Studyhardplayhard000 - Study Hard, Play Hard

{how to maintain good notes}

1. Come to class with a legal pad, a pencil or pen, and a highlighter.

use only these materials to jot down lecture notes

don’t worry about formatting or how neat it looks

your notes only need to be legible and somewhat organized

you can mess up on graphs/charts/diagrams

Why? The legal pad is as simple as notebooks get. You can rip out pages, you can write upside down. One pencil and one highlighter means you won’t spend any time trying to make your notes look pretty. That doesn’t matter now. The only thing you need to focus on during a lecture is writing down the important information.

2. After class, revisit your notes and copy it into your notebook.

you have as much time as you need to format your notes exactly how you want

writing something down twice helps you remember it later

seeing the same thing a second time makes you ask questions about the material

helps you study now so that you have less review to do at exams

Why? I know many of you are perfectionists, so when you make a mistake on a diagram, you feel compelled to rip out the page or quit all together. Copying it into a nice notebook forces you to find the best way to format your notes and digest the lecture materials. You will have an organized notebook to refer back to when studying for exams and finals.

3. Create a table of contents and number the pages.

4. Print charts/graphs/diagrams and paste them into your notes.

excellent precision and accuracy

on scratch paper (or your legal pad!) try to recreate the diagrams as best as possible – use this to study

I hope these tips will help you keep your notebook neat and organized!

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!

It’s essay writing season for tons of students!

After being a college writing tutor for over a year, I thought I would share my advice with all you awesome people on tumblr. This is how I write essays, but if you’ve got more tips, feel free to add them below. 

Happy writing. You can do it!

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”          – Confucius 

“To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee

“Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen

“The Diary of Anne Frank” by Anne Frank

“1984” by George Orwell

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone" by J.K. Rowling

“The Lord of the Rings” (1-3) by J.R.R. Tolkien

“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Charlotte’s Web” by E.B. White

“The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien

“Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott

“Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury

“Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte

“Animal Farm” by George Orwell

“Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell

“The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger

“The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak

“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain

“The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins

“The Help” by Kathryn Stockett

“The Lion, the Witch, and the Wadrobe” by C.S. Lewis

“The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck

“The Lord of the Flies” by William Golding

“The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini

“Night” by Elie Wiesel

“Hamlet” by William Shakespeare

“A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L'Engle

“Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck

“A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens

“Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare

“The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams

“The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgson Burnett

“A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens

“The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” by J.K. Rowling

“The Giver” by Lois Lowry

“The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood

“Where the Sidewalk Ends” by Shel Silverstein

“Wuthering Heights” Emily Bronte

“The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green

“Anne of Green Gables” by L.M. Montgomery

“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain

“Macbeth” by William Shakespeare

“The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larrson  

“Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley

“The Holy Bible: King James Version”

“The Color Purple” by Alice Walker

“The Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexandre Dumas

“A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” by Betty Smith

“East of Eden” by John Steinbeck

“Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll

“In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote

“Catch-22” by Joseph Heller

“The Stand” by Stephen King

“Outlander” by Diana Gabaldon

“Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” by J.K. Rowling

“Enders Game” by Orson Scott Card

“Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy

“Watership Down” by Richard Adams

“Memoirs of a Geisha” by Arthur Golden

“Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier

“A Game of Thrones” by George R.R. Martin

“Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens

“The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway

“The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” (#3) by Arthur Conan Doyle

“Les Misérables” by Victor Hugo

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” by J.K. Rowling

“Life of Pi” by Yann Martel

“The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

“Celebrating Silence: Excerpts from Five Years of Weekly Knowledge” by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

“The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis

“The Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follett

“Catching Fire” by Suzanne Collins

“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by Roald Dahl

“Dracula” by Bram Stoker

“The Princess Bride” by William Goldman

“Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen

“The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe

“The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd

“The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel” by Barbara Kingsolver

“One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez

“The Time Traveler’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger

“The Odyssey” by Homer

“The Good Earth (House of Earth #1)” by Pearl S. Buck

“Mockingjay (Hunger Games #3)” by Suzanne Collins

“And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie

“The Thorn Birds” by Colleen McCullough

“A Prayer for Owen Meany” by John Irving

“The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot

“Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“The Road” by Cormac McCarthy

“The Things They Carried” by Tim O'Brien

“Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse

“Beloved” by Toni Morrison

“Slaughterhouse-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut

“Cutting For Stone” by Abraham Verghese

“The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norton Juster

“The Brothers Karamazov” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“The Story of My Life” by Helen Keller

it’s that time of year.  finals! death!!  but deep breaths, we got this.

finals week calendar

use to plan your days leading up to the dreaded finals.  fill in the appropriate dates and mark down which days your finals are as well as any big events, study sessions, appointments, or major tasks you need to remember.  decorate however you want!

[ blank calendar | quote 1 | quote 2 | quote 3 | quote 4 ]

subject review sheet

make a list of the major topics to be covered for each of your finals, then rate your level of comfort with each topic on a scale of 1 - 5.  how are you going to study each topic?  (here’s some suggestions from @joolshallie!)

[ black & white | mint | baby blue | coral | lavender ]

subject checklist

use to make a list of all the things you want to do to review each subject, like rereading certain chapters, going to office hours, or making vocab cards.  hint: halfway through the list, write down a reward.  once you accomplish all the tasks above it, you get your treat!

[ black & white | mint | baby blue | coral | lavender ]

weekly planner

finals week is crazy!  use this to plan out each day.  write the main priority of the day in the top box and then mark down what you want to study when, any events or meetings you need to remember, and time for yourself and friends.  you got this.

[ black & white | mint | baby blue | coral | lavender ]

bonus links

guide to exam day by @speechandstudythings

study hacks by @attempttostudy

guide to kicking booty on exams by @studyign

tips for during exams by @collegerefs

a day of studying by @gracelearns

mentally prep yourself for a test by @eruditicn

making study guides by @coffeesforstudiers

khan academy

my formula printables

my guide to taking care of yourself

please tag me in your post if you end up using these and message me if you have any suggestions for these or other printables!  good luck with your exams!!

hey, everyone!! because this community has so much to offer in the way of advice, i decided to compile some of my favorite posts so they’re easily accessible and they can help all of you guys :))

(these are all original content from amazing studyblrs and i claim credit for none)

+general school advice

everything you need masterpost for students

everything you need to succeed in school

things top students do

ultimate school masterpost

university success tips

5 things to do at the end of a semester

+notetaking

a guide to the cornell note-taking system

annotating books

guide to pretty notes

how to effectively take notes

how to take notes

how to take notes from a textbook

mindmaps

notebook organization

notetaking system

notetaking 101

taking lecture notes

tips for notetaking

+organization

how to keep your school bag organized

how to organize

student organization tips

+printables

form your habits

printables masterlist

5 page study & revision planner

+studying

all-nighters

behind in school? get back on track in one day

exam masterpost

finals week masterpost

finals week masterpost 2

find your study spot

guide to happy(ish) revision

guide to kicking booty on exams

homemade textbook studying

homework completion tips

how to go through your readings

how to highlight

how to study

how to study (from the lazy perspective)

lazy study tips

online tools for studying

secret study tips

study tips for auditory, visual, and tactile learners

study tips masterpost

study tips review

study tips to actually get shit done

the 5-day study plan

tips on staying focused

5 things to do the morning of an exam

8 tips on getting started

2015 uni study tips

+supplies/stationery

journal & planner masterpost

journal/sketchbook resource masterpost

supply masterlist w/ reviews

another supply masterlist

studyblr alternatives (inexpensive stationery)

7 school supplies that make studying easier

+time management & productivity

how to beat laziness

how to manage time through post-it notes

how to stick to your schedule

productivity tips

time + task management

timeful

the science of procrastination and how to beat it

+writing

how to actually write an essay in an actual nutshell

how to: lab report

how to organize essay notes

how to plan and write literature papers

how to write an essay

+self-care

getting a good night’s sleep

how to relax before studying

5 things to do to enjoy life

+misc

friendly reminders

how to learn languages

Sounds to Soothe Anxiety

Cat Purring 

Thunderstorm (Close)

Thunderstorm (Far Away)

Ocean

Weightless

Wind Chimes 

Tibetan Bowls 

Nature (Images of River)

Space Ambient

Ambient Electronic

Human Heartbeat

“Native American” Style Flute/Drum (Images of Fire)

Rainforest

Celestial White Noise

Music to Help Combat Night Terror 

Winter Wind (Images of Trees and Snow + Cheesy Shakespeare Quote)

Autumn Wind

Howling Wind

Rain on Tin Roof

Rain on Tent

Traffic (Distant)

Traffic in the Rain (Close)

Fan

Distant Train 

Relaxing Trance/Electro

Chillstep (Relaxing Dubstep) (Vocals Used)

Relaxing “Chinese” Inspired Meditation

Soft Piano

Sad Violin and Piano

Instrumental 

Stormy Ocean

005/100

I decided to do one of the “what’s in my school bag?” things.

Firstly, I’d just like to express my thanks to my faithful bag- I lug its huge soul everywhere and it has not once complained of showed any signs of stress. It’s somewhat like a Mary Poppins bag. Thank you, beloved bag.

I’ve got my Kikki K planner, which is an absolute lifesaver. I love it to bits. The A4 notebook which I use for random scribbles and things that don’t belong in my subject books. Then my textbook, which I’m always having to stop myself from highlighting in- I’ll be able to sell it one day I’m sure. My two subject books, these are awesome. I picked them (and about 5 others… oops) up from Kmart for $3! My beautiful pencil case which I get complimented on everywhere- it’s actually a makeup bag from Napoleon! It’s so lovely though. And my laptop, wallet, lip balm, and a collection of different medicines which I’m forever forgetting to take with me- perks of having a chronic illness that gives me zombie brain 🙈

4 weeks of motivation

5 ways to motivate yourself

10 Study Motivation Quotes 

A guide to motivation

Attitudes that lead to success

Best of Educational Youtube 

Buy some school supplies // get excited for study

Coffitivity (Background noise)

CrashCourse (Youtube)  [World History, Biology, Literature, Ecology, Chemistry, Psychology, and US History]

Is that not worth exploring? (Zen Pencils)

Kahn Academy

Motivate yourself to study a boring subject 

My motivation (Tag)

Organise your desk

Positive/Motivational doodles

Printables

Study Playlist

Study Space Guide

Ted Talks (Youtube)

The Iceberg Ilusion

The The Impotence of Proofreading (YouTube) 

What if money was no object? (Zen Pencils)

What motivates me (ask)

What Teachers Make (Youtube) (Zen Pencils)

When you want to give up

Write a To-Do List

Write and be rewarded with a kitten!

Writers Block Resources

Your sign to study