Wow, These Are Some Really Really Good Tips! 😍

some things i’ve learned while studying in quarantine

drink more water instead of more coffee.

weekly goals are bullshit. set yourself 3-day goals. you’ll be less laid-back.

don’t just mindlessly stare at words. before you start studying, know your approach to it. have a plan.

summarizing the concept in your own words is the key part of taking notes. don’t just copy things down, convert them into your own way of talking, your own vocabulary, no matter how dumb and unprofessional it sounds.

don’t let the “studyblr aesthetic” fool you. studying doesn’t have to be pretty. summaries and notes can be messy as long as they’re comprehensible. you can always rewrite and reorganize them later. (honestly, you better do. and you better keep them.)

don’t throw away the papers you’ve solved your problems in. staple them to the fucking textbook. you need to see them constantly. cause you’ll need reminders of how far you’ve came, when you’re feeling discouraged.

don’t be an armchair analyst for your issues. if you have an idea then act on it.

remember: the exact point where it becomes difficult, is where your growth begins. take a deep breath, and try to focus on the paragraph in front of you.

get off your high horse and understand that if you’re a zero, you won’t go to 100 in a couple of days. first, you’ll need to reach 30, then from 30 to 60, and then from 60 to 90. nobody is 100 everyday. that happens very rarely.

you need to have fun everyday. you need to have peaceful time every single day. even on exam night. especially on exam night, actually. so make sure you’ve studied enough so you can have some time to yourself.

once you’re on a roll and in need of some challenge to stay on track, start writing down your studying hours. tell yourself you’re not allowed to do less than 80% of what you did yesterday. whatever the hell it was, even just one hour. so if yesterday you really studied for like, say 8 hours, today your goal is to study for at least 6 and a half hours. if you can’t keep up with that, make it 70%, or 60%. 

be forgiving of yourself. be kind to yourself. even if you bounced back and lost your streak. start again. as slowly as you did before. take your time. it’s okay, you were there once you can get there again.

Hi ! Since a friend asked me for some tips to study better, I thought that it would be a good idea to share them with you all !

First of all, I started to have really good grades only once I started to apply exactly what is on this list ! On the beginning of the last year I had grades that went around 15/20 (French scholar system works with grades on 20, not on 100), which was good but I wasn’t the first of my class at all, and then in the end of the year and even right now, I have an average of 17/20 (without P.E obviously lmao), which is considered extremely good as a scientific senior student here !

Anyway I think that most of those tips are already well known but maybe you’ll find things that you didn’t think would work but actually do !

1- Do all of your homework (if possible)

This is some basic tip but God knows that it is the most important thing ever. Practice makes perfect, and I KNOW that sometimes you’ll be too tired to calculate the weight of a satellite which turns around the Earth in 239 days but even if you don’t feel like writing it down, just try to think about it, to find the methodology to do this exercise, because you have high chances to have this exercise again during your test ! Which lead us to the next advice…

2- Always write down the correction of your exercises when your teacher corrects them in class

Well I do think that it is the most important thing that I didn’t do last year and that I do now and it helps me so much. Like I said earlier, in maths, physics, literature and so on, there’s always a methodology that works almost universally for each type of exercise. So you have to listen carefully in class and take notes in case you didn’t understand something that might be important, and even after writing the methods and the corrections you don’t know what to do…

3- Ask a professor or a friend, or check videos on YouTube if this is still blurry in your mind

WE DON’T REPEAT THIS OFTEN ENOUGH BUT YOUR PROFESSORS ARE HERE AND PAID TO HELP YOU ! Even if you don’t like them, if you want to understand a subject you have to ask someone who could explain it to you ! If you’re in college and asking a teacher is not possible, then ask a friend you know they can explain it to you ! Don’t be ashamed of not understanding, this is absolutely natural. Then, if you still don’t understand, maybe you’ll find the answer to your question at our dear friend Google or even better, on YouTube ! Personally I think that Khan Academy is absolutely great for sciences ! Also I don’t really know about american YouTube channels that focus on school, so it’s up to you to find a channel that suits you ! (For my frenchies passant par là Les bons profs et Yvan Monka mes sauveurs).

4- Do not spend time uselessly !!!

Dear God how much time I spent on Twitter and YouTube just REFRESHING FOR NOTHING knowing that I have a test the next day 😭 I realized how much time Twitter would take me each day during the summer holidays so I decided to « delete » my account (I just log in once in a while so my tweets stay here, I don’t want to loose my threads on the Attack Titan and Hanji Zoe).

I also decided this year that once I’m home after school, I’ll just use my phone while I’m eating something and then leave it in the kitchen, and NOT USE IT until I finished all of my homework, even if it’s 10pm and half of my friends sent me a text about interesting things ! Also OBVIOUSLY no Netflix and series and anime once I’m done, but…

5- Don’t overwork yourself

If your studies are your priority like me, then you’ll put your homework before your activities, or even your sleep, because you’d feel guilty or even more stressed because you didn’t learn everything you had to and your test is the next day. Until now I can sleep at 1am and wake up the next day at 6 if I didn’t learn everything, and do that all the week until I have nothing to learn (this is an extremely rare case).

DO NOT DO THAT ALL THE TIME

You can allow you to do that when it’s a really important test, but if this is a really quick vocabulary test, then you should prioritize your sleep ! Then, if you’re really in deep shit you can learn on your way to school (flashcards yayy)! Sometimes when you’re really in a hurry your brain can memorize things so much faster I swear ! But of course, if you want to not do that all the time you have to be really organized, so next tip is…

6- Organize your week if you can !

This is so important to do that omg ! This is the newest thing I’ve been doing and it helps me sooooooooooo much omg ! Personally I have a bullet journal in which I organize what I’ll do each day, and (evenifthosedaysicompletelylostmybalance) now I can find some time for me to draw or just to sleep a bit more lol.

Make To-Do lists, have your own Bujo, just write down everything you have to do this week on your phone, at least you know you won’t miss something that might be important, and in the long run, you’ll find more time to learn your lessons and to do more exercises, and at the end of the semester you’ll have better grades ! But of course this is a question of MOTIVATION !

7- Last but not least, find a way to motivate you !

I think that if you want better grades, that’s for a reason after all ! Then if you’re feeling too lazy to work, just think about the reason that motivates you to go to class and to learn your lessons !

Making your parents proud, doing the job of your dreams, having a lot of money maybe, I don’t know what motivated you to read this post so far but just think about the pride you’ll have when receiving a 98/100! Then you’ll be able to help your friends with the subject you used to struggle with, and btw this is truly a wonderful feeling to graduate with all of your friends ! After that, the reward of holidays will be such a delightful thing 💕

This is all for now ! I might update this post if I remember something that I missed ! Also I’m really sorry if my English is awful, it’s been a while since I truly practiced it !

Just remember that even if you are in the top, intelligence doesn’t do all of the work and this is a progressive work that will help you getting even better results !

Edit: omgggg thank you so much for all those notes💕💕💕 ! I’d never imagine that this post would be this helpful !! I’m kind of curious about how much those tips helped you during the semester ! So if you think you see a progression do not hesitate to hit me up or leave a comment !

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GETTING A JOB CHEAT SHEET!!

perfect resume for someone with no experience

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a guide to writing your resume

how to get a job fast as hell

resume writing tips

jobs and careers masterpost

how to answer interview questions

career and employment masterpost

resume template

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34 crucial tips for your next job interview 

how to write a cv

resume cheat sheet

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job hunting resources

Find a job in your field

7 questions you should ask at the end of every interview

how to get a job before you graduate

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other cheat sheets

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Mushroom landart by Jill Bliss

11.01.21 - day 2? / monday motivation and a double shot of expresso;; my project is off to a fairly good start! My review for e&m isn’t going as well, but I’ll still try to work on it and hopefully get to review some quantum before tomorrow too. Didn’t even have classes today but I am exhausted:^) well, here we go

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february 4, 2018 — rewriting my semantics notes into more cheat sheet looking things!! ╭( ･ㅂ･)و"))

♫ EVERYTHING FROM THE PERFECT RED VELVET

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here is a list of questions i have already answered about graduate school!! 

please check it before you send me a question about graduate school :) :) i hope it’s useful! xo // updated 02.2020

basic info

what is the PhD and what can you do with it? (+) 

what does a literature PhD entail?

should i do a PhD if i have to pay tuition?

is the degree worth it?

does it look bad to take time off between degrees?

what was your timeline like? 

what’s the difference between a terminal MA and a PhD? (+)

does getting an MA first help you get into a PhD program?

is it okay to just try grad school out? 

application process

how can i prepare for applying early in my undergrad career? (+) (+)

where should i start looking for programs?

should i choose a program based on rank or fit? (+)

how can i find lower-profile programs doing cool stuff?

how many programs should i apply to?

parts of the application

advice on the writing sample

advice on the GRE (+)

how should i ask for letters of recommendation?

how should i write a statement of purpose? (+)

how do i demonstrate my “ability to excel”?

how should i address mental health/family/personal issues that impacted my grades?

should i send in extra materials?

grad school application spreadsheet

how should i email potential advisors? (+) (+)

how can i survive the waiting period? (+)

how should i prepare for an interview or phone call? (+)

what should i ask at open house?

what should i do if i don’t think i can afford my grad school tuition?

what should i do the summer before i start my program?

seminars/coursework

how should i plan for grad seminar presentations? (+)

what should i bring with me to seminars?

what are grad seminars like?

how can i get better at speaking during seminars?

what do you mean grades don’t matter

reading

what should i have read before i start my lit grad program?

how much reading should i expect?

how can i read a lot without getting overwhelmed? (+)

how can i read efficiently? (+) (+)

quals-specific reading advice

how should i take notes on critical articles?

writing

how do i write a lit review?

how do i write an indicative bibliography?

how do i choose a dissertation topic? (+)

how do i plan for a long research paper?

how do i balance all the different kinds of writing i have to do?

money & living

how can i find housing before i move?

how do finances work in grad school?

what is adjuncting and why does it suck?

how can i budget while on a stipend?

should i work while in grad school? (+)

what’s important to a research assistant application?

i’m running out of funding / i’m off normative time

fellowship, postdocs, & job stuff

which websites post US fellowship/postdoc/job ads?

CV writing tips

how do dissertation fellowships work? (+)

tips for grant, award, & fellowship applications

should i share my materials with others?

how does the academic hiring process work?

how do i keep track of all my applications?

how do i think up a second project when i’m not even done with my dissertation?

job materials masterpost

skype interview-specific tips

job talks

negotiating (+)

general tips (+)

what’s up with the professor is in?

how do i stay motivated while getting buried in rejection letters?

misc

will grad school make my mental health issues worse? (+) 

how do i survive conferences (abroad)?

how should i deal with burnout? (+)

secret labor

i think i want to quit

my advisor is ghosting me

how do i work with no structured schedule?

how do i get enough sleep?

how do i balance my work & my teaching?

how can i beat imposter syndrome? (+) (+)

how can i excel in grad school?

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17.02.21

math midterm - complete

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✧celestial dark academia calendar - april 2021✧

next month’s free print-out calendar, inspired by historical astronomy! april is based on my prints of tycho brahe. all art is my own! full images here (including march)