#studyblr masterposts

here's a quick guide on how i proofread and edit my essays as an humanities undergrad! i tend to spend more time on research and editing and much less time on writing and my first drafts are often horrendous, so editing is really important for me :^)

i've also created guides on essay preparation, the 5-paragraph essay, how to research, and how to write essays. you can find all my other masterposts here.

transcript below:

14 JUL 2020

Hey guys! I’m currently studying for the TSA and I thought it would be helpful for me to consolidate my process so I can look back on it. Then I remembered that I have a studyblr (woop woop 🎉!) and that I can possibly help others by posting it on here.

NOTE: This is a strategy for exams consisting of multiple choice or short answer questions. If you’d like me to cover essay question prep, just let me know 🥰 !

Btw, I’m a conceptual learner that likes formulas so if this sounds like a rocket launch countdown, I deeply apologise ?.

What You’ll Need:

Internet - I mean, what don’t we use it for these days?

Practise papers

Practise questions

Phase 1 - Preparation

Step 1: Don’t panic

Okay you can panic a little, especially if you’ve left it late but not all hope is lost!

Yes, I know the ‘duh, duh, duh!!!’ didn’t help but panicking will only make you feel overwhelmed and will make the exam seem impossible. Here’s what you should do instead:

Step 2: Find out what the university actually wants

Why do they have an entrance exam anyway?

Especially in the UK, most universities don’t have an entrance exam so if they do, there’s a reason and you’re going to be Sherlock Holmes and find out why that is. Whilst it may seem like they’re trying to traumatise you, I don’t think they particularly enjoy marking a zillion papers 🤧.

What do they expect?

For most university courses, there are a grade requirements and knowing what those are is really helpful for setting your own expectations. If your course (likes mine) doesn’t require maths and there are maths problems on the exam, they won’t be at A-level, IB HL or AP standard.

What score should I be aiming for?

This links to the previous question but finding admissions stats for your subject will help you determine a mark that you’re aiming for. Many of these tests are not designed for really high marks so releasing that expectation early will save you a great deal of stress.

What skills are they testing?

For some entrance exams, the university will list out the skills they’re testing in their entrance exam. Practising these skills broadly will help you to develop them. For example, if they’re testing translation in a language entrance exam, reading in the target language and understanding it will be good practise because you’ll be able to convey ideas from another language if you understand them.

Step 3: Master your strategy

The worst thing that could happen in an exam is that you don’t know what to do or what to write. The best way to tackle that? Having a strategy. Sometimes just having something to do in an exam even if you don’t actually know what you’re doing gives your brain some time to stop freaking out and start problem-solving. To master your strategy, you need to:

Find out the question types

For example, the TSA is split into 2 sections (I have to do both 😭), one multiple-choice paper and one 30 minute essay. I know there are about 9-10 different types of questions targeting 2 skills: critical thinking and problem-solving. By doing this, I can work towards perfecting each question type and in theory will be able to do the whole of the first paper.

Figure out the timings

You can do this in minutes per mark or if there’s an advised amount of time you should spend on a particular type of question, take a note of this.

Figure out your process for each question type

Usually at the beginning of a book full of practise questions, there will be a description as to how best to approach each question. If there isn’t or you don’t have access to one, try looking up strategies on the wonder that is the Internet. If you’re still not sure, attempt questions with commentary answers so that id you get them wrong, you can create a strategy of your own using the tips you’ve gathered from there.

Practise, practise practice. Oh, and did I say practise?

When practising questions:

Make sure to practise a block of questions that are all the same type. This will allow you to learn how to identify the question type quicker and also gives you a sign to stop so you don’t spend all day working on these questions because you’re stressed 😪.

1. Attempt the question

2. Mark the question

3. If you got it wrong, try and figure out why yourself - write this in a different colour.

4. Check the markscheme or talk-through (if there is one) and add in anything you may have missed or anything that could be helpful for the next question in another colour. Now you’ve differentiated between what you could figure out and what you couldn’t.

5. Attempt the next question

*This may seem tedious because why would you not mark all the questions at the end? Doing it this way ensures you approach each question with a better idea of what to do and allows you to pick up on nuances that you may not have otherwise realised. Also, you don’t want to instil the “wrong” method or idea because of muscle-memory.*

6. Once you finish your block of questions, make note of something that went well, something that could’ve been better and what to do for next time. I’d advise you to keep this in a table so that you can see your progress over time. Make sure to look at this before you attempt this style of question again.

Okay so now we now how to practise a block of questions, do we do them to time or not.

I’d recommend doing them not to time at first.

This will allow you to focus on mastering your process and approach to each type of question. You should continue to do this (if you have enough time) until:

You’ve perfected your process/approach

You’ve ensured your strategy actually helps YOU get the right answer

Once you know the strategy works, you’ll feel more confident in the exam, especially because you know if you blank, you have something to fall back on.

I say ‘YOU’ because whilst a strategy straight out of a textbook may work fine for someone else, it may not be the best way for you. Don’t be afraid to tweak it to fit you or create a whole new strategy altogether!

Now, if your strategy works, move onto the next stage. If not, let’s troubleshoot your strategy.

Troubleshooting your process:

1. Find patterns: are there a particular nuances you’re always missing or mistakes you’re making?

For example, in the TSA being able to differentiate between premises and conclusions is really important. If I find that this is something I can’t do, I’ve discovered a pattern.

2. Practise on easier questions.

With the example above, I may look up arguments for GCSE RS or psychology students and try and identify premises and clauses.

3. Adjust your strategy as is necessary

You may realise that you should another step to your strategy, such as highlighting key words, after practising on easier questions

Right, so you have your strategy down - now what?

Practise to time.

It’s the timing that’s the stickler for many uni entrance exams and the best way to get that down is to practise doing the questions to time. I’d still recommend doing the questions in their question blocks at this stage or mixing up blocks that are similar in question type.

Step 4: Practice tests

Now you know what to do when you see all the types of questions, it’s time to apply what you’ve learnt to a real paper. This is where you see what has stuck and what hasn’t so it’s important to see this is a learning process - don’t expect to get 100% on your first try.

When completing a practice test:

1. Answer the entire test

Since you’ve got your processes down, it’s not necessary to mark each question individually since it’s so time-consuming.

2. Go through and mark the test

3. Try and work out where you went wrong, do this in a different colour.

4. Go through the mark scheme and add further corrections in a different colour.

5. Make a note of your mark, what went well, what could’ve been better (even better if ...) and what to do for next time in a tracker. Look at this before you next do a practice exam.

6. If you find you’re getting a particular type of question wrong every time, go back to those question blocks and master your strategy again.

As I said earlier, these tests are not designed for really high marks and so even after lots of practise, there’ll probably still be things that aren’t quite right. But if:

You’re getting the scores you want/need

You have your strategy for each question type down

Then congratulations - you are officially ready for the exam 🎉.

Whilst I wouldn’t advise all practise to stop, I do think that at this stage, running through loads more exam papers is a bit redundant. Maybe doing one every week or fortnight will suffice. Plus, if you started preparing early, you don’t want to go through alllll your practice papers before the exam actually comes around.

Phase 2 - Lead Up to the Exam

Congrats - you made it!

Honestly, I think if you’ve prepared properly then doing hardcore practise isn’t necessary and might burn you out in the lead up to the exam. If you take away anything from this really long post make it this:

Consistent practise always wins. Always.

If you’ve been consistently practising, there’s no need to cram too much last minute revision. I will say though that looking over your practice test tracker the night before the exam may be helpful as a last-minute reminder but, of course, if this is just going to stress you out further, don’t do it.

Last-Minute Tips

Don’t make this your whole life - It’s summer! There are so many more actually fun things you could be doing. Even practising a couple of times a week at first is absolutely fine.

Ask from advice from the experts - If there’s anything in particular that you’re worried about, ask someone who’s done or is practising for the test or email the university - they might be able to give you one of their students details so you can ask them directly.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for you ...

I hope this was helpful! Feel free to add your own tips and if you have any questions or feedback, just ask me or message me - my DMs are always open. Of course, you could just leave a note on here but if you want to be a little fancy, hit me up!

Alsoooo, let me know if you want me to a) do this for essay-based entrance exams and/or b) turn this into a mini-series and apply these steps to different tests like the TSA, LNAT, BMAT, UKCAT, STEP etc. Then all the resources will be in one place. Obviously, I’m not preparing for all of them (doctor who? definitely not me 🤧) but I have some friends doing some of these exams so I can get some extra exclusive tips from them.

Now, carrying on with QOTD:

QOTD: How do you get over exam nerves?

For me, acknowledging that I’m nervous before the exam and that it’s okay before I distract myself makes me feel much calmer. In an actual exam, I usually cover my ears and try and focus on what I’m reading to get out of my head 😅.

Hey there! I should note that it’s a bit late to start now unfortunately, you can’t really cram university exams, so what you’ve got now is probably what you’ll go with. University essay marking is also notoriously difficult. 

How to Study for an Essay Exam

Make a mindmap of the concepts you need to know for each essay. Just sketch a quick one since time is of the essence. Essentially you want to get an idea of how the concepts interrelate, especially cause and effect since you’ll basically be trying to argue and convey your ideas, interpretations, and explanations, in the essay. 

The majority of your time should be dedicated to planning how to argue and elaborate upon the examples you need. Write down in dot points your main arguments by breaking down the keywords of the questions. This knowledge should (hopefully) come from the knowledge of the topics you’ve been learning from your classes. The essay basically fleshes out your understanding, so if you’re lacking an understanding of the concepts, you’ll probably be struggling a bit. 

If required (i.e. if you don’t know how the concepts interrelate), try and skim read and check the notes you should have been making in the margins of your readings. These should form your personal interpretations for the arguments. 

Once you’ve written down dot points of how the essay should flow out, then you should take a small break and then come back thinking critically as an essay marker; try and think of counter arguments they might make, or think of where your arguments are a bit weak/ unsupported by evidence. Make sure you put a stopper on any leaky arguments. 

On your cheat sheets, you ought to write down examples of what you want to delve into - particularly any quotes or specific factual information e.g. dates and minutae. The notes are intended to take away the memorisation process from your studying. 

I should add that my degree was a science degree and so if any humanities majors want to add any useful pointers to please do so. 

I’ve compiled a list of small, but effective things you can do in order to improve your grades. I hope this helps at least one person :)) 

1. Expand your resources 

  - Go to your local library to study when you get the chances     Sometimes changing your environment can help you study more efficiently.

2. Review your material every day   - You do not have to completely review everything all the time, but     skimming your notes so nothing slips from your minds. 

3. Change your class habits   - Try sitting in the front of your class instead of the back if you have the option. Most may not like this, but I've found sitting in the front beneficial. When I sit in the back, I tend to not pay attention. By making yourself sit in the front you'll pay more attention (especially if you’re right in front of your teacher), and possibly ask more questions and get the grades you want. 

4. Join a study group   - Whether it be a group of two or five, find a group of people who have the same academic goals as you. Study groups can be very helpful for studying and overall motivation if you're at a loss.

5. Prioritize your time   - Not every class requires the same amount of work, and you should find out what classes you need to spend most of your time on. You will have to spend extra time and effort to get that good grade. That being said, don’t shy away from hard classes. Challenging yourself is great, it’s worth it. 

How i make my study guides

How i am studying for my exams

How i take notes + how i compile my textbook notes with my lecture notes

How i use and organise my one note

Tips and what i learned from transitioning from high school to university 

Things I’ve learnt from my first month at uni ( + tips)

How i created my own planner (bullet journaling for the less creative and those short on time)

just a list of things I like to keep on hand/supplies i take to class every day as a college student:

First, I’ll start with the backpack itself. I have this one by Jansport and it works super well for what I need. I also love the fact that it’s waterproof because I get stuck in the rain on campus all the time, and this keeps all my things dry! It also has a ton of pockets and it’s got nice padding in the straps. Only complaint is that the waterbottle pocket is too small to hold any waterbottle I own haha. Even little regular disposable plastic ones don’t fit very easily.

What I keep in there:

Laptop and charger: the laptop I use is a Toshiba Satellite, one of the 2-in-1 touchscreen tablet things. It’s a decent laptop, and I like the touchscreen feature. It’s thin and light (especially compared to my last laptop). I’ve had it about a year and have already had to get the battery replaced, though, but it was still under warranty so there wasn’t much of a issue there. I take most of my in-class notes in a word doc or OneNote on here, and then copy them over later when studying.

6-Pocket Folder: It’s plastic and I keep all my handouts/worksheets/notes in here for all my classes. It’s nice to keep it all in one place so I don’t have to worry about grabbing the right things for each class. Also I keep some looseleaf and printer paper in here.

Planner: I don’t use it a whole lot, but it’s an academic planner so it was super cheap around new year’s, so I spent a dollar to use it for this semester. I mostly use the monthly spread to list out all my exams/due dates/etc (I did this at the beginning of the semester based on syllabi, and I keep it updated). Definitely not a necessity for me, though.

Bujo: Honeslty I hardly use this to actually plan, but I do like to doodle in it when I get bored in class haha

Pens/Pencils/Highlighters: There’s a pretty decent sized inner pocket in my backpack, and I literally just fill that with my pens. I don’t use a specific pencil bag or anything right now (mostly bc I just didn’t find one I really liked, and also because I didn’t really need one with this backpack)

Snacks: They’re always giving out free stuff around campus (I currently have a few Kind bars that they were giving away, and some packets of peanut butter from dining halls) - Just stuff that’s small but full of protein for quick snacks between classes.

Umbrella: As I mentioned before, it rains all the time at my school, so this is super important. The umbrella I got was also super cheap (like $5 maybe) so it’s not good quality at all and doesn’t keep me dry nearly as well as it turns inside out even without any wind. I digress. If you want a decent umbrella that functions properly, don’t get the cheapest one you find.

Purse: The one I currently use is just a small wallet-type thing, fits in my bag nicely and mostly just holds my money/cards/inhaler.

Water bottle: I currently have a Contigo 1L bottle that I switch out with some free ones they give away on campus when I need to wash it. I also adore Camelbacks and wish I brought mine with me haha. I try to drink 3 liters a day, and having this on hand all the time is super great for staying hydrated!

Tissues: I have little pocket-sized packs that I keep in my backpack because none of the classrooms/bathrooms at my school have tissues like in high school, and I always have a cold haha. I actually just got a few of the packs, and I refill them with tissues from the box in my room when I run out, so I don’t need to keep buying the pocket-sizes. A plastic bag can also work nicely for this.

For subjects like history, geography, business and even the sciences like biology and chemistry, a lot of content needs to be memorised! These are just a few of my tips on how to memorise all of the information you need before your exam.

Repeating over time- In the best scenario, studying for a test three weeks ahead is the most optimal way to study. Usually, the process is memorising chunks two weeks before and doing past papers the week of. However, more often than not, this doesn’t end up happening because the weeks get hectic/busy so the max time before a test is probably 1.5-2 weeks. The next few points are more catered to that time period!

Palm cards- This I feel is the most common way of memorising things, by putting information on palm cards and taking them around with you to study on the train, bus, or wherever you go. The cons of this is to make sure that you don’t copy the information onto them in a passive way. You learn it over again when you write it out so make that opportunity count!

Teach content to others- I have learnt over the past few years that this is one of my favourite ways to memorise- give a family member, friend or anyone (even your pets) the notes and teach them the topic, point by point. If you can’t explain a topic in a simple way where the other person can understand, it indicates that you haven’t learnt the information properly or enough to explain it in a test situation.

Film yourself- Another of my personal favourites, read over your information one palm card/paragraph/page at a time, turn on your phone camera or photobooth (on Mac) and film yourself talking like you’re in a Youtube video. If you do this a lot, it really helps because it’s almost as if you’re talking to someone else, and speaking it out loud helps you memorise.

Writing out notes- It’s best to actually type out/write out notes as you go in class, but before tests I usually handwrite them out again. This emphasises this in your mind and you can also ensure that you have learnt everything that is on the syllabus. Making them pretty is a plus!

Watch videos and Podcasts- Youtube has so many great videos on any topic. My favourites are Khan Academy (most subjects) , Crashcourse (science and history), Lisa Study Guides (English), Stated Clearly (Biology) and Eddie Woo (Maths). If you’re a visual/auditory learner, these really help because it feels like you are learning the lesson again.

Active textbook reading- Read over the text books and annotate/highlight. However, you need to ensure that you are actually reading the text, not just highlighting the words. 

I hope this helped anyone who has trouble memorising, good luck with all of your exams!

Jade