Spent Half Of The Morning Making Flashcards For My Clinical Psychology Exam (which Is In July), I Can‘t

I havent seen anyone talk about this yet so im making a post. 

So lets say you’re researching something for a paper (or just for fun) and the research paper you want to read is behind a paywall, or the site makes you create an account first, or makes you pay to download, or limits you to only 5 free articles, or otherwise makes it difficult for you to read what you want.

do not fear! copy the link to the article

go to sci-hub.se         (the url is always changing so its best to check out whereisscihub.now.sh to find what the current url is)

slap the article link in there

bam! free access! 

In the last 3 months I reblogged a lot of tips etc. Sooo, I decided to organize them into different categories! Beware because this list is really really long and it took me ages to make it.

Life:

Waking up early and refreshed

Balancing sleep & education

Little things to do more of

Organize your laptop

How to eat well

How to eat cheaply

Tips for when you have abusive parents

Simplifying your life

Get yo’ life together guide

How to grow the fuck up (friendliness)

How to grow the fuck up – Guide to life (typesetjez)

Small ways to improve your life

Learn things for free

Top 50 online learning sites

Detox your summer

College:

First-time college student advice 

Tips for incoming freshmen 

Getting through your first year 

Morning habits worth starting in college 

Useful college tips 

How to approach classes 

How to get a 4.00 GPA 

How to be productive after school 

Backpack essentials 

Upgrade your workspace 

A Really Fucking Vulgar Guide to Not Losing Your Shit in College 

Trying party drugs 

Productivity:

Productivity 101

Productive things that aren’t studying 

How to be productive during the weekend 

Taking notes:

How to outline and revise using the stewart method 

Upgrade your notes masterpost 

How lentilstudies takes notes 

Studying:

How to gain discipline 

Real tips for studying 

Secrets to efficiently 

How to study like a boss 

Study tips for different learning styles 

Types of study breaks 

How to make a study plan 

Planning the perfect study schedule

Bizarre music study tip 

Study music/noises 

What to do when you don’t want to study 

How to study when you don’t want to 

Finals:

Complete exam study guide 

Study tips – finals edition 

Revise for exams 

Tips for doing well on your exams 

Relaxing during exam periods 

Learning different subjects:

625 words to know in your target language 

How to do well in physics 

Chemistry printables 

Studying for math 

Self care:

Self care tips for students 

App that helps avoiding self-harm 

Apps for your mental health 

Self care tips for when you hit rock bottom 

How daily affirmations can change your life 

Dealing with losing friendships 

Other masterposts:

Alistudys masterpost of tips 

Essential school masterpost 

Apartment hacks masterpost  

tumblr // instagram

more date banners!

https://m.facebook.com/TABCP

03 / 04 / 2018⎪☀️

wow today was actually productive! (all the things u can do if u get up early unbelievable) I helped tidy up our house, washed my bed sheets and stuff, studied for two hours and made a new self care journal spread wohoo. Now I’ll go and update me on all the stuff bts & stray kids are doing hahaha.

april study challenge: What’s your favorite spot to study (outside of your usual study space)?

tbh there isn’t really one. I can’t study anywhere else then at my desk in my room. out of my usual spot the library at my school is okay too, but I get distracted there easily bc of my friends / people talking.

🎧 I am NOT -Stray Kids

mountains and mountains of books and headaches

College Note-Taking System

Having cohesive and effective notes is one of the key skills I think one should have, especially in an academic setting. When you’re receiving a ton of information each day, you want to be able to keep track of that and remember what you’ve learned. I’m constantly trying out ways to make my note-taking more effective and tailored to my needs. Here’s what my note-taking system looks like so far.

Quick note: click on the images for better quality!

Class Notes

Taking notes in class is an invaluable way to keep track of the new knowledge you’ve gained. However, depending on the mode in which the lecture material is conveyed, I take my notes differently. Here’s a summary of how I take my notes for each type of lecture, as well as some examples from the classes I’m taking now.

Slides (e.g. Macroeconomics)

Macroeconomics is a class in which you should be able to intuitively understand a lot of concepts but also remember a lot of things. Because of this, I’ve tailored my note-taking method and habits to achieve that goal.

I write my notes by hand because handwriting is more effective in committing things to memory.

As for what I actually do - and this is what I’ve done for other classes in which the professor/lecturer uses slides:

Read/skim over the slide.

Read each bullet point as the professor goes through them.

Copy it down if it’s straightforward or write it down in a structure and diction that I understand better (not necessarily in my own words - sometimes it’s just restructuring, e.g. splitting things up or joining different bullet points together).

Take note of any other important details the professor says about any particular point unless I think it’s intuitive or common sense.

Here’s an example from a Macroeconomics lecture.

Oral Presentation (e.g. Anthropology)

During classes in which the professor just speaks and doesn’t use much visual material, I listen before I write instead of attempting to write down every single detail mentioned.

Also, I type up my notes instead of handwriting them since the exams are all open-book so I don’t really have to commit things to memory.

Here’s what I do:

Listen for a cue that tells you what this particular part of the lecture will be about (and write it as a heading).

Write down main ideas and their supporting facts/details. If the facts/details come before the main ideas, then I’d usually draw an arrow.

Write down ideas and details from readings in their own section/subsection.

Sometimes, my professor also shows short clips in class, in which case I’d write down the message that I think the clip was meant to convey, as well as things that the professor points out that I didn’t think of on my own.

I’d also look up concepts/ideas/people/events (in real time) that are important to my understanding of the lecture material.

Here’s an example of a Google Docs document from an Anthropology lecture.

Demonstrations and Sample Problems (e.g. Computer Science)

Classes in which the lecture is mainly going through demos and problems are kind of tricky, because you want to know and understand what the professor is doing, but you also don’t want to be writing down every single step that’s being executed. Here’s what I’ve found to be the most effective so far:

If there are any, I import the slides/handout onto OneNote and annotate directly on the slide. If not, I just write down things like definitions, important concepts, and syntax-related things.

I focus on understanding what the professor’s doing with the demo or problem.

I then summarize the steps they took and

Write down comments and points they brought up, e.g. common errors, desirable habits/practices.

Also, these kinds of classes are usually classes in which you’d learn better when you actually do problems yourself, so I definitely learn more when I do assignments and labs than when I’m in class.

Here’s an example from a Web Programming lecture.

Here’s one from an Object Oriented Programming and Data Structures class. I often draw things to help me visualize the general points.

Rewritten Notes

My rewritten notes have definitely changed a lot since high school. Since most of my classes don’t require a lot of memorization, I organize my notes in such a way that they’d be easy to index or find information from. Here are some of the ways I do that:

Establishing a Visual Hierarchy

Having a well-defined hierarchy helps me flow through my notes really well as i read them. It helps me organize information like a mind map without actually making a mind map - I know the big topics and their subtopics and sub-subtopics and details … basically it’s easier to see how these ideas fit together.

But why don’t I just make mind-maps? See, the thing is, a lot of my notes require sequential or linear thinking, e.g. in macroeconomics it might be the sequence of events following a change in the economy, or in computer science it might be a general algorithm for solving a certain type of problem, or it might be proving or deriving a certain equation. These sorts of things just generally don’t work well with mind maps. Instead, establishing a visual hierarchy in my notes helps me organize different ideas while retaining the linear nature of the information.

Here’s what the hierarchy looks like.

Here is an example from my Web Programming class, which is a purely project-based class, so no prelims or exams. As you can see, I draw rectangles around important terminology so that I can easily find them while I’m working on a project. I also include examples from in-class activities as well as notes on syntax so I have an idea of how to implement certain things. These examples and notes are further grouped by terminology/concept.

Structuring Them for Easier Flow

My syllabi for my college courses are nowhere near as detailed as the syllabi for my high school courses - those of you who take/have taken Cambridge exams would know. In college, my syllabi are only lists of topics and not what you’re expected to know for each topic. Because of this, I have to find a way to arrange information so that I can achieve the most comprehensive and cohesive understanding of that topic, i.e. so that the flow of my notes is similar to the flow of my thinking.

For example, in my economics notebook, I like to have the details first (e.g. the separate markets: the goods market, the assets market, and the labor market) and then the big picture later (IS-LM-FE). Some people prefer the other way around - seeing the big picture and then going into the details - which I can understand and have done myself for certain topics.

Making Use of Proximity and Spacing

I very much dislike notes without good use of spacing and grouping things together. Keeping related ideas in visual proximity helps your brain (or at least mine) organize this information. It’s also a lot easier to find things and visualize your notes when they’re not just a huge chunk of text.

One thing I should probably mention is that I don’t use colored pens anymore because it just takes a lot of time to switch pens and think of a color palette. I also don’t have much use for it. In the past, I used color to help me memorize and group things in different categories, but now, I’ve found that there aren’t a whole lot of categories I need to keep track of, and when I do, I can do so with just one pen but changing the style of the text.

And that’s what my note-taking system currently looks like. It’s working well so far, but I still think there are other things I could try out that might be a better fit.

So yeah, hope this was helpful, and as always, feel free to drop an ask if you have any questions, or even if you have any suggestions or would like to share your note-taking system. Have an awesome week!

Day 1

I doubt anyone will read this but,

I’ve always envied people in studio ghibli movies and their ability to just enjoy the small things in life. I have recently decided to stop envying them and start living my life in a way that I enjoy. My bus ride seems less stressful and enjoying the scenery has brought me a sense of peace before class that nothing else has.

hannibal creators really had the audacity to make the title screen pure white when the rest of the show looks like it was filmed on a set in a dungeon with maybe three lightbulbs total

Manifesting academic success and an unlimited supply of cute stationery for the person whom you reblogged this from