#this used to be a studyblr back in the day

[dianneking]

marathon writing set up - a guide

Hi tumblr!

I’m gonna have to write a scientific paper over the course of a weekend and as I was setting up to do so, I thought some of you might find something of interest in my method to successfully set up for. these can apply to any type of writing and can work for other types of mental effort on a deadline I guess (studying, content creation etc)

Also, usual disclaimer, this is my method, not The One and Only Way to do stuff yada yada. 

(sorry if it’s rambly, I wanted to get that out before I start on my quest.) 

Space: Clear out your work surface of all things unnecessary. this doesn’t mean you need to go on a three-day tidying spree. you don’t have the time. Just clear the space. Move the stuff to another place, throw it on the floor of another room. I don’t care, just clear the space you’re gonna be spending the whole time in. 

Food: Stock up your fridge/pantry if you have one. Ideally get nutrient-dense food, and not just junk food. Your brain needs the energy. But also, get food you’re gonna eat. Now it’s not the time to try out new diets or lifestyles. If you could survive on grilled cheese alone and be happy, get the ingredients to make yourself grilled cheese. Also, get things to snack on. If you like it, fruit is very nice because it’s an easily accessible source of simple carbs and hydration. Otherwise, whatever snack you fancy. I’ve got apricots, cherries, pretzels and prunes 

Hydration: you want to give yourself the best shot here, so staying hydrated is key. If you filter water, do it. If you buy it bottled, stock up on it. If you like fruit juices, they are once again both hydration and a sugar supply (your brain runs on simple sugars, once again, deadlines are not the times to worry about diet - unless you have to for medical reason ofc) 

Stimulants: if you know you’re gonna need energy drinks, coffee, tea, all three, none of the three, etc, make sure you have a supply on handy. 

Know what works for you. To give you an example - for me the pomodoro technique does not cut it, I’m an hyperfocuser, and having to stop after 1h to take a break is more of a bother than a relief, and the 5 or 145 minutes break very easily turns into an afternoon of procrastination. 

Know what distracts you and cut it out. Tell your family and friends that you are not going to respond tot heir texts for the duration of your marathon. Put the phone on mute or on airplane mode if that distracts you. Install selective site blockers if you don’t trust yourself on your browser but still need it open to get the work done. 

[ossuaree]

sep. 21, 2023 / day 31/100

desperately pretending it’s fall and not a sunny 89° 🎃

now let’s see if i can’t finish this paper before my brain gives up on the day

[gatheryepens]

Week three is over and my a levels are complete here comes the long summer :)

[stuckinapril]

Hi Cianna, just wanted to say I really admire your study ethic and general vibe on this blog (you inspire me to do better!)

Do you have any advice/tips for good study habits and staying focused? I find that I get some work done, but after a break I can't get back on track

Sorry for the long ask/ studyblr type of question;; what is your favourite hairstyle that you do with your hair! (I also have curly brown hair :)

Have a lovely day also <3

🌻🌻

hi! i touch on a lot of points in this other ask, but a few specific learning techniques i abide by are:

parkinson's law. parkinson's law states that work expands to fill the time. basically if you have an essay that's due in a week, it will magically take you one week to get it done, even if the task itself could've been done in one day. to counter this i just set artifical deadlines for myself--even if an essay is due in a week, my personal deadline has it due in two days.

prime your brain prior to learning. if you need to study a biology chapter, pre-skim it the night before. this is not the time to go into detail--it's the time to familiarize yourself with the overview of the topic, so you should only be making a quick scan of the chapter. another priming method is to make a concept map of topics before diving into a chapter. as you skim write down key terms haphazardly, google those you don't recognize, and draw a concept map linking them together. this is effective bc it requires you to actually put effort into connecting the topics, takes no longer than 15 minutes, and speeds up the learning process that follows. it doesn't matter if you find out you're wrong once you dive in; what's important is you're actively thinking of how these topics coexist, as opposed to mindlessly taking notes or highlighting only to forget what you learned a couple hours later. i'm also a fan of concept maps bc i get to go back and highlight stuff i'm weak in, which is always a plus.

if you like to take notes, use it as another means of active recall. don't just passively take notes as you go along. what i like to do is i read a paragraph, close the book, then try to take down notes based off memory alone. this helps me both phrase the topic in my own words and realize what my learning gaps are, rather than just passively summarize without putting effort into truly understanding/memorizing something. anything i get wrong i hammer into my brain until i can't get it wrong anymore.

take notes effectively. our brain does not learn in sentences and paragraphs. it learns in bullet points, diagrams, and figures--and that's how i like to frame my notes. first i ask myself if i actually need to take notes to begin with, or if there are online notes out there i can use to save time (which, as a stem student, there typically are). if i do decide to take notes, i never mindlessly summarize. i always condense the material into bullet points, diagrams, concept maps, or visual representations. i also like to phrase my notes as questions rather than just passive summaries, so that when i review them i'm already testing myself in a way. most people would not understand my notes bc they're either very low-yield stuff, stuff i'm weak in, or bare-bones fragments of information.

always prioritize weaknesses. if you're weaker at chapter 18 of your textbook vs chapter 1, maybe start with chapter 18. don't spend 6 hours taking notes on chapter 1 if you're already strong in chapter 1. always attack your weaknesses first.

practice practice practice!! so so important. i owe all my As to mock exams, quizzes i make myself, end-of-chapter questions etc etc. imo practice matters a lot more than passive content review.

interleaving concepts helps with retention. an example of this is i like to do biology and chemistry one day, biochemistry and organic chemistry the next day, physics and psychology the day after... i'm not just doing biology all day, every day. another thing i like to do if i'm in a massive rut is i hop between tons of different subjects on the same day, which keeps me from getting bored/helps me understand the subjects better through distinguishing their differences.

retrospective timetable. an example of this is if i find i'm pretty weak in a particular physics topic, the next few days will disproportionately focus on physics over other subjects. inversely, if i just breezed through a biology chapter, the next few days will have less biology than initially planned. i'm constantly going back and revising my study timetable based on my performance of the day, rather than relying on a rigid prospective timetable that doesn't take into account my progress.

less passive learning, more active. spaced repetition is a big one. i love anki for this bc there's an algorithm that dictates how often topics come up again based on how well you answer them. other methods include active recall, having friends quiz you, and trying to teach the topic to others (or the plushie in your bedroom haha). if you find you're struggling to simplify topics and explain them, that's a sign you don't understand them very well yourself.

[ben-learns-smth]

re-introduction time, hi I'm Bente (they/he), Ben is also fine! formerly known as bennistudies

quick facts:

mid-20something wrapping up their master's teaching degree (english & german)

starting a new job as a substitute teacher in may (exciting but scary!) (that didn't happen, but other good things did!)

this is a somewhat-studyblr, definitely some langblr content and otherwise the usual meme, jokes, life update, bookish stuff

languages I'm currently learning: DGS (german sign language) & Norwegian

it's been a bit over five years since I joined the studyblr community with my old blog and I've learned so much from others since then but also I just really enjoy seeing everyone doing their thing and making it work, ya'll are so impressive!!

hyperspecific poll with fun facts to get to know each other is here

a more rambly hello under the cut:)

after I basically stopped posting on my old studyblr bennistudies last late summer, I realised that having to switch back and forth between accounts was the issue. I missed being active here! so to solve that, I've created this sideblog for easier access. hi, it's good to see you again :)

for those interested, I'll definitely leave little updates on how the job is going (as much as I'm allowed), especially when it comes to being a nonbinary trans teacher since a bunch of ppl found that interesting when I mentioned it on my old blog. posts related to that will be both under #mine and #bente does gender

originally, I expected to be done with my thesis already, which is why I have lots of language classes going on/starting rn. I have 4 lessons of german sign language level 2 left, level 3 starts this week as a parallel class though (posts will be under #bente learns sign language). last week I started norwegian a1 (#bente learns norwegian)!

other than that new focus on teaching and language learning, it'll be the usual chaos, rambles, and water drinking reminders though. I'm not even gonna pretend that I'm doing this for accountability, I just like sharing my cosy little corner of the world and seeing what you lot are up to

I still track #benniscup, please use it freely for any type of post! yes that includes rambles (if you want me to see and potentially reblog)

if you want to talk books, baking, plants or just about your day, please reach out!

tagging a bunch of my old mutuals and blogs I've followed for what feels like forever bc I appreciate you all and hope you know that: @septemberstudies @learnelle @studyingwithcatsandtea @veralernt @teacherstudiies @lattesandlearning @somerabbitholes @yourneighborhoodbibliophile @adelinestudiess @godzilla-studies @oneanxiousstudybuddy @gabiestudies @patchworkstudies (& the knife gang pals, obviously <3)

[pianistbynight]

hi! ~a belated studyblr intro~

just realized i never did a proper intro for this blog!

so, hello, i've been flip flopping between taking lessons and self-studying piano for several years and this blog was (and still is) intended to be a studyblr to track my progress.

i'm currently self-studying as my time is split between this and STEM studies (more on that on my side blog @studentbyday) but i really really hope to finally establish a consistent practice (after struggling to do so for many years 😅) so i know i will be able to handle weekly lessons again 😤

🎓 goals for piano/music studies:

enjoy playing music (including without headphones)

establish sustainable routines so i can practice piano every day or at least every week

get over stage fright and paralyzing perfectionism

improve my sight reading

motivate myself to learn more music theory and use it to analyze my favorite songs

find fellow music enthusiasts on tumblr!

💗 interests/inspirations:

classical music (my favorite composer is chopin but beethoven is a close second)

jazz

your lie in april (i read the manga online and really really wanna see the anime!)

Tiffany Poon and Animenz's playing

🎹 accumulated study tips: resources, practice strategies, coming back after hiatus, hand independence and method books

[kraro-school-life]

✦ Studyblr Introduction ✦

Hello! If you´re reading this, welcome to my blog! I am pretty new to Tumblr, but I´ve always admired the Studyblrs here, so I thought of making one too. I am really excited to start this, so let´s go!

────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────────

About me ✮⋆˙

My (nick)name is Karo (♦️)

pronouns: she/any pronouns

I am Polish, but now live in Germany

16 y/o, leo

English is my 3rd language (so it´s possible that I make some mistakes, forgive me pls)

My favourite colour is red!!

────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────────

Education ✮⋆˙

Gymnasium

As I´m still in high school I still have all my chosen (mandatory) subjects, but the ones I chose to have advanced are: Math, Physics, Economics and Art

My current average grade is 9,6 (out of 10)

────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────────

Hobbies ✮⋆˙

Figure Skating!

I do figure skating and am in the 8. Kürklasse (German system). I am currently training for my exam.

Art!

I love everything related to art. I have to keep a sketchbook for school, but I really enjoy working very long on paintings.

Adventure & Mountains!

Skiing, hiking, climbing, mountain biking, camping, cycling, you name it...

The internet!

memes, youtube, Pinterest, etc. Also kpop; I love kpop in general, but Stray Kids in particular (they´re my ult). I´m a huge STAY, but other groups i like are: Xikers, Nmixx and Xdinary Heroes.

────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────────

My Studyblr ✮⋆˙

Why did I make a Studyblr?

Motivation! Tracking and actually posting my progress makes me even more motivated to study. Because pretty pictures make everything better!!

Discipline! Honestly, I spend waaaay too much time on my phone. With this blog I hope to make a routine for myself and minimize my screen time, as I´m going to be posting here instead scrolling (hopefully).

Give back to the community! Studyblr helped me discover countless useful tips and tricks, as well as cool blogs that motivate me! I want to share my experiences in my own little corner of the internet for people to find.

Goals:

find a way to study sustainably, without burning out every other week

get my goal grades on exams and reports

figure out what I want to do in the future (mainly deciding on what I want to study in university)

genuinely enjoy my life as a teenager, and not “sit locked in my basement all day” - as my friend put it after seeing my grades lol

What to expect:

This blog is both a journal and archive for my academic journey, a diary of sorts. There will be everything and anything related to school (mostly tracking my progress), but also just my life. All photos are mine, except said otherwise.

────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────────

Navigation ✮⋆˙

original posts ➜ #karoriginal text ➜ #karorambles updates on stuff ➜ #karoupdates reblog ➜ #karoreblog day to day posts ➜ #karodiaries

Studyblrs I really like ✮⋆˙

@plantingatree | @shoosiopao | @miprimordialsoup | @why-the-heck-not | @ink-stained-clouds | @isasarchives | @proto-skyentist | @cyberstudious

[worminthelibrary]

studyblr intro

hi everyone! i’m a student in justice studies resuming my posting for the school year, so here's my re-introduction! I plan on using this blog to record my productivity so i'll have something other than grades to look back on :)

about me

my name is indigo

i use they/them and she/her pronouns but any pronouns will fly

starting my third year in university in the united states and i’m 20 years old

i study justice studies my focus this semester is critical race studies & ethics of science and tech

i have a minor in spanish linguistics

goals

stay caught up on my many class readings!

study one subject per day

classes this semester:

biotechnology (law/policy)

race, gender, and sex in science fiction

spanish linguistics II

statistics

classics & philosophy seminar (TA)

interests

im like if a crow loved writing - i love all types of collecting, journaling, scrapbooking, doodling, and i have many different types of physical and digital notebooks.

i am jewish, and judiasm is a qualified Interest of mine, alongside other religious and spiritual studies! i also love philosophy and tarot!

that's all! i hope i can make a few mutuals along the way!

[tranquilstudy]

Welcome to another one of my studyblr challenges! I’ve gained a lot more followers on this channel since the last time I did one of these so I wanted to say hello and I like to give people the opportunity to connect through events like these. Looking back at my last challenge there were actually a lot of very awesome people participating and I’m hoping this time around will be the same! Below you’ll find some rules, dates for when it begins and ends and the questions for each day of the challenge. These are usually pretty laidback so feel free to diverge from whatever rules I put out there. Can’t wait to meet new people and hear about what is going on in everyone’s lives!

As always, you’re more than welcome to start or stop this challenge at any time. The numbers added will correspond with when I’m tracking tags for this challenge, but they can be adjusted, re-used and re-done to your heart’s content. That being said, if you want to do it with a group and hopefully make some friends along the way, I’ll be officially tracking or starting this challenge on October 14th, 2022. The challenge has 29 questions, and with one question per day, the challenge will end on November 12th, 2022. Assuming I just counted that right. However, if you’re like me and like to answer a couple questions every couple of days, that ending day may vary for you. No worries! That’s often what happens with my posts as well.

Just like that time, I’ll be making a separate post for the taglist for this challenge. If you want to be on the taglist, just reblog this post or otherwise show interest in doing this challenge! And if you want to be added or removed you can always shoot me an ask (don’t DM me, I don’t check or answer those to get to it in a timely fashion). The taglist shows you who is hoping to participate and hopefully it’ll help people to connect with like-minded individuals!

When this challenge starts, I’ll be tracking the tag #tranquilfallbuddies so please use it when you’re posting about this challenge so I can see your lovely answers! I really bank on people using these tags to see interest in these challenges and whatever you guys have to say so feel free to use them to send me feedback or whatever you want along with your posts that are challenge related.

________________________________________________________________

So, in my last challenge I had people start each day by setting themselves an intention, or a goal, or just by stating their mindset for that day and a lot of people seemed to like that, so I'm bringing it back here! So, every day (or for every post you make for the challenge), an additional question is added where you can simply fill in one of the choices here:

1. Today, I am grateful for ________. (Studies have shown that stating what you’re grateful for in each day can actually improve your mood and outlook on life. Give it a try if you want!)

2. Today, I choose ______. (Inspired by Yoga with Adrienne, whom I still admire very much).

3. Today, my goals are _________. (what do you want to accomplish today?)

You can switch up your choices too, or you can fill out two or all three of them if you want to! Just pick one, two or three that you feel suits you best for that post. Or, you can make your own if you want!

Daily Questions:

The beginning of the challenge, woohoo you did it! A lot of the time starting is the hardest part. So, tell us a little bit about yourself! What are you studying currently, what where are you in your life right now? Are you happy with where you are right now? What are your goals in doing this challenge? (this is taken from the last challenge! I loved all the answers you guys gave for it so I’m bringing it back!)

What was the last book you finished?

What type of books are you interested in?

When was the last time you had a life-changing revelation? What revelation did you have?

Cut up some fruit for yourself. Show us what fruit you picked and why.

Do you find yourself procrastinating? What are you procrastinating right now? Be honest haha

What do you think defines a person's character?

Teach others something about your area of study that they may not know about.

What would make you happy right now?

When did you create your study blog or tumblr account? Why did you create it? Has the blog fulfilled the goals you've set out to accomplish so far?

Show us your current study space, as it looks right now.

Who's the last person you held hands with?

What was the most productive thing you did today? Why do you consider this action to be productive?

What passions do you have that led you to studying what you're studying in school now?

What can you de-clutter physically or emotionally to find more ease and simplicity?

What is your favourite book at the moment? Now, find a song to match this book and explain your choice.

What misconceptions do people have about your area of study?

What do you own that gives off "cozy autumn vibes"? Do you decorate for autumn or spooky season at all?

How do you calm your nerves during exam season?

When was the last time you let yourself express yourself openly? What did you express?

What about you makes you proud to be you?

What kind of mental health support do you have? How often do you utilize these resources?

What do you do when you need comfort? How can you ask for comofrt from others? How can you give comfort to yourself?

What is the kindest thing you could do for yourself, right in this moment?

Do you find the process of learning something new discouraging or uplifting? What advice would you give to others to appreciate this journey more?

Have you ever dyed your hair? What colour would you dye your hair, if you could dye it any colour?

What do you do to calm yourself down when you feel anxious?

Do you enjoy spooky season? What things do you like or dislike about it?

 The end of the challenge so it's time to reflect! I'm very proud of you for completing this challenge so give yourself a high-five! Where are you in your life now that you've finished this challenge? Have you made any friends or discovered any new blogs during this challenge or because of this challenge? If so, tag them below!  

[caramelcuppaccino]

lunlun's autumn studying challenge! #studyingunderthefallingleaves

Hi and hello everyone! Welcome to my blog and my studying challenge! ✧⁠◝⁠(⁠⁰⁠▿⁠⁰⁠)⁠◜⁠✧ My name is Lunlun. I am creating this challenge because my uni started on October and I want to motivate myself and keep track of my studies. I hope you will participate and enjoy the challenge too!

• How to participate?

Just reblog this post! You don't need to follow me or anything like that. And do not forget to post your posts with the hashtag #studyingunderthefallingleaves so that everyone can see your posts! You do not need to start at a certain date. I wouldn’t even mind if you started the challenge during summer :] Just try to enjoy it and make sure you’re taking breaks and taking good care of yourself!

• Prompts:

Day 1: Welcome! Let’s start with a simple question: What is your major/What do you study?

Day 2: Share your goals for this challenge. What do you want to accomplish by the end of it?

Day 3: What does autumn mean for you?

Day 4: Share a song that has autumn vibes with us.

Day 5: Why did you choose your major/what you study?

Day 6: Are there other languages you learn besides your native langauge? If so, which ones?

Day 7: What is the best place to study for you in autumn?

Day 8: What do you like to drink while you study? You can share the recipe if you want!

Day 9: Do you have a memory, which happened during autumn, you remember with a smile on your face?

Day 10: What is your favorite thing about your major? Why?

Day 11: Which one of your courses do you like the most? And the one you just can’t like no matter what you do?

Day 12: Do you have any studying methods you use? If so, share them with us (please *sobs*)!

Day 13: Which one do you prefer: Digital devices and online platforms or notebooks and books? And why?

Day 14: Share a picture of your favorite pen/pencil!

Day 15: You’ve finished the half of the challenge (for now as more prompts will be added), so let’s look back at your goals. Are you getting closer to accomplishing them?

Day 16: Share an article you’ve read and enjoyed recently.

Day 17: What is your favorite thing about having a studyblr blog?

Day 18: Share a YouTube channel and/or a podcast you like to watch/listen that inspires you.

Day 19: How was your day? You can talk about anything; vent or share a moment. I personally am willing to hear!

Day 20: Where are you from and how is the school system in your country? As a prospective teacher, I like to hear about different education systems. For example, in my country, we have a 4+4+4 system where students study elementary, middle school and high school (seperately) for four years. Most departmens in universities are also for four years; however, medicine students, for example, have to study for six years.

Day 21: Share a random fact you know.

Day 22: What is your best feature according to you?

Day 23: Okay, you have to praise yourself with at least two sentences. Go! I am listening!

Day 24: What do you think about homeworks? Do you think they are necessary or just burden for students?

Day 25: What was your favorite subject as a child?

Day 26: What advice would you give to people who want/will start to study your major?

Day 27: What book are you reading right now? Do you like it so far?

Day 28: Share a playlist you listen to while studying.

Day 29: What is your favorite autumn food?

Day 30: It’s been a month already! How are you feeling? Is keeping up with the challenge tiring? Have you enjoyed it so far? Please share your thoughts!

• From Lunlun: I will add more prompts later, probably for 30 days again. I am posting this part for now as if I try to write more now, I know it’ll take more time for me to share the challenge and don’t wanna miss autumn!

Tag List (let me know if you’d like to be tagged!):

[aro-langblr]

life update

(but like, not terrible this time)

as of 3 days ago, I've started my training to become a pharmacy technician. so I'm technically a student again. I'm not attending any classes for another few months though. I probably won't talk much about it on this blog because I do want to focus on language / linguistics. but it feels like a studyblr type topic to mention haha

for the new year, my only goal is to engage with my hobbies more. I've been practicing throughout december to hopefully set myself up for success in january.

my general language aims for at least the start of next year are:

study / practice lithuanian somewhat consistently again

get back into a habit of consuming japanese media

maintain my german (unsure of what methods to use atm)

occasionally dabble / indulge an interest in other languages that I routinely have affection for (primarily icelandic and romanian, but maybe also polish and others)

I'm still very scared that I'll drop the ball very quickly come the new year due to past precedent, but I want to try, and I've been doing decent this past week :)

[szarolina]

intro

Witam! I had been lurking in the studyblr community before I left Tumblr a few years ago. Yet here I come again and hope I still fit since I'm not a student anymore. I hope we'll get along!

About

I'm Karolina and I'm 27 years old.

From Poland (with love ♡).

INTJ & 5w6 / 8w9

I'm a graduate of two Master degrees: 1) International Relations in Asia 2) Russian & Central Asian Studies. I'm currently writing two theses and hopefully finish them by December.

Next, I want to enroll in PhD program and focus on politics, economy and markets in East and Southeast Asia.

In the meantime I'm looking for a job in the field. I'm thinking of an analyst of the area (just Asia or better Eurasia so it would cover both my degrees), but mixing it with academic path, so while pursuing PhD degree.

One of my hobbies are foreign languages! Over time of my education I've managed to learn English, French, Russian and I'm still learning Japanese (currently at B1+ level). I used to learn Mandarin Chinese, but I intend to get back to it at some point. Also, I'm interested in picking Korean.

I like learning often just for sake of it since my mind needs to be constantly on the go (it gave me sleepless nights several times). It could be picking some textbook (I learnt bases of macroeconomics by myself), doing some online quizes on all seas, gulfs and straits or reading a popular history/science books (because of the Oppenheimer movie, I bought "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Richard Rhodes and yes, that's my current read!). I just enjoy it.

I have a never-ending books list on my Goodreads account (2600+ and counting). I like nonfiction (history, biography, political science, business, economics, you name it) and catching up on classics. Also, a h u g e Nabokov fan.

I'm one of these people who need to write everything down, from day schedule, important dates and tasks to all kinds of lists, trackers and brain dump. My Filofax is with me everywhere I go.

In general, I tend to be super-organized and put together. That applies to my daily or at least weekly schedule, surroundings or appearance - otherwise I can't properly focus.

I can't live without good coffee and I'm very picky about it.

Blog

The plan is to make it more personal by posting original content: hopefully daily, realistically a few times per week - mostly covering my writing proccess and languages learning, but also other random things. I intend to reblog some posts too, but I wish to keep the balance between that and OC.

Tagging #szarolina and #karolinatalking

My inbox is always open! c:

[mejomonster]

How did you learn Chinese, like did you use a specific program like Duolingo or did you take classes? How hard was it to read Priest's novels with where you were at in your language learning journey? I want to get back into learning (been wanting to since I watched The Untamed,) but I gave up about 8 months ago 😭

Hey ovo)/ so uh. That's a big question. I have a studyblr @rigelmejo so if you really want the full on journey lol its on there, steps i took and what I studied and progress and study tools I found and used and stuff I've linked for people.

For the shortest tip I can give you? Would be to check out the Heavenly Path site if you're interested in learning to read novels. You'll need to figure out your own way to study about 1000 common hanzi, basic grammar, and basic pronunciation (I link resources on rigelmejo), but after that point the Heavenly Path site has reading resources for graded reading, easier kids novels, easier manhua, webnovels by difficulty level, all the way up! So you can at that point just follow their recommendations and use reading tools they link (like Pleco and Readibu apps which I suggest you download asap - they include tools where you can click a chinese word when reading for translation and audio pronunciation and pinyin). So yeah at 1000 hanzi, just start reading from their suggestions! (Also consider downloading Bilibili Comics app as it has English and Chinese free manhua, so you can start reading manhua earlier, and youtube/viki.com learn mode and Any platforms with dual english/chinese subs and start trying to look up 1 word every 5 minutes or more as curious and practicing reading the chinese words in subs you've learned). I suggest you check out all pages on the Heavenly site, they link a ton of resources.

The short-ish version of what I did the first year I studied chinese? I fumbled a lot, read through an entire grammar guide summary in a few weeks here http://chinese-grammar.com/, watched some YouTube tone videos and went through a pronunciation guide here https://www.dong-chinese.com/learn/sounds/pinyin which took a week or two and I'd do it every few months, read through the book Learning Chinese Characters: (HSK Levels 1-3) A Revolutionary New Way to Learn the 800 Most Basic Chinese Characters by Tuttle publishing in about 2 months (I really liked their mnemonics to help me remember hanzi), started Ben Whatley memrise decks 1000 Chinese common words and 2000 common words (took about 2 weeks to finish one then I took a few months break then studied the other 1000, mainly focusing on studying new words and not reviewing until the last week if I had time - in retrospect I think learners would do better with the Chinese Spoonfed Anki deck but the memrise courses I used worked fine for me). I was watching cdramas as usual most weeks, English subs with the Chinese hardsubs on the video file like most youtube cdramas, with Google Translate app on my phone to look up a word every several minutes as curious. Once I was 3ish months in and learning the memrise Ben Whatley 2000 common chinese words, I read some Mandarin Companion graded readers in Pleco app then some more 300-600 word graded readers in Pleco. That gets me to like month 6ish. Then I started reading manhua and looking up words in pleco or Google translate when I needed to in order to grasp main idea overall (or was curious about a particular word). Kept reading graded readers in pleco.

Around month 8 I tried 天涯客 and 镇魂, both brutally hard. I was reading in Pleco in the Clipboard Reader (from websites) or the Reader tool (i bought it for like $20 dollars along with handwriting recognition, OCR, and expanded dictionaries). Mandarinspot.com has a good reading tool too that can add pinyin if you need it, and Readibu in some ways i prefer to Pleco depending on your particular reading needs on a given day. Tried a few easier webnovels, tried a pingxie fanfic 寒舍 which was hard but easier than priest novels (love that fanfic). I kept bouncing between webnovels then around month 10 天涯客 novels took about 1.5 hours to read through a chapter. At that point I brute force tried to read it or 寒舍 daily with 1 chapter a day, got 28 chapters in before i burned out with 天涯客 and 60ish chapters into 寒舍. It was about a year in. I cram studied 500 hanzi in some common hanzi deck with mnemonics I found on anki over a month, hoping if I improved vocab I'd read easier. I also was gradually trying to watch more cdrama with only chinese subs, around month 6 I finally watched Granting You a Dreamlike life full episodes with no eng subs (about 5-10 word lookups an episode), watched 15ish eps, then after that shows got less daunting to try watching.

A little over a year in Word of Honor came out and I watched it in chinese first because I was too impatient for eng subs. After that went decently I got braver about reading, tried Listening Reading Method (see @rigelmejo for those experiments), more stuff etc like extensive reading with no word lookups.

In retrospect I WISH I'd started with easier novels Heavenly Path recommended. However on the other hand? I've seen people who read their first cnovel with Pleco as early as 3-6 months in which blows my mind. So me picking hard novels to start isn't the Hardest thing in comparison lol. This past year (so at start of year 3 studying lol) I actually read like 10 things on Heavenly Paths easier recommendations and it helped immensely in filling in gaps in vocab and reading fluidity I had. So if you do pick a priest novel as your first novel and manage to chug through it without giving up, be aware "easier" novels may still have stuff you can learn later so don't rule them out as reading materials later on.

I've also seen people do literally no study except maybe some curious Google searches on hanzi or grammar or pronunciation, then brute force read novels in Readibu until they improved. A brutal way to do it but possible. (I really recommend at minimum learning hanzi are made of radicals though as it makes recognizing and remembering them so much easier).

I think the best thing I did for learning to read was just being Brave and Trying to read regularly. And it gradually got less hard.

[izicodes]

May Monk Mode Challenge

I made another challenge!! May Monk Mode Challenge - A Studyblr Challenge! In this challenge, we will incorporate the productivity hack "Monk Mode" to help you stay focused and productive during your study sessions. The goal of this challenge is to create a habit of consistent and effective studying that will help you reach your academic goals. I am excited because I made a post about it back in March but already started the April Study Challenge so here we go!

Don't know what "Monk Mode" means in terms of studying? I made a post about it here! - LINK

Set aside a specific time each day for your study session. This could be early in the morning, after lunch, or in the evening, whichever works best for your schedule.

Turn off all distractions, including your phone, notifications, and any other potential distractions.

Create a study space that is quiet and free from distractions.

Set a timer for 60 minutes and commit to studying without any breaks or interruptions during this time.

After the 60 minutes are up, take a 10-minute break and then repeat the process.

One session = 60 mins study + 10 mins break. At least complete one session a day.

Day 1: What are your academic goals for this month? Write down your goals and the steps you need to take to achieve them.

Day 2: What subjects or topics do you struggle with the most? Identify your weak areas and make a plan to improve them.

Day 3: Create a study schedule for the next week, including specific topics you need to focus on.

Day 4: Review your notes from the past week and summarize the key concepts.

Day 5: Watch a video or read an article related to one of your subjects. Write a brief summary and explain how it relates to what you are studying.

Day 6: Practice active recall by testing yourself on the material you have learned so far. Use flashcards or quiz yourself.

Day 7: Reflect on your progress over the past week. What have you accomplished, and what can you improve upon?

Day 8: Identify any distractions that prevent you from studying effectively. Make a plan to eliminate them.

Day 9: Set a specific goal for your study session today. What do you want to accomplish in the next hour?

Day 10: Review your study schedule from Day 3. Are you on track to meet your goals? If not, adjust your schedule as needed.

Day 11: Practice visualization by imagining yourself acing your upcoming exams. How does it feel to achieve your academic goals?

Day 12: Identify your preferred learning style (e.g., visual, auditory, kinesthetic). How can you incorporate this into your study sessions?

Day 13: Take a practice test to gauge your understanding of the material. What areas do you need to focus on more?

Day 14: Reflect on your study space. Is it conducive to learning, or can you make improvements?

Day 15: Review the notes and study materials from one of your favorite classes. What makes this subject interesting to you?

Day 16: Create a mind map or flow chart to organize the information you have learned so far.

Day 17: Watch a TED talk or listen to a podcast related to one of your subjects. What did you learn from it?

Day 18: Use the Pomodoro technique (25-minute study sessions with 5-minute breaks) to help you stay focused.

Day 19: Review any feedback from teachers or professors. How can you incorporate this feedback into your studying?

Day 20: Take a break and do something that relaxes you (e.g., exercise, read a book, take a walk).

Day 21: Reflect on your progress over the past three weeks. What have you accomplished, and what can you improve upon?

Day 22: Identify any study habits that are not serving you well. How can you replace them with more effective habits?

Day 23: Use a mnemonic device (e.g., acronym, song, image) to help you remember a complex concept.

Day 24: Take a practice test or quiz yourself on the material you have learned so far. How much have you retained?

Day 25: Reflect on your motivation. Why are you studying this subject, and how can you maintain your motivation?

Day 26: Create a study group or find a study buddy to help keep you accountable.

Day 27: Use the Feynman Technique (teaching a concept to someone else) to help reinforce your understanding.

Day 28: Take a break from studying and attend a virtual academic event (e.g., seminar, lecture, conference).

Day 29: Review your study schedule for the month. What did you learn about your studying habits and how can you improve them?

Day 30: Reflect on your progress throughout the month. What have you accomplished, and what do you plan to do differently next month to continue improving your academic performance?

Day 31: Celebrate your accomplishments! Reward yourself for your hard work and dedication throughout the month.

I will be adding this challenge to my Study Challenges List!

Want to do another study challenge? I made a masterpost of all of the Studyblr challenges you could try and complete! - LINK

Remember to post about your progress using the #mmmstudy hashtag to track your progress and connect with other participants!

Good luck!

[mirastudiesphysics]

Obsidian.md Workflow

Introduction

Obsidian.md is a note taking app that is slowly starting to gain popularity (though notion is what I usually see in the studyblr community). There's plenty of resources online and this isn't really an introduction and assumes basic knowledge; rather, I wanted to write up my current academic workflow for using it because I almost never see obsidian workflows used for STEM related work (so if you see any others please please send them my way because I'm just making this up as I go).

Let's assume now we have a new topic/project that I want to start studying/working on.

Make a new page

Create a new page with whatever the topic is. Maybe this is for a class, a project, or some other topic that has caught your interest. I will give this page a descriptive title and add "- Main" at the end, as a way to indicate that this is more of a landing page than for note taking. For example, I could have something like "Galactic motion project - Main" or "Book Notes - Main".

I will also tag my main pages as #Main (creative, I know), just so I can quickly index my projects. An index page that links to all other main pages could also be helpful! I'm sure there could be a way to automatically index all main pages with the Dataview plugin, though I have not done this myself.

General outline

Outline your main page with things you might find immediately helpful when working on this topic. I like to have the following sections: to-dos, resources, general thoughts, questions, and current issues. I also have a "completed to-do list" at the bottom of the page so I can look back and see what I have accomplished.

Start writing!

Take notes of things that work or that you've learned. I like to write down how I troubleshoot code so that if I come across a similar issue I know how to fix it from last time. If there's a section of your main page that you find yourself referencing more than others, it might be time to make a new page for that section so you can easily link it to other pages.

If I'm studying from a book, I like to make a main page and link additional pages for each chapter.

Weekly Notes

Obsidian comes with Daily notes, but I personally prefer a weekly note. I like to write my weekly to-dos at the top for research, classes, and more general tasks. I then make a header for each day and list out my goals for each day. As the week goes on, I write up what I actually accomplished that day, even if I didn't list a task originally. Some people like to put all of their notes into their daily or weekly notes and organize later, but I just do that in a paper notebook and transfer later.

Literature

I actually don't have a setup that I'm happy with in regards to reading papers within Obsidian and I write most of my thoughts in Zotero annotations. However, I wanted to write it here regardless because it's still a part of my workflow. Zotero has a really nice feature where if you have the arxiv link to a paper, you can enter that link and Zotero will 1) read in the bibliographic information and 2) download the pdf of the paper into your library. I make a note in Zotero for each paper and note down the relevance for why I have this paper in my library. I then read through the paper in Zotero and hightlight important bits, and annotate those highlights with my own thoughts. The nice thing about Zotero is that there are several highlight colors, which I have another note on my own color code (e.g. purple for definitions or red for things I have questions on).

Plugins

Here's the list of plugins I have currently and how I use them.

Dataview: very useful for automatically organizing pages as you create them. I honestly have not used it much but I plan to as my vault grows in size.

Latex Suite: nicely formatted Latex within your notes. I enjoy using it, though my current gripes are that I can't find a way to default pairing $, so you have to manually enter a second $ and then go back inside the pair to see a preview. I also turned off the snippets, because it automatically overriding a lot of things I was writing with snippets that I did not want.

Periodic notes: The plugin I use to get Weekly notes.

Tasks: adds more features for writing to-do lists in Obsidian. You can query to-dos across your vault to list them within a single page, and organize based on due date and priority level.

Zotero Integration: Another plugin that I have honestly not used much, but I hope it will be useful as I read more literature.

Current vault view

Generally the local graph view is more useful while writing (to see immediate connections to your current page), but the vault-wide graph view is just fun to look at.

[tulipsstudyblr]

I was messing around on Canva late last night and decided to redo my studyblr logo this morning haha.

I know Canva isn't used for professional designs or portfolios, but I still find it's fun to dabble with it here and there. I'm more of a traditional art gal, but I like making simple designs when I want to be on a computer but don't know what to do.

If you can't tell, I like coffee! XD I'm drinking a cup now with the International Delights Bridgerton Creamer (English Toffee flavor) and it's pretty good. They made the flavors and designs in promotion for Bridgerton Season 3, which I am super stoked for, but the flavors themselves are super good.

I cleaned up my station in the art studio today so when I come back from spring break, I can have a fresh start. Our new prompt is to paint an interior on stretched canvas and to hopefully let that piece be our last full piece for the semester. It's super intimidating, but our professor wants us to focus on details of individual objects in a bigger setting. I am still working on my acrylic paintings for my Honors project so I am switching between acrylic and oil medium every few days.

My last oil piece I did before I leave for the break was another pet portrait of my cat (which I might post if there's interest). I liked being able to practice cat anatomy but also I worked on a larger canvas than I have done so far these past couple months.