👓 Note-Taking Tips 👓

Sometimes learning can feel like an up-hill struggle, especially in college. Everyday is a vigorous routine and at the end of it you want to be secure in the knowledge that the information you gathered and the notes you took were of a high enough standard, enabling you to revise with ease later on.

Here’s how to take notes effectively for peace of mind!

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Try a range of techniques

You’ve been taking notes since primary school, but how well have you actually been doing it? Everybody is receptive to information in different ways so I suggest going back to basics and exploring all the different ways of note-taking there are.

Start with mind-maps, bullet points and doodles and try to take notice of which is the most effective for you. Good things to consider when working this out are – how enjoyable it was (there’s no point doing bullet points if you hate reading and writing lists), how much time it took (no matter what some Studyblrs want you to believe, it is impossible to draw a Monet masterpiece to represent each piece of information) and how much information you retained at the end (i.e can you remember what you just wrote on that mind-map or were you distracted by the pretty colours and artsy arrows).

Keep in mind that you might end up with several note-taking techniques which work well for you, in which case you are lucky and can combine them, or mix and match throughout the year!

If nothing is working try thinking outside the box, for example if you’re an English Literature student you could:

• Create an infographic for each character in the novel
• Write a blog post analysing a chapter or event
• Make yourself a quotation quiz, either online or on cue cards
• Record a song detailing key events and play it back

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Make Them Aesthetically Pleasing

Whichever method works best for you, make sure you set it out neatly. If you find mind-maps are helpful but you often make them in a rush and the words are smudging into each other, or the points that are related are miles apart, they are soon going to start becoming more problematic than useful. So try and keep your page clean and tidy, you’ll thank yourself for it later down the line when you don’t have to waste time deciphering your own rushed writing. Add colour to things as long as it’s not distracting – colour coding important information is a good idea, whereas highlighting everything in dark purple is not.

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Invest In Good Quality Materials

If all you have is a biro running out of ink and some scrunched up paper, taking notes immediately becomes much more difficult. Being prepared is imperative in all aspects of life but especially for note-taking, usually you only have a small amount of time to get down all the information you need so avoid wasting any of it whispering the person next to you to see if they have a spare pencil.

It’s also helpful to find out the type of pens you like the most. Although it sounds strange some pens really are just more comfortable to grip and, thus, easier to write with than others, and it’s really noticeable – once you’ve found a brand of pens you like note-taking will begin to seem like less of a chore. The same logic applies if you type your notes – find the app that is easiest and quickest to use with all the features you need, you’ll never have to spend time figuring out how to move the text on the page, without disrupting the images, again.

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Filter Key Information

Not everything your teacher says is something you need to remember – which seems like an obvious statement. In reality it is a skill to be able to filter through information and pick out the key parts for your notes, it will take practice and attentiveness. If there’s one thing you need to take away from this, it’s that, as tempting as leaving one headphone in and listening with the other out, is. Don’t do it. Any and all music is distracting when listening to someone else talk, even if it doesn’t feel like it is.

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Keep Your Notes Organised

Start your notes with the date, title and class name so that when looking back over them you know exactly which material it is. If writing on loose bits of paper, also invest in a ring binder for storage and some hole punch reinforcements; because there is nothing worse than losing a vital piece of paper that tore and slipped out somewhere.

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Do you have any other good note-taking tips? Leave them in the comments!

Read the rest of the posts in this series:

Beating the back to school blues

How to achieve highly in college

Stylish study spaces

How to meet a last minute deadline

PINTEREST ~ BLOGLOVIN 

👩‍🏫 How To Meet A Last Minute Deadline 🏫👨

We’ve all been there – you’re just getting on with your everyday tasks and then suddenly it dawns on you. The deadline for that really important piece of work is only two days away and you completely forgot to start it. I’ve certainly been gripped with that fear a number of times, but I’ve come up with a plan of action so that next time I inevitably have to cram for a deadline I can get it all done!

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First things, first – stop whatever it is you’re currently doing, because the chances are it is less important and can wait till after the deadline. Find whatever materials you need to complete your task and gather them together – this might be pens, paper, the laptop or art supplies. Once you’ve collected everything you need, it’s time for step two.

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Write down exactly what you need to do. Step by step. It’s really important you do this so that you don’t miss anything out in the rush to get everything done.There’s no need to make it a fancy list so skip any doodles or cute washi tape you would usually add – this is just about having a basic outline of what needs to be done. If you have already started the project make sure you flip through and cross off any completed sections so that you’re not stressing about work you’ve already done.

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Step three. Clear your schedule. How much of your schedule you need to clear depends on how long you have till the deadline but if it’s less than a week, and you’ve got a lot to do, I would suggest clearing as much time as possible – it’s better to have too much than not enough. You might have to sit down and work out what you can logically cancel, as some things will be easier to get out of than others – like the meeting with your boss. Don’t attempt to cancel that, but that day you were going to grab a coffee with your best friend – apologise and re-schedule for another week. Re-arranging or cancelling social activities is the easiest way to free up time, it’s not ideal to miss them but as long as you aren’t leaving deadlines till the last minute regularly you should be fine to miss them for one week.

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Let people know you are busy. I don’t mean you have to ring your Auntie or let your coffee barista know, but anybody that might accidentally disturb you is a must. This includes your housemates and anyone you live with or anybody that might ring you in the middle of the day for a chat. Usually the easiest way to let people know without getting caught up in a long conversation is via social media, try posting a Facebook status that says something like ‘I’m going to be really busy for the next couple of days as I’ve got some important work due, please only contact me if it’s an emergency!‘. If Facebook isn’t your thing you could send an email round, or a mass text message. Just make sure you let people know to minimise disturbances!

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Five – clear your work space. Time is obviously tight, so don’t bother with a full spring clean, but make enough room so that you can comfortably complete your work. If that means simply picking up the folders lying on your desk and discarding them in the bottom of the wardrobe for a few days, so be it. You can always organise your space properly when you don’t have a deadline getting ever closer.

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Finally, turn off any devices you don’t need and get started. If the task as a whole doesn’t seem manageable, refer to the list you made earlier, and choose smaller, more achievable chunks. Before you know it the smaller chunks of work will turn into one big piece. Perseverance is the most important thing, right now you might feel like all you want to do is give up and take a nap but in the long run the work can only be beneficial to your education.

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Most importantly get it done.

Share your best tips for getting last minute work done in the comments below!

If you want to see the previous posts in this college series go here, here and here.

PINTEREST ~ BLOGLOVIN 

🎓 How To Achieve Highly In College 🎓

Sometimes achieving the grades you want can seem like an impossible task, but here are some tips to help keep you on track!

Learn to push through the stages when you lack motivation.

Everything is easier when you have motivation on your side but there will be some days when you wake up and can’t stand the thought of rolling out of bed and going to class. Do it anyway. Get up, wash your face, have a glass of water and get out the house because even though it’s difficult you’ll only regret staying in bed later down the line when you realise you’ve missed something really important. If you’re really stuck try reading some motivational quotes or this post about renewing motivation. If you’ve ever ventured into the world of study blogs you’ll know that it seems like the bloggers are motivated 24/7 to be the best they can be, but I promise they have periods where they lack motivation too. It’s just about learning to work anyway.

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Don’t be afraid to ask questions.

I’m awful at doing this but asking your tutors and peers questions is an easy and effective way of upping your grade ten percent. Searching the internet is great but sometimes it takes somebody else physically explaining something for it to make sense. Nine times out of ten it’s a good time to ask a question – whether it’s putting your hand up in class, finding your tutor during breaks or organising time to get together with your classmates and ask each other. If you still don’t understand let somebody know, don’t feel like because you’ve asked once you’ve run out of chances to go back over the same thing. Even if your tutor or peers can’t answer your query they might be able to point you in the direction of some useful resources.

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Start off with rough drafts of work.

We have to make mistakes in order to improve so although it takes more time, try and always do several drafts of your work. This doesn’t apply so much to subjects such as Maths but any class where you are writing extend pieces of text are where this starts to become useful. If your class tutor is free to mark your rough drafts and hand them back to you – even better! Don’t worry if they’re busy though you can always ask a friend or family member to read through for you, the needn’t necessarily know about the subject as just asking them to check for spelling mistakes and clarity of phrasing can help boost your grade. Stop settling for the ‘rushed in ten minutes on the bus’ version and start allowing yourself the time to read and re-read, then amend your work so that it’s always of the highest standard.

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Revise all year round.

I’m not suggesting you dedicate your whole life to revision, just that you do small bits of recapping here and there until it becomes natural habit, you’ll avoid the last minute cram the night before the exam and you’ll be the most prepared student there! At the end of each day, or week, take a look over the work you have completed – if anything is unfinished get it done, take the time to file things away correctly, make a quick mind-map or some cue cards and then read them on the bus or before you go to bed. Stick up posters in your room or on the fridge, just five minutes a day of looking at your work can help keep your memory fresh. It’s okay to give yourself a break from recapping, if you don’t have time for it then you don’t have time for it but if you can spare a few minutes it will save you some of the revision hassle later!

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Surround yourself with hard-working people.

You’ll find it difficult to achieve highly if your friends are constantly pressuring you to skip class or leave the homework to head to the pub. Finding the right balance between studying and relaxing is key, but part of that balance is having the right group of friends. Being around motivated people rubs off on you, just like how being around unmotivated people does. Let your friends know when you’re going to be unavailable because there’s a big assignment due, and then when it’s over that you’re free to spend time with them. If your friends refuse to accept that you want to work hard and achieve, maybe you need to reconsider whether their influence on your life is a positive one. It’s awesome to have friends you can hang out with and be lazy with as long as they can also help motivate you when necessary.

If you have anymore tips for achieving highly let me know in the comments below!

Looking to beat the back to school blues? Try this post

 Or if you’ve got a heavy work load and you’re unsure how to handle it this post might be helpful.

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⛪️ My Faith Journey ⛪️

I am a Christian. Just writing it down brings a smile to my face, but it hasn’t been easy getting here. Finding God took me a while, but it happened, and now I want to share my journey with you. I have lots of stories to tell about the particular path that led me to where I am in my faith today, so each Wednesday I’m going to share one with you. Today lets start with an overview.

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When I was younger my Nan would take my siblings and I to church each Sunday and whilst she sat through the services we would attend Sunday school, for me this is where my journey into faith began for the first time. I was so young that I didn’t really have a solid understanding of what being a Christian meant, but I attended a Christian school during the week, and I knew that it was a term that was often used when we said Grace before lunch, and when we sang the Lords prayer in assembly. Although I was unaware of it at the time, these seemingly unimportant, everyday activities, would have a huge impact on my life as I grew up and I’m incredibly grateful for them now.

Neither of my parents are particularly religious so gradually as we got older my siblings and I stopped attending church, instead we would go to sports practice on a Sunday morning. We all also moved to different schools as things in our lives changed and they were no longer Christian establishments. Then as I got even older I stopped going to the sports practices too, and my Sundays became spare time. I did enjoy those Sunday morning lie-ins but then about a year ago Daisy approached me, saying she would like to go to church to see what it was like.

In case you aren’t a regular reader of this blog I’ll fill you in on some details about Daisy – she’s my oldest friend, having known each other practically our whole lives. Our houses are across the street from each other and before we were even born out parents were friends. We’ve been through and done everything together at some point; we’ve laughed, cried and fought (a lot), we’ve been on holiday together, built forts, filmed youtube videos, climbed trees, had many, many birthday parties and eaten plenty of pizza.

But before that day I’m not sure we’d ever really discussed faith or religion together.

It didn’t matter that we hadn’t discussed it before though because that day we started the conversation, and since then, it’s never really ended. I agreed to go to church with her, so one Sunday we attended the service at my old church – there’s a feeling of safety and peace during services that I’ve never been able to replicate anywhere else. I suppose it’s because it’s when you’re closest with God and closest with others who are close to him too.

Although I can’t speak for her, I assume Daisy must have felt something, or discovered something, whilst we were there too, because we’ve been attending weekly ever since. The day Daisy spoke to me was the day my journey into faith began for a second time, I’d say it continued on from where I’d left off – but it didn’t, because this time I was older, more receptive and truly ready to find God.

There are lots of people I have to thank for introducing me to all that my faith has to offer, the most obvious are; Daisy, my Nan and the teachers from Sunday school and my original school. Also though as people began to recognise that Daisy and I were showing up every week we began to become part of the churches congregational community, it was actually pretty easy for us to talk to people because my Nan goes with us and has been attending the same church for a long time, so she already knows everyone and could introduce us. One of Daisy’s other friends and her mother also sometimes appear at services so before we even began we had people we could direct any questions towards. But, even if we hadn’t had those connections when we started, I don’t think it would have mattered, because there’s such a welcoming atmosphere at our church and I hope that’s the same everywhere, I’ve heard it is. God brings us together and that’s very powerful – it bonds us and creates a tether of love between us.

Faith now has a huge impact on both of our daily lives, we don’t just go to church on Sunday mornings anymore, we also became involved in a youth group called ‘Highlight’ on a Friday night – where we spend two hours reading Bible passages, playing games and praying. It’s run to by two lovely youth workers and it’s really interesting to explore our faith in this way because it’s so different to the weekly services, in fact – it’s one of the things that helped show me that those Sunday mornings aren’t the only time to learn about faith, every second of everyday is an opportunity to learn more. Sometimes those learning curves are steep and at other times they are tiny steps forward but each one has an impact whether it comes from listening to someone else’s views, watching a program, reading or just realising that you want to start living your life differently so that others can see your faith in your words, in your actions and in your heart.

Last year we were both Baptised and Confirmed, cementing our ever-growing love for our faith. I’m realising each day how blessed I am and how much I have to be grateful for, now I want to share those blessings and my gratitude with all of you.

If you would like to see some photographs of our Baptism it’s this post!

Daisy and I made fortune cookies with Bible verses in them, I wrote about it here!

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