This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cengage Unlimited. All opinions are entirely my own.
Winter break for me is synonymous with snow, sleep, and semester grades. However, as much as I try to enjoy my leisure time, my progress during the semester (or lack thereof) always looms at the back of my head. I am sure many of you are currently facing the same predicament. Rather than worrying last minute this year, I decided to invest more effort at the beginning of the semester so that I don’t have to stress later. The new year is the best time to turn a new leaf. New Year, new me (with better grades). The biggest aid in my new academic resolution is Cengage Unlimited.
When I was in high school, my younger self always looked forward to winter break. Two weeks without school? Yes, please! As I transitioned to life as a college student, the feeling was the same but with a newfound stress. Unlike high school, your course grade in college isn’t revealed until the middle of winter or summer break. Most students feel stressed during finals week—my stress was at its peak leading up to official grades. Oftentimes, I felt that there wasn’t enough resources and material to help me comprehend the curriculum. After discovering Cengage Unlimited, my perspective of studying has completely changed.
Why Cengage Unlimited?
I’ve previously written two other blog posts about this subscription service (found here&here). I truly believe that Cengage Unlimited is the ultimate tool for college success. At the price of $119.99 for one semester, students receive a plethora of online textbooks and study materials. Users have access to Cengage platforms like MindTap and WebAssign, a library of over 20,000 online textbooks, a print rental for $7.99 + free shipping, as well as study tools. I’m sure you have all heard of Chegg and Quizlet. I frequently use both websites for homework help and study material. Both of these sites are Cengage Unlimited partners and have free offers included with your subscription.
The platform already has so much to offer. In the spring semester, they are adding even more features! Starting in 2019, the subscription will also include access to their Career Readiness Center, course-specific flashcards powered by Quizlet, test prep, and study guides.
It’s so easy to get distracted in college. For most students, it’s the first time they’re living away from home. On a campus with so many peers, four years of university is like one, big hangout with friends. One can find it hard to manage a social life and student life. With the liberty of managing your own schedule and the freedom to skip classes, our strengths and weaknesses as a student are challenged daily.
I’ll be the first to admit that my laziness got the best of me during my freshman year of college. I thought I could apply minimal effort and still grace through college as an honor student, just like I did in high school. I set high expectations for myself academically. Seeing my first semester grades really put things into perspective.
One semester of lower-than-expected grades is not a big deal. If it takes a semester of grades to bring you back to reality and study harder, then there is a silver lining. All I needed was to get back on track. While professors and TAs are there to help, it just isn’t enough sometimes. By utilizing my resources, academic independence is something that I gradually learned. Cengage Unlimited has all the resources that students need to succeed.
Cengage Unlimited wants to be part of your success, every step of the way.
From the first day of college, to graduation, to starting your first job, the subscription has a tool for you to utilize. For the price of one textbook, students receive so much more value. Whether you just finished your first semester or are close to graduating, it’s never too late to improve your grades. Cengage Unlimited is more than a study tool, it’s an investment in your future success!
Organizing your study space is really important. Avoid starting to study before that because getting up to get things you don’t have at hand will distract you. I have my own “desk organization list”. Laptop, iPad, Apple Pencil, earphones, water, fruits, my pencil case, my folders, paper, etc.
2. Make a plan and get control of your calendar
Make a “to do list” and plan everything out. When exactly are your exams? How many days do you want to study for each subject? Which subject needs more time? Etc., etc.
3. Mistakes are good
When studying we do make mistakes sometimes. I hate it. You hate it. Yes, it’s awful. But they are GOOD. You learn from them. A short anecdote of my life: If I didn’t make the mistake of dating a complete idiot, I probably would not have learned that bad boys really aren’t that great haha.
4. Find examples
To really understand something, you should find examples. E. g. if you are learning about some kind of criminal law, look up cases. If you are studying about the business cycle, look up examples of different countries. Is the US in a boom? Or a depression? Has it been in a depression before? What was that like?
5. Test yourself
Quizz yourself. This is the most important thing when studying something by heart or learning a language. Get your flashcards out of your pocket! And quizz yourself every single day!
6. Take regular breaks and sleep for 8 hours
I know, studying is important. But what is even more important is your health. Don’t drain yourself. You got this. Don’t worry! Take a short break after 25 minutes every time. Just a short one. Allow yourself to breath and close your eyes. Your brain needs sleep and breaks to function!
7. Study before going to sleep
A numerous amount of studies have found out that the brain processes a lot of things while sleeping. This can be very beneficial to us! Study for a few minutes before going to bed or revise what you have studied that day. It will help you remember it better.
8. Eat good foods
I know you don’t want to hear this… A pizza is quite nice. But is it good for you? Probably not. Food is fuel. But we need good fuel to function properly. Eat nutritious foods and be good to your body. It really needs a healthy diet to maintain your health and stay happy. Also: Your brain needs calories. Don’t starve yourself. Aaaand, remember to drink enough water. I recommend watching “The Game Changers” on Netflix.
9. Exercise
Working out can be extremely beneficial to you. Not just for your physical strength but also for your mental health and productivity, studies have found. Going for a run or going to the gym can increase your overall well-being! So let’s go! I’m getting ripped tonight, RIP that… umm sorry.
10. Be kind to yourself
Last but not least, please be kind to yourself. Don’t beat yourself up. Everything is going to be fine. You are not alone. You are loved. You are worthy. Please remember that! I love you.
Feel free to join my #selfhelpforstudents100Dayschallenge (aka me doing the 100 Days of Productivity Challenge and motivating y'all haha).
Also feel free to join our study/mental health server on Discord.We’re doing self help “group therapy” calls, studying together and much more. We’re stronger together!
We are currently working on a website to help students with studying and mental health issues.My post about it.
In this post, I’m going to talk about the study methods that have worked for me and that I learned during my time at UCLA!
(see another post like this about being healthy here)
Short Term Productivity
Use a stickynote/index card and write a couple goals for today only. Don’t write too many or you will feel overwhelmed! Stick it on your laptop or planner or notebook (somewhere you will see it)
Have a whiteboard at your desk and write down things you need to remember (like a simple equation or some vocab)
While waiting for something (the bus, your coffee, the shower to warm up) have something to recite in your head (probably something you already know, but would like to reALLY KNOW)
When you read, try to tie big concepts to things you would remember easily (like acronyms or symbols) like for example i remember gen chem oxidation as OIL RIG: Oxidation is Loss (of electrons) and Reduction is Gain (of electrons) and I remember the first four unordinary hydrocarbons from Me Eat Peanut Butter (lmao): Methane, Ethane, Propane, Butane
Longer Term Productivity
Plan out your weeks!!! Plan when you will study on each day of the week and keep track of due dates
Make it a habit to do homework/assignments AS SOON AS YOU CAN (like right after you snack or something after classes)
Try not to think about how long you will study and rather think about the number of topics you will study
Don’t stop until you feel confident in your knowledge OTHERWISE YOULL JUST LOSE IT IT ALL
Keep your notes organized because you never know when something is gonna bite you in the butt again in the future
Review everyday. Like, Serioouslyyyy. It helps a lot.
Read before going to bed instead of being on your phone for 400 hours :C I THINK ITS TRUE THAT THE STUFF YOU READ BEFORE BED STAYS WITH YOU BETTER BC YOU GET TO SLEEP ON IT
Try to keep your area quiet or have only white background noise because if someone is talking about the weather and you’re studying math, best believe you’ll only remember the weather
Reading a Textbook
Most of the time, you don’t need to read the introduction paragraphs.
Read the bolded titles to see what you will be getting into
Before class you can skim lightly!! It will help you not feel lost in class
AFTER CLASS you will now FOCUS YOUR READING ON WHAT WAS SAID IN CLASS because most of the time, class-covered topics ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT! save yoself some time!!
When reading after class, do NOT just read. If you go over something that makes you go ??? in even the slightest way, read it again to understand. Look it up. Do it in THAT moment because you’re gonna forget to do it later.
If you don’t wanna read the whole darn book because ur lazy (like me) or you are cramming, READ!! THE!! SUMMARY!!!
The back of the book might have some seriously useful appendixes
Try not to skip the diagrams and pictures lol they’re there for a reason
Taking Notes in Class
dont be on your phone or whatever during class time Like actually PAy attention because if you learn it now, you won’t have to try to learn it again later (you can be on your phone later)
Take down everything written on the boards FOR SURE because if the professor/teacher thinks it’s important to write it, you better think it’s important too
Be an engaged listener! Don’t let it slide straight thru ur head
Try not to scribble your notes so you can read it later
Make CLEAR HEADERS for the topics so you can find those notes quickly
Def make friends in class in case you miss something on the notes ://
Doing Practice Problems and Homework
Get yoUR HOMEWORK DONE FIRST OF ALL
Homework is seriously a great study tool because your instructor assigned that FOR A REASON (aka it’s prob gonna be tested on)
Try to know what you are doing before you start the homework so that you don’t feel lost as heck doing it
When doing practice problems, if you have the answers, don’t be afraid to look at the answer the first time around if you don’t know how to do it. IVE SELF TAUGHT MYSELF SOOOOO MUCH by just looking at the answer to a question.
DONT RELY ON THE ANSWERS THO
Don’t memorize how to do the practice problems, you should memorize the method of solving the problem and understand each step clearly (and understand WHY you do that step!!!) just in case the test pulls some funky stuff on you
The more you can do, the better. But don’t be sleepy and do them because you won’t really retain anything
Other Random Things
My organic chem professor actually did a funny study on sleep and test scores. He said on his final exam he asked “How many hours of sleep did you get last night?”
and like obviously the more hours of sleep reported, generally the higher the student scored on the exam
SLEEEEPING IS GOOD FOR YOUR LEARNING
WHEN YOU SLEEP AND HIT THE REM CYCLE, YOUR BRAIN PROCESSES THE INFORMATION BETTER and it will really stay with you. So yall need to sleep. Don’t do the all nighters. You won’t remember anything
anyways like nike you should Just Do It
I hope you guys find this useful!! Remember that everyone has different needs and preferences, so take these tips as just tips and not rules!! Experiment with things, see what you like best, see what gives you the best scores.
This is a 自媒体 talk show abouteconomy and politics. I really enjoy the format of the videos and Wong Kim speaks very clearly and methodically that his videos keep you interested.
Updated twice daily, videos are 1 hour long, the news analysis section is about 30 minutes
Some videos include subtitlesthat you can select in either English or Chinese
The format of each video is the same, discussion of a topic and then an analysis of the news and then discussion with viewers at the end. Once you listen to a few videos you’ll become familiar with the format
Keep up to date with current events as well as improving Chinese.
On a side note:
Whenever you watch news, of course every media outlet has their own stance/position so I encourage everyone to listen widely to differing opinions to really understand Chinese culture/politics (a journey I am currently on too!). Remember the majority of opinions ‘inside the wall’ will be different to those ‘outside’. I will try to share both types of resources. I also will try to share western media that has Chinese news outlets as well as in my recent journey of studying Chinese economy and politics I think listening to all differing voices is very important to form your own understanding!
Today I am going to show you how I use the toggle function in OneNote to hide/show notes to use as an active recall tool when learning/reviewing listening lessons. I don’t recommend it as a replacement for pleco/anki but it helps me keep vocab related to that particular lesson in a place where I can see it easily when I review.
As you can see I am studying a ChinesePod lesson (really recommend this platform btw, I will do a separate post on it soon!)
I have noted new vocabulary under the lesson. In OneNote simply hover to the left of the word and a small arrow appears, double click with your mouse and the text indented underneath with collapse.
You can then use this to hide the Chinese when reviewing vocabulary, forcing you to actively recall vocabulary.
As a beginner it takes a bit of time to become accustomed to be able to hear the difference in tones, yet alone pronounce them very correctly. By the time you get to intermediate you probably can hear the difference in tones but you may still have trouble pronouncing every single word correctly.However you most likely have a number of words that you have heard so often that you do pronounce correctly. For example 中国 zhong1 guo2, I bet most intermediates pronounce this is the correct tone as it is a word occurring so often that our brains automatically imitate pronunciations. However, when we encounter a new word we may have difficulty getting the tone just right, and then you need to remember it too.
I have two bits of advice that may help with this, that I myself am using to improve my tones over time:
As soon as you learn a new word, repeat at least 10 times in the correct tone.
As I said when speaking Chinese, you are speaking at a speed that you don’t have time to remember which tone the word is, you say it how you remember it. So when you learn a new word you want to try to cement the correct ‘rhythm’ (or tone) of the word in your head. If you remember the incorrect one it may be difficult to undo this. (i remember I pronounced 文化 as wen2 hua2 for the longest time and it was difficult to change this to wen2 hua4 in my head when i discovered i had been saying it all wrong!)
Memorise a few 'tone pairs’ to remember the 'rhythm’ when you learn a new word.
Hacking Chinese ( https://www.hackingchinese.com/focusing-on-tone-pairs-to-improve-your-mandarin-pronunciation/ ) has a great article on tone pairs and it’s merits. Recently when i learn a new word I recall the 'model’ word that I have for that particular tone pair, say it a few times to remember the 'rhythm’ of the word, the n say the new word I want to learn in that same rhythm, therefore it will help saying the word in the correct tone.
For example, lets say I learnt the new word 生活 sheng1 huo2, this has the same tone pair as 中国, therefore when i learn 生活 i can easily recall how 中国 is pronounced and imitate the same rythym when i said 生活. I created a table for myself with the tone pairs and so each time I encounter, for example any word that is first tone-second tone (such as 中国), then i can recall the rythym easily in my head.
This table has a list of words that I subconsciously pronounce with the correct tones as a result of hearing them so many times, there are however too many words that i don’t pronounce in the correct tone, hence i use this method to help :P
(ignore my terrible handwriting!)
Please try this out and let me know if you try this out and how it works for you??
24.06.2021 ✨ Did you decide to drop out of university or changing your course?
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Why do I talk about it. It’s important to normalize things like dropping out or quitting something you just hate.
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We often get tough we have to finish something or stay in a job because it’s normal and we have to. But to be honest no we don’t. You can decide which way you go.
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I used to a paralegal back in the day. And I quit my job after 2 ½. I should have done it after one week but I stayed because I was scared I won’t find another job or I will be labeled as the person who quit everything and can’t keep a job. It took me a long time to do so and in the end it effected my mental health because I felt like I was in a unhealthy relationship.
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Don’t listen to anyone. Don’t stay or keep going if you are unhappy and you already know it’s making you unhappy. It’s ok to leave. It’s ok to make changes and don’t wait, start now.
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(Please don’t just give notice, if you have to pay bills, search a new job at first before you resign)
23.06.2021 ✨ Do you have any exams or finals coming up?
Studying for exams or finals are a stressful time and some of us are currently right in the middle.
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Here are some of my tips you should keep in mind:
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don’t start a new study routine or study method right before your exams. I know we all feel like we are not doing enough or it’s the wrong way we are studying but by changing everything can make it even worse. Please, stick to your routine.
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stay organized. And easy access to all your study materials will make you feel confident and prepared. And during this time a little boost of confidence is what we all need.
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I cannot repeat if often enough: take breaks! Studying can be long, tedious and overwhelming. And taking breaks are crucial while studying! Don’t skimp on your breaks.
![myhoneststudyblr: my masterpost | my studygram | ask me anything[click image for high quality]Other](https://64.media.tumblr.com/7d0b94056532634af0da3f482747e176/fc85605c6d484412-ca/s1280x1920/e14964b7e0879582eacd4e46ba3df48345d08e3a.png "myhoneststudyblr: my masterpost | my studygram | ask me anything[click image for high quality]Other")
