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istudythestars · 9 months

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tips for stem majors in math and science courses (spoonie + neurodivergent friendly)

hi y’all! my nameis lila and i’m a 28 year old physics and anthropology major who’s about 2 years through college (in the US)! as we’re coming up on the start of the fall ‘23 college semester, i thought i might share some really solid hacks for fellow STEM students taking science and/or math courses that i’ve basically built my college academic career on. and! these study tips are spoonie and adhd friendly! as a matter of fact, a lot of these are tips/methods that specifically work for me as a neurodivergent spoonie (i have pretty severe adhd, as well as POTS and ME/CFS), but that i think non-disabled/non-spoonie and/or neurotypical students could also benefit from using! so with out any further ado, here are my 7 tried and true study hacks for college math and science classes…

1) discover your learning style and tailor your studying towards leveraging it.

you’ve probably heard of visual, audio, and kinesthetic learning styles, but did you now there’s actually way more learning styles than just those three? i’m personally a “social learner,” meaning i learn best through discussion and socialization with 1+ other people to interact with. this could look like teaching other classmates concepts and methods that we’ve learned or discussing ideas with classmates and/or professors until i fully understand the concepts at play and how they connect and can reflect them in performing analysis and application, etc. honestly, figuring out my learning style was hands down one of the most helpful things i’ve done in college. it has allowed me to choose professors who i will mesh better with in terms of how they teach, as well as to adapt materials and methods to my style of learning in order to master them quicker and more effectively.

2) rewrite your notes after lecture, for the love of god.

this tip actually comes from my high school IB Math HL teacher, who told me to do this when i originally left high school for college. even if you think you’ve mastered the basics of the topic covered during the lecture, rewriting those notes after lecture helps really hammer in the knowledge that you’ve already established and also helps to get the wheels turning on pieces of information you might have less of a grasp on. try tp set aside at least 30 - 40 minutes after class to just rewrite your notes and try to really digest the information.

3) body doubling is one of the most beneficial things ever to be invented even if you’re not adhd, and i WILL die on that hill, thank you very much.

“body doubling” or “having an accountabilibuddy” are interchangeable terms in the adhd community that mean you have one or more consistent study buddy/buddies who you do all the homework and/or studying with in person on a regular basis, even if you’re just working next to each other in total silence. this does a couple of things. first off, it forces homework/assignments/studying to become a concrete social obligation you need to regularly show up for, rather than a nebulous obligation based on an invisible deadline. second off, it gives you 1+ partners to work out your problems concerning course topics with. third off, it allows you to build a network of peers where you feel comfortable helping each other with course material (this is especially great because it’s likely you and your classmates have different strengths regarding course content). tbh, body doubling is the other method that i, personally, have found most useful in college and i highly recommend trying it, even if you don’t have adhd.

4) teach others/your classmates the analysis and application methods you’ve learned, even if those methods aren’t 100% solidified for you (trust me on this).

the goal of stem courses is never memorization, but rather being able to understand a topic well enough to analyze a similar situation and apply the what you’ve learned creatively. this is where teaching others comes in. in order to teach others a concept and its related analysis and application well, you have to have at least a fraction of a decent understanding of these things yourself, and, further, often time in teaching these things you also learn to grasp the concepts/aanalysis/applications even better than you did before with each new teaching session. basically: teaching others is a creative way of also teaching yourself. you get the benefits of repetition, of thinking about a concept/technique/analysis and application in a new way, and of getting to apply the concept/technique/analysis and applicatioin to a new scenario each time. plus, you’ll typically make friends quickly in the process! there’s really no downside to this tip imo ;-)

5) utilize your college’s tutoring center/program(s), even when you don’t think you need to.

usually colleges have either set up a general “tutoring center,” on campus where you can find tutors for all different kinds of topics and courses available during regular hours for walk-in sessions and/or appointments free of charge or departments will hold regular weekly (or twice weekly) free on-campus tutoring sessions for specific courses. regardless of which of these options your college has, i highly recommend attending at least one tutoring session/appointment (ideally with the same tutor if/when you eventually find one you click with) every single week, even when you don’t feel like you’re struggling with the topic(s) covered in that week’s lecture. this will help you review topics and techniques covered in lecture, deepen your understanding of them, and, if nothing else, it’s an excuse to get homework out of the way while having someone else there who can help you if/when you get stuck. attending at least one session weekly also helps you get into a habit and routine of keeping up with your assignments, so you’re not left scrambling at the last minute before they’re due.

6) if you have accommodations, request access to record lectures. if you do not have accommodations, ask your professor if you are allowed to record lectures. IF YOU RECORD LECTURES, DO NOT FORGET TO REVIEW THEM!

okay, so first up for my fellow spoonies and neurodivergent peeps: when you apply for/renew your accommodations, make sure that “recordinng lectures” is on your MOA (memorandum of accommodations), because so long as it is, your professors legally cannot deny you permission to record lectures without risk of themself and the college being sued for an ADA violation. also, make friends with a classmate and ask them to record lectures and send them to you if/when you are absent (let the professor know that you’ve asked this classmate to record and send you the lecture if you are absent)

now, if you aren’t disabled, a spoonie, and/or neurodivergent, you aren’t guaranteed permission to record lectures. however. ask the professor if you can have their permission to audio record lectures (be sure to also let them know that such a recording would be for personal use only and that you don’t plan on distributing the recordings). i’ve found that many professors don’t mind you having an audio recording.

even if you aren’t an audible learner it can be really useful to have these recordings to review at a later point. oftentimes reviewing lecture recordings can be useful if you glazed over and missed a section of the lecture and/or if you can’t remember what a professor taught during a section of a lecture.

7) last but not least, on a related note, if you have accommodations, also request access to your professor’s lecture notes. if you don’t have accommodations, check if your professor posts their lecture notes for students to use.

having your professor’s notes can be extremely useful for review purposes, but they can also help you understand where your professor is going with course content and what they want to stress as important.

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ros3ybabe · 29 days

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Accountability Buddy Search!

I am currently on the search for an accountability buddy! Someone I can use to keep me on track with my academic goals, life admin goals, language study goals, and whatever specific things I'd want to accomplish! I also would love to help someone else stay accountable with their academic/language/life admin goals!

editing to add: I have found my accountability buddies!!! Thank you to everyone who reached out to me, and I look forward to working with my new accountability buddies! I recommend for everyone who thinks it to be useful to do do themselves, because I can already feel how good this is going to be for me, and hopefully for them too!

Here are some of my goals:

regularly studying spanish/Japanese

regularly completing homework on time

regularly studying for/preparing for exams/quizzes

sticking to my routines consistently

maintaining a healthy, productive balance between school-work-life

regularly meeting my personal goals (reading, joirnaling, working out, etc)

Here are some things about me:

I am a 21 year old female

I am a junior in university, but 2nd year of studying my major

My major is Human Nutrition/Dietetics, and I am also minoring in Psychology and Exercise Science

My current courses I'm trying to stay on top of are General Chemistry II, Emotions (psychology), and Medical Terminology

I want to begin regularly studying Japanese and Spanish again

I want to begin reading, journaling, and sticking to consistent routines as well as keep academically inclined.

My Preferences in Accountability Buddy:

Female, 19-24 years of age (no minors or males, please.)

preferably in college/university, but it also doesn't matter if you independently study languages

also has some academic/productive oriented goals, or just goals that you'd like to be kept accountable on

has a not super personal way of contact for the accountability check ins (GroupMe, Discord, and eventually maybe a way to video call once we get more comfortable with each other, but of course, safety first! and tumblr inbox works too, but I feel discord or groupme might be a little easier long term)

hopefully willing to stay accountability buddies for a decent amount of time (maybe til end of my semester? mid may?)

willing to lay out or goals, accountability check in schedule, and open to communication with respect to each of our time zones/schedules/commitments, etc

conversationaly fluent/fluent in English or English first language at the least. It's the only language I currently speak so it would be easier to work with someone that speaks the same language

If anyone is interested in having/being an accountability buddy, please send me an ask or message me! Please be respectful of my preferences tho, I really do want to be safe with something like this because with the internet, you never know. I look forward to possibly meeting/working with/becoming acquaintances with you guys!!

ps. please don't be put off by the aesthetics of my blog, I can assure you all, I am a typical, 21 year old college student who works an on campus job, struggles with sleep and caffiene, and is constantly staying on top of my grades and classes while also worrying if I'm doing enough to keep my GPA at a good spot. this blogs aesthetics are purely for fun and artistic expression. If I wasn't such an aesthetic-loving person, I'd post my own study type photos but I'd feel so less-than if I posted like, a non cohesive plethora of photos I take. I'm not good at taking photos

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thelegendofstudy · 1 year

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A few infographic that may be helpful for end of the year burn-out. Enjoy!

#college study tips #studyblr #thelegendofstudy #biology major #college #pre-vet #academics unite #pastel academia #school #uniblr #stemblr #study #study habits

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esmereldastudies · 1 year

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Happy Holidays to Everyone!

May the end-of-year season bring you peace, comfort, rest, happiness, love, good health, and energy. ♡

You've worked hard this year. Whether things have gone as planned, or not, you deserve to feel proud of all that you have experienced, accomplished, and overcome.

Please remember to treat yourself and others kindly, and to always keep the things, and people, you love close to your heart. ♡

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sunflowersandroses-blog · 1 year

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Pharmacology is going to kill me. I have an exam on Thursday that I know I'm not going to do the greatest on since I've just been very unmotivated the last 2 weeks. Now that I'm feeling good again I'm kicking myself for not trying harder 😭 how am I going to memorize all these drugs?!

#college struggles #college study tips #college life #college #student life #student #studying #pharmacology #vettech #vet tech

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juliaxyn · 7 months

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Work until you no longer have to introduce yourself.

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mindfulstudyquest · 11 days

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gentle reminder you can rise up from everything. you can recreate yourself. nothing is permanent. you are not stuck. you have choices. you can think new thoughts. you can learn something new. you can create new habits. all that matters is that you decide today and never look back.

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careeroptionhub · 1 year

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#scholarship #graduation #women #female #college life #college study tips #college student #career options #careeropportunities #online jobs

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macgyvermedical · 3 months

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Study Strategies

For everyone asking "What does 'playing' with the material even mean when it comes to studying??"

Well, basically when you think about the material in a way that applies to your real life or interests, or that entertains you.

Writing a tumblr post about it (my blog started out as a study tool when I was in nursing school, because I re-wrote what I was learning in fandom/fic terms)

Talking about it or explaining it to a friend that is NOT in your field of study

Trapping your blorbos in a weird situation they can only get out of by learning the material (I once went through a whole scenario in my head about my blorbo getting injected with insulin and his friend having to figure out how long they had to give him sugar before they died to learn insulin onset-peak-duration)

Flash card "war" where 2 or more of your friends bring their flashcards and every time you or a friend puts down a card, the one that gets the answer the closest first wins the cards (google allowed)

Make a comedy routine about the material using only jokes that would be funny if someone understood it

Order a list of facts from least to most interesting- bonus points if you do it with a friend and you both have to agree, bringing your own arguments to the table as to why a particular fact deserves a certain rank

Finding an old textbook on the material at your school's library and figuring out what still holds up to today's knowledge

Find a group of people on the internet that are really interested in what you're studying and get the latest in DiscourseTM

Make the most misleading fact sheet you can make on the subject, with everything you say being technically true

Make a fact sheet that holds up to the reading comprehension of tumblr dot com

Basically anything that reframes studying from "I hate this and it takes up so much time" to "something I was probably going to do anyway for fun, but this time with more [subject]".

#studyblr #study #college #university #student #motivation #study tips

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teapot-studies · 1 year

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Random writing tips that my history professor just told during class that are actually helpful

Download all your sources or print them so you can turn off your wifi

Give your phone to someone

Just. WRITE. Writing is analysing, you’ll get more ideas as you write. It doesn’t need to be perfect, for now you can just blurt out words and ideas randomly. You can fix it later.

Create a skeleton/structure before writing.

Stop before you get exhausted. It’s best to stop writing when you still have some energy and inspiration left, this will also motivate you to get started again next time.

Make a to do list

Work in bite sizes. Even if it’s not much, as long as you put some ideas on paper or do some editing.

Simple language =/= boring language, simple language = clear language.

Own your words. If they are not your words, state this clearly in the text, not just in the footnotes.

STOP BEFORE YOU GET EXHAUSTED. Listing it again because it’s easily one of the best tips a teacher has ever given me.

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official-locke-writing · 8 months

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Okay, look, I've been in college for two years and my Biology professor has pretty significantly rooted this educational science game called Labster into her course.

I was not expecting to be playing Portal all day for school.

Yeah, this is a full, 360 sci-fi free roam lab environment that you can pretty much do whatever you want in. You know those cruddy flash game experiments you used to do in middle school? Those are a thing of the past.

And check this: the entire lab is being run by this super cool AI droid named Dr. One

She floats around and directs you around the lab depending on the lesson you're taking and sounds eerily similar to GLaDOS. It turns out that Dr. One also has a lore page and that she was created originally for "unethical purposes."

Also, this environment is extremely detailed and even runs shaders and ambient occlusion in your web browser.

That's pretty nuts, considering the only time we ever see these things are built into genuine video games, not a web browser lab. It runs incredibly smoothly on my GTX 1050.

This is insanely impressive and I actually enjoyed my homework today. 10/10, would play this in my free time.

#gaming #indie games #game development #education #biology #science #science side of tumblr #biochemistry #college #college tips #university #student #studying #college life #student life

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nasa · 7 months

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Top Study Tips from NASA

Study smarter this school year! We asked scientists, engineers, astronauts, and experts from across NASA about their favorite study tips – and they delivered. Here are a few of our favorites:

Study with friends

Find friends that are like-minded and work together to understand the material better. Trading ideas with a friend on how to tackle a problem can help you both strengthen your understanding.

Create a study environment

Find a quiet space or put on headphones so you can focus. You might not be able to get to the International Space Station yet, but a library, a study room, or a spot outside can be a good place to study. If it’s noisy around you, try using headphones to block out distractions.

Take breaks

Don’t burn yourself out! Take a break, go for a walk, get some water, and come back to it.

Looking for more study tips? Check out this video for all ten tips to start your school year off on the right foot!

youtube

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

#study #studyblr #study blog #NASA #back to school #space #tips #youtube #study tips #college #university #high school #middle school

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ros3ybabe · 7 months

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Daily Check-in Septmeber 14th, 2023 🎀

This was a good day. Busy, absolutely, but good nonetheless. Had a meeting with my 1st dietetics mentor, and she was absolutely the sweetest and sent me an email after our meeting about the projects she wants me to work on currently, as her mentee. Cannot wait to meet my 2nd mentor next week! Also, I got asked to go into work, so I pulled a 6.5-hour shift when I didn't need to, but I need money so it's worth it.

🩷 What I Ate Today -

Breakfast - tuna w mayo and crackers

Lunch - iced coffee, chicken parm, noodles, one garlic bread, some asparagus

Dinner - chik fil a sandwich, medium fries, polynesian sauce

Extra - 3 more coffees in addition to the one I had at lunch

I am overconsuming caffiene so much right now, but I have been understandably so tired, so it's definitely helping me get through my days and weeks right now. I also genuinely enjoy the taste of the coffee I make, so that's always fun. I did just but a matcha set online, so hopefully, I can learn to make my own matcha and cut back on coffee for a bit.

🩷 Personal Achievements -

Attended RD meeting

Had my therapy appointment

Planned out part of my upcoming week/weekend

Studied Japanese for ~15 min

I did not accomplish almost anything school related, but that's okay because I'll have the time to do it all this weekend after work both days.

🩷 Todo for Today -

take Fitness For Health and Sport lecture notes

call embroidery place about dropping off my cooking class's chef coat

Video call with my boyfriend

Complete my Sample nutrition log assignment + submit it (if I have the time)

Study Japanese 10+ minutes

Because of how busy my schedule has been, I've been studying Japanese daily about 10 to 15 minutes a day. I'm starting to remember the hiragana characters pretty well so I've started jotting down vocabulary in a mini notebook.

🩷 Song of the Day - Social Path by Stray Kids, LiSa

This song is on repeat right now. I've always loved both their music and now that they've collabed, I'm on cloud 9. They're voices all sound so good in this song.

That's all for now! Will not be updating the 15th due to working the night shift at my job but will update for the 15th and 16th on Saturday night!

Til next time, lovelies 🩷