I am your average business student fed up with being played at by my college. Now, during this summer vacation, I have decided to get my shit together in order to go head to head against college and succeed in my third year like a champ.
I’m vegetarian and try my best to live zero waste. Therefore, I am always armoured with my phone, laptop, and stylus. Although, occasionally, you can see me using analogue methods.
Together with my dog Burger and my cat Mr Fantastic (which is actually female), I’ll be sharing how I have managed to survive the challenge of going to college, coming of age and learning self-love.
Additional information
Age: 18
Major: Entrepreneurship and Management, Senior.
Languages: Dutch, English, Spanish, Papiamentu, and Cantonese.
Hobbies: Cooking, Windsurfing, Kayak, Digital Art, Webtoons, Reading, Binge-Watching Animes.
Goal: Make friends here on Tumblr and motivate each other to become the best version of ourselves!
Hey ! I’m not a new studyblr (my blog is two years old) but I thought I’d do a proper introduction for this new year.
About me :
I’m still figuring the whole name thing out (#perksofbeingtrans) but you can call me Parker
I use they/themorey/empronouns
I’m 24 and my birthday is in September
I’m studying maths in a French university (second year of a master’s degree)
my url means “it’s the studies” in French. I use the same username on instagram
my hobbies include stationery, logic games, reading and space
I use this sideblog to collect ideas, tips and useful apps and I’m going to start posting pictures of my own bullet journal. I also like to help out so if you have questions about maths or French, feel free to send me an ask.
I havent seen anyone talk about this yet so im making a post.
So lets say you’re researching something for a paper (or just for fun) and the research paper you want to read is behind a paywall, or the site makes you create an account first, or makes you pay to download, or limits you to only 5 free articles, or otherwise makes it difficult for you to read what you want.
do not fear! copy the link to the article
go to sci-hub.se (the url is always changing so its best to check out whereisscihub.now.sh to find what the current url is)
STUDY TIPS: QUARANTINE EDITION *✭˚･ﾟ✧*･ﾟ*✭˚･ﾟ✧*･ﾟ*
Studying while in quarantine has been a bit of a change since we can’t go to classes / the library etc so here are some tips / things I’ve realised:
Drink water instead of coffee. Bonus if the water is cold. It keeps you alert yet more focused than caffeine.
Don’t set weekly goals. A whole week at home means your goals will be pushed aside in favour of animal crossing or netflix. Set three-day goals instead.
Have a clear sleep schedule. If you’re rolling out of bed at 12pm, you’ll feel less motivated to get some studying done. Maybe wake up at 9.30, and sleep at 11. Do what works for you.
Have a plan. Know your approach to a task before you do it. Don’t just mindlessly stare at your laptop or worksheet before doing something or you’ll be sat there for hours.
Summarise the concept in your own words. It’s the key concept of note-taking - you understand things more and you haven’t just copied down textbook babble you don’t understand. If you can’t explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand the concept.
Don’t let the “studyblr aesthetic” fool you. Studying doesn’t have to be pretty. The notes you see on social media of pretty notes have been rewritten and organised after the initial scribble on lined paper. Let your notes be messy (as long as they’re readable) and if you want to pretty things up later, go ahead!
Don’t throw away scrap paper you’ve used for working out - staple it to your book, add it to your folder - if you ever come across that problem again you have a step-by-step way of working it out.
Understand that if you’re at a zero, you won’t go to 100 in a couple of days. First, you’ll need to reach 20, then from 20 to 50, and then from 50 to 80. Nobody is 100 everyday. Nobody can get to 100 overnight. Give yourself time.
Spend time relaxing. You need to have ‘you time’ every single day. Watch netflix, binge watch disney, play animal crossing, sleep for 10 hours. You need to spend some time on you, doing what you love, to make you studying effective.
Once you’re on a roll and need a way to stay on track, start writing down your studying hours. Maybe make a schedule. If you studied for 6 hours yesterday, tell yourself you need to at least 80% of that.
Don’t have a zero day, try do a little bit each day, even if you feel awful and can only do 20 minutes.
Be kind to yourself. We’re living in uncertain times. We don’t know what will happen next. Take care of yourself, practise some self care, and know that even if you’re getting an hour of studying done a day, that’s still a huge accomplishment.
So! I am currently in my first-year at University but I’ve been studying for a couple of months now and feel as though I have enough information and experience to make this post!
MANAGE YOUR TIME
Whether it’s a timetable, to-do list, writing in your planner - you need some sort of method to manage your time and note what tasks you need to do and when. Set a specific time for each class and plan your own class schedule. Even better, study for your classes at the same time they should be held. This will create a sense of routine and make things so much easier. Find what works for you! Your perfect system won’t work great for your friends! There’s no shame in not being able to keep up with the schedule you’ve made. If you’ve tried or if it hurts you mentally or physically, then that schedule is just not the one for you. Finding a system that works for you takes time, patience, and courage. but it will be absolutely worth it. Find yourself a routine that works best for you! I know that my method doesn’t work well for my peers: I make a to-do list for the week and note down the tasks I want to do for each day and do a little bit everyday but I know some people would rather do everything in two days and have the rest of the week free! Below I’ve showed how I organise my week:
BE ACTIVELY ENGAGED
In your lectures and seminars, engage!!! Ask questions, answer questions, take part in the discussions!! It’ll help you retain the content much easier and you’ll enjoy learning so much more compared to just sitting there mindlessly listening. Take notes, even if you can record your lessons and/or access the lessons later. This will force you into focusing and minimise the chance of you getting distracted and zoning out. If you have any face-to-face lecture/seminars then it’s a good idea to sit in the first few rows, towards the front - again, this minimises the chance of you zoning out and increases the chance of you engaging.
ACCOMMODATE YOURSELF
Accommodate yourself, not just with comfort, but also with actual necessities that you cannot usually get in your usual classroom/library due to whatever reason. Whether it be stress balls, stim toys, motivational cards, calming music/candles. comfort items. chewing gum. As long as it helps you focus better, keep it with you. Other necessities may be water, a snack, sticky notes etc. Make sure to declutter your study space. put your phone out of reach & turn off notifications. If you have problems with this, I recommend using an app called Forest or putting your phone in another room.
FIND WHAT WORKS FOR YOU
I know that I will start a lecture around 9/10am. But all mine is asynchronous (narrated powerpoint or videos) and so I will sit for literally two hours just listening to the lecture trying to take notes but very quickly losing focus. I’ve now realised that I can make notes from the powerpoint slides, and then use the narrations/videos for when I want more detail or don’t understand something. This saved me a lot of time, cutting down my time spent on one lecture from around 70 minutes, to 35. This gives me more time to start other content, work on my assignments, and give myself the breaks I need to work efficiently.
WORK TOWARDS YOUR CAREER
Since more and more people go to universities each year, the job market is becoming increasingly competitive for academics. It is important that you obtain skills outside of your studies – for example through societies or volunteer work. Just find something that’s fun and doesn’t feel like another burden. You might also want to become a student representative or part of a student parliament if your university has one. Your university’s career service provides you with tips and resources for a good start into your work life. Things are competitive - find something to make you stand out. Examples of things I’ve done (not just at university) include: Senior Prefect, write and directed my own play for younger students to perform, TEFL course, taught at an Arabic school, volunteered as a youth worker, Duke of Edinburgh Award, Course Representative etc.
MAKE FRIENDS
Being at university can be lonely. You might have moved to a different place, you’re faced with new challenges, and you might find that adult life is not at all like you imagined. Having someone to talk to is important. Good thing that it’s never easier to make friends than at university. You are surrounded by people your age (and it’s actually a lot easier to not see people you don’t like than it is in school.)
Fresher’s week is full of opportunities to meet new people! Check out the societies at the fresher’s fair. In the UK, there are usually societies for every niche interest you can think of. You might end up not actually going, but sometimes you still keep a friend. Another idea is to make a group chat with people in your classes - introduce yourself to the people sitting next to you. Ask them if they would like to go to lunch together, check out the library etc.
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF
University is not all about working 24/7 and pushing yourself. Listen to your mind and body. It’s normal and okay to feel lost or overwhelmed. Please take care of your mental and physical well-being during this very, very weird time. Keep yourself active. Re-ignite old interests/ hobbies. Give yourself some love. A tip I always give to people is to have some sort of creative/kinaesthetic hobby - whether it’s writing, art, embroidery, making collages, journalling etc. Having some sort of fun creative outlet is just what I need when I don’t want to do work but still want to be a little productive. Make sure you’re eating enough, and make sure you’re getting at least 8 hours of sleep. Take care of your body.
MISC TIPS
Make cheatsheets to revise from
See if your university offers free/discounted versions of resources like MS Word etc
Talk to your tutors. Get to know them so they know who you are.
Don’t be afraid to ask you tutors for help - that is what they are there for. They LOVE students that are self-advocates for their own learning.
Give yourself breaks.
Learn your methods. Learn how to use whatever resources / software your university uses. Learn what study styles work best for you.
These are now on the shop guysss im also waiting on my yesstyle order to arrive, i ordered a little A6 size binder notebook, and im just over the moon with excitement! Shop link below if you wanna support the shop! Even reblogs help a whole ton! <3 https://etsy.me/2UBfduJ
The stickers are coming to the shop soon but i also decided to include some of my products in the spread hehe OH and new stuff has been listed link to support below!
The stationery i designed finally has launched on my etsy! Im super excited for it to even exist and im actually working on future products for the shop!! :)
My muji order came in :) i bought hella pens to include in the etsy bundle im working on. The washi tapes are coming in soon meaning theyll be available soon! :) and finally im working on sticker sheets so theyll be coming soon too! :)) Super excited
