Organising A Notebook:

My exams are rapidly approaching (just 9 days left!!) and amongst all the study tips posts that are popping up, I wanted to do a post about those days when things don’t go as planned. Be it that you walk out of an exam and feel like you bombed it, or that you get back a disappointing score. We all know the feeling. So here are some things that I like to do to make the day suck a little less!

Have some chocolate (light/dark/milk, hot/cold/whatever as preferred)

Have a bath, or a long shower

Go for a walk or a jog, preferably surrounded by nature

Find someone/something to cuddle

Even if you have things to do, give yourself a break

Tidy your room/flat/whatever to get a fresh perspective

Open all windows and air out your room

If you have things that need to be done, make a to do list and sort your brain out

Organise your clutter/notes/room/whatever

Do come colouring in a colouring book (these are awesome)

Try your hand at painting, even if you’re terrible at it

Make yourself some tea

Bake something (and eat it without feeling guilty afterwards)

Light a nice-smelling candle

Spend time with the positive forces in your life, be it parents, friends or pets

Watch your favourite movie (preferably with someone who loves it as much as you)

Go on spotify, pandora, soundcloud, 8tracks or wherever and look for new music

If you find some really good music, have a dance party

Put on your favourite outfit (+ makeup look if you’re into that)

Paint your nails, shave, moisturize, wash your face and pamper yourself

Check out universityandme​‘s “You are a force of nature” tag

If you need someone to talk to, send me an ask, either here or on my main blog, saturdaystudying

Organization

How to Take Notes from a Textbook

How to Write Long Papers

Organization Tips

How to Choose the Perfect Planner

Bullet Journaling How-To

Keeping Your Cool

Focus and Energy Management for Students

Sending Emails to Teachers

Waking Up Early

Achieving your full academic potential: Things to Avoid Doing

Study Playlists

College

tips for college freshmen

How to study like a straight A student

College Tips

42 College Tips I Learned Freshman Year

College tips: Advice from a professor

10 Commandments of Dorm Shopping

AN EASY GUIDE TO BE HEALTHY IN COLLEGE

How to Write the Perfect College Essay

COLLEGE SHOPPING LIST

10 Tips for Getting Along With Your College Roommate

High School

33 Things High School Seniors Wish They Knew As Freshmen

Expert nutrition tips for high school athletes

16 Studying Hacks For Finals Week

School Tips

High School Advice

Survive high school with our how-to guide

Back to School: Tips For Surviving High School (Video)

JUNIOR YEAR ADVICE

13 Incredible Back-To-School Hacks You Won’t Believe You Survived Without

Senior Year Advice

Giving Amazing Presentations!

These are my tips for giving really good presentations in class! It will be slightly more geared towards history, english, etc. and some of the tips might not apply to science classes, but hopefully this helps.! 

Presenting Well: 

Know what you are talking about. When you are giving a presentation, you should be an expert in what you are talking about. Study the topic like it’s your job. 

If you are working with a partner, still make sure you know it all! When I do partner presentations, this is what I do. Decide who is going to do each part of the presentation. This is the part that you should know backwards and forwards. But! You should also have a good amount of knowledge about your partner’s topics. If one of you falters or forgets something, the other can back them up. Also, this helps to make you look more cohesive and less like you just split it in half. 

Be able to answer questions. This ties into my last point. If a classmate or a teacher asks you a question and you have no idea, it doesn’t look good. You should know more information than just what you’re presenting. 

Don’t read from notes. If you stand up and just read from a page, your class might as well be reading this information from a textbook. If you can, don’t use any notes at all. If you absolutely need them, make them super short jot notes, not full sentence pages of notes. 

Organize your slides in a way that makes sense. Start with background information, then state your thesis, then get into your arguments and more detailed information. Don’t put your thesis at the end, or skip over the background information.

Include a conclusion at the end of your presentation. A presentation is basically a verbal essay, so you should be including all of these parts. Restate your thesis and quickly sum up the reasons that you talked about in the presentation. This will help everyone in your audience to understand what you discussed. 

Dress up a bit and try to look really good. I personally believe that a lot of confidence can come from the outside. Looking good and being comfortable with what you’re wearing will make you more confident. Also, a lot of teachers want to see that you made an effort to look professional for a presentation. 

Talk to the class like you’re having a conversation. Obviously, you don’t want to be too relaxed and seem like you don’t know what you’re talking about. But it is really helpful to use your normal language and tone, throw in a couple jokes, and just act normal! It’s always really weird when someone turns into a robot when they are giving a presentation, so try to avoid that if possible. 

Practice in front of someone! This will help you avoid looking awkward and help you go at a normal speed. Also, they can tell you if there was a part that they didn’t understand or anything like that. Try to choose someone objective, that won’t lie to make you feel better. 

Time out your presentation. You have to time out your presentations before you do them. It’s not fair to other presenters and to your class if you go way over the time limit. Time yourself reading through the presentation, then again when you present in front of someone. Maybe leave a bit of time at the end for questions, too. 

Making Good Visuals: 

Use something simple. Unless your teacher suggests otherwise, just use slides or something simple like slides. Unless you are really good with these kinds of programs, when you try and do something like a video or a Prezi, its way more likely that it will look unfinished or crazy. I personally hate Prezi, because it’s way too hard to follow. 

Use a built in slides theme. Again, this might not apply to you if you’re really into graphic design, but for the most part, stick to this rule. When you try and mix your own colours and patterns and fonts, it can tend to look really busy. Try to stick with a preset theme. 

Do not have full sentences. You should not have more than 10 words on your entire slide, if that. A really good photo, political cartoon, graph, or other graphic says way more than an exact copy of the words you’re already saying. Your slides are a visual to back you up, not the main focus. If your class has to take notes on your presentation, this might not apply.

Don’t use a white background. Pure white makes your eyes hurt. Change the background colour to a really pale grey, one shade lower than white. This will help your audience focus on the slides better. 

Make sure your visuals are working. Ask your teacher if you can double check that your slides are compatible with their computer, or at least check it on a computer at your school. Especially if your school uses Mac and you use Windows (or vice versa). Also, check that your videos and audio work! 

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

writing adult emails is awful

its like

hi [name of person], 

this formatting is making me uncomfortable but I have to tell you something / ask you something that is vital to my career as a student. 

I re-read and edited that sentence for an hour, but you’ll probably just glance over it for half a second.

thanks! 

- [name]

Study time!

7 things to do when you can’t focus (instead of using your phone)

We’ve all been there : you’re studying for your exam but all you’ve been doing for the last 20 minutes was re-reading the same page over and over without understanding a single sentence from it. 

So you try and try again, but nothing seems to change, it just feels like your brain decided to take a nap instead. 

But the problem is that time is running out because your exam is in few days and you want to do your best before it’s too late !

And the truth is, you need a break. A short break. As a matter of fact, your brain isn’t able to focus more than 45-50 consecutive minutes and thus it needs short breaks in between.

So here’s my list of -less than 10 minutes- things I actually do when I’m not able to focus anymore :

Stretch : it takes 5 minutes. Down-dog pose or anything similar will help you to get more blood to your brain, and as you already know : more blood = more oxygen = more neurons happy = more focus. 

Meditate : sometimes your lack of concentration is the consequence of your anxious/tormented mind. Set a timer and try to focus on your breath for 5-10 minutes. If meditating alone is difficult for you, I suggest you to download HeadSpace app, which has some free 5-10 minutes guided meditations! 

Do another productive task that isn’t related to studying : this could be making your bed, cleaning your desk, or re-organizing your notes! Just do something that makes you move and stimulates your blood flow. Plus, you’ll feel like you’ve accomplished something more ! 

Search for the topic you’re studying on Youtube  :  you’ll be able to find almost anything. I’ve done it so many times and it really helped me to get a better understanding and a more global vision of the subject i’m into !  

Play with your pet(s) if you have any! It’ll be beneficial for both you : they’ll get your attention and love, and you’ll be more relaxed after ! 

Go for a walk : around your neighborhood. Or around the library. Or just walk your dog if you have one. Breathe the fresh air and move your legs : your body will thank you, especially if you stay seated all day.

Workout : yes, you can do an effective workout for 10 minutes. And Pinterest is here to prove it to you. Just tap « ten minutes HIIT workout » and you’ll find TONS of them. You can also look for some on Youtube (I suggest Pamela Rf 10 minutes no equipment ab workout, I promise you’ll feel it the next day). 

Bonus tip : STOP STUDYING. If you tried any of these tips and your brain still doesn’t want to collaborate, maybe it’s just time for you to take a real break and do something else instead, especially if you’ve been studying for several hours. It happens to everyone and I think it’s really important to know when to stop. Moreover, it will actually help you memorize what you’ve already learned : your brain unconsciously processes it whilst you’re doing other stuff than studying!  

And that’s it, just know that all these tips have been tested and approved by me :) Let me know if you tried some of these or tell me what YOU do to instead! 

Also if you want to see more posts like this, feel free to give me a follow ! I’ll be more than happy to see your tumblr too :)  

PS : sorry in advance if you notice my imperfect grammar (english isn’t my first language) 

Blog : https://anatomyandcappuccini.tumblr.com

There are three major approaches to note taking, each of which will be outlined and described in this post:

Outlining:  

Outlining is an effective way to capture the hierarchical relationships between ideas. In a history class, you might write the name of an important leader, and under it the key events they were involved in. Outlining is a great way to take notes from books, because the author has usually organized the material in a     fairly effective way, and you can go from start to end of a chapter and simply reproduce the same structure in your notes. Place major points farthest to the left. Indent each more specific point farther to the right. 

The advantage of this is that level of importance is indicated by distance away from left margin.

For lectures, outlining has limitations. The relationship between ideas isn’t always hierarchical, and the instructor might jump around a lot.

Requires more thought for accurate, understandable organization and, therefore, cannot be used during lectures that move too quickly.

Mind-mapping: 

For lectures, a mind-map might be a more appropriate way of keeping track of the relationships between ideas.

In the centre of a blank sheet of paper, you write the lecture’s main topic. As new sub-topics are introduced, you draw a branch outward from the centre and write the sub-topic along the branch. Then each point under that heading gets its own, smaller branch off the main one. When another new sub-topic is mentioned, you draw a new main branch from the centre.

The thing is, if a point should go under the first heading but you’re on the fourth heading, you can easily just draw it in on the first branch. Likewise, if a point connects to two different ideas, you can connect it to two different branches.

If you want to neaten things up later, you can re-draw the map or type it up using a program like FreeMind, a free mind-mapping program.

If you want to make your mind-maps memorable, and visually appealing, consider using different colours, and incorporating images/diagrams.

Mind maps can be used for just about anything in your degree! A mind map can help you:

Outline your ideas on a subject

Organise your thoughts

Visualise a whole concept

Take and review notes

Plan an essay

Revise for your exams

Here are some advantages and disadvantages to mindmaps:

Mindmaps are adaptable - they can be used for lectures; note-making from books; essay plans etc. as well as less structured tasks.

They are easy to add ideas later, at any time.

They can help you focus on the links and relationships between ideas so you don’t just have disconnected facts.

They can be personalised with pictures and symbols to make things more memorable.

They are a useful tool for condensing lots of information – e.g. a whole topic into a mind map poster, to aid revision.

You can’t incorporate large chunks of text.

You have to stick to the rules of mind mapping to get the optimum benefit from the tool.

Creating the map may take time. However, this will help you to review or recall information and will check your understanding.

When you’ve personalised your map, it can be difficult for others to understand.

Cornell Notes:

About a quarter of the way from the bottom of a sheet of paper, draw a line across the width of the page. Draw another line from that line to the top, about 2 inches (5 cm)  from the right-hand edge of the sheet. You’ve divided your page into three sections. In the largest section, you take notes normally — you can outline or mind-map or whatever.

After the lecture, write a series of “cues” into the skinny column on the right, questions about the material you’ve just taken notes on. This will help you process the information from the lecture or reading. In the bottom section, write a short summary of the material you’ve covered.

Typing Your Notes:

Set up folders for each topic. Create these folders before lectures/class and save your notes into the correct ones. It will keep all of your notes organised and easy to find. You might want to have different folders for lecture and reading notes. Develop a system which is intuitive for you.

Know the program. Choose which program you’re going to use to take your notes. There are lots of options available, including Microsoft Office. If you can’t afford Office, then you can look into (illegal) free downloads of it. If you have Office, you could also use Onenote. Alternatives include free programmes like Evernote which allow you to access your notes from anywhere on any device.

Get a template (M Office only). On Microsoft word, you can download different templates. See if there is a template that you can use for taking your notes. Alternatively, you can create your own template by adjusting the margins, font, size, etc. and saving your preferences. If you don’t want to use a template, you can just use the default settings.

Name the notes. Make sure that you name the notes so that you know what’s inside. On Microsoft word, when saving documents you can add tags. Then you can search these tags for any documents with that specific tag. I’ve found this to be a really useful organisational tool.

Do you need anything to take your notes? If you’re using a tablet, you can buy Bluetooth keyboards which will connect and can be quicker than typing on the screen. You can also buy a stylus which will let you write like you would with a normal pen; some devices also have the option to convert your handwriting to typed notes.

Get to know your keyboard. If you’re using a keyboard, then I suggest looking at this website which will teach you how to touch type.

Become familiar with keyboard shortcuts. Especially for things like bold, italicise, underline, highlight.

Downloads. If the teacher/lecturer puts up any material for the lecture download it. These are typically powerpoint slides. When I take notes next year, I will download these and split screen between word and powerpoint. Then I’ll be able to copy and paste material and diagrams straight from the actual powerpoint, speeding up my process.

Back up. Please, back up your notes on google docs. If your computer crashes you will have a backup of your notes that will be essential to studying! Again, for the people in the back, back up your notes!

Creating your notes. Use the technology to your advantage.

Use bold/highlight/italic. Make your heading and subheadings stand out from the rest of your text.

Use bullet points.

You can even make sub bullet points (like this) using the tab key to follow your line of thought/reason.

Highlight the important things; you could even use different colours for different things. E.g. yellow for important dates, blue for important quotes.

Develop an annotation style. For example, sometimes you might fall behind a bit, and miss a detail. When this happens to me I insert a series of dots into my notes, like this (……..) and I know that means I missed something so I can return to the recordings to find out what I missed. You could use question marks (?) to indicate something that confuses you that you need to do more reading on. There are lots of different symbols so you can develop your own system.

This also works with words. If you have certain words which you’re typing a lot then you can make them shorter and easier to type. For example, the word “participants” comes up a lot in my course, but I use “ps” because it’s shorter and quicker to type.

Choosing between typing and handwriting:

Handwriting Notes:

Is creative; colour/ highlight/draw

Can help memory

Lots of experience using the technique

Can revent distraction

Same format as exams

Lots of paper; bulky

No back up

Environmenta

Difficult to transport

Can be a slow, ling progress

Typing Notes:

Quick; can keep up with teacher

Easy to transport; all ntoes on a single memory stick

Can create back up copes

Can be printed to have a digital and paper copy

Paper doesn’t have to be used; environmentall friendly

Add coliur/highlithg/etc.

Easily shared with other people

Different fonts can make it easier for people with dyslexia

Laptop may be too heavy to take to class

Not everyone has a laptop; expensive

Battery life might not be a suitable for a full day of classes

Can be less memorable

This fake brain actually has the same consistency as the real deal. So now you know how concussions happen! 

For anyone who thinks all studyblrs are perfect, just a reminder that I failed my first year of med school. I’m trying to turn it around though!