#how to open a studyblr

[the---hermit]

how I take notes on non fiction books

I recently made a post on my study method, and decided to make a whole separate post on my note taking method. The structure of the notes I write doesn't vary too much from my lecture notes to things I might have to read. A couple of useful informations you might want to know before I start actually talking about note writing is that I am mainly focused on studying history (tho I have had other humanities exams in my degrees), and that I study for oral exams in which the material is mainly composed of non fiction books, but sometimes include articles as well as lecture notes. Somehow I have also failed to mention that I am speaking about HANDWRITTEN NOTES. I only do handwritten notes, I don't work well digitally, so keep that in mind. And with this being said brace yourselves for a very long post. The bullet points I will be making are not really in a specific order and I will be including a few pictures too.

The first step when I am working on the materials for an exam is to figure out in which order I will be reading (and writing notes) the books. This hasn't really much to do with the notes themselves, but it's important to know which of your materials is more general and what other things go more in depth, so that you don't struggle too much while studying. Another plan related thing I always do is to write down each chapter of the book I have to study on my bullet journal and how many pages it is so I can plan my studying more comfortably. If the chapters are very long, and divided in subchapters I sometimes also write those down.

The goal of the notes I write is to fully take the place of the book, so they tend to be very detailed and long. I do this because the very act of writing is part of my study method, and working on things I have written down in my own words is just much better for the type of learner I am. So basically I read the book only once, then it goes back on the shelf and I work exclusively on the notes. This means my notes need to be detailed and well organized.

My method is to read a chapter, underlining important stuff as I am reading, and then right after I am done reading I work on the notes for that chapter before moving onto the next. I do this because it makes the note writing more effortless, I am fresh with informations I just read and I basically just need to skim over what I have underlined.

On underlining, since it is so important. I underline everything I will be including in my notes, it might seem much as sometimes it consists of full paragraphs, instead of key words. But this is okay because my notes I don't just copy and paste.

To create useful notes you need to be re-elaborating the informations. You need to read, understand what you read, and be able to write it down using your own words. That way the notes will be easier to review, they will often be composed of shorter sentences, and by doing so you are also actively making writing part of your studying and not just a mindless activity.

Personally I don't work well with full pages summaries, I need the text to be visually broken into sentences/small paragraphs, and I use a lot of symbols as well as abbreviations.

Symbols and abbreviations are in a way part of your very own language when you are writing notes, you tend to develop these with time, but they are so useful. I personally use different types of arrows, all caps words, position of the text in the page, different methods of highlighting and abbreviations (usually for words that come up often like country names, for example Italy becomes ita, France becomes fr, etc.).

Your notes need to be useful for you, they don't have to necessarily be comprehensible for another person (which means you can and will fuck up sentence structure because sometimes skipping a couple of words makes the notes shorter and still understandable), and they do not have to be pretty. They should be as tidy as possible, but again that might change from person to person, I have some very messy looking notes that make total sense to me. With time you'll learn what works best for you.

I have a visual memory so as I mentioned titles, highlighters, all caps, the placement on the page and other similar things are very important in my notes. I cannot fully exapain some of these things because some definitely only make sense to me in the moment (like the words I choose to write in all caps, or the way I highlight things).

I like to have a clear chapter and subchapter break (so that in case I need to refer back to the book it's super effortless). I like to write those with a red pen, usually the chapter title is in all caps and the subchapter in coursive, but it really depends.

I use only two highlighters in each set of notes yellow for dates, and the colour I associate with the book/the subject of the book (I have synesthesia I don't make the rules when it comes to colours). This of course might change depending your preferences and on the element of your notes you want to focus on. I like to have spacific colour for dates and time periods, because of course while studying history that is a fundamental element. If you are focusing on other subjects you might want to have a specific colour for names, or other elements.

I like to leave a big side margin to add either key words (especially in lecture notes since they might be messier and jump around informations more often), or additional information in a second time (sometimes it happens, after you read another book, or attended a particular lecture you have to add a couple of sentences and I rather have a blank space that never gets used rather than no space at all for emergencies).

I honestly mentioned everything that came to mind right away, but since note writing is now basically a mindless skill I have been practicing for years I surely forgot about something. I might end up adding to this post in the future or write another one. My note-writing method has also changed a lot thought the years from high school to university, it's a skill I have been perfecting for the past decade. This to say that depending on what you are working on things might change, and by experimenting with different things you might find out things that work very well for you. If you have any questions on specific things I didn't mention or that wen't clear my inbox is always open and I am more than happy to help.

Since this post is already very very long I am adding the pictures below the cut

Example of a page of notes before and after highlighting

Example of symbols and structure of the notes and the way I highlight things (in which you'll hopefully be able to understand my handwriting, and in which there might be some spelling errors but alas that often happens in my real notes as well so if there are any it's for the sake of accuracy lmao). If I end up adding informations on the margins I always use a pen of a different color so I can tell which informations I got from what source (ex. main notes from lecture, colorful notes from additional article).

Example of messier notes in which the main text in black are the notes I took during lectures and the additional colorful text was added while writing the materials (I rarely do this, it usually happens when the lectures follow a book precisely, which happens when we have to study books or summaries written by the professor). As you can see I often use post it notes to add more writing space, and sometime I even use them to create visually separated sections. If I end up adding some drawings I also usually like to have them on post it notes so they stand out more (and if you are wondering why the hell would an history student need drawings it's usually either because I need a map or a region/state to mark things out, or when studying for archaeology exams I often needed visual references, for example to identify different types of vases or decorations).

[duskspills]

07.01.2025

Trying to navigate the streets of studyblr.

Didn't get much done today but at least I finally tried to understand how to begin the code for this part of my masters project from the materials that the TA gave me. Small steps. :>

[studyblr-perhaps]

The biggest gripe I have with research is that most papers are hidden over a paywall, but we are supposed to know what work has been done and not repeat it (obv). Except, how tf am I do something new if I don't even have any means of knowing what others have done? I know there are a lot of ways to get the papers pirated but man I just want to legally be able to read the papers which are out, you know?

If there is someone who's been in research for a longer time, if you know the reason for all these paywalls or a way around this issue, please enlighten us. This is my official plea for help.

[jamsandsuch]

i love my little brother to pieces. that’s my baby brother and im always endlessly proud of seeing him succeed in uni.

but jesus christ being the humanities eldest daughter with a stem younger son in an immigrant household is so fucking demeaning sometimes.

i dont mean to toot my own horn but when i got an entrance scholarship, earned scholarships in every year after that, added 2 publications to my cv in undergrad, 4 conference talks, taught my first class solo as a third year, earned a national recognition in sociology after graduation, ended my degree with highest honours and in the top 5% of the entire arts faculty, got into my MA program which is top in the country for sociology with an acceptance rate of ~10% (also making me the first in my family to go to grad school) i’ve gotten crickets from my parents.

no questions about my studies. no questions about my work. no congratulatory facebook posts. no proudly showing me off at family dinners. its like im some kind of shameful secret. meanwhile they absolutely adore my brother who’s in the stem field and share photos and videos constantly of what he’s doing in his clubs, congratulating him on test scores, are so happy to wear his school merchandise and talk about him at dinners…

its all just so fucking degrading and feels like a giant slap in the face every time i come home and get an “oh, that’s nice,” every time i get left on read in the family group chat, every time i need to crawl to their DMs and go “did you see what i sent in the family chat”.

[nashvillehotchicken]

[glowettee]

the feminine urge to be that student effortlessly ✧˖°

there’s something undeniably magnetic about that student. the one who always has her life together; notes perfectly highlighted, grades effortlessly high, coffee in one hand, an annotated novel in the other. she’s the girl who glides through hallways with a quiet confidence, always prepared, always composed, always one step ahead. but the truth is… she doesn’t just wake up like this. she became her.

if you’ve ever looked at an aesthetic studyblr post and thought, i wish that were me, it already can be. being that student isn’t about obsessing over perfection, it’s about creating systems that make success effortless. and when you master that? discipline doesn’t feel like a struggle. it feels natural.

being that student sometimes is subjective, so take this post with a grain of salt, don't change yourself, but become the better version of yourself. this post is to give you some tips that i personally use to become "that student". academics is so important to me, and it always has been. i've always shoot for the highest, and honestly? even though i sometimes feel like "i hate studying" or "i don't want to go to school". i never succumb to it, i have a gravitation towards studying, and good grades. academics is not just about grades, but learning skills to improve your life, your career, relationships and don't forget, your brain! so please try to see school and academics as improving yourself, not just about using grades to define who you are. - mindy

☁️ how to become that student effortlessly:

✧ romanticize your study sessions – make your desk a space you want to be in. light a candle. play soft classical music. use a pen that glides smoothly. let studying feel like self-care, not a chore. pretend your rory gilmore, or even paris geller.

✧ develop signature study rituals – always start with a cup of tea/coffee/matcha/ANY DRINK, a five-minute review, or a fresh page in your notebook. habits make it easier to start, and starting is half the battle.

✧ master ‘bare minimum’ studying – not every study session has to be two hours long. learn how to get the most out of 10-15 minutes. review flashcards while waiting for your coffee, summarize a chapter in the notes app before bed, listen to an audiobook while getting ready.

✧ have a ‘default’ study outfit – cozy but polished. a chunky sweater, soft leggings, blue-light glasses, a sleek ponytail. when you dress like the kind of student you admire, you become her.

✧ use strategic aesthetic motivation – pinterest boards, beautifully organized notion pages, a soft academia playlist, these are not distractions, they’re tools. use them. let the aesthetic inspire action, not replace it.

✧ learn in layers – don’t cram. absorb knowledge naturally throughout the day. read your notes over breakfast. explain concepts in the shower. let studying weave into your routine like second nature.

✧ stop glorifying stress – good students don’t burn out. they rest, recharge, and protect their mental clarity. discipline is not exhaustion, it's balance.

☁️ mindy’s personal tips for being effortlessly studious:

✧ “the 2-minute review” – every night, spend two minutes looking over what you learned that day. your brain loves repetition. what feels hard today will feel effortless in a week.

✧ “the open book trick” – leave your study materials open on your desk, bed, or counter. you’re 10x more likely to glance at them if they’re already in front of you.

✧ “library aura” – if you struggle with focus, go to a place that forces you to be productive. a coffee shop, a library, even just a quiet corner of your room with your phone in another area. change your environment to change your mindset. i personally love studying during eating brunch and drinking frappes with my friends at starbucks <3

✧ “study like a writer” – instead of just passively reading notes, rewrite them in your own words. like you're explaining them in a diary or a letter. it makes the information stick. tip: one study method i loved using when i took ap art history, was writing an essay on each individual artwork, even if it was just 200 words long, i was able to write it in my words, it's another method based on active recall. it helped me so much, and i ended up getting a 5 on the ap exam thanks to this amazing method <3

✧ “live like a student you admire” – every day, ask yourself: what would the best version of me do? would she scroll mindlessly for an hour, or would she review her flashcards? would she procrastinate, or would she get started now? act accordingly.

☁️ the truth? being that student isn’t about talent. it’s about mindset. show up for yourself. build effortless habits. make learning part of who you are. and soon enough? you won’t just look like that student. you’ll be her.

xoxo mindy

[inheritance-beyond-genes]

Hi people!

I'm an evolutionary biology doctorate studying in Germany. I study blue tits and how epigenetic variation may matter for evolution.

I am creating this studyblr to cope with anxiety and procrastination and connect with people that record their journey to get inspired. I don't know if this will keep me accountable but this time of my life i feel very unmotivated and I struggle. I just moved and set up my new desk and as you see everything is closed.

My message box is open to say hi!

See you around!

[izicodes]

My 2023 Projects

Wednesday 3rd January 2024

I thought it would be cool to share some of the projects I made last year that I liked and enjoyed working on! Most of them were small projects, some were projects I built straight after I learnt a new concept and a few are discontinued (I won't finish them anytime soon)!

I really hope, which I know I will because it's natural for me at this point, to make lots of more cool projects! This year, I want to make more with other people! Coding alone is cool and all but with other people I get more inspired!

Lastly = always remember to build projects that you're interested in. Projects you will have fun working on for a while. Every single one of these projects I've made, I was interested in somehow. And I had fun!!

Anyhoo, check out the projects below~! 🙋🏾‍♀️😊🖤

TumblrTextTint

Basically a formatter for Tumblr posts by adding custom colours to your text! Even learnt how to make FireFox extensions so I could add it as an extension to my browser - link 1, link 2

Web Odyssey

I looked at old Windows GUI on Pinterest one day and decided to recreate the GUI with HTML, CSS and JavaScript! - link 1, link 2

Cat Fact Generator

For one of the projects I did for the #3Days1Project challenge, I created a cute cat generator. Learnt how to work with APIs and a CSS library (Pattern.css) - link 1, link 2

Studyblr Valentines Gift 2023

It was valentine season in the Studyblr community and I participated! I made a poem webpage for a studyblr who was learning Russian! (I don't know anything in Russian but for a couple of weeks I learnt some of the poems!) - link 1, link 2

Saint Jerome Tribute Page

I made a page for my favourite patron saint, Saint Jerome, for his feast day (Sept 30)! I haven't had time to complete it fully and there's no live page for it but I did make posts about it! - link 1

Trigun Quote Generator

Just finished the Trigun anime series at the time so I decided to make a project for it for the #3Days1Project challenge! The anime is so good, it is my 2nd favourite (JOJO comes 1st place) - link 1, link 2

Froggie To-Do

Just came from learning the absolute BASICS of React.js, so I wanted to test my skills so far so I made this project! Shared it on my blog and some people started using it for studying (which made me so happy!) and it became a mini open-source project because random people started adding mini features to the app! Very special project for me! - link 1, link 2, link 3

[studywithmith]

Introduction

Heya it’s mith! This is a nickname from my original name. I am Tamil and I’m from the state of Tamilnadu from south India :)

This is a study or/blog about my life as a CBSE student where I’ll post about motivation, any interesting topics and just tips that I found useful. I am planning on posting my 11th chemistry notes by the end of this year, once I’ve finished typing them up as I’ve hand written them! So you will see resources being posted!!

I am a high-school student, 17 years old ( year 11/ 11th grade )studying in the science stream. My subjects include —

Physics.

Chemistry.

Mathematics.

Computer Science (python)

English

Why a studyblr?

I opened this studyblr in order to stay productive and help others to do so too if I can. Also through this account I would like to share bits of my student life and motivate other students to do what a student should do like - study and enjoy life. I will post a lot about how to get motivation and how I study certain subjects and these posts will update as I go along!

Any competitive exams?

I am doing four exams ( sobs) which are for design and architecture respectively. These are NATA, JEE paper 2 ( this includes, maths, drawing and aptitude , not physics chemistry and maths ) , UCEED ( design) and NIFT ( design)

Future career?

I am hoping to study design or architecture and maybe get a literature or business degree as a side goal.

Any goals for 2025?

I wanna learn foreign languages such as Italian since it’s my current obsession. I’ve already learnt a bit of French so I’m planning on learning all of the Romance languages, so you will see me post about language learning too!!

More about me:

I was born in England and I’ve lived in India and England on and off, every few years I’d shift to England and then come back to India. I did my boards (10th) in the uk in the form of GCSEs. GCSEs are usually done in 10th and 11th so I’m repeating a year again in India so it’s easier for me for my 12th boards!

For Quick Navigation:

study blogging!

Tagged as #studydaily- it's where I post about my daily study logs.

study_plans!

Tagged as #study plans - it's in the name lol. It's where I post about what I'm gonna do to keep myself disciplined.

motivation!

Tagged as #motivation - to keep myself and you motivated! :)

litblr!

Tagged as #litblr - for literature and any other interesting topics

questions!

Tagged as #questions - just some questions lol!

know me!

Tagged as #know me — it's in the name :p

NATA and JEE2 help

Tagged as #NATAandJEE2 - where I post about the architecture exams and general tips and resources

UCEED and NIFT help

Tagged as #UCEEDandNIFT - where I post about the design exams and general tips and resources

Language learning!

Tagged as #languageblr - I post about my progress in learning languages, this will be separate to my daily logs so i won’t post whatever I learnt in languages in my daily logs. I might create a separate account for langauges alone!!

Tips

Tagged as #chemtips, #mathtips, #phytips, #Cstips and #engtips - these tags are specifically for tips that I’d found useful sharing in that particular subject! You can also use the tag #tips to find all the tips and tricks in one go!

Notes!

Tagged as #notetaking- as I have said earlier, I am planning on posting my chemistry notes by the end of December once I’ve finished typing them up and making them colourful to read. This will be free Ofc, and it does follow the ncert pattern.

Well nice meeting you, maybe drop a comment so that I can know you too?

( note: the template for this introduction was heavily inspired by another blogger! pxasee , do check her account out too!!)

I'm hoping for the best to happen and also working for it!! <3 Show some support please for this account and have a great day/ night!!

[cyberstudious]

Tools of the Trade for Learning Cybersecurity

I created this post for the Studyblr Masterpost Jam, check out the tag for more cool masterposts from folks in the studyblr community!

Cybersecurity professionals use a lot of different tools to get the job done. There are plenty of fancy and expensive tools that enterprise security teams use, but luckily there are also lots of brilliant people writing free and open-source software. In this post, I'm going to list some popular free tools that you can download right now to practice and learn with.

In my opinion, one of the most important tools you can learn how to use is a virtual machine. If you're not already familiar with Linux, this is a great way to learn. VMs are helpful for separating all your security tools from your everyday OS, isolating potentially malicious files, and just generally experimenting. You'll need to use something like VirtualBox or VMWare Workstation (Workstation Pro is now free for personal use, but they make you jump through hoops to download it).

Below is a list of some popular cybersecurity-focused Linux distributions that come with lots of tools pre-installed:

Kali is a popular distro that comes loaded with tools for penetration testing

REMnux is a distro built for malware analysis

honorable mention for FLARE-VM, which is not a VM on its own, but a set of scripts for setting up a malware analysis workstation & installing tools on a Windows VM.

SANS maintains several different distros that are used in their courses. You'll need to create an account to download them, but they're all free:

Slingshot is built for penetration testing

SIFT Workstation is a distro that comes with lots of tools for digital forensics

These distros can be kind of overwhelming if you don't know how to use most of the pre-installed software yet, so just starting with a regular Linux distribution and installing tools as you want to learn them is another good choice for learning.

Free Software

Wireshark: sniff packets and explore network protocols

Ghidra and the free version of IDA Pro are the top picks for reverse engineering

for digital forensics, check out Eric Zimmerman's tools - there are many different ones for exploring & analyzing different forensic artifacts

pwntools is a super useful Python library for solving binary exploitation CTF challenges

CyberChef is a tool that makes it easy to manipulate data - encryption & decryption, encoding & decoding, formatting, conversions… CyberChef gives you a lot to work with (and there's a web version - no installation required!).

Burp Suite is a handy tool for web security testing that has a free community edition

Metasploit is a popular penetration testing framework, check out Metasploitable if you want a target to practice with

SANS also has a list of free tools that's worth checking out.

Programming Languages

Knowing how to write code isn't a hard requirement for learning cybersecurity, but it's incredibly useful. Any programming language will do, especially since learning one will make it easy to pick up others, but these are some common ones that security folks use:

Python is quick to write, easy to learn, and since it's so popular, there are lots of helpful libraries out there.

PowerShell is useful for automating things in the Windows world. It's built on .NET, so you can practically dip into writing C# if you need a bit more power.

Go is a relatively new language, but it's popular and there are some security tools written in it.

Rust is another new-ish language that's designed for memory safety and it has a wonderful community. There's a bit of a steep learning curve, but learning Rust makes you understand how memory bugs work and I think that's neat.

If you want to get into reverse engineering or malware analysis, you'll want to have a good grasp of C and C++.

Other Tools for Cybersecurity

There are lots of things you'll need that aren't specific to cybersecurity, like:

a good system for taking notes, whether that's pen & paper or software-based. I recommend using something that lets you work in plain text or close to it.

general command line familiarity + basic knowledge of CLI text editors (nano is great, but what if you have to work with a system that only has vi?)

familiarity with git and docker will be helpful

There are countless scripts and programs out there, but the most important thing is understanding what your tools do and how they work. There is no magic "hack this system" or "solve this forensics case" button. Tools are great for speeding up the process, but you have to know what the process is. Definitely take some time to learn how to use them, but don't base your entire understanding of security on code that someone else wrote. That's how you end up as a "script kiddie", and your skills and knowledge will be limited.

Feel free to send me an ask if you have questions about any specific tool or something you found that I haven't listed. I have approximate knowledge of many things, and if I don't have an answer I can at least help point you in the right direction.

[steppingstcnes]

how to find notion templates!

okay so someone in the studyblr community was confused as to how people use notion to take notes and so I mentioned the fact that there are templates for it. so yeah. it's pretty easy to find them, especially on mobile! it'll be under the cut below

1st, you gotta open your app. mine is basically empty bc this account is being used just for school.

you tap the browse templates button, which should pull up this in the app.

as you can see, there are three categories, which I usually tap on school! but you can also search up almost everything you need.

anyways, after scrolling through templates; you find one you like and press add template. I'm using this one currently so it says add again; but yeah!!

the template will be added to your account :3

I won't be using notion for note taking this semester, but !! this is here for anyone who wants to know how to get templates!!

[benkyoutobentou]

Mid January Goal Check-In

I figured that, in order to keep on track with my goals, it would be a good idea to do regular check ins here. It'll also keep me connected with the studyblr and langblr communities here haha

In general, as Januaries tend to go, I'm keeping pretty on track with my goals. If anything, I would like to keep doing what I'm doing and just do more of it.

So far, I've read three volumes of manga. Will that keep me on track with reading 25 Japanese books in the span of three months? I don't know, I'm not doing the math right now. But I really should get on finishing a novel before we get too late into the month.

The thing is that I also have a pretty towering tbr in English. Right now, my plan is to read one (or two, depending on how I'm feeling) volumes of manga in between novels- regardless of language. I also just recently finished up a big crochet project of mine, so that also frees up my mind for some more reading.

As for watching shows, I just finished watching Skip Beat! today, but I started it sometime last month, so I wasn't really counting it towards this goal of mine. For the latter half of this month, I think I'll watch 舞妓さんちのまかないさん.

My kanji-slash-vocabulary goal is going pretty well for the time being. I don't do it every day, but each time I do, I try to do at least five lessons. I'm still in the beginning of their N2 section, so lots of the vocabulary is stuff that I've come across before, which allows me to work through it a lot faster. At this point, I'm over halfway through the section and would like to finish it before the month ends. I had a really good moment yesterday, though, when one of the new to me words came up naturally in conversation! Segue into next goal:

I've also been keeping up with going to my Japanese language meet ups, although I don't always speak as much Japanese as I'd like. Yesterday, I told myself that I would speak Japanese even if the person I was talking to responded in English, and then the only open seat was next to a beginner learner and I just couldn't bring myself to start speaking Japanese when I didn't think he would be able to understand me. However, eventually I started talking to another language learner and we ended up talking for nearly two hours- one in English, and another in Japanese! And that was where I got to use my vocabulary word 祝日。

And my last goal, keeping up with my Mandarin study, is also going steadily along. Right now, I'm studying Mandarin pretty consistently once a week. This is really where I'd like to up my frequency. It would be fine for me right now to continue doing my textbook study once a week, but I'd really like to study my vocabulary flashcards more often. I am constantly saying this, but maybe if I tell all of you, I'll actually do it.

[kaya-being-an-academic]

Kaya's Studyblr

After alot of thoughts , I came to the conclusion of being a part of studyblr....

I want to track my academic progress , and even have the necessary dopamine and motivation to study consistently....

If you landed at this blog , just know I am a sixteen year old girl who's chasing the moon , stars , her dreams and the infinity....

I am a medical aspirant

My subjects include Physics , Chemistry , Zoology and Botany....

I am also an aspiring writer with writing poetry being an escape from this cruel world....

I have a keen love for writing , reading , and listening music....

Few of my favourite writers include Rumi , Kafka , Amish , Yuval Noah Harari , Rhonda Byrne , Rupi Kaur , and Paulo Coelho

I read all kinds books from historical fictions to contemporary romances.... According to me reading books should not be narrowed down to a peculiar genre instead I am a diverse reader....

I incline towards reading autobiographies and self help books....

My target is to read a total of 200+ books this year with 50 being already completed

I want to maintain a proper study routine and track my progress....

My aesthetics include Dark Academia

I am also a classical dancer and singer so in a nutshell art is my solace

Listening to music is also one of my favourite things to do although I mostly listen to it alongside studying....

A hard-core coffee addict and a selenophile

I am open to study tips and finding great people all along the way....

I believe when we help each other out things become more easy

There's already enough hate in the world so let's altogether spread love , happiness and kindness

Vivamus Moriendum Est

I know how to speak 2 Major languages both of them being English and Hindi , I can also speak German and Sanskrit in bits

I want to learn how to speak and write - Greek and Latin

My goal is to learn how to speak 7 language in my entire life....

The goal is to be disgustingly Over educated

Pic credits to respective owners

[the-0ther-mother]

Studyblr prompt of the week | #3

I always take physical notes unless I'm doing research. In that case i just open the notepad app on my computer and fill it up with endless research notes. I'm actually not very good at taking notes cuz I haven't learnt how to actually study using my notes. I just end up coping down lecture slides or useless stuff like that. It's one of my goals this semester to actually start taking notes in a way that benefits my studies. So, no, i don't have any tips for getting the notes to stick in my head. I'd actually appreciate any tips that anyone might have <3

[alas9]

✨ 📖 ✏️ studyblr masterpost jam ✏️ 📖 ✨ Day #6 as an independent game designer maybe?

I used to be quite extra in my 20s. I was very immersed in the world of gamer gear and stationery products, I bought too many pink peripherals for the computer and I had several pencil cases full of colored fibers. I feel that getting into the world of development has helped me refine the consumer in me a little, and taught me to be more organized and practical. Since development involves many hours of purely mental work, I make sure I have sheets and pens close to me to capture anything that comes to mind, and I try not to have my desk too full of things to avoid distractions. These are my main items that I always have in my desk and backpack.

Keyboard 60%

Mine is relatively old, it is an Anne Pro 2. As it is quite common in the world of custom keyboards, it is easy to get keycaps for it. For example, I bought it to put Keycaps in Cyrillic when I was actively studying Russian. I bought this one on amazon.

Plastic Paper Containers

I am very fond of writing by hand to develop and organize ideas, so I fill myself with papers. I'm addicted to organizers, cleaning my study and work space is something that overwhelms me a lot, and paper collects a lot of dust, so these containers save you space and hours of cleaning. It also helps to separate papers by subject, in the image I have the folders that I use for development and on the other side for Japanese.

Basic Planner

When I was a fine arts student I was very into journaling. Something that became extremely impractical for me as time went by. Today I have a planner with all the same sheets with space for the date and tasks only. It is necessarily flexible and necessarily pre-fabricated to fulfill its function.

Smart notebook with squared sheets

I always try to have squared sheets to study languages, because I feel that they help a lot to improve writing when you use more complex systems such as hiragana, katakana and kanji. They are also more useful for writing programming languages ​​if you want to do written exercises. They are very versatile and it is not paper that goes unused, ever.

Campus University Extra Fine Notebook

This is my war notebook, the one I carry in my backpack because it is light and I use it as a random note pad, whether for studying programming, Japanese, or for ideas for my game. Then when I get home, I organize the information in specific notebooks or the folders that I showed above.

Black Chinese Ink Pens

I narrowed down collections of different markers and pens to just using these. I don't have any other variety. They are the only ones I use for everything.

About programs I use to organize myself and study

Notion (and trello implementation)

Mine is pretty simple and minimalistic. I use it to set my year long tasks, such as x amount of courses I want to do, books I want to read, games I want to play, notes about aeronautics I use on my game, other documentation about other topics I care etc etc. It's nothing I use day by day. I just get there once in a while to check on things I wanted to do in the past weeks everytime I have time to work on something new. I don't use anything digital to organize day by day tasks.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is always open in my browser. It's a fixed tab actually. I use it for everything, mainly coding.

Midjourney and Gencraft to create assets and sprites

I use them to create temporary assets for my game, since I'm focused on the code only, and to see how things work I put some AI generated visuals in every non profitable project.

Neocities

It's not actually a tool, but I use it mainly to host my web design projects and to share them with other colleagues. I also dive alot in the community websites there to check for ideas and inspiration.

Github as a portfolio

I used to be quite secretive with my projects, because almost all of them, if not all, were directly linked to my work, and by clause I cannot link my personal image to the company, therefore I never shared anything I did. But I recently started using github as a platform to showcase my work and freelance projects, and I've loved it so far. I know that the tool's strength is teamwork through it, but that has not been the case for me so far.

And that's basically all I use and most people also do I guess 🦦

[studywave]

PDF Readers: What Do You Want? What Do You Need?

Hey all! I promised a series of posts on resources that have helped me during undergrad, and I'm going to start with the basics: how to read your coursework. I'm going to tag a few people who mentioned being interested in this series, but please let me know if you'd like to be untagged!

@anyto @wocinstem @youneedtostudyives @studyblr-perhaps

Now, I'm an English major, so I can't speak on behalf of the sciences, but almost all of my course materials have been given to me in the form of PDFs. I also download almost all my research in PDF format, and when I find books for free online, they're usually PDFs. Clearly, this means I need some easy way to read and edit PDFs. Below the cut, you'll find information on how to choose a PDF reader that's right for you, as well as information on Xodo, my personal favorite reader.

What should you consider when choosing a PDF reader?

Well, first, there's cost. There are all kinds of PDF readers at all kinds of price points. Xodo, my favorite, is free. I've never used the paid version, because for my purposes, the free version is more than enough. Now, let's talk about those purposes.

As an English student, I'm mostly concerned with annotation. I want to be able to mark my documents up, highlight them, write on them, leave comments, all that good stuff. However, what I need might not be what you need. Do you need to sign a lot of documents? Do you need to build PDFs from scratch? Are you more concerned with appearance, or with functionality?

Once you've answered these questions, you'll be able to search online for reviews dealing with the specific kinds of functionality you need.

Why should you use Xodo?

Well, for starters, the free version has more than I will ever need. I can edit, I can annotate, I can sign, I can highlight. I can do pretty much anything my English major heart desires, and I can use my Apple pencil to do it (I'll make another post about ipads and Apple pencils and link it here once it's finished).

This screenshot shows a lot of my favorite parts of Xodo. I can highlight in different colors (I use green to make information on further reading stand out) and I can write (also in different colors) with my Apple pencil, all while scrolling and navigating with my hand. I don't have to constantly click back and forth between marking and scrolling like I do with some apps, and I can lay my hand on the screen without disturbing anything. This, the ability to confine the text marking to the pencil, is really important to me. I don't like to be constantly clicking around and making accidental marks.

I've also been able to read almost every PDF I've put on here without much trouble. Between the size of my ipad screen (which will be the subject of another post), the high resolution, and the ability to zoom and scroll at the same time, I can read even pretty low-quality PDFs with very little trouble.

You might also notice the little box with the "4" in it in the upper right corner. This indicates the number of tabs I have open because yes, you can have multiple tabs open in Xodo. I've had over ten tabs open at a time, some containing 300+ page documents, and I've never had lagging or glitching problems.

Here's a selection of other actions Xodo allows. I've never scanned anything to PDF using it, but if the rest of the app is anything to go by, it probably works just fine.

I've had the occasional problem with glitching (maybe once per every five hours of reading I do, if that) which usually just involves a section of the text going black and can be solved by closing and reopening the app. Closing and reopening is no problem, either, because Xodo saves your place.

All this to say, I've used Xodo for a little over a year now, and I have no complaints. I cannot recommend it highly enough, and I'm sure the paid version is even better. That's all for now. Happy reading!