Lil Somthing

you know

[ 25.02.19 ] “have some fire. be unstoppable. be a force of nature.”

A clown valentine Amy I did for a greeting card assignment

how i handle my workload

first i review what i’d learned most recently (this is usually quick, but i say everything out loud and repeat terms/concepts i don’t understand)

I do this by either rewriting the notes (handwritten), flashcards, or by going through the study sheet provided (this won’t always be given)

second i work on any essays/assignments that i have to do, priority goes to those due the soonest or the ones that are the most difficult

finally i review for any upcoming tests/labs that i may have, priority goes to those that occur the soonest or are the most difficult (i do this by reviewing my notes, flashcards, power points, studying with friends, or using a study guide)

TIPS

Ask classmates questions about the topic, don’t be afraid of looking dumb - they are in the same position as you

If you didn’t get a study guide, make one yourself! It can be a great study tool, maybe even more effective than one created by a teacher

Don’t cram. Just, don’t.

listen, the studyblr community can be a wonderful place - but there’s this emphasis on absolute perfection that really doesn’t help a lot of students dealing with other issues on top of their studies. here are five unconventional study tips that might not fit the studyblr aesthetic but have helped me get straight as whilst learning to live with mental health and family problems too!

1. don’t study whilst commuting

i walk to school, so posts about studying on the bus just aren’t helpful - i don’t have the option to do that! even if i’m taking the train somewhere, the last thing on my mind is studying. i’m thinking about my bed and how early it is and whether or not my coffee is cool enough to drink without burning myself yet. not all of us can start working the second we’re awake, and that’s okay!

instead: record your lessons and listen to them as you travel!

even if you’re not paying attention, you’ll remember more than you think! this is especially useful for languages - i recorded myself reading a few essays and listened to them as i walked, which made noticing grammatical errors so much easier!

2. don’t rewrite all your notes

i love the studyblr aesthetic as much as anyone, but i honestly don’t have the time to write out pages and pages of notes in the hope of gaining a few followers. of course it’s nice to have pretty-looking notes, but when you have a huge list of tasks to do, it can become a way of procrastinating work that’s actually needed for a grade.

instead: organise your class notes!

check the material you’ll study before the lesson! if you’re into the brush lettering aesthetic, write out or print titles off ahead of class so you can stick them on your page without having to waste valuable lesson time drawing them. plus, knowing what you’re going to study before you actually come to it means you can prepare a list of questions to ask the teacher and improve your understanding of the subject! this way, you’ll have organised, clear notes from the beginning, so you won’t have to copy anything out at home.

3. don’t buy expensive stationery

i know everyone seems to have those tombow brush pens and leuchtturm journals. as someone who can’t afford them, trust me when i say i get how it feels. but spending money on expensive products (especially ones you don’t know how to use) is just counterproductive - your grades won’t magically go up if you start shopping at muji.

instead: try budget alternatives!

would you buy a £90 contour kit if you’d never used foundation before? the same goes for stationery! substitute for cheaper products from your local stationery stores whilst you get a feel for what’s helpful for you, not what anyone else has. for example, i tried so many types of pens before realising that my writing’s nicest with gel pens, so now i let myself get more expensive ones - but i didn’t waste more than £5 figuring this out because i’m #cheap. this list of popular studyblr dupes is constantly being added to if you really need to try something, but stressing about your stationery is not going to help you in the slightest.

4. don’t worry too much about being organised

look, we’d all like to be organised, but i’m an adult who’s lived with depression since i was thirteen, and i know it’s not always possible to have that pinterest-ready study den. sometimes your homework will be done on a bed that’s not been made in weeks of it’s going to be done at all, and that’s okay.

instead: do what you can.

had a bad day? stick on some guns n roses and do the work later. too exhausted to function? just finish that last maths problem and go to bed. it’s okay to not have a picture perfect lifestyle - most of the people who post those photos don’t have it either. just do what you have to do to get through the week.

5. don’t ignore your mental health

there’s such a weird culture of perfectionism here and it’s so damaging! of course no one has to post about their personal lives on their studyblrs - but please don’t let that lead you to believe it’s not important. this mentality of “everything is fine and i must be perfect” isn’t healthy.

instead: talk about how you feel!

it doesn’t have to be on your studyblr, but if you’re feeling suffocated by pressure to achieve, or you think you’re depressed, or you’re just going through a tough time and need to vent, talk to someone! bottling things up is not a healthy way to live life - believe me, i’ve tried it. it doesn’t work. there are so many young people here and we need to stop acting like our studies are all we can ever be.

i’m not trying to “call out” anyone who finds the minimalist note taking and study devotion helpful - everyone here is different, and i’m glad it works for you! but not all of us can do that, so this is for the people who can’t.

a list of simple yet beautiful things to live for:

the feeling of sunlight on your skin

the smell of pastries as you pass by a bakery

being wrapped up in a blanket with a cup of hot chocolate in your hands on a cold night

holding hands with the person you can’t imagine living without

discovering a new favorite song and listening to it on repeat

having a relaxing bath after a long exhausting day

secretly admiring a beautiful stranger you saw on the train

vaguely academic things to do to keep yourself entertained

go down a wikipedia research hole by clicking the first term you don’t understand

binge a crashcourse series end to end (personal recs: world history, history of science, big history, philosophy)

find free books on project gutenberg

download some western classics for free

borrow books and audiobooks from the libby app or borrowbox

start a commonplace book

take a khan academy course

browse MIT’s free online course materials

teach yourself to code

go on a google scholar essay dive

try the open access button to avoid some paywalls for academic media, or install unpaywall that does a similar thing

research the history of the place you where you live

tempt the wrath of the duolingo owl and learn a language

search for online streams of the local tv in your target language’s country and use as background noise for immersion points

print and scrapbook favourite poetry and literature quotes

improve your handwriting by doing handwriting exercises

learn philosophy with the philosophize this! podcast. actually just check out all the educational spotify podcasts there are many good ones

start a weekly club with friends to share new and interesting things you’ve learnt that week

clean and reorganise your study space, physical or digital

check out online museums

fave educational youtube channels that I adore: vsauce, crashcourse, smarter every day, kurzgesagt, school of life, tom scott, r. c. waldun, vsauce3, primer, mark rober, veritasium, asapSCIENCE, scishow, TED-ed

hopefully you’ll find something to enjoy! happy learning x

Maybe the true dungeon was the meshi we made along the way!

I’m taking the AB Calc AP this year (yikes), so here are some of the resources I’ve found so far! I’ll add more as I find them.

Free Practice Tests & Questions

1969-1988 Multiple Choice Questions

2006 Practice Exams (AB & BC, with answers)

Varsity Tutors

College Board Released FRQs 

Peterson’s Practice Test

GetAFive Practice Questions

4Tests Practice

Booooooks

The Princeton Review (3 practice exams)

REA Crash Course (online practice exams)

Barrons (AB & BC, 5 practice exams each)

Kaplan (6 practice exams & 2 diagnostics)

5 Steps to a 5 (3 practice exams)

COW Math (online calculus books)

Peterson’s (online, AB & BC)

Multiple Choice Workbook

Videos

HippoCampus

Khan Academy (so many worked answers)

WOWmath (free response questions)

Other Resources

PDF Reference Sheets (from EE, but here in a handy folder)

Interactive Mathematics Lessons

Visual Calculus (tutorials & drills)

College Board FRQ Index

MIT OpenCourseware Exam Prep

Brightstorm

Mr. Calculus

GetAFive

Paul’s Online Math Notes

Study Guides

Elaine Cheong’s Study Guide

University of Houston Study Guide

Final Review Sheet

Calculus Cheat Sheet

I hope this helps you out! There are more useful posts from my study series here.