PLEASE MAKE A REAL COLLEGE TIPS POST BC I WAS TRUSTING THE ONE FROM THE FIRST YEAR UNTIL NOW
minimize gaps in your schedule if you’re commuting unless you work better on campus, in which case schedule large gaps and stay on campus all day
use academic advising services as early as possible to formulate your post-grad plan. don’t leave it until third or fourth year and risk missing prereqs, work/volunteer experience or references
networking sucks ass but guess what? you have to do it. figure out what your classmates are doing, who they’re speaking to, etc
make sure your profs know you. sit near the front, see them during office hours (make up questions if you have to), attend events, pick their brains. you might get an academic reference out of it or even a grad student position
you most likely have an online portal. visit it hourly. leave it for even a day and you will miss something
find out what textbooks you need before the semester starts and download the e-book, buy it used, whatever. just don’t fuck yourself over within the first couple weeks waiting for your book to arrive
read your syllabus very carefully. set all dates in your phone with an alarm days prior
get credit audits every year to make sure you’re on track to graduating when you anticipate
don’t take evening classes. you’ll never get anything done prior to class like you planned. ever.
This fake brain actually has the same consistency as the real deal. So now you know how concussions happen!
04:10 PM // Hello! I made these mind maps a few days ago. I’m really proud of them considering I never made one before.
VIDEOS:
How to take colour coded notes (starts at 0:58) How to take notes and study tips (really like this video, and contains printables) How to effectively take notes in class Advanced Cornell Notes Taking notes in college & backpack essentials Study tips (starts at 1:58 ) Taking notes and studying Creating a study guide and printing notes (really helpful for how to print and organize notes) Taking class notes and studying for tests Outlining your textbook (starts at 0:30)
APPS:
Evernote: Clip web pages (good for research), and take notes. Dropbox: good for keeping documents, photo and videos in one place. Khan Academy: videosfrom maths and science to humanities. Digg: Daily news. CliffsNotes: study for tests, create quizzes, read summaries, good for english/humanities. Studious: a reminder for when homework and tests are due. Pocket: researching tool. EasyBib: Scan the barcode of the book and it creates a citation. iFormulas: formulas, rations, theorems. iTunes U: provides educational content for free.Also provides access to courses, and learn about different courses.
OTHER:
Effective note taking via University of Reading (contains printable guide) How to take notes at university via The Guardian Taking lecture and class notes via Dartmouth College (contains lots of resources too) Taking effective notes via howtostudy Taking notes via Harvard (pdf file - really useful and I recommend that you print this out and use it for reference) Creating a study guide via Utah State University (pdf file)
Requested // more close ups and extra pictures of chemistry revision cards for AQA C2. And yes I did colour in my banners since before I didn’t 💁🏽✨
OKAY GUYS LISTEN UP so there’s this website called slader.com and it has EVERY FUCKING ANSWER TO EVERY TEXTBOOK EVER. It has answers AND shows you ALL the work so you can understand it (or be a slacker). This website has literately saved my calculus grade. It even has free tutors if you need the extra help. Guys, it’s free to register and it will save your life
Things you may want to avoid doing in the future.
Doing, wait, not doing these things always works for me.
Staying up late.
Sleep is yes. And as my speech coach puts it “there are only so many all nighters a person can pull before they just can’t”. Not only will staying up uber-late make the next day a battle between you an a surprisingly pillow-like desktop, if you’re tired, your work probably won’t be the your best.
Over-scheduling.
It’s easier to look at a schedule with 3-4 assignments than it is to look at one with 9-10. When scheduling, if you have a plethora of assignments, prioritize. Write down the most important assignments, and leave any others off the page or in the margins. You only have so many hours in the day and it’s better to complete the most important tasks than none at all.
Pro-tip: The Pareto Principle. The Pareto principle revolves around the 80%-20% ratio. Allow me to explain, if you have 10 pieces of work, there are probably only two of them that will take up 80% of the work. And 8 of them that will take up 20% of the work. The key to prioritizing is finding those two assignments (or however many = 20% in your workload) and doing them first
Working in bed or laying down.
NONONONONONONONONONO. This is how “cat-naps” happen. You swear that you’re going to get straight to work and then your phone on the bedside table lights up. It’s too hard to organize a book, a notebook, and a laptop on a bed without moving the laptop off of your lap. So why not check it?
Working in bed helps the boogeyman grow under it.
Over-working.
If you take on more than you can handle, you will not get the results you want. It’s perfectly alright to challenge yourself. In fact, it’s great. But, there is a difference between being ambitious and stressing yourself out. If it’s too much, go back to the Pareto principle and prioritize.
Drinking excessive amounts of coffee and energy drinks. (Especially in the afternoon.)
One (maybe two, if you ordered a tall) cups of coffee in the morning is fine. But in the afternoon or the evening, stick to exercise, healthy snacks, and naps. Sugary energy drinks as well as coffee that contain caffeine can speed up your heart rate, cause stress, and irregular breathing patterns. If you become addicted to caffeine these things will accelerate and can end up hurting you detrimentally.
Over-using productivity apps.
Productive apps are awesome, if used correctly, don’t abuse them. It was difficult for me to use productivity apps on my phone at first because the other things on my phone would distract me. If you plan to use productivity apps on you phone and computer make sure that you have the self-control needed o use them properly.
Tumblr. - I’m only half kidding
Those are the general ones, these are a bit more subject specific
Math/science
Falling behind.
In other classes falling behind is not recommended, but is usually fixable by reading a few chapters or asking a friend for notes. Because of arithmetic’s complex nature that relies not only on facts, but applying them it is very difficult to master one a concept while you’re supposed to be mastering another. Often, learning one key concept can help you with many other assignments, not learning key concepts can make those other assignments 10x harder.
Receiving low homework scores.
In all of the math classes I’ve been in, the homework scores were more of your grade than your test homework. Always turn in your homework, even if it feels impossible, try your best, and never leave your paper blank. Even if you got all of the answers wrong, many teachers will give you serious credit for trying and failing rather than just failing.
Learn everything from the teacher.
There are a plethora of online math resources that are awesome, and math teachers usually only teach one method of solving a problem. Try Khan Academy , For Dummies, or IXL. Or look around a bit, there are a lot of other great sites, those are just my favorites.
Learn everything. (This is usually for science.)
In science (especially in biology and Earth sciences.) you are introduced to a myriad of concepts and vocabulary words that might seem like too much to memorize. Don’t. Look at what your teacher puts emphasis on and memorize that. Also, if you are using a textbook, there is a good chance that the textbook is filled with notes on the ‘key concepts’ or learning requirements for each chapter. These are also things that you should attempt to memorize.
English/writing/history/ other humanities
Not develop an opinion. (Especially in history)
If there’s anything a english/ writing/ history teacher loves, it’s an opinionated student. Textbooks give you facts and figures, and you can interpret them however you want. So, do just that. This will show your teacher not only that you are interested in his or her subject, but that you are engaged in the material that they gave you.
Ignore teacher comments. (No matter how small.)
It isn’t fun to read nit-picky comments about your work. Especially on your writing. But look at them. Even if you receive a good grade on a paper, applying corrections on your next one will ensure that you get a better grade the next time.
Staying quiet in class.
I understand that for some people this one is hard, for some people this one is practically impossible. But teachers love it. If you can, voice your opinion and answer questions in class as frequently as possible. I’ve even received extra credit for being verbally engaged in class more than other students.
Not trying to learn everything.
This one is a lot like the ‘not ignoring teacher comments’. A lot of information slips through the cracks (especially in english) that pops back up on exams. Because most of what is learned in an english class is not drilled into you like it would be in a math or science class, to do well, you have to drill yourself. I’ve been told the difference between ‘affect’ and ‘effect’ plenty of times, but I didn’t truly learn it until this year when I had to study it for an exam.
Pro-tip: Don’t challenge your teachers. They determine your grades. Momentary satisfaction is not worth a bad grade.
Hope this was useful!