Study Not Party

Hey, it’s my planner set up! 👀

Monthly Spread: The most important part of my planner for me, every semester I take all of my syllabi and go through all of the due dates and test dates and using symbols put write them all in the month. In the blank space under the calendar space, I make a list by date so that I can easily see what specific assignment I have due on that day.

Weekly Spread: Ok this is where things get a bit complicated to explain because I have tried so many different things and I am still not 100% satisfied with it. 

What has worked: I block out the times of commitments that I absolutely can not change like my lectures or study meetings. It’s really helpful for me to do this when I’m making plans and I can just glance at my week and make other plans around them. Color coordinating things have saved my life, probably literally, events that are going on outside of a class but still related to them I can write in with the color as the class that way I know if I need to make time to go. Sticky notes have become a big part of my layout too, mostly as side notes and reminders, but I love to use them as reminders for supplementary instruction sessions, so basically there not required and I only go when I feel I need the extra help.  

What needs tweaking: I haven't had a lot of trouble with anything but I think what gives me the most trouble incorporating into my planner is To Do lists. I have tried using the space from days where I don't have a set time for anything, like the weekend, to just write out a list of things that need to get done. I do like having them in my planner since it easier to see what I have to do but I may end up taking them out altogether since things seem to always to pop up and I end up needing the space, so I may just use the to do space at the bottom of the page. 

So I hope you guys liked my planner post. If you guys have any questions feel free to reach out! 

Hey, everyone!

Hope everyone had a productive weekend! sorry for the bad photo quality, I have a Gen Chem 2 exam later today so doing some last minute review.

I have some content coming soon about my planner set up (hopefully up Tomorrow)! 

Hey Studyblr!

It’s been so long since the last time I posted (how odd), but I have a few good reasons to have been gone for so long. But before I start on some updates, I wanted to post how I am planning on organizing my study time this semester. There before and after photos on how I went about deciding how everything should be organized, the order that I should study in, and for how long I should study each subject. I wanted to keep my final schedule as minimal as possible so I don't start freak out on busy days. I also left my weekends unplanned since I have things come up occasionally. Also, thank you to theorganisedstudent for the study schedule printable, highly recommend you check her out

Blog Updates: Having gone through several breaks without posting I have had time to sort and plan out a lot of posts that I have been thinking about so I have plenty of content to come!  

School Update: New year, new semester. Keeping up with everything so far and my only worry is that for two of my classes this semester some of the major grades are part of group work and that just makes me so nervous. 

Personal Updates: Ok where do I start, the last time that I posted I told you guys about my laptop being messed up, well I have sent it in twice since then, have gotten the battery replaced and new charges (three total) for it but it continues to refuse to charge, at least for a long period of time. If anyone had any advice or can figure what is going on with it I’d appreciate the reaching out.

I hope I still have the few followers to share this with and hopefully gain more soon. I also hope that you like the format of my posts I think it’s easier for anyone who’s reading to go through a post quickly and find what it is that they are interested in. But, I hope you all are having a productive semester and had a safe weekend.

Hey Everyone!

I don’t really have anything new to upload this week so I thought I would share some photos of what my desk looked like last semester during finals. Excuse my clutter in the background of the first photo, but this was basically what cramming any extra information that I didn’t get before my political science final (by the way I got an A in this class). 

Blog Updates: I am planning on doing a what's in my school bag post (possibly over the weekend) and maybe a planner post once I nail down how I'm going to organize it this year. 

School Updates: Classes have been going fairly well I am still trying to figure out how I am going to balance so much reading for each class and keeping a healthy social life (currently failing at having a social life). I also dropped my first and hopefully only class since it was extra work that I do not think I can handle right now.

Personal Updates: My laptop is now on the brink of dying! As any college student knows this is one of the worst things that can happen especially since all of my professors basically require one for class. I have sent it in to get repaired but only for it to work for the day that I got it back, I have never been so stressed over a piece of technology before. Anyways, I will be calling the insurance company that has my computer insured and requesting to send it back. 

I hope that everyone has an amazing and safe weekend and a productive week!

Although it may not be a new calendar year it certainly is a new school year, so Happy New Year 😁! I know some people started school as early as two weeks ago but this is my first week back in class and I am more than excited to hit the ground running this semester 

Some updates: I semi-successfully completed my first year in college. I say semi-successfully because chemistry kicked my butt and won. However, I will be retaking the course again and with mistakes made and lessons learned I am ready to kick chems butt right back 👊. Also very exciting news, I have moved out of the dorms on campus and into an apartment close to campus, adulting has gotten real 😥. 

Anyways, I will try to keep up with uploading more content and updating my blog.  

If anyone has any questions or requests for what I should upload do not be scared to send me a message. 

I hope everyone has a great year! 

Hey studyblrs, 

I am not sure how exactly to say this, but I am just lacking so much motivation. Being off at university I thought that I would be able to work with myself and be able to find motivation. I have tried all that I think I can possibly think to do, I have an advisor, I go to extra sessions, I even stopped going to some meetings for organizations that I have joined in order to make more time to study. I feel like no matter how hard I try or how much I plan I can not for the life of me get my life together. I feel odd all the time, not like me, but I don’t know what it is that is holding me back. 

10.20 Hey all happy Tuesday!

Sorry I’ve been MIA for a while, it probably wasn’t the best idea to start off a studyblr right before the midterm season started. Regardless I am back and I am still seeing what days are best for me to just sit down on my computer and write out stuff I learn to share with you all. 

Anyways, about the diagram above, during my first semester as a college student I am required to take a University Seminar class, which is sort of fun. In the class, I learned something very important how to pick a college class to register for. I thought that this would be something useful for anyone in college especially those that are in their senior year of high school and looking into college. ***Disclaimer: This, to the extent of my knowledge, only applies to colleges within the US and this can apply to community colleges as well with some modifications*** 

Now I'm going to see if I can explain this as concisely as I can:

1. USE REATEMYPROFESSOR.COM! Past student of a professor will use this site. Go on there and look up who you may have as a professor and make sure they have a solid amount of reviews before you look at their average. If its good take it, if isn’t do NOT take it. Professors are paid only if they have a class to teach so why keep giving bad professors a paycheck? It makes not sense does it? 

2. CLEP your classes away. CLEP is a wonderful test that gives you college credit for getting a 50 on it. A 50. That means that if you were remotely paying attention to what was going on in class you can CLEP the class and not spend hundreds of dollars relearning what you already know.

3. Repeat after me: SUMMER CLASSES ARE FRIENDS. I know people take vacations or want family time or even work in the summer, but you can take at least two classes in the summer at your local community college for super cheap. Plus summer classes are only four weeks and (if you use RateMyProfessor.com) you have a better chance of passing those boring basic classes with an A or B.

4. If all else fails just wait for the next semester and register early so you have a better chance of getting good professors that are actually passionate at teaching what it is that they teach. 

If you are already in a class with a bad professor use other resources like:  

Khan Academy - You are basically taking the class and focusing on parts that you want to learn more about or that you need to improve more on and the videos are made by field experts that know how to explain concepts. The coolest thing about the website that the more you go through the exercises and the activities that more the site personalizes itself to your learning curve.

Quizlet -This got me through some rough times in AP Gov and it still helps. You can make digital flashcards that you can take with you on the app and with those there are different modes that you can set it on that help you remember and study whatever it is you need. You can also go through the cards made by others save them and customize them if you need to.

YouTube - The Holly Grail of tutorials! I am pretty sure that I don't need to give an explanation for this, but I will say this YouTube is tricky to use. You can easily look up anything and find boring monotone tutors that confuse you more, but if you know how to weed out bad videos from the good use it.

Google- If all fails Google it. There are thousands of websites for every subject out there, so just like YouTube if you know how to weed out the useful with the useful use it.

I will say I do have an account with all the websites mentioned, I absolutely love all of them and find them incredibly helpful.

I hope that this was some sort of help. Feel free to send in links with your favorite website that helps you study! Have a lovely day everyone!

10.2 Hey everyone! HAPPY FRIDAY AND HAPPY AUTUMN!

The weather here in San Marcos has become so beautiful, no longer is it excruciating hot and humid, it finally feels like autumn. 🍁🍂

 I can not believe that I have been in college for almost two months. So far so good. After the horrible experience of failing all of my exams for round one, I am back on track! Second math exam happened today and I feel so confident about it. I spent at least two hours studying and going over notes. Fingers crossed that I actually pass.

In other news, Thursday I officially joined my first college organization! I joined H.E.A.T Establishment. H.E.A.T standing for Human Environmental Animal Team, it is an all-encompassing student volunteer organization. Within that, there are committees that come up with projects to educate the community on issues using humour and positivity. I am part of the Animal community and I am so excited to start some of the projects that we talked about. 

Finally, in case you are still reading here is a peek at my Passion Planer for this past week. I want to do a review post on it, but I wanted to see if there is anyone that would like for there to be a how I set my week up or something along those lines with it.

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful weekend! 

9.30- Went to a quick homework session for my General Chem class yesterday, since I was early I decided to sit outside and review some notes for that class and get started on my lab reading for Thursday. These are some quick snaps that I took of my study space and the trees that were absolutely spectacular. 

Almost done with my day just one more class, strangely enough, its my chem class too.  I hope everyone is having a lovely day!

Hello wonderful studyblr community!

I realized that my first post in my blog was not a proper introduction to myself or why I started my blog, so here you are. My name is Montserrat (Montse or Mo for short), I am an 18-year-old college freshman. I am a first generation student and aspiring veterinarian. My major is currently Animal Science with a concentration in Veterinary Medicine. I am also thinking of adding a minor in Photography, but I am still not sure. I started my blog for several reasons, the major one being that I wanted somewhere that I could track my academic and emotional progress. Among the other reasons is that I wanted a place where other students could get help or help others in a safe space.

It  has been a bit over a month since I’ve moved into my wonderful University and I honestly could not be happier, but there are a lot of things that I wish had gone differently. 

The first one being my first College Algebra Exam, not only was I running late that morning and didn’t get any time for breakfast, but I had also forgotten my calculator. Needless to say, that that test did not go as well as I wished. I definitely need to step my game up and study more as well and focus more when doing the homework, no more shortcuts. Also, does anyone have some study tips for math? It’s not my best subject, but I’m determined to get better this year.

Secondly, I  hardly got any sleep last week staying up late (like I'm doing now and will regret) is not a good idea and taking a nap thinking you can make up for it is even worse. I slept through my last class on Friday, but luckily I was able to make up the class, my professor is a wonderful person. 

Overall last week I was a mess and I am not planning on redoing those mistakes-living and learning. On the bright side, I finally got my passion planner and I am going to the bookstore tomorrow to buy some fine lines and more colored highlighters (I realized I need more than two for reading my chemistry lab manual). Now I am defiantly taking advantage of that five-hour gap between classes to set up this week and month as well as next month. 

I hope that whether you’re going back to school or just starting out in high school or college, that your learning from your mistakes and striving to be better than you were the day before. Keep pushing and keep studying.