studyingwithjay

[studyingwithjay]

21.01.2025—my dark academia inspired pin board set up in my new room 🤍 pictures are from temu x

[studyingwithjay]

An appreciation post for all the coffees & teas I’ve lovingly consumed this year. There is something so healing about taking a small moment to enjoy a warm drink, especially when it feels like a hug in a mug. ☕️🤍

[studyingwithjay]

Duolingo Sucks, Now What?: A Guide

Now that the quality of Duolingo has fallen (even more) due to AI and people are more willing to make the jump here are just some alternative apps and what languages they have:

"I just want an identical experience to DL"

Busuu (Languages: Spanish, Japanese, French, English, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Arabic, Korean)

"I want a good audio-based app"

Language Transfer (Languages: French, Swahili, Italian, Greek, German, Turkish, Arabic, Spanish, English for Spanish Speakers)

"I want a good audio-based app and money's no object"

Pimsleur (Literally so many languages)

Glossika (Also a lot of languages, but minority languages are free)

*anecdote: I borrowed my brother's Japanese Pimsleur CD as a kid and I still remember how to say the weather is nice over a decade later. You can find the CDs at libraries and "other" places I'm sure.

"I have a pretty neat library card"

Mango (Languages: So many and all endangered/Indigenous courses are free even if you don't have a library that has a partnership with Mango)

"I want SRS flashcards and have an android"

AnkiDroid: (Theoretically all languages, pre-made decks can be found easily)

"I want SRS flashcards and I have an iphone"

AnkiApp: It's almost as good as AnkiDroid and free compared to the official Anki app for iphone

"I don't mind ads and just want to learn Korean"

lingory

"I want an app made for Mandarin that's BETTER than DL and has multiple languages to learn Mandarin in"

ChineseSkill (You can use their older version of the course for free)

"I don't like any of these apps you mentioned already, give me one more"

Bunpo: (Languages: Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Korean, and Mandarin)

[studyingwithjay]

all of my grad school applications are submitted !! it feels so weird to be done with the application process, and now i start the waiting phase, and hope at least one accepts me !

[studyingwithjay]

all of my grad school apps will be done by january 1st, so that’s where my focus lies for the next week or so. it’s harder to focus when i’m away from college but we keep going !

[studyingwithjay]

THERE ARE NO USELESS MAJORS!!

Learning about theater is important! Learning about art is important! Learning about sociology is important! Learning about history is important! Learning about anthropology is important! Learning about philosophy important! Learning about music is important! Learning about English is important! Learning about dance is important! Learning about photography is important! Learning about art history is important! Learning about ethnic studies is important! Learning about theology is important! Learning about performing arts is important!

Usefulness does not equal high income!

All education is important!

[studyingwithjay]

Hi pretties,

The blogs will start next semester once again. I’ve been sad because I failed two classes. I’m feeling much better and in good news, I got an official contract to be a researcher for my university.

A setback is not failure

Love you all and happy holidays pretties. 🤍

[studyingwithjay]

y’all i took the GRE today !! so sick and twisted that i had to take it to apply to one specific program and none of my other schools need it but it’s done !!

[studyingwithjay]

Start

[studyingwithjay]

notes from "foundations of combinatorial topology" by lev pontryagin

french mathematician poincare was a real pioneer of combinatorial topology. he was the guy who came up with the fundamental notion of "given a n-dimensional manifold M and a sub-manifold Z, there either exists or doesn't exist a sub-manifold C that has Z as its boundary." he was also the guy who came up with the idea that manifolds can be decomposed into simpler parts, called simplices. nowadays we learn this stuff when we do homology theory, as a lead-in to algebraic topology. and, apparently, homology theory is the foundation of this stuff called combinatorial topology too.

Combinatorial topology studies geometric forms by decomposing them into the simplest geometric figures, simplexes, which adjoin one another in a regular fashion.

simplexes (and polyhedra, which are created by building simplexes together) can be examined in a group theoretic way. similar to how elementary algebra was created and makes a lot of geometry problems trivial, there are numerical invariants in simplexes/polyhedra and we can basically treat these geometric objects as just numbers. then, just by tweaking the same methods, it becomes possible to examine more complicated geometric forms which may not be reducible to numbers.

(notes from the introduction)

[studyingwithjay]

Have you ever felt like you didn’t want to do a graduate due to burn out? School just be do energy draining!

it has absolutely crossed my mind ! there are absolutely times where the stress outweighs the joy, and that can be so hard.

for me, i just truly don’t feel like i am done learning at the academic level, there’s so much more i want to know, and the best way for me to achieve my goals is to continue on with graduate school.

i am lucky to have a lot of passion for what i want to do, and i am so thankful for the opportunities i do have, and that i can try to pursue graduate school.

where i’m at right now, the stress and potential burnout are worth it, because i am passionate about my goals, and i truly want to go to graduate school more than i’ve wanted anything in a long time.

it’s all about balance and what works best for you ! i find joy in learning and in trying to make academia better, so that’s where i am going to continue to stay for the near future !

[studyingwithjay]

How does one study

I never understood

Im the type of person that needs a step by step guide

this is so real !!

when i started college i thought that studying was kind of just reading over the material a bunch of times, and while that may work for some people, it wasn’t super effective for me.

personally, i use a lot of different studying techniques:

1) i will rewrite my notes in a more concise fashion, or rewrite the lecture slides from my professors. i perder to hand write my notes, and especially when i am studying for a test or exam. i will take my lecture notes (or my professor’s slides) and rewrite them, taking note of the main themes. i will do this two or three times, and each time, looking at the original notes less and less until i can recall what the purpose of the lecture was. i will say, i would recommend this technique to be done over a few days because that is what works best for me.

2) write everything i can down about a topic, and then go back and see what my notes say. i will then go over the material and again write everything i can remember, and then repeat this until i can recall everything.

3) *this is my favorite method* find a friend or an empty classroom, and give a lecture on the topic that you are currently studying, without notes to the best of your ability. having to explain (even if it is to an empty classroom) the concepts you are working with can then help you understand what you are talking about on a deeper level.

4) write things down on whiteboards ! if you are in college or university, some classrooms will likely have massive whiteboards, and sometimes just mapping out the concepts that you are working with, or even doing practice problems on a larger surface is both fun and can allow you to work with the material in a different way.

5) if you are in a class in which you need to remember terms and definitions, flash cards can be so super helpful ! there are some free websites you can use, but also making your own flash cards lets you have a portable way to study.

6) sort of similar to #3, explain something to someone you know, preferably someone who isn’t familiar with the subjects you are working with, and ask them to ask you every question they can come up with. this lets you know what the gaps in your understanding are, and also gives you some practice answering questions about the topic.

7) when it comes to topics with questions that you can practice, like symbolic logic, chemistry, or physics, almost like problem solving with equations and a set method, find extra practice problems online! when i took symbolic logic, i spent probably around 10 hours a week in the latter half of the semester going over the practice proofs we did in class, and then looking up more practice questions because i was having a hard time understanding the process.

there is not a wrong way to study, it is truly whatever works for you ! it can also depend on your area of study. i study philosophy and international studies, so we have a lot of papers and presentations, especially about understanding and applying theory. so my study methods revolve around me understanding theory and being able to explain it and apply it to a different topic, so flash cards and practice problems aren’t as useful for where i’m at currently in my studies. but i have friends in STEM who use flash cards a lot, and will supplement their practice problems by explaining to me the theories that they are learning about (which is awesome because i get to learn about psychology and physics, and they get to share what cool things they are learning in their classes !).

i hope some of these are helpful !!

[studyingwithjay]

How do you keep yourself motivated to study?

Without getting distracted or tired

one of my biggest motivators when i am struggling to study is to remind myself why i am doing what i am doing. sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in being so frustrated a topic or a class, but i like to remind myself that what i am doing has a reason, and that i want to work for it !

my personal goal is to become a philosophy professor, and so if i encounter a moment in which i am struggling with motivation, i try to remind myself of my goal and why it’s important to me.

personally, i also find that sometimes romanticizing studying can be helpful ! if lightning candles, having a nice playlist on, and creating a space that feels fun works for you, then i think that’s great ! i love decorating my study space, and i have so many ambience channels on youtube that give me a lot of motivation to study !

with all that said !! taking time to rest and listen to yourself and your body and mind is so, so important. this is something i am still working with, so i think it’s also good to know yourself and your limits, because the work you do when exhausted will not be your best work.

[studyingwithjay]

i’m taking a train for the next 21 hours ! so i’ve got a lot of time on my hands, so if any of y’all have questions about studying philosophy or my undergrad experience in general, feel free to ask away !

[studyingwithjay]

i love studying with my friends !! it’s finals week for us but they are the best support system i could ever ask for

also thank you for video game ambience videos for powering us all to keep going during finals

[studyingwithjay]

[studyingwithjay]

i’ve been studying and working on finals a lot in different academic buildings for a change of scenery, and i love finding the beauty in these spaces