plantsandstudy

Latest Posts by plantsandstudy

The person I reblogged this from deserves to be happy

I tried to scroll past this. I really did

Ok ok but why is language learning becoming so competitive?

- If you want to learn one language and practice a few times a week, that’s fine.

- If you want to study 7 languages at once and practice every day, that’s fine.

- If you like to go out and use your target language, that’s fine.

- If you just like to watch movies or youtube in your target language, that’s fine.

Different things work for different people.

Some things may be scientifically proven to work better, but not everyone has the time or the energy.

Language learning is a passion we all share. Why are we gatekeeping people who aren’t learning as many languages or aren’t as invested?

The best thing, Is that even now, when I’ve lost my home, and a few friends, my sense of direction, and my savings. I can still see the joy in life. I can still see the joy in finding an apartment with a small window so my dog can look outside and see when I get come, and the joy in helping my mother arrange empty bottles on her shelf for decorative purposes.  I can see the joy in studying to go back to school, or continuing to go to work. The best thing, is that even though times are tough, I can still see joy in everyday.

Excerpt from a Book I’ll Never Write, Perhaps the Best Thing (via sunflowerletters)

Flexible Time Blocking: A More Breathable Way to Get Things Done

I’ve met a lot of people who struggle with sticking to a schedule - myself included - so here’s one way you can get things done without restricting your spontaneity.

Linked: The ABCDE Method: Accomplish Tasks More Efficiently

Hope this helps!

Good luck! (ᵔᴥᵔ)

At 17, I was a depressed teenager who self harmed and wondered about just how painful it could possibly be to end my life.

Right now, I’m laying on the couch, and I can hear my husband reading our four year old a bedtime story using silly voices.

Life gets better. Make sure you’re there to see it.

Wise words from @appsademia on twitter

the greatest skill a woman can learn for herself is self reliance

A Really Fucking Vulgar Guide to Not Losing Your Shit in College (Condensed Version)

Bitches love to put things into lists. Moreover, bitches love numbered shit. Here’s some numbered shit in list format to help you not suck in higher education. You’re welcome.

1. Go to class. Like 210% serious. I don’t give a shit if you’re a get by on nothing, A+ slacker. You’re fucking paying for this crap so you might as well get the services owed to you. Take your ass to class even if you zone out 99% of the time. You know 1% more than you did when you walked up in there. Congrats, asshole.

2. All that free time you have during your first week of classes? Make it your bitch. Don’t just print the goddamn syllabus and be like all done. No motherfucker. Take a good fucking look at that assignment list. What’s due next week? Yeah, do that shit now bc I know you don’t have anything else to do. Then when you’re coughing up a lung six weeks into the semester and don’t feel like getting your ass up to do that calculus homework, you’ll remember this week. You’ll remember that you’ve been a week ahead this whole damn semester. Pat yourself on the back, ass wipe.

3. Prepare yo self. No seriously. You got notes to print for class? Sure you could be like all those other bitches and just shove them into your backpack, or you could actually /prepare/ for class. I’m talking looking that shit over, identifying key concepts, getting a decent grasp of the material before your ass is even in class. You a STEM major? Yeah, make this kinda shit your life because now class is like one bomb ass group review session. Again, you’re welcome.

4. Snack like a motherfucker, but save that junk food shit for the weekends. From now on, you are a fucking health guru during the week or if you’re a slacker like me, at least on the days you have class. Fruits? Hell yeah. Pack some of those. Mind wandering in class? Snack on some apple slices. Can’t stay awake? Keep eating some almonds or some shit, but don’t be that bitch with the potato chips. Just don’t.

5. Read. Yeah, you heard me. Read and I’m not just talking assigned reading. I bet my left butt cheek that your campus library has /something/ of interest to you. Commuting and don’t want to drive out there? Library databases bro. We’re in the digital age, motherfucker. I’d bet my other butt cheek that the shit you want is in a nice little PDF somewhere. But na man, you thinking maybe you want to go into computer science? Check out computer science books and eat them up bro. You don’t like reading them? Probably not the field for you. You a biology major in your second year? Yeah dumbass. Time to break out the bio books and not the ones your professor is shoving in your face. Amaze your friends and teachers with your out of class knowledge. Be a fucking star.

General School Tips

Stay organized.

Organization is hard for some and easy for others. I recommend having a planner of some sort, a folder, and pencil case, and some sort of system to stay organized.

Have a planner. 

You can use any type of planner. I Personally use a Bullet Journal style system in a dotted journal. But you can use a pre printed planner, your phone, a printable or some other form of planner, its up to you. Just have one and use it, write due dates, test/quiz dates, birthdays, holidays, and even your daily tasks. I wrote my work i got in class down as soon as i got it and if i finished it i crossed it out. I would write down websites and little notes to not forget things also. A place to put all of those random thoughts you have can reduce stress

Turn things in on time. 

This one seems like common sense but I will still address it because I personally know people who never turned things in and still expected the teacher to pass them. You cannot get a grade with out turning things in. If your teachers is fine with you turning it in late than turn it it. Anything is better than a zero in the grade book. 

Ask questions. 

I get it, you think your smart enough or good enough or even afraid to ask questions. But teachers are paid to do just that. Their job is to teach you so if you are having trouble with something ask. Also don’t be afraid to ask a question during class. Raise your hand and ask, someone else may have a similar question, it will make the teachers life easier.

Take breaks.

If you find yourself feeling stressed or overwhelmed, take a break. If you’re at home stand up and walk around, get a drink or something to snack on. Get some air. If you are in class ask to go to the bathroom or to get some water. If you cant leave the room then stretch your arms in front or above you and take some breaths. I found that if I couldn’t focus or was stressed that mindless doodling on a blank page for a bit helped.

Find a study style. 

There are many ways to study. Reading over notes/books, rewriting notes, condensing info onto flash cards, quizlet, or using memory tricks. Just find one that suits your life and try different ones out. Personally I like rewriting my notes when I have the time or I will condense my notes onto a flash card using an erasable pen. The ink erased with heat so I would have a candle on my desk and waved the card over it to erase. I would do this while writing the info over and over again until I memorized it.

Write your info on your stuff. 

If you are prone to leaving things around like I am, write your name, the class, the teacher, the period and the room of the class. If you have a water bottle or something not for a class just put your name and maybe a way to contact you.

Carry a water bottle. 

I would highly recommend you have a bottle, just make sure it follows your schools policies. 

Have just in case stuff. 

When I say just in case I mean things like pain relief, allergy medicine, deodorant, maybe some cough drops, and if you have a period, some spare products. Just have things you may need.

It’s never too late to start recovery

There are three rules.

1. If you do not go after what you want, you will never have it. 

2. If you do not ask, the answer will always be no. 

3. If you do not step forward, you will remain in the same place. 

Helpful Books To Learn Languages

French

50 Ways To Improve Your French

Barron’s French Idioms

Learn French: The Fast And Fun Way (This book has tons of great worksheets and everything. It’s great for learning French!)

2,001 Most Useful French Words

Say It Right in French: The Easy Way to Pronounce Correctly 

Streetwise French

Berlitz Hide This French Phrase Book

Italian

50 Ways To Improve Your Italian

Berlitz Self-Teacher Italian (Personally, I don’t really care for these types of books, mainly because I don’t the things you learn in the first few chapters. Unless you have a base in the language, I don’t think this book will work for you.)

Learn Italian: The Fast And Fun Way (This book has tons of great worksheets and everything. It’s great for learning Italian!)

Barron’s Italian Idioms 

Easy Italian Phrase Book: 770 Basic Phrases for Everyday Use 

Correct Your Italian Blunders

Spanish

50 Ways To Improve Your Spanish

Correct Your Spanish Blunders 

Just Enough Spanish

Dirty Spanish - Warning: This is really vulgar.

Barron’s Complete Spanish Grammar Review 

Making Out in Spanish (I think this title is great. I’ve never read this book, but if you’re looking for slang/everyday Spanish, this seems like a pretty good book.)

Ven Conmigo! Grammar and Vocabulary Workbook: Level 1 (This is the actual workbook I use in my Spanish 1 class. It is great and I love it. If you want to teach yourself Spanish, I highly recommend getting a workbook like this.)

Hide This Spanish Book (This has a lot for a small book. Mainly just some basic phrases, along with some that are more vulgar.)

Hide This Spanish Book for Lovers (The title speaks for itself…)  

Mierda! The Real Spanish You Were Never Taught In School

Say It Right In Spanish

German

50 Ways To Improve Your German

Dirty German - Warning: This is really vulgar.

Say It Right In German: The Easy Way to Pronounce Correctly

Easy Way to Enlarge Your German Vocabulary

Barron’s German Idioms

The Tell-Tale Heart - If you want to read in German, this seems like a pretty good book to get. 

German-English Visual Dictionary

Scheisse!: The Real German You Were Never Taught In School - I love all these books. They have them in every language (The title means “Shit”). Although it doesn’t have the pronunciations, its still pretty great for the vocabulary it has. It’s a bit vulgar though, but not too bad.

Portuguese 

Just Enough Portuguese: How to Get by and Be Easily Understood

Portuguese Verb and Essentials of Grammar

Berlitz Portuguese Phrase Books & Dictionary

51 Portuguese Idioms - Speak Like a Brazilian 

Arabic

Arabic-English Visual Dictionary

The Arabic Alphabet: How to Read and Write It

First 100 Words In Arabic

Learn Arabic: The Fast and Fun Way

Making Out In Arabic  

Instant Arabic!

Japanese

Berlitz Concise Dictionary

Essential Kanji: 2,000 Basic Japanese Characters

Colloquial Kansai Japanese: The Dialects and Culture of the Kansai Region

Speak Japanese Today 

Making Out In Japanese - I just bought this book, and it seems pretty great. 

More Making Out In Japanese 

Korean

Say It Right In Korean 

Korean Made Easy

Instant Korean

First 100 Words In Korean

Making Out In Korean

More Making Out In Korean

Korean For Travelers - I think this might only be a Nook book, which kind of sucks.

Dirty Korean -  Warning: This is really vulgar.  

Basic Korean: Workbook

Intermediate Korean: Workbook - I’m not sure if this is worth getting because of the price, but it seems like a helpful book

Korean At A Glance

Teach Me Everyday Korean

Chinese

Making Out In Chinese (I think this title is great. I’ve never read this book, but if you’re looking for slang/everyday Chinese, this seems like a pretty good book.)

Mandarin Chinese - English Visual Dictionary

Survival Chinese 

Get Talking Chinese - This book is so great. It’s kind of like a children’s book, but for learning basic Chinese, it’s great.

Hide This Mandarin Chinese Phrase Book 

Instant Chinese!

Polish

Say It In Polish 

Berlitz Polish Concise Dictionary

Berlitz Polish Phrasebook and Dictionary

Polish: An Essential Grammar

Russian

Learn Russian: The Fast and Fun Way

Say It Right In Russian

Russian Vocabulary

Dermo!: The Real Russian Tolstoy Never Used

Russian At A Glance

Just Enough Russian

General Language Books

Barron’s 501 Verbs (comes in French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Latin, Japanese, Hebrew, Arabic, English and German)

Note: I love Berlitz and Barron books for learning languages. Most are just reference books for verbs, grammar, or basic phrases instead of textbooks. But once you have a base in the language, they help you improve so much. I highly recommend buying any Berlitz or Barron language books. I love the 50 Ways To Improve Your books. They are the best grammar/vocab/correction language books ever. I use the Spanish one to help teach myself Spanish, and I absolutely love it. And it isn’t very expensive either!

for future reference

å bestille- to order bolle- bun dessert- dessert drikker- drinks frokost- breakfast iskaffe- iced coffee iste- iced tea kafé- café kaffe- coffee kake- cake, pastry koffein- caffeine koffeinfri- decaf (also decaf) lunsj- lunch mat- food meny- menu middag- lunch smørbrød- sandwich te- tea vaffel- waffle vann- water varm sjokolade- hot chocolate (also: kakao)

hasselnøtt- hazelnut hvit sjokolade- white chocolate kanel- cinnamon karamell- caramel melk- milk melkesjokolade- milk chocolate mørk- dark (i.e. mørk kakao) muskat- nutmeg mynte- mint sjokolade- chocolate sukker- sugar vanilje- vanilla

liten- small stor- large

ta med- to go (bring with) bli her- to stay

hva vil du ha?- what would you like? hvordan kan jeg hjelpe deg?- how can i help you? noe å spise til?- something to eat with it? jeg skal ha- i’ll have jeg vil gjerne ha- i would like jeg tar- i’ll take kan jeg ha- can i have værsågod- here you go tusen takk- thank you very much takk skal du ha- thank you

things to pay attention to

the tiny specks of colour in their eyes

the bass and background sounds in a song

starlight on a cloudy night

how someone looks when they think nobody can see them

the mannerisms of a stranger

real meanings behind spoken words

subtle facial expressions which last a second

the underlying flavours in food

emotions that a friend is trying to hide

little lights in a sleeping city

flowers growing through cracks in the pavement

the mixed colour palette in a piece of art

the melody of someone’s voice

US Helplines:

Depression Hotline: 1-630-482-9696

Suicide Hotline: 1-800-784-8433

LifeLine: 1-800-273-8255

Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386

Sexuality Support: 1-800-246-7743

Eating Disorders Hotline: 1-847-831-3438

Rape and Sexual Assault: 1-800-656-4673

Grief Support: 1-650-321-5272

Runaway: 1-800-843-5200, 1-800-843-5678, 1-800-621-4000

Exhale: After Abortion Hotline/Pro-Voice: 1-866-4394253

Child Abuse: 1-800-422-4453

UK Helplines:

Samaritans (for any problem): 08457909090 e-mail jo@samaritans.org

Childline (for anyone under 18 with any problem): 08001111

Mind infoline (mental health information): 0300 123 3393 e-mail: info@mind.org.uk

Mind legal advice (for people who need mental-health related legal advice): 0300 466 6463 legal@mind.org.uk

b-eat eating disorder support: 0845 634 14 14 (only open Mon-Fri 10.30am-8.30pm and Saturday 1pm-4.30pm) e-mail: help@b-eat.co.uk

b-eat youthline (for under 25’s with eating disorders): 08456347650 (open Mon-Fri 4.30pm - 8.30pm, Saturday 1pm-4.30pm)

Cruse Bereavement Care: 08444779400 e-mail: helpline@cruse.org.uk

Frank (information and advice on drugs): 0800776600

Drinkline: 0800 9178282

Rape Crisis England & Wales: 0808 802 9999 1(open 2 - 2.30pm 7 - 9.30pm) e-mail info@rapecrisis.org.uk

Rape Crisis Scotland: 08088 01 03 02 every day, 6pm to midnight

India Self Harm Hotline: 00 08001006614

India Suicide Helpline: 022-27546669

Kids Help Phone (Canada): 1-800-668-6868

FREE 24/7 suicide hotlines:

Argentina: 54-0223-493-0430

Australia: 13-11-14

Austria: 01-713-3374

Barbados: 429-9999

Belgium: 106

Botswana: 391-1270

Brazil: 21-233-9191

China: 852-2382-0000

(Hong Kong: 2389-2222)

Costa Rica: 606-253-5439

Croatia: 01-4833-888

Cyprus: 357-77-77-72-67

Czech Republic: 222-580-697, 476-701-908

Denmark: 70-201-201

Egypt: 762-1602

Estonia: 6-558-088

Finland: 040-5032199

France: 01-45-39-4000

Germany: 0800-181-0721

Greece: 1018

Guatemala: 502-234-1239

Holland: 0900-0767

Honduras: 504-237-3623

Hungary: 06-80-820-111

Iceland: 44-0-8457-90-90-90

Israel: 09-8892333

Italy: 06-705-4444

Japan: 3-5286-9090

Latvia: 6722-2922, 2772-2292

Malaysia: 03-756-8144

(Singapore: 1-800-221-4444)

Mexico: 525-510-2550

Netherlands: 0900-0767

New Zealand: 4-473-9739

New Guinea: 675-326-0011

Nicaragua: 505-268-6171

Norway: 47-815-33-300

Philippines: 02-896-9191

Poland: 52-70-000

Portugal: 239-72-10-10

Russia: 8-20-222-82-10

Spain: 91-459-00-50

South Africa: 0861-322-322

South Korea: 2-715-8600

Sweden: 031-711-2400

Switzerland: 143

Taiwan: 0800-788-995

Thailand: 02-249-9977

Trinidad and Tobago: 868-645-2800

Ukraine: 0487-327715

(Source)

Hey, it’s me

So, I’ve been hanging around the studyblr community for a couple of weeks now, and it hit me that I’ve never done an introduction or anything. So, here’s a little bit about me.

- Alex

- Australia

- Highschool

- Slytherin

- In my third year of learning German and am planning on going on exchange soon

- I play trumpet 

Uh, and yeah, that's about it really, I’m kinda boring but it’s fine. Have a nice life!

OH! message me if you want to be friends or something.

Writing an essay without any structure is like trying to find your way around an unfamiliar place without a map; frustrating, ineffective, and a bit of a garbled mess. Structure gives your essay a clear voice and coherency and makes marking a lot easier for your teacher or tutor! Here are a few general tips I often use when writing essays to maximise the effect of my argument and achieve the best results I can both in high school and university.

Text structure While the content of essays varies, the skeleton structure never changes. In order to clearly articulate an idea, an essay needs a beginning, middle, and an end. 

Introduction

Start with a macro sentence - use an interesting quote, fact, or idea which gives the reader a broad sense of what your essay will cover. This is the reader’s first impression of your essay and can determine their whole attitude while reading it, so make it effective!

Briefly outline the main ideas and thesis - in absence of an abstract, your introduction will need to show the main ideas you will be covering so as to support your thesis, or answer the essay question. You will need to clearly express your position and how you intend to argue the point.

Set the limits - sometimes, the scope of an essay question can be very broad, or perhaps there’s a focus to your thesis not all ready indicated. Define the limits of your essay, whether they be a set of years for a history topic, or looking at specific artists who contributed to an art style.

Define key terms - if a term is important to the understanding of your essay, or perhaps you’ve taken your own approach to its meaning, be sure to define it in your introduction!

Body

Separate each idea into a paragraph - ideas can generally be separated chronologically or conceptually. The section below explores this in more detail! 

Start every paragraph with a topic sentence - introduce what the paragraph will discuss and how it relates to your thesis. Signpost it with critical words to make it easier to understand exactly what you are addressing. Ensure it is clear and to the point!

Make a claim and the support it - like in reality, when you make a claim you need to provide evidence to support it so it can be taken seriously. Make your claim early on in the paragraph, generally in the topic sentence, give relevant detail and explanation, analyse it, and then justify it with authoritative quotes, sources, examples, etc.

End every paragraph with a linking sentence - refer back to your thesis or question and make sure what you set out to cover in the paragraph actually addresses it! This is an opportunity to draw a link between this paragraph and the next.

Conclusion

Do more than just restate your points - your conclusion is more than just a rehash of your introduction. Link ideas together and demonstrate how they are interconnected on a less superficial level. An English teacher once told me, your essay is like a mountain. You put in all your hard work to climb it in your introduction and body paragraphs, your conclusion is a chance to look back, make connections where there were none before, and solidify your argument. 

Establish the overarching theme and idea - what idea underlies all the points you have made? How does it relate to your thesis?

Draw a profound and insightful conclusion - what are the implications of this? Is there relevance today? This can transform a standard essay into a more profound and overall, more interesting essay.

Don’t introduce any new information - your essay is complete! All your information should have been expressed in the body paragraphs, so nothing new should be introduced here.

Reaffirm your thesis - restate it with some finality! Your body has provided all this evidence to support it, remind them of this.

Chronological or Conceptual? For the most part, an essay can take one of two approaches; a chronological approach, where each body paragraph follows the text, history, etc., sequentially, or a conceptual approach, where the main idea is broken down into its constituent elements, each addressed in their own paragraph(s).

 In my experience, conceptual essays usually score higher, showing a greater sense of understanding of the topic and its inner workings. You can demonstrate a funnel effect more easily, where each element funnels down from its body paragraph to the conclusion, contributing to the overall idea of the essay. A chronological approach, however, can be easier to follow and is occasionally implicit within the essay question. Choosing which approach to use depends on which you are comfortable writing with, the demands of the essay or your teacher, and can vary from essay to essay. 

Continuity and Cohesion Something I think is highly underrated, yet critical to holding an essay together, is transition words and phrases. They create continuity and cohesion between ideas and paragraphs, and serve as a bridge of sorts within your overall structure. Here are a few posts which have comprehensive lists of transition words and phrases:

Transition Words for Essays - @staedtlers-and-stabilos Essay Transition Phrases - @study-like-you-mean-it Transition Words For Your Essays - @soniastudyblr

I hope this can help with structuring your essays and getting the best marks you can! Please message me if you have any questions :)

Other essay writing posts: How to reduce your word count Understanding the Question How to Write a Killer Unprepared Text Essay

Tumblr Resources to Get You Through the School Year!

Hi guys!! Thank you all so much for your support!!! Happy 250 (EDIT: I SPENT A DAY ON THIS AND NOW IM PAST 300) and hope you all have a great start to the month! The community is more welcoming with all of you - I haven’t faced negativity from anyone at all. None of these are my posts - but they’ve helped me out a lot. With that said - let’s get started:

For bujos/planners:

This is one of my side blogs, and has tons of inspiration for weekly and monthly spreads, as well as a few aesthetic ideas and how to start one. I update this constantly.

How to start a studyblr - Studyblrs with creative fields

Lighting (for photos)

Study spreads

Planning your month

Printables (the same as some used down there but in a different category):

Weekly printable

To - do printable

Cornell Notes printable

Back to school printables

Daily Planner  @theorganisedstudent

Weekly Planner II @theorganisedstudent

Essay Planner @theorganisedstudent

Assignment Planner @theorganisedstudent

Assignment Tracker

Novel Notes

Plot Diagrams

Correction Sheets

Grid & lined paper

Weekly schedule for studying

Printables masterpost

Exam printable & how to use it

2018 Calender set (by my QUEEN @emmastudies)

For students:

Exams & Studying:

Exam revision guide

How to beat different types of procrastination

How to deal with a crappy teacher (this has to do with studying ig)

Study tips!! (its a masterpost)

Exam Printable & How to Use it

Exam & Homework tips

Coping with hell i mean exams i mean hell

A cool studying outline to try

This is my favorite thing and it’s when to use certain remembering techniques

Correction Sheets

Memorization tips for different learners

Weekly study schedule

More sites to use in normal studying routines

How to study smarter and not harder

Study smarter II

Exam printable & how to use it

Self discipline 

Study methods

Hoe tips for school and studying

Studying masterpoint

Tips and tricks to studying

Study tip - so easy

How to stay organized to study

Note - Taking:

Lecture notes

How i set up flash cards (these are nice to study from but be determined to finish setting them up)

Nifty highlighting idea (this post is so old)

Highlighting idea that i actually use

How to take Cornell Notes

Cornell style notes printable (gridded)

Notebook paper (grid & lined)

Tips for pretty notes!!

How to take notes

Notes for different classes

Life, man & general school stuff:

Back - to -school guide

Things I learned as a college freshman

Get ORGANIZED

Textbooks are expensive so here’s some free ones…

Tips for working students that sound extra but may work for u ily don’t overwork urselves

Masterpost for motivation and stuff

Get ur life together again bc haha i stay organized for like a day anyway

School supplies that u should have just to stay minimal

Grad school tips

Organization masterpost

Productive afterschool routine

30 websites to kill boredom

Back to school masterpost

Get confident in presentations

Overcome procrastination

Succeeding in school masterpost

For bad days 

For bad days II

A GOOD MASTERPOST for getting ur life together 

General school tips 

Free online courses

GOOD POWERPOINT TIPS

Sites to learns stuff

More learning stuff sites

Dealing with a trashy class

Study resources masterpost

Summer Productivity

Summer life tips

PLEASE READ THIS THIS IS SUCH AN IMPORTANT MASTERPOST 

Honest guide to college 

University tips

SCHOOL MINDSET

What to do on Sundays

Back to school masterpost

Useful things for going back to school

How to clean your house

Cute self care tips!

More self care tips

Plant care tips!

English:

A handy list of words to fit into ur essays

How to write an article like a journalist

Words to replace over-used words

ESSAY STRUCTURE IDEA this is in bold so u losers don’t miss this bc it’s not just for English u nerds

Get gucci while reading and be an active reader

Get gud reading them academic articles amigo

Words to replace “the author or whatever shows…” bc that is baby writing and i accidentally used that on an essay and i failed so

Novel notes

Plot Diagrams

Reading Lists

Literary techniques (what themes, personifications, metaphors are etc)

Discussing in English

How to top a literature class

Literature class masterpost

Strong/weak verbs

More essay tips!!

MLA format - a how to

ESSAY GRADER.

How to avoid essay cliches

Chemistry (I’m taking chem so i have a few resources aha)

Da terms on exam papers

Chemistry resources masterpost

Cute periodic tables

Study chapters

History/Social Studies

How to write a history paper

AP world history powerpoints masterpost

Math 

General tips

Resources

Understanding math masterpost

Test Prep

PSAT I

PSAT II

ACT tips!

100 words for the SATs (start studying early!!)

Thank you so much for the support! I couldn’t have done it without all of you. A simple reblog or like will help others see these tips, and will be very appreciated. I hope these links work - feel free to message me with questions and other links!! A possible part 2 might come out at the end of august, and one for languages!!!

I... don’t want to do this, but I don’t know what else to do...

I am $105 short this month. My card was charged without permission, and the people are saying that they will not refund it and will only credit my account for the next month. I have bills & debts that I absolutely need to pay and cannot put off any longer. If anyone can give even $1, I would immensely appreciate it.

Here is my PayPal. My CashApp is $allthatsknown. Thank you.

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!

That feeling of driving down an empty highway, screaming the lyrics Bohemian Rhapsody at 11:48 pm is something I want to be able to experience, always.

Skipping Lectures: How to ditch class and get good grades

Studitonious loves 8am lectures. Every day he cartwheels to class, radiant with the joy of acquiring new knowledge. Morning coffee? Ha! That’s for uncultured plebeians. He has no need for caffeine when he has his daily shot of morning eDUCATION!!! 

Here’s the thing - Studitonious doesn’t exist. Or if he does, he needs to get some serious help. Yet, there seems to be a common misconception that a “perfect student” must emulate this model. 

Getting up at the crack of dawn? Well, you don’t need to get up if you never go to sleep… #lifehacks. Oh, there’s a blizzard outside? No biggie, the cold never bothered me anyway. Everything is worth it because getting good grades is all. so. wonderful. Right?

Well, here’s a thought. What if you don’t have to attend all your lectures to get good grades? What if instead of forcing study habits that work against us, we develop flexible routines that work for us? What if we began studying smarter, not harder?

Let’s get one thing straight - not all lectures are created equal. There’s a big difference between ditching class to binge your latest Netflix obsession vs. ditching class because it’s counterproductive to your learning. Here are a few factors to consider:

Is attendance compulsory?

Does participation contribute to your grade? Do you have any in-lecture assessments? 

If the answer is “yes”, then go to your lecture. The mark may only be worth 5%, but would you rather have 5% added or deducted from your grade?

Are your lectures recorded?

At my university, all lectures are automatically recorded due to Access & Inclusion policies but this isn’t the case across the board.

If there’s any lecture-exclusive content (i.e. content discussed in lectures but not in the slides, group activities etc.) and your lectures are not recorded it’s a good idea to attend.

Is the content actually helpful?

Does the lecture aid your learning in a way that other mediums (reading lecture slides/the textbook, attending tutorials/labs etc.) do not? For instance, if your lecturer just reads off the slides, you can save time by looking at them yourself.

Is your subject more “hands-on”? For courses that are more heavily based on solving problems, I often find doing the problems myself way more helpful than watching my lecturer solve them.

How dense is the content of each lecture? Sometimes, there is simply too much to absorb in the given time slot. E.g. I once had a flipped class that had a brief 1-hour intro lecture to a week’s worth of content. Since it just briefly skimmed over everything, it was more worthwhile to study the concepts in detail myself.

Do you actually pay attention to the lecture?

Are you actually awake? I once had a friend tell me he attended all his 8am lectures despite always falling asleep because he “just felt like he should”. Bro, sleep.

How engaging is the lecturer? Obviously, you shouldn’t skip a class just because the lecturer is “boring” but there is a certain point where the line is crossed. In first year, one of my professors took long pauses between every second word and spoke very s l o w l y. Needless to say, he was much easier to listen to at 2x speed.

Note: there is a significant difference between a bad lecturer and just being distracted. If it’s your meme addiction, not the quality of your lecturer that’s making you lose focus, turn off your phone.

Other factors to consider:

Do you have any other commitments (e.g. other courses, work etc.) at the same time? While it would be nice to try and re-arrange your schedule sometimes things just don’t work out.

Are you sick? If you’re feeling rough mentally or physically, you should consider taking a day off.

Ok, so you’ve decided that you’re better off not attending your lecture but what should you actually do instead? How do you deal with this newfound flexibility and freedom?

Develop a study routine (and stick with it)

The key to skipping class successfully is just doing consistent work. If your lecture is 2 hours long, pencil in a 2-hour study session.

It’s important to maintain a sense of regularity and routine. Treat your study sessions like a compulsory class - do them at the same time each week. It may even help to study at the intended lecture time.

The most common pitfall is to go “Oh it’s easy, I’ll just skip my lecture and do xyz instead”… but never do xyz.

Identify the lecture’s problems and provide solutions

Why exactly did you decide to skip your lecture? How are you going to make your independent study more effective? If you don’t do something more useful with this “free time”, you’re just wasting it. Be specific.

Here are a few examples:

 Problem: Lecturer speaks too slowly. Solution: Watch the lecture recordings at a faster speed.

 Problem: Lecturer just reads off the slides, providing no new content. Solution: Read the slides yourself, making your own notes and saving yourself time.

Problem: The lecture is too theoretical in comparison to the assessment scheme. Solution: Do more practice problems instead of just going over abstract concepts.

Find a study group

Having friends who take the same course can honestly make the experience so much better.

It can also help increase accountability. For instance, you would probably feel more guilty ditching a group vs. solo study session.

However, this can be a double-edged sword. Sometimes my “study sessions” with friends will just dissolve into us looking at memes for hours. Make sure you’re actually going to study!

Banter is great, but remember when to have fun, and when you need to focus and get shit done.

HOW TO TEACH YOURSELF LANGUAGES SUPER EFFICIENTLY

I write this bcz I’m a huge language enthusiast and I’m frustrated about the way most methods and language classes/courses approach the process of learning. I’m not a professional but I have a lot of experience in studying foreign languages: I have taught myself Lithuanian and reached the upper intermediate level (B2) in 4-5 years without much help from others, and in Spanish reaching the same level took me only 2 years bcz I simultaneously studied it at school and already knowing French helped me a little. I want to help everyone who wants to start a new language, does not have the possibility to join a language course or just feels frustrated of the stagnation they might experience in the early phase of learning a foreign language.

So, if you want to learn a new language, I suggest following tips:

• Immerse yourself from the beginning! This is really important so that you can get yourself familiar with the intonation and pronunciation of the language. Listen to radio or tv and try to read whatever you can (ingredient lists from the food packages, newspaper articles, whatever!) it doesn’t matter if you can’t understand much yet, it will come! If you start a language with a new alphabet learn the alphabet really well first thing.

• Get an overview of the grammatical structure of the language! This is often not properly done in language courses where you learn some vocabulary and greetings but after 60 pages of the textbook you still have no idea how many verb tenses or noun cases the language has. Take a look even at the “hardest” topics, bcz they might not be that hard after all. (for example the Spanish equivalent of past perfect is much easier than the present tense) 

 • With that being said, learn to recognise past tenses even when you are still learning the present tense! I find it absurd that most courses expect you to master present tense _perfectly_ before even taking a look at other tenses. Most of the time, in everyday communication, past tenses are used more frequently than the present tense + in some languages mastering the past tense can also help you to form the conditional. So, learn the past tense earlier than most ppl would recommend!

 • In general, study the easiest things first! If you find something particularly difficult you gain more confidence and knowledge if you first focus on what you find more interesting (however, you can’t postpone studying boring topics eternally, especially if you are preparing or hoping to prepare for an exam at some point) In Lithuanian, I taught myself a lot of grammar before learning how to tell the time… and it was ok.

• For material: usually the country’s universities have a reading list on their website which proposes what books one could use to study the language. These are often preferable to handbooks aimed for tourists and some language methods for beginners because those mostly focus on useless vocabulary you might only need when you rent a car or book a room in a hotel. The grammar is often also relatively poorly explained in those “tourist language books”, whereas books that are aimed at immigrants or university students usually focus more on the efficient language acquisition and are written by professors and specialists. If you are persistent enough and google all possible search words in both English and the target language,  you can probably find whole textbooks in PDF format, which you can then save on your laptop.

• Don’t get stuck on vocabulary! Remember that grammar is the skeleton of the language and that vocabulary is the muscles hair and eventually the clothes you use to dress up and embellish your apperance. Vocabulary is useful once you know how to use it. For me, learning vocab is the hardest part of a new language, especially bcz I like starting languages that are not really similar to any other languages I know (consider Lithuanian and Greek when I previously knew Finnish, English, French and Spanish) ofc you need to learn some of it to be able to form sentences but most traditional methods focus on that too much. My suggestion is to read a lot: start by children’s books and comics and gradually get more advanced material. When you read them, make notes!! Look up the words you don’t know and don’t be afraid of using unconventional, seemingly challenging ways to learn, such as buying a bilingual poetry collection and trying to decipher what the original poem says and compare it to the translation. 100% recommend, even for the beginner level + it’s a nice way to connect to the culture but still focus on the language itself, not on the way ppl make breakfast in that country. (That’s something that irritates me a lot in most Youtube’s language videos where ppl are just discussing the traditions of the country in English when you had come there to look for the explanation of grammatical structures or just to hear the language being spoken. smh.)

• A really important thing about vocabulary is to learn all the abstract words, such as conjunctions, really soon! For example, if you find yourself in a situation where you have to use the words therefore and otherwise,  it is almost impossible to try to explain those words without first translating them to another language. 

• Make vocabulary learning more interesting and deep by learning about the etymology of the words you learn. It can be mind-blowing and it helps you to remember the words better.

That’s it!

I hope these tips inspire you in pursuing your interest in foreign languages and facilitate your learning process. I might add more to this if I remember I have forgotten something of great importance. 

may you get a sign this week that shows you that you’re on the right path and that things are flowing and moving in your favor. may the sign be evident, clear, and direct

Staying Sane During Exams

Speaking as someone with both depression and anxiety, I know it can be easy to forget you have a life during exam week. SO, I have some tips on staying sane.

Don’t sacrifice your health. That means:

Drink plenty of water

Shower

Make sure you eat meals and snacks

Go outside, even for just a minute

Get some exercise

BREATHE

It’ll be ok. You can do this. 

a list of simple yet beautiful things to live for:

the feeling of sunlight on your skin

the smell of pastries as you pass by a bakery

being wrapped up in a blanket with a cup of hot chocolate in your hands on a cold night

holding hands with the person you can’t imagine living without

discovering a new favorite song and listening to it on repeat

having a relaxing bath after a long exhausting day

secretly admiring a beautiful stranger you saw on the train

Reblog if you're gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, transgender or a supporter.

This should be reblogged by everyone. Even if you’re straight, you should be a supporter.