#urcute

𝒹𝒶𝓉𝑒- 08/09/2020

ｈｉｙａ ｌｏｖｅ

I am making this little blog post for past me, who would have needed this, bless her  𝓭𝓾𝓶𝓫 self. I thought that detailing the process and methods i used, for my  newly inspired study blog would be interesting to spread 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 and document my knowledge for future use and ideas for your 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇.

Anyway, lets get started.

𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈-

 This is vital, challenging and rewarding, allowing for greater productivity while optimizing the space and time dedicated to your studies. Thus i will detail the manner which i decided to control the flow of my studies.

Schedules, work, but there are issues, which i had to work through. I had organised a schedule, i stuck to religiously. when deadlines came in I would stray from the schedule and complete the more urgent work and find I  would be off track- leading to the 𝔡𝔬𝔴𝔫𝔣𝔞𝔩𝔩 of that. I solved this issue by making dedicated time where i would have flexibility over tasks prioritizing and using my free lessons in school to focus on these. This seems really obvious but it took me a while to resolve (maybe I’m just slow :0) 

Having the weekends to study. I woke up at around 6-9 am each morning and studied until 1, then the rest of the day is free and can be used for urgent assignments or spent writing essays, going out or planning subjects for the next week etc.

Dedicated spaces for study/material and a clean and tidy space is important, i found having my desk be aesthetically pleasing motivated  me to work, pinterest board with ideas excited me creating positive  connotations when thinking about studying.

Lists, for everything, i mean everything, down to meal times, free time, Netflix time, etc it works so unbelievably well to keep you focused and on top of overwhelming days, although don't be afraid to stray because studying should be enjoyable not stressful or pressuring.

Also it might sound obvious but having a proper sleep schedule helps you be more productive and organised, waking up early allows for you to be in the right mindset for studying which i find is the most effective way of studying.

𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒅𝒔

The Pomodoro technique, most students know of this, it entails effective studying for 25 minutes and then a 5 minute rest and then repeat the topic which then makes the information more easily retained.

Constant practice tests/essays. when I say, I have written so many essays i mean it. I aimed for around 3 a week per subject, this not including homework or set tasks. Ask a teacher for past papers and after learning the bulk of any unit bash out as many past papers as you can. I went from having 18/30 on my essays when starting A-levels to my lowest being 26/30 after doing a lot of essays.

Mind maps and timelines, mostly for more oral subjects but simple, obvious and weirdly effective.

Pre-test, going over topics and guessing the answers even incorrectly before extensive studying, practice or learning the content. Research shows that the future learning you will performed is enhanced and from doing essays this way i can say that it is effective and improves post-test results.

Practice spaced out. spacing out studying certain topics over a period of days can enhance memory and allow you to retain information in your long term memory rather than short term which allows you to draw knowledge about this subject better. Flash cards is a good way to review and come back to subjects.A rule of this method also would be that information which is answered with difficulty should be reviews two days later and those answered incorrectly, the next day.

Interleaving practice. this is really effective and entails focusing on problems or topics which are all of the same nature but involving answering the questions with different methods. Instead of a block of studying, an example would be in math doing algebra trigonometry and Pythagoras questions consecutively you make your brain accustomed to exam styled questions.

Teaching what you've learnt to someone else, maybe a study group and take turns explaining topic to each other, it helps you to wrap your head around the subject and you can see what aspects you have trouble explaining.

𝓇𝑒𝓈𝑜𝓊𝓇𝒸𝑒𝓈 / 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘴

Quizlet- for making flashcards and testing yourself on flashcards other people made

One note, excellent for organisation and a good way to keep your noted in order especially if writing essays or doing things online

libraries, obvious but i find that being in a space which makes me excited and feel motivated makes me better and more productive, but again this may only be for resources because some find studying at their desks better, down to preference.

Momentum dash, cute screen saver app for aesthetic studying, especially if you want an aesthetic set up.

cam scanner, allows you to take pictures of your notes and turns them into PDFs which is useful for keeping digital copies of notes can be more handy than typing up notes.

Minimalist, for making lists, good for keeping a digital copy of what you need to complete with you so you can keep a record of what you need to do.

That is really all i have for this post, thanks for reading, also this is my first post so please don’t judge, if you have any feed back please let me know