As Requested By Quite A Few People - A Masterpost Of Educational Podcasts. Links Go To Either The Site

everything is actually a mess

How to Read From a Textbook

Hi guys! So I’ve noticed that a lot of people, including myself, struggle with reading directly from a textbook and actually retaining all of the information. 

Well my friends I am here to change that [queue the victory music]. Recently I discovered a reading strategy known as the SQ3R technique. It stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review. I’ve found this technique to be extremely helpful when it comes to reading through textbooks, and so now I’m passing this information onto my dear followers.

1. Survey

The first step in this process is to get a basic idea of what you’re going to be reading. Most textbooks have chapter outlines or a brief summary at the beginning of each chapter. Take about five minutes to skim through these. By doing this, you’ll have the basic structure of what you’ll be learning in your head. 

2. Question

This step will be repeated multiple times throughout your reading, so pay attention! Within each chapter, there are section titles that give you a vague idea of what the next few paragraphs will be about. This step asks that you turn the section title into a question. For example, we’ll say that our section title is “The Changing Role of the States.” You can turn this into questions such as “how did the role of the states change” and “which states changed and how.” When you turn the titles into questions, you end up looking for the answers while you’re reading rather than simply reading. This stops you from reading the same line over and over again.

3. Read

This one’s the obvious one. Read your textbook. Take notes while you’re reading. Write down all the important definitions, concepts, names, dates, etc. But remember to take breaks! Taking a three minute break for every twenty minutes of reading allows information to settle in your brain. It also helps with memory retention.

4. Recite

I’ll admit I’m still a bit uncomfortable with this step but it’s helped me a lot with remembering what I’ve read. Basically, this step asks you to summarize what you’ve just read out loud. I do this after each section, and then I summarize the whole chapter once I’ve finished the chapter. (Pro Tip: If you’re uncomfortable with talking to yourself, try talking to a recording device or summarize to a nearby friend.)

5. Review

Review, review, review. I cannot stress this enough. Read over your notes the day after, then the week after. Studies show that you remember 60% more of the material you learned when you review it the next day. Don’t forget you can review with more than just your notes! Make flashcards or foldables with the most important information in the chapter and quiz yourself! So many textbooks have quizzes online for each chapter, so use them!!!! I find mind maps to be super helpful in studying too. Reviewing is a super important step, so don’t think that you can forget about studying just because you’ve read through a chapter!

I might include that, as of recent, many professors have been saying that there is a fourth ‘R’ to this process: Relate. With this step you simply relate the information you’ve just read back to something important in your life. When you make connections with your reading, it becomes easier to remember the material. 

Well that’s all I’ve got for you guys for now. I hope this helps at least a few of you. Keep on studying guys, and good luck on finals!  ╚(•⌂•)╝

did some review for our botany quiz on monday! i accidentally fell asleep throughout the entirety of our teacher’s three-hour lecture, but thank the heavens for powerpoint presentations aaaa

Researching for a project? Looking for open-access, high quality databases, encyclopedias and resources to help you write your next paper? Here’s a list of some great ones to help you find exactly what you were looking for.

Research Managers

Zotero

Mendeley

Qiqqa

General

List of academic databases and search engines 

Our World in Data

Search Engines

100 Time-Saving Search Engines for Serious Scholars

Top 11 Trusted (And Free) Search Engines For Scientific and Academic Research

Ten search engines for researchers that go beyond Google

12 Fabulous Academic Search Engines

The 6 BEST Search Engines for Academic Research

20 of the Best Search Engines for Students

Best Educational Search Engines For Academic Researchers

Databases 

Directory of Open Access Journals

New York Public Library Articles and Databases

UCSB Article Indexes & Research Databases

DATABASES: Library of Congress E-Resources Online Catalog

FINDING CURRENT RESEARCH USING FREE ONLINE RESOURCES

Free Databases for Magazine/Journal Articles, etc. 

Free Full-Text Resources for Grad School Papers

Online Reference: Open Access Databases

Free Online Full-text Articles 

Free scholarly resources

International Education Research Database

PubMed

Sci-Hub

Database checklist: Key academic research resources — both free and restricted

Research Databases and Other Online Tools

Encyclopedias

Top Encyclopedia Sites for Student Research Papers 

RefSeek’s Encyclopedias

Encyclopedia.com 

Infoplease

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy 

Medline Plus

Dictionaries

RefSeek’s dictionaries and thesauri

The 10 Best Online Dictionaries

Essay and Paper Writing

Essay and Paper Writing Masterpost

Hello, lovelies! This week, I talk about how I got a 2300+ on the SAT without any outside tutoring or prep classes. Yes, it’s possible, and I tell you how to do it in the video.

I also put together a masterpost of resources below. Even if you aren’t self-studying, a lot of these things might be helpful:

PREP BOOKS

Official College Board SAT Study Guide (The Blue Book)

Direct Hits Vocabulary (Volume 1) // Direct Hits Vocabulary (Volume 2) — What makes these books stand out from other SAT vocab books is the use of pop culture references to explain definitions. For example, the first word in Volume 1, ambivalent, is given the sentence: “In The Avengers, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, and Thor are initially ambivalent about joining S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Avengers Initiative.”

Barrons SAT 2400 — Fabulous book, helpful strategies. I didn’t read the whole thing or do all the practice problems; I only used it for extra help on the sections I struggled with.

Grubers SAT 2400 — Didn’t personally use it myself, but it was recommended by a lot of my friends.

CRITICAL READING

→ Non-SAT Critical Reading Advice

→ My favorite reading sources:

The Atlantic — mix of interesting articles

Variety — pop culture focus, but with more cultured language

New Yorker — very cultured, good place to pick up vocabulary

New York Times — classic SAT reading material

Boston Globe — I have a soft spot in my heart for their entertainment and style sections

National Geographic — exactly the sort of passages you’ll find on the SAT

→ Vocab Flashcards (mentioned in video)

WRITING

→ Top Writing Errors

→ Top Grammar Rules

MATHEMATICS

→ Khan Academy

september 26th 2017 | 2/100 days of productivity

my quarterly exams are finally over!! woo^^ test scores come out tomorrow tho huhuhu i’m not sure how to feel about it but i think i did pretty decently! hope my grades are doing well :3

meanwhile, entrance exams are just around the corner… guess who hasnt started yet? yup that’s right! me lol 😂 tbh idk how y'all do it? share me your secrets!!

calling out any fellow procrastinators out there! wanna procrastinate together? 😂😂

what i’m currently in love with : breathe again by emily slough ( @emslough on wattpad!! she’s awesome i love her so much omg )

hi chelsea!! i'm an undergrad student right now, considering a career in academia. my adviser and all my professors tell me i have a lot of potential and i love the idea of spending my life teaching and doing research, but i've read so many horror stories about people trying to find & keep jobs and eventually leaving academia. i was wondering if you had any insight or advice, maybe even places where i could find a more positive & encouraging (but still realistic) perspective. thank u!!

i’m not sure i’m in a great place to answer this for you! the realistic picture is just… not encouraging. finding someone who’ll say “of course you’re going to get a job!” might make you feel better temporarily, but that person is lying to you, and the lie is going to come back around and hurt worse in five years or so. 

in other words, the horror stories are ubiquitous because the experience is ubiquitous (and tbh, though quit lit has def blossomed over the last few years, there’s still a far greater number of people leaving academia than are represented in those accounts–many people see leaving as “washing out” or admitting defeat, and don’t talk about their decisions to go). 

this is not to say that you shouldn’t go into academia. but as i tell my own mentees, you should not go into academia with the expectation of getting a job at the end. i went into grad school because i liked doing the work, and because i did some self-assessment and concluded that even if i didn’t leave six years later with a tenure-track teaching job, i wouldn’t regret taking the time & doing the work to get the doctorate. then i sat down and had a little chat with myself two-ish years ago and decided that yes, i was going to Go For It, which has meant avoiding quit lit for my own mental health and focusing on the positives (your professors! those are the extant examples of people who got the kind of research & teaching job you want!). asking your advisors about this directly is a great place to start; you can also read karen kelsky’s the professor is in, which i’ve mentioned here a few times, for a fairly realistic description of what the market is like at the moment. 

HOW TO APPROACH CLASSES A guide to getting the most out of your classes and lectures

By Eintsein

Design inspired by this post by @journalsanctuary

the no bullshit guide to getting your shit together: for the lazy student

Let’s be honest: time management and organization? They’re really hard. Sure, at first you might feel like you’ve gotten the hang of them, that you’re in control of your life. But how often have you fallen off the wagon? Procrastinated on one thing and the next moment, you’re behind in all your classes? I know that sometimes laziness feels like a part of who you are, but honestly, fuck that. Do you really want to give up your success for the disinterest of a moment?

If your answer is no (it better be no, or you really need to get your priorities straight), let’s get to it. 

STEP ONE: BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF

“This class doesn’t even matter.” “I don’t care about my grades.” “I can finish this the day before.” Sound familiar? You might feel great now, but when you’re staring down at your report card later, it’ll feel like you just got punched. 

This is a cliche, but the greatest obstacle to your success is yourself - especially the lies you tell yourself! Sit yourself down and be honest about what you need to improve on. Be as blunt as you can, but for god’s sake, don’t throw yourself a pity party! There’s no use agonizing over what you can’t change. Instead, set realistic, achievable goals, and make a game plan. Struggling with math? Go to extra help. Behind in all your classes? Stay in for a couple nights and actually work. 

STEP TWO: STOP WITH THE FANCY SHIT

Now you know what your goals are, but maybe you want some inspiration, so you log on to tumblr and are instantly bombarded by all these beautiful, well lit shots of the most gorgeous bullet journals, planners, and notes. Impressive, right? Well, I’m gonna let you in on a little secret: they’re all useless! A simple phone planner works just as well, if not better, than a fancy agenda, because you’ll always have it on you, it’s not a hassle to carry around, and you don’t feel obligated to make it look pretty. 

Riddle me this, where are you going to find all this extra motivation to keep prettying up your bullet journal? To write all your notes in perfect, colour coded printing? There aren’t many times in life where taking the easy was out will actually benefit you, so take advantage! Stop wasting your time; get a phone planner and write your notes in your natural goddamn handwriting. 

STEP THREE: CLEAN YOUR ROOM

Yep, your entire room - not just your study space! This one can be put on the back burner for a bit if you’re on a really pressing deadline, but I wouldn’t recommend it. I’m notoriously messy, and if I don’t watch myself, I’d find myself in dirty-laundry-and-old-notes hell. A little bit of organized chaos is fine, I even encourage it! But try working when your desk is covered in mounds of paper and you have nowhere to put your laptop – it’s just not conducive to success. 

Keeping your entire room clean is a way to stave off stress, frustration, and even embarrassment, because nobody wants to show potential roommates how much of a mess they are. 

STEP FOUR: ACTUALLY WORK

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking: “actually work? Who does this girl think she is?” I’d probably think the same thing, except I’ve learned the valuable lesson of sucking it the hell up, and you will too. When you get home from work, grab a snack and work. When you have a free period, figure out what’s due and work. Stop reasoning yourself out of work: you’re not going to finish this later, and that will be on the test. There’s really not much to say about this one, because it’s the step that requires the most raw effort, and you’re really only going to find that within yourself. Tell yourself what’s at stake, and realize that, by setting the standard for your mediocrity now, you’re potentially trapping yourself in a cycle that will last for years. 

STEP FIVE: CUT YOURSELF SOME SLACK

Maybe you’ve been on top of your shit for a day, a week, or even a month, and that’s really great. But then… you fail. You miss a deadline or you bomb a test. So what do you do now? Do you allow yourself to fall back into your old habits? Fuck no! Everyone fails, even that studyblr with those perfect bullet journal photos and a perpetually clean study space. I’m going to tell you something that’ll sound really strange: you should value your failures, especially if you worked hard to avoid them. What?! Be HAPPY about failing when I actually TRIED? Yeah, you heard me right. If you don’t know how to handle failure, then when you inevitably experience it, your reaction will be much worse. 

Failing hurts, and boy, I know how embarrassing it can be. But learning how to deal with failure, and especially how to keep trying after it happens, is an invaluable lesson. 

STEP SIX: TREAT. YO. SELF.

Disclaimer: I’m not suggesting you treat yourself after the most basic of tasks, because please. Treat yourself when you know you goddamn well deserve it. Remember that “all work and no play makes jack a dull boy.” If all you do is study and do your homework, then, pardon my french, your life sucks. If you don’t have friends, play a video game! Eat an entire jumbo chocolate bar! Indulge in whatever the fuck you want, you deserve it. I’m someone that has trouble prioritizing future benefits over immediate gratification, so by allowing myself little pleasures, I save myself from crashing and burning. 

Hope these tips helped, but remember to take them with a grain of salt - you’re you and I’m me, and different things work for different people. Good luck!