#likewise with studyblr

[notarealwelder]

......tempting.

[owlchimedes]

I'm sooo glad to find an envi sci studyblr!!! It feels like it's so rare.

yess!! there are like none of us out here! possibly it has to do with the venn diagram of tumblr users and people who go outside being separate circus tents, but that said, I'll list some cool people I follow if you want more env sci on your dash.

i was in parasocials with mallaidh-ann when he was working with seals and now he's doing salmon fishery work? swoon

headspace-hotel does environmental rage like no one else and also insanely good poetry

@hellsitegenetics is new and very funny

MC does fantastic work with @reasonsforhope to promote good environmental and human rights stories

@memecology makes me laugh, though they've been afk for a bit

@deadnaturalhistories is a natural history PhD candidate

@ecologie-txt is an ecology PhD candidate

@botanyshitposts is what is says on the tin (also, very smart)

@fatehbaz does anticolonial ecology 👌🏼

@weird-ecologies does wildlife conservation and scicomm

I really liked my friend's blog eco-filth but I think our upcoming master's thesis ate them...

mutuals with @endless-forms who's a science journalist

@wilder-thyme does archaebotany (wow!)

@moon-thestars is/was a biodiv conservation student, may be afk

nollectquest posts some foraging/homesteading content that I really enjoy

gallusrostromegalus likewise has an excellent #The Garden At The End Of The Universe tag

wild-west-wind is a park ranger

I've tagged those who are studyblrs and simply linked to those who are more personal blogs so as not to bother them too much. The best advice (imo) for finding envsci people on this hellsite is to hover around the solarpunk/tolkien/hozier/gardening/trc/justice tags and reblog-hop until you find somebody cool.

Feel free to add recs or nominate your own blog if you fall into any kind of botany, environmental science, zoology, conservation gig! Love to extend the circle!

[rigelmejo]

i will look this up properly more too, but I’m very curious what 小哥 and 小姐 (xiaoge and xiaojie) mean when used nowadays? 

When i’m on language exchange apps, a lot of people will address themselves as xiao-mei or xiao-meimei in relation to me, and refer to me as xiaojiejie or xiaojie. usually when i’m talking with girls, but guys will also usually call me xiaojie. I am assuming because I’m usually slightly older than the language exchange partners (I’m mid 20s, a lot of users are younger college age 20s). 

I remember reading about period dramas more specifically, that things like guniang and xiaojie may or may not be considered slang for prostitute/something rude nowadays?? 

So like 1. I have no idea what the modern equivalent of Xiansheng for women is supposed to be? (Mr versus Miss)

2. I am intensely curious what xiaoge and xiaojie are supposed to mean in a modern context. Because how it feels is like xiaojie is a warm nickname to call me like ‘big sis’ but to make it less severe by calling me ‘little big sis’ so our age gap doesn’t feel like as big of a deal. Sort of like how a valley girl would say “yes girl, I love that, lets hang out soon!” or someone would say “yeah dude/bro, I missed you! I’m so glad you came with us!” in America. But I know I’ve heard somewhere that either guniang or xiaojie is like... a rude way of saying “miss” in the modern era so i’m curious how exactly terms like xiaojie and xiaoge are interpreted nowadays.

I assume its similar to just saying jie or ge or mei etc to someone, but because the xiao is added i am curious if that’s right, or if it does mean something a bit different.

[ghostlyacademia]

people can go off all day about how dark academia is classist but as someone who lived below the poverty line for most of my life, it's really not. sure, the aesthetics and the mood boards show luxurious, expensive things, but im here to say that me, my dollar store candle, my book from the library, and my cup of tea cost a total of less that $2. it's easily possible to incorporate dark academia feelings into your life even being poor. in fact, i would even wager that a fair bit of tumblr users into dark academia use it as an escape. i can't afford these things, but damn, i can dream. the act of finding joy in expensive, lavish aesthetics is in no way itself classist. anyone can pretend, and no one is going out of their way to exclude poor people from the online d.a. community. calm down and let people enjoy things.

[meichenxi]

Hey, could I ask you how you do shadowing? Like the different ways you do it? You mentioned in your tag that shadowing is good and I'd love to hear how you do it! I do not attempt shadowing much so I don't really know what helps, etc. ToT (my studyblr is rigelmejo)

Hellooo! Thank you for the interesting question!

Tbh I think I do it fairly basically - I don’t use any particularly fancy software, but software like Language Learning with Netflix has certainly made it easier. There’s a whole video on how to get the most of it here: [on mobile, link didn't work - How to study Chinese with Netflix! by Chinese Zero To Hero] (I’d recommend checking out all of their videos actually, they’ve done a bunch of livestreams recently and they place a lot of emphasis on shadowing + the course they are trying to sell you is…actually phenomenally good)

(Also, I have to preface this by saying that I have been very lucky in terms of pronunciation: I learnt about 80% of my current vocabulary by ear without characters or pinyin. I have been in China for eight months in total, and while I didn’t speak Chinese for all of that, I was constantly soaking in info on natural sentence intonation. I still often don’t know officially what the tone of a vocabulary item is, especially if it changes tone like 教, 为 or 相, but I don’t get yelled at so I have definitely internalised a lot of those changes. I definitely would have more trouble with this if I hadn’t had that experience - my other areas are waaaay weaker because of this though- my reading SUCKS lmao and I can literally handwrite about ten characters)

Anyway. How I shadow:

1) Quite simply by playing the line, and repeating it with all the emotion it has!! I usually use Netflix or Viki for this. I try to do it as fast as possible, and if I can’t do the whole thing, I ‘chunk’ it: if I were doing the sentence 我们还不知道他会不会来, I would start from the end with 他会不会来, then 不知道他会不会来, and then the whole sentence. Notice that this isn’t breaking it down into words or even grammatical phrases, but intonational phrases: it would be perfectly sensible to just do 会不会来 without the 他 but realistically, since this is a question, it’s likely that a strong stress will be placed on the first 会, and you wouldn’t be able to replicate that without also included the more weakly stressed syllable before.

2) I locate (intentionally or subconsciously) the main locus of stress within the sentence, and I focus on that accordingly. Tones may become less extreme if they are not stressed, and may become more exaggerated if stressed. This is always a good exercise. I accompany this with physical actions - I throw my hands down, I sigh, I groan!

3) I put away the text, and don’t look at the tones or even my computer screen - more on this below.

4) Finally, when I think I’ve got it reasonably accurate, I’ll record them speaking the line into my phone with an appropriate pause for copying and play it back to myself at various points throughout the day.

5) I then go and find other words with the same tone contour to slot in, and copy it again. After that, I find words that are slightly different tonally and pop them in too.

6) I finally do fun things like hold a conversation with myself. This can be really simple phrases imbued with some kind of emotion - 这个女��到底是谁呀？为什么不认识我？应该是新手吧。You can do this either really informally, or very formally, or both - trying to speak in the latter way is very fun! So then it’d be idk something more like: 那位姑娘是何人，来自何处？This is fun because you can really slow down your speech and sound as elegant as you like!! (this will sound stilted if you do it for modern speech, but it’s a very fun exercise)

Choosing your media!!

1) Don’t use donghuas. Seriously. The voice actors usually speak at a ridiculous pace and not with the same range of ‘normal’ intonation

2) Your Chinese is definitely good enough to recognise when anyone is quoting poetry or speaking in a paricularly sexy literary way so, uh…don’t do that. That rules dramas like Nirvana in Fire OUT.

3) Modern dramas and reality TV shows CAN be great, but they can also be quite intimidatingly quick and almost too mushy at times. I’d recommend informal speech in guzhuang dramas more, because they have professional voice actors and extensive sound editing, meaning that although it might be fast and the vocabulary harder, it’s actually much more accessible and easier to copy. You don’t want to be stuck with the awfulness of 50% failed foreigner and 50% 12 year old boy who can’t enunciate properly!!

4) CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON WISELY. I try to find characters that speak in a dramatic, whiny or childish way. This is so important! There’s literally no use copying Lan Wangji unless you want to be able to have that particular cadence and tone of voice you get reciting poetry. Childish/whiny/dramatic characters on the other hand stress some words very strongly, and rush others together - this is great for hearing what actual real speech sounds like. Whininess wins. In The Untamed, characters like Wei Wuxian (not yllz!wwx but just…regular wwx), 一问三不知 Nie Huaisang, Jin Ling, and Jingyi are all great. Also Jiggy, who is just very extra constantly and speaks much slower as well, which really helps. In SHL characters like Gu Xiang are good.

5) CHOOSE YOUR VOICE WISELY! If you are really aiming to copy them 100% (which you should try at least sometimes), you want somebody with your pitch range to sound normal. I have a sort of party trick in Chinese that because I’ve spent so much time listening to women in guzhuang dramas I can change my voice and sound like a) a scheming concubine with honeyed words, or b) the voice of the Beijing metro. My teacher found it hysterically funny. But it’s not my natural voice, and if I speak like that for too long it hurts. The women usually are too high for me, and the big burly manly men too low - so I’d recommend finding a man with a higher voice, or an older woman (like some of the female characters in Nirvana in Fire). Again, sorry that this is mostly the Untamed (I’m just most familiar with it) but the voice actors for Wei Wuxian and some of the juniors (+jiggy) has a higher voice. Likewise Chengling in Word of Honour.

On intonation in general:

- The thing is that whilst shadowing is useful it requires prior ability in a whole bunch of other skills that you can train - it relies on your ability to accurately mimic pitch, emotion and other contrasts. Training this in ANY language, including your native one, will help your ability to do this in Chinese - so I’d recommend spending a fair amount of time practicing shadowing (or speaking just after somebody whilst listening to a string of text, like monolingual simultaneous interpreting) in your native language too. Any training copying accents or mimicking other people is going to similarly help, regardless of the language.

So, with that in mind, further tips:

1) Hum / try to copy the intonation without any words. What this does is force you to pay attention to what the intonation actually is, versus what you may think it should be.

2) Don’t look at the text! Do! Not! Look! At! The! Text! If you look at the characters or pinyin you’re telling yourself ‘ok this is a third tone here’ etc, but you want to override the part of your brain that has gotten into bad habits and is supremely self-confident in how you’re pronouncing the third tone, and actually just go straight back to mimicking.

3) Don’t be afraid to do it with vocabulary that is way beyond your level. Actually, I find this can sometimes be helpful, because you don’t have a prior idea about how a particular tone pair should be useful - and you don’t know which tone you should be producing.

4) Learn vocabulary by ear - listen to a vocab podcast or even make one yourself (I often do this; I record my daily Anki and listen back to it through headphones copying throughout the day - if you’re not confident in your pronunciation you can get Google Translate to do it). Similarly, pick unknown vocabulary out of a longer segment and remember it, trying to internalise the tones instead of figuring out which tone it is.

5) Find emotional sentences, and copy them with emotion. This is SO CRUCIAL!!! We remember things when we relate to them, and when we imbue them with emotion - and it also helps in hearing exactly how an angry second tone sounds, for instance.

6) When you’re copying, look up, and imagine you are having an actual conversation. Carry yourself with conviction and poise!! Really try to whine like wwx or slime like jgy. After a couple of turns copying them, try to turn off the audio and keep delivering it in the same manner.

7) Swap individual words out. Once you have a line properly figured out, swap a word or two that has a different tone pair, and focus on delivering it with the same pattern of stress.

8) Finally, practice doing this in your native language too!! It’s a skill that we don’t use often, and it can be trained. Some people are terrible at it at first go even in their native language, but you can work on it!

About intonation in general:

1) I think a lot of pronunciation problems with people sounding unnatural or stiff ultimately come down to a fundamental misunderstanding of what intonation looks like across different languages. In English we mark it by pitch: and we are so used to the rhetoric that Chinese has ‘tone’ and not ‘intonation’ that we try and focus on blindly copying every single word textbook perfect without listening to how it actually sounds.

2) Chinese does have intonation!!! Except that, unlike English, when you stress a word, the pitch doesn’t change, but the tone contour is exaggerated - basically the only time you will ever hear a full third tone is in isolated or very exaggerated speech. If you have a Chinese friend, get them to record a sentence like the English ‘I didn’t ask her to steal his rucksack’, and put stress on the different elements of it - I didn’t ask, I didn’t ask, I didn’t ask, and so on. Notice and copy how the tones change. When shadowing, you should always be paying attention to where the stress is in the sentence: when you speak by yourself, practicing saying a sentence neutrally, and then with stress on one component, the next, and so on. If it feels unnatural, it’s because you might not have practicised like this before - it’ll get better!

Hope that’s somewhat helpful / interesting!

- 梅晨曦

[allbeendonebefore]

I wasn't tagged by @judiejodia but i was mentioned in the post and encouraged to do this and tag her if i enjoy these kinds of things so I DID HA

[also me, still feels too shy to tag anyone else but you can say i tagged you if you want to do this too!]

1. Why did you choose your url?

two canadian hit songs that were influential when i was growing up in the early aughts. people can usually guess one of them but I don't think I've seen anyone guess both yet hehe.

2. Any side blogs?

@hyperboreanhapocanthosaurus - personal and political posts as well as general reblogs

@acetechne - art blog

@athensandspartaadventures - comic about ancient city state personifications

@battle-of-alberta - comic about modern canadian city personifications

@project-canada - i still admin this blog although i have zero plans to revive the project itself

@lazylacadaemon - studyblr although im no longer in school so there's not a whole lot there. If you want to talk about academics or ask for advice you can still shoot me a message there though.

3. How long have you been on tumblr?

uhhh 2010? 2011? something like that.

4. Do you have a queue tag?

Nope just assume 90% of what i post are queued lol

5. Why did you start this blog in the first place?

I wanted somewhere to post dumb comics about ancient history i started doodling in undergrad and people seemed to be migrating here from dA

6. Why did you choose your icon?

its a picture of me in crossplay as iamp alberta and thats as close as getting an icon with me on it as i will get lol

7. Why did you choose your header?

[checks what my header is] oh it's mama greece from hetalia, or at least how i imagined her before she had a canon-design. its my ancient/hetalia/history/whatever blog and i liked the drawing i did so i guess i kept it up haha

8. How many mutuals do you have?

UNKNOWN i mostly just talk to windex because quatsch is still waiting on her new computer/space to use it lol

i am notoriously bad at following people back partly because i am legit forgetful and also i think i make people nervous?? I'm also not a teenager anymore so I'm more cautious about following people I don't know in case they're not comfortable with it and idk their age.

Mostly i follow people who post stuff for fandoms i enjoy but i no longer use social media to keep up with what people are up to because It's Too Stressful to check up on everyone across every platform you have to write me a handwritten letter or bug me on discord if i need to know how you are at this point, i am both an irl and a digital hermit lol

9. How many followers do you have?

no clue, most of them probably aren't active anymore and a good handful are probably bots so i don't really feel i could give a Real estimate since i've been accumulating blogs for a decade

10. How many do you follow?

337 but probably over 90% are dead

11. Have you ever made a shitpost?

yes mostly about dead people and dead languages

12. How often do you use tumblr a day?

i check pretty frequently and if theres no news on the big tumblr i open the small tumblr on my phone and thats a problem

13. Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

not directly but some dude is going around arguing with people who post about herodotus and i don't have the patience to respond to him explaining my own shitposts to me after seeing him sealion other bloggers on tumblr.clown.edu so i do not engage

14. How do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts?

bad. i ignore every time. it's not as bad as it was ten years ago but it's still really annoying. (unless its like on a picture of a cute animal thats fine)

15. Do you like tag games?

yes i am just notorious about not tagging anyone in them

16. Do you like ask games?

yes and likewise lol although i think my answers are usually either quite boring or very sarcastic hahaha

17. Which mutuals do you think are tumblr famous?

I Do Not Know who are you guys

18. Do you have a crush on a mutual?

if we are mutuals come to my house i make you soup

[honey-whiskeys]

a lil studyblr intro.

hey fellas! call me thea (she/her). i’ve been lurking around the dark academia community for a hot minute and it inspired me to finally try and get my life together because the only thing that can make me want to do something is the aesthetic. i’m v excited to learn more about the community and make some friends as i go along!

some facts:

i’m 16 and a junior in high school (grade 11)

i’m slytherin/montague/istp

american dumb feral bastard gay

i’m taking ap lang, us history, and physics this year, plus a double period of arts and french at a junior college

english is my second language—i learnt it from my dad who learnt it from a british teacher, so i spell things the british way out of habit. i don’t have a british accent but he does

this quarantine really do be throwing my study habits off their rhythm. street smarts

interests:

anything ancient/classic lit! i’m only getting started but please talk to me about sappho, homer, shakespeare, poe, wilde, and literally any others who strike your fancy. give or ask for recommendations, etc—my ask box is always open!

the dark academia aesthetic, as you may be able to tell. yes i have read the secret history and i think it’s quite good but i don’t have many thoughts on it that haven’t been expressed by people far more eloquent than i. books are really pretty ok

historical fashion! i’m currently in the midst of recreating one of edith cushing’s outfits from crimson peak so you can expect to see some of that. i have too many favourite eras but the late victorian and early edwardian periods are the most prominent.

classical history and culture! i was one of those mythology nerds as a kid and i’m still really into the ancients. catch me trying to learn latin and not being able to keep up. if you send me history memes i’d be most grateful

some other things that aren’t academic: i’m one of those bog witch hozier stans, i do martial arts, i play violin, i have a crackhead music taste, marvel is hella cool, i speak indonesian but weirdly. literally please talk to me about anything bc this social life empty. yeet

goals:

use this blog to keep track of my habits and keep me focused and motivated to study

read more and write about what i read!! actually form opinions on things that are more than “achilles bottoms.” also post thoughts on whatever i’m reading as a way to process and hopefully discuss it

make some heckin friends. if you’re likewise trash for the aesthetic (tm) hmu

and i think that’s it! again, feel free to talk to me about literally anything.

[rivkahstudies]

I had sex for the first time about a month ago and it didn’t really go anywhere for either of us, but I’m keen to try again and it kinda makes me ashamed because of all of the “sex bad women pure” garbage that I grew up with :/ my boyfriend is super supportive about it but I still feel a bit gross thinking about it

Hey nonnie! First of all, I'm sorry it took me so long to reply to this sleepover ask. At first I was really confused, and then I realized the post I reblogged did include sex questions and confessions. Then I was conflicted about whether to post this, because this isn't a sex-geared blog and I have minors following me. But, I can't claim to be a good role model or sex positive if I'm going to censor my blog to this extent. After all, I reblog "off-topic" posts about politics because I believe I cannot separate my "aesthetic studyblr education" from my real-world education (and goals!). So why should it be any different with things I determine to be educational about sex?

**Disclaimer to anyone reading: I will still block porn blogs and blogs that have lewd stuff (particularly because I think porn creates harmful expectations among other things). And if you follow me or try to interact with me & have anything I deem harmful for minors (or adults!) I'm blocking you too. MAPs, TERFs, any of that. I'm very serious about cultivating this safe space.**

Anyway, so I'm tagging this post accordingly if anyone wants to blacklist the tag, but I stand by my position to answer these kinds of asks with the same love and support I do others.

ANYWAY. Nonnie. You know the answer at least subconsciously. If you were male, would you feel this kind of shame at wanting to have sex again? Most likely not. Because you're not societally pressured to. And speaking from experience, it's very hard to fight off the constant inundation of all these negative messages, but let mine be a positive one: you can have as much or as little sex as you want, and as long as it's safe and consensual, it does not. Matter. One. Bit. Also, I'm glad you want to keep trying! Sex takes practice! You can't let your ego get in the way. It's a lot of hard work, especially with building stamina and figuring out what a partner likes. Persistence is key in this case! And a lot of communication, the more descriptive the better if you want to correct a partner on what they're doing, or have them correct you.

You can have a high libido or a low one. You can be receptive to sex or not. You don't have to have sex every time your partner asks, even if you're not necessarily opposed to consenting. Tired? Too lazy to do the work? Just not in the mood? You can literally just be like "nah, not right now." But if you want to have sex, and they want to have sex, go for it. Just don't forget about safe sex practices, and if you're doubtful, Google it or seek out another resource.

I want the world to stop viewing sex as this sacred, forbidden act. Because it's literally as much a part of life as eating or sleeping. I don't make a huge deal every time I eat breakfast. Some people in society even try to do that, policing people's bodies like, "should you really be eating that donut for breakfast?" But those people are assholes and not the majority. So I wish people would treat sex like eating or sleeping in terms of its commonality (not in terms of its health benefits--it has some! but it isn't essential to survival). And likewise, with preferences. Some people love bananas. Some people don't. Some people love papayas. Some people don't. Some people will eat either one of those if asked, but otherwise won't seek them out. Some will not touch those at all, and you should respect that.

Anyway, tl;dr: you're not dirty, you shouldn't be ashamed, do whatever is safe and comfortable for you. Keep practicing as long as you both consent! And for anyone else reading this, you are valid. Regardless of how many partners you've had, regardless of your gender identity or your sexuality, you are valid. So go forth and enjoy yourselves 💕🥰 and remember, be kind. Especially to yourself.

[owlchimedes]

Hi there ! I absolutely love your photos (I only just realized that a bunch of studyblr photos I've recently fallen in love with were yours!)

I was curious if you had any tips for taking good photos/editing them? I find that my photos don't seem to quite have the same good lighting as others' and would truly appreciate any advice you might have on the matter.

Thank you and have a great day!!!!

Thank you!! 🤩 (have to say, I’m a big fan of your blog)

I actually don’t edit my photos that much! Sometimes I might blur or crop out identifying information, but I rarely mess with the colors or shadows of a pic, and if I do, it’s just with the limited tools in the Apple Photos editor. I mostly curate my posts really heavily �� for every posted picture, there are 24+ blurry bad ones that didn’t make the cut. Besides that, I do have a couple of general tips:

Prioritize light colored notebooks, papers, pens, etc. since they reflect more light and make an image seem brighter. Select matte over shiny. Photographing shiny black objects is very hard!

Pay attention to shadow and contrast. Hard, flat light (like full sun at an acute angle) in the warm spectrum photographs really well. Most of my favorite pics have been taken between 7-10 am or 4-7 pm. It can be helpful to haunt a handful of study spaces so that you can predict how the light will behave.

It really is about what you’re photographing. I like the way that paper, ceramic, leather, and glass refract light so I tend to have more of those objects around. I have a hard time photographing cloth, so I don’t do bed-spreads or carpet/floor layouts.

Be careful with blue light! Snapping pics of computer screens sucks because it adds a hard, blue square to an image that can be really jarring. Put f.lux or some other color filter on your laptop and take the pic from an angle to limit the amount of blue. Likewise, I try to avoid taking pics in the very early morning or under fluorescents.

Be careful with dappled or fractionated light. It can look very cool but depends on what’s being photographed (ex: left is fun, right is disorganized even though they have the same lighting situation).

It can be helpful to have a tiny guide/reference photo for each batch, or even a HEX code that you aim for. Honestly, I use the avatar thumbnail for this blog. If I put a picture next to it and squint, do they seem consistent? If they do, post! It helps with getting that warm luminous quality that I particularly like.

And lastly, always give yourself permission NOT to take a pic! My worst pictures come when I force them and the best ones are when I’m busy studying only to look up and go “woah, pretty!” You can boost your chances by sitting alone near a window & using all your favorite supplies, but it really is somewhat up to the Fates!

[entropystudyblr]

10.29.2019

this is the chaos studyblr i signed up for! notes i will never look at again! in bed! it’s past my bedtime! single subject notebook with notes from three classes! planning on getting drunk thursday and not studying for this exam on friday!

anyway, ive been thinking about the line from the minecraft endpoem that goes “and the universe said, you are the universe tasting itself, talking to itself, reading its own code” a lot recently. something i believe is often forgotten in the hard sciences is the beauty of just what we have learned and discovered about the universe. how intimately we know our bodies, down to the atoms and their arrangements required for life. likewise, we know so much the functionality of our brains, but forget the absolute significance of one brain studying another, one set of atoms examining and deriving meaning from another.

want to be a good scientist? ask “why” and “how” constantly. seek the answer and you might find a snippet of what it means to be alive, just like each great scientist before you.

[hogwartsstudis-blog]

- ̗̀ THE HOGWARTS STUDY NETWORK   ̖́-

Hi there! Are you a studyblr? Even better, are you a potterhead and would love to meet fellow potterheads in this community? Are you new to the studyblr community or have been roaming around here for years? You want to meet some likewise minded people as you and maybe make some friends? Then this is your chance and to join a lovely online study club!

HOW TO JOIN

All houses are welcome!

If you don’t know your house yet, you can find it out here.

Reblogging would be appreciated but is not a necessity or weighs in for acceptance.

Make sure to follow hogwartsstudis.

Fill out this form.

ONCE ACCEPTED

Once you’ve been accepted, you’ll receive a message.

You’ll be added to the network page.

You will receive a badge to add to your page if you’d like to do so.

Tag your posts with #hogwartsposts so they can be featured on this page!

PERKS OF JOINING

You will meet other harry potter based studyblrs.

Your posts will be reblogged and featured on the post

A cosy and fun group chat to rant and talk about anything from study or personal related to Harry Potter!

That was all!! Hopefully till soon!

x

[desultory-suggestions]

How to study for an exam when you really don’t know how to start

Clean your room/space, tidy your desk, make your space feel neat and focused. The space we are in means a lot, don’t confine yourself to a messy space.

Make sure you also feel ready. Freshly showered, has a good meal, did some movement-based activity. You can’t focus as easily if you feel all messy and uncomfy.

Put your work in order, what is most important? If you’re taking an exam over a specific topic i.e Biology, look for the most mentioned topics. Those will be what you study most. When I took AP Psych, I found the outline online that said what percentage of the test would be what topic, and studied those flashcards, notes, and videos.

Likewise, figure out how much you need to do every day to get done in time. If you have 20 chapters left in a book and each one is 15 pages then take 300 pages divided by how many days left (say 40) leaving 7.5 pages a day minimum. 

Block out time to study. Make sure you have no distractions, phone on silent, friends know you’re unavailable. This is its own test, a test of focus!

Go to review days if you have them Your instructor should explain what’s on the exam and what is expected of you, and if you miss out on important details you’ll really notice later. It may seem like skipping gives you more time to study, but you’ll be at a disadvantage in the end.

If you feel yourself getting distracted, reading the passage with no recollection of the content, or about to slam your head into the table, take a break. Go for a short walk, get a snack, stretch, get a glass of water, have a little dance party. Breaks count as being productive, self-care is important.

Feel free to switch up your studying methods. Taking notes every day or reading chapter after chapter of a subject gets boring. Do flashcards, Draw or make a diagram. Studying the brain? Draw and label it. Use funky pens sticky notes. Varying your methods of study will not only help you grasp the material better, but it’ll keep you from getting bored.

Find a friend or join a study group. There are a lot at different universities or even just create your own with like-minded folks. You can even do one online like I do. There are many discords for this. I’m in one and it’s great to hold each other accountable and share goals.

You can also switch up your space. Everyone has a different type of place they work best. Maybe a library, cafe, park, bedroom, couch, restaurant. Don’t stay couped up. 

Use apps like Tide, Forest, Flora, Quizlet and more. I seriously use these every day. Tide is my favorite, it incorporates white noise and nature sounds with a Pomodoro timer, as well as three settings for Focus, Relax, and Sleep.

Make studying aesthetically pleasing. Studyblrs are on to something here! You don’t need to have expensive things or show them off but have pens you like, fun highlighter and sticky notes. Pick out playlists of music that makes you feel focused.

Affirm and trust yourself! When you get that flashcard right? Heck yeah! You did it holy crap! Celebrate! Be proud of yourself. You worked hard, you deserve to feel good. Your best is good enough, and your best may vary day-to-day.

[mobandy644-blog]

Changing, again...

My relationship with tumblr is all over the place. 😂 I’m not a frequent tumblr user, sometimes I just randomly remember it exists. I started using tumblr beginning of highschool when I discovered the proana hashtags (terrible terrible terrible). I wanted to lose weight so I thought “trying” to be anorexic was great. Obviously it didn’t work because you can’t “try” to have an eating disorder. But then when I got into college I became obsessed with the studyblr community so I tried that. And my blog switched between healthy eating and studying off and on (I’ve deleted it all I believe). And then when I went vegan it switched to that. Well now I’m joining a new community: witchblr.

Its funny how you can see yourself change through a social media. I of course have had no success sticking to a blog before so this probably won’t be any different but it’s fun and who knows, I may, so why not? I started getting into witchcraft about six months ago now. I wasn’t able to do much with it because of spring semester but I’ve graduated now and have quite a bit of time on my hands so I’ve been learning a lot. I’m still a total beginner and don’t feel comfortable practicing any actual magic right now, nor am I in a space that I can. But soon I should be in my own space, totally starting over, and be able to be who I want. Until then I’m still learning and enjoying my path every day!

I’m a Christian witch, even though that’s taboo in some circles. I’m not Wiccan but I do enjoy learning about Wicca and I like parts of the rede and things people follow. Likewise I don’t follow any deities or believe in them per se but I do enjoying learning about them. I also do not consider mysel pagan or christo-pagan (whatever that is). I worship God and Jesus and have no intentions of changing that up. My path is growing every day as I learn and figure out what I truly believe in and what I want to focus on.

I’d like to post a lot of things about my grimoire as well as other witchy things when I settle in to a new place. I also love to read and there are so many witchy books, I’d like to do book reviews. I bullet journal and am quite artistic so you can expect that as well as other general lifestyle deals. I mostly came back to tumblr though for the grimoire and book of shadows hashtags so I want to contribute a lot to that. I am vegetarian, goal of being completely vegan which is hard right now as I have a terrible relationship with food and am living out of my own complete control currently. So there may be some veg food here and there, especially since that is definitely part of my practice.

So if any of those things sound interesting to you you can follow. If not you can unfollow or not follow. I want to post my journey mostly for me so I can look back in years and think how weird I was, just like I do when I look back on what I wrote even a year ago now.

[marieriestudies-blog]

eleven questions tag!

rules: answer these 11 questions, make up some more and tag 11 people!

tagged by @euonym-tan <333333

the eleven questions

favorite quote? ah yes my fave quote “fake it till u make it” mostly bECAUSE ITS TRUE and its a motto i absolutely LIVE for

do you believe in aliens? i think its kinda farfetched that the only sentient/living beings live in earth so....yeah......

likewise, do you believe in ghosts? only when the lights are on

if you have pets, can you tell us about them, and if you don’t, what pet would you like? i have a dog but its more like a guard dog??? my mom doesnt want to bring my dog in the house or interact w it :(((

if you had the opportunity to go to space, would you go? SUREEE provided i can still return to earth in less than half a year

if you could learn any instruments overnight, what would it be? oh man learning the piano the guitar and the violin would be pretty cool

similarly, if you could learn any language overnight what would it be? technically i can speak tagalog but i’d still pick it alongside both cantonese and mandarin and french and spanish and bisaya and (basically a lot)

what music gives you feelings of nostalgia? any early 00 and 10 song probably (im a sucker for hsm songs)

what are five things that make you really happy? high quality journals, fast internet speed, hot chocolate, cold weather, taking naps

what’s the first thing you notice about a person when you meet them? the way they speak

what’s something you dream of doing in the future? either drawing or designing stuff??? yea

questions from @euonym-tan

why did you join tumblr? i joined main tumblr wAYYYY back in 2012 to look at a dork diaries blog (i still use it) and i joined studyblr to motivate myself more to study

your current favorite song? NEOREUL WIHAE LILILI YABBAY (lilili yabbay -- svt performance team)

if you had the opportunity to travel, where would you go? hong kong singapore korea japan france (but mostly hong kong,,,,,for the egg tarts,,,,,,and muji)

what is your soul made of? idk......stuff......

what is your favorite book? i rly liked simon vs the homosapien agenda when i read it last summer but i forgot most of it huhuhu

my questions

whats your fave season and why?

what super power would you want to have?

cats or dogs?

whats a blog u’ve been loving lately?

what are your interests?

tagging: @minimalismstudies @cmpsbls @ishouldbestudyingrightnowtbh @vivianastudies @studyingwithjongin @medkip @taehyungnotes @jhsstudy @hoshi-studies @mochistudie @penseuls

[rivkahstudies]

requested by @niviasthoughts - thank you for approaching me!! I hope this post can help!

The IB Program is hectic enough without having to worry about where your stuff is, when you need it, and how you’re doing. Keeping track of things is pretty much essential for success, because once you get behind it’s difficult to catch up.

I graduated in 2018 with an IB score of 37 out of 45. I started the two years organized and ended even more organized than I thought possible. It’s definitely a program that tests your limits and forces you to surpass or reinvent them.

This is gonna be a pretty long post, so I'm going to put it under the cut.

part one: starting out

It's important that, before you follow through with any of the systems I suggest/inventing your own, you check that your teacher doesn't already have a system set up. In my experience, my teachers' systems have never worked as well as ones that I have determined for myself, because they haven't spent ages and ages developing it just for MY benefit like I have. However, just as life often does to us, you may not have a choice.

Some teachers (and in my experience, the ones I like the least) have a system that they don't just suggest but enforce, and will often take off points in grades such as notebook checks if you don't use their suggested materials/system. There's no way around this, so make absolutely sure you can use your own system on a class-by-class basis to ensure you're getting the best grade you can. Those points add up.

part two: materials

You do not need anything fancy or expensive. All of my stationery is pretty affordable and there are only a couple products I use that I saved for/splurged on. You. do. not. need. fancy. stationery. to. succeed. or! be! a! real! studyblr! say it with me y'all.

I'm not even going to bother to list specific brands because it'll just discourage you from others. I'm going to be as vague as possible. For a reason. Decide for yourself what you like best.

rivkah's very basic IB shopping list

black/blue pens

(trust me, you'll need multiple. I went through a whole pack of 12 THE FIRST SEMESTER of my senior year because I was writing so much.)

a binder and loose leaf paper OR notebook, one for each class

this is entirely up to your personal preference. I prefer to have loose leaf paper because I can rearrange things as I wish (I'm so indecisive and often reorganize). I typically choose 1 inch binders and 4-8 tab dividers. It really depends on the class how I organize these dividers, but they're usually something like classwork/homework/projects/tests/etc.

a colored set of some kind of writing implement

markers, pens, highlighters, it REALLY DOESN'T MATTER as long as you have AT LEAST five colors. I prefer 7-10, because annotating history/english documents requires that you look for a lot of different things. pick whatever works best for you and figure out what your color systems are. it's best to have multiple, especially cross-subject, because your needs may differ depending on the document.

a pencil pouch/supplies organizer

again, whatever fits your preference. I like backpacks with pockets that have little built-in organizers or a pencil pouch that, likewise, has different compartments. I'm one of those people where I like to know EXACTLY where my materials are. I don't like wasting time rifling through a general pouch. if that doesn't bother you, go ahead and get one!

post-it notes

these are so versatile. annotations, reminders, misc notes, anything. I always have multiple colors and sizes on me because I use post-it notes for almost everything, including writing down ideas and reminding myself of deadlines.

planner/bullet journal

digital or paper, doesn't matter. but YOU NEED TO WRITE THINGS DOWN IN IB. don't rely on your memory, because it'll start failing you as soon as you get stressed and busy. also don't worry about spending too much money. I like my bullet journal because if I feel artsy, I can be. If I'm in a hurry, I can keep it minimal. plus I never need to worry about not having enough space to plan. whatever you pick, if it works, stick to it. don't try to have 5 planners because I guarantee you'll just confuse yourself.

misc materials like scissors, glue, white-out, tape, etc

I like to have these on hand just because you never know when you or someone else might need them.

part three: how to integrate these materials/systems

general tips

if something can be done in less than 15 minutes, do it as soon as you can--whether it's at lunch, in extra time at the end of class, or when you first get home.

if it's a large project/assignment, get something down the first day it's assigned. write up a schedule to work on it, or an outline/draft skeleton, or do a little research into what you'd be interested in covering if it's open-ended. something, anything. at the very least, if you don't make progress, it'll cement the assignment in your mind and you won't forget at easily.

do not leave readings to the last minute. they often seem small in comparison to presentations or essays, but they're important.

whenever possible, try to link projects or topics back to your interests. it makes things like the IAs or EE so much easier to write... because the only thing worse than having to write 2000 or 4000 words is having to write 2000 or 4000 words on a topic that puts you to sleep.

utilize your connections with your teachers. in most cases, they want to help and see you succeed. if you have any teachers you're close with, confide in them.

at the very least, if you can't be friendly with them, communicate with them. and suck up a little. because if you're in their good graces, they'll be more understanding when you have your 9th consecutive breakdown or run out of time and can't hand something in. And if they know you're having problems (mentally, socially, in your family, whatever) they can extend their hand to help more. even if it's just one or two teachers, it makes a difference.

set reminders in your phone/calendar for the end of the school day if you have to take a textbook home and you keep it in a locker (hopefully you do, it's bad for your back. IB is bad for your back lmao.) it'll save your life when you start on your way home, exhausted, not remembering. funny how stress makes you totally memory-less.

is a desktop and phone app that has saved my life on numerous occasions. it's more suited for college, but it's really nice because you can track your PROGRESS on assignments, not just on whether you've completed them or not.

obvious, but get sleep and eat good foods. it'll improve your concentration and memory.

it's really tempting when you walk into your room to just dump your stuff somewhere, maybe in a pile. try to make a bin/tray/spot that is specifically for "stuff to be done/sorted/taken care of" and then take care of it nightly.

I know it's often tempting to relax until dinner (at least, if you're like me) and then do your homework after dinner, but please. start your homework as soon as possible once you're home, or before then if you can. you don't have to study every second, but I know I got really tired of seeing 2:30 AM blinking back at me every night.

set your own deadlines and, for the love of all, hold yourself accountable for them.

schedule in at least a half-hour of you time, hopefully in the middle of your homework. you'll forget to have it otherwise and you'll be a zombie. I've been there.

English

stay ahead on readings. see above. if possible/time allowing, read/skim the first time and THEN go back to annotate once you understand what you're looking at. when you notice things the first time, you can start connecting the dots the second.

always know where your books are. have a specific place in your backpack/locker/desk/room. nothing's worse than losing a book you're halfway through and have a paper due.

keep detailed notes for your EA/IOP/IOC. my teacher made us do this thing called "grids" which dissected key symbols/motifs/themes to DEATH, and it was hell, but it helped a lot.

History

again, detailed notes. include not just what happened but why? what were the causes, the events, the effects, and the historical interpretations? this is a fancy little buzz word for "quotes others have on the subject." if you throw even one of these into each of your final papers during senior exams, it boosts your score. my history of the americas teacher never let us forget it. and boy, did I have it in my head by May 2018.

you don't *need* a book for your IA or History EE, but let me tell you, it's hard as hell to get a good score without one. get that deep, deep knowledge bb.

keep things in whatever order works best for you. for my purposes, I always did it chronologically, because I didn't want to jump around too much in an essay. but there's other ways to structure an essay and you need to find what your strong points are.

Spanish/French/etc language

I personally took Spanish. Got a 7 in it, too, so I know how to organize best for this class.

It's INCREDIBLY important that you stay organized in this class, particularly with vocabulary. It's up to you how you want to study and structure your notebook, but leave ample room to write words over and over and over.

You will most likely (assuming your teacher is doing their job) have readings. Devise your own color system, but I typically had three colors for Spanish readings: 1) words I don't know (and later define), 2) vocabulary we learned in class/need to memorize, if applicable, and 3) words I know/need more practice with. You can add/subtract depending on your strength and weakness in the language.

Math

The only class I kept a notebook for, not a binder.

You won't pass just by studying rules. You need to be able to apply them, too, so please keep a section of your notebook/binder for practicing problems. As many as it takes/you have time for.

Keep. All. Your. Tests. I do this for all my classes, but it is VITAL for Math that you're aware of your weaknesses. When it comes down to it, you need to study what you DON'T know, not what you know.

Science

I took Biology. My brother is currently taking Physics.

There will be math in both, just much more in Physics. Follow the rules above for Math when applicable.

Biology was so difficult for me that I rewrote my notes three times. First for studying for the upcoming test, then for the Year 1 "final" my teacher gave, then again for the IB Exams. It's incredibly time-consuming, and might not work for you like it did me. Whatever you do, organize your notes in a way that let you understand difficult concepts in a step-by-step order. IB Bio and Physics are super step-by-step and if you go out of order, you lose points.

Art

I took art, not psychology, so I'm sorry I can't help for psych. But I was basically on my own for art because my teacher was not up-to-date NOR ORGANIZED AT ALL. I had to do all the research myself for the rules before I could even start my work. And I had to do it all senior year, because she wouldn't let me start as a junior.

honestly, I could write a whole separate post just on this subject.

make sure your stuff is neat and in black pen. especially for your process portfolio, that's the only way they'll grade it. I did my Comparative Study on the computer.

TOK Presentation/TOK Essay/IAs/EE

I didn't mention this in the material list, but I was so paranoid about losing materials necessary for my History IA and EE that I literally had 2 folders, one for each of them, JUST devoted to all of the papers that were thrown at me for them.

I was instructed to keep one for my EA by my English teacher, AND I had another kept my grids (used to study for the EA) in a separate folder too.

This is completely optional, but I found it really helpful in making sure I knew where I was with all of my assignments. You could easily substitute all these folders for an accordian binder, it whatever works best for you.

Okay, I've covered all of the subjects I took and major assignments, as well as the general organizational tips. There's still so much more, but this is the bulk of what I did and what I remember. If any of you want to see anything on one of these subjects specifically, please reach out to me! And as always: IB is scary and confusing, as well as incredibly fast-paced, but it isn't impossible and you're not alone. My messages and inbox are always open if you need anything.

[vivianastudies]

The 11 Questions -Tag!

rules: answer these 11 questions, make up some more and tag 11 people!

i was tagged by @marieriestudies, thanks so much, love :) i am a bit confused as to which questions i am supposed to answer, so i am just going to answer them all and then add my own, lol

the eleven questions

favorite quote? the only thing i can think of right now is “i want every single piece of you, i want your heaven and your oceans, too” ...which, yes, is lyrics from an adele song hahaha. 

do you believe in aliens? life on other planets, yes. 

likewise, do you believe in ghosts? noo

if you have pets, can you tell us about them, and if you don’t, what pet would you like? i have a doggo named Brownie, he is a border collie / kangal mix, almost seven years old and my entire life. 

if you had the opportunity to go to space, would you go? probably. i’d have to think about it for a while cause space kind of scares me (even though i’m super fascinated by it). in the end i’d probably do it.

if you could learn any instruments overnight, what would it be? guitar! 

similarly, if you could learn any language overnight what would it be? i want to become 100% fluent in italian. if we’re talking about a completely new language though... hm... maybe indonesian or hindi or something

what music gives you feelings of nostalgia? high school musical and hannah montana stuff probably.. i can’t think of anything else :D

what are five things that make you really happy? the sky (as in sunsets, sunrises, pretty cloud formations), travel, spending quality time with loved ones, good books, being noticeably good at something

what’s the first thing you notice about a person when you meet them? their eyes and how they articulate themselves

what’s something you dream of doing in the future? to travel a butt load lol

questions from @euonym-tan:

why did you join tumblr? i first joined a good eight years ago because i was frequently googling images and all the pretty ones redirected me to tumblr, so i set up my own account.

your current favorite song? i’m so bad with choosing favourites. one of my current (and probably all time) favourite songs is “Kaffee warm” by OK KID, though. it’s german but it’s got amazing lyrics :b

if you had the opportunity to travel, where would you go? the Entire Fucking World™. south east asia and scandinavia to start with though.

what is your soul made of? i don’t think i believe in the existence a soul, really. i think what others would describe as your “soul” is just your brain and how it works with or processes things. so i’d say it’s made out of neurons, fat and water 

what is your favorite book? “the trees” by Ali Shaw :)

@marieriestudies questions: 

whats your fave season and why? autumn!! i just love autumnal vibes..

what super power would you want to have? the power of controlled invisibility :b

cats or dogs? doggooos

whats a blog u’ve been loving lately? oooh i can’t decide. i’m into all the studyblr content i reblog big time. there’s no specific tumblr or blog that i go to these days.

what are your interests? since i am terrible with this particular question i am just gonna copy/paste the interests i listed on my CV lol:  creative writing, literature, photography, science, good food, badminton, running, trekking and hiking, travel  

my questions:

what good thing happened to you in the past summer?

what’s your “morning routine” like? 

do you believe in second chances? does everyone deserve one?

your ultimate favourite food?

do you still have stuffed toys? tell me a bit about them 

describe your style 

love at first sight - real or bullshit? 

opinions on “true love”? 

favourite subject / topic to learn about? why? 

who are you most comfortable around? why? 

what are you looking forward to in the new year? 

i am tagging: @hydratedstudying @allonstudying @mathilda-studies @mystudyxmotivation @aoademic @rosestudiies @giraffe-stvdies @financestudies @study-now-procrastinate-later @stubborn-studies @teasconesstudy