My Masterlist Of 'how To Life’ tips

if you’re looking for some journal inspiration, i recommend following pepperandtwine on instagram! she posts beautiful journal spreads every day that are just so inspiring and creative❤️

To be prepared is half the victory

Some handsome revision notes on liberalism, even if I say so myself.

film scores playlist for studying to

wants to work through your essay with the instrumental sounds of your favourite movies in the background, perfect to calm and focus your mind? then this is the playlist for you

view the full thing here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/75T4VhthKFdSnvZ2Llhpwx

‘Married Life’ by Michael Giacchino from Up (2009)

‘Time’ by Hans ZImmer from Inception (2010)

‘The Shire’ by Howard Shore from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

‘Romantic Fight’ by John Powell from How To Train Your Dragon (2010)

‘Mr. Fox in the Fields’ by Alexandre Desplat from Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

‘Lady Bird’ by Jon Brion from Lady Bird (2017)

‘Dance on the Porch’ by Alexandre Desplat from Little Women (2019)

‘The Imitation Game’ by Alexandre Desplat, London Symphony Orchestra from The Imitation Game (2014)

{ 06.09.15 } » did someone say making posters?

bi·ol·o·gy \bī-ˈä-lə-jē\ noun - the branch of knowledge that deals with living organisms and vital processes

I’ve noticed that there are quite a few younger studyblrs and since biology is usually the first high school science students take, I thought I’d make a post on how to study for it as it is my favorite subject. 

1. Use Diagrams

Biology textbooks are full of diagrams and they’re there for a reason. Always look over the diagrams and copy ones on important topics (e.g. photosynthesis, taxonomy) into your notes.

2. Memorizing & Understanding

I have heard many people say biology is just memorization, but it’s really not that simple. There is a lot of memorization involved for vocabulary and basic information, but biology is also full of processes (e.g. cellular respiration, evolution). You cannot just memorize the steps, you must fully understand what purpose each step serves. Many tests have short answer or essay portions and there’s no way you can answer them by just memorizing the steps of a process without understanding them. I recommend drawing out diagrams and mind maps for understanding processes and cycles as that really helped me. Once you can teach someone else how that process/cycle works, then you really know it.

3. Color code

Color coding is useful for many subjects including biology. Color code your diagrams (it always comes back to the diagrams) and graphs as it makes looking back over your notes much easier and it keeps things organized and easy to study which is important since there are many complicated processes and cycles (e.g. DNA replication, transcription, & translation) that can get confusing if drawn all in one color.

4. Pay attention to labs

You’ll probably do quite a few labs during your time taking biology. Labs serve to let you see concepts in action for yourself which can really aid understanding. Always record data down in your lab notebook and do the conclusion questions. The conclusion questions gauge how well you understand the labs. Most importantly never ever record results you didn’t get. A lot of times (especially in basic high school biology), you will go into a lab with a pretty good idea of what will happen, but if your results don’t match your hypothesis, it’s okay. I remember once I did a lab involving different sugars and enzymes and I was sure of my hypothesis, but my results didn’t match my prediction. After a class discussion, we found out that quite a few other people didn’t get their expected results either and it turns out the enzymes we were using were expired. So if you don’t get the expected results, maybe you did the lab wrong or maybe not, either way don’t fake data, talk to your teacher instead.

5. Learn your word roots

A lot of biology terms (particularly anatomy and biomed) are from Greek and Latin roots. Now you don’t need to go take a Latin class or anything, but look up etymologies and focus on recurring prefixes and suffixes (e.g. hemo-, hypo-, -cyte, -derm) and soon you’ll begin to be able to predict what a term means before looking it up. 

6. Review

A lot of concepts in biology are interconnected and you need to know one topic to understand another. For this reason, always review anything you’re rusty on especially if you plan on taking other biology classes in the future. 

hi!!! i’ve seen lots of posts going around about how being a studyblr only means to have cute and expensive stationery and i know that lots of you don’t want or can’t spend that much money on stationery and i thought that doing your own stuff is waaaaay more fun and cheaper than buying it!!! (and it’s so original! no one will have the same notebook as you!) picture from here

dorm

dorm decor by @notquitenightingale 

dorm room masterpost pt1 and pt2 by @studypops

46 cheap ways to decor your room

33 DIY ideas / 25 / 18

15 cute af ideas

16 even cuter ideas!!

10 DIY for lazy ppl

20 DIY DESKS!

stationery

school supplies pt1 and  pt2 by @gracelearns

custom notebook covers by @studyquirk

make your own syllabible by @xannerz

map compositon book cover

pen loop! (rlly useful) by @studyingalpacas

make shift tabs by @vellichoristic

decorate white boxes! by @wodka-aunt

13 stationery ideas!

17 DIY projects

very very cute DIY

really nice DIY

10 DIY ideas

10 DIY pencil cases!!

20 backpack and pencil cases!!

15 pencil case tutorials

20 DIY pouches

super cute DIY pencil case

organize your binders

DIY cardboard binder

stylish af binders

11 DIY notebooks + another one!

17 cute ways to cover your books!

10 tutorials to make unique books!

15 ways to personalize your pens!

DIY calligraphy pens!

Flower pens!!!!!

+ my printables masterpost

treat yo self

25 relaxing spa ideas

so many face masks

a whole page on DIY beauty

17 DIY beauty products

50 DIY from pinterest!

27 hacks!!

10 DIY treatments

40 genius beauty hacks

+ my food masterpost

It is important to believe in yourself. And never give anyone a chance to make you question your strengths. It can be hard, but not impossible. So I want to be doctor, and I am ready to give my everything, so my dream would come true.

Achieving your full academic potential: Things to Avoid Doing

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!

mapping some chem notes