AMEN

i have a social psych final in a day and im done revising one module....out of 12 modules.....

wish me luck y'all 😭

will prolly have few breakdowns in the morning

till then, good night y'all <3

UPDATE: the final went pretty okayyyy and i was able to revise all modules hehe

academic comeback era <3

it's barely been a week since the new semester has started and there's SO MUCH work

meetings are endless and workload is piling up im trying to get ahead of tasks but staying motivated is difficult :/

also, happy new year to everyone (⁠◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕⁠✿⁠)

a small personal anecdote (⁠✿⁠^⁠‿⁠^⁠)

im not that religious but festivals like ganesh chaturthi are a nice little break from all the studying.

throughout my school time, i remember having semester exams during the festival which was soooo sad because i never let myself enjoy and was almost never mentally present at the celebrations :/

i love dhols sm, been wanting to play them for the longest time

happy ganesh chaturthi!

this felt nice~~~

i love languages sm ⁽⁠⁽⁠ଘ⁠(⁠ ⁠ˊ⁠ᵕ⁠ˋ⁠ ⁠)⁠ଓ⁠⁾⁠⁾

STUDY TIPS (note to self):

Sometimes, messy notes work better. Spending years on studyblr and studytwt cemented the idea in my mind that my notes have to be picture-worthy with perfect handwriting and an aesthetically-pleasing color-coding system ALL THE TIME. And while I acknowledge that this works well for others, it simply doesn't for me.

My brain works really quickly when it's trying to understand a topic. So quickly that I often have multiple ideas at a time, and with the addition of my professor's inputs or my classmates' inputs, I really needed to speed up in taking down notes. This meant that my handwriting gets REALLY messy, to the point that only I can decipher it. But the extra time that my messy handwriting buys me (compared to the painstakingly slow neat handwriting) allows me to process the info, jot down the essential points, MAKE IMPORTANT CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE IDEAS, doodle maps and symbols, and so on.

But what really helped my note taking process is having my own set of notes from the readings in advance (yes I know this isn't groundbreaking at all but for me IT IS). The night before, I wrote down notes + questions and clarifications that I wanted to address during the class. Then, during the class itself, I added my professor's inputs/classmates' inputs in the remaining spaces of my notes near each topic. This left me with pages that are filled with information both from the readings and the class discussion.

Jotting down notes from the discussion also helped greatly with retention. Since the information from the readings are still fresh in my mind, I was able to easily link the related ideas with the inputs from class. As a result, I remembered and understood stuff better.

Again, not groundbreaking stuff. But see, I've been on studyblr since junior high school (I am now a 4th year college student so that's like, a decade ago). I've been on studytwt since my 2nd year in college. Everywhere I look, I see photos of neat handwriting, color-coded notes, and overall aesthetically-pleasing study set-ups. For years, I tried so hard to do all these but I could never maintain them. I got so caught up with making things pretty that I barely remembered anything at all.

My brain is inherently messy. I always worked better on a chaotic desk, with multiple notebooks open for my notes and doodling/free space for writing down. My handwriting is messy when I write quick. My brain operated by firing multiple connected ideas at once. Neat and tidy don't work when I'm still trying to process or iron out my thoughts. Neat and tidy only works later during exam season, when I'm revising my notes so I can see shit better.

Anyway, this is just what works for me.

tl;dr: write notes in advance based on the class readings but leave space for more jotting down so that you can squeeze in info from the class discussion. Messy handwriting sometimes works better when you're still processing stuf. There's plenty of time to make them pretty later on during revision. Also, neat and pretty doesn't work for everyone (don't let studyblr and studytwt fool you).

💌 ordered in AGAIN because it was raining heavily, also had some homemade food because my friend's mom is a GODSEND and started watching inside out 2 (can be read as: psych student heaven)

💌 a smol v cute flower

💌 started reading a good girl's guide to murder <3

💌 found an awesome paper title while researching for my social psych assignment (the one that says "I can fix him")

finished today's classes(⁠ﾉ⁠◕⁠ヮ⁠◕⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠*⁠.⁠✧

i love my social psychology professor, she's so funny and GENUINELY loves the field

useful study channels :)

today's post will be pretty short but hopefully useful. i've compiled a list of my favorite youtube channels for study tips, tricks, and motivation- hope it helps!

Study tips & tricks

gohar's guide - informative youtube shorts on studying

fayefilms - mainly vlogs and study tips

mahad the mentor - focuses on college applications and ap classes, mainly geared towards high schoolers

helaine zhao - again, mainly vlogs for inspiration + study tips

js park - maximizing studying, how to manage time

Explaining concepts/tutoring

organic chemistry tutor - explains math, chemistry, and physics in concise and easy to follow videos (absolute lifesaver)

khan academy - a classic, focus mainly on math but also has other subjects

Study with me and music

lofi girl

ellene

abao in tokyo

merve

College channels

elliot choy - student at vanderbilt, makes trip vlogs

the college essay guy - lemme tell you, he's the GOAT at college essays. also has a blog at https://www.collegeessayguy.com/

kay chung - makes absolutely chaotic dental student youtube shorts, super funny and entertaining!

hope this helps, and please check out my other posts!!

these are pictures from my last week of my first year at university and my first week of summer break

can't believe first year is over, i feel like i didn't do much extracurricular-wise but atleast my academics were good? eh

i have a lot of things planned for the summer break, hopefully im able to complete atleast half of the list ༎ຶ⁠‿⁠༎ຶ

ill make the list here so i can hold myself accountable lolol

things to do over the summer:

Intern at NGO - mandatory uni requirement

Take my DSLR out more - improve photography/documenting skills

Join dance class again

Make a LinkedIn account

Get into politics

Try new Art - embroidery/a new painting style

Join a gym (very scared about this)

Learn driving and get a license

Play more badminton

Do major-related courses/workshops/internships

Learn basic cooking