04:10 PM // Hello! I Made These Mind Maps A Few Days Ago. I’m Really Proud Of Them Considering I Never

{28/03/15} - It’s embarrassing how much making these excites me… trying to make a subject I find boring a little more amusing and I think it’s working?

PLEASE MAKE A REAL COLLEGE TIPS POST BC I WAS TRUSTING THE ONE FROM THE FIRST YEAR UNTIL NOW

minimize gaps in your schedule if you’re commuting unless you work better on campus, in which case schedule large gaps and stay on campus all day

use academic advising services as early as possible to formulate your post-grad plan. don’t leave it until third or fourth year and risk missing prereqs, work/volunteer experience or references

networking sucks ass but guess what? you have to do it. figure out what your classmates are doing, who they’re speaking to, etc

make sure your profs know you. sit near the front, see them during office hours (make up questions if you have to), attend events, pick their brains. you might get an academic reference out of it or even a grad student position 

you most likely have an online portal. visit it hourly. leave it for even a day and you will miss something

find out what textbooks you need before the semester starts and download the e-book, buy it used, whatever. just don’t fuck yourself over within the first couple weeks waiting for your book to arrive

read your syllabus very carefully. set all dates in your phone with an alarm days prior

get credit audits every year to make sure you’re on track to graduating when you anticipate

don’t take evening classes. you’ll never get anything done prior to class like you planned. ever. 

{ 06.09.15 } » did someone say making posters?

This fake brain actually has the same consistency as the real deal. So now you know how concussions happen! 

mapping some chem notes

[02.01.18] Hi everyone! I have received a lot of feedback on my one page note summaries. I had always planned on sharing some of them with you all in PDF format but never had the time to. So here are some of my favorites and most requested! :D

Amino Acids

Cross-Bridge Cycle

Hypothalamic-Pituitary Axis

Mitochondria & Electron Transport Chain

The Digestive System Overview

The Kidney Overview

The Periodic Table & Trends

Viruses

i never used to do notes for any classes but this year i promised myself to put effort into making my notes look decent and it’s definitely a work in progress ✨

HELLO AGAIN EVERYONE! 

I thought that since in the last few days I’ve been working on organizing my school supplies I share a bit about how i organize my binders! I hope this helps some of you a little bit! :)

Things You’ll Need:

One set of dividers for each binder

One 1 ½” binder per class, per semester

Optional Supplies:

Labels

Step One:

Lay out one full set of your dividers and decide what kind of organizational scheme you’re going for. Possible systems include:

Chronological Order – This is usually the best choice if you haven’t received or won’t receive a full and detailed class syllabus. In this system your first divider will show you where all of your important documents for the class are held (for example: you might put thing like project outlines here). The next divider will separate where regular handouts and class work from the rest of your papers. After your handouts, you’ll want to create a section for your in-class notes. Following this, you’ll want to place a divider to separate your homework assignments. These two sections are where the chronology of the class comes into play, because you’ll want to date everything and keep it in chronological order. After your homework assignments you’ll want one final divider so that you have a place to keep all of the marked tests and assignment rubrics you’ve got back from your teacher/professor.

The Sandwich – This system works best when you receive a full and detailed class syllabus. At the front of your binder, create a section using one divider for important documents (like the syllabus). After this, create one section for each major unit you’ll be covering in class. After these sections, you want one final one for tests and rubrics that have been graded and handed back to you.

If you feel that colour coding helps you stay organized, try to stick to one system for all of your binders; this way you can use the same colours in all of your binders for their respective sections (e.g., red for important documents, green for graded tests/rubrics, etc.).

(Optional) Step Two:

If you’re planning on labeling all of your binders, now would be a perfect time to do so. Possible uses for the labels might include: using one on the front/spine of the binder detailing the name of the class, the teacher, and the building and room in which it’s held, or using them to label each of your dividers with the names of their sections.

Step Three:

Insert all of your dividers into your binders, making sure to add a little bit of loose-leaf paper where you need to. If you’re using a notebook instead of loose-leaf for your homework or other things, make sure you still add a bit of paper – just for those days when you’re in a rush or you’re just not feeling well and you totally didn’t forget your notebook… ;)

Step Four:

Step back and admire your work, then remind yourself that the things that go in these binders are important, but they aren’t so important that they can ruin your life. You’ll be okay if you don’t reach your targets, but that shouldn’t stop you from trying to reach them. Do your best and recognize that that’s the extent of what you can do. I believe in you.

Now before I finish, I’d like to add a small disclaimer: by no means am I saying that the methods of organization are the only or the best methods to use, however they are the ones I’ve always used and I’ve found they work quite well. If your teacher wants you to organize in a certain way, use that way, and if you have a system that you like and find works well for you, feel free to message me – I’d love to learn about it!

I hope everyone has/has had a wonderful first few weeks of school! If you haven’t or you’re feeling overwhelmed, my ask is ALWAYS open if you want to talk! I love you all, and I BELIEVE IN ALL OF YOU ♥

There are three major approaches to note taking, each of which will be outlined and described in this post:

Outlining:  

Outlining is an effective way to capture the hierarchical relationships between ideas. In a history class, you might write the name of an important leader, and under it the key events they were involved in. Outlining is a great way to take notes from books, because the author has usually organized the material in a     fairly effective way, and you can go from start to end of a chapter and simply reproduce the same structure in your notes. Place major points farthest to the left. Indent each more specific point farther to the right. 

The advantage of this is that level of importance is indicated by distance away from left margin.

For lectures, outlining has limitations. The relationship between ideas isn’t always hierarchical, and the instructor might jump around a lot.

Requires more thought for accurate, understandable organization and, therefore, cannot be used during lectures that move too quickly.

Mind-mapping: 

For lectures, a mind-map might be a more appropriate way of keeping track of the relationships between ideas.

In the centre of a blank sheet of paper, you write the lecture’s main topic. As new sub-topics are introduced, you draw a branch outward from the centre and write the sub-topic along the branch. Then each point under that heading gets its own, smaller branch off the main one. When another new sub-topic is mentioned, you draw a new main branch from the centre.

The thing is, if a point should go under the first heading but you’re on the fourth heading, you can easily just draw it in on the first branch. Likewise, if a point connects to two different ideas, you can connect it to two different branches.

If you want to neaten things up later, you can re-draw the map or type it up using a program like FreeMind, a free mind-mapping program.

If you want to make your mind-maps memorable, and visually appealing, consider using different colours, and incorporating images/diagrams.

Mind maps can be used for just about anything in your degree! A mind map can help you:

Outline your ideas on a subject

Organise your thoughts

Visualise a whole concept

Take and review notes

Plan an essay

Revise for your exams

Here are some advantages and disadvantages to mindmaps:

Mindmaps are adaptable - they can be used for lectures; note-making from books; essay plans etc. as well as less structured tasks.

They are easy to add ideas later, at any time.

They can help you focus on the links and relationships between ideas so you don’t just have disconnected facts.

They can be personalised with pictures and symbols to make things more memorable.

They are a useful tool for condensing lots of information – e.g. a whole topic into a mind map poster, to aid revision.

You can’t incorporate large chunks of text.

You have to stick to the rules of mind mapping to get the optimum benefit from the tool.

Creating the map may take time. However, this will help you to review or recall information and will check your understanding.

When you’ve personalised your map, it can be difficult for others to understand.

Cornell Notes:

About a quarter of the way from the bottom of a sheet of paper, draw a line across the width of the page. Draw another line from that line to the top, about 2 inches (5 cm)  from the right-hand edge of the sheet. You’ve divided your page into three sections. In the largest section, you take notes normally — you can outline or mind-map or whatever.

After the lecture, write a series of “cues” into the skinny column on the right, questions about the material you’ve just taken notes on. This will help you process the information from the lecture or reading. In the bottom section, write a short summary of the material you’ve covered.

Typing Your Notes:

Set up folders for each topic. Create these folders before lectures/class and save your notes into the correct ones. It will keep all of your notes organised and easy to find. You might want to have different folders for lecture and reading notes. Develop a system which is intuitive for you.

Know the program. Choose which program you’re going to use to take your notes. There are lots of options available, including Microsoft Office. If you can’t afford Office, then you can look into (illegal) free downloads of it. If you have Office, you could also use Onenote. Alternatives include free programmes like Evernote which allow you to access your notes from anywhere on any device.

Get a template (M Office only). On Microsoft word, you can download different templates. See if there is a template that you can use for taking your notes. Alternatively, you can create your own template by adjusting the margins, font, size, etc. and saving your preferences. If you don’t want to use a template, you can just use the default settings.

Name the notes. Make sure that you name the notes so that you know what’s inside. On Microsoft word, when saving documents you can add tags. Then you can search these tags for any documents with that specific tag. I’ve found this to be a really useful organisational tool.

Do you need anything to take your notes? If you’re using a tablet, you can buy Bluetooth keyboards which will connect and can be quicker than typing on the screen. You can also buy a stylus which will let you write like you would with a normal pen; some devices also have the option to convert your handwriting to typed notes.

Get to know your keyboard. If you’re using a keyboard, then I suggest looking at this website which will teach you how to touch type.

Become familiar with keyboard shortcuts. Especially for things like bold, italicise, underline, highlight.

Downloads. If the teacher/lecturer puts up any material for the lecture download it. These are typically powerpoint slides. When I take notes next year, I will download these and split screen between word and powerpoint. Then I’ll be able to copy and paste material and diagrams straight from the actual powerpoint, speeding up my process.

Back up. Please, back up your notes on google docs. If your computer crashes you will have a backup of your notes that will be essential to studying! Again, for the people in the back, back up your notes!

Creating your notes. Use the technology to your advantage.

Use bold/highlight/italic. Make your heading and subheadings stand out from the rest of your text.

Use bullet points.

You can even make sub bullet points (like this) using the tab key to follow your line of thought/reason.

Highlight the important things; you could even use different colours for different things. E.g. yellow for important dates, blue for important quotes.

Develop an annotation style. For example, sometimes you might fall behind a bit, and miss a detail. When this happens to me I insert a series of dots into my notes, like this (……..) and I know that means I missed something so I can return to the recordings to find out what I missed. You could use question marks (?) to indicate something that confuses you that you need to do more reading on. There are lots of different symbols so you can develop your own system.

This also works with words. If you have certain words which you’re typing a lot then you can make them shorter and easier to type. For example, the word “participants” comes up a lot in my course, but I use “ps” because it’s shorter and quicker to type.

Choosing between typing and handwriting:

Handwriting Notes:

Is creative; colour/ highlight/draw

Can help memory

Lots of experience using the technique

Can revent distraction

Same format as exams

Lots of paper; bulky

No back up

Environmenta

Difficult to transport

Can be a slow, ling progress

Typing Notes:

Quick; can keep up with teacher

Easy to transport; all ntoes on a single memory stick

Can create back up copes

Can be printed to have a digital and paper copy

Paper doesn’t have to be used; environmentall friendly

Add coliur/highlithg/etc.

Easily shared with other people

Different fonts can make it easier for people with dyslexia

Laptop may be too heavy to take to class

Not everyone has a laptop; expensive

Battery life might not be a suitable for a full day of classes

Can be less memorable

Ladies and gentlemen, new guest post on the blog

5 Proved Tips for Witing a Fresh Book Review

“Do you know how to write a fresh book review? You may have already faced with this unordinary task but we have some tips for you to do it at your best. Some basic things you should know is that a book review is intended to describe, analyze and evaluate. It also should…” Read More>>   

The author of the post is http://youreasystudy.tumblr.com/!