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recipe for success

hard work, faith in yourself and your abilities, not letting fear hold you back and taking time for yourself to help you rejuvenate. don’t let little insignificant activities like scrolling through social media get in the way of hard work, don’t let insecurity get in the way of belief in yourself, it should be strong and unwavering, don’t let the what-ifs get in the way of making the choices that will either be pivotal in the positive experience they bring or the negative experience they bring (and the subsequent life lesson) and don’t let guilt stop you from enjoying time spent with yourself. you’ve only got one life, make it what you want it to be. 

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** Please Note that I am not a native English speaker, so I apologize for any grammar mistakes. ** 

I’m not very good at summarizing. I never have been. I only end up confusing myself and feeling like a huge failure.

Since I’ve been doing Distance Learning, I really didn’t have any other choice than to summarize. This is how I do it. 

1. Make a list beforehand of what you need to study. 

Go through your textbook, write down all of the headings and subheadings along with any other information that you think is important. Take your time doing this as this list will serve as a guide once you start studying for your exam(s). You can tick off each heading/subheading as you study when you’re confident that you know your work. By doing this, you’ll know what you need to work on or spend some extra time on.

2. Choose a color scheme that works for you - and stick to it!  

3. Always read through the paragraph before highlighting.

Read. Read. Read. There is absolutely no point in just highlighting sentences/words that look important. You’ll only end up wasting your time and confusing yourself. The whole process will be so much easier if you actually understand what you are reading.

4. Use sticky notes to add information/answers to questions.

5. Use diagrams/flow charts or any other visual aids that will help you to understand better.

6. Always try and simplify as you go along.

Try and summarize in your own words. Try and simplify it as much as possible. Use other resources - the internet, teachers, other students etc. to help you understand better.

I always have this quote in the back of my mind when summarizing:

“If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.” - Albert Einstein 

This isn’t always easy. Sometimes textbooks can over complicate simple things and confuse you even more. Always, always, always try to simplify as much as possible.This will help you so much in the long run.

7. Bullets.

Oh, man. 

Don’t you just hate reading long, never-ending paragraphs?!

I do. 

Don’t be afraid to break down paragraphs while reading.

It will save you some time once you start summarizing because you can break up long paragraphs into bullet points.

It makes it easier to read, too.

8. Always keep a pencil nearby.

This is great for making some NB or ??? notes on the side or just a * if you need to look up a word etc.

9. Google is your friend.

Don’t know the meaning of a word? Google it. Use one of the synonyms to simplify your summaries. This is a life saver ;)

10. Take breaks. Please. And drink water.

Sitting at your desk for hours on end without a break is not good for you. Headaches, back pain, numb feeling in your legs, stiff neck, wrist pain etc. etc. 

Get up. Stretch. Go for a short walk. Watch a YouTube video. Listen to a song. Eat a snack. Moderation is key, though. Always remember: your health is important. 

I’ll post an update later about what kind of note taking method I use!

These tips are based on my own experience, if you have anything to add, please feel free to. :)

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Hey, do you have any tips for self studying?

Hey!

So I assume by “self-studying” you mean studying for a course that is not exactly in the traditional classroom setting (i.e an online course, or one at your own pace).

I would say to first: set work goals for yourself, ones that realistically fit in with your life and other commitments. Forge good work/study habits. You can set yourself up for success by assigning only a certain number of chapters to read each night, adjusting your workload according to how hectic your schedule is in any given week, and giving yourself a mental break each week to let your mind rest. You can work on a lot at once and put it away for awhile, or gradually complete assignments every week. Self studying is pretty great in terms of this.

Find what works best for you.There are so many different ways to learn, and it is important to adjust studying techniques to find what works for you. Some people find that reading aloud is helpful, while others like taking handwritten notes rather than typing. Personally, I always prefer handwritten to typing. I only like to type my notes if I am in a physical classroom subject to a professor changing slides quickly. Discover whatever works best for you, and stick with it! Know yourself!

Review material the same day you learn it. This is actually applicable to both a self-study class as well as a physical class/traditional classroom setting. After you finish course, or reading, make sure you review all the new material, by typing up your notes, practicing your new skill, or reading over a chapter again, to help it resonate. This may seem tedious, it only takes a short amount of time. Reviewing can help with long-term absorption of material, so it decreases the need of cramming in the future. I also like to try teaching the material to someone else - your dog/boyfriend/girlfriend/best friend/roommate/mom/dad/brother/sister/etc. If you can teach it (reiterate in your own words) you will retain it so much better. If you can’t find a willing audience - stand in the mirror and give your own little TedTalk over it.

Study in short, frequent sessions. Instead of treating your study session like a marathon, break up your material by topic into a series of short sessions, separated by short breaks.I recommend using the Pomodoro Technique. Basically, you set a timer for 15-20 minutes, and focus on your work during that time. When the timer goes off, you will find that you either a) really need a break or b) can go ahead and work a couple more minutes to wrap it up. 

Prepare a study environment. While learning “remotely,” it is crucial to create and maintain a study space for yourself. This can be at a desk in your room, a coffee shop, a public library, etc. You may even consider changing it up every now and again to ensure that you are not overcome by the monotony of studying in the same place, at the same time, over and over again. I have found this especially helpful when writing essays. I would encourage you to study away from your bed -as they say your bed should only be a place for two things - I’ll let you speculate on what those are. 

I also feel that when self-studying, you will need to be especially honest with yourself. You may not have an advisor or professor to constantly seek feedback from. Self-studying can be great for anyone, but you must be able to hold yourself accountable. I did a self-study/at your own pace Paralegal Studies course last year, and it was very difficult to make myself do my work - especially because I really didn’t have any pressing deadlines. And absolutely zero feedback. However, the political science class through my university is essentially a self-study class and I was actually able to finish the entire class during syllabus week, so for the remainder of the semester I only had to focus on my physical classes - which were much more intensive. 

I hope this helps you! I feel like many of these tips can be used in the traditional setting as well. If you have any other questions, or I missed the mark, please feel free to ask away!

Happy studying, realistic student. 

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a lil late - a day in my busy life [3:00 PM - 8:00 PM]

a busy study session with the roomie, sarah. we had big exams coming up and was being busy bees all evening. btw - i passed my bio exam that week!!!

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Taking textbook notes is a chore. It’s tedious and boring and sometimes challenging, but hopefully these tips will help you improve your skill and shorten the time it takes you to do textbook notes!

Give yourself time: Realistically, you can’t knock out 30 pages of notes in 20 minutes. Take your time with textbook notes so they’re a good studying tool in the future. The general rule is to take how many pages you have to do and multiply it by 5: that’s how many minutes it’ll take you to do the notes.

Also, divide you notes up into manageable chunks to increase your productivity. I am personally a huge fan of using pomodoro timers, and I adjust the intervals for however long I need to.

Skim before you start taking notes: If time is an issue, don’t read your 40 page in depth before even picking up a pen, but make sure you know what you’re reading about by skimming a bit ahead of your notes. Read over section titles, and look at charts, maps, or graphs. Writing and highlighting as you read the chapter for the first time isn’t effective because you don’t know if a sentence will be important or not, so make sure you’re reading a paragraph or section in advance before writing.

Use the format they give you in the book to help take your notes: In a lot of textbooks, there will be a mini outline before the chapter itself that shows all the headings and subheadings. Those will be your guidelines! I find this super helpful because long chapters can be daunting to go into without any structure. If you don’t have one of those, use the headings and subheadings provided for you. If you haven’t already been doing this, it will help you so much.

Read actively: It’s so easy to “read” a textbook without digesting any information, but that is the last thing you want to do. Not only does it make taking notes a million times harder, but you’ll be lost in class discussions because you didn’t understand the reading. To keep from passively reading, highlight, underline, star any important information in the book itself.

Have a color coding system for highlighting or underlining and write down a key somewhere (here’s a few that you can adjust for your needs: x,x)

Use sticky notes or tabs to mark any questions or important points to come back to

Summarize important information and paraphrase: When taking the actual notes, don’t copy down full sentences word for word. Not only does writing full sentences waste a lot of time, it’s not an effective way to learn. If you can paraphrase the information, then you understand it. It’s also easier to study notes which are in your own words instead of textbook academia writing.

Be selective: You shouldn’t be writing down every fact that comes up in your textbook. If a fact ties into the bigger topic and provides evidence, then it’s probably something to keep, but you don’t need every piece of supplemental information (but do make sure you always write down the vocab). Learn your teacher’s testing style to help you decide what to write down. Could this be on the quiz/test? If the answer is yes, make sure you write it down.

Learn to abbreviate: Just like writing full sentences, writing out full words will waste time. Implement some shortenings (make sure to use ones that you’ll understand later!) into your notes. Some common ones are: b/c=because, gov=government, w/o=without, and here’s a great list of a ton of examples of abbreviations and shortenings.

Answer margin and review questions: A lot of textbooks have margin questions on every page or so that sum up what’s really important about that information. Make sure not to skip them because they’re really helpful for understanding. Write them down and answer them clearly in your notes. Most textbooks also have review questions after the chapter that check for reading comprehension, so make sure to answer those because they’ll show you if you really understood the chapter.

Don’t skip over visual sources: Maps, diagrams, illustrations, charts, and any other visuals in textbooks are so helpful. If you’re a visual learner, these things will be so essential to you and how you understand what you’re reading. Charts, tables, and diagrams sometimes also summarize information, so if you’re a visual learner it might benefit you to copy those down instead of writing it out.

Add visuals if it’ll help you: As said above, copying down charts, tables, illustrations, or diagrams can be super helpful for visual learners. They’re clear and concise, so pay attention to them.

Write your notes in a way that’s effective and makes sense to you: Mindmaps, Cornell notes, or plain outline notes are all really good forms of notetaking. Find which one works best for you to understand them and which one is most effective for your class, and use it (stuff on mindmaps and cornell notes).

Combine your class and textbook notes: If you rewrite your class notes, add in information you think is relevant from your textbook notes. Mark anything both your book and teacher said were important–you don’t want to forget any of that. If you don’t rewrite class notes, then put stars next to anything repeated.

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study room tonight. history exam tomorrow, wish me luck!!

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bio notes, click for hq c:

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collge isn’t easy for everyone

ive literally been gone so long from the studyblr community i feel shamed. college has been a hard transition and i wanna die wow wow wow

whoever said college is a easy transition or isn’t as stressful as one would think lied fam. they lied. they sit on a throne of lies. im in shambles. but im planning on making a comback to the studyblr community so..yay!!!

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Put together another fun little info post about lecture notetaking! (See my first post on lecture notetaking here.)This time I though I’d sketch it out by hand and scan it into my computer instead of typing it out. Hope it helps!

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Selfcare tips for smart cookies who are sad

If you want to feel a little better mon amour, i gathered some things i like to do in hopes that it’ll help you!

🌸 go ahead and hop into the shower. take a few minutes to really massage that schampoo into your hair. clean and fresh YAS

🌸 use a body lotion and use one that smells good(i recommend “very sexy” by Victorias Secret) (because it’s very sexy hihi)

🌸 put on a nice parfume, if you don’t have one you can borrow from a family member/friend or you can buy one(i recommend “viva la juicy” by juicy couture and “eternity aqua” by calvin clein) (somewhat expensive but sooo good y'all can come here and i’ll give u you get juicy couture and you get juicy couture and you get juicy couture everyone gets juicy couture

🌸 take a few moments and write a list about things that make you happy(for example: coffee, holding hands with your grandma, all the relationships you’re gonna have in the future, re-reading your favourite book, family dinners, when the leaves turn orange in autumn)

🌸 make yourself or buy your comfort food(s), mine being tortellini, vegan pizza and coffee mmmmmmm coffee

🌸 send out a few sincere compliments to people. tell your friend what you love about her/him/hen, tell your mom you’re thankful for everything she does. alot of times giving love means getting love and nothing bad about good karma am i right

🌸 write down everything that bothers you on a piece of paper, start with “dear maya..” or “dear paul..” write it for a person thats never gonna read it (or if you feel like you want too you can always message me and rant about your whole life I’m all yours)

🌸 if you don’t wanna think about something you can always try to learn a new language via duolingo, it really gets you focused on something else(advice from your coach-my self- i think you should learn swedish or french because they’re both equally hard and beautiful) if thats not something you find intresting you can always pick up a feel-good book, my favourite being “Anna and the french kiss” by Stephanie Perkins! light up some candles, make yourself some tea and cuddle down somewhere

🌸 watch a movie or tv-show!! i was really unhappy at one point but then i somehow started watching Jane The Virgin and it was sooooo funny and soooo good(the hype is real, watch) and it made me feel better

🌸 look up some nice quotes, my faves are • “And then there’s light, It just takes time” • “Pleure: les larmes sont les pétales du cœur.” (which is French for “Cry: tears are the heart’s petals.”) • “Choose to be happy, It feels better”

🌸 listen to happy songs • Classic by MKTO • Price Tag by Jessie J(old but always get’s me dancing) • Can’t Stop The Feeling by Justin Timberlake • Forget You by CeeLo Green(forreal this is sooo good hahah)

🌸 before you go to bed, moisturize your face with a tiny bit of coconut oil - also put on some chapstick because you’ll wake up with a smooth face and soft lips and you’ll feel like a queen mon chérie

🌸 if you ever feel worthless, read this • i am so happy you’re here • i think you’re the cutest person that has ever read this • i believe that you will reach your dream, whatever it may be, and you will be awesome • relax, drop your shoulders, breath • dogs everywhere love you and they get so excited when they see you because they wanna say Hello so badly • with every breath you take, you help plants and flowers live • you’re making a difference • you’re stronger than you think • you have a great sense of humour that people enjoy • everything is better when you’re around

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college study tips that actually help

put your phone on silent and put it across the room

listen to classical/soundtrack music without lyrics

make index cards for important vocab

wear pajamas

make diagrams and pictures. they don’t have to look pretty, as long as you understand it

make timelines for historical events

have a light snack

drink coffee or tea to keep you going

take a break every hour or so

have one pencil/black pen and one colored pen or highlighter. anything more will just distract you. the aesthetics aren’t important, your knowledge is

don’t be afraid to email/message your teacher or a classmate if you don’t understand something. the last thing you want to do is learn the incorrect information

know that sleep and health is more important than your grade. you cannot perform as well on a test if you are tired or sick. take care of yourself

it’s not a race. it’s not about who can learn something in the quickest time, it’s about learning

take a deep breath 

prioritize your homework by how long it will take you and when it’s due

plan some you time in between studying and school

if you’re mentally exhausted, set a timer for 30 minutes and take a nap. any longer and you’ll wake up even more tired

don’t understand something? that’s perfectly fine, don’t stress over it. ask for help rather than complaining

have a goal in mind and write them down. say things like “i am getting an education so i can get the job of my dreams. the life that i want. the happiness that i deserve”

be thankful. it is a privilege that you get to go to school and get an education. 

you got this.

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University Update 📚

so far, university has been rather.. tedious and hard to grasp. my university curriculum in particular is by far, so challenging. it's to the point of nerverending work depending on the professor you're given. but im slowly making it and next semester will definitely be better!

how's school for you guys? id love to know! ❤

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reblog this if you're a studyblr/collegeblr

🌟 looking for new blogs to follow 🌟

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Quick College Shopping Tips!

1. Amazon Prime has a service dedicated to college students! 

Amazon Prime as a sub section called ‘Prime Student’ for college students to receive a 6 month free trial of their services as well as cutting the subscription to the service from $100 to $50! Granted, I would suggest simply using the 6-month free trial in order to get free 2 day shipping on all of your college dorm and college supply shopping and cancelling it once you get all your goodies.

2. Clearance sections in stores are your friend!

I currently have half of my dorm room stuff all for under $100 dollars because I found gems within my nearest stores clearance section. From afar, it may seem unpromising but once you delve into the section you will unravel some beauties. Just from my clearance section at my local Citi Trends, I got my comforter, two sets of bed sheets, two sets of pillow cases, two bedside organizers, and plastic wear for when my roomie and I cook. So look out for those sections!

3. Just because it is early in the Summer, it doesn’t mean you must rush to get all of your things.

Stores like Rue 21, Wal-Mart, and online places like Amazon, will restock and keep you provided with things all the way until move in day. And places such as Rue-21 tend to have mind blowing offers that may come closer to the full blown college season that you would regret not getting your hands on because you rushed your shopping fun too soon! So, take your time. Don’t just pick stuff because you think nothing better will come. I promise you, it will! You want things you love, not that you think is okay. You have to use it for a year. Remember that!

4. A lot of stores (online too) offer discounts for having your Student ID/login. So use it!

Granted, I can’t speak for everyone as things are different everywhere. But I do know where I am from places like Office Depot offer deals for college students in order to receive money off of electronics, furniture, and school supplies. So, flash that ID or write that email down for those selected stores near you and get those discounts!

5. Normally pricey stores will have huge sales during the Summer and college season. So be on the lookout!

Referring back to Rue-21, where I am from, they continuously have deals all year round. Recently, they had a 60% sale on the whole store as well as 40% off on certain items. So that is like, a lot of money being saved for you to buy your wardrobe as well as decorations for your dorm room. It’s knocking two birds with one stone! So peep sales at your mall, your local stores, etc. 

I hope these few tips will help you get the best deals, and keep your pocket full during the college shopping season!

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reblog this if you're a studyblr/collegeblr

🌟 looking for new blogs to follow 🌟

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reblog if you are a studyblr who procrastinates

we’re only human. if you procrastinate, don’t worry! you can push through!!