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Hey guys, so I’m nearing the end of my senior year, and it’s been great so far! I accomplished my academic tasks efficiently and didn’t burn myself out, and I think the main contributor to my success as a student is my organization system. This system has been refined throughout my high school years, but I think now I’ve finally found the most effective methods.

Please remember that this isn’t the only organization system you can adopt; this is just the one that works the best for me, and I hope that by sharing it with you, you’ll gain a new perspective on how to stay organized as a high school student.

The first thing I wanna talk about is my notebook system, which I briefly mentioned in my Guide to Note-Taking.

My notebook system comprises three types of notebooks: the Everything Notebook, the subject notebook, and the revision notebook.

The Everything Notebook

The first stage is in-class notes. I only bring one notebook to school every day. I call it my Everything Notebook, and this is where I write down all of the notes I take in class. This way, I don’t have to lug around six notebooks where I’m only going to use a few pages in each of them that day.

Subject Notebooks

At the end of the day, I would revise my notes and compare them to the syllabus so I know where we are in the learning process. I would then transfer my class notes from my Everything Notebook to my different subject notebooks. This is stage two. I also start to jazz up my notes because I use the notes in my subject notebooks to study for tests.

In addition to my class notes, I include material from my teachers’ notes that they might not have elaborated on, as well as points in the syllabus (I’m currently taking A2) that were only glazed over briefly, or not at all, in some cases. (Note: this does not mean they completely skip a chapter or topic; it’s more like they missed a few bullet points that should be in my notes but aren’t. An example would be if we’re learning about phenol reactions and the teacher forgot to mention the use of FeCl3 as a test for phenol.)

Revision Notebooks

Stage three comes a little later, when exam week is just around the corner. Essentially, I rewrite and improve my notes from my five different subject notebooks into a single revision notebook or binder. (Recently, I’ve opted for a revision notebook because they’re lighter and easier to carry around.)

Because my teachers don’t always teach in the order of the syllabus, the first thing I do is organize my notes according to the syllabus. I would then fill in any other missing gaps in the material that hadn’t been filled in stage two.

When compiling material for my revision notebook, I use as many sources as possible: my own notes, my teachers’ notes, youtube videos, online sites, and my favorite, the mark scheme! I add in some answers from past papers (explanations only, so no calculations) mainly to secure marks. It’s safer to memorize definitions straight from the mark scheme than from the textbook or from handouts. I also do this to ease my memorization, especially for topics that require lengthy explanations. It’s a lot easier to remember the 6 points I need to explain the principles of NMRI than to remember everything in the four-page handout my teacher gave me.

Folders and binders are essential to organizing your papers. Some people keep a single accordion folder for all their papers, but for me it’s just too heavy to carry around all the time. The same goes for subject folders that are brought to school every day.

Instead, my binder/folder system comprises my Everything Folder and my subject binders.

The Everything Folder

The folder I carry with me to school every day is this A4 folder I got from Tokyu Hands. It has 5 pockets, one for each day of the week, so all the papers I receive on Monday will go behind the first divider, and so on.

Some people also keep blank papers in their folders; I don’t because my school has its own lined paper and graphing pads that I keep under my desk that I use if a teacher asks us to do an assignment on those papers. If I do work at home, I prefer to just use a plain A4 paper or a legal pad.

Subject Binders

At the end of the week, I’ll sort my papers into my subject binders. Sometimes I’ll keep some papers in the folder if I think I’ll be needing it the next week. This usually only applies to worksheets because all my teachers’ notes are available on Google Classroom, so I can access them even if I don’t physically have them.

Each of these binders have sections inside them:

Physics: 1 for handouts, notes, and tests, 1 for Paper 4 (Theory), 1 for Paper 5 (Practical Planning). I included extra tabs to mark the different topics in the handouts section.

Chemistry: same as Physics.

Economics: 1 for Paper 3 (MCQ), 1 for Paper 4 (Case Study and Essay). A lot of my Economics material is online, though.

English: 1 for Paper 3 (Text and Discourse analysis), and 2 for Paper 4 (Language Topics, which includes 1 for Child Language Acquisition, 1 for World Englishes). Past papers, handouts, and notes all go under their respective topics.

Mathematics: I just keep everything together because I never revise math and just constantly do past papers.

This makes it easier for me to revise each subject because I can just take one binder with me instead of a messy folder with everything just shoved in there.

I keep a magazine file for each of my A-Level subjects (English and Mathematics are combined). All my textbooks, revision guides, and subject notebooks are kept here, so if I need to revise one subject, that’s the magazine file I’ll take out.

These magazine files prevent any small things (like my book of flashcards) from being shoved to the back of my bookshelf, or materials from different subjects from getting mixed up.

In my senior year, I mostly plan using this app called Edo Agenda. It syncs across all my devices for free and has all the features I need: a to do list to organize tasks, monthly and weekly calendars to organize events, a journal to organize notes and memos.

I used to bullet journal regularly, but it takes too much time during weekdays, so now I just bullet journal for the therapeutic effects it gives me, and I use an app for organizing tasks and events. Sometimes at the end of each week, I’ll transfer my tasks to my bullet journal and then decorate the page, but again, this is just for its therapy.

Organizing your school supplies is just as important as organizing your papers and notes. With a more organized backpack and pencil case, you won’t waste time looking for your things at the bottom of an abyss.

Pencil Case

I don’t find it necessary to bring so much stationery to school unless I plan on making notes at school (usually during revision week).

Backpack

Because we’re already in the revision term, I don’t really carry a lot of things in my everyday backpack, just the following:

Pencil case

Everything Notebook

Everything Folder

Revision notebook

Kindle

Phone

Wallet

Earphones

Calculator

Speaker

Drinking bottle

A pouch with things like a hairbrush, pads, and lip balm

And that’s all for now! I hope this post will help you organize your school life (if you haven’t already) or at least provide some useful insights on some ways to stay organized as a high school student.

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🙌

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💔💔💔

Rest in Peace legend. Stan Lee has passed away, at the age of 95.

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Hoe Tips: School and Studying

I’m currently in PA school with close to a 4.0 GPA, and with college and back to school starting up, I’m dropping some tips for y'all. A hoe gotta get bomb ass grades if ya want a bomb ass career and to be successful af. So let’s get it✨

1. Write out your notes. Have two notebooks: one for when you’re in class (this one can be messy) and one for at home (this one is the neater one, for color coding, formatting, and all that organizational jazz). Writing things out is proven to enhance memorization 7X more than just reading is.

2. Have a go-to format for your notes. Numbering, bullet points, whatever floats your boat.

3. Type out your notes. I use Google Drive, because it automatically saves all your shit, and you can access your notes via your Google account literally anywhere. Typing out your notes does the same thing writing them out does, as far as helping you review the material.

4. Use Quizlet. Quizlet is a free flashcard website/app that allows you to type in all of your flashcards and definitions, and gives you review options like matching, testing, flashcard mode, and more. This shit made me my high schools valedictorian, no lie.

5. Keep your old quizzes and tests. Often times, teachers will ask similar questions on finals.

6. For math-based subjects, always always always show your work in your notes. I try to explain each step for a math problem in the margins of my notes, and generalize how to do each problem at the end.

7. Do practice problems consistently.

8. For my college hoes: never take an 8 am class. You think you can do it because you did it for high school, but I promise you will regret it. If there’s no avoiding the 8 am lecture, bring coffee and skip any makeup/hair that day. Sleep is too important.

9. Make flashcards. The night before my exams, I like to try and fit everything I need to know for a specific chapter/topic onto one flashcard, in order to weed out main ideas.

10. For essays, easybib.com is amazing with free citations to avoid any plaigiarism or incorrect bibliographies.

11. Rent👏your👏textbooks👏. Unless your teacher specifically requires you BUY it, you likely won’t need the actual textbook. Buying access codes for the book online is hundreds of dollars cheaper.

12. If you do get your textbooks, a lot of them have chapter summaries at the end of each chapter. Be sure to write out/type out/review those summaries.

13. For science labs, if you are allowed, take pictures of any models or slides you need to know for your exams. Pretty much all labs won’t let you take pictures of cadavers or animal dissections, but plastic models and microscope slides should be fine.

14. If you have a question, ASK YOUR TEACHER. It is better to look stupid in class and get your clarification, than to look stupid when you get your exam back and actually have it count against your grade.

15. Do study groups. I have two nursing friends in some of the same classes as me, and we’d always meet up before exams to go over the material. We would bring dry erase markers and map out shit in empty classrooms, taking turns explaining shit to each other until we nailed it.

16. Try to teach the material. Like I said in #15, study groups are great for this. By teaching the material out loud, you are subconsciously reviewing it yourself. This is a HUGE help.

17. Take breaks. You cannot exhaust yourself and expect to still recall anything you learned.

18. I know everyone does this and there’s no avoiding it sometimes, but DO NOT CRAM. Gradual learning is most effective.

19. Have one day every week where you don’t do any schoolwork. You need time to reboot.

20. Use your phone’s calendar/task checklist app for all major assignments, due dates, exam dates, study plans, appointments, etc. Set reminders as needed.

21. Charge your phone in another room while studying. No distractions.

22. Rainymood.com is a free website that plays a 30 minute loop of rain sounds. It helps me focus like nothing else, especially in my loud ass household, and every time the loop stops and replays, I know to take a break between 30 minute study sessions.

23. Feel distracted at home when studying? Try studying in a library, cafe, or even at school. I find that going somewhere else to study actually forces me to pay attention to what I’m doing, for some reason.

24. Reward yourself for good grades. Buy yourself a slice of pizza or a new highlight, have a netflix marathon, go to a party, or take a nap. Whatever conveys a job well done, do it. It’ll make all that studying feel that much greater when it’s over, and you’ll have a goal to work towards.

25. Sit in the front of the classroom as often as possible. You’ll be forced to pay attention, be able to actually see the board, hear the instructor better, and you’re more likely to have your questions answered quickly because your teacher will actually see your hand go up.

26. Caffeinate. I prefer tea because it’s healthier, but coffee works too. Ya girl is NOT a morning person, but my morning tea at least helps me pay attention during earlier classes.

27. Keep all of your school shit organized, together, and labelled.

28. Do NOT skip a class just because you’re lazy or don’t feel like going. The temptation is real sometimes, but a hoes gonna be pissed when ya see your participation average decline.

29. This may just be a psychological thing, but I love to use the same colored/brand of pen for all of my notes/assignments/tests. It just makes everything seem more uniform, and I’m able to recall information better.

30. Trouble taking tests? For any multiple choice question, read the question and try to answer it first without reading any of the options. If your answer doesn’t match the options, then use process of elimination to find the best answer. For true/false questions, write out justifications for each answer (you can also do this for multiple choice). You’ll be acing your exams in no time.

31. Chewing gum during class/studying, and chewing that same flavor gum during the exam, has been scientifically proven to boost your memory recall.

32. Literally any time you have the opportunity to do extra credit, DO IT. Cherish that shit.

33. If you aren’t doing so hot in a particular class (literally any math class for me lol), schedule a private meeting with your professor and go over test questions you missed, or topics you didn’t get. If you know your professor is a flop, or can’t get an appointment, meet with a tutor or another professor of that same subject. Sometimes another voice can shed new light on a difficult topic.

34. For essays, readable.io critiques your writing for free based on readability, grade level, formality, tone, grammatical errors, etc. Seriously a life saver.

35. Also thesaurus.com is ya bff for fancier words/phrases to make your writing more eloquent

36. Always make an outline for every essay or project to organize what you want to say. This will keep you on track, and help you work around any quotes or sources in you writing to make sure your writing is hella organized.

That’s all I can think of for now, please please please feel free to add and share. Enjoy those 4.0’s, hoes💞

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Algebra

Masterposts

Advice and tools by @thegrangersapprentice​

Tips and links by @stemnerd3​

Resource masterpost by @etudiance​

Logarithms by @allydsgn

Graph shapes by @codeorg

Resources

Algebra II Homework Help

Khan Academy

ProfRobBob

Math Worksheets Land Printables

MathDrills Worksheets

Algebra Calculator

Mathisfun

Purplemath

Mathway’s Algebra Calculator

Geometry &  Trigonometry

Masterposts

Resource masterpost by @etudiance

Some tips by @sundayscholar

Advice if you suck at geometry by @ballpenned

Cool trig gif post

Pythagorean formula explained

Resources

Hippocampus

Khan Academy (and trig only)

Geometry Dictionary

MathForum Info on Proofs

Geometry4Everyone

Math Fortress

Brightstorm

ProfRobBob (and trig only!)

Precalculus

Masterposts 

Resource masterpost by @etudiance​

Final precalculus review by @studteaing

Precalculus review by @productivityjunction​

Rules for transforming functions

Resources

Precalculus Tips

Handouts and Notes

UC Irvine Videos

Huge cheat sheet

Khan Academy 

Trig identity hexagon

ProfRobBob

Precalc class on EdX

Cheat sheet for dummies

Calculus

Masterposts 

How to study calculus by @sundayscholar

AB calculus resources by @intellectus (#spon oops)

Studying for college math (emphasis on calculus) by @hexaneandheels

AP calculus tips by @kingdomstudies

Guide to calculus BC by @scolasticus

Resources

How to Succeed in Calculus

Krista King (the b e s t)

Calc AB Study Guide

CliffsNotes Calculus

Paul’s Calculus Notes

WOWMath Worked Free Response

Mr. Calculus

Cool Calc Cheat Sheet

University of Houston Calc Guide

ProfRobBob

Statistics

Masterposts 

How to Study Statistics by @study-well

Scanned stats notes by @mildstudies

AP by Michelle

Killer stats notes and pdfs by @communitystudy

Resources

1st Semester Study Guide

Formula Sheet

AP Stats Tutorial

CourseNotes

Another formula sheet

ProfRobBob

Online statistics calculator

CourseNotes

General

Great tips by @hexaneandheels 

Process of studying math by @doitforthea

More study tips by @study-hack​

Amazing math masterpost by @studybuzz

Tips for studying math by @studyign

This incredible resource blog: @themathblrs

Best of luck with your mathematics!! Hopefully seeing this post is a good sine for the future. 

(You can see my other original content here or request a post here!)

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How to Prioritize Your To-Do List

The concept is to organize your tasks by Urgency, Difficulty, and Importance.

Urgency: when do you need to finish by? I use a scale of 1-3 with 3 being the highest. I represtent those numbers with symbols (triangle, square, circle).

Difficulty: how tough is your task and how long will it take to finish? I use a 1-5 ⭐ scale with 5⭐ being the hardest.

Importance: Is this task worth a significant portion of your grade or is it a house chore like laundry? Laundry needs to be done too, but its not as important as working on a thesis. I colour code, red = super important, orange = medium importance, green = low importance.

Pro tip: on rough mornings designate simple things as 1⭐ tasks (like making your bed and brushing your hair) so you can enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when you cross them off the list first. It makes it easier to tackle the harder tasks later.

Here is an example of how I organize my to do list ✌

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How to force yourself to study

Pro-tip to force yourself to study, do HW, or work on projects: Study on campus. Seriously, get your laptop, books, notes, calculator and walk/ drive/ bike to campus.

The reason for the is quite simple: studying on campus associates the place you have lectures and take tests. This helps your brain make connections faster.

And even better: you will never get distracted. When you’re home you have all these distractions just waiting for you, making it hard for you to concentrate. When you are on campus, you have groups of other students studying, which gets you into the mental “study zone”. For even better results, don’t use headphones, but just get immersed in the “ambient study noise.” It’s something like the students are telepathically encouraging you to study.

And finally, it makes it hard to quit studying. To quit studying (or even take a “longer” study break) you need to leave campus and go back home, which takes time. This encourages you to stay and study until the end. (Obviously you can take short study breaks and do things like take a stroll around campus of something like that. In fact I encourage it.)

And just to prove that it works, I’m on campus every day of the week from 8am to 9pm and I always get all my work done. Yep, I’m the guy constantly in the 24-hour lounge with my laptop studying and doing HW. And it works.

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This thread omg

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Never underestimate the power of Omurice in the morning! ⚡

By the way, what is the strangest thing you do with your food?

I eat popcorn with chopsticks and a friend of mine likes peanut butter and pickle sandwiches.

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When my broke butt is a billionaire I'm building a house with a room this beautiful in it

// Trinity College Library //

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Unsolicited Advice to Avoid Hurting Your Neck While Studying

Studying isn't (usually) a contact sport but you can still hurt your neck. When you spend hours hunched over a desk staring down at your book/notes/tablet/phone you put a lot of strain on your neck. Eventually you will start to reverse your natural neck curve.

-1/10 DO NOT RECCOMEND.

Take care of your neck by rolling up a small towel and placing it just under the base of your skull and pulling lightly outwards. Just nod your head back over the towel gently and repetatively. Do this for about a minute, once a day if you like or just whenever you feel you need it. I often do it twice.

Honestly, if you get headaches and neck pain this could be a game changer. Also, it is cheaper than chiro and gentle enough you cant hurt yourself.

PS: consider sleeping on a neck roll.

PPS: Make sure you still go for chiro appointments. This just helps in between

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❤❤❤

ghost choir 👻 🎵

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Day 1 (10/24/18)

I'm taking on 100 days of productivity.

Today I finished writing a short story, finished and submitted my Remote Sensing Lab, and took a buttload of notes for ornithology and calculus. I wanted to be outside all day though, it was so beautiful out.

Hey guys I botched 100 days of productivity, so here is an example of failing and starting over. I'm posting a new first day.

P.S. This photo is a few weeks old.

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Looking for Camera Reccomendations 📷

I would like a decent, but cheap camera for amature photography. Not looking for anything fancy.

I do a lot of bird watching and sometimes there are good photo oportunities that my phone can't quite cover. Any suggestions?

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Meeee

“Maybe you should read all your unread books before buying new ones.”

Me: