Study Rant - Blog Posts

When the teacher asks you if you have any questions and you have the urge to say "The whole syllabus"

Math Tips

(Pictures are not mine)

Well, let me tell you, we all have this love-hate relationship with this subject, right? The worst part is that when you don't know what the heck is going on, so, as a girl who studied maths (2 Volumes/textbooks) on her own during the year she was homeschooled, here are some tips and tricks that I did to get an A+ in my math finals!

Get your syllabus together

In the beginning I had no damn idea what was going on and it was just confusing. I had to do the first thing I did was taken my index/table of contents and mark the chapters which i knew very well and the ones I had no clue about. And then i arranged them with the marking scheme, like which one carries the most marks etc etc and study accordingly.

Complete lessons/chapters that you already know

When you finish off the things you already know then that's gonna give you the confidence you need even if you know only 1-2 chapters, learn it throughout and make sure that you'll get the answer no matter how twisted the sum is. If you're doubtful about the whole textbook like any normal person.... Start with the easy ones. (I know there are literally really no "easy" chapters, spare me)

Harder chapters need hard work

Most chapters like Trigonometry proofs, Geometry proofs, Algebra, Graphs, Mensuration and Calculus etc need more than minimum effort but here's a trick, what is the common thing in this? Yes, they're all formulae and theorem based which goes to my next point. These chapters are completely based on how much you've understood your basics.

Formulae and theorem cheatsheets

Make a list of all formulae and the theorem used in the book, write them chapter wise and no printouts or digital notes. Take a paper and write it down, no excuses. It helps you while you're practicing, revising and in the last minute review, it helped me damn much. Remember, maths is a sport. The basic formulae must come to you like reflexes.

YouTube is your best friend.

For every single chapter, go and watch the basics and how a sum is done step by step. A recommendation for this is Organic Chemistry Tutor who literally is one of the reasons i passed. He has videos from basic geometry, trigonometry, statistics to calculus. Search for your own YouTubers and be clear with concepts.

Math is fully memorization

Memorize formulae and theorems with the back of your hand, you should be able to recall them within seconds. Be thorough.

Memorize basic math values (if calculator isn't allowed)

Do this if you have a majority of chapters like Statistics, Mensuration, Profit/loss calculation etc, where large numbers are concerned. Memorize the first 10 square, cube, decimal and multiplication values. It may be dry but there are literally songs available for these things, I'm serious, i learnt the first 10 cube roots by listening to Senorita xD Search for rhymes and they'll definitely be many!!

Work it out!!!!!!

Can't stress this enough, atleast 30-40 mins is the minimum for maths. I'm serious, work out each sum, don't ever think it's a waste, you'll see the results. Practice makes perfect. Work out every single sum, from examples to exercise ones cause let's be honest, our examiners love to take problems from every nook and cranny of the book.

Whiteboard method

So, I made this up and it actually works, if you have a whiteboard or anything else, once you completed a chapter, take a random page and whatever sums you have on those two pages, you need to complete within a given time limit. It helps you to identify your weak points and where the hell you're losing both time and effort and not to mention that it gives you confidence boost up.

Hope this helps :))

Study Tip - 3

Something I've seen quite a lot nowadays is people studying with timers, like, I still don't understand it... I've asked many people and they're like "It helps us to finish the goal while managing time and we complete our revision sooner"

But the main thing is, they don't remember it for more than a few hours or days... for me the goal is to complete the task perfectly and not to complete it faster than anyone.

Because when you keep looking at the clock, you're worried more about the time than the work. You're more excited about getting a break after that specific time than the actual studying. That is why, when i study, I face towards an empty wall and I can easily work without worrying about the time.

Don't set a time limit for any work, you'll realise how much work you'll actually get done when you're not looking at the clock.

Of course, this doesn't have to work for you but I think that this could help you expand your average study time.

No harm trying it :)

Introduction :)

I know I'm doing this kinda late but it's fine, let's start. Generally I'm a very boring person so anyways xD

About myself:

Isabelle

She/Her

17

English Major

INFP-T

Hobbies:

Reading

Writing

Theatre

Art

Code

Interests:

Literature. Books. Poetry. Quotes. Languages. Miraculous. TV shows (only some). Classics. Jewelry (only black). Nature. Coffee. Photography. Journaling. Cats. Roses. Fan fiction.

Reason for this blog?

I needed motivation to study, and it looked like a good way to monitor my day-to-day progress, hence the name "study-diaries". No promises about being consistent T-T

What can you find here?

Study tips, study progress, techniques, ranting, mental health reminders, books, languages, quotes, motivation etc etc... In short, anything related to studying, languages, books and literature, mental health and self-care.

Note: Whatever pictures I use are not mine unless I specify that they are mine! Most of them are from Pinterest and credits go to their original owner.

Tips for understanding complex topics

I've struggled with this but I'm adapting, you know? So here are some of my tips I use for this :)

If you can't understand it at once, do not think that it is hard

Many times, the topic itself if simple but the way the textbook has described it is complex so go and search for related videos and Google about it until you've got a hint about what it is.

If it's complicated, divide the sentence.

When you find yourself getting completely lost in a topic while banging your head against the wall because it's so confusing.... separate each part of the sentence while you write each part as you say it out loud. It'll help you to atleast get a short idea about the subject.

Read! Read! Read!

Read it over and over again and underline the words you think are important, write them down, explain it to yourself, draw small diagrams around your notes, connect them through visual representation. The more you use different types of senses, the better you understand it.

Give yourself time.

Let yourself grasp what the whole topic is about, do not under any circumstances have a time limit for difficult topics. I took days just to understand how Javascript loops work and I'm still not fully clear about it but i can explain the general, very basic purpose of it.

Explain it to someone or yourself

The best way to learn is to teach, this actually does work. It helps you to put your understanding in words and clear any underlying questions. And lastly...

Handwritten notes!

I cannot stress this enough but things that you've written down generally stay in your memory for longer durations. I also prefer handwritten notes to digital ones cause personally it works better.

Hope this helps! :D

The one thing that school definitely did -> Mess up my sleep schedule.

A Reminder To Those Who Need It.

I got this question a lot and I'm absolutely tired of hearing it...

"What are you doing in college?", "What are your plans after senior year?"

Like, I don't even know what I'm gonna do over the break or the next whole year, so, i thought maybe it's like this for everyone. People are expected to decide everything like it won't actually impact their life. Most of my class is damn sure about what they wanna do while me? I just wanna pass senior year with good grades and think about it slowly and with a clearer head.

For me, the main thing that matters is that i shouldn't regret taking something i don't like and I don't wanna rush the whole decision up. And i just got like such judgy eyes... ugh... Like, I don't know what i want... Why is that not okay nowadays? Why is taking time to figure it out not alright?

So, to everyone who's in a situation like me...

You don't have to have everything figured out, if you don't know what you're gonna do, that's completely fine. Take your time, it's not a race.

Honestly, it can be quite confusing and you may feel like you might be kinda lax about it but honestly, it's definitely okay :)

You're not obliged to rush your decisions just because another person has already made theirs.

Just wanted to say that... okay, bye.

Study Tip - 2

Writing practice and i don't mean time management. By writing practice, I mean, no matter how well you know your content, if you can't put it in words appropriately then you won't get your grades.

Now, it's hard to remember every single thing so here's a technique...

What? When? Who? Why? How? What's the use?

The basic information for any topic would be the answer to these questions. I'll take an example, suppose you have to write a short note on computer.

The points would be:

What is it? An electronic device.

When was it invented?  Between 1833 and 1871.

Who invented it? Charles Babbage

Why did they invent it? To perform calculations

How does it work? (Input-Process-Output)

What's the main use? Storing, receiving and processing data

The more questions you answer, the more points you get. This can be applied generally, if you take your textbook and observe how many points each topic has, many might answer to the above questions.

So when you're writing the exam and you don't know how to continue, just think about what questions you've missed and answer to them.

Note: Change questions according to the topic/ subject and do not change the main keywords.

Bonus: Write all the general questions related to each lesson at the starting of the lesson or your notes. So, while revising, you'll know your order.

25.03.24

Day 8/ Day 8

I know it was a 9 day thing but it was because I had to go to school tomorrow but now I don't need to cause I just dropped by picked up my things and certificates etc etc... so my break starts here!!

The exam was alright, kinda unexpected paper but it's done now!

So what am i gonna do for 2 whole months?

Finish a course that I've been ignoring for way too long

Read as much as I can

Post some study related content here

I'll be posting a weekly reading challenge later on, like cause I wanna actually see how i complete it xD

24.03.24

Day 7/ Day 9

Okay, only 1 more day until suffering kinda ends for like 2 months? Anyway, it was a productive day but I still have a ton of stuff to revise.

Completed:

Part IV of 17 lessons out of like 33 (T-T)

Revised MCQs

Need to revise:

Part IV of 16 more lessons

Gonna be a long night

Total hours of study: 6 hours and still counting (Updated: 8 hours)

23.03.24

Day 6/ Day 9

It was a really productive day to be honest, i completed:

Part I - III in about 29 lessons

Revised notes

Wrote some new notes

(An overall, we have 4 parts in each lesson and totally we have about 33 lessons T-T)

Total hours of study: 8 hours {I shocked myself too, I'm damn tired}

Discussion after an exam:-

Friend 1: You know, for the first four MCQs we got only C! Friend 2: I got D for everything.... Me: uh... I got an A,B,D,C *The three of us staring at each other realising we are in deep trouble* A classmate: I got A,B, A, B *Silence*

22.03.24

Day 5/ Day 9

Not a very productive day but I did:

Glance through the important questions and case studies

Revised MCQs

Total hours of studying: 1 hour 30 mins

21.03.24

Day 4/ Day 9

I completed my exam today and nothing else unless reading an extremely cringey e-book counts xD

So yeah... and my exam was meh... not too good, not too bad. I still have like one exam left and then I'm done with junior year!

20.03.24

Day 3/ Day 9... It's the night before my 2nd last exam, gosh, I want to get it done T-T

Despite my exam being tomorrow, I ended up reading an e-book for the majority of the time but nevertheless i revised quite a lot...

Things i completed today:

Finished almost the whole textbook

Revised MCQs

Watched an hour of lectures covering important topics

Need to complete:

Review the notes one last time today (✓)

Revising MCQs again (will complete early in the morning)

Revising 4 important lessons again (✓)

Review 8 important questions/topics (✓)

Total hours of study (still counting): 4 hours

Updated: Total hours of study- 6 hours

19.03.24

Today was a lazy day, I just slept and studied for only sometime... But Day 2 is done!

Day 2/Day 9

Today i completed:

Two lessons in accounts

Revised MCQs

Reviewed notes

Total hours of study: 2 hours

18.03.24

I'm gonna start a countdown till my last working day of junior year which is 26.03.24 so...

Day 1/Day 9

Over-all, a productive day, i studied for six hours (still counting) and completed:

Revised 7 lessons in Business Studies

Revised some important questions

Did some previous year questions in Accounts

Reviewed notes

Things I have to complete in Accounts:

Review more notes (✓)

Revise 3-4 lessons (✓)

Revise MCQs (do not have the energy T-T)

Updated:

Total hours of study: 7 hours 30 mins

16.03.24

Today was kinda productive to be honest, i finished:

Four lessons in accounts

Completed a previous year question paper

Reviewed notes

Exam Revision

So, I have about two more exams and then I'm done with junior year! So, here's an update on my revision

Goals for today:

Revise 1 lesson in accounts

Review notes

I'm keeping it short cause i literally just had a very lazy day and it's kinda late so, I'll probably just finish up smaller things. Better doing something than nothing, right?

Things I do instead of studying...

Scroll Tumblr

Watch study motivation

Read study motivation quotes

Think about studying

Worry about not studying

Lay in bed doing nothing

Daydream

Chat with friends

Have slight mental breakdowns because of studying

Wondering why i don't have time to study

I'm damn anxious about tomorrow's exam, like... i haven't even revised half the stuff...

Exam Prep At Night

My fourth exam is on Thursday so.... I can't take a rest T-T

(Don't mind the lighting, I'm sitting in the living room while everyone else is sleeping T-T)

I'm waiting for this exam to get done because then I'll be free for a week, not exactly free but I'll have time to breathe...

Tip: If you're bored and you're taking notes, just draw your notes. It enhances creativity and helps you remember better!

I better go xD

For some reason, the day before the exam, our brains tend to forget every single thing we learnt... Like, did I study this or am I hallucinating? Like, I have vague memory of it but i don't actually know it T-T

Exam Revision Progress

I swear, sometimes revision is the most exhausting phase in any high school year T-T

Please don't mind my messy notes, for some reason my brain cannot just process neat notes. It's like we're enemies but nevertheless, I managed to finish quite alot and tomorrow is another long day :")

For some reason , you get to remember every single chore, every task, every embarassing situation, your future goals, daydreams and whatsoever just the moment you sit and start to study with actual focus and then it's not focus anymore T-T