We'll Get Our Report Cards Again Today! Please Wish Me Luck~ 😄

Dorm Shopping 101: Making a List

The earlier you start the better, back to school sales are not the end all be all of deals. Shopping for your dorm and college can be overwhelming, but there are ways to make it more approachable. Before you buy anything you should make a list to avoid overspending and overpacking.

 As you make your list, consult your family and older friends that went off to college. They’ll help you figure out what you really need to bring.

Another source to consult is your university, they’ll often provide floor plans, dimensions, a list of what the room comes with, and a list of banned products on their website or any housing information they sent you.

Actually write your list, it doesn’t matter if it’s on paper or the notes app on your phone, you’ll need to refer back to your list when you’re shopping

It helps if you write your list in categories like decor, bedding, lighting, toiletries, shower supplies, appliances, etc.

Look at what you use around your house to add to your list to make sure you don’t miss anything important like laundry detergent or sponges for washing dishes.  

It helps to know if you will be in a community style dorm or a suite style for things like bathroom supplies and cleaning supplies

Talk to your roommate(s) so you don’t end up with double the stuff 

Remember you can always buy more later

Note that dorm rooms are relatively small, so shop compact. We will cover how to make the most of what little space you have in future posts.

Dorm life isn’t all about making your dorm look presentable: you have to survive too if your meal plan is limited. Be prepared to shop for food and snacks that can last you through the first half of the semester until you have time to go shopping again.

Personally, I like to write my lists out by hand, it helps me remember it and keep me on task. My bullet journal is great for these things because then I know where my list is rather than trying to keep track of a random slip of paper. -  Clove

When I write a list on hardcopy paper, I have a professional black leather planner which can be used for a wide variety of things like academics and important career-related information. It may be useful to invest in one from Franklin Covey or your local office supply store. Otherwise, when you make a digital list, preferably use Google Docs where you can access it from any device. - Jasiel

Study Techniques:

SQ3R Reading

The Pomodoro technique

Online Pomodoro timer

Feynman Technique

100 Things to do in your study break

Develop active learning strategies

Cramming (last minute option)

Study Methods, Tips, and Resources:

How to make flashcards (electronic and paper)

What to write on flashcards

Uses for flashcards

Creating and using mindmaps

Studying using textbooks

The benefits of textbooks

How to annotate

Tools for referencing

Tips for visual learners

How to read journal articles critically (by marielstudies​)

Top 5 Study Tips to Achieve your Study Goals

How to pull an all nighter

How to pull an all nighter (2)

Studying vocabulary

Study guides

How to create a study guide (by studyspoinspo)

Using whiteboards

Assignment Calculator

Learning how to learn (by strive-for-da-best)

Get good grades (Youtube)

Memory:

Learn how to memorise and find the memory techniques that work best for you.

Here’s an interesting article about long term memory.

6 research tested ways to improve your memory.

Here’s an ask about how to memorise material.

An ask about forgetting material within a few hours.

Some memory tips (by astackoftextbooks)

Learn instead of memorising

Thinking and memorising

Time Management:

How to prioritise tasks

Apps for scheduling

Creating a revision timetable

A post about making a timetable (by grxeek).

How to keep your revision focused

An online study planner.

Motivation/Procrastination:

Reasons to study

Blocking apps/extensions for phones and computers.

Reasons to study now

10 tips for getting started on an academic task

How to deal with family distracting you from study

How to stop procrastinating (Youtube)

10 Tips for managing procrastination

Questions to ask yourself for motivation

How to improve your concentration

Quick concentration tips

Get Motivated (Wikihow)

Choosing the appropriate study environment

Short and sharp motivation

Stress Relief:

Stress relief techniques and ideas

The 10 Best Yoga Poses for Stress Relief

Relaxing Yoga Poses for Beginners

20 Easy Steps to Stress Relief

Relaxation Techniques

23 Science Backed Ways to Reduce Stress

25 Destressing Techniques

Deep Breathing Exercises

Three Guided Relaxation Videos

Vent Anonymously Online

A sleep calculator here which will calculate when you should go to sleep/wake up (depending on what you’re working out) based on sleep cycles. This will make sure that you wake up refreshed and ready to work.

Problems with sleep

Failure anxiety

Do nothing for 2 minutes

Calm (meditation site)

Health:

There’s also some information here about studying with mental illness from MIND.

There’s a really great post here about depression in university (by landofstories)

There’s a similar post here about studying with depression (by bloggerforstudentprogress)

Studying with ADHD

Studying maths with dyscalculia

Managing test anxiety

Self help: test anxiety

Emergency Compliment (for when you’re feeling down)

Studying with dyslexia

Revision and exams for people with dyslexia

Study skills for dyslexic students

How I coped with OCD at university

Study skills and OCD

Study skills and OCD PDF

Music:

Nature sounds in calmsound

Sounds of rain

Beethoven

Coffee shop sounds

More coffee shop sounds

Mix sounds (soundrown)

Sounds of the ocean

Whitenoise

Study mixes on 8tracks

Music to boost concentration

For the exam:

Exam preparation

Exam life hacks (by studyblob)

The best ways to prepare for exams

Exam tips

The day before an exam

Tips on Taking Multiple-Choice Tests

How to write a great essay (by englishlit-chic)

Psychology Essay Exams (gives an example and how to answer)

Looking after yourself after exams

Oral tests and exams

Writing and presenting a good speech

Links, Games, etc.:

Live panda camera (for destressing; you wouldn’t believe the amount of time I spend watching this camera).

Live animals

Try to find the ten gnomes

Origami

Create your own nebula

Easy magic tricks

DIY Home Spa (BY @recoverykitty)

Brownie in a cup

Cookie in a cup

my education life

I got this huge archive of cult movies and obscure videos if anybody else is sick of streaming services

is there anyone here who listens to podcasts? literature or any other genre would do !! litreading guys doesn’t soothe me, he makes me feel like i’m in a tv show halp

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some easy to follow tips on how to organize your digital life for a stress-free experience while trying your best at school! ✨📖

other posts: 

advice on choosing your major

self-studying in three steps

being productive at home

how I keep myself sane during summer break.

I think we can all agree that the mere idea of having holiday breaks from boring lectures and all-nighter study sessions sounds like heaven; although this romanticized idea of having so much free time often turns into wasted summer days, oversleeping, and basically an anti-social teenage version of house arrest. so, to help you out (or, more to help Myself) here are some things I do to keep myself busy, on a budget (kind of), and mentally healthy during long breaks from school.

continue your morning routine. this is important; by this I mean to basically treat your summer mornings as you would your school mornings, without the rush and alarm. brush your teeth, brush your hair, start/continue a skincare routine, get out of your pajamas and into real clothes, make your bed, make some coffee, eat some breakfast, do it with some music on, whatever you want. this keeps your mind and body into a daily routine. don’t let all your precious no-class mornings of summer go to waste!

savor sleeping in, but not too much. I know its super tempting to go to bed at like 2 AM and wake up the next “morning” at 12PM, but trust me, you’ll regret fucking up your sleep schedule once you actually have to set an alarm and get your ass to class next fall. I’m not saying you should force yourself to set a summer alarm (although, if you really want to train yourself this isn’t a bad idea tbh) but for the love of god, at least go to sleep and wake up at reasonable times. don’t waste your entire day!!

force yourself to see your friends a couple times a week, even if you really don’t want to. obviously this excludes mental health days, but I’ve found that spending time with my friends actually distracts me from any anxiety I’ve felt during the past week. I love my alone time, but human interaction is super important both mentally and physically. as college students we’re all pretty much broke, so don’t underestimate the power of free things- watching netflix at someone’s house, having a boardgame night, going to parks, you name it. as long as you’re with your friends, you’ll have a great time!

clean out your music library + make a playlist or two. y’all know I love a good playlist. this is something totally 100% FREE, and a perfect way to make use of your free time. delete all the stuff you don’t listen to anymore and make a few playlists of your favorite songs, or even go with playlist themes to organize your songs. it’s fun and your future self will probably thank you later for getting rid of so much audible junk.

get back into reading. this is something that was on my personal summer to-do list. I haven’t read a book for myself (aka not for a class) in sooo long, and let me tell you- I don’t know why I ever stopped reading. I know for a fact that once the semester starts I’ll have zero free time to read for myself, so summer is the perfect time to get into a new book or two!

eat your three meals a day +hydrate. I mean this. its very easy to skip/forget meals when you really don’t have any set schedule whatsoever, so plan your meals into your day. even make an alarm if its necessary. also: if you don’t know if you’re drinking enough water, you probably aren’t.

deep clean your room/workspace/closet. I’m super guilty for putting this off but, long breaks like summer are the perfect times to deep clean! what makes it easier for me to clean my room is to go section by section, which means not doing it all in a day (because that gets hella overwhelming and stressful, let me tell you). grab a garbage bag, put on some tunes, and pick a section to clean that day; you’ll be done with the entire space in no time!

outfit plan. for someone like me who has way too much in my closet and somehow still “never has anything to wear”, this is essential! set some outfits out on the floor/bed and take pics of them on your phone so that you can look back on them for some style inspo the next time you have “absolutely NOTHING to wear”.

find a new hobby, even if you’re bad at it. make some collages of your friends, make a scrapbook, learn photoshop, paint a little, learn how to sew, garden, cook, practice your phone photography skills… if there was a time for you to try out new things, it’s NOW.

make a post about all the shit you should do. I’m doing it right now. literally. you’re reading it right now. its not a bad idea.

if you know you have shit to do, plan it into your day! this is where the planner/agenda/bullet journal aspect comes in. having no class and no homework is not an excuse to stop planning out your day, your week, or your month. make some task lists and pencil in your dentist appointments and dates with people and whatnot; and even journal your days while you’re at it! if you’re a planner, never stop. Future You will thank you for it, I promise.

just remembered that chuck palahniuk quote

Hello! I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but how do you become proficient at handling conversations in Japanese/handling grammar very well? I read your post on the JLPT, and it addressed issues I have been tip toe-ing around--indeed, passive actions such as listening or reading are easier than the active ones. How did you go about that? Did you write a bunch of sentences daily? Did you have a conversation partner? What would you rec. to someone who lives outside Japan? Thank you!

This is an excellent question, and one that I get asked a lot irl by Japanese people in particular. Let’s talk about gaining fluency and the ways we can go about it!

How to Gain Fluency in Japanese (and Other Languages)

Speaking Fluency versus Accuracy

Language proficiency is divided into two separate categories:

Fluency: Although there are no widely agreed-upon definitions or measures of language fluency, someone is typically said to be fluent if their use of the language appears fluid, or natural, coherent, and easy as opposed to slow, halting use. In other words, fluency is often described as the ability to produce language on demand and be understood.

Accuracy: Correctness of language use, especially grammatical correctness and word choice.

By the above definitions, a “fluent” speaker may make grammatical mistakes, but they can speak without having to stop and think too much about conjugations, word choice, etc.

An “accurate” speaker can speak with nearly zero grammatical/word choice mistakes. However, the speed of their utterances isn’t generally taken into account, so it could take an “accurate” person twice as long to articulate the same idea as a “fluent” person. 

Ideally, you need to strike a good balance between these two qualities when speaking. I have a boss, God bless him, who is 100% fluency and 0% accuracy and…man is it hard to understand what he’s saying sometimes, but he can generally get his point across just barely. I have another coworker who is 100% accuracy and takes about 3 minutes to form a sentence because he wants it to be perfect. 

How to Increase Speaking/Writing Accuracy

First, let’s talk about the easiest thing to improve, which is accuracy. It’s also (in my opinion) the least fun thing to improve, because it means grammar books and vocabulary memorization. 

You can only use a language accurately if you know what is correct and what is incorrect, and you can only learn that by studying grammar and vocabulary (or if you’re a native speaker and picked it up innately, you lucky bastard).

So here’s some things you can do to increase your accuracy:

For example, if you’re having a hard time using the passive, you need to review that part of your textbook and find some exercises to drill it into your head. 

Say the correct thing aloud. Lots. Sometimes I just walk around my apartment and narrate everything I see/do like a crazy person, but that’s good practice. 

Write example sentences using the grammar you’re struggling with and say them aloud too. 

There’s a bunch of cool apps that connect you with native speakers that can help correct you too! I used to use HelloTalk, I think. 

If you’re a creative soul, when I was studying for the JLPT, I took 1 grammar point and 5 vocabulary words from my JLPT study books and used them to write a 2-page short story about the adventures of ネギ, a stray black cat that smelled like green onions because she napped in an onion field. Then I had a Japanese friend check it over for me and mark mistakes. I hand-wrote them to improve my abysmal handwriting at the same time. It was really fun! I sometimes think about doing it again just for funsies.

When someone corrects you, don’t feel like your entire life is over and you’re a failure and you’ll never get it right haha. I’ve seen people fall into that hopeless mindset, and that’s just nonsense. It’s a good opportunity for learning and nothing more! Say the correct thing you’ve just been taught out loud, then write it down if you can. And, if possible, find a chance to use it in conversation asap.

How to Increase Speaking/Writing Fluency

Now this is the hard one. Especially for those learners who do not have native speakers nearby. 

I’m going to be dead honest with you. I started formally studying Japanese at uni, and I had a Japanese roommate/best friend since year one. I had a 4.0 GPA in my Japanese classes (and only my Japanese classes lol) because I was and still am a MEGA NERD about it. 

…But it wasn’t until I studied abroad in Japan my 4th year of uni that I gained fluency. 

There are a lot of things that can hold us back from fluency. An interesting thing I’ve noted is that Foreign Language is perhaps the only subject in which a student’s personality can directly affect their progress. To gain fluency, you have to go forth and speak, but if you are naturally a shy person, that is going to hinder you. If you are the kind of person who takes mistakes/failures poorly, you will be less likely to take risks and try to say harder sentences. In contrast, you can get full marks in math regardless of the above personality traits. 

I’m not saying that you have to be an outgoing explosion of a human being in order to gain fluency. But what I am saying is that you have to be willing to seek out conversations, and you have to be willing to take chances. Get out of your comfort zone. Use that new word you picked up the other day. Try to explain something that is difficult for you. 

My problem was that, while I lived with a native speaker who would have happily taught me anything I asked, her English proficiency was much higher than my Japanese proficiency. And when I struggled to say something in Japanese, I’d fall back onto English. And when she told me something I didn’t understand in Japanese, she’d repeat it in English instead of Japanese, because that was easier for us both. The same thing happened when I was in Japanese class as well. I always had the assurance that I could fall back on English.

But when I elected to study abroad in Japan for 3 months, I knew that this was my big chance. So on the host family form in the “other requests” area, I wrote that I specifically wanted a host family that could not speak English. I was setting fire to my crutches, and I was scared but excited to see them burn. 

By the end of my three months in Japan, I had gone from “Chotto matte kudasai” and needing a minute to form my reply, to “Okay, yeah I see that movie too and I liked the action scenes, but I didn’t care for the story little.” (I’ve underlined mistakes that I would have made in Japanese, to show you that I sacrificed some accuracy to obtain higher fluency.)

So, in short, the easiest and quickest way to increase your spoken fluency is to throw away all the crutches you can and use the language as much as possible. Every single day. Even if you’re just having an imaginary conversation with yourself! And like I said, there are a bunch of cool apps that connect you with Japanese people who want to learn English and you can do language exchanges with them. I had a lot of fun with those in the past. 

As for increasing writing fluency…well. That’s a tough question with Japanese, because I can type Japanese at like 100 wpm, but my Japanese handwriting fluency is at a 10/100. I can read and type at the level of a native Japanese high school student, but I can only write the kanji that 7 year old can write. That’s no exaggeration.

The big reason for that dichotomy is that my work is paper-free. 100% of my work is done on screen, so about the only time I have to write out something is when I’m filling out a form, which includes my name (katakana), address, and maybe occupation. 

If you want to increase your Japanese handwriting speed, just keep on writing. Write those little short stories about ネギ like I did, or find some writing prompts (I just started a side-blog with writing prompts yesterday btw) or keep a little diary. Make opportunities to write. 

How to Have Nice Handwriting in Japanese

Okay, full disclaimer: I am the absolute LAST person qualified to talk about this, because I have awful handwriting in Japanese. 

Unless you have prior experience with a different language that uses kanji, or you lack the keen eye of an artist, you will likely struggle to develop neat handwriting. 

Personally, I really like using this app called Japanese Kanji Sensei. It’s on Android (not sure about iOS), and if you pay just a few bucks you can make your own kanji sets and stuff. Anyways, it will show you how to write the characters prettily. It gives you a good frame of reference for what nice, pencil/pen-written characters (versus calligraphy characters). It has hiragana and katakana on it too!

I get a stylus and write out the characters on this app for the muscle memory, so my hands remember the sensation of writing a certain character. (The muscle memory is different if you only use your fingertip.) This muscle memory and repetition is how Japanese people learn how to internalize kanji as well. I really enjoy and recommend this app. I’m sure that there are others out there like it too.

Summary

TL;DR: Review your textbooks, take risks, use every resource available or make your own, and just have fun with it! 💗

⭐️💐💞🌹🌼🍉⚡️🌺💛🌈🌷🍐✨🌾🍄💫🐚☀️

please reblog to let your mutuals and followers know you love them even when they can’t love themselves

💐✨🌈🍉🌺⭐️🐚💞🌾⚡️☀️🌷💛🍄🍐🌼💫🌹