tryingtobenerd

[tryingtobenerd]

5.2.18 || In order to prepare my math exam I need to write cheat sheets in my script bc we are allowed to take it with us and write everything down we want. Luckily my binder is very organized and I can find the material I need quickly.

[tryingtobenerd]

30.09.17

trying to get my shit together :-)

[tryingtobenerd]

things i wish i’d known in my first year of university

I’m reaching the end of my time at university and it’s got me all sentimental. and regretful. There are a number of things that I had learned during my time at university that I wish I’d known during first year. 

Read everything. The only valid excuse for not reading everything on the reading list is that you didn’t have time, not that you found it boring, or that it wasn’t useful. Because there’s nothing scarier than trying to write an essay on something you studied a month ago, and you have no notes on the topic. 

Revise constantly. I wish I’d revisited everything I did a week after I did it, just as a recap. I tended to focus on what I was doing in the moment because it felt the most important thing at the time. Well, during exams, everything is equal. And it’s so frustrating not quite being able to remember something. So, revise. Even just for ten minutes.

Don’t spend all of your money on impulse. I’ve bought so much rubbish that I really don’t need. And if I’d saved that money, I could have gone on holiday. Save every last penny you can. 

Eat well. I just said that you should save all the money you can, but I think that food is one exception to that rule. Try and save money where you can, obviously, but don’t go for days and days without fresh vegetables because you’re saving money for a holiday. Your mind, as well as your body, needs food.

Go and talk to professors in their student hours. I used to find this so awkward. To be honest, I still do. But if you’re going sending them an email and asking for clarification on a topic, consider maybe popping into their office when it’s open to students. And tell them if you’re struggling! If you don’t let them know, then they can’t help you.

Take hot drinks with you, to your lectures or to the library. Don’t spend all your money in the library cafe. Bring a flask of tea, and loads of study snacks in a packed lunch box. Trust me on this.

Make time to meet up with friends you haven’t seen in ages. Don’t wait for them to ask you. I make sure to socialise with my friends at least twice a week. And by socialise, I don’t mean getting blind drunk and going clubbing. Sit down and have lunch together. Chat. Get to know each other properly. Friendships formed over alcohol never last as long as friendships formed through actual conversation.

Do stuff that the university puts on for students. Join societies. Get involved. One of the best nights I ever had at university was a masquerade ball that my college put on. And for some reason, I’ve never done anything like that since then? And I don’t understand why! University is for making memories, and I don’t really have many!

Travel around your university town. If you’re university is on a campus, don’t let your life revolve around that one place. If you’ve travelled away from home to go to university, then make it worth your while! See the sights, be a tourist, get on a bus and go to a random town and buy ice cream. 

Experiment. This is the time. Dye your hair blue, join a weird and random society and take up a hobby you’d never dreamed of.  If you want to try drugs, make sure it’s a safe environment and do your research before hand. If you don’t want to do that kind of thing, then don’t judge other people for doing so.

Give yourself a day off per week. When you’re at university and you’ve got loads of work, it’s tempting to just work constantly - or at least, to work every day, if not all the time. But it’s so much better for your mental state to take a day off to just relax. 

Keep up with your chores. When you’re stressed about an assignment, you don’t want to be also stressed about that pile of washing up accumulating by the sink. Keep your room tidy too - clear space, clear mind.

Be kind to everyone. You’re going to meet a lot of people at university, some you’re going to hit it off with immediately. But there will be some who really rub you up the wrong way. Don’t worry about it, it’s completely fine to not like someone. But don’t be mean to them. This isn’t high school, you’re all here to learn and there’s just no need to make them feel bad about themselves. It’s just petty and childish.

Think about the future. I know that you’re completely wrapped up in your university life right now, but you’re going to have to venture out into the real world at some point. Do things that might help your future career: volunteer, get a job, join a sports club, make connections. University isn’t, sadly, forever.

There you have it! The advice that I would have given myself in the first year of university. Whether you’re just about to start university, or whether you’re just about to leave, I hope this is useful to you.

[tryingtobenerd]

PLANNING YOUR WEEK

Start early!

Planning your week should start Saturday night. The week officially begins on Sunday, and Saturday night is the day to figure out everything that will be happening. By doing this, you do not have to spend meaningless time on the Sunday which commences your week with tasks such as planning. Everything should already be planned.

Find out what is on your plate for the upcoming week

Look at your school’s portal, or the syllabus, whatever your instructors use to inform you of tests, quizzes, essays and other assessments. Write down what is coming up this week!!! Know everything there is to know about what will be on your plate.

Use color

Color is an extremely effective categorization tool. It can allow you to distinguish between tests, quizzes, essays, homework assignments, extracurricular activities, health, personal activities, and more. Assign a color to each subsection of your plan, and create a key so you’re aware of what’s happening. Stay true to this color key, and don’t stray from it.

Prioritize

Your plan should feature the most important things to complete and the least important. However, your plan should also establish a general understanding of the ranking system these assignments fall under. If you have a very important test coming up which will count for a large portion of your grade, it should be featured earlier in and stressed more clearly in your plan. Utilize highlighters to clarify the importance level of different assignments.

Make time parameters

Making a plan is very important, but assigning time blocks to the plan is arguably even more important. Consider what you do every day after school. Think about how much you do after every day, and at what times you will be doing homework. Consider the length of time it takes to complete each assignment. Then, assign time blocks to each assignment. For example, you could assign “English Essay” for 4 pm - 6 pm, then “Break” from 6 pm - 6:30 pm, then “Math Worksheet” from 6:30 pm - 8 pm. This will keep you on track and going to sleep at a reasonable time.

Leave time for fun

It cannot be all school all the time - it is not healthy or conducive to effective living. Leave time for fun and breaks. This can manifest in reading a nice book in between assignments, or planning a hangout session with friends during the week. You only get one childhood, and you can NOT spend the entirety of it in academic mania.

Feature your extracurriculars and appointments

When you plan out everything, you have to include e v e r y t h i n g. This means that you must feature any meetings you have for extracurricular commitments, doctors appointments, personal appointments and more. This will ensure your plan is truly accurate.

Make copies!!!

Put your plan EVERYWHERE. There should be a copy in your planner, a copy in your bullet journal (if you have one), a copy on your desk, a copy on your mirror, and more. Put the plan anywhere you look often, and anywhere it won’t be drowned by other things.

U S E I T

Do not ignore the plan, now that you’ve spent all this time making it. Put it to good use! Keep it with you. Love it, learn it, and make it again next Saturday.

[tryingtobenerd]

062917 // here is my flatlay of my May spread ft. Never Always Sometimes! I attempted a new editing style and I hope y'all like it, as I think I do. 🌊

[tryingtobenerd]

[tryingtobenerd]

Made myself a blueberry and mango smoothie today 😊Only thing that kept me going in this heat 😅😎

[tryingtobenerd]

[tryingtobenerd]

May ☁️ week 19

Am I aesthetic yet?!?!? Got my pastel, grid, cacti and baby’s breath game on lol.

[tryingtobenerd]

05.08.16 // Here’s a glimpse of my notes on the blood system from IB Biology. Loving the topic human physiology!

[tryingtobenerd]

earth + life science notes were my fave to write tbh (mainly because i got to draw a lot LOL) also this is the full res version of the one on my studgram bc instagram ruined d quality :-( 

! my studygram !

[tryingtobenerd]

I can’t believe I forgot your name. Oh, baby, won’t you come again? 🌞 Instagram: kokokourtney

[tryingtobenerd]

Sorry for these two non-study related photos but I had an amazing time in Lisbon the past couple of days and I wanted to share it with you guys! I came back last night and today I cleaned and organized some stuff. Tomorrow it’s time to start studying for my exams! Also, I decided to go raw vegan for the next 10 days! ✨🥝

[tryingtobenerd]

4/? days of summer study - june 15, 2017.

[tryingtobenerd]

5.10.16 // the weather outside wasn’t too great today, so I decided to camp out and study in my dorm room today.

[tryingtobenerd]

@ my work place where no work ever gets done

[tryingtobenerd]

Hello guys! I’ve been getting a lot of requests to do studying tips so here it is! I am by no means an expert but as a student, I wrote this based on what I’ve learnt as I struggled and pulled myself through my school life!

 KNOW YOUR STRENGTH & WEAKNESSES

As a student, I personally feel that it’s most important to know where your forte lies. By identifying your weakness you would know the subjects that you should tackle rather than focusing on the thing you’re already familiar with. You should spend more time on your weaker areas compared to your strong one, however do not get complacent!!!

 TIME MANAGEMNET

 Studying for exams are always a race against time, thus mapping out the things you should do is always important. I don’t have a strict time schedule where I allocate certain timing for my subjects; however, I do time myself when I do papers. For example, when I was doing math papers as revision for o levels, the duration given for one Emath paper was 2 hours. Thus, when I practiced and did my papers, I would only give myself 1 and half hours. This will train me to do my papers faster with maximum accuracy. You’re also required to have a good grasp of your subject to be able to complete questions faster.

SLEEP & EAT WELL

Somehow during exam periods, a lot of my friends start sacrificing their sleep and food to study. And I can’t emphasize enough how wrong this is. Most of my friends, who do this, end up making more careless mistakes in their paper and thus winding up with lower marks. Lack of sleep is a serious flaw and can jeopardize you paper immensely. If you’re tired, rest; don’t try to push yourself because your brain won’t be able to absorb the information any longer. It’s the same situation with the food, if you sacrifice your meals, you may end up getting gastric that may just affect your performance during the paper.

MAKE NOTES

Well duh right? Everyone makes notes, but more importantly, you need to make notes that you would want to read. As much as the process of writing and remembering is important, if you like the way you notes look, you’ll feel more inclined to read it. Thus, this is partially why I enjoy making notes that look pretty to me.

 TAKE BREAKS

 Never ever forget to take breaks. I’d recommend a 15minutes break every 2 hours. Pushing yourself to sit there continuously will only cause you to lose focus, causing you to become restless. Different people have different attention span, thus never ever compare yourself to your friends and force yourself to sit down and study as long they do. Find out what works for you and what doesn’t.

 LISTENING TO MUSIC

 I looooove music. But I have to admit, listening to music while I’m trying to memorize some lit quotes, isn’t working out for me. Thus, I don’t recommend listening to music as you’re trying to absorb content heavy subjects. However, if its question based subjects like math, by all means. Check out my studying playlist!

 KNOW YOURSELF

 You need to know what method helps you work best. Writing? Auditory? Everyone has a different style of learning that works best for him or her. Some people need to read their content out loud for themselves to hear before they can memorize, however this does not work for everyone. Maybe you’re the type that needs to draw diagrams to colour code your notes. Whichever the case is, its best to know yourself, and the style of learning that best suits you.

 STRESS MANAGEMENT

 Stress isn’t necessarily bad. A little bit of stress can get you off your lay bum and to start doing some work. However, being overly stressed will just backfire and may cause anxiety problems. This is why it’s essential to keep a healthy balance of work and play. Don’t overwork yourself and drive yourself into a corner, this isn’t healthy for you or your studies. Taking conscious effort to distress can help keep a pleasant attitude and mind that’s good for learning. 

DELETE DISTRACTIONS

If you find yourself being constantly distracted by your phone or a particular app, delete it. Lock your phone in the drawer or temporarily delete your social media apps. Downloading focus aps can help you too. Apps like helps block access to some websites can restrain you from falling back into the trap that is distractions.

DESIRE TO SUCCEED

 It is important that you’re doing all this for yourself. Not your parent. Not anyone else, but you. If you lack the desire to get good grades and do well, it’ll definitely be tough finding the motivation to do anything. You don’t have to like studying, but you at least have to want getting good grades. If you desire to have straight As, you’ll naturally fell more inclined to do something to help you get it. However, its also important to set realistic goals. It’s impossible for you to jump from a F9 to A1 in a month. Set practical goals and take baby steps to get there.

 PROCRASTINATION

 Well, procrastination can be a bitch. I started my studyblr account during my o level periods because seeing other people’s notes made me want to study. You should find a way to help YOU counter your procrastination tendencies.

 All in all, studying is something very unique and personalized. What works for me may not work for you, but if you keep working hard. No goal is ever too far. Thank you for reading!

instagram