для записи лекций, ведения дневников ака bullet journal`ов и различных заметок. И его супер-легко использовать! Начнем ~

I developed PTSD as a result of ongoing sexual assault. It manifested itself first in a deep unhappiness with myself and a desire for control resulting in me also developing an eating disorder. Although I’m recovered from my ED my PTSD still very much affects me and has done so through my GCSE’s and my As levels. I feel this isn’t a topic focused on, although there is many a guide for studying with depression or anxiety and so here is my advice on achieving good grades whilst battling PTSD.

1. Be as aware as possible of things that trigger you in the school environment. I don't mean in the tumblr sense of 'trigger' as in they set you off on a massive rant but rather things that trigger anxiety, stress, panic attacks or any other symptoms you may have. For me getting the school bus was a large trigger as that's where a lot of my assaults happened and recognising this allowed me to talk to somebody about ways we could improve my sense of security. You can't study in an environment where you feel insecure or at risk so you have to communicate issues to the relevant teachers/support staff. 

 2. Know when your limit has been reached, there is going to be a point or a day where everything will actually be too much and it's important to address this. Although everyone has off days off days with PTSD, at least in my experience, can be almost unbearable and I often took this out on others as I had no down time or release. It's important to weight up whether or not you're actually going to learn anything by pushing yourself on an off day as if you won't you could just stress yourself out even more, which you obviously want to avoid. 

 3. If a topic you're going to cover within your schoolwork is going to trigger your PTSD, tell your teacher. I know 'safe spaces' have been critiqued a lot recently but there is no shame in sitting a lesson out if you can't cope with the subject matter, unless it's a large portion of the course teachers generally won’t mind and will support you as best as they can. It’s their job to help you learn and you won’t learn from a lesson if you’re massively panicky or stressed.

4. Have a security net, whether this is a teacher who knows your situation or a place you can go to when things get overwhelming make sure you have something to fall back on. I know that I always head for a teacher I trust when things go a bit pear shaped inside of my head and there is no shame in that. It will help you become more comfortable in your study environment.

5. Don’t take too many mental health days, although it’s ok to take one every couple of months you shouldn’t get into the habit of having one more often than that. Not only are you more likely to spend your day moping or dwelling on things when you’re at home but you’re also missing out on key information from your lessons and missing this may actually cause more stress in the long term.

6. Make time to revise as well as time to recover, although going to therapy every week may be somewhat helpful i personally find therapy physically and mentally exhausting so never want to work afterwards. If you’re like this then maybe go every other week so as not to get behind in school and cause more stress. Obviously this depends on the severity of your PTSD and the extent to which it affects you but, especially around exam time I put exams before therapy because (although this sounds bad) they were the priority. Or, if you must go make sure to tell your therapist that you have work you must do after the session and they may lighter things up.

A really easy way to study is to make a study guide, since it makes everything way more accessible than by just rereading your textbook chapters. I’ll share with you some tips that have really helped me with making better study guides !

If your test covers a lot of material, break it up. Make a separate study guide for each chapter, and then divide each guide by section. Make sure to put large titles, since this can help you find what you're looking for a lot quicker. As you can see from the pictures, I have a little stapled packet for each chapter. This adds to the organization, and helps to not overwhelm you with large amounts of information.

Rather than just writing on and on, make sure to add some visuals to help with the organization of your guide. Include a lot of diagrams and pictures (especially if you're taking like a science class or something like that), use bullet points, boxes, underlines, etc. It's a lot less tedious to study something that's organized that way rather than if it was just a sea of regular writing.

Something really important to do is to color code! Again, it's a lot less tedious to study something that is color coded and makes things easy to find. For example, write definitions in blue, or underline/highlight key concepts with pink. You can also write titles in a different color to emphasize them more. You don't necessarily have to write everything in color, but you can highlight or underline things. Just make sure to not go overboard with the highlighting.

Don't copy directly from the textbook; it's more important to write things in your own words and make sure you understand them. Just memorizing things won't help you a lot of times in your exams, since you might be asked to explain them.