#studying guide

The @thestudyingapollo‘s guide to summarising dense and long subjects!!

Hello guys! I’m back to normal posting schedule with something that I had been asked before and that is: how can I turn my big ass dense pile of notes into effective little summaries? Well, brace yourselves because this is something that has saved my ass in more than one occasion, and I’m hoping it will help at least one of you too!! 

As you can see in the first picture, I was working on my pathology notes, which is one of the longest and most dense subject at my uni. I had to learn lots of structures, pathologies, test and names, and I was going crazy before I paired with one of my friends and the two of us turned that scary set of notes (seriously, 700 pages for one subject is no joke) into a manageable little pile of summaries, charts and diagrams! Here is the process we followed: 

First of all, we worked wit our original class notes. They were dense, so we tried to highlight, following a colour-coding system, the most relevant bits of information. And you may ask yourself: how do I know what is important and what not? Well, if there is one word or sentence that helps you remember the simplest concept you’re working with and construct all the details around it, that’s what you MUST highlight. Doing it like that, you can look at your notes and remember the core of the concept, and work on remembering the rest from that simple concept. 

This is no magic trick, you need to work in order for this process to work, but I assure you, it makes difficult ass subject with a lot of material much more manageable. So, don’t leave this for a week before your exam, you will die guys! Working on the notes from your class of that same weeks helps you in remembering what your professor stressed in class and you will identify the essential information much more easily! Of course, if you don’t understand something, look it up, ask your classmates and specially your professor, it’s their work help you understand the material!!!

Doing little diagrams and drawings in your original note will help you in remembering stuff and you can skip all the little details while making your summaries, concentrating only in the important stuff. The basic concepts will help you answer lots of questions in the exam and understand the little details and bits of information much better!

Try to make these little summaries after you have studied each chapter. To keep your notes organised, pick a color for each section: for example, I used orange for the digestive system, pink for the cardiovascular system, yellow for the nervous system, green for the lymphatic organs, and so on. Using bold titles written or highlighted in different colours for each section will improve your memory! Also, using BOLD TITLES is essential, and will organise your memory in little boxes and sub-sections. That way, you will remember the information easily, it will be like opening a Matryoshka doll! Of course, number each section of every chapter. Organisation is the key to success! (look at image number 3)

If there is one central branch of information, use diagrams to organise your thoughts! (just like in image 4). If there is something that refers to that information but doesn’t fit in the structure of your diagram, simply use little sticky notes! Again, use little drawings!!!

If something is too complex or there is a section that has lots of information, try to condense it into a table like in image 5! For example, in the table that you see in image 5, I compared the characteristics of the different types of Lymphoma! I put the different points I need to know of each one, and that helped me in realising the points they had in common and their differences; by doing this, you can learn the info that is common for all of them just one time, and then use your energy in memorising the differences, which is what your profs will probably test you in! 

Something important you need to know is that you only need to write IMPORTANT information. Especially in college and university, professor tend to ramble a lot when they’re teaching a class, and that’s why you can’t put absolutely everything in your summaries notes, because this is not a guide on re-writing your notes, this is a guide on how to understand and organise the most important information! The basics of your subject are what are going to give you the most chances to pass, extra details are going to give you extra points, but if you don’t know the basics, extra details are useless! Also, if you have to learn difficult structures, color your drawings (like in image 6), that way you can visualise its different parts when you’re sitting the exam! 

Use red or another bold color for essential info! Also, remember that you can fit a lot of info in a single sheet of paper, so try not to over do it! Too many colours can get overwhelming, and using a super duper small handwriting to fit everything in your notes is a waste of time. I know that the summaries in image 7 look super menacing, but believe me, my class notes were much, much worse. It doesn’t have to be super pretty or colourful, you can do extremely useful summaries with a blue or black byro and a couple of contrasting colours. You may think this is time consuming, but there was no way I could fit 700 pages of info in my head in top of three other subjects that were not much better! It also helped me make revision much more peaceful: when I looked at the massive pile of class notes I got nauseous even, but I could take my little set of summaries anywhere around the house and revise easily. Also, since I had already worked on all the info, revising was much easier, because I had already worked with my chapters and tried to understand them as best I could so my summaries and tables and charts made sense!!! 

So, this is the process I follow for super dense subjects, and it works wonders for me, but it may not work for you! I learn a lot of stuff by writing it down in a much simpler way than it was given to me, and it makes revision for me much easier because I already worked with that. I hope this helps some of you, and if you liked this little guide, I’m open to suggestions on different ones that you may find helpful!!! 

Throughout my time in sixth form I’ve worked in 3 different places, only spending 4 months of the last two years unemployed. I managed roughly 8-21 hours a week at McDonald’s for the whole of year 12 (and came out with ABB) then became a Christmas temp for Lush, working 8 hours a week until January (coinciding with my year 13 mock exams in which I achieved ABC). After a short break I picked up another job in May, averaging 11 hours a week right in the middle of my year 13 exams (in which i achieved AAAB). Not working was not an option for me, I come from a low-income background, my mum is divorced and I have two sisters with a lot of extracurricular activities so I had to help out but, that’s not to say that working was easy. It takes up a lot of time and can be exhausting so I put together a few tips and tricks for managing A level studies with part-time work. 

1. Plan your time, this is super simple but noting down what you have to do in the day (whether in a bujo or just as a list) is a super good way of focusing yourself. By making a list you can prioritise tasks also and get an idea of how long you’re going to need to study for, something that is especially important if you have long shifts as a schedule gives regularity.

2. Learn to turn down shifts, I know the need for money can take over and that it can be scary to turn down extra work when you have a manager pressuring you but it is sometimes necessary. Most employers will respect the fact that you have exams/are studying and be as accommodating as possible if you tell them in advance but, if they’re still offering you extra work, it’s ok to say no.

3. Work on your breaks, I know they’re called breaks but they’re really useful in terms of studying when it comes close to exam time. My breaks at McDonald’s were either 35 minutes long or 50 minutes long so there was always time to work. My breaks at my latest jobs have only been 20 minutes but that's enough to go through some flashcards at least, take advantage of the time you have.

4. Wake up earlier if your shift is long and you won’t have time to study after work then studying beforehand is never a bad idea. Just make sure you have enough sleep so you’re not too tired to stand-up and work. 

5. Study on the way to work, My place of work is a 30-45 min bus journey away from where I live and so this provided me with the perfect chance to do a past paper or write an essay. It makes the journey go by quicker and also helps you to tick a task off your to-do list.

6. Study late, This one can be hard, especially if you’ve already gotten up earlier than usual to do some work and endured a full working day but it is important. Most of my exams this year were morning exams so I didn’t have that extra couple of hours that an afternoon exam provides and so nighttimes had to be utilised. The best way to manage a late night is to rope someone into staying up with you, to have plenty of snacks and to make sure you have a really clear list of the most essential stuff to go over before your exam. If you know exactly what you have to do it’s much harder to not do it and you get that productive feeling from ticking it off your list.

7. Make sure you at least get the minimum amount of sleep that suits you, This may contradict the last point and point 4 but it’s very important. I worked out the minimum amount of sleep I needed to feel rested/be able to focus on study or manage at work and tried to fit my work and studying around this. I don’t sleep much so I was able to get around 5 hours a night and still function for the rest of the day but every person will have a different minimum level. Once exams are over the amount of time available for sleep grows and you’re able to feel more well rested.

8. Take a day every so often for yourself, This is hard, in fact depending on the hours you actually work it may seem close to impossible but it is entirely necessary. When you’re balancing a busy school life with constantly working you need to give yourself a breather, no matter how guilty it makes you feel. It’s ok to not be productive every single day.

15 Studying Tips (mainly for HS):

1. Work in sections each day- don’t try and get everything done in one go. 

2. Try a timed break method to let yourself rest when you have a lot of work to do. I personally do a 30 minute studying session and 20 minute break in between. 

3. A finals studying method: If you have a class like history and need to remember a lot of events and concepts, gather all your old papers and write down the main topic of each. Once you have all the topics, write everything you know about them in bullet points. If you can’t think of anything, reread/scan over the paper. Repeat until you get the main idea of all the topics. Bonus: rewrite all the information into a compacted study guide for later studying. 

4. If you like to highlight- only use about 2-3 colors if it's only a worksheet. More than three colors works better with longer text and books. I’d also recommend using pastel or light highlighters because it's much easier to read the words plus it won’t bleed through as much.  

5. Try listening to music when studying. You never know if you work better with some background noise. I personally use video game/anime/movie background instrumentals. 

6. Another tip about listening to music- try using music you’ve listened to over and over. If you use a song you’ve never heard before, you’ll be tempted to get distracted and listen to the song instead of focusing.

7. Have a finger snack nearby like pretzels, crackers, fruit etc. Having a meal while studying can be distracting because you’ll want to eat instead of study. Plus, it’ll make studying a lot slower and more tedious. 

8. Plan, plan, plan! Having multiple projects and tests coming up can really stress you the hell out if you only have one night to do it all. Plan ahead of time and schedule a few days to study before the test. 

9. Over the weekend or when you don’t have anything to study for, tidy your desk. Get rid of any old paper you know you won’t need and throw away trash. If you have the extra time, clean your whole room. 

10. Try and get inspired with studyinspo. Or maybe you like motivational quotes or ‘tough love’ type of motivation; anything that can get you feeling artsy and determined is good in my book. Spend a couple minutes or even twenty minutes to try and get inspired. 

11. If it’s been over twenty minutes and you still aren’t feeling it, you may have to force it. Sit down in your chair and work for five minutes. Feeling up to it now? No? Keep going for another five minutes. If by now you still aren’t motivated you may have to wait until tomorrow to study or continue to force it. 

12. Try not to be absent if a big test is coming up. The extra day of being in class will be so helpful compared to skipping a day. But mental health days are important too. 

13. Talk to your teacher. Ask them questions during and after class to show that you care. Even ask some casual questions about their day. There’s many benefits if you become friends with the teacher. Who knows, they may let you get an extra point on a test even if you don’t exactly deserve it. 

14. Make your own study guide if the teacher doesn’t supply you one. Ask what’s going to be on the test and jot down them down to review later. Staying after can benefit too if the teacher is vague on the test content.

Literally Studying’s Guide to Types of Narration

One of the first things to ask when you read a novel/poem for the first time is “who is the narrator?” But simply saying “Nick Carraway” isn’t enough - we need to know what type of narrator he is. How is the story conveyed to the reader? Is it stream of consciousness? Character voice? An unreliable narrator? Third person? First person? Subjective? Objective? Omniscient? Seriously, there are a lot of options, and the author will have chosen their narrative voice carefully, in order to convey meaning to the reader.

Here is my - hopefully! - handy guide to the different types of narration in literature.

First Person: a narrative point of view where the story is narrated from the viewpoint of a character writing or speaking to the audience directly, i.e. told by an ‘I’. Often used to convey the internal thoughts and emotions of the narrator. The narrator might be the protagonist, or a secondary character that simply witnesses events.

Unreliable Narrator: a first-person narrator who we cannot trust to truthfully convey the story. Their telling of events may be skewed by their opinions on certain characters and events, and they may big up particular events, or gloss over others, to suit their own agenda. Example: Nick Carraway, The Great Gatsby.

Homodiegetic Narrator: a first-person narrator who is a character within the novel itself.

Naive Narrator: a first-person narrator who reveals the faults and flaws of the world he/she inhabits because of their own youth or inexperience. The narrator often doesn’t understand the implications of events going on around them. Example: The Canterbury Tales.

Conscious Narrator: a first-person narrator that is aware that they are telling the story, sometimes at a specific time or place. Example: Jane Eyre (’Reader, I married him.’)

Unconscious Narrator: a first-person narrator that is unaware that they are telling the story to anyone. Example: Katniss Everdeen, The Hunger Games.

Frame Narrators: usually first person narrators, who frame the narrative, and potentially reports the narrative of someone else. Example: Lockwood, Wuthering Heights.

Third Person: where the narrative comes from a third-person viewpoint, i.e., every character is ‘she’, ‘he’, ‘they’. Often considered the most flexible form of narration. Usually an unspecified entity, who conveys the story without taking any part in it.

Subjective Narrator: a third-person narrative that describes one or more characters’ feelings or thoughts. Example: The Harry Potter Series. A narrator that does not describe a character’s thoughts or feelings is objective.

Omniscient Narrator: a third-person narrator that has knowledge of all times/places/events/characters within the story.

Limited Narrator: may know every piece of knowledge within one character’s mind, but is “limited” to that character - they cannot describe things unknown to their focal character.

Literally Studying’s Guide to Metre and Verse

Metre and verse are the bread and butter of poetry, but they can be really damn hard to get your head around! Here is my - hopefully! - handy breakdown of the different styles of metre and verse.

METRIC FEET

Metric Foot: One stressed syllable paired with one or two unstressed syllables, that repeat in a regular pattern.

Iamb: a combination of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (dah dum). Most common in pentameter (five metric feet per line).

Trochee: the opposite of an iamb. A stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable (dum dah). Most common in tetrameter (four metric feet per line). Example: ‘Gall of goat, and slips of yew.’

Dactyll: one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables (dum dah dah) Example: ‘Just for a handful of silver he left us.’

Anapest: two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable (dah dah dum). Most common in trimeter (three feet per line), tetrameter (four feet per line) or hexameter (six feet per line). Doctor Seuss’ favourite metre: ‘And today the Great Yertle, that marvellous he.’

Spondee: two stressed syllables next to one another, with no gap between them. Example: the word ‘football’ is a spondee.

TYPES OF METRE

We can have varying different amounts of these feet per line:

Dimeter: Two metrical feet per line. 

Trimeter: Three metrical feet per line.

Tetrameter: Four metrical feet per line. 

Pentameter: Five metrical feet per line. The most common verse form. 

Hexameter: Six metrical feet per line.

Septameter: Seven metrical feet per line.

Octameter: Eight metrical feet per line.

OTHER HELPFUL TERMS

Iambic Pentameter: The most famous verse form, popularised by Shakespeare, made up of five iambs per line. Example: ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ or ‘But soft, what light from yonder window breaks?’

Blank Verse: Unrhymed iambic pentameter. Often thought of as the meter most reflective of everyday speech. 

Trochaic Substitution: When an iamb is swapped out for a trochee in a line of otherwise perfect iambic feet. Example: “Now is the winter of our discontent”. The first foot of the line is a trochee, where the rest is made up of iambs. Usually used for emphasis.

Feminine Endings: A line ending in an unstressed syllable, that adds an extra half-foot to the line. Example: “To be, or not to be; that is the question.” Usually used to show confusion or indecision. The opposite of a feminine ending is a masculine ending, a line ending in a stressed syllable, that adds an extra half-foot to the line.  

Achieving straight A’s isn’t just about putting in more study hours; it’s about optimizing your approach to learning. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the best study practices that can help you not only retain information but also excel academically. Get ready to unlock the secrets to straight A’s and transform your study sessions into productive, efficient, and rewarding…

A Guide to Staying Organized: 

Being a university student, you're either a lover of organization or of absolute chaos. There's no in-between. Some people work better with knowing what they need to do, when they need to have it done, and how much time having the thing done is going to take. Others get off on madness and messy desks.

It may seem that I'm all in for my study situation to look like a battlefield, but as it happens with war, there's a lot of strategy under the riot that I tend to create in my desk. So that's what the aim of this post is: showing you my methods to stay as organized as I can, and on top of assignments and every subject I take during the academic year. And, believe me, being a medical student, I have way too many things to juggle in my schedule!

However, these are my methods, and I’m not trying to disregard other people’s methods. I’m just sharing what has been useful for me during my studying years,  and I’so I’m not saying this methods work for everyone, but maybe you could get at least one hint out of this!

Know what you're supposed to know. Most professors will hand you a syllabus of their subject that summarizes key points and chapters. Take this syllabus and compare it with what is taught in class. Professors usually emphasize what they want you to know for the exam, they repeat some concepts over and over again, and if you're really perceptive, you can even get a few hints of what they intend to ask for the test. 

Attend as many classes as you can. Yes, I know not every professor has great talent when it comes to teaching, and I know that some people prefer to skip some classes in order to use those hours for studying in the library or something. But I'm not the kind of person that can work in the library, to be honest. I get easily distracted by people. So I know myself, and I know I make a better use of my time when in class taking notes. When I do happen to have a free hour, it is usually spent in the cafeteria with friends!

Take notes. Seriously, take notes. I know no better way of making the best of your classes. If you've been handed the class notes or the lecture slides by the professors themselves, read them before class and then annotate whatever the professor says that is not in there. If not, just listen and write down as much as you can. Then, when you get home, you can process it all, there's not a real need for understanding every single thing said in class, that's why you can study later at home or the library, and why the professors have tutoring hours set.

Work when you arrive home. Usually, when I come home from university, I change and put on my comfortable pajamas. Then I have lunch and tea with mom while I rest a bit from the tiring day of work and practices at university, and around 4 pm (I usually arrive home at 2.30 pm) I sit at my desk and don't stop working until 8.30, when we have diner. Some days I'll work after diner, but that's not the most common occurrence. If you concentrate and work fully and smartly those 4 hours, you can get lots of things done! This is what I do: 

Once I sit down to study, I take my planner and go through all the things I have jotted down for that week and the upcoming one. I usually do a major revision of tasks' progress on Sundays, but I like to revise how I'm doing everyday

I've been a student all my life, so by now I know how much time I need for specific tasks. Keeping this in mind, I make sure to include in my schedule for the afternoon time for revision, working with the notes of that day, and any approaching assignment I need to tackle.

Prioritizing is key. Know yourself and the importance that each task has for passing the subject you're taking. Start with the biggest, heaviest work and revision, and then go to work on the lighter tasks. 

It isn't necessary to plan each task to the minute. Be flexible with your schedule, and don't try to overestimate your capacities, because you'll feel frustrated if you can't handle all the tasks you had set for a day. Just write down everything you need to do in order of importance, and get down to work. 

Complete your notes. After classes, I like to go over the notes of that day and complete them with information from the textbook or any other source. Then I study off those notes while highlighting titles, subtitles, and the most important parts of the chapter in different colors.

There's no need of actually re-writing your class notes. What I usually do is trying to take the neatest notes possible (you can do that in a binder, notebook or laptop, whatever works best for you). Then, when I have grasped all the main concepts and am ready to revise, writing things down in a condensed way without looking at my notes is an effective, worthy way of studying. I usually do this after a chapter ends, so at the end of the term I have a notebook of nice, organized summaries of every subject's chapter that I use when exam time starts approaching. I throw diagrams, tables and flowcharts in there if I think that I understand the information better in that way. 

Relax. Take time for yourself, for the things you like doing. It's not impossible to do other things aside from studying for university or college or high school. I study English and Creative Writing on the side, I go shopping, I go to the cinema and to diner or parties with friends... Getting a degree doesn't mean you have to leave your life on the side!

Keep it simple. You don't need thousands of school supplies. A pair of byros, a couple of highlighters, a couple of notebooks or a binder is as much as you will need. Keep your notes dated and in order on your binder, or keep a notebook for each subject, or a folder for each one. This way you'll always know where the information is.

Set an hour to stop working. If you have a great deal of homework and assignments to finish, you may get distracted and not realize that you've been working for hours straight. Usually, I don't work anymore after diner. If I still have some work to complete for the next or upcoming days, I prefer to wake up early and do things in the morning, so I can relax a bit with the family after a day filled with university work. I've found that not worrying or thinking about university whatsoever a couple of hours before I get into bed has done wonders for my productivity in the day (and for my sleeping schedule as well). 

Team up! When done properly, studying in a group can be really beneficial. You need to have enough will to not waste your time having fun instead; why not try to study and have fun at the same time? Am I mad? Nope, I’m not: if you're lucky enough to find a group of hard-working people, you'll get lots of things done, and it's actually good seeing how others understand things, because that way you can look at the information in a completely new light; ask each other doubts, quiz each other, summarize the most important points of each chapter, take some questions test and correct them together after finishing while providing an explanation for each answer... The options are endless! I've even taken internet exams with friends and we all passed and laughed a lot! 

And the most important point: be gentle with yourself. All-nighters are sometimes glamorized, and we all compete to see who's the most tired one, but don't beat yourself too hard. You may have days in  which everything seems worthless, your mind is elsewhere or you simply don't feel like studying. It's okay! It happens to the greatest geniuses too!