When Someone Eats The Last Oreo!!! 😱😭😓

Introducing Language Printables

My boyfriend and I are trying to save up so we can rent a new place and get married, so we have been working hard on a new project: Japanese Learning Printables, which we’re selling on Etsy. He’s a professional graphic designer and I have been teaching languages since 2003, so we decided to put our professional skills together and design some products that we hope Japanese learners will find useful. Here’s a brief overview of what we’ve made so far: Language Study Printables Pack 1

This bundle contains eight different printables in PDF format, both in A4 and letter size. Colour and black and white versions are included.

There are New Kanji blank sheets for you to practice kanji, with spaces for mnemonics, stroke order, on’yomi and kun’yomi, example sentences and more. Language Exchange sheets allow you to document new vocabulary and phrases, as well as cultural points as you participate in language exchange, meaning you get more out of your experience and can review afterwards. There’s also space for feedback for your partner and goal tracking. 

To increase productivity you can track your reading and study hours with these Reading Log and Study Log pages.

To keep track of new words or compounds you can use our New Vocabulary sheet, with space for readings, example sentences, so you can lean in context, and review tracking included. Learning in real-life context is particularly difficult for self-studiers, so with this in mind we designed  this Grocery List printable, which you prepare at home, as you would a normal list, then take shopping so that you can use Japanese in context, even if you’re in a non-Japanese environment.  Also included in the Language Study Printables Pack 1 are Anime Log and Drama Log trackers, where you can note down examples of words in context you encounter when watching Japanese TV, track where and when you heard them and monitor your reviews.

Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced Journal Prompt Printables There are three different levels available individually, or you can buy the bundle and get all three at a discount.  Again the printables come in PDF format, including both A4 and letter size versions. Designed with self-studiers in mind, these packs cover basic to advanced Japanese, including topics on your interests, memories, goals, as well as your opinions on a variety of current events, cultural points and social issues. Each pack contains 31 unique language prompts, one for every day of the month.

Beginners Journal Prompts should be good for self-studiers who are at around JLPT N5/N4 level, or who are working through Genki I and II. Topics include writing about your environment and interests, whilst giving you opportunities to use beginner level grammar and vocabulary. An English translation cheat sheet is included to help you if you get lost. 

Intermediate Journal Prompts would best suit those at about JLPT N3/N2, or working through a textbook like Tobira.  Topics include writing for different purposes, talking about culture, re-telling anecdotes and expressing your opinions. An English translation cheat sheet is included to help you if you get lost.

Advanced Journal Prompts are designed for those at N2/N1 JLPT level, or beyond. They are written by a native Japanese speaker and are designed to help you create independent texts on engaging and relevant topics, whilst using advanced language skills such as persuasion, criticism, and expressing nuanced opinions that often appears at this level.

We really hope that you will take a look at LanguagePrintables on Etsy and favourite our store. We put a lot of thought into making these as useful as possible, and so we would very much appreciate your support through buying or simply reblogging this post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this post, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. If you have a request for a language learning printable you’d like to see on our store in the future, then please let us know!

So, I’ve decided to make a Project Planner Printable! (Available in A4 and Letter-size!)

This is kind of just a helpful sheet to get all of your project’s most important information all in one place! It’s useful to refer to for quick questions and, with the different sections, it can help keep track of things that you may need to include in your process book (such as how many phases were in the project according to the schedule, what was due for those phases, and your briefs).

I’ve also put some color to it, but there is also a blank version available for you to decorate yourself!

Google Drive folder for the files

Please reblog if you use them and let me know what you think!

Mentioned or tag me if you take a photo with it written on or used in any studyspo pictures! I will gladly reblog if I see you using my printable, of course.

If you’d like any changes to the printable, send an ask!

Hope you find this useful!

Useful Websites for Students

I put together a post containing Awesome Sites and Links for Writers, which is also pretty useful for school work too. Some of these sites I’ve discovered on my own in pursuit of knowledge and other times by friends. Many of them I wish that I knew about back when I was school. Most of the websites listed below are geared towards college students, but a few are aimed at high school students and primary students. So there is a bit of everything for everyone.

Homework Help & Studying

Cheatography – A site that collects cheat sheets that condense information on all kinds of topics, which can be helpful for building study guides.

Study Hacks Blog – Is a college blog that contains a lot of study advice and studying strategies that actually work.

Quizlet – Provides free tools for students, teachers, and learners of all ages to make flashcards to help them study any subject. For many topics, someone has already created a list of flashcards that you can flip through. Generally they might not be exactly what you need, but they will be close enough. You can even print them off.

StudyBlue – Is an online studying platform for high school and college students. The website allows users to upload class study materials, create electronic flashcards to study and share with others, and practice quizzes. StudyBlue allows students to store their notes in the cloud and connect with other students studying the same subjects.

Koofers – This all-in-one website not only helps college students study by providing access to flash cards and practice exams. It also gives you information on professor ratings, helps you generate the ideal class schedule, and posts job/internship openings.

Shmoop – Connects 13 million students and teachers with study guides, practice tests, an essay lab, informational videos, and career advice.

Mathway – Is a free math problem solver from basic algebra to complex calculus with step-by-step explanations.

S.O.S. Mathematics – Is a free resource for math review material from Algebra to Differential Equations. Get help with your homework, refresh your memory, prepare for a test, and so on.

Math.com – Contains explanations on almost all topics in mathematics from basic math to algebra, geometry and beyond. If you need review, more practice or deeper understanding of specific topics, this is the place to look. There are many useful tools such as calculators, study tips, etc. Even games that require some logical thinking.

Symbolab – Performs operations, solves equations, computes derivatives and integrals and more. It even come with a symbolic interface.

Number Empire – Is a collection of math calculators that can help you solve equations, compute derivatives and integrals, matrix arithmetic, statistics, and more.

MathPapa – Helps you learn algebra step-by-step. You can also plug non-algebraic equations into Mathpapa and use it as a calculator. It will show you the final answer and step-by-step instructions how the calculations work. There’s also a mobile app of it for Android and iOS devices.

Citation Machine – Helps students and professional researchers to properly credit the information that they use.

CK-12 Foundation – Is a California-based non-profit organization whose stated mission is to reduce the cost of, and increase access to, K-12 education in the United States and worldwide. They provide a library of free online textbooks, videos, exercises, flashcards, and real world applications for over 5000 concepts from arithmetic to science to history and so on.

Course Hero – Is a crowd-sourced online learning platform for students to access study resources like course materials, flashcards, educational videos and tutors. Its educator portal is a micro publishing platform for educators to distribute their educational resources. Course Hero collects and organizes study materials like practice exams, problem sets, syllabus, flashcards, class notes and study guides from users who upload. Users either buy a subscription or upload documents in order to receive membership and access website material.

HippoCampus – Is a free, core academic web site that delivers rich multimedia content: videos, animations, and simulations on general education subjects to middle-school and high-school students to help with their homework and studies.

Slader.com – Offers millions of step-by-step solutions to all the questions in the most popular textbooks in middle school, high school, and college. Math homework answers, Science homework answers, Spanish, History, Economics, and more.

Free Online Courses

University of Reddit – Is a community project that aims to focus on the teaching, learning, and sharing of knowledge and experience among its users. There are over 100 courses available: Art, Computer Science, Fun and Games, General Studies, Language, Mathematics and Statistics, Music, Philosophy, Science, Social Sciences, and Technology. Within each category are many, many sub-categories, that focus on particular areas of the genre.

edX – Is a massive open online course (MOOC) provider. It hosts online university-level courses in a wide range of disciplines to a worldwide student body, including some courses at no charge. It also conducts research into learning based on how people use its platform. Unlike other MOOC, edX is a nonprofit organization and runs on the Open edX open-source software.

Khan Academy – Is a non-profit educational organization with a goal of creating an accessible place for people to be educated. The organization produces short lectures in the form of YouTube videos. Its website also includes supplementary practice exercises and tools for educators.

MIT OpenCourseWare – Is a web-based publication that contains thousands of Massachusetts Institute of Technology course content. It is a free and ranges from the introductory to the most advanced graduate level. Each OCW course includes a syllabus, some instructional material (such as lecture notes or a reading list), and some learning activities (such as assignments or exams). Many courses also have complete video lectures, free online textbooks, and faculty teaching insights. While some OCW content is custom-created for online use, most of it comes straight from the MIT classroom.

Udacity – Is a for-profit educational organization that offers massive open online courses (MOOCs) for free and Nanodegree programs.

Saylor Academy – Is a nonprofit initiative working since 2008 to offer free and open online courses to all who want to learn. They offer nearly 100 full-length courses at the college and professional levels, each of which is available to access at your pace and on your schedule.

Alison – Is a website founded with a noble goal: to enable anyone to receive free education of high quality. All you need is a will to learn new things and they will provide you with all necessary tools.  

Lynda – Is an online education company offering thousands of video courses in software, technology, creative, and business skills. The ones in blue are available to watch for free, so you don’t need a membership for them. However, others in grey require a lynda.com library subscription for access. But there is a way to get it for free and that’s by checking if the courses are available online through your local library’s website. There is a growing number of libraries that are providing their members free access to Lynda.com courses.

Udemy – Is an online learning platform. It is aimed at professional adults who want to add new skills to their resumes, or explore their passions. Unlike academic MOOC programs driven by traditional collegiate coursework, Udemy provides a platform for experts of any kind to create courses which can be offered to the public, either at no charge or for a tuition fee.

Codecademy – Is an online interactive platform that offers free coding classes in 12 different programming languages including Python, Java, PHP, JavaScript (jQuery, AngularJS, React.js), Ruby, SQL, and Sass, as well as markup languages HTML and CSS

Math Planet – Offers courses in high school math such as Pre-algebra, Algebra 1, Algebra 2 and Geometry for free. They also have practice tests for the SAT and ACT.

AcademicEarth – Has a collection of free online college courses from the world’s top universities. They also make sure that there is something for everyone: whether you want to explore a new topic or advance in your current field, they bring it to you for free.

Harvard University - Harvard Open Learning Initiative – Offers a series of free or low-cost courses. In addition, you can also browse Harvard University’s Digital Learning Portal, which features online learning content from across the University, both free and fee-based options.

Open Culture – Has 1,200 free online courses from the world’s leading universities: Stanford, Yale, MIT, Harvard, Berkeley, Oxford and more. You can download these audio & video courses (often from iTunes, YouTube, or university web sites) straight to your computer or mp3 player.

Open2Study – Is an initiative of Open Universities Australia that brings you the best in online education with their four-week, introductory subjects. Open2Study provides free, specialized short courses, entirely online, across the world, in a range of subject areas. When you successfully complete your course you’ll get a free Certificate of Achievement, which you can use to demonstrate your interest in learning about a certain area.

Information & Research

Wolfram|Alpha: Computational Knowledge Engine – Introduces a fundamentally new way to get knowledge and answers; not by searching the web, but by doing dynamic computations based on a vast collection of built-in data, algorithms, and methods. In a way it’s basically a little bit of everything; a search engine, an encyclopedia, and a calculator that can answer nearly any questions you have.

Virtual Learning Resources Center (VLRC) – Is an online index hosting thousands of scholarly websites, all of which are selected by teachers and librarians from around the globe. The site provides students and teachers with current, valid information for school and university academic projects using an index gathered from research portals, universities and library internet subject guides recommended by teachers and librarians.

Stack Exchange – Is a network of question-and-answer website on topics in varied fields, each branch of the site covers a specific topic, where questions, answers, and users are subject to a reputation award process.

Microsoft Academic – Operated by the company that brings you Word, PowerPoint and Excel, it is a reliable, comprehensive research tool. The search engine pulls content from over 120 million publications, including scientific papers, conferences and journals. You can search directly by topic, or you can search by an extensive list of fields of study. For example, if you’re interested in computer science, you can filter through topics such as artificial intelligence, computer security, data science, programming languages and more.

Refseek – Is a web search engine for students and researchers that aims to make academic information easily accessible to everyone. RefSeek searches more than one billion documents, including web pages, books, encyclopedias, journals, and newspapers. It also has an option to search documents directly; providing easy access to PDFs of academic papers. 

WorldWideScience – Is operated by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, a branch of the Office of Science within the U.S. Department of Energy. The site utilizes databases from over 70 countries. When users type a query, it hits databases from all over the world and will display both English and translated results from related journals and academic resources.

Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) – Is a great tool for academic research with more than 1.3 million bibliographic records of articles and online materials. ERIC provides access to an extensive body of education-related literature including journal articles, books, research syntheses, conference papers, technical reports, policy papers and more.

iSEEK – Is a targeted search engine that compiles hundreds of thousands of authoritative resources from university, government, and established noncommercial providers. It provides time-saving intelligent search and a personal Web-based library to help you locate the most relevant results immediately and find them quickly later.

ResearchGate – Is a unique social networking site built by scientists, for scientists. Over 11 million researchers submit their work, which totals more than 100 million publications, on the site for anyone to access. You can search by publication, data and author, or you can even ask the researchers questions. Though it’s not a search engine that pulls from external sources, ResearchGate’s own collection of publications provides a hearty selection for any inquisitive scholar.

Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE) – Prides itself as being “one of the world’s most voluminous search engines especially for academic web resources.” Utilizing 4,000 sources, the site contains results from over 100 million documents. The advanced search option allows users to narrow their research, so whether you’re looking for a book, review, lecture, video or thesis, BASE can provide the specific format you need.

Infotopia – Describes itself as a “Google-alternative safe search engine”. The academic search engine pulls from results that have been curated by librarians, teachers and other educational workers. The search feature allows users to select a category, which ranges from art to health to science and technology, and then see a list of internal and external resources pertaining to the topic. So if you don’t find what you’re looking for within the pages of Infotopia, you will probably find it in one of its many suggested sites.

PubMed Central – Is operated by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, a division of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. The database contains more than 3 million full-text journal articles. It’s similar to PubMed Health, which is specifically for health-related research and studies, and includes citations and abstracts to more than 26 million articles.

Lexis Web – Is your go-to for any law-related inquiries you may have. The results are drawn from legal sites, which can be filtered by criteria such as news, blog, government and commercial. Users can also filter results by jurisdiction, practice area, source and file format. 

CollegeMajors101 – Wondering what you can do with a degree in biology or dance? College Majors 101 offers lots of information about what you can do with dozens of majors, as well as what you can expect academically if you pursue these majors.

College Insight – Is the brainchild of the Institute for College Access and Success. It gathers detailed information on thousands of colleges. You can find statistics for any school on such topics as college affordability, graduation rates, and college diversity, including the racial and ethnic breakdown of students and professors. 

Fastweb – Is an online resource in finding scholarships to help you pay for school. All you have to do is make a profile and you’ll have access to their database of more than 1.5 million scholarships.

Books & Shopping (Student Discounts & Deals)

Online Research Library: Questia – Is an online commercial digital library of books and articles that has an academic orientation, with a particular emphasis on books and journal articles in the humanities and social sciences. Questia’s library has over 5,000 public domain, classic and rare books that you can read online absolutely free.

The Book Pond – Is an independent online selling service for UK university students and graduates. They allow you to sell your old academic textbooks or buy the ones you need from other students who don’t need them anymore.

Chegg – Is an American online textbook rental company that specializes in online textbook rentals (both in physical and digital formats), homework help, online tutoring, scholarships and internship matching.

Open Book Project – Was made specifically for the academic community. Students and teachers can find free textbooks and other open-source education materials.

Bookboon – Is a source for free textbooks in PDF form that focus primarily on accounting, economics, engineering, IT, marketing, and management. The books are modest in size, most run from 50 to 100 pages.

Boundless – Offers openly licensed, high-quality, customizable digital courseware at a fraction of the cost of traditional textbooks.

Project Gutenberg – Offers more than 43,000 e-books, completely free. Comparative literature students taking only Jane Austen at Binghamton University, for example, can find every book on their syllabus via Project Gutenberg. Titles available on the site span categories such as archaeology, horticulture, microbiology and World War I. Copyrights are expired on all of the titles available for download via Project Gutenberg, so students studying history or classic literature may have more luck than those taking courses in other subjects.

Open Textbook Library – Contains textbooks that have been funded, published, and licensed to be freely used, adapted, and distributed. These books have been reviewed by faculty from a variety of colleges and universities to assess their quality. These books can be downloaded for no cost, or printed at low cost. All textbooks are either used at multiple higher education institutions; or affiliated with an institution, scholarly society, or professional organization.

Internet Sacred Text Archive – Is a freely available archive of electronic texts about religion, mythology, legends and folklore, and occult and esoteric topics. Texts are presented in English translation and, where possible, in the original language.

StudentRate – A site that allows college students to take full advantage of their school ID to get student deals and discounts on clothes, travel, textbooks, electronics, and lots of other things.

UNiDAYS – Is totally free to join, and used by over 4.3 million students every day. Signing up provides discounts on fashion, technology, music, stationary, food and more. It’s super useful when online shopping, and useful offline too.

Save the Student – Calls itself the number one student money website in the UK. It gives budgeting advice on how to make money and how to save money. Gives you checklists when looking for a student house, how to pay bills, what to take to university.

Student Hut – Is an online resource that helps prospective students find highly rated university courses, student offers & freebies, jobs and guides.

Student Beans – Is a popular UK hub where students could find useful stuff like offers and discounts on everything from travel, to fashion, to health and beauty and gadgets. And what students can get for free, from Uber vouchers to free drinks and trips to America. It has a dedicated jobs section, advertising part time jobs, internships and grad schemes.

Groupon – In college, every dollar counts so it helps to have Groupon when you can’t find any Student discounts and deals going on. When you and your friends are looking to try out a new restaurant, or if you’re looking for some alternative Friday night plans, make sure you check this first. It offers deals on everything from dining out to shopping products based on your location.

Amazon Student – With a student email (an valid .edu e-mail address), you get six months of Amazon Prime for free! Which means free two-day shipping, cheap textbook rentals, and discounts on anything from electronics to clothing. You’ll also earn $5 for each friend you refer, and they’ll get $5 credit as well. When the free trial ends, students will have to pay a fee of $49 per year, which is 50% off the cost of Prime membership. The student fee includes extra perks such as unlimited instant streaming of movies, TV shows and music. If you don’t want that, just make sure to cancel before your free trial ends.

CollegeBudget – Is like Groupon for college students. There’s all sorts of discounts on clothing, electronics, activities, and more. 

Apps & Tools

Sleepyti.me – Uses the sciences of REM cycles to calculate the optimal time you should go to bed in order to feel well-rested, especially when you have to be up at a certain hour.

Alarmy – This app ensures that you get up in the morning for work or school by being very annoying. You set it up by registering a photo of an area or room in your house. Then once the alarm is set, the ONLY way to make it stop ringing is to get out of bed and go take a photo of the registered area. There are other options as well, such as doing a math problem in order to turn the alarm off or shaking it for a certain amount. It’s available on Android and iOS.

Ginger Software – Contains a free online spelling and grammar checker that will correct any mistakes you make. They also creates apps and products that help people communicate more productively and efficiently on their mobile devices and desktop computers.

Plagtracker – Is a plagiarism checker that scans content to determine if any part of your essay has been plagiarized. Teachers aren’t the only ones that use this, students, website owners, and anyone else interested in protecting their writing do.

Hemingway Editor – Is a proofreading tool that helps you to see and fix potential problem areas in your writing. It color codes each potential error type, so you can address them one at a time. It’s a standalone program that costs $20 US, and you can download it to a PC or a Mac computer. But there is also a free online version of it that you can try.

Student Loan Calculator – Was made by the College Board to make it easier for college students to stay on top for their student loan payments.

Desmos – Is a free online grapher and scientific calculator. 

Mint – Is a free money manager and financial tracker app from the makers of TurboTax that does it all. It’s available on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch as well as on Android.

My Study Life – Is a free app that lets you coordinate your calendar and to-do list. It is designed especially for schools, a planner that can be customized for rotating schedules and long-term assignments. You can even set up reminders about your homework due dates. The app is available on iPhone, Android, Windows 8, Windows Phone and the web. 

Habitica – Is a free self-improvement web application with game mechanics overlaid to help the player keep track of and remain motivated to achieve their goals. They do so by turning all your tasks (habits, dailies, study time and to-dos) into little monsters you have to conquer. The better you are at this, the more you progress in the game. If you slip up in life, your character starts backsliding in the game. It’s also available on Android and iOS operating systems.

Todoist – Is a free app that keeps track of all your tasks, projects, and goals in one place. Its clean look keeps you focused, and the app allows you to organize tasks into categories like household chores, reading lists, and long-term projects. You can access Todoist from any device, so you’ll always have it with you.

Dropbox – Is a file hosting service that you can access your work from any computer or device. You can also share documents with friends or group members which their edits will show up instantly for convenient group work. Basic account is free with 2 GB of space, but you can earn more space on your Basic account by referrals and enabling camera upload on mobile. Each referral that signs up for Dropbox will give you an extra 500 MB, and switching on automatic photo upload expands storage by three GB. The maximum free Dropbox storage can amount to 16 GB, so 28 referrals on top of your starting storage will get you there. Also, Dropbox is compatible with more platforms than Google Drive which is good if you need your cloud storage to across a range of devices.

Google Drive – However, Google Drive provides you with 15 GB of free online storage from the start, so you can keep photos, stories, designs, drawings, recordings, videos and whatever else in one place as well. Google Drive’s web client has more features, greater file type support and a better search tool than Dropbox. Unfortunately, Google Drive isn’t available for Linux and there isn’t an updated version of it for Chrome, Firefox, IE and Safari browsers.

Mircosoft OneDrive – Is another cloud storage service that you can access your files and photos from anywhere and on any device. As well as share and work together with anyone in your life. They use to offer 15 GB of free storage, but they’ve recently changed it to 5 GB. They also cut the previous bonus 15 GB of storage when you activate your camera roll backup.

Miscellaneous

UCampus – Makes it easier for you to find the information and resources you need as a college student. It also provides you with opportunities on your campus and in your city that you may otherwise miss.

Talktyper – Provides Speech Recognition for free. It makes voice dictation freely available to anyone with a computer.

My Money Steps – Is a free online debt advice service from National Debtline. They will tell you what options you can choose from to deal with your debts and give you a personal action plan to help you manage your money.

StudentRecipes – This site offers over 5000 quick and easy recipes for students by students. As a student you often don’t have the time or money, but with this site you can find plenty of recipes that are quick and easy to cook but more importantly cheap.

theSkimm – Is a free daily email newsletter that focuses on delivering a summarize version of all the top news stories for you with a bit of sassy humor. They also have an app called SkimmAhead that will sync important events, like the return of your favorite Netflix show or a presidential speech, with your iPhone calendar (and soon Androids as well).

UnplugtheTV – Is a website meant to replace mind-numbing television. Instead of wasting your life watching TV, you’ll be watching something much more mind-opening and educational. The site has hundreds of educational videos to help you learn or gain a new perspective. If you’re expecting to see cats being cute and double rainbows you’re going to be disappointed.

HackCollege – Is a lifehacking website on a mission to teach students to work more effectively. In addition to offering practical advice and tips, the site also provides information on quality open source software.

Hollar - Is not a dollar store in the sense that everything costs a $1; instead, almost everything is priced between $2 and $5. Free standard shipping is included for orders of at least $25. A lot of the items they have you’ll be saving 50-90% here than elsewhere on the web. So can find a little bit of everything from toys, apparel, electronics, beauty, accessories, party supplies, home essentials, and so much more. There’s also an app version for Androids and iOS.

PrintWhatYouLike – Lets you print the good parts of any web page while skipping ads and other junk, which is a great way to make sure that your ink last longer.

A French Masterpost

My masterpost for those learning French. I’ll continue to update this as I find/remember more resources!

Reading

L'Internaute (news and features)

Huffington Post in French (poorly reported shock journalism but in French so)

Le Monde (news)

Comment Ça Marche (tech stuff)

L'Équipe (sports)

Wattpad (read amateur stories in French)

French books available for Kindle in the United States

A store that sells foreign-language books in the US

Être Meilleur (self-improvement)

1jour1actu (news)

Waiting for Godot

Courrier International (collects news stories from around the world and translates them into French)

Hygiène de L'Assassin

Watching

Some recommended French movies

Some more recommended French movies

TV5MONDE+ (News videos in French)

1jour1actu (lots of short, easy-to-understand videos)

Some movies and TV shows to stream, mostly dubbed

Listening

France Bienvenue (listen to native speakers during an interview and read the transcript)

France Inter (A bit like NPR in France)

Radio Stations in French

RFI (More French radio. Click “Apprendre le français” in the top left corner to listen to a short top-stories broadcast while reading the script)

Pronunciation

Forvo (search for any word and hear a native speaker say it.)

Introduction to French Phonology  (I cannot stress enough how much this program will help you if you’re a native English speaker and having trouble pronouncing in French. It’s not exactly super stimulating but HUGELY beneficial.)

Grammar

french.about.com

Some grammar exercises from Columbia

French Test by Kwiziq

Podcasts

All available on iTunes:

Coffee Break French

Native French Speech

RFI - Journal en français façile

News in Slow French

Vocabulary

Memrise

Linguee (SO HELPFUL. Put in the short phrase you’re trying to say in English and see how professionals have translated it.)

Misc

A bunch of quotes about travel in French

OpenCulture (TONS of great resources for language learning)

🙂

I don’t need to explain this post, do I?

Just a lil side note: i almost failed maths in grade 5-8. Now, I’m doing 2 Maths subjects (straight A+’s) and ranked the third highest in my class for the harder maths subject (out of 20 students). You can do anything if you set your mind to it. Be persistent. Happy studying! :)

1. Keep up do date with the class

Even if the teacher doesn’t set homework, there is always an expectation that whatever excercise isn’t finished in class, you do at home! My maths class moves very fast (we do about 3 concepts/excercises each class) and so its crucial that the first thing I do when I get home, is finish off my maths questions! This is particularly important in the learning process, because if you understand it when you learn it, you will be far ahead of anyone else in an upcoming test- all you will need to do is revise!

This means:

- don’t sit next to anyone distracting

- work efficiently in class

- the time that your waste in class, is the time you will have to spend at home

2.  Do ALL the practice questions in your textbook

In my harder maths class, there are about 20 questions per excercise/concept (100+ per chapter) and so we might only get told to do about half of that. But, I strongly reccommend doing all of the questions! It is great practice and really consolidates your learning! 

ALSO, as the questions go on, they tend to get harder. DON’T GIVE UP IF THEY’RE TOO HARD. Ask the teacher’s help, persevere, or look for a video on YouTube. These are the questions that will most likely be in your tests/exams.

If you can do the hardest question, you can most likely do all the questions!

If you get a question wrong, do AT LEAST 5 more of the same style, make sure you know it well!

3. Practice is everything

You cant really study for maths the same way that you might study for science. There is nothing to memorise (apart from formulas, but the best way to remember them is to practice). Studying for maths IS doing practice questions. That’s all there is to it.   

 - listen to some tunes (music with lyrics is fine for maths!)   

 - put on a movie ( just try to not get too distracted)    

- find a comfy space   

 - just start studying.

4. How to study for maths when you’re sick of it all

Humans are creatures of habit. We like routines and we stick to them. BUT, studying maths can become tedious if you are constantly doing the same thing every time.

CHANGE IT UP Y'ALL:

    - ditch the notebook and pencil. Buy some non-permanent glass markers and do some maths on your windows or mirrors! I do this ALL THE TIME! It’s actually really fun and it makes me feel like Russell Crowe from ‘A Beautiful Mind’ (haha). Alternatively, you could also use a whiteboard if you have one!   

    - study in the library or another part of your house! 

    - buy some different stationery (this is always so fun)

5. For an upcoming test…

do all the chapter review questions in your textbook. These tend to be a compilation of all the most important questions you will need to know. Take your time, don’t give up.

Seek external resources for questions. I own other revision books for maths that isn’t part of my school’s recommended material. These really help when you need more questions to test yourself on.

Do practice papers. THESE ARE CRUCIAL. Most of the time, the material that they test you on will be from past papers, the questions are the same, but they change the numbers!

Take a deep breath. Drink some water. Focus. Time management is the issue for most people (including me :)), so when you feel like a question is too challenging, move on, come back to it when you finish with a fresh mind!

Hey guys! Since a lot of you are preparing to go to college or university over the summer, I thought I’d create a masterpost by gathering all the best resources I could find.

What to Bring & Dorm Room Advice:

Ultimate Packing List

What to Take to University 2018

Cheap & Easy Ways to Have the Best Dorm Room Ever

Make Your Dorm Room Feel Like Home

Moving Tips That Will Make Your Life So Much Easier

Getting Along with Your College Roommate

Fresher / Freshman Tips:

What You Need To Know Your First Month Of College

Preparing for Your First Year of College

Ultimate University Masterpost

How to Drink Safely

Cooking

22 Dorm-Friendly Recipes

Delicious and Cheap Snacks You Can Make in Your Dorm

11 Things We Wish We Had Known About Cooking in College

31 Foods You Should Learn To Make In College

How to Cook in College When You Actually Have a Kitchen

The 4 Best Cooking Blogs To Help You Survive College

Study Tips

How to Pull an All-Nighter Effectively and Still Do Well on Your Exam

How to Stop Procrastinating

Guide for University Learning

How to Get Motivated to Study

Limit Distractions

How to Make a Study Guide

Finances

Scholarship Database (US)

Scholarship Database (UK)

Student Discounts (UK)

More Student Discounts (UK)

25 Tips to Save Money at College

Tips to Lower the Cost of Food Shopping

Misc

Free Books

Free Textbooks

Hope you found this helpful, good luck if you’re starting this Autumn!

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You got out of bed today.

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You resisted temptation in any form.

You found a reason to smile.

Little victories are worth celebrating!!

How many types plot structures are there and how are they used?

Hiya! Thanks for your question! Plot structures are important for creating a good story.

There’s an infinite amount of plot structures depending on the story you’re telling. Some types are better than others within certain genres. Here are the most common plot structures, and how they’re used:

The Four Main Plot Structures:

Freytag’s Pyramid:

Also known as dramatic structure, this is the most simplistic of plot structures, and probably the one you were taught in elementary school. In this type of story structure, the climax falls in the middle, and the latter half of the story consists of falling action and the resolution. This was developed to analyze Greek and Shakespearian plays that use a five-act structure.

Why it’s good: It allows authors to explore the consequences of one’s actions. It’s also good for story analysis.

Why it’s bad: Long resolutions get boring fast. Modern novels don’t use this because no one wants to read a story where the villain is defeated in the middle.

When to use it: Children’s books and short stories

It’s good to use in children’s books because the goal of most children’s books is to teach kids a lesson. Using Freytag’s Pyramid gives writers the chance to teach kids the consequences of doing something wrong (lying, bullying, etc.). It works in short stories because the limited length prevents the denouement from being too long and boring the reader.

Examples: Any of Shakespeare’s plays

The Fichtean Curve:

This is what most modern novels use, no matter the genre. The Fichtean Curve features a varying number of crises (or mini-climaxes) within the rising action to build up to climax about two-thirds of the way through the story. The falling action is short and used to wrap up loose ends or establish a new way of life for the characters.

Why it’s good: Putting crises throughout the story will keep readers hooked until the end. It also helps to keep good pacing. Despite being frequently used, this structure is loose enough that anyone can use it and make it unique for their own story.

Why it’s bad: Too much action can be overwhelming. This structure also doesn’t work well with certain story types such as Voyage and Return, Rebirth, or Comedy.

When to use it: Action-packed stories, Overcoming the Monster plots, or Quest plots

Examples: Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, World War Z by Max Brooks, or Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

The Hero’s Journey:

Another common plot structure that is seen in modern novels (especially western literature), and can be combined with the Fichtean Curve. Often, modern novels are a combination of the two. What makes the Hero’s Journey unique is that the protagonist must go through a literal or figurative death that completely transforms them. The death is usually, but not always, the climax of the story. Another key difference in The Hero’s Journey is that the protagonist must atone for their past rather than overcome it or move on without going back.

Why it’s good: Allows for great character development in character-strong stories.

Why it’s bad: Nearly every western novel, film, or TV show (successful and unsuccessful) uses this plot structure. It’s a little overdone, but if you can put a good personal twist on it, it can work out just fine.

When to use it: First-person stories, stories with small casts, Voyage and Return plots, or Rebirth plots

Examples: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, or Divergent by Veronica Roth

In Media Res

Latin for “in the middle of things”, In Media Res is a unique plot structure. Rather than start with an exposition that builds up to the action, In Media Res starts right in the middle of the story. If you were to start your story at the second or third crisis point of the Fichtean Curve, you would get In Media Res.

Why It’s Good: Dropping people in the middle of the action will hook the right from the beginning.

Why It’s Bad: Starting with the action can be disorienting for readers. Make sure you fill in the backstory as the plot moves on.

When to Use It: Stories with small casts, Crime plots, or Mystery plots

Examples: Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, or The Iliad by Homer

There are plenty more plot structures, but these are the main four, and all others are based off these in some way. Keep in mind that most stories use a combination of these plot structures, so you don’t have to stick to just one.

Thanks again for your question! If you need help with anything else writing related, feel free to send in another ask. Happy writing!

- Mod Kellie

If you need advice on general writing or fanfiction, you should maybe ask us!

Hello friends!

Studying for long important exams like the DAT (me (’: ), the MCAT, or even the SAT/ACT requires a lot of time budgeting! Today I was scheduling DAT studying for the next 20 days, and I realized that a progress percentage chart would be really useful  for me because it would allow me to plan goals such as “finish a 1084-page review book” or “watch 46 chemistry videos from the video playlist” long-term! It’s hard to put long arduous tasks like these onto a daily or even weekly schedule - for me, they seem to work better when measured by %-finished.

I made this to use for myself this morning, and then realized that it might be useful for some of you out there, too! So I’ve uploaded it to google drive so you all can use it if it will be helpful in your studies. They come in blue, pink, yellow, and grayscale (for black-and-white printing): >>DOWNLOAD HERE<<

EDIT: I’ve gotten a suggestion from a very nice anon to make the background white so the printable does not use as much ink when printed in color! >>HERE<< is the link the white-background version on GDrive :)

To use this chart, I filled out specific goals on the left hand column and colored in the progress bar in the right in accordance with the percentage of the task or goal I had finished. I also marked dates next to the progress bar so I knew when I should have finished 50%, or 75%, or 100% of a task, etc. Here’s a pic of how I used it:

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