Something A Little Different To Answer The Question Of ‘How Should I Study?’ I’ve Done Some Research

- 10 Ways to Stay Calm and Reduce Stress During Finals (x)

- 14 Productivity Hacks for College Students (x)

- How to Make a Study Plan for Finals (x)

- How to Write the Perfect College Essay (x)

- The Ultimate Roundup of Finals Weeks Posts (x)

- The Ultimate Guide to Final Exams (x)

- How to Survive and Thrive During Finals Week (x)

- The Ultimate Guide to Passing Your Final Exams (x)

- How to Become a Multitasking Genius in College (x)

Hate that horrible silence while you’re working/studying? Perhaps your music is annoying you? Or maybe you just want to relax. Try these to help you fill the silence:

Coffitivity - Coffee shop environement stimulator

RainyMood - Sounds of rain

USS Enterprise - Engine hum

Celestial - Sounds like airplane engines

Fireplace - Sounds of a crackling fire

Nature - Forest sounds

Oceanside - Waves Crashing

Train - Sounds from onboard a train

MyNoise - Customazible background noises

Try these out and you’ll feel yourself focusing a little more.

08•29•15 School Prep ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t wait for school to start! Spending this last week before school DIYing supplies, planning, organizing, and shopping. I hope you all enjoy your last week of summer, or if you’re already in school, good luck!

My Bullet Journal! An In-Depth Guide

It has been HIGHLY requested for me to do a full, in-depth guide or post about my bullet journal.. so here it is!  I’m new to my bullet journal as well, so I’m sure as I go I’ll learn more and more about it and figure out little things that work for me, but for right now, here’s what I do!

As I said before, my “style” for this bullet journal was inspired by another studyblr: staticsandstationary.  The top banners and such are all from her styled bullet journal.  They looked fairly simple and I thought that they would work perfectly for me as well! I will list all of the materials that I use at the end of this post, and if you have questions as to where the stickers are from, just send me a message and I will try and link you right to it!

I’m going to go through it with you section-by-section, so I hope this is helpful! I plan on doing a video on this next week as well, if that’s something you guys are interested in.


Photo 1: Legend and Index

When you first open my bullet journal, this is what you see!  On the left is my legend.  This includes all of the different types of bullets I have and what they mean, and then a few color variations for personal things and work things. When it comes to school work, I use different colors for different subjects, but I plan on creating separate legends on a page at the beginning of each semester.

On the right side is the beginning of my index.  This is something I keep going throughout the use of my bullet journal.  Every time I enter into a new month, I put the page numbers for the end of the previous month and the beginning of the new month.  It seems silly, but the further you get into your journal, the much more convenient it will be to have in order to find certain pages.

Photo 2: Index and Fall Schedule

Here is my next page.  On the left is a blank area where I plan to continue the index.  I wasn’t sure how much space I would need for the index or whether or not I would do subcategories within each month, so to be safe, I included a second page.

On the right side is my class schedule for the Fall.  In hindsight, I would have liked to include this later in my journal, probably in the month of August, which is the month that this schedule will begin.  Oh well.  Hindsight is 20/20, right?

Photo 3: April Monthly View and Expenses

On the left is April’s monthly view.  I go down the line and put the numbers for the date as well as the first letter of the day of the week.  It helps me keep track of things at a glance.  This month only has beginning at the 15th, because that’s when I started my bullet journal.  I used different colors for different courses (this was around finals time).  I didn’t include those in my legend because they were the same colors I’d been coordinating with all semester, so I knew them by heart and didn’t feel the need to include them.  Pink still accounts for my personal tasks and events and orange is work-related things.

On the right begins the expenses.  This is for the month of April only.  I sort all of my expenses per month because I find that it makes it much easier to flip to your most recent expenses.  I don’t have a key for the colors in this either.. but oh well.  For these, I have three different colors: green, blue, and orange.  Green means that it was a reasonable and unavoidable expense (groceries, gasoline, etc.).  Blue means that it was a fairly reasonable expense but not 100% necessary.  It’s my in-betweeny.  Orange means that it could have been avoided (fast food, impulse buys, etc.).  I created a chart where I put the item on the left and the price on the right.

Photo 4: May Monthly View and Expenses

Here is May’s monthly view and expense page.  Yes, I skipped past some pages for April’s daily calendar.  I will show you those for May.

Photo 5: May Monthly Spread

Here is the first weekly spread for the month of May.  I create these to-do lists as I go, usually the night before.  As you can see on Friday, when I go shopping, I include the shopping list of the things that I purchased on a post-it note and I leave it on that particular day.  This way, I can keep track of when I bought certain items.

This is also when I started incorporating my stickers (:

Photo 6: May Monthly Spread

Here is another weekly spread.

Photo 7: May Monthly Spread and June Monthly View

Here begins the monthly view for June.  Yes, I planned ahead for you guys to kind of give a better example.  This monthly spread obviously doesn’t have a lot going on yet.  As I go through the month, I’ll add things to the monthly view.  I don’t keep everything in the monthly view, obviously.  Just large events or things tI need to remember at a broader glance.

Again, if you have any questions as to where any of the stickers are from, don’t hesitate to message me!

Photo 8: June Expenses and June Weekly Spread

This is my most recent page.  Obviously, June 1st is about a week off.  I planned ahead here so I could show you what I have been doing.  I got a few questions about planning ahead.  What if you have tasks you know that you need to get done on a future date?  What do you do to remember them?  I actually haven’t mastered this yet.  I still use my Lily Pulitzer agenda for that.  I keep all of my to-do lists for future dates in there, and then when it’s time to fill out my bullet journal, I refer to it and go from there.  for now, I’ve been planning on things that I need to do when I get back from Florida.  Those things are in pencil on the bottom right (if you can see it!).  I wanted to include that as a little tip.  You can always use pencil or post-its and erase and remove them later!

I hope this was helpful for all of you guys!  

Here’s a list of the supplies that I use:

Moleskine Large Squared Hardcover Journal

BIC Cristal Pens (Bold for Colors)

Stickers - Ask me!

An example of how I set up my bullet journal - a fancy page with an overview of to do list and column setup for detailed day to day tasks. Read more about how I use bullet journals here!

BIOLOGY STUDENTS

LOOK: 

BIONINJA. It’s as cool as it sounds. BioNinja is a compilation of biology resources (specifically for IB) including outlines, videos, and powerpoints. Awesome. My favorite part, however, are the quick reference sheets! They are perfect for reviewing. 

To get to the reference sheets, click “Additional Resources” (as seen above) 

And then click the “Biology Quick Reference Guides” (or click here) 

and it will open a complete list of EVERYTHING YOU WILL NEED TO KNOW FOR THE BIOLOGY TEST. (HL and SL!) How cool is this????? 

Each topic is linked to a one page reference sheet! 

I’M OFFICIALLY OBSESSED WITH THESE. I’m currently rewriting them all to study for next year! If you don’t want to rewrite them, it would also be awesome to have them printed out in your binder or folder to study from!

today i just realized… i’m starting school next week! i know a lot of people have already started and others still have a little while to wait, but either way i thought i’d put together a little thing to get you all jazzed for the new school year because for some reason, i’m not really feelin’ it.

week(s) before you start school:

make a de-stress box!!

i plan on making a post about this within the week but… here are a few basic tips until then.

use a card board box- shoe boxes work best

include things that help you calm down when you’re upset/stressed

CD’s, special notes, soft pieces of fabric, face masks, temporary tattoos, maybe even a movie.

it’s also pretty calming to decorate the outside of your box with stickers, a collage, or just with paints and markers.

start a journal (or a bullet journal if you’re into it)

do some general research on new study methods

start fixing up your sleeping schedule

exercise 2x a week, then carry your new habit into the school year (even if you have a gym class! exercising on your own is soooo important)

(obviously) go school supply shopping!!! (make sure you only get general items though, teachers can sometimes be specific about what they want you to have for their class.)

diy your school supplies. it’s always super fun to buy cheap supplies and then customize them. make covers for your notebooks, tape or paint your pencils, or tie-dye your pencil bag.

the day before:

sleep in, it’s your last day of freedom

pack your backpack (if you haven’t already)

use a face mask

do some yoga

relax. it’s all gonna be great

go to sleep early

the first day

meet your teachers!

reconnect with your friends

ask questions

supplies

the syllabus (or if there isn’t one, ask for a general over view. most likely (if you’re in high school) they’ll talk a lot about expectations, but you should have time at the end of each class to talk

bring a water bottle. if you think you’ll be nervous (i know i will), sucking/chewing on a straw and carrying a bottle or just something to hold on to will help

the weekend after:

use your de-stress box!

do some yoga. it will help, i promise

don’t feel pressured to hang with friends right off the bat- jumping back into being social everyday from being social once a week (or less), (like me) can be a little daunting. take time for yourself.

read something, books can be a great way to wind down

your teachers (if you’re in high school) probably haven’t given out any assignments. if anything, maybe some in-class work, but nothing too awfully important. use this “free” time to maybe do some general research for topics at your teachers mentioned would be covered. this can be a great way to understand things better when you go more in depth in class

documentaries are great ways to learn about a topic without getting too awfully intense.

go school supply shopping again!! now buy the things your teachers request you have for their classes. these things can include fancy calculators, binders of a certain size, etc.

not up to buying stabilo or staedtler? restricted access to resources? this post might help!

credit to studyception​ and ray over at fistudy for helping out with this post, because figuring out brands, stores, and prices in america is easier when you have a friend in america to talk to.

** note: i’m an upper class teenager, and i’m not an authority on what is/isn’t cheap. i also haven’t tried all of the things on here.

supplies

walmart has cheap five-star notebooks that are $1-2

at target 1-subject 5-star notebooks are $1.97, 3-subject is $3.87, 5-subject $5/6

also, five-star folders there are ~$2

do not use moleskines, especially if you can’t find them cheap, and i can’t say moleskines are often cheap. they are not worth their price.

a spiral or composition notebook works fine – compositions have sturdier spines, but spirals’ pages are easier to turn or tear out if they’re not perforated, so keep that in mind.

mead composition notebooks at target are $0.50

papermate flair pens can be found at costco, among other places. they’re $12 for a pack of 14 and are quite pretty. also, they’re better quality than stabilo — more ink, bleeds less.

dollar tree. you won’t find anything fancy there, but you don’t need fancy. use dollar tree.

don’t worry about brand names as long as it’s quality. yes, muji is expensive.

don’t buy those sets of 20 colored pens. if you’re into color coding, you need, what, 4-7 colors? three different shades of red isn’t necessary.

or if you don’t want a bunch of colors at all, go with blue and black and maybe a highlighter.

if looking for basic pens with black ink, do not bother with anything fancy just get one of those packs of 10 gel pens that are for like $2 or something (they better have these in the usa)

paperback books are cheaper. just make sure to treat them well.

free sat/ap prep materials here

english class: for finding novels (need that book for english?), tuebl has free epubs, you just need to know how to search it (there’s no viruses, though!). if you can’t read epubs because of the format, then download the epub and convert it to pdf (or another format). if you need a hard copy, book depository can be cheap but isn’t free.

if you need a laptop or tablet cheap, like <$100 cheap, pls try reading this post!!

for color coding, walmart and staples sell sets of four colored pens for $2-3 each

like the kipling 100 case? this is similar and $9 to kipling’s $40

advice

if you have a job or too many activities and get home late, squeeze in studying when you can – breaks between classes, at lunch, whatever you’ve got. if you’ve got a free period, use it. a’s before baes.

also, sometimes overworking yourself is your only option, especially if you’re short on time. do your best to prevent it — remember to eat something, don’t procrastinate, don’t get distracted.

want to use the pomodoro technique for studying, but you don’t have a computer or phone? use any clock you have and mark down the times on a piece of paper

if you want to minimize the amount of supplies: pens. highlighters. paper + cheap notebooks. i don’t recommend much else

workspaces

to be a studyblr, you do not need a pretty workspace (or even have one, use the floor, dinner table, couch, whatever), but if you want one, here’s some cheaper ways of keeping your workspace looking nice!

don’t clutter — put your paper in stacks, and if you have drawers/cabinets, use them

but if you don’t have too many papers put them in folders or binders

if you have boxes small enough to do so but large enough to hold your clutter, put the extra papers + stuff you don’t need often but may need later in the boxes and shove them under the desk.

containers help, esp. for pens, but they cost money. try using cups — the tiny, flimsy disposable ones will tip over for sure, but you can put smaller things like tape or erasers in there. bigger, more stable ones for pens.

want decorations? try making paper flowers [x x x x x] or glitter jars [x x x x x]. put up drawings if you’ve got the space.

buy washi tape if you can use up money on something pointlessly pretty, michael’s has so many varieties, and they’re $1-2 each. target also has some with thicker rolls, but it’s more expensive + less variety. costco has some as well! i’m recommending it for decorating. as far as its function as tape, you can use it as a label, but don’t try to actually hold anything together with it.

don’t like the look of those pen containers? add a strip of washi tape around the brim. put it on boring notebook covers. loop it through some paper clips and use that as bookmarks. you can try this [x] for inspiration, but it’s buzzfeed and i don’t recommend you try to washi tape your car or use it as wallpaper. some other suggestions: [x x x x x x]

(hint: yes, we use filters. photo editing is a thing.)

highlight your notes omg if you want to spend hours rewriting them to look pretty, that’s awesome, but highlighters will work

software

sometimes it’s easier to do things online than wasting paper or notebooks on it! means less stuff to carry around with you, too.

however, not everyone owns a macbook (or even has their own computer), so i tried to post sites that can be accessed across all computers and aren’t mac-only.

here, some websites — wolframalpha and mathway, and you can google some math things!

sparknotes will probably save you at some point

check your writing for things like cliches, passive voice, adverbs, etc, or just for grammar with:

prowritingaid editminion hemingwayapp autocrit spellcheckplus

search engines: ipl, orion’s arm (for science), ecoasia (save trees!), library of congress (about the usa), sweet search

also, if you don’t want to buy a planner/sticky notes/whatever that involves to-do lists, try todoist - available on the web, ios, android, chrome, firefox, windows, and os x / or wunderlist - available on windows, mac, android, iphone, ipad, windows phone, chromebook. i’m fond of both!

create citations with bibme or easybib

need somewhere quiet to study and don’t have much of a workspace? find uncrowded places in your area with avoidhumans

microsoft word costs so much money. use libre office. it’s free and basically the same thing. or try openoffice.

if you need to use public computers (there are probably some at your library or something): get a gmail account and use google chrome. when you’re using it, log into the account. bookmark all the things you need. as long as you log into that account when you get on a computer, those bookmarks will be with you, as well as your browser data/settings.

speaking of syncing across computers, evernote is cool for notetaking & google drive is your friend

other posts

internet resources

if you don’t have much money and you’re getting your first apartment

free online courses

sat help [because expensive prep books/classes, ew]

find cheaper or free textbooks/classics online [2] / but maybe read this post first [warning, all bold]

“i’m so poor because i buy too many books”

cheap online colleges

100 recipes for the starving student / similar: [x x x]

feel free to add onto this post x

hey there loves!!! this is a masterpost all about studying a foreign language. i’m learning spanish at a level [and began learning german a while back too] and these are some tips i picked up along my journey! hope they’ll be of help to you :]

why should i study a foreign language?

to learn about new cultures

so u can communicate with other people

and impress them too B-)

to have a different travel experience

to make friends with people from other countries

so you can develop confidence within yourself

it makes u smarter in a lot of ways!!!

makes u more employable

to study/live abroad

helps u become more open minded

etc.

some links to help you learn on your own

duolingo

memrise

babbel

tandem ~ talk to someone in your target language

languages masterpost

another language learning masterpost

check out my tags

spanish

spanish essay phrases

spanish checker

best online spanish dictionary and translator!!!!

learn maltese [my native language hello!!!!]

japanese

korean!!!

synonyms!!!

french checker

french grammar

french resources!!!!!!

another proof reading program

more language stuff ft. a lot of languages

top 25 youtube channels for learning languages

what more you can do for yourself

immerse yourself in the language everyday to make sure u stay consistent in ur studies of the language

keep a vocab notebook

make ur own notes!!!

start reading newspapers or articles online [go here and pick ur language. happy reading!!!]

LISTEN TO MUSIC IN THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE IT’S SUPER NICE!!!! [if u wanna ask me for recs i have some]

watch youtubers in the language ur studying!!!

watch tv shows in the language w/ subtitles [u might even find ur fav show online in a different language]

every little helps u

practice speaking it [even to yourself in a mirror]

+speak it aloud!!

try using the words u learn in ur everyday life

find a partner u can learn with, it makes life sooo much better!!!

don’t be afraid to make mistakes, it has to happen. nobody’s perfect!!

leave ur comfort zone, don’t be afraid to talk to people who speak the foreign language ur learning

LISTEN!!!! this helps u become familiar to the language

watch people talk, this helps w/ ur pronunciation

have fun with it!!! after all the swearing when u can’t get verbs right, it’s actually quite fun B-)

hope these tips + links help you out in your journey!! feel free to ask me anything you want to or request a masterpost yourself <3

Here are my mind-maps for additional science that a lot of people have been asking for - hope they’re helpful 😊