How To Read From A Textbook

what tips would you give to someone who wants to learn a new language, or continue learning a language over the summer break?? any apps or websites, or ways to stay motivated?

Learning a new language or continuing learning is honestly something I struggle with simply because of my experience with bad teachers, BUT I can still give you some tips on what I’ve done to stay motivated so far.

Find a language you are passionate about!! If you’re burnt out on what you’re learning, find a new language to learn. It’s not ideal to start back in square one, but it’s okay to do so!

Make flash cards! Everyone recommends this, but you can make a game out of what you’re learning. If you’re on the go, I recommend downloading Tinycards. Since it’s owned by Duolingo, they have sets premade for your target language.

Watch videos. This has helped a lot with learning a new language for me. You can either watch educational videos where you’re being taught grammar or vocab or you can watch videos of people speaking in your target language.

Interact with the language! Watch movies, listen to music, etc. Find different genres you might not enjoy in your native language and try them your target language! You never know what new content you come across that you enjoy.

Google Translate is not your enemy. It’s okay to use it. It’s not what people want to hear, but it’s ok to use if you’re struggling with how to pronounce a word or if there’s a word you simply just don’t know.

Pace yourself. Work on your target language at least 15 minutes a day especially for new learners. It sounds daunting, but practice makes for motivation.

Some apps/websites I recommend:

Duolingo

Tinycards

Memrise

YouTube (Use this to learn the alphabet and numbers. Duolingo seems to not understand “beginner” means you’re a beginner.)

Leo

Google Translate

Spotify/Pandora

Netflix/Hulu

These are all pretty standard tips that I’ve seen, but I fully stand by all of them. More tips can be found at my Langblr @ess-tset under the tag #learning. I hope this helps!

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Best Online Lectures for College Courses

Please reblog and add to the list! Let’s make sure all the studyblrs have these resources available to them so we can all be successful! I will do my best to keep the original post updated here.

I thought I would start a list of YouTube channels (or other venues) that have the best lecture videos out there. Not only are online lectures a great supplement to help you understand the content your professors teach you in class, they’re also a useful tool for prestudying before class! I try to watch lectures of the topic that will be lectured on next before each class so that I already have notes coming into the lecture, meaning I can focus on learning the material by only adding on what’s necessary to my notes as opposed to frantically copying everything on the board or powerpoint slide.

BIOLOGY

General Biology

Bozeman Biology

CHEMISTRY

Organic Chemistry

Leah4Sci

Biochemistry

Kevin Ahern

Moof Univeristy

PHYSICS

Covers Many Physics Courses/Topics

Leonard Susskind

Feynman Lectures

DrPhysicsA

MATHEMATICS

Calculus

Integral Calc Academy

PatrickJMT

ProfRobBob

MIT OpenCourseware (x) (x) (x)

Discrete Mathematics

(x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

Linear Algebra

(x) (x) (x)

COMPUTER SCIENCE

Data Structures

(x) (x) (x) (x)

Object Oriented Programming

(x)

Software Engineering

(x)

Database

(x)

Operating Systems

(x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

(x)

Computer Architecture

(x)

Programming

(x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

Artificial Intelligence

(x) (x)

Algorithms

(x)

COVERS MANY SUBJECT AREAS

Khan Academy

Crash Course

MIT Open Courseware

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Popular apps perfect for students

Staying on top of all your to-dos, errands, tasks and due dates can get complicated but luckily there is an app for everything! If you’re looking for app to wake you up in a morning, manage your priorities or soothe your anxiety, you’ve come to the right place. Here is a list of all the top apps that students are using:

Organisation

Wunderlist

Planner Pro

24me

Remember The Milk

Google Calendar

Pocket Schedule - Class Schedule, Homework Planner

AwesomeNote2 - All in One Organiser

AnyList

The Homework App - Your Class Assignment & Timetable Schedule Planner

My Study Life

Calendars by Readdle - Event and Task Manager

Class Timetable

Countdown+

Due - Reminders, Countdown Timers

Do! - The Best of Simple To Do Lists

Workflow: Powerful Automation Made Simple

Glass Planner

Day One Journal

iStudiez Pro

Awesome Note 2

Grammarly

Konmari

Productivity

RescueTime

Streaks

Forest

ToDoIst

Tide - Stay focused, be peaceful

Focus Keeper

Habitica

Productive habits and daily goal tracker

HabitBull (recommend by @ravn-studies)

BrainFocus (recommend by @ravn-studies)

Toggle Time Tracker (recommend by @ravn-studies)

Self Control

Jot - Notes Widget

Swipes - To Do List

ClearFocus: Productivity Timer

Noisli

Binaural beats

Lanes

Note taking

Microsoft OneNote

Evernote

Quizlet

Notability

Byword

Flashcards+

Goodnotes

Outline

Boximize - Structured notetaking, personal database, form builder, manager and organiser

INKredible (recommend by @lottestudiesphysics)

RefME - Referencing Made Easy

Bear (recommended by @revisionsandcoffee​)

InkFlow Visual Notebook

Studying

Quizlet

Flashcards+

Duolingo

Khan Academy

Xmind

Writer

Studyblue

Coffitivity

Prezi

MindMeister

Hemingway Editor

StudyStack

Crashcourse

Shmoop

Beelinguapp

Brightstorm

Coggle mindmaps

Mindly

Sleeping

Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock

Sleep Genius

Rain Rain

Pillow: The sleep cycle alarm clock for sleep tracking

Sleepytime Sleep Scheduler

Mental health and self care

Headspace

Stop, Breathe & Think: Meditation and Mindfulness

Pacifica - Anxiety, Stress, & Depression relief

Centered

Buddhify

Calm: Meditation techniques for stress reduction

Moodnotes - Thought Journal/Mood Diary

Colorfy

7 Cups Anxiety, Stress & Depression Chat & Therapy

Companion 

Smiling Mind

Bsafe

Circle of 6

Health and fitness

Sweat with Kayla - Fitness & Bikini Body Workouts

Yoga Work Out

Freeletics

7-minutes workout

Waterlogged - Drink More Water, Daily Water Intake Tracker and Hydration Reminders

Sworkit (recommend by @leviosa-studies)

Medisafe pill reminder

Plant Nanny Water Reminder

Mealboard

Finance

UNiDAYS

Pocketbook Personal Finance Expense Tracker

Splitwise - Split bills and expenses the easy way

Pocket Expense - Personal Finance Assistant

Daily Budget Original Pro - Saving Is Fun!

Mvelopes

PocketGuard

Mint

The Coupons App

Groupon

Ebates

Hope this helps! x

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hey!! so a lot of us are interested about space but don’t know how to go about studying about it, this is a masterpost for all of those people who wish to learn about the universe <3

learn!!!

astronomy crash course

space + nasa news

bbc space

nasa space place

best space documentaries

best space books + sci-fi

best science + tech podcasts

posts + fun stuff!!

how we’d live on mars infographic

my space tag on my main blog!! [actually my url means space in maltese B-)]

the nasa instagram which is my fav!!!

nasa shop

nasa website yo!!!

spatial tunes

fav space app!!!!

25 best space movies

spatial studyspo here

my masterposts

notes, studying, and self-study resources

self-study resources

supplies

igcse resources

improving your handwriting

how to studyblr

literature masterpost

organisation

aesthetically pleasing notes

annotating

studying a foreign language

really great apps

math

college + uni

motivation

biology

+ more

hope this helps!!! feel free to come talk to me about space anytime <3

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Where to save up to $1600.00 in college supplies.

After the Stafford loan interest rate hike I researched further into ways to save for school and found some pages that would cover most of your basic college needs past textbooks. If you find cheaper things let me know and I’ll show those off too. If you need help researching a specific item feel free to lmk, I’m willing to help you out in my spare time. 

Textbooks

Scientific Calculators

Tablets and Computers

Headphones from $9.99

Notebooks and Writing Pads

Pack of Highlighters from a dollar

Towel Sets, Mattress pads, and Desk chairs

Dining Essentials for a Dorm or small Apartment

Backpacks and laptop carriers

Cell Phone Accessories

External Hard Drives

Printers and Ink

Mini-Fridge

Best of luck!

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adapted from this response

1. Write your notes in a way where you can test your retention and understanding. 

Many people write notes that do a great job summarizing their materials but their notes are not designed to promote learning, retention or diagnosis of their weaknesses. But my notes can – and so can yours. Simply put my notes can be used like flashcards because I write them in a form where I separate a “stimulus” from a “response.”  The stimulus are cues or questions (think: front side of flashcard), while the response is the answer to the cue (think: back of flashcard).  But the stimuli are to the left of a margin, while the responses are to the right. The key advantage of this is that just by putting a sheet of paper on top of your notes, you can hide the responses, while leaving the stimuli visible. You can have multiple margins and multiple levels of stimuli and response for greater information density. When you get good at this you can write notes in this form in real-time. To get some idea of what I’m talking about google for “Cornell Notetaking method”. My notetaking method is a variant of this. I usually use completely blank paper to do this because regular lined paper has too small a margin. To give you an idea of how powerful this notetaking method can be, I learned several courses just hours before the exam and still got an “A” in all of them during a difficult semester where I had too many competing priorities to spend long hours studying. Had it not been for this notetaking method I don’t think that would be possible. 2. Develop the ability to become an active reader (this is the perhaps the most important advice I have to share). 

Don’t just passively read material you are given. But pose questions, develop hypotheses and actively test them as you read through the material. I think the hypotheses are part of what another poster referred to when he advised that you should develop a “mental model” of whatever concept they are teaching you.  But a mental model can be much more than simple hypotheses. Sometimes the model resembles a story. Other times it looks more like a diagram. But what they all have in common is that the explain what is going on. Having a mental model will give you the intuition and ability to answer a wider range of questions than would be otherwise possible if you lacked such a mental model. Where do you get this model? You creatively develop one as you are reading to try to explain the facts as they are presented to you.  It’s like guessing how the plot of a movie, before it unfolds. Sometimes you have to guess the model based on scarce evidence. Sometimes it is handed to you. If your model is a good one it should at least be able to explain what you are reading. Having a model also allows you to make predictions which can then be used to identify if your model is wrong.  This allows you to be hypersensitive to disconfirming evidence that can quickly identify if your model is wrong. Oftentimes you may have two or more models that can explain the evidence, so your task will be to quickly formulate questions that can prove one model while disconfirming the others. To save yourself time, I suggest focusing on raising questions that could confirm/disprove the mostly likely model while disproving the others  (think: differential diagnoses in medicine). But once you have such a model that (i) explains the evidence and (ii) passes all the disconfirming tests you can throw at it then you have something you can interpolate and extrapolate from to answer far more than was initially explained to you. Such models also make retention easier because you only need to remember the model as opposed to the endless array of facts it explains.  But perhaps more importantly, such models give you intuition. Of course, your model could be wrong, but that is why you actively test it as you are reading, and adjust as necessary. Think of this process as the scientific method being applied by you, to try to discover the truth as best you can. Sometimes you will still be left with contradictions that even your best models cannot explain. I often found speaking to the professor after class to be a time efficient of resolving these contradictions. I discovered mental modelling as a survival mechanism to pass my studies at the University of Waterloo – where their teaching philosophy is misnomer because their teaching philosophy is to not teach as well as they could. You can see this from their grading philosophy. Although they don’t use a bell curve or other statistical grade adjustment, they make their exams so hard that the class average is usually between 68 (C+) and 72 (B-) in spite of the fact that their minimum admission grades are among the highest in Canada (you need more than A+ to get into several of their engineering programs). The only way they can achieve such low test averages from otherwise high performing students is by holding back some of what they know, and then testing what they didn’t explain well in lecture on their exams; or by not teaching to the best of their ability.   This forces students to develop the ability to teach themselves, often from materials that do not explain things well, or lack the introductory background knowledge needed to understand the material. I realized I could defend against such tactics by reverse engineering the results into theories that would produce those same results; i.e. mental model induced from scarce facts.     Then when I got to MIT I found myself in a place with the opposite teaching philosophy. Unlike Waterloo, if the whole class got an “A” the MIT professors would be happy and proud (whereas at Waterloo an “A” class average would be the cause for a professor’s reprimand). The mental modelling skills I developed at Waterloo definitely came in handy at graduate school because they enabled me to learn rapidly with scarce information. 3. Be of service to your fellow classmates.

I’ve personally observed and heard anecdotal stories that many students in highly competitive programs are reluctant to share what they know with their peers; a good example being the vast number of students in a top ranked science programs competing for the very few coveted spots in med school. I’ve seen people in such situations be afraid to share what they know because the fear it could lead to the other students “getting ahead” while leaving them behind. I would actually recommend doing the opposite: share liberally. You can’t expect help from others if you are unwilling to help others yourself. I spent hours tutoring people in subjects I was strong in. But, conversely those same people were usually happy to help me with my weaknesses when I needed it. I also found it easier to get good teammates – which is essential to getting good grades in team-based classes. I found I learned a LOT from other people. And their questions helped me to prepare for questions I may not have thought of – some of which would appear on the exams. 4. Understand how the professor grades. 

Like the real world, the academic world is not always fair. You need to understand who is grading you and what they are looking for. Oddly, if you actually answer questions as written, you won’t get full marks from some teachers. Some professors expected more than the answer. Some only accepted the answers taught in class as opposed to other factually correct answers – which coincidentally can easily happen if you rely heavily on mental models. Some expected you to not even evaluate whether the answers to their multiple choice answers were true or not; only to notice which answer choices aligned or did not align with the theories taught in class.  Some highly value participation in which case you ought to have a mental model of what they are teaching based on their assigned readings. The sooner you know who you are dealing with, the sooner you can adjust to their way of grading. Thankfully I considered the vast majority of my professors to have graded in a fair manner. 5. Get involved in research while still in undergrad.

Academics is a means to an end. To me that end was “solving problems” and “building stuff” specifically systems and organizations.  Depending on the school you apply for, your research may be just as important, if not more important, than your grades. In fact if all you have are good grades your chances of getting into a top ranked CS program with a research component (e.g. MIT, CMU) are slim to nil; though you might still be able to get into a top-ranked courseware-based Masters (such as Stanford where there is no masters thesis). I did an Artificial Intelligence research project in undergrad and posted it on the internet. Not long after it was cited in three patents from IBM, AOL and another inventor. Then 40 other people cited my work. I feel this helped me get into MIT because they saw that I could come up with theories with practical applications. It also led to internships with top research teams whose work I am still in awe of. This research also helped my graduate application. None of this would have been possible if I didn’t do research in undergrad. 6. Attend classes.

I do not understand the students who claim they did well without attending class. Many professors will only say certain things in class. Many classes only present some of the material in class. If you don’t attend class you simply won’t get that material. You also won’t be able to ask immediate follow-up questions. I also found speaking to the professor after class was an efficient way to resolve contradictions I had found with my mental model. 7. Time management is key – especially in undergrad. 

In my competitive undergrad program I once learned that a friend who achieved top 5% status actually timed how long he ate. While I do not suggest going to such extremes I offer this modest advice. I suggest spending no more than 30 minutes trying to solve a problem you can’t solve by yourself before appealing to office hours or another knowledgeable student. I also suggest you ask questions of your professor during or after class as opposed to leaving the class confused. This reduces wasted time in an environment when time is a very precious commodity. 8. Going out and having fun is conducive to good grades. 

In my early undergrad years I studied as hard as I could. And I thought this meant putting in as many studying hours as possible. But I later realized that going out and having fun refreshed the mind and increased grades. Unfortunately it took at least 2 years for me to understand this lesson. 9. Learn how to do advanced Google searches.

This is an essential skill that enables you to answer your own questions, quickly. At a minimum I suggest you learn how to use the following Google search operators  ~, -,*, AND,OR, and numeric ranges via the double dot (“..”) operator.  The “site:” operator is also often helpful. I also found adding the word “tutorial” to a Google search often yields great introductory materials. 

10. Turn weaknesses into strengths.

While studying for standardized exams I learned the importance of addressing one’s weaknesses as opposed to ignoring them.  If you make a mistake on a question, it is because of a weakness within you. If you do not address that weakness it will follow you to the exam. I learned this lesson when studying for standardized exams. I was able to legally buy 30 old exams and thought the best approach to studying for the exam was to do as many old problems as possible. But as I completed each exam I kept getting the same score  (+/- 5%) over and over. I had plateaued! But then I made a tiny tweak and my scores kept going up. Specifically, after each old exam, I would identify my weaknesses that led to each wrong answer, prioritize the weaknesses according to the degree to which they affected my score, and would address them in that order.  When I did that, my scores increased steadily all the way to the highest possible percentile (99%). I later realized that such standardized tests are designed to provide consistent scores (if the student does not study in between the subsequent exams to address their weaknesses). In fact that is one of the statistical measures used to measure the quality  of a standardized exam and it’s called “Reliability”  (Google for “psychometric reliability” to see what I’m talking about).

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We actually have around 20 senses (depending on how you count) but this infographic outlines the 5 main ones; hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, and touch. More like this on To Be A Genius.

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part six of my scanned chem notes, rest are here - let me know if you want me to scan more of my other notes

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TRIG REVIEW #2: IDENTITIES, EQUATIONS, & POLAR GRAPHS

So this trig review is going to be about trig identities, how to solve trig equations & oblique triangle problems, and last but not least, polar graphs.

Trig Identities: You have to know these identities (except half-angle and sum/difference). Also the bottom two are necessary for solving trig integrals, so memorize those!

Trig Equations: Here are various example problems showing how to solve trig equations.

Oblique Triangle Equations: You only have to know the equilateral equation for area of cross sections in Calc BC. The rest is just extra info. that is nonetheless helpful to know. (:

Polar Coordinate:

Polar Graphs: Memorize these trig graphs for finding polar area! (All graphs come from Wolfram Alpha)

And that’s basically all the trig you need to know for Calc BC. Good luck! If you haven’t seen my part 1 post, you can find it here.

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idk just with school starting soon i thought it would be a good idea 

For Studying

formulas & equations fill-in sheet

organic chemistry resources

essay checklist

exam checklist

template for summarizing academic articles

language practicing pack

writing/planning essay pack

correction sheets

assessment schedule

pomodoro technique

primary source analysis

 exam study pack

overcoming the curve of forgetting

key people/character tracker

review pack

study schedule

vocabulary

For Sticky Notes

blank template

to-do strips

to-do strips, stickers, sticky note outline

different sticky note templates (water tracker, to-do, etc.)

For Note-Taking

blank dot grid pages

semi-cornell note taking outlines

novel note-taking

line/dotted note templates

several note outlines

unicorn notes!!

grey, pink, blue, yellow, & black grid paper

Planners

undated planner (365 days calendar, month calendar, & week  calendar)

undated academic calendars (May 2016-May 2017)

weekly goals

timetable schedule

daily to-do list

4 to-do list variations (one of my faves!!)

daily planner (fave!)

weekly dotted planner

dotted monthly planner

b&w serious weekly planner

daily planner v.1 v.2 (fave!)

weekly planner

to-do list (hackers/x-files/spy?? theme)

essay planner

full year planner inserts

monthly overview

habit/goal trackers

weekly planner

simple daily planner

long-term goals

daily grid planner

project planner

100 days of productivity & to-do list

steven universe planning kit

plain planner bundle

summer calendars 

blog planning kit

ultimate blog planner kit

habit tracker

20 to-do lists!

pastel daily printable

summer goals

august calendars

goal printables pack

Expenses

monthly budget

monthly in/out expenses and spendings (really useful tbh)

school supply list

finance tracker

Etc. 

reading list

song list/music log

productivity log

folder inserts

font references!!! (also a fave)

insp. posters 2

self-care 

water tracker

study break activity book

inspiring wallpapers!!

really good kit containing a planner, quote sheet, book tracker, & more!

class information 

Other Masterposts for Printables!

studiyng’s

studie-s’s

studywithnerdyglasses’s

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