1: The Best Way To Find Your Preferred Study Method Is Through Trial And Error

here are 5 of the big things i’ve learned over the past two years and also recently during exams! i feel like i’ve come so far as a student in terms of studying, work ethic and self-discipline, so i wanted to share all the important tips i learned and will definitely re-use in the coming years :)

1: the best way to find your preferred study method is through trial and error

if you are given the chance of taking an end of unit/topic test that doesn’t count towards your final grade, use it to test out revision techniques and find out which one is best for you! throughout all of year 10 i tried different things forevery test i had from simply notes to mind maps to flashcards and to summary sheets in the attempt to find the perfect study method for me. doing this early on in your course where smaller tests don’t really matter is the perfect opportunity for taking risks; this is why it’s called trial and error. some techniques won’t work for you, and you might get a bad grade, but that is how you learn! then, when you get exams that really matter, you’ll know exactly what to do to achieve that dream grade. (although, i understand that in some countries every test counts to your final grade- a work around for this would be to give yourself a mock test deadline if you really want to find out which study method suits you best)

2: self-discipline (rather than motivation) takes time and practice

motivation is temporary; self-discipline is long-lasting. there are a million articles on how to boost motivation, but if you want to develop a consistent work ethic it’s really important to have self-discipline. of course, this can be really hard to achieve; but establishing your goals and sticking to them is crucial. start a study schedule with a corresponding self-care routine (this can be anything from skincare to stretching to journaling) as well as some leisure time and try to stick to it! don’t beat yourself up if you find it hard at the beginning; just remind yourself of your goals, be clear on what you want in the future, and start again. over time it’ll get easier to get up, work hard, and eventually achieve your goals 🤓(also try my study tracker if you need help planning/overviewing your week )

3: active recall is crucial!

i’ve watched many people (myself included) put endless hours in studying and come out with lower grades than they were expecting- while it isn’t always the case, what i’ve noticed is that reading the textbook and making notes from it will help you understand the topic and make you feel like you know everything, but when it comes to recalling specific info it doesn’t really work. although there are some people who can just read the textbook and all the detail is easily deposited into their brain (ugh), for most people an active recall technique is needed. if you hate flashcards, don’t worry! there are plenty of different methods like blurting, teaching others, repeating things out loud until you can say it without looking, solving questions/worksheets etcetera. over time, your brain gets better and better at memorizing and learning that hopefully by the time your exams roll around you’ll be able to recall everything you need 😊

4: create study resources as you are going through your course

this is probably slightly obvious, but so many times during this exam season i’ve kicked myself for not making sets of flashcards or mind maps sooner. instead of making these things and taking huge chunks of time doing passive revision, i could be practicing them and memorizing instead! one of the best things to do during your course when you have free time is to sit down, open the specification/syllabus/textbook and make study resources that you’ll be able to confidently use during exam season. ideally, you could make them after finishing each topic/unit in class, with as much specific information that you think is relevant. it is so much faster to condense flashcards, mind maps or summary sheets when exams come around rather than to have to make whole new ones because there wasn’t enough detail/information.

5: if you are given a specification or syllabus, use it!!

my favorite teacher always told us that our specs should be printed out, annotated, highlighted, and worn from so much use; i didn’t really heed his advice until right before exams, but it was probably the best advice i ever received for the sciences. your specification/syllabus literally tells you everything that might be in the exam, so use it! print them out at 85% so that you have enough margin space to scribble; i used a traffic light method where i highlighted things i knew well in green, things that i needed to revise a bit further in orange and stuff that i really don’t understand and needed to study in red. if you’re struggling to grasp the content within your subject or feel like you’ve got gaps in your knowledge, this method literally points out your strengths and weaknesses for you!

Tumblr Resources to Get You Through the School Year!

Hi guys!! Thank you all so much for your support!!! Happy 250 (EDIT: I SPENT A DAY ON THIS AND NOW IM PAST 300) and hope you all have a great start to the month! The community is more welcoming with all of you - I haven’t faced negativity from anyone at all. None of these are my posts - but they’ve helped me out a lot. With that said - let’s get started:

For bujos/planners:

This is one of my side blogs, and has tons of inspiration for weekly and monthly spreads, as well as a few aesthetic ideas and how to start one. I update this constantly.

How to start a studyblr - Studyblrs with creative fields

Lighting (for photos)

Study spreads

Planning your month

Printables (the same as some used down there but in a different category):

Weekly printable

To - do printable

Cornell Notes printable

Back to school printables

Daily Planner @theorganisedstudent

Weekly Planner II @theorganisedstudent

Essay Planner @theorganisedstudent

Assignment Planner @theorganisedstudent

Assignment Tracker

Novel Notes

Plot Diagrams

Correction Sheets

Grid & lined paper

Weekly schedule for studying

Printables masterpost

Exam printable & how to use it

2018 Calender set (by my QUEEN @emmastudies)

For students:

Exams & Studying:

Exam revision guide

How to beat different types of procrastination

How to deal with a crappy teacher (this has to do with studying ig)

Study tips!! (its a masterpost)

Exam Printable & How to Use it

Exam & Homework tips

Coping with hell i mean exams i mean hell

A cool studying outline to try

This is my favorite thing and it’s when to use certain remembering techniques

Correction Sheets

Memorization tips for different learners

Weekly study schedule

More sites to use in normal studying routines

How to study smarter and not harder

Study smarter II

Exam printable & how to use it

Self discipline

Study methods

Hoe tips for school and studying

Studying masterpoint

Tips and tricks to studying

Study tip - so easy

How to stay organized to study

Note - Taking:

Lecture notes

How i set up flash cards (these are nice to study from but be determined to finish setting them up)

Nifty highlighting idea (this post is so old)

Highlighting idea that i actually use

How to take Cornell Notes

Cornell style notes printable (gridded)

Notebook paper (grid & lined)

Tips for pretty notes!!

How to take notes

Notes for different classes

Life, man & general school stuff:

Back - to -school guide

Things I learned as a college freshman

Get ORGANIZED

Textbooks are expensive so here’s some free ones…

Tips for working students that sound extra but may work for u ily don’t overwork urselves

Masterpost for motivation and stuff

Get ur life together again bc haha i stay organized for like a day anyway

School supplies that u should have just to stay minimal

Grad school tips

Organization masterpost

Productive afterschool routine

30 websites to kill boredom

Back to school masterpost

Get confident in presentations

Overcome procrastination

Succeeding in school masterpost

For bad days

For bad days II

A GOOD MASTERPOST for getting ur life together

General school tips

Free online courses

GOOD POWERPOINT TIPS

Sites to learns stuff

More learning stuff sites

Dealing with a trashy class

Study resources masterpost

Summer Productivity

Summer life tips

PLEASE READ THIS THIS IS SUCH AN IMPORTANT MASTERPOST

Honest guide to college

University tips

SCHOOL MINDSET

What to do on Sundays

Back to school masterpost

Useful things for going back to school

How to clean your house

Cute self care tips!

More self care tips

Plant care tips!

English:

A handy list of words to fit into ur essays

How to write an article like a journalist

Words to replace over-used words

ESSAY STRUCTURE IDEA this is in bold so u losers don’t miss this bc it’s not just for English u nerds

Get gucci while reading and be an active reader

Get gud reading them academic articles amigo

Words to replace “the author or whatever shows…” bc that is baby writing and i accidentally used that on an essay and i failed so

Novel notes

Plot Diagrams

Reading Lists

Literary techniques (what themes, personifications, metaphors are etc)

Discussing in English

How to top a literature class

Literature class masterpost

Strong/weak verbs

More essay tips!!

MLA format - a how to

ESSAY GRADER.

How to avoid essay cliches

Chemistry (I’m taking chem so i have a few resources aha)

Da terms on exam papers

Chemistry resources masterpost

Cute periodic tables

Study chapters

History/Social Studies

How to write a history paper

AP world history powerpoints masterpost

Math

General tips

Resources

Understanding math masterpost

Test Prep

PSAT I

PSAT II

ACT tips!

100 words for the SATs (start studying early!!)

Thank you so much for the support! I couldn’t have done it without all of you. A simple reblog or like will help others see these tips, and will be very appreciated. I hope these links work - feel free to message me with questions and other links!! A possible part 2 might come out at the end of august, and one for languages!!!

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isang--mag-aaral

2 years ago

january is one of those months where you experience every feeling on the human spectrum and you just have to go about your day like that isn't happening

a lengthy intro post ><

I'm currently going through my archive and I just realized how I've never actually did an intro post? (Maybe I did but I can't see it so it doesn't exist anymore <3)

Anyways, hello! I'm Sunny, a college student from the ph! Quick facts:

I was born in 2001

I'm a Libra sun and my MBTI is INFP/INTP

I'm into various interests (films, reading, K-pop, recently fs and whatever my mind decides interesting)

I'm a heavy procrastinator ._.

I've been in the studyblr community since 2017 but I didn't really post a lot of stuff because I felt like it was "too productive" for me. I kept on seeing posts with pretty journals, tons of pens, aesthetic desk set-ups, and I kept telling myself that I should be at that level as well. If I don't have nice pens, nice desk set-ups, and nice journals then I'm not a studyblr.

These past years in the pandemic literally shattered who I am as a student, and I just felt so lost. I've been in a tough place and I really cannot care less about my academics. I flunked a lot of classes, argued a lot with my mom, and was just all around negative towards my studies. I'm not proud of it, but I know that I did what I could've.

I'm trying to be better now, though! Hence, why I'm here! I realized that I don't really have to be a certain 'way' to use a studyblr. I should be fine-tuning this platform for me, use it as what I need it and not the other way around. Sure, studyblrs can become an inspiration, but I now know that I don't have to be the same as them.

I'm still trying to rebuild myself as a student, hopefully this time with a stronger foundation! Please, feel free to hit me up! :D I'd love to have friends who can motivate me and I can motivate as well T__T I'm also in studytwt!

study/blrs that I've followed through out the years: emmastudies / tbhstudying / noodledesk / eintsein / studynostalgic and many more!!

Tags

studyblr bujo studyblr intro post 100dop uniblr studytwt university studyblr emmastudies hello pls befriend me studyblr ph

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isang--mag-aaral

6 years ago

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isang--mag-aaral

3 years ago

I got this huge archive of cult movies and obscure videos if anybody else is sick of streaming services

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isang--mag-aaral

4 years ago

This Hit Hard. I’m Glad They Put This Bit In, I Couldn’t Have Put My Experience In Better Words.

This hit hard. I’m glad they put this bit in, I couldn’t have put my experience in better words. It’s important to step back to think what a success is and do a check. Where do I want to be and why? If I’m not there, am I taking the steps towards that goal? And a reminder that progress isn’t linear. Sometimes we have other things going on and have to take a step back to take two steps forward.

Things take time. That’s a reminder.

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isang--mag-aaral

6 years ago

I’ve been asked a couple of times now what is my approach to self-study, and this is my messy attempt to answer that question. All of this is true for me, and might not work for someone else; still, I hope it may help somebody!

1. Getting acquainted with the language

When you’re learning a language with a different writing system than your own, that’s the first thing you have to tackle, of course; but I usually try to get some background information even when the alphabet used by my target language is the good old Latin one. One thing I pay extra careful attention to is phonology: you want to get the sounds right from the very beginning, before you develop any bad habits (also, learning IPA changed my life). Having an accent as close to a native’s as possible is not necessarily the goal (I do like to work on that, but to each their own), but being understood is! And incorrect pronunciation can sometimes hinder comprehension, in some languages more so than in others. So don’t obsess over it, but don’t overlook it completely either. Getting to know the sounds of a language right away can also help you understand what people are saying a little quicker, and figuring out how new words might have to be read. Wikipedia is usually not bad when it comes to phonology, and Omniglot is a good resource as well.

2. Finding a good textbook

I’m a free spirit so I often find myself not looking for a textbook right away, and just chaotically absorbing information from different sources (see immersion below). When I do set my mind to choosing, though, I try to stick to one well-made textbook that I like, which should possibly contain clear grammar explanations as well as exercises. The temptation to hoard resources is strong – and I’ve succumbed to it myself more than once haha –, but I usually try to steer clear from using more than one textbook at the same time (although I do have separate, more thorough grammars on the side more often than not). I’d rather use a physical book if I have the chance, but if that’s not your thing or you don’t have money to spend on that, that’s okay: you can find loads of perfectly good books or websites online!

3. Compulsive translation

Anyone who’s been following my blog for a while probably knows that I love translating virtually anything: from songs to poems to short stories. It’s something that has always been a part of my life, and I thoroughly enjoy doing. It’s also an awesome language learning technique, which will help you enrich your lexicon and teach you tons of new turns of phrase in your target language. It works both if you translate from your native into your target language and vice versa: find a good bilingual dictionary (I prefer paper dictionaries because they provide more examples of usage, but again, you do you) and look for equivalent expressions, don’t just translate word for word! It might work sometimes but not always. When it comes to translation, Reverso Context is a great resource for some languages, because it provides translation in context, taken from a massive corpus heavy on subtitles – which you shouldn’t trust all the time, but will help you as long as you put some critical thinking in.

4. Immersion (you don’t say)

What a surprise, right? I usually start listening to music / watching video content right away; I wasn’t that big on YouTube before but language learning has made me change my mind. You don’t have to get everything: even if you understand 3 words out of 20, this will help you grasp the rhythms and intonations of the language. This depends on how many similarities my new target language shares with the ones I already know, but as a general rule I use Italian (or English) subtitles in the very beginning, then move on to subtitles in the target language and finally get rid of them entirely. Some people will argue against subtitles of any shape or form, but I can only speak for myself and they’ve helped me quite a lot in the past. The way I see it, reading is also essential: if I don’t have time to leaf through novels, I usually check out at least an article a day in my target language and write down the words I don’t know, plus their Italian translation.

5. Routine – the good kind

In short words, I strive to make the new language a part of my life. There are a thousand things you can do: change your phone settings? Great! Check out the news? Even better! If you’re out of ideas, here are a few suggestions. And don’t worry if you struggle at first: in fact, the start of this process is a bit rocky for almost everyone. Consistency, however, is the key: once the early, most difficult days are over, all of this will start to come natural and stop feeling like a chore! The more you do it, the faster this process will be.

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