College is pretty hard if you ask me. Not only is studying the materials given in the class lectures hard but the textbooks are too. Reading course materials are always a tough one for a lot of people. Things start to blur together and you don't seem to be able to find the main points in the passages. Here is a guide to help pick out those important points that you need to know for class purposes!

Section Titles

Each chapter is typically divided into different sections with different main points. The great thing about this is that the section title will tell you what the section is about! Hello cheat sheet! While the majority of the chapters are about the same main topic, each section is about the different concepts that all refer to the main topic of the chapter. If you're looking for something specific in the chapter for an assignment, looking at the section titles will for sure help you out.

Bolded Words

Bolded words are there to make certain words stand out for you. This is the books way of telling you "this is an important word to know". These bold words are typically words or people that will be defined or explained later on. And to make this even easier, the definition is written out right after that bolded word! How great is that!?

Conclusions

Typically every chapter has a conclusion at the end of the chapter. This brings together the entire chapter in a paragraph or two. These are important to read because it wraps it up very briefly and helps you get a grasp on the main concepts. This will probably write out a little sentence or two about a concept or idea in the conclusion which can help you look back at that idea in more depth throughout the chapter.

Examples

Professors are notorious for using different examples on exams and quizzes. Knowing a bunch of different examples can help you with this as well as getting a better understanding on what you're trying to learn at that moment. Different examples can also show different aspects to the same concept and helps you fully know what they're talking about.

I hope this helps everyone with reading for courses as well as materials for various jobs! We're a little over a month into the semester and starting study habits now helps for your future!

xo

Olivia

Staying Organized in School

Being at school can be such a stressful time. With all of your homework, studying, attending classes, and other various school related activities things can start to get pretty hectic. I know from personal experiences that I get very stressed out when I have a million things to do with not enough hours to accomplish it all. Do you guys ever feel that way?? Since your school life is probably getting pretty crazy as the beginning of the new semester kicks in, it is important to be organized. Not only does help to find things but it also is proven to help your grades and stress. How awesome?! Here are some tips that I find helpful to keeping organized in school.

Desk

Your desk is one of the most important utensils to have at school. You do basically everything here. You study, do homework, surf the web, or even eat on sometimes. For me, this is my life (other than my planner of course). Keeping this clean and organized helps for a stress free study sesh. There are many different ways to organize a desk as well as different types of desks to help keep organized! My desk is a pretty basic style desk with a large flat top and 2 open shelves going down on the right side. In my first shelf I keep all of my binders for my classes. In the second shelf I keep some school books and other books that I have for fun to read. On top of my desk I have 2 magazine holders that keep some school books and other class materials. I also keep a wicker basket full of pens, pencils, highlighters, and other school supplies. I also have a stapler and hole puncher next to it (both are essentials for school work). Since it's flu season I also have a bottle of Purell and some candles for when I want to relax when studying.

Planner

This is literally the most important thing on learning how to stay organized. I can't stress this enough how important this is to my life and how important it should be for yours as well! I keep everything in here. Important dates, birthdays, homework assignments, meetings, blog postings, and anything else that I find important. If you want to know how I keep my planner organized, check out my post on it here!

Binder

I personally think that binders are the best way to keep schoolwork organized. I have a separate binder for each class with dividers inside them. The first divider is for the syllabus for each class. This is important to keep with you in case you forget something that is due or need to review how your teacher wants you to format a paper. This makes it easy to find those answers! The next divider I use is for lecture notes. Some of my teachers put up slides before class, so I print those out. Some of my other teachers don't put up their slides, so I keep loose leaf paper in this section to take notes. The next divider is for textbook notes. I keep loose leaf paper in here for when I take notes from the textbook. The final divider I use is for handouts. Some teachers have various activities or other random handouts to give to the class throughout the semester. I keep all of those handouts in this spot so that I have everything I need. The most important part, however, is not to through things out when it's been graded or tested on. At some point the material will show back up throughout the semester. Teachers also lose things. Keeping a graded assignment that your teacher lost the grade for is good to keep so that you can show proof of your grade!

Staying organized in school is soo important. It truly makes a difference in your studying techniques when your desk is free of distractions like clutter. Surfing the web, however, is a different story :) I hope everyone has a great Wednesday and beginning of your semester (yours or your kid's)!

xo
Olivia

School Organization Tips

It's the beginning of spring semester for a lot of people! It's time to start getting prepared to start classes back up for most. Being organized for school is one of the most important things to do to have a successful semester. Personally, if my desk, planner, binder, and notebook isn't organized... studying and doing school work is hard for me. I guess that's the OCD in me! Oops! Here is a list of posts from fellow bloggers and myself that have amazing posts on getting organized!

Written By Me:

Helpful Study Tips

How To Create A Great Study Guide

Organizing Your Planner


Written By Fellow Bloggers:

Making a College Syllabus 'Cheat Sheet' by Caitlyn from ChemGradBoom

School Supplies for Spring Semester by Megan from Bowtiful Life

Intense Study Tips by Carly from The College Prepster

How I Organize My Planner by Kirsten from Organized Charm

How to Organize Your College Binder by Caitlin from The Holladay Life

How I Study... in an Organized Way by Jessica from Blondes and Louboutins


I hope everyone has a great semester! If you're not in school, then I hope this helps motivate you to be organized!!

xo
Olivia

December Monthly Goals

I can't believe that November is over already! It went by soo quickly. Now that December is rolling in, that means that it's time for the holidays! I celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas with both my family and my boyfriend's. However, this also means that it's time for my finals to finish up my semester... YUCK! Like always, here are my monthly goals!

November Goals

Unplug for 2 hours a day I can successfully say I've done this one!!

Continue to take more scenic pictures Now that I have my new iPhone 6 I take more pictures!

Make a dish for Thanksgiving Made an amazing squash casserole that I'll be posting the recipe soon!

Finish the Ellen Degeneres book along with another book

Remember to make my bed every morning Didn't exactly do it every day... oops!

Get back on my blogging schedule Minus the break for Thanksgiving

Cross something off my 25 before 25 list

December Goals

Take a cute holiday pic with Ky

Figure out what to get Ky for the holidays

Finish the Ellen Degeneres book (I'm almost done!)

Get 20 more followers on bloglovin'

Don't procrastinate for my finals

Have someone guest post on my blog

Excited it being the beginning of December and for the holidays!

xo

Olivia

Helpful Study Tips

Finals are coming up and you know what that means... time to study. There are a lot of people who don't actually know how to study. Some people got by at other schools doing the bare minimum. However, that doesn't actually help them in the long run. Doing these helpful tips to study will for sure make a difference in your grade at the end of the semester!

Study Location

Picking a study location is soo important. A lot of people, like myself, get distracted easily. Studying at a place where a lot of people will be walking around and talking (like Starbucks) won't help you stay concentrated on the task that you need to be doing. I prefer going to the library. Find a floor that you feel comfortable in! I like to study in the stacks which is a floor with a ton of books that is completely silent. It's a great place to focus!

Music

A lot of people like to listen to music when studying. For some, it helps block out the noises around them but for some, it can make it staying focused worse. The reason for this is the type of music that you listen to. Listening to music with a lot of words are not what you should be listening to. This is because you end up paying attention to the lyrics unknowingly. The best music to listen to is classical music. I know, why would you want to listen to music with no words from people who lived a hundred years ago. The reason for this is that music helps stimulate your brain. When listening to classical music, it calms your mind down and helps you focus on what you're doing rather than the words you're listening to.

Draw Pictures

I know this one seems a little elementary. However, when you make pictures, graphs, or charts it helps you remember what you're studying. This is especially helpful for those who learn by seeing. For sciencey classes, drawing things out a bunch of times helps you visualize the material when you get to the exam. For me, I recently took an anatomy test. I drew out how the blood flows through your heart and body soo many times. When I got to the test, I was able to see the picture in my mind. You can also redraw it out on the exam to help remember!

Flash Cards

Flash cards are soo important! I know they seem like they're a pain to make but they seriously help. It's great creating piles of the ones you get wrong and right to be able to see which you got wrong. After making the piles after going through it once, pick up the pile of those that you got wrong and focus more on those (obviously reviewing the ones you got right as well). There is a great website that I like to use called quizlet that helps you make flash cards on the computer. The only problem with this is making sure you don't end up on Facebook or other social medias when you're studying.

Highlighters

After making a study guide like in my previous post, highlighters come in handy! Highlighting the main topics, vocabulary words, and other important facts helps you find the words easier. Having everything pop out in color makes studying easier. The important thing to remember is not to highlight everything. Only highlight the important information that you find necessary and then list the other facts underneath.

Don't Procrastinate

There are a lot of people that have a problem with procrastination. I actually believe that everyone does at some point in their lives. It is soo important not to fall into the habit of procrastinating before finals. I know a 2 hour binge on watching your favorite TV show on netflix seems more appealing than studying for your final exam but you'll thank yourself later when you get to finals week. Not stressing before finals are a key factor to getting better grades on your exams!

Good luck studying for finals everyone!!

xo
Olivia

How To Create A Great Study Guide

Finals are coming up within the next month and I know a lot of you are stressing (including me). Something that I like to do around this time is to start making a study guide. I like to make my study guides this early because I won't have to stress when it comes to studying for finals. Here are some tips that I find helpful when making a study guide!

Outline

Creating an outline is essential to making a study guide. It helps you be able to visualize what you need to know for the exam quickly without having to look things up right away. It also helps you be able to organize the material in a way that you find helpful. I like to bold the key concepts and then list the terms under each concept without defining them right away. Defining them goes with the "real" study guide. This is just an overview of what needs to be learned and memorized.

Color Coding

This is soo important for when it comes to the actual study guide. For me, I like to take the key concepts and list the terms underneath it. However, this is where I actually write down the definitions and the extra material that will be needed for the test. Color coding is my favorite study tool. I use colored pens for everything. Key concepts are in one color and the key terms are in another. Sometimes under each concept I make each term a different color to help differentiate between all of them.


Leave Room For Other Notes

There are a lot of times where we either forget to write something down or learn something later on after making the study guide that we want to add in. Leaving extra room is very important for this. It makes it a lot easier to keep all of your notes in order without having to look around for a term when you need it.

Examples

Writing down examples when you're able to is a great study tool. Whether it's an example that helps you learn what you need to learn or whether it is an example that might be a question on your exam. Examples are great ways to learn your class's material. Having multiple examples increases your chances on getting a better grade on the exam!

Practice Questions

Practice questions are great to add at the end of the study guide to take you to the next level in studying. There are soo many ways a professor can ask a question on an exam. Having practice questions that will stimulate your brain are great ways to learn.

Memorize, Memorize, Memorize

Now that you're study guide is made... it's time to start learning the material. Going over your study guide once before the final isn't going to make the grade. Going over the material is going to be super important when studying. This is why I think it's best to make your final study guide a few weeks in advance. I know some of the material hasn't been covered yet but that's why we give extra space... to add more information in! Typing the study guide helps too! Studying what you've already learned now probably will bring you a step ahead of the other students. And who wouldn't want a better grade?! I know I do!

I hope this helps everyone! Good luck getting ready for finals in a month!

xo
Olivia