Study Tips

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My love for perfection always ends up in procrastination, so I’m really excited to finally start with this challenge, yay! These are my Algebra notes for my big exam in July…and I’m quite happy with this writing system now.

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self discipline tips

here are tips I discovered very recently:

something is better than nothing. 5 minutes of work are better than zero. Just because you missed something on your schedule doesn’t mean you can’t still work on it, even for 5 minutes. Grow and build on this.

second drafts / reviews can be done after.

Don’t think you are going to do your very best work on the first try. Take the weight of perfectionism off your shoulders.

don’t think about doing it. just do it as fast as you can.

build on your productivity, not your failures.

If you come from a past of procrastinating and now feel motivated to change and discipline yourself, do NOT try to do everything at once.

if you have a set of different goals to accomplish, begin with the most important one. Wait until the rotine of working for that one settles in (you feel productive and comfortable-ish), and then begin with the next. Repeat.

this way you’ll be building your way up and not juggling everything at the same time, hoping everything works out.

be patient with yourself, you’ll get there!

set smaller deadlines for your goals

have monthly and weekly-ish deadlines

e.g. if you are doing a project, due 22nd Feb, set personal deadlines, like have Introduction written by 2nd Feb, have Methods written by 10th Feb, have project complete by 18th Feb.

take them as seriously as you possibly can, don’t miss out on yourself.

write realistic daily tasks and don’t stop until you finish them. after them you can do whatever you want

on writing realistic daily tasks, the secret is knowing you can only do so much in one day, but trusting you can accomplish everything in the course of any period of time (a week, or 2 weeks or a month, etc.) because you will combine the work from all these different days.

it’s very tempting to write down all the tasks you need to accomplish in one day to just get over with it, but the real deal is you won’t accomplish half of them. You’ll feel very unproductive then, wich leads to demotivation.

spread daily tasks in the time necessary.

have a consistent sleep schedule.

if your mind isn’t ready everything will fall apart.

have one rest day per week where you plan nothing, do whatever you want except studying. this can be harder than you expect!

(don’t forget these are effective only if you actually put them into practice! good luck babes!!)

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I think a lot about what it is to be a woman in science, but I have the inherent privilege that comes with being a white woman to shield me from the worst of it. I had an absolutely eye opening conversation with classmate of mine last year, and I’d like to share it with y’all.

This other lab member of mine became a great friend of mine around the time I decided to switch labs. She had a different PI and was a year ahead of me, so I was comfortable bringing my concerns to her. Her support was instrumental in my decision and my current happiness in my new lab. She presented in a lab meeting the day I went to the director of our grad school and requested a change in PIs, so I missed it. I knew she had been nervous (it was meant to prepare her for for her preliminary exam) so I asked her the next day how it had gone.

Now. To put this in context, I need to explain my old PI. He was an almost eighty year old white man, and if it wasn’t his opinion, it was wrong. He was very, very bad at being a PI. He was also probably worse at being a co-worker. I recall at least three lab meetings that devolved into him yelling with another PI, and several student presentations that he was terribly mean and unnecessarily fixated on insignificant details. So it comes as no shock that he went after my friend.

My old PI (who was not involved in bacteria research AT ALL) had taken some issue with the strain of bacteria she was using, one that was selected based on clinical relevancy. This had resulted in a dissolving of my friends presentation into him interrogating her about this strain, interrupting her explanations and generally getting louder and louder and louder until her PI stepped in. Upon hearing all of this, I apologized profusely for his behavior and asked how she was doing now. She expressed to me how she had struggled to remain calm, and how she was ultimately grateful to her PI for de-escalating the situation.

Now here’s the part that hit me hard: my friend explained to me that she was grateful mostly because she wasn’t sure how much longer she would have been able to withstand his nonsense without raising her voice, to which I responded, “he would have deserved it. You were right and he was wrong, and it’s beyond time he was put in his place. He’s not your PI, and he’s not on your committee, so I think you would have been wholly justified in standing up for yourself.”

“If I’d had raised my voice at him, even a little, I would have been labeled an angry black woman, and everyone in that room would have written me off as a stereotype of my race.”

Oh. Ohhhhh. OH that hit me in the heart and the brain and the soul and I’m shocked I didn’t get a bruise. My sweet, strong, smart friend, who was a mom and a wife and a brilliant student and a kind soul, had to weigh every word out of her mouth with a gravity I couldn’t understand, and had never considered until that moment. And it probably says a lot about my white privilege and my bubble I’ve grown up in that I was 24 years old before this came across to me. But this conversation has lived in my head ever since, and my perspective of the world shifted because of it. I think what made this particular incidence so eye opening to me was that being interrogated by this man over stupid details was something that happened to me regularly, and had just pushed me over the edge. Realizing some level of privilege had protected me all along from it being worse was enlightening.

I’ve benefitted my whole life from white privilege (a thing my family doesn’t think exists). I’m nowhere near perfect as an ally or a friend or a person, but I want to be better at standing up for and alongside those who need the protection my privilege offers. I share this now in case it resonates with someone else the way it did with me.

Black lives matter. Black people matter. Your hearts matter and your ideas matter and your feelings and your dignity and hurt and anger and fear. It shouldn’t require stating but it does, and I am so so sorry for your pain, for every situation I wouldn’t think twice in that you have to navigate carefully. I’m sorry, and I stand with you.

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math aid

OK SO in the days leading up to the biggest maths exam I’ve ever written (also my 4th last one ever ) i’ve found this website. now, symbolab is different to mathaway and wolfram alpha (which are both great!) in that it shows you all the steps and it doesn’t do that thing where it’s “free” but if you want the explanation you have to sign up and pay. it’s AMAZING. know why?

it does everything. not baby everything, but everything. Calculus?

what’re you looking for? 

also, the interface is really easy to use, and it’s set out so well.

the website is https://www.symbolab.com and you will not be disappointed.

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100 days of productivity || day 2

In the progress of making notes for my Psychological Statistics exam. I don’t get this shit 😭😭

#studyblr #originalpost #studyspo #psychblr #100daysofproductivity

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19/02/16 Finished with exchange rates! 🎲

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I believe in free education, one that’s available to everyone; no matter their race, gender, age, wealth, etc… This masterpost was created for every knowledge hungry individual out there. I hope it will serve you well. Enjoy!

FREE ONLINE COURSES (here are listed websites that provide huge variety of courses)

Alison 

Coursera

FutureLearn

open2study

Khan Academy

edX

P2P U

Academic Earth

iversity

Stanford Online

MIT Open Courseware

Open Yale Courses

BBC Learning

OpenLearn

Carnegie Mellon University OLI

University of Reddit

Saylor

IDEAS, INSPIRATION & NEWS (websites which deliver educational content meant to entertain you and stimulate your brain)

TED

FORA

Big Think 

99u

BBC Future

Seriously Amazing

How Stuff Works

Discovery News

National Geographic

Science News

Popular Science

IFLScience

YouTube Edu

NewScientist

DIY & HOW-TO’S (Don’t know how to do that? Want to learn how to do it yourself? Here are some great websites.)

wikiHow

Wonder How To

instructables

eHow

Howcast

MAKE

Do it yourself

FREE TEXTBOOKS & E-BOOKS

OpenStax CNX

Open Textbooks

Bookboon

Textbook Revolution

E-books Directory

FullBooks

Books Should Be Free

Classic Reader

Read Print

Project Gutenberg

AudioBooks For Free

LibriVox

Poem Hunter

Bartleby

MIT Classics

Many Books

Open Textbooks BCcampus

Open Textbook Library

WikiBooks

SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES & JOURNALS

Directory of Open Access Journals

Scitable

PLOS

Wiley Open Access

Springer Open

Oxford Open

Elsevier Open Access

ArXiv

Open Access Library

LEARN:

1. LANGUAGES

Duolingo

BBC Languages

Learn A Language

101languages

Memrise

Livemocha

Foreign Services Institute

My Languages

Surface Languages

Lingualia

OmniGlot

OpenCulture’s Language links

2. COMPUTER SCIENCE & PROGRAMMING

Codecademy

Programmr

GA Dash

CodeHS

w3schools

Code Avengers

Codelearn

The Code Player

Code School

Code.org

Programming Motherf*?$%#

Bento

Bucky’s room

WiBit

Learn Code the Hard Way

Mozilla Developer Network

Microsoft Virtual Academy

3. YOGA & MEDITATION

Learning Yoga

Learn Meditation

Yome

Free Meditation

Online Meditation

Do Yoga With Me

Yoga Learning Center

4. PHOTOGRAPHY & FILMMAKING

Exposure Guide

The Bastards Book of Photography

Cambridge in Color

Best Photo Lessons

Photography Course

Production Now

nyvs

Learn About Film

Film School Online

5. DRAWING & PAINTING

Enliighten

Ctrl+Paint

ArtGraphica

Google Cultural Institute

Drawspace

DragoArt

WetCanvas

6. INSTRUMENTS & MUSIC THEORY

Music Theory

Teoria

Music Theory Videos

Furmanczyk Academy of Music

Dave Conservatoire

Petrucci Music Library

Justin Guitar

Guitar Lessons

Piano Lessons

Zebra Keys

Play Bass Now

7. OTHER UNCATEGORIZED SKILLS

Investopedia

The Chess Website

Chesscademy

Chess.com

Spreeder

ReadSpeeder

First Aid for Free

First Aid Web

NHS Choices

Wolfram Demonstrations Project

Please feel free to add more learning focused websites. 

*There are a lot more learning websites out there, but I picked the ones that are, as far as I’m aware, completely free and in my opinion the best/ most useful.

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 Writing a commentary or essay on a text you’ve never read before in exam conditions can be daunting, but with the proper approach to it, you can ace your way through it with little to no stress!

Before the exam

Familiarise yourself with how we read and find meaning in any text.

What are the effects of different types of structure, narration, rhythm, action, diction, sound, setting, characterisation, figurative language, tone, atmosphere, imagery, subject, themes, ideas, etc.

Knowing the common devices authors use to create meaning allows you to identify them more easily in any given text.

Practice, practice, practice!

Find any past exam papers available, even if they are for a different type of certificate, and practice them under exam conditions.

Take excerpts out of a random book and practice, whether it be from a library, or your own personal collection.

The more you practice critically analysing a text, the easier it will become. If you don’t have the time to sit down and write out a complete essay, even planning how you would structure your essay and the ideas you would discuss is beneficial. This really cannot be over stressed, the more you write on unseen texts, the more comfortable you will be tackling another in a serious exam situation.

If the essay must be handwritten, this will also give you an opportunity to ensure your handwriting is legible and you are used to writing for prolonged periods of time.

Compare ideas in a group.

I always find working in groups for English to be highly effective. By discussing a text with a group of friends, someone will probably express an idea you had not considered before and you’ll be more open for alternate interpretations and more likely to recognise them in your own time

Critique your past essays.

Whether they were prepared or unprepared essays, identify areas where you need to work on to improve your essay writing.

Recognise your strengths as well and make an effort to try and include them in all your future essays!

During the exam

Read the text several times.

Before reading it, look for anything that immediately sticks out. For poetry, is there a distinctive shape? For prose, how is the text separated - one block of text, or several paragraphs?

Your first read should simply be for initial impressions. Is there anything that strikes you as important? What is the main idea of the text after only reading it once? What is its tone? 

The second reading should be for content. What ideas are at the forefront? What is the author trying to communicate? Underline and note aspects in the text about this. Colour-coding your annotations can be helpful here!

In your third reading, you should start noting the style. What stylistic features are prominent? There will likely be a lot on imagery, syntax, diction, structure, etc. Focus on the most important ones and their impact. Is there more to it than meets the eye?

Deconstructs the question if you are given one so you fully understand what it is asking you to do.

Probably stating the obvious, but it is so important to understand what the question is asking you to write about. Understanding the question can mean the difference between a standard essay and an amazing one. 

Don’t just identify a familiar word in the question and use it to write about whatever you want. Make sure what you’re going to write about addresses all parts to the question. If you’re asked to write about how and to what effect something has had an impact on the reader, don’t just write about how; you must write about to what effect as well! I usually underline the most important parts of the question so I don’t forget to write about them. 

Define relevant key terms that are important to the question. How is a character made interesting? What is meant by unreliable? Try to subtly integrate these into your introduction.

Plan your essay.

An examiner will usually be able to tell the difference between a planned and unplanned essay. Planning gives your essay structure, coherence, and makes it easy to follow. 

You can take a linear structure, addressing aspects of the text line by line. Alternatively, you can take a conceptual approach - discussing narration in one paragraph, imagery in another, etc. In my experience, the conceptual approach usually scores higher, however it is really up to the text you are analysing and what you are comfortable writing with!

If you aren’t given any prompts or a guiding question, make sure your argument is really clearly outlined in your introduction, or else you’ll leave the examiner guessing as to what you’re writing about.

Make sure to include important quotes and examples in your plan so you don’t leave them out when you write it.

If you are stuck as to what your line of argument should be, I usually like to address how various techniques are used effectively to communicate the theme. It’s a general and open ended question that will fit any kind of text, so long as you identify the techniques and devices!

Essay must-haves:

Include a macro sentence as the first sentence of your introduction. Draw the reader in with a statement that broadly covers the ideas you are going to cover. 

Every paragraph must start with a topic sentence and end with a concluding sentence that links it back to the aim of your essay. This also ensures that you actually address what you set out to talk about.

Integrate quotes and examples smoothly into your arguments. Small phrases and individual words especially give your arguments concrete evidence, and allow you to work the detail of the text.

Proof-read your completed essay.

There is nothing worse than to come across a simple grammatical mistake that was overlooked in a really well organised and argued essay. Try to read your essay through twice before handing it up to try and identify these stupid mistakes we all make under pressure. 

Sorry for such a long post! This turned out a lot longer and more in-depth than I thought it would be, but hopefully it will be helpful to those of you who have any unprepared texts to tackle. Let me know if anything is unclear or if you have any questions here :) xx

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This is what my revision wall looked like this time last year. So gutted I got rid of these note cards. I’m so dumb.

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Popular apps perfect for students

Staying on top of all your to-dos, errands, tasks and due dates can get complicated but luckily there is an app for everything! If you’re looking for app to wake you up in a morning, manage your priorities or soothe your anxiety, you’ve come to the right place. Here is a list of all the top apps that students are using:

Organisation

Wunderlist

Planner Pro

24me

Remember The Milk

Google Calendar

Pocket Schedule - Class Schedule, Homework Planner

AwesomeNote2 - All in One Organiser

AnyList

The Homework App - Your Class Assignment & Timetable Schedule Planner

My Study Life

Calendars by Readdle - Event and Task Manager

Class Timetable

Countdown+

Due - Reminders, Countdown Timers

Do! - The Best of Simple To Do Lists

Workflow: Powerful Automation Made Simple

Glass Planner

Day One Journal

iStudiez Pro

Awesome Note 2

Grammarly

Konmari

Productivity

RescueTime

Streaks

Forest

ToDoIst

Tide - Stay focused, be peaceful

Focus Keeper

Habitica

Productive habits and daily goal tracker

HabitBull (recommend by @ravn-studies)

BrainFocus (recommend by @ravn-studies)

Toggle Time Tracker (recommend by @ravn-studies)

Self Control

Jot - Notes Widget

Swipes - To Do List

ClearFocus: Productivity Timer

Noisli

Binaural beats

Lanes

Note taking

Microsoft OneNote

Evernote

Quizlet

Notability

Byword

Flashcards+

Goodnotes

Outline

Boximize - Structured notetaking, personal database, form builder, manager and organiser

INKredible (recommend by @lottestudiesphysics)

RefME - Referencing Made Easy

Bear (recommended by @revisionsandcoffee​)

InkFlow Visual Notebook

Studying

Quizlet

Flashcards+

Duolingo

Khan Academy

Xmind

Writer

Studyblue

Coffitivity

Prezi

MindMeister

Hemingway Editor

StudyStack

Crashcourse

Shmoop

Beelinguapp

Brightstorm

Coggle mindmaps

Mindly

Sleeping

Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock

Sleep Genius

Rain Rain

Pillow: The sleep cycle alarm clock for sleep tracking

Sleepytime Sleep Scheduler

Mental health and self care

Headspace

Stop, Breathe & Think: Meditation and Mindfulness

Pacifica - Anxiety, Stress, & Depression relief

Centered

Buddhify

Calm: Meditation techniques for stress reduction

Moodnotes - Thought Journal/Mood Diary

Colorfy

7 Cups Anxiety, Stress & Depression Chat & Therapy

Companion 

Smiling Mind

Bsafe

Circle of 6

Health and fitness

Sweat with Kayla - Fitness & Bikini Body Workouts

Yoga Work Out

Freeletics

7-minutes workout

Waterlogged - Drink More Water, Daily Water Intake Tracker and Hydration Reminders

Sworkit (recommend by @leviosa-studies)

Medisafe pill reminder

Plant Nanny Water Reminder

Mealboard

Finance

UNiDAYS

Pocketbook Personal Finance Expense Tracker

Splitwise - Split bills and expenses the easy way

Pocket Expense - Personal Finance Assistant

Daily Budget Original Pro - Saving Is Fun!

Mvelopes

PocketGuard

Mint

The Coupons App

Groupon

Ebates

Hope this helps! x

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