foreverasheley-blog - Tumblr blog

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Can I just say that Khan Academy is the best thing in the world?

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omg is this!!! original content?? some old notes whilst waiting for the semester to start // 13.07.18

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“We become what we think about.”

Earl Nightingale

(Image Not Mine)

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Had a productive day of rewriting my marketing notes.✨ // My Instagram

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december 11, 2016

cicero is a killer, but at least my campus is pretty :)

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Spending this cloudy Sunday catching up on classes I skipped this past week (oops) before I start a new rotation tomorrow! • How are you guys spending your Sunday?

Taken from my studygram

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15.07.2018

“The secret of secrets is withing me again.” - Anna Akhmatova

Long time no see! If I’d have to describe the last few weeks with one word it would habe to be “stressful”. It’s currently exam season and I haven’t been doing much besides studying at the library - which also explains why this month’s spread is so late xD I hope you are all enjoying your summer and your time off school/uni so far

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late but this was one of my june weekly spreads. 🥀

ig: dessiphile

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following spree

yo if ur a new studyblr or if u wanna be noticed or whatever

i need inspiration to study again.

and im tired of seeing unrelated things so i will be doing an UNFOLLOWING SPREE to make room for new and budding blogs in my feed. reblog this post i’ll check u out and i might even hit u up for new studying techniques!

please be actually relatable. i’m so over people looking for popularity over content and blah blah blah just be a legit study blog 

thanks and maybe i’ll see u on my feed

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Guide to Last-Minute Studying

If you’re reading this, chances are you fall into one of the two categories: 

Case #1: You’ve been a hardworking and diligent student. You’ve listened in class, created a myriad of mind maps AND kept detailed notes. Now, it’s all a matter of committing them to memory and doing some practice problems. 

Case #2: You’re kicking yourself because you’ve been procrastinating all week. Now, all your work has piled up and you don’t know where to begin. Should you start making notes now, or is it too late? Maybe you’ll just memorise your class notes. What about just reading and highlighting the textbook, surely that’s more effective? You have no clue, but you’re stressed af right now. 

In this guide, I’ll talk about how to deal with each case in more detail. My studying habits tend to fluctuate between the two cases frequently, but I’ll admit, I generally leer more towards Case #2 more… Here’s my one week action plan to tackle your studying before your big test! 

Disclaimer: These are methods that I have found to work. Obviously, this is not the only right way to approach things. Feel free to disagree. Experiment a little and find whatever works for you. If you do decide to give this a go, adjust it according to your needs. 

Let’s start with Case #1. 

Days 1-3: 

Read your syllabus. Know exactly what your test is on, so you don’t waste time covering other stuff. Make sure you understand what the command terms mean, if any. 

For each syllabus statement, write out everything you can remember from your notes that pertain to said syllabus statement. Once you’re done, cross-check them with your notes to see if you’ve forgotten anything. 

If you forgot something or got it incorrect, check to see whether it’s an issue of a lack of understanding, careless mistakes or poor memory recall

For the latter two, write down what you missed on a flashcard and review it whenever you have time (just make sure it’s less than 24 hours after you’ve revised). Keep on reviewing until you remember everything. 

If it’s poor understanding, try the Feynman Technique. The idea behind this is that if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. Just imagine you’re trying to teach a child that concept. When you’re doing this, it’s better to go from beginning to end, which will make it much easier to identify your gaps in knowledge. Then, go consult your textbook, notes, Google, professor, etc. for answers. 

Days 4 and 5: 

Do practice problems. Make your own or look up practice problems on Google using this trick. If you’re doing public exams, do past paper questions. This is super useful if you want to get used to answering exam-type questions. 

Replicate test conditions. Get the timing right and ensure you have the appropriate equipment with you. 

Mark your ‘test’. Think about how you can improve. Write this down on a flashcard or whatever you want, just make sure you look at it later. Then, re-do the same problem again (no more than 24 hours later), until you get it all right. 

Don’t do this for every single topic. That is, if your exam is testing you on many different topics and you don’t have a lot of time. This step is really time-consuming, and at this point you’ll already know your stuff. Prioritize according to which topics you find the most challenging and which topics frequently come up (i.e. most students screw up) 

Day 6: 

Look over your old tests. If you scored highly, think about why you did and aim to repeat that in the next test. If you didn’t do as well as you had liked, think about where you went wrong. Decide how you want to improve. 

Look over your flashcards/do more practice. Again, this step is subject to how much time you have. This guide is merely a template. Adapt to your liking.

Day 7: 

Don’t cram too much

Quickly flip through the flashcards you made during Days 1-2

Go on student forum sites if you do public exams. They’ll usually give you first-hand advice on how to deal with stress, quick reminders, things students frequently get wrong, etc. You could also read the examiner’s report to see where most students messed up on.

Ok, now onto Case #2…

Day 1-2

Read the syllabus. Explained above. 

Identify areas that you: 

Are completely unsure about

Are unconfident in 

Half-know

Are completely confident in

Have a quick read of your notes, starting with the topics you’re completely unsure about. Then, work your way down the list. If you have time, briefly read the topics that you’re confident in just to make sure you’ve got them right. 

Have a look through some practice problems. This step mostly applies to those who are sitting public exams. Note down which questions/variations of a question come up the most. 

Day 3-6: 

Do practice problems on the topics you’re completely unsure about first. Do these with the mark scheme right next to you so you have a brief idea of what they’re looking for and how in-depth they want you to go. Then, try to re-write the MS answers in your own words. Repeat this for that particular topic until you’ve gone through all the questions. Then, combine this with your class notes (if needed). 

Make a model answer that will fit different types of questions asking about the same thing (e.g. explain ___, describe ____, discuss _____, evaluate ____, etc.). Even if the question sis worth 2 marks, write out the full model answer. It’s better to be superfluous than to miss out something completely at this stage, and during the test, you can decide for yourself which parts need to be cut out. Plus, the act of re-writing it out will help you commit it to memory. 

If you forget something, re-write it out 3-5 more times before moving onto the next question. Yeah, it’s tough, but you have to suck it up at this point. Take note of what you’ve forgotten and review it on ‘Day 7′ 

Repeat these steps for topics that frequently come up. Then, the topics that you’re unconfident in, half-know, and if you have time, do a few questions in which you’re completely confident in. 

Day 7: 

Finish off everything from Day 6 if you haven’t done so already.

Review answers to the questions you forgot how to answer.

Go through your list of questions that frequently up and recite the answers from memory. Give your hand a break.

As you can see, there isn’t really much you can do if you’re super pressed for time. Definitely do not follow my guide for Case #2 if you’re studying for a final, because there’s just no way that you can cover that many practice problems in one week, whilst still being able to retain all that information. However, for smaller tests, this definitely does the job. 

Other tips for both cases:

Get enough sleep. I don’t need to tell you why this is good. 

Take breaks. It’s easy to get carried away, especially when you’re doing practice problems. You won’t even notice time flying by! Do yourself a favour and stay sane. Take regular, adequate breaks. You really don’t want to burn yourself out before the big day! 

Stay positive! This works wonders, trust me. When I leave myself barely any time to study, instead of thinking, “fuck this shit idk anything I might as well accept that I’m gonna fail now and watch movies all day”, I like to think to myself, “you’ve got this, just suck it up because it’ll all pay off, if anyone can cram all this shit in, it’s you! If you do well it’ll be the ultimate validation of your intellectual prowess, motherfuckers!” Perhaps I get a little carried away, but hey, whatever works, right? 

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moving

hi everyone, firstly, i want to say thank you for all of the support you have given me. it means the world to me. I wanted to announce that i’ll be moving this blog to my studyblr account. I will be posting advice about studying and preparing for college and so much much. so please, check it out here. I will be deleting this blog in the coming days and will be reposting the content on here, on the other blog as a transition! so please, check it out if you are interested <3 

@study-struck

thank you guys for all the support and i’m excited to continue blogging and expanding my content. 

<3

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this is similar to the notebook i’m using right now so i might model off of this style

More biology notes! Planning to finish taking all these notes during the holidays!

11/100 days of productivity

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A Year of Questbridge: My Journey

December 1st, 2016.

             2:03 PM in Room 027.

             The most important date and time in my life.

             One year ago today, my life changed forever. I’m starting this blog a lot different than my usual posts but the impact that Questbridge has had and everything it has done for me is so significant. I knew that college was always a dream of mine. I had dreams of going to Princeton, Yale, UChicago, etc since age 5. Even if I was not sure if I was going to get into those schools, I knew that I wanted to go to college. Getting into the college was the goal and by November 1st, I had been accepted to 6 schools. That didn’t mean I would able to pay for it.

             Questbridge was a “Gamble”, a “risk”, a “lucky chance”- things people told me. Yet, it didn’t matter to me. Being a College Prep Scholar provide me with a group of students that made me feel wanted and accepted and I wanted to continue being part of that environment and be able to reach my dreams of being a doctor, and by God’s grace, December 1st, 2016, it came true.

             I remember the memory so clear. I just finished doing my data collection for my I.A. (Internal assessment, just some research thing I had to do for IB in every class) for chemistry and I was uploading my data to my drive. I was already on the computer so I decided to just check out my email. I saw on my email, Questbridge, and realized that my application was updated. To be honest, I didn’t think I was going to get it. I loged into my application and saw, your application has been updated. I remember saying, alright QB regular decision let’s go (yup, extreme lack of self confidence reacts only). I pressed on the update and waited a second and the first thing that I saw, “Congratulations” and “University of Chicago”.

             My mouth dropped open. Everything stopped before me. It was just me and that computer screen. I refreshed it to see if it was a dream but it wasn’t. It was real. My old chemistry teacher was teaching the IB juniors behind me and my other classmate, Caroline, was uploading her data. She noticed me shaking, I didn’t realize I was shaking.  She came up to me and asked me what was up, and I said “ I just got a full ride to UChicago.” She gave me a hug.

             “I just got a full ride to UChicago.” Once I said that sentence. It hit me. It really did hit me. I just got a full ride to the 3rd best University in the Nation, one of my dream schools, in my neighborhood, and my parents don’t have to stress about paying for my education. I rain around trying to find my phone, tripping over juniors backpack and most likely interrupting Mr. Galinksi’s Lecture (sorry. Mr. Galinski, you’re the best) because he was probably wondering what the fuck is wrong with Naa, why does she look like a manic (looking back, I looked dumb as hell. I laugh at the thought of it). I found my phone and ran out the door, just waiting for it to close. I don’t remember hearing the click, probably because once I ran out that door, I started screaming, crying, laughing, dancing, on the floor. I was literally on the floor, rolling around crying and laughing. I called my dad and remembered hearing him scream “Thank you Jesus”, starting to make me cry and laugh even more. I called my mom and she and I broke down together on the phone. I remember one the English teachers came and asked if everything was okay but I was so happy. It was the best moment of my life. The rest of the day, and the next 2 weeks was filled with laughter and tears and happiness.  

             One year later and writing this, I still feel the same emotions, the same excitement, the same happiness. I am so blessed to be able to go to a school like UChicago and it reminds me of how much I have gone through in my life and how I have been able to grow from it. Even the days where I do feel down, or I do have a large inferiority complex, I still remember that I am here. Being at this University has made me happier than I ever been in my life. For the first time in over 10 years, I feel comfortable with who I am. There are always times that I do feel insecure or question who I am, but I am more willing to face it and understand those feelings. Because of Questbridge, I am the person who I am today and I want to help so many other students get the same chance that I have in being a Questbridge Scholar.

             So to Questbridge, my friends, my high school, my teachers, my family and God. From the bottom of my heart. Thank you for everything. Thank you for reminding me that I am worth it. Thank you for making every tear, pain, and suffering that I went through worth it. Because it is. Every moment Is worth it.

             Thank you Questbridge. Thank you.

 From the Bottom of my Heart. I love you Questbridge

 Signing Off, Yours Truly

-Naa Asheley Ashitey

University of Chicago Questbridge Class of 2021 Scholar

 Thnks fr th mmrs <3. Forever and always Questbridge.

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Mental Health

Hey people, so it has been awhile since I have posted (wow, it has been a long while, the last time I was working on this post, NCM was getting ready to come out). NCM has come out for the finalists and I just did my livestream to give advice-thank you to everyone that came and asked questions. I really appreciated it. I just wanted to be a source of advice and help. Big thank you to my Questbridge Mentor, Adrian, for helping me give advice and telling more about being a UChicago student, coming from 2nd year here in The College. Today, I want to talk about Mental Health. I know I brought this up with my inferiority complex post, which you guys can read after this. However, I want to talk specifically about mental health.

 So, something that I struggle with is mental health, specifically dealing with mild depression and anxiety. Being at UChicago and being around students that are extremely intelligent, sometimes, those feelings get worse. Now, I want to say something very important as I go into this post. DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, AND ALL TYPES OF MENTAL HEALTH AFFECTS PEOPLE DIFFERENTLY. Everyone has different methods of dealing with it but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t talk about, nevertheless, talk about how one finds way to handle it and it may help others.

 My anxiety and mild depressions stems from experiences in my elementary school and high school, the account of bullying and stress from work. I kept ignoring the signs of my depression and anxiety and eventually it just got worse, to the extent that I would feel mentally numb, couldn’t react and I would often skip school for about 1-3 days because I could not function what so ever. I felt like a host in a body, but I had no control and all my emotions were gone. Empty. I then realized that I had to accept the fact- I had depression. Accepting it helped me to understand more about myself but that doesn’t mean it goes away easily. Plus, it came with anxiety.

My anxiety affects me in different ways than others. I have bursts of anger, lack of emotional control until I just sorta crash and cry. It got to the point where my own physical health was suffering. I got sick more often and I got stress sick-severe back pain with migraines, sore throat and even affected my ability to walk because I felt so physically weak. I remember having one of my friends have to carry me because I physically could not move because I was in so much pain. Reaching this state during senior year and at the beginning of 3rd week of my 1st quarter, I realized that I needed help. Talking to friends can help, my family was always a good resource, but honestly, talking to mental health advisor helped the most. It reminded me that it is normal to have depression, or anxiety, or feel stressed. However, when it starts to affect you both mentally and physically to the extent that you either become numb or you can’t walk, talking to someone is essential.  

So, what are ways that I deal with my anxiety and depression?  

1.       Remember that your are important and your feelings are legimate. Don’t ever feel like how you feel is not relevant.

2.       Talk! Talk it out with someone. Hiding things doesn’t help.

3.       Do something you love.

4.       Love yourself.

Mental health is something that can be hard to talk about and in high school, it is something that teachers I think needed to recognize more because it is an important topic. Even though I am very open about my mental health issues and talking about it, trying to explain it in a simple way, it’s impossible. Writing this post, I had about 400 more words of me explaining how I feel because there are a lot of emotions that I get from dealing with it. Sometimes, I have no words because I can’t describe the way I feel. However, that doesn’t mean I will let it control me or hold me back. Dealing with depression and anxiety in high school can be very frustrating and I know that feeling personally. However, taking mental health days is essential because at some point, it becomes too much and you need a day for yourself to smile. Don’t feel bad about not taking breaks-and trust me, I always do but eventually I realize that it is a good thing to take breaks. Please remember that taking care of yourself mentally is just as important, if not more important, than taking care of yourself physically.  Mental health should be treated the same way as someone getting sick of breaking your ankle; cause at the end of the day, we are all human and we all have our breaking points.  I’m no professional, but here as some links and numbers to people who are and can help you in anyway possible.

https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/anxiety-hotline/

Boys Town National Hotline: 1-800-448-3000

    (Available 24/7)

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

    Spanish Speakers: 1-888-628-9454

    The Hard of Hearing: 1-800-799-4889

    Veterans: 1-800-273-8255

    (Available 24/7)

Substance Abuse and

Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357)

    (Available 24/7)

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Helpline: 1-800-950-NAMI (6264)

    (Available 10AM - 6PM EST, Mon-Fri)

Teen Line: 1-310-855-HOPE (4673) or 1-800-TLC-TEEN (852-8336)

    (Available 6PM - 10PM PST)

    (Also available by texting “TEEN” to 839863)

 I’m always down to talk more of mental health whenever you need it.

I love you all. <3 Stay safe and stay happy

             Signing off, yours truly

             -Naa

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UChicago Questbridge Events

Hey Everyone(I really need to come up with a creative introduction to these blogs)

As I announced last week, I will be expanding this blog to not only help high school students with college applications and getting through that last strech of senior year(trust me, it is difficult) but also help out my fellow 1st years with campus events and resource awareness. As you guys know, cause I talk about it a lot since it means the world to me, I am a Questbridge Scholar to the University of Chicago. I wanted to get involved with the Questbridge Chapter at my University and I am the current secretary for the UChicago Quest Board. We are planning a lot of events and you don’t have to be a questie to be participate. We want to see our questies, obviously, but having more people get involved is really great. This Thursday, a Google Recruiter is coming to campus this Thursday at 7-8 in the Logan Center for the arts. Then, Friday, Questbridge is Collaborating with SDA, another 1st-gen, low-income RSO on campus to have Friday Night Dinner. The times are 6PM-8PM and theme is Breakfast for Dinner. Plus, it is in the Cloister Club in Ida Noyes Hall so there will be a lot of space for set up and food and conversation so please come out. Thanks everyone.

https://www.facebook.com/events/164330204153470/?acontext=%7B%22source%22%3A5%2C%22page_id_source%22%3A213849008678509%2C%22action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22%3A%22page%22%2C%22mechanism%22%3A%22main_list%22%2C%22extra_data%22%3A%22%7B%5C%22page_id%5C%22%3A213849008678509%2C%5C%22tour_id%5C%22%3Anull%7D%22%7D]%2C%22has_source%22%3Atrue%7D

https://www.facebook.com/events/2021191204781468/?acontext=%7B%22source%22%3A5%2C%22page_id_source%22%3A213849008678509%2C%22action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22%3A%22page%22%2C%22mechanism%22%3A%22main_list%22%2C%22extra_data%22%3A%22%7B%5C%22page_id%5C%22%3A213849008678509%2C%5C%22tour_id%5C%22%3Anull%7D%22%7D]%2C%22has_source%22%3Atrue%7D

Signing Off, Yours Truly

-Naa 

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LIVESTREAM!!

Hey everyone, for those who are interested, the UChicago advice stream is at 2PM Central Standard Time. Here is the link to the stream. Please ask as many questions as you want. I will be joined by my mentor, Adrian Morquecho, who is a 2nd year questie so please ask questions about life as a UChicago student as well. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A QUESTIE  do be part of this stream, this is aimed at everyone because the due date for ED/EA is next week and this can help be a final advice stream for everyone before you submit for those deadlines. Even for those who are doing EDII/RA, this is also relevant for you as well so please don't hesitate to join in and ask questions. Thanks everyone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu7ZrNqFtz0