Today I Just Realized… I’m Starting School Next Week! I Know A Lot Of People Have Already Started

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!

16/02 // love my bullet journal, it’s so easy to use and it really help me to stay organized.

How I learn languages

So, depending on the level of interest people have in my way of doing things, I might create a more thorough guide in the future. However, in the interest of brevity I will create a very rough step by step guide for people because why not.

1. Pick a language - Pick one you like; don’t worry about it being “practical” or “useful.” If you don’t like the language you’re studying, it’s going to be a miserable experience and learning languages should be fun!

2. Learn IPA - Learning how to read IPA characters (International Phonetic Alphabet) is imperative to being a successful language learner. If you haven’t already, put some time into learning how to read IPA transcriptions because it will save you a lot of time and give you a much better accent when learning the sounds of your target language. Avoid “english-y” transcriptions (e.g. très = TRAY) like the plague. They’re bad and people who make them should feel bad.

3. Learn the alphabet/writing system - Usually it doesn’t take a super long time, and if you’re studying a language like Japanese or Chinese it’s best to get used to using the writing system from the very beginning. You’re gonna have to deal with it eventually so you may as well hop right in. Relying on latin character transcriptions will only put off the inevitable.

4. Learn the pronunciation of your target language - I advocate a pronunciation-first approach. This will be easier or harder depending on how many unfamiliar sounds there are in your TL, but it’s worth going over the phonology (sound system) of your language early and getting used to how its sounds interact. If you don’t learn proper pronunciation in the beginning, you’ll ingrain incorrect pronunciations into your brain which will be hard to undo later on. You don’t have to try to make your accent perfect, accent reduction can come later, but it’s worth spending some time on. This is especially true for language with odd sounds or features (tones, voicing distinctions, etc.)

5. Pick ONE course/book - A problem I see a lot, and one that I have fallen into many times myself, is hording language learning resources. In the beginning, and especially for beginner polyglots, it is better to pick ONE really good course or book to follow, and focus on mastering the material within. If you try to split your time between too many resources or books or websites, you’ll quickly become overwhelmed. Some books/courses/series I recommend that can commonly be found for all languages are: Teach Yourself, Assimil, Duolingo, Linguaphone, and Pimsleur among others. You can always use one of those while you keep searching for more resources, but resist the temptation to dig into multiple books at once.

6. Use an SRS to learn vocabulary/grammar - SRS’s (Spaced Repetition Systems) are my bread and butter when it comes to memorization. Put simply, they are tools for spending your studying time more efficiently, and they warrant an entire post by themselves. Rote memorization is for the birds, so use a spaced repetition system such as Anki, Supermemo, a Leitner Box, or Memrise to avoid wasting your time. (Use Anki. Just use Anki. You’ll thank me later.)

7. Don’t translate - I used to learn vocabulary and grammar using English translations, but you’ll soon find that it’s only useful to an extent as your vocabulary gets bigger and you start running out of unique ways to translate synonyms. A more robust approach to flash card creation can be found in the book “Fluent Forever” by Gabriel Wyner, which I would definitely recommend reading. The short version is: use pictures instead of English translations for picturable words, for more abstract words and grammar concepts, use example sentences with cloze deletion cards (easy to create using Anki. seriously, just use anki.)

8. Speak the language! - Probably the only thing I actually learned from He Who Shall Not Be Named (anyone who’s been in the polyglot community for longer than 30 seconds knows who I’m talking about.) It seems simple but you should really speak the language as much as you can straight from the beginning. “But how can I speak the language if I’m not fluent or if I’ve just started?” Simple, use what you know, and do whatever it takes to make yourself understood. It really doesn’t take much, maybe 100 words or so (a day’s worth of work if you’re dedicated) to start to be able to put sentences together. Learning phrases is even better for this. For this reason, a phrasebook (Lonely Planet is a popular choice) is a worthy investment.

9. Immerse yourself as much as possible! - Watch TV, read books, nespapers, and articles, and listen to music in your TL. Get yourself used to being around the language. Ideally, you’d be able to move to the country or region where the language is spoken and truly immerse yourself, but for many total immersion can be either unrealistic or overwhelming. It’s totally possible to give yourself enough contact with the language and even create a 100% immersion environment all from the comfort of your home. The important thing is to have contact with the language and get used to being around it. This is where you’ll pick up on the rhythms of the language, tonality, intonation, all that good stuff. More importantly, it will get you used to how FAST people talk.

10. Keep looking for things you don’t know. - This is probably the best advice I could give anyone. There are things out there that you don’t even know you don’t know, so the best thing to do is to keep surrounding yourself with new facts, new vocabulary, new grammar structures, etc. If you’re looking for a new course/book, look for one that seems like it has a lot to teach you. Don’t rehash things you already know, it’s a waste of time. This is the basic principle of SRS’s, don’t review until you forget. Going back over concepts you already know is pointless and it contributes to “plateau syndrome” (when it feels like you’re not making any progress in your TL). Review what you need to, when you need to, only so long as you need to. Learning one new concept is worth more than going back over two you’ve already mastered.

11. HAVE FUN - The road to fluency is long. Like super long, I can’t stress this enough. You may not be fluent in 3 months, a year, two years, maybe even 5 years. It all depends on how much time you are willing to spend on the language and to a VERY VERY SMALL DEGREE how talented you are. The important thing is to not rush it and enjoy the experience. If you’re not having fun, modify your goals and your approach until you are.

This is nowhere near everything I have to say, but it’s a start. These are just some things I wish I had known when I started studying languages. So if it helps at least one person well hey that’s enough for me. :D

List of powerful verbs for essays/papers !

Hello! I just wanted to thank everyone for welcoming me so kindly into the studyblr community :) To give back, I decided to share this list of powerful verbs for essays and papers with you all. Hope it helps!

- shows

- verifies

- explains

- suggests

- reveals

- exposes

- represents

- divulges

- discloses

- renders

- provides

- presents

- offers

- demonstrates

- illustrates

- exemplifies

- proves

- attests

- hints

- intimates

- indicates

- signifies

- specifies

- displays

- communicates

- signals

- depicts

- portrays

- describes

- illuminates

- elucidates

- exhibits

- creates

- evokes

- expresses

- transmits

- confirms

- verifies

- states

- articulates

- illustrates

- pictures

- proves

- mirrors

- reflects

- depicts

- portrays

- establishes

- confirms

- verifies

- elucidates

- expounds

- enlightens

________________

much love and happy studying! - Em 

Are the habits you have today on par with the dreams you have for tomorrow?

Something my coach texted me today. She had no idea how much I needed to hear this (via chasingapr)

These tips are not my own: I was perusing the web a few days ago and found these rather helpful tips for note taking, nothing groundbreaking but they’re from Cambridge University sooo. I hope they provides some insight. 

Note-taking

Notes taken during lectures, seminars and research will form the basis of your work, helping you to prepare essays and dissertations and revise for exams. Effective note-taking is a very useful skill which can help you to:

focus and concentrate

organise and record key details

gain a fuller understanding of the information and improve your recall

save time and energy by working more efficiently.

Tips for effective note-taking

be critical about the material - assess its importance to the subject matter, and its credibility

don’t copy large amounts of text verbatim

always keep detailed notes of any resources used so that you can reference properly later

review and summarise your notes afterwards

organise and store your notes so that they are easy to retrieve            

The following are examples of note-taking techniques:

mind maps (e.g. spider diagram) - help you to visualise key points and the connections and overlaps between them

tabular notes - help with making comparisons between points

flow charts - help to visualise steps in a process

index cards

highlighting and annotating.

To get the most out of your lectures, you may find it useful to:

find out the subject of the lecture beforehand and read up, so that you’ll be prepared for the key themes and ideas

don’t try to write down everything - keep to main points

create a wide margin on each page so that there’s room to expand on your notes later.

When note-taking from written material it is helpful to:

take reference details down before you start reading

reading the introduction and conclusion is useful for ascertaining the main arguments and context

read critically.

What to Do When School Gets Hard (for the first time)

Total honesty time: I was a slacker in high school. I don’t mean that in the sense that I got bad grades, or that I didn’t do extracurriculars. I mean that in the sense that I was the kid who got good grades without having to try, so I never did. Try, that is. This meant that when I got to college, I got a surprise: professors want you to actually study! Like, with the textbook and everything! Needless to say, I had a rough time figuring out how to do this “studying” thing, and I know I’m probably not alone in this boat. The good thing is, I’ve figured this out, for the most part, so now you can learn from my mistakes.

Assume every class is going to be your hardest, going in. The day you don’t assume you’re going to have to put in five hours minimum studying for the first real test in a class is the day you will really regret. Until you get a feel for a certain professor, treat it like it’s super hard.

Schedule in studying time and STICK WITH IT. DO THIS. Or else you will end up like me, making friends with the other lone person who inhabits the study lounge at 1 am. Don’t be me, guys.

Never underestimate the power of teaching others. Seriously, I definitely have kinda taken advantage of my classmates, because I’m the person who tries to explain stuff and writes out the impromptu study guides. By teaching them, though, I’m actually prepping MYSELF to wreck the curve. Basically, once you know it well enough to explain it to others, you’re golden.

Do ALL the readings. The professor that assigns the most readings is also the professor who expects you to have learned the most from them, in my experience. Also, don’t just highlight stuff: write important points that you would want to highlight in your notes. Highlighting is just coloring for grownups - it’s fine, but it’s not going to help you learn. It’s just going to catch your eye later.

Don’t judge a professor’s tests by their lecture style. Imagine: a sweet little 5 foot nothing professor, dressed to the nines every day and super kind to everyone. My professor who fits this description causes about a third of her students to retake her classes every year. Bigshot business guy with a ridiculously high consulting rate and a weird robe he always wears? 98% pass his classes. Focus on the material, not the prof.

Save your homework assignments. It turns out that in college, homework is 95% of the times something that you can actually study from. Do it, do it well, then hang on to it.

Know your preferred study habitats. Do you like to study around a lot of people or by yourself? Are windows a distraction or a necessity? Is the library great or just too far away to bother with? Keep an eye on when you study best and then try to replicate it later.

Get rid of unnecessary distractions. Turn off your phone. Notifications are Bad for concentration. Close your email unless you absolutely need it. Have a drink and someone to nibble on if you use that as an excuse to avoid studying. Maybe avoid studying with that one person if you are distracted by existing near them.

Plan out regular breaks. Tell yourself every half hour you can go on Facebook, or wander down the hall and talk to someone, or read a chapter of that thing you’ve been working on. Just have something planned out that you can actively work towards. Not just having an abyss of time to fill with studying can be really useful.

As for studying itself:

Notecards, re-writing notes in a different format, having someone quiz you, making study guides, and writing practice essays about stuff have all been super useful for me in some respect or another.

Other studying help:

Seven 

Study

Moods 

Rain generator

Coffee shop chatter

How to Study

How to Study pt. II

Bullet journal guide

You’ve got this. We can study together.

All day with pharmacology. Colored pens, paper, scrapbook. Green tea and fruits.

Weekly Pastel Planner Printables

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

Disclaimer: These are online resources that I have found, They are not meant to be your only source of study, instead you can use them to your enhance your normal study. I don’t know what level these resources are aimed at, but I’ve tried to provide a range for a number of different topics.

The Body:

Teeth and Dentition

Take a look inside a cell (with some audio)

Explore human anatomy in 3D

Skeletal System

Muscular system

Cardiovascular system

Digestive system

Endocrine system

Nervous system

Immune/ Lymphatic system

Urinary system

Female reproductive system

Male reproductive system

What we didn’t know about penis anatomy - Ted Talks

Integumentary system

Sensory systems

3D Brain

Brain explorer program

How brains learn to see - Ted Talks

Body parts on a chip - Ted Talks

The real reason for brains - Ted Talks

A look inside the brain in real time - Ted Talks

Cells:

Amazing cells - inside a cell, how vesicles transport, communication during fight or flight, membranes.

Cell size and scale

The evolution of the cell

Interactive cell model 

The inside story of cell communication

Stem cells - cell differentiation, stem cells in use, potential use, stem cell debate.

Cloning

Animals and Plants:

Interactive tree of life

Buds and Twigs  (Background article: Buds and Twigs).

Seeds and Germination (Background article: Seed Structure). 

Vegetative Reproduction (Background article: Vegetative Reproduction).

Vegetative Reproduction - Tropical Examples

Flower Structure

Flower Structure - Tropical Examples

The beautiful tricks of flowers - Ted Talks

Fruit Formation

Fruit Formation - Tropical Examples

Protista 

Insect Life-Cycles 

Insect - Tropical. The Citrus Swallowtail Butterfly, Papilio demodocus 

Insects are awesome! - Ted talks

How a fly flies - Ted Talks

Fish: Characteristics 

Fish: Tilapia 

Amphibia 

Birds 

Fungi 

6 ways mushrooms can save the world - Ted Talks

Animals that amaze - Ted Talks

Humble plants that hide surprising secrets - Ted Talks

Genetics:

Alien population games

Make a Karyotype (game)

Pigeon Breeding: Genetics At Work

The secret of the bat genome - Ted Talks

The hunt for “unexpected genetic heroes” -Ted Talks

What’s a Genome? - An informative overview of genomics presented by the Genome News Network. Topics include: What’s a Genome?, What’s Genome Sequencing? and What’s a Genome Map?

The Animated Genome - A 5 minute film about DNA.

Discovery of DNA - An interactive timeline of scientific discoveries

Heredity

Family Health History

Genetic Traits

Mendelian Inheritance

Mitochondrial Inheritance

Multifactorial Inheritance/Complex Disease

Sexual Heredity vs Asexual Heredity

RNA

Structure of the double helix

Chromosome Map 3D Animation - A 3D animation of a chromosome map

DNA Molecule - How DNA is Packaged - An animation of the packaging of DNA into chromosomes

Introduction to inherited traits

Chromosome and inheritance

Introduction to Medelian genetics

Introduction to pedigrees

Molecular genetics

What is DNA Replication?

Transcription (gene expression)

Translation

Replicating the Helix - A short animation of DNA replication

DNA Replication (Advanced Detail) -  A detailed animation of DNA replication

X or Y: Does it make a difference?

Molecular basis of heredity, Nucleic Acids

Molecular basis of heredity, Genomes

Molecular basis of heredity, Genetic variation

Molecular basis of heredity, gene identification

The DNA Files - A series of 14 one-hour public radio documentaries and related information.

Understanding Gene Testing -  An informative, illustrated tutorial on genes and genetic testing. 

Epigenetics

Genetic science

Evolution:

Genetic Drift

Natural Selection

Origins of Genetic Variation

Health:

Genetic disorders

Pharmacogenomics

Family health history

Gene therapy

Fighting a contagious cancer - Ted Talks

Other:

Biology GCSE & IGCSE Question Bank 

Can Bacteria Be Designed to Create Gasoline?

Model Earth (Ecology)

Extreme Environments: Great Salt Lake

Astrobiology

The Human Microbiome 

The Science of Addiction: Genetics and the Brain

Virtual labs

Biology textbook

Biology Experiments

Where are the baby dinosaurs? - Ted Talks

Digging up dinosaurs - Ted Talks

100 Best (Free) Science Documentaries Online

More Biology documentaries and videos

Ocean wonders -Ted Talks

The sea we’ve hardly seen - Ted Talks

A census of the ocean - Ted Talks

Deep ocean mysteries and wonders - Ted Talks

The weird, wonderful world of bioluminescence - Ted Talks

Online Lessons and Guides:

Chemistry of life

Elements and atoms – elements and atoms, matter, elements and atoms, introduction to the atom, atomic number, atomic mass, and isotopes.

Electron shells and orbitals – orbitals, electronic configuration, valence electrons, groups of the periodic table, the periodic table, electron shells, and orbitals.

Chemical bonds and reactions – ionic, covalent and metallic bonds, electronegativity and bonding, intermolecular forces, chemical bonds, chemical reactions introduction and chemical reactions

Water, Acids and bases:

Hydrogen bonding in water – hydrogen bonding in water, hydrogen bonds in water, water as a solvent, solvent properties of water.

Cohesion And adhesion – capillary action and why we see a meniscus, surface tension, cohesion and adhesion in water

Temperature and state changes in water – LeBron asks why does sweating cool you down, evaporative cooling, heat of vaporisation of water and ethanol, specific heat of water, liquid water denser than ice, specific heat, heat of vaporisation, and density of water

Acids, bases and pH – autoionisation of water, Arrhenius definition of acids and bases, bronsted-Lowry definition of acits and bases, definition of pH, acids bases, pH and buffers

Cellular and molecular biology

Cells – diffusion and osmosis, nucleim membranes, ribosomes, eukaryotws and prokaryotes, endoplasmic reticulum and golgi bodies, chromosomes, chromatids, and chromatin.

Introduction to cell division - Fertilization terminology: gametes, zygotes, haploid and diploid, zygote differentiating into somatic and germ cells

Mitosis – interphase, mitosis, phases of mitosis, mitosis questions.

Meiosis – comparison of mitosis and meiosis, chromosomal crossover in meiosis 1, phases of meiosis 1, phases of meiosis 2.

Stem cells and cancer – embryonic stem cells, cancer.

Cellular respiration – ATP, ATP hydrolysis mechanism, introduction to cellular mechanism, oxidation and reduction review from biological point of view, oxidation and reduction in cellular respiration, glycolysis, krebs cycle, elctron transport chain, oxidative phosphorylation and chemiosmosis.

Photosynthesis – light reactions, photophosphorylation, calvin cycle, photorespiration, C-4 photosynthesis, cam plants

Human Biology:

Circulator and pulmonary systems – the lungs, red blood cells, circulatory system, haemoglobin.

The neuron and nervous system – neuron anatomy, sodium potassium pump, action potentials, salutatory conduction, neuronal synapses.

The kidney and nephron – kidney and nephonr, secondary active transport.

Muscles – myosin and actin, tropomyosin and troponin, role of sarcoplasmic reticulum in muscle cells, anatomy of skeletal muscle fibre.

Immunology – phagocytes, immune responses, b lymphocytes, antigen presenting cells and MHC II complexes, helper T cells, cytotoxic t cells and MHC I complexes, review of cells, inflammatory response.

Heredity and evolution

Evolution and natural selection – introduction, ape clarification, intelligent design and evolution, natural selection and the owl butterfly, variation in a spcies.

Heredity and genetics – introduction, Punnett squares, allele frequency, Hardy Weinberg equation, sex linked traits, DNA, RNA transcription and translation, alleles and genes.

Tree of life – taxonomy and the tree of life, species, bacteria, human prehistory

Crash Course

Biology and ecology – pollution, conservation, ecosystems, nitrogen cycle, history of life on earth, population growth.

(Spotlight Lessons): Ecology

Estimating Population Size – simulate mark and recapture by using small objects to trap and tag.  A simple formula will tell you what the overall population size is which can be verified by counting the objects in the bag.

Owl Pellet Dissection –  owl pellets are undigested bits of fur and bones  that owls regurgitate. Students can examine the contents, reconstruct the skeleton of the prey and make inferences about the owl’s diet.

Interpreting Ecological Data – examine charts, data tables  and graphs to answer questions about population size, growth, and carrying capacity.

Biome Project – as a group, investigate a biome and present to the class the main features, animal and plant species present and general climate.

Isopod Behavior Lab – collect isopods (pillbugs) and design a chamber to test their response to different environments, such as temperature, moisture, and substrate.