Working Hard At My Paper. This Is How My Weekend Went. #studygram #studyblr #studymotivation #college

▫️R E A L I T Y ▪️

Since taking some time off Tumblr and coming back, I’ve decided to unsubscribe to the typical studyblr method of making notes look nice, of editing photos, and of romanticising my life. I understand that this will make my content less appealing on an aesthetic level, but I’ve come to really dislike a lot of the superficiality that being online perpetuates. I agree that beautiful study photos are just that: beautiful, awe-inspiring, and maybe even motivational, but I feel that often seeing these photos can dishearten others about their own progress, and often even those who post such photos feel locked in to appeal to the masses on a constant basis, which isn’t realistic or maintainable.

I can’t promise that I won’t edit my photos, that I won’t reblog aesthetically pleasing pictures, or that I won’t choose to withhold information about my student life, but I want to be more open about struggles as well as victories because even though most of us are just strangers on the Internet who know one another by username or first name, I feel that a lot of us go through similar struggles and cope with it alone (or more alone than need be) for the sake of appearances.

I am going to start using and tracking “realstudy” in addition to my own username, feel free to join if you want (or don’t, that’s cool too).

Mon xxx

49/100 days of productivity + SUN 10.23.16 // 7:41am

theme of the week: chemistry. october sciences (4/4);;;; chemistry and me are like those characters in tv shows who start off as mortal enemies and then slowly become best friends +++ learning about collagen, vitamin c, and periodontal ligaments!

Foolproof Guide to School Success!

Hi! I just finished my first year of college and I definitely have to credit the studyblr community for all the useful information and tips! I currently closed the year with a 4.0 and don’t plan on stopping!

 In high school I was an ok student but I decided to change all that when I started college. So, whether you’re in high school or college, it’s never late to change and attain academic excellence! So here are my tips! 

Try to get an early start on your day and sit closest to the front as possible. Studies show that sitting in the front of class will improve your grades and knowledge! 

A study showed that those who sat in the front achieved an average of 80% while those in the middle achieved an average of 71.6% on their exams. And guess who did even worse.. unfortunately those in the back scored an average of 68.1%

Distractions are decreased because there’s no one sitting in front of you, just the lecture which basically forces you to pay attention.

This increases the likelihood of your professor getting to know you. Why is that important? Well, in an accounting course I once took, I sat in the front, attended extra tutoring sessions hosted by that instructor, and generally put in extra effort in the class. By the end of the semester everyone was really struggling, over 20 students flunked out, and even my tips weren’t getting me to that A I wanted. Well, because I had established who I was and that I was serious about the class, my instructor bumped my final course grade from an 88% to 93%! She said she noticed the effort I put in so she gave me the grade she thought I deserved

Seriously, sit in the front!! 

Ok, now that you have a good spot in the class, make sure you take great notes! The Cornell notes system is great but do whatever works best for you. 

Abbreviate often

Date your notes at the top so you can order them chronologically. This will make studying a breeze later on. 

Find a color coding system that works for you. Highlight main ideas and vocab. 

Find a notebook that works for you. I was lucky enough to score 20 moleskines at my local thrift store at 1 dollar a piece so I’ve been using those. 

If you prefer loose leaf paper, buy a bunch and stick it into a flexible binder so you can organize and reorganize your paper. 

Use post-its and sticky tabs to add extra info that you might have left out during class. Use sticky tabs to find certain notes faster. 

These are some of my favorite note taking supplies:

These Pilot G-Tec pens are some of my favorite pens ever! They are super smooth and the lines are really fine. This 5 pack costs around $11 which is pretty affordable!

Mead notebooks are a classic staple. Seriously these are super durable!

These sticky post-it tab hybrids work really well for marking a page and highlighting important info. 

Mildliners are really nice and the colors are not to bright. A pack runs around $7 and a 3 pack is $15 on Amazon. 

If you want to go the extra mile, retyping up your notes is a great idea. That way your in class notes can be messy and it won’t matter since you’re going to type them up anyway. One Note is awesome for notes. 

I developed my own system for deciding on how I will study and how often I will study. It goes something like this:

Rank your classes in order of difficulty into three sections:

Easy, medium, and hard….

Easy classes get one point

Medium classes get two points

Hard classes get three points 

Is the class math related? ….. add 2 points

Is it science related? …… add 2 points

Is the class a subject that you struggle with? ….. add 3 points

is the class AP? ……… 3 points 

Add up the points for each class. 

Classes with 1-3 points: 

these classes are generally easy and have an easy instructor, contain info you already know, etc. 

These classes get 45 minutes a day in your schedule and minimal studying on weekends. 

Classes with 4-8 points:

These classes might need some more effort so try to…

Set aside an hour a day and 30 minutes on weekends. 

Classes with 9 points and up:

These classes are usually more intense, have daily assignments, have a strict instructor, etc. 

Set 2 hours a day and an hour or more on weekends. Consider going to free tutoring provided by your school, join a study group, or go to your instructor’s office hours. 

Plan your months, weeks, and days in advance! Keep a planner, calendar, or bullet journal. I personally use a bullet journal and keep a calendar printable in each binder I have for my classes. 

Include due dates, exam dates, when your rentals are due, etc. 

Look at it everyday!!! That way you won’t forget important events. 

If you want to, make it pretty! Decorate it with stickers, pictures, polaroids, etc. to make it more personal.

If you prefer minimalism, keep a simple planner or bullet journal system.

If an electronic system works better for you, go for it! But I’ve noticed that writing it on paper works best! 

Here are some great planners or journals to use:

Moleskines are always a great choice! 

This hardcover Yoobi journal is comparable to the Moleskine and comes in pretty colors! The price is awesome, each one runs at $6! 

Bando makes super pretty and trendy planners. They run from $20 and can get pricey though. It’s definitely worth it though!

This Sugar Paper gold polka dot planner is really cute and super affordable!

The AT-A-GLANCE planner has a monthly view and daily sections with plenty of room for writing in important dates and decorating with cute stuff! 

Kikki K has amazing planners. If you want to splurge consider their stuff. I’ve always wanted one but it’s around the price of a textbook :( 

While Studyblr has so many resources and tips, in case you haven’t noticed, a lot of the pretty pictures use muji pens, staedtler fineliners, and those cute lil’ backpacks. Remember that you have to use supplies that work with you. Here are the essentials to carry with you:

Notebooks and binders

A sturdy and comfy backpack. I use the Borealis backpack by The North Face on discount. Make sure it has comfortable straps, back support, enough room for all your stuff, and compartments for your food and water bottle. 

A phone charger. Keep it in your backpack. My phone has died on me so many times and it sucks, especially if you have to take the bus. Invest in a portable charger.

Earbuds are a must, especially if you take public transportation. Also great for when you’re at the library, gym, etc.

As previously mentioned, a water bottle and FOOD! Pack a lunch but also have backup snacks like granola bars or nuts. You need food and water for energy.  

Keep extra change. You never know when you need it!! 

Your planner. 

Pens, pencils, etc. Especially a stapler if you have homework that you regularly turn in!! Its really awk when someone doesn’t have a stapler and everyone in the class doesn’t either..

A laptop, seriously a must! Chromebooks are affordable! 

Hope that’s helpful! Looking forward to another year in college and staying in the Studyblr community,

Thania

Last exam remaining, but I am already acting like it's over xD

Late night studying German. https://www.instagram.com/p/BpZ2nlrDzgN/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1fxo2rp0dcxxw

“I don’t know what my goals are, no. Thanks for asking.”

Do yourself a favor. Learn to code. Here's how.

I’ve said this to my non-techie friends countless times. It’s no secret that being able to code makes you a better job applicant, and a better entrepreneur. Hell, one techie taught a homeless man to code and now that man is making his first mobile application.

Learning to code elevates your professional life, and makes you more knowledgeable about the massive changes taking place in the technology sector that are poised to have an immense influence on human life.

(note: yes I realize that 3/5 of those links were Google projects)

But most folks are intimidated by coding. And it does seem intimidating at first. But peel away the obscurity and the difficulty, and you start to learn that coding, at least at its basic level, is a very manageable, learnable skill.

There are a lot of resources out there to teach you. I’ve found a couple to be particularly successful. Here’s my list of resources for learning to code, sorted by difficulty:

Novice

Never written a line of code before? No worries. Just visit one of these fine resources and follow their high-level tutorials. You won’t get into the nitty-gritty, but don’t worry about it for now:

Dash - by General Assembly

CodeAcademy

w3 Tutorials (start at HTML on the left sidebar and work your way down)

Intermediate

Now that you’ve gone through a handful of basic tutorials, it’s time to learn the fundamentals of actual, real-life coding problems. I’ve found these resources to be solid:

Khan Academy

CodeAcademy - Ruby, Python, PHP

Difficult

If you’re here, you’re capable of building things. You know the primitives. You know the logic control statements. You’re ready to start making real stuff take shape. Here are some different types of resources to turn you from someone who knows how to code, into a full-fledged programmer.

Programming problems

Sometimes, the challenges in programming aren’t how to make a language do a task, but just how to do the task in general. Like how to find an item in a very large, sorted list, without checking each element. Here are some resources for those types of problems

Talentbuddy

TopCoder

Web Applications

If you learned Python, Django is an amazing platform for creating quick-and-easy web applications. I’d highly suggest the tutorial - it’s one of the best I’ve ever used, and you have a web app up and running in less than an hour.

Django Tutorial

I’ve never used Rails, but it’s a very popular and powerful framework for creating web applications using Ruby. I’d suggest going through their guide to start getting down-and-dirty with Rails development.

Rails Guide

If you know PHP, there’s an ocean of good stuff out there for you to learn how to make a full-fledged web application. Frameworks do a lot of work for you, and provide quick and easy guides to get up and running. I’d suggest the following:

Cake PHP Book

Symfony 2 - Get Started

Yii PHP - The Comprehensive Guide

Conclusion

If there’s one point I wanted to get across, it’s that it is easier than ever to learn to code. There are resources on every corner of the internet for potential programmers, and the benefits of learning even just the basics are monumental.

If you know of any additional, great resources that aren’t listed here, please feel free to tweet them to me @boomeyer.

Best of luck!

weird study tip:

if u don’t feel motivated, pretend ur in a movie or tv show. you know the scenes where they’re on their bed with their feet tucked up and crossed at the ankle, and they’re cracking open highlighters with their teeth and poring over a textbook with smooth rock music playing? that. bonus points for a perfect messy bun and spencer hastings outfit.