Winter Season Series Part 1/part 9

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09/17/15 // Mind mapping for an overwhelming genetics section. Sorry I haven’t been super active — I’m having kind of a rough week, personally and academically. Much love. ❤️

STUDY STUDY STUDY- The Few Days Before Exams

My first exam (modern history) is Wednesday. Today is Sunday. For the past few days my life has been about study, study and more study. Here’s the best tips I can give you:

Start NOW

Flashcards are the best way to study- you learn while making them AND by revising

Mindmaps are also good for connecting ideas

And because they can be messy

You don’t have time to be neat and meticulous (though go ahead if it helps you)

My advice is to just make it legible enough for YOU

Remember, this is for you

Practice papers are your friend

But let’s be real, you probably don’t have time

So instead of essays do essay plans, for example

Or practice introductions, that’s useful too. It helps you come up with ideas

Take care of yourself, you’re obviously busy, but take breaks for meals at the very least

Start with the hard stuff and then do the easy stuff

For example, I have been revising history during the day and annotating books at night as part of my nighttime reading

Try and get enough sleep while you can

Don’t forget the big picture

Talk to friends & family if you’re feeling anxious

Aim for 100%- Know as much as you possibly can, even if you don’t expect to get 100

Learn the structure of your exams, it’s so much less daunting on the day

Utilise your teachers if you need them

Breathe, it’ll be okay

You got this

Don’t forget to prepare the materials you’ll need

And go ace those exams :)

OH MY GOD whyyyy did no one tell me you’re supposed to send thank-yous after interviews?? Why would I do that???

“Thank you for this incredibly stressful 30 minutes that I have had to re-structure my entire day around and which will give me anxiety poos for the next 24 hours.”

I HATE ETIQUETTE IT’S THE MOST IMPOSSIBLE THING FOR ME TO LEARN WITHOUT SOMEONE DIRECTLY TELLING ME THIS SHIT

please reblog this if you’re a smaller studyblr with a original content, i’d love to support those starting out and want to follow some new blogs! (also please tag your pictures with #emmastudies so i can find them)💛 xx

english essays would be way cooler if they’d teach us to be just, super critical of classic literature 

imagine if the standard teaching approach to essays was more along the lines of “here’s an outdated written work by a member of the ruling class of a society that was conspicuously more prejudiced than ours. use textual examples to demonstrate why it would be hella inappropriate and probably quite shitty to publish-glorify today.

bad study habits to leave in 2017

cramming the night before. do a little every day and get a good night sleep before the test

procrastinating. promise yourself you’ll do 5 minutes of a task you’ve been putting off for a while. you’ll be surprised how quickly that 5 minutes turns into 10 and 10 into an hour and before you know it you’ll be done and able to enjoy guilt-free leisure time

not asking for help. make the most of your teachers and classmates who want you to succeed. don’t suffer in silence

saying yes to everything. it’s important to try new things but it’s also important to have enough spare time to see your friends and get enough sleep

being distracted. turn off the tv. turn off your phone. focus on studying so you can get your assignments done as efficiently as possible so you can enjoy your free time

not having a planner. this doesn’t have to be a beautiful bullet journal. just make sure you have a way of keeping on top of everything you have to do so you don’t get overwhelmed whether that’s in a store-bought diary or in you phone’s calendar

eating (too much) junk. fuel your body and your mind with fruit and veg. if you’re at university try cooking in bulk to keep costs down. you’ll be able to concentrate better if you’re eating well

not taking breaks. your brain needs to take breaks, even if you have a big test coming up. for every hour you spend studying take a 10 minute break and stretch/make a snack/take a shower/call a friend 

not rewarding yourself. take time to be proud of everything you’ve achieved so far. enjoy the success you’ve worked so hard for

Habits of successful students

Discipline: “discipline is doing what needs to be done, even when you don’t want to”, which means that you have to force yourself to start doing things. 

Concentration: when you make a real effort in your work (study, homeworks etc…) you will be more likely to actually focus, understand and learn. 

Organization: always set tasks and goals and organize a study-schedule. Maybe you don’t really want to plan all the week, but if you just wake up and open your agenda/bullet journal/iphone calendar and write down all the things you have to do, setting due dates and deadlines, you’ll feel more conscious and encouraged to stay on track. 

Tasks-splitting: sometimes, you write down your tasks. Some of these tasks may be very hard and complicated, and it will take a long long time to complete them. So, you can split them in smaller tasks, so you will feel satisfied after a shorter period of time, instead of studying for hours and still seeing that chapter undone on your study-schedule. 

Watch the sunrise: when I wake up late, I feel like I don’t have enought time to do my work and lose my motivation. I literally panic and then I think “whatever, I could not complete all the things anyway”. So, if you wake up earlier you will feel more positive and  controlled. 

Smart reading: try not to read your textbook just like a newspaper. For every paragraph you read, try to underline and write down key words and then your question about that subject. Literally, turn your textbook into questions. If you write down question - particularly why…? - and think about the answer, you will be more likely to remember that stuff later. 

Healthy lifestile: if you don’t drink enough water in the morning, you will be more likely to have a decrease of concentration in the afternoon/evening, so: stay hydrated. Try also to have some snaks every one-two hours: feed your brain. 

:)

26.8.16

Can’t believe school starts in about ten days (O∆O). I hope everyone has had a wonderful and relaxing summer (*´ｪ`*) !! You don’t have to worry about being productive because the point of holidays is to relax and I hope you feel fulfilled and full of energy for the school year!!

One of my close friends on Tumblr offered to give me information on Art/design universities and today she sent me a list of US ones and I’m so so so grateful and amazed at her kindness!! Also, I finally took a look at the SAT practice questions.