So I’ve wanted to find a suitable study planner for my needs and after searching Tumblr without a result which suited everything I needed I decided to make my own. I enjoyed making and using it so I thought I should share it. If you use it, let me know!
Daily Study Planner
Comes in peach, pink, lilac, blue and mint. There are two versions, one with times that are great for scheduling and another for to-dos.
Download from Google drive for free (PDF files)
Week with times (12h clock)
Week with times (24h clock)
Week with dues/to-dos
Something a little different to answer the question of ‘How should I study?’ I’ve done some research on the main three learning types- visual, auditory and kinesthetic, so just see which one fits you best (you might be more than one), and try out the six most popular methods I’ve found for each. For reference, I’m a visual learner, can you tell? Haha!
Maybe you’re super ahead and want some pointers, or maybe you have a day or two before your exam(s) and you aren’t where you wanted to be. Life happens, you procrastinate, have fears of failure, saw your last set of grades, had a shitty schedule and sleep cycles to boot.
I) First things first:
Go eat breakfast/lunch, keep refined sugar on the down-low to avoid spikes and mood-ruiners. Set a limit to how much caffeine you drink on the days before, because sleep is king. Grab some fruit and water to keep fueled for your trek.
Meet with a friend. 10 minutes, maybe even with your food. Get a quick hug, exchange a few words, just make sure you see a human face before you lock up so you don’t lose your humanity in the process.
Take a quick shower if necessary, and at least wash your hands as a gesture to the sanctity of what’s to come.
Take a nap if necessary: trust me, just 20 minutes.
Set a bedtime alarm: and get 8 hours in for as many days as you can before your exam. Studying is all about programming those neurons to do the work on command, not treating them like slaves to your ideals of self-discipline and hardwork.
Clear some headspace: 5-10 minutes so you have a bubble to sit and study in, and nothing smells bad. If you’re feeling really energetic then run and put your laundry in and set up your laundry alarms.
II) Environment:
Silence your phone
Prepare your weapons: keep pens, stickies, paper, and printer at hand. And clear off that desk.
Light it up: Bring them over and turn it all on. I have a lamp and a million christmas lights attached to the underside of my bunk/over my desk
Get cozy: I wrap myself in my big fluff blanket and cannot study without it, #noshame
Not too cozy: don’t even look at your bed. Mine is lofted and hours go by if I ever get stuck up there.
Put on some sounds or earplugs: contrary to popular belief most of us study better in silence, but some atmospheric pieces are listed below.
Gather your materials: printed notes and review questions in a binder
Set up your laptop: if you use it to study at all. I find it helpful if you:
close down all distractions: no steam, no calibre/ebooks, NO NANOWRIMO, no social media, no youtube/music, no anime, no manga, no photoshop, no fruityloops, etc whatever you do.
have audacity: I record my entire study session, talking to myself in third person/teaching my friend Audacity how to do stuff because I love my friends but can’t trust them with my (academic) life.
put up motivational photos: I open up some pictures on half my screen, like the one listed above (and more at then end of this post). The trick is to say “this is me, Imma do it” everytime you glance at it.
use wordpad or evernote: they will suffice to generate that final study guide/practice exam: color code in whatever makes you happy, keep it under 5. Study method below:
III) One of many methods:
Take a practice exam/problem sets to determine your weakest sections (ahaha like the SATs), and to get a feel for the professor’s question style.
Make Outline of entire exam’s topics, thinking of that practice exam.
Fill in points, slide by slide (I digested the slides beforehand and wrote in sample test questions). Very effective for content heavy classes.
Bold terms/concepts: especially if they showed up in the practice exam. (blue)
Make summary questions for each important bullet/subtopic, as you go (red)
Make test questions - finish each section, reflect, and write higher level, test questions (purple)
Mark down: Highlight anything that you need to review more.
Test yourself using those questions, add in questions as necessary. Create a second study guide to focus on your weakest points for further refining.
Have fun:
Sounds: sometimes it’s loud and generated noise is necessary (examples listed from white noise to musical)
SPACE ODYSSEY | Deep White Noise For Focus, Power Naps or Sleep | Sounds Like Star Trek TNG Engine
3 Hour Focus Music: Study Music, Alpha Waves, Calmi ng Music, Concentration Music ☯465
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim OST- All explore tracks - good if you need to do creative work or want to add emotional memory to your facts. “Broken Road” is exceptionally distracting for me though, so I’d use this at the tail of a study session.
Extended OSTs - mostly video game soundtracks
More Motivational Photos: keep your favorites on your desktop or something
This Blog
r/getmotivated
hey there loves!!! this is a masterpost all about studying a foreign language. i’m learning spanish at a level [and began learning german a while back too] and these are some tips i picked up along my journey! hope they’ll be of help to you :]
why should i study a foreign language?
to learn about new cultures
so u can communicate with other people
and impress them too B-)
to have a different travel experience
to make friends with people from other countries
so you can develop confidence within yourself
it makes u smarter in a lot of ways!!!
makes u more employable
to study/live abroad
helps u become more open minded
etc.
some links to help you learn on your own
duolingo
memrise
babbel
tandem ~ talk to someone in your target language
languages masterpost
another language learning masterpost
check out my tags
spanish
spanish essay phrases
spanish checker
best online spanish dictionary and translator!!!!
learn maltese [my native language hello!!!!]
japanese
korean!!!
synonyms!!!
french checker
french grammar
french resources!!!!!!
another proof reading program
more language stuff ft. a lot of languages
top 25 youtube channels for learning languages
what more you can do for yourself
immerse yourself in the language everyday to make sure u stay consistent in ur studies of the language
keep a vocab notebook
make ur own notes!!!
start reading newspapers or articles online [go here and pick ur language. happy reading!!!]
LISTEN TO MUSIC IN THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE IT’S SUPER NICE!!!! [if u wanna ask me for recs i have some]
watch youtubers in the language ur studying!!!
watch tv shows in the language w/ subtitles [u might even find ur fav show online in a different language]
every little helps u
practice speaking it [even to yourself in a mirror]
+speak it aloud!!
try using the words u learn in ur everyday life
find a partner u can learn with, it makes life sooo much better!!!
don’t be afraid to make mistakes, it has to happen. nobody’s perfect!!
leave ur comfort zone, don’t be afraid to talk to people who speak the foreign language ur learning
LISTEN!!!! this helps u become familiar to the language
watch people talk, this helps w/ ur pronunciation
have fun with it!!! after all the swearing when u can’t get verbs right, it’s actually quite fun B-)
hope these tips + links help you out in your journey!! feel free to ask me anything you want to or request a masterpost yourself <3
An example of how I set up my bullet journal - a fancy page with an overview of to do list and column setup for detailed day to day tasks. Read more about how I use bullet journals here!
last week’s bullet journal spread, legend, indexing key, and reading list!!
notebook: large blank moleskine pens: staedler fineliners, delistar 0.5
(12.07.2015)
Some motivation with beautiful pictures.
Cat Purring
Thunderstorm (Close)
Thunderstorm (Far Away)
Ocean
Weightless
Wind Chimes
Tibetan Bowls
Nature (Images of River)
Space Ambient
Ambient Electronic
Human Heartbeat
“Native American” Style Flute/Drum (Images of Fire)
Rainforest
Celestial White Noise
Music to Help Combat Night Terror
Winter Wind (Images of Trees and Snow + Cheesy Shakespeare Quote)
Autumn Wind
Howling Wind
Rain on Tin Roof
Rain on Tent
Traffic (Distant)
Traffic in the Rain (Close)
Fan
Distant Train
Relaxing Trance/Electro
Chillstep (Relaxing Dubstep) (Vocals Used)
Relaxing “Chinese” Inspired Meditation
Soft Piano
Sad Violin and Piano
Instrumental
Stormy Ocean
hi everyone! since the holidays are over for most of us, i thought i’d make an inspirational and motivational masterpost all about notes! upgrading your notes by changing the layout, adding doodles, banners, using sticky notes, changing your handwriting etc. motivates me personally to study!
handwriting
how to write in cursive
some fonts to try out
how to improve your handwriting
note taking systems
study methods summed up
stationery to make it all happen
sticker printables to jazz it up
notes
how to take lecture notes
how to annotate books
taking notes from a textbook - studyign
note taking system - theorganisedstudent
note taking system - emmastudies
another note taking system - academicmind
another note taking system - wonderfullifee
the 2 notebook method
note taking with highlighters and post its
pretty timelines
note taking printables
plot summary with sticky notes
20 uses of sticky notes
colour code your notes
method with columns
the cornell note taking system
the cornell note taking system using onenote
in class notes
another in class note taking format
what are sketchnotes?
online whiteboard
flashcards
how to make flashcards
another how to make flashcards
an example
another example (with sticky notes)
and another example (biology)
8 ways to improve your flashcards
make and test flashcards online
alternative to flashcards - studyign
print onto flashcards
mindmaps
how to mindmap (1)
how to mindmap (2)
some examples
apps
notability
banners
simple banner
more banners
it’s a banner party over here
banners (shown how to draw in gifs)
illustrate your notes
how to illustrate your notes - reviseordie
sketchnote tips (banners, lettering, doodles)
more sketchnote tips
even more sketchnote tips
how to make your notes pretty - theorganisedstudent
how to make your notes pretty - studyspoinspo
how to make your notes pretty - booksflowersandtea
what is visual note taking?
a visual alphabet
note taking printables
dot grid
note outline printables
lined cornell method printable
grid cornell method printable
hope you all had a good rest and are ready for a new year of studying!
xoxo lou