Study Notes - Blog Posts

Today is a productive and calm day. Here's what I did today:

✅️Neuropsychology: finish the last 4 tests

✅️Neuropsychology: Repeat anki

✅️Neuropsychology: add samples to the summary

✅️Educational psychology: answer 7 tickets

Now I plan to go and take some photos. Then I'll add answers to questions on general psychology for the test we'll take this semester.

let's work, brothers

now it's the end and I need to seriously push myself and study more, more

By constant efforts, practice and patience, you can achieve anything that you want... ANYTHING!

Big dreams seem to be impossible untill we start working for them.

Always remember:

It is gonna be difficult on day one...even more difficult for the next few days...but slowly it becomes a part of our routine. No extra push or effort is required then❤️

So, even if you are starting today, smile...be proud of yourself❤️❤️

Keep grinding 🍁

Day 36

March 26th 2021

Things are getting harder🤯🤯

There are so many things that I missed studying last year...

But it's okay...cuz my teacher says, "If everything seems to be smooth, you are not on the right path."

"Jo aakhiri tak tik jaega woh jeet jaega"

(The one who will keep going till the end will win)

So🙌🙌 Let's be happy if we are facing problems and not giving up on them ❤️

Day 29

March 19th 2021

Staying hydrated and healthy is super important for physical as well as mental health.

So let's make it a point to not ruin our health in order to save 30 minutes!

Day 24

March 14th 2021

Fail: First attempt in learning...Really?

We all are very enthusiastic when we begin...but towards the end all kinds of negative emotions and self doubt surround us. People say that you should believe in yourself...but hey! Is it that easy? Especially after having lost the game once? It's very easy to say that failures is first attempt in learning, but let me tell you failure sucks. Failure takes your self-confidence. Failure makes you feel smaller... It feels as if you've lost your own self.

Let's work on it and prove it, not to the world but ourselves, that we are no less.

❤️❤️

Hey! Im still here

Hello people! Lately i been doing the usual of studying and so on. This semester we started a few new classes like pharmacology and im pretty excited as well as i am scared of it!

On the other hand, i continue to go through the lab work with a few DNA extractions from blood and buffy coat, pretty fun if you let me say!

Good luck everyone!

Morning studying

Today’s morning i had started the parasitology module in my course of microbiology. I can’t help but being extremely excited of this even if its not “face-to-face classes” but rather recorded ones. Currently im interested on doing a master in parasitology in the future, so this might be the first date in this relationship, haha.

ps: helminths are very curious to see, although I am grateful to not be responsible for taking the diagnostic tests, but rather analyzing them.

qPCR and extraction of DNA

This morning I had the opportunity to practice DNA extraction from a blood sample from a South hospital. It was a rather nice experience since I wasn't anxious at all, I had overcome my fear of micropipette.

Nanodrop practice

Yesterday I had the opportunity to practice with some DNA samples in the nanodrop, so tonight after finishing my duties as student council I decided to transcribe my notes from the lab.

Studying Physiology 🩸🫁

Tomorrow I have this blood respiratory system test so lately, I have just practicing some questions as a way to review the content of the unit

Wish me luck!

Finally autumn has come here.

Who am i?

Hello! I just wanted to introduce myself.

I'm Apollo, 20 y/o and currently studying biotech in the healthcare area. I'm a research enthusiast and currently working on a historical paper on medical education in my country.

The subjects I am taking this semester are…

Public Health 🏥

Pharmacology 💊

Patophysiology 🫀

Molecular Technologies applied to diagnosis (on lab) 🥼

Nowadays

Besides the paper I'm writing with my professor, I'm visiting a genetic Lab to sweeten my motor skills in PCR and other techniques.

🥼🎧🗒️

And I have already finished the following subjects

Anatomy

Physiology cellular and neuro

Biochemistry

Physics

Math

Histology and embryology

Genetics

Biology cellular and molecular

Chemistry

Applied Biochemistry (lab work)

Immunology

Physiology of the systems

Microbiology

Study lately

Might just tryna romanticize my life by recording myself studying and putting candles while doing so, not much.

The longer I look at the illustration my materials science professor put in his PowerPoint, the more convinced I am, that he secretly hates students and is actively trying to sabotage us

Or he has grown fond of us over the last year and he just wants to see our faces again next semester

Madly in love with my newest IKEA purchase and the neighbor‘s cat Timmy (even though he constantly tries to break into our apartment -a criminal, but a cute one)

Also I’m already 🌼stressed🌼 about my exams

It has come to my attention that drinking an average of five coffees a day is not considered normal/healthy. I also am starting to think that my permanent headaches may be caused by caffeine withdrawals when I don’t meet my coffee average.

I did a quick doodle during my math class, look at this cute little dragon 💕

Anyways, I‘m skipping my physics lecture today in order to get some other things done before going to work. So not ✨academia✨of me

Stock between giving up or trying much harder!

how I take notes on non fiction books

I recently made a post on my study method, and decided to make a whole separate post on my note taking method. The structure of the notes I write doesn't vary too much from my lecture notes to things I might have to read. A couple of useful informations you might want to know before I start actually talking about note writing is that I am mainly focused on studying history (tho I have had other humanities exams in my degrees), and that I study for oral exams in which the material is mainly composed of non fiction books, but sometimes include articles as well as lecture notes. Somehow I have also failed to mention that I am speaking about HANDWRITTEN NOTES. I only do handwritten notes, I don't work well digitally, so keep that in mind. And with this being said brace yourselves for a very long post. The bullet points I will be making are not really in a specific order and I will be including a few pictures too.

The first step when I am working on the materials for an exam is to figure out in which order I will be reading (and writing notes) the books. This hasn't really much to do with the notes themselves, but it's important to know which of your materials is more general and what other things go more in depth, so that you don't struggle too much while studying. Another plan related thing I always do is to write down each chapter of the book I have to study on my bullet journal and how many pages it is so I can plan my studying more comfortably. If the chapters are very long, and divided in subchapters I sometimes also write those down.

The goal of the notes I write is to fully take the place of the book, so they tend to be very detailed and long. I do this because the very act of writing is part of my study method, and working on things I have written down in my own words is just much better for the type of learner I am. So basically I read the book only once, then it goes back on the shelf and I work exclusively on the notes. This means my notes need to be detailed and well organized.

My method is to read a chapter, underlining important stuff as I am reading, and then right after I am done reading I work on the notes for that chapter before moving onto the next. I do this because it makes the note writing more effortless, I am fresh with informations I just read and I basically just need to skim over what I have underlined.

On underlining, since it is so important. I underline everything I will be including in my notes, it might seem much as sometimes it consists of full paragraphs, instead of key words. But this is okay because my notes I don't just copy and paste.

To create useful notes you need to be re-elaborating the informations. You need to read, understand what you read, and be able to write it down using your own words. That way the notes will be easier to review, they will often be composed of shorter sentences, and by doing so you are also actively making writing part of your studying and not just a mindless activity.

Personally I don't work well with full pages summaries, I need the text to be visually broken into sentences/small paragraphs, and I use a lot of symbols as well as abbreviations.

Symbols and abbreviations are in a way part of your very own language when you are writing notes, you tend to develop these with time, but they are so useful. I personally use different types of arrows, all caps words, position of the text in the page, different methods of highlighting and abbreviations (usually for words that come up often like country names, for example Italy becomes ita, France becomes fr, etc.).

Your notes need to be useful for you, they don't have to necessarily be comprehensible for another person (which means you can and will fuck up sentence structure because sometimes skipping a couple of words makes the notes shorter and still understandable), and they do not have to be pretty. They should be as tidy as possible, but again that might change from person to person, I have some very messy looking notes that make total sense to me. With time you'll learn what works best for you.

I have a visual memory so as I mentioned titles, highlighters, all caps, the placement on the page and other similar things are very important in my notes. I cannot fully exapain some of these things because some definitely only make sense to me in the moment (like the words I choose to write in all caps, or the way I highlight things).

I like to have a clear chapter and subchapter break (so that in case I need to refer back to the book it's super effortless). I like to write those with a red pen, usually the chapter title is in all caps and the subchapter in coursive, but it really depends.

I use only two highlighters in each set of notes yellow for dates, and the colour I associate with the book/the subject of the book (I have synesthesia I don't make the rules when it comes to colours). This of course might change depending your preferences and on the element of your notes you want to focus on. I like to have spacific colour for dates and time periods, because of course while studying history that is a fundamental element. If you are focusing on other subjects you might want to have a specific colour for names, or other elements.

I like to leave a big side margin to add either key words (especially in lecture notes since they might be messier and jump around informations more often), or additional information in a second time (sometimes it happens, after you read another book, or attended a particular lecture you have to add a couple of sentences and I rather have a blank space that never gets used rather than no space at all for emergencies).

I honestly mentioned everything that came to mind right away, but since note writing is now basically a mindless skill I have been practicing for years I surely forgot about something. I might end up adding to this post in the future or write another one. My note-writing method has also changed a lot thought the years from high school to university, it's a skill I have been perfecting for the past decade. This to say that depending on what you are working on things might change, and by experimenting with different things you might find out things that work very well for you. If you have any questions on specific things I didn't mention or that wen't clear my inbox is always open and I am more than happy to help.

Since this post is already very very long I am adding the pictures below the cut

Example of a page of notes before and after highlighting

Example of symbols and structure of the notes and the way I highlight things (in which you'll hopefully be able to understand my handwriting, and in which there might be some spelling errors but alas that often happens in my real notes as well so if there are any it's for the sake of accuracy lmao). If I end up adding informations on the margins I always use a pen of a different color so I can tell which informations I got from what source (ex. main notes from lecture, colorful notes from additional article).

Example of messier notes in which the main text in black are the notes I took during lectures and the additional colorful text was added while writing the materials (I rarely do this, it usually happens when the lectures follow a book precisely, which happens when we have to study books or summaries written by the professor). As you can see I often use post it notes to add more writing space, and sometime I even use them to create visually separated sections. If I end up adding some drawings I also usually like to have them on post it notes so they stand out more (and if you are wondering why the hell would an history student need drawings it's usually either because I need a map or a region/state to mark things out, or when studying for archaeology exams I often needed visual references, for example to identify different types of vases or decorations).

GREETINGS EVERYONE

so a proper introduction ! 

hi, my name is anandi and i am a high school sophomore student in the united states ! it's a pleasure to meet you. Some tidbits about myself 

i love harry potter ! so feel free to hmu with all the potterhead stuff

my current classes for next year are 

academic decathlon (I want to meet more people who do acadec ! come say hi ! )

chemistry honors

english 2 honors 

algebra 2 

AP world history 

korean 3 honors

i have been learning korean for three years now !

some shows i have been enjoying 

voltron (space wolf is my baby)

kim’s convenience 

grey’s anatomy 

descendents of the sun 

the flash 

yes, i am somewhat into kpop ! some of my current favorite artisits are

seventeen

mamamoo

red velvet 

twice 

AKMU

hyuna

bolbbalgan4

blackpink 

i’ve linked my spotify so feel free to recommend music and if you want a playlist, feel free to request !

this was initially a studyblr, but now i feel that i have expanded to include more of what i currently enjoy 

hopefully we can all be friends !

Whenever you are stuck in a rut, get up and strut around your room and strike those poses. you might think its stupid but it is so much fun and it is so reassuring. so get up and work it kween

tuesday, feb 11th

i survived! today was exciting but really stretched my brain. this week is really big for my research- i'm doing my first self-designed experiment tomorrow and i'm excited/scared/uncertain. i'm trying to remind myself that fear and excitement feel the same to our body, it's just how we think about those physical feelings that changes the mental feelings.

i’ve also been grappling with…why i do what i do. like, ultimately we’re all little specs of matter and energy that are so small in the grand scheme of things. and it’s been hard lately to not just give up and let god take the wheel.

but we’re all here for some purpose. ultimately god (whoever they are) has HAD the wheel for a while and we’re all just…going along for the ride. we’re lucky to have the resources, opportunities, and people that we have, and should always work for more.

while it doesn’t seem like it, it’s a blessing to be stressed about school. it’s a blessing to worry about grades. because at least we CAN worry about grades. at least we CAN worry about school.

education is a human right—but right now it feels like a gift.

to do:

finalize experiment for tomorrow

start working through data analysis for instrumentation lab

modeling homework

🎧: mendelssohn string octet

friday, feb 8th

i was truly in circuit jail today. instrumentation lab was so bad that i have to go in tomorrow to get the correct data 😭😭

although the lab in golden hour is unfortunately quite aesthetic. so do with that what you will.

also also also pizza at lab meeting today! i made nanoparticles after ages and spent some time relearning how to do it. my particles were a tiny bit small (they should be around 200 nm).

now i'm just watching my cdrama after eating a delishos dinner. no studying tonight.

monday, feb 3

i'm really stressed/scared for this week. i have my first instrumentation exam on thursday, an instrumentation quiz tomorrow, and a modeling quiz on thursday 😬. but nothing some mint tea and a mug cake w/ vanilla ice cream can't fix

i also have something due almost every day this week. which is scary because everything is huge as fuck. but i'm going to make sure to take care of myself. good grades are nice, but i have to be there to enjoy them :)

today i had polymer chem and tissue engineering. loving both. we're learning about polymer mixing and my professor's slides about equilibrium were so pookarina.

i also went into lab today, and had my weekly research seminar as well. i'm having so much fun now making scientific decisions, and i'm really excited for next week because i have a lot of experiments planned.

i think i ate with today's fit and i wanted to share.

to dos:

finish modeling homework ✅

study for instrumentation quiz

finish modeling lab to get checked off tomorrow

instrumentation lab spreadsheet

(god this is a lot) finish tissue engineering journal club paper + figure

🎧: idyll for string orchestra – janacek😩

thursday, jan 30th

guys lookit this salad i made. normalize unaesthetic food pictures. i lowkey also ate so much deep fried food today. my lunch (is it still lunch if i ate at 3pm) was onion rings+fries with queso and ranch (so basically an oil rig) and my salad had some more of that breaded tofu i made yesterday but cut up.

not that it's wrong/bad to eat deep fried food. life is too short to regret.

i also am so cooked for my instrumentation class right now. we begged and pleaded to get an extension and prof gave us 1 DAY. not even the weekend. it's not like he's going to grade it before next week's exam...so why the rush.

me in circuit jail:

modeling quiz was ok. i finished it! so therefore i successfully served cunt.

n e ways. i'm going to crank out as much as i can before i need to switch gears and do stuff for my instrumentation lab tomorrow.

tasks:

instrumentation homework. just do it. ✅ (big slay 4/6 problems done 2 days before the due date)

instrumentation pre-lab lecture. ✅ (guys this was so much shorter than what i'd thought it'd be)

optional: research proposal (fook dat im going to bed)

🍵: osmanthus tea.

🎧: Brahms Symphony 4, Beethoven Symphony 7 🤤

250217/26

30-39/100 days of productivity

song of the week: b2b-charli xcx

it's been over a week since i last posted. i have been so stressed for my calculus midterm. i did over 250 integrals in five days, staying up until 4 am every day or not sleeping at all. my physics midterm got pushed to after the break so now i have three midterms back to back.

just had my calculus midterm last night and it honestly did not go well. this past week leading up to and after my exam definitely took a toll on me mentally, physically, and emotionally which undoubtedly affected my exam. but i'm going to try and stay motivated for my other classes and get a better mark on the calculus final.

i have so many lab reports and proposals to write now but at least reading week is next week and i'll be going home to see the sun.

pictures:

walking home after my midterm

6 am after studying all night

integrals on the classroom blackboard at 3 am (the janitor forgot to lock the door)

practice questions an hour before my midterm with friends

250213/16

26-29/100 days of productivity

song of the day: hypnotized- minh

i might be cheating by summarizing multiple days but i really don't have the motivation to post every day.

spent the weekend studying for my physics midterm. went to the bar and a concert over the weekend which i enjoyed immensely. also viewed an apartment which i might sign soon: i really liked it (huge modern open kitchen, washing and drying machine, quiet... what more can one ask for).

my school has called a snow day for tomorrow so now my both physics midterm and chemistry lab have been pushed to next week... same week as my calculus midterm. just amazing. and just after my biology lab last week got pushed as well.

i am currently feeling very unmotivated, evident by how i have not been posting. but i know that i have to study or my calculus mark will be worse than last semester's so tomorrow i will force myself to walk through the blizzard to study at a cafe. i am feeling quite confident about physics however i still have not fully formatted my crib sheet. so i will do that during my study breaks tomorrow.

slight vent: a lot of my classes have been getting cancelled recently and it's really frustrating because i studied for these midterms (i was even doing physics at the bars) and now my entire study plan has been thrown out the window. also online classes and meetings are just so draining. it's really miserable to be constantly freezing then trek through a meter of snow in the rare cases when i get out of the house. i can't wait for summer. my mood is only boosted by the big glass of red wine i had last night and the prospect of hot matcha tomorrow.

images: very out of tune piano in the physics building, however still beautiful. a bagel cafe study session with a friend (im going there again tomorrow). roses i bought myself on valentines. unfortunate car.

250212

25/100 days of productivity

slow day today. finished my biology assignment and started working on a piece for an art competition. did a chemistry quiz and went to see an apartment. did some calculus.

250210

24/100 days of productivity

song of the day: good kid- kendrick lamar

had a very stressful lab today and got less work done then i would've liked.

academic: worked on my biology assignment and did some calculus review. worked on my lab report.

tomorrow: chemistry quiz, finish biology assignment, chemistry notes.

250208/9

22-23/100 days of productivity

song of the day: open hearts- the weeknd

completed a 17 hour 2 day first aid course this weekend. got my certification for working as a first aid responder in my school's first aid club next semester. caught up on my calculus and did notes. finished 75% of my calculus problem sets. finished my chemistry pre lab. finished two physics assignments. am now two weeks behind in chemistry but my next midterm is after my reading week so i think i'll focus on my calculus midterm since i still haven't done any practice problems. overall i had fun this weekend, my course was genuinely really fun and i made a lot of new friends.