How to Study Like a Harvard Student
Taken from Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld, daughter of the Tiger Mother
Preliminary Steps
1. Choose classes that interest you. That way studying doesnât feel like slave labor. If you donât want to learn, then I canât help you.
2. Make some friends. See steps 12, 13, 23, 24.
General Principles
3. Study less, but study better.
4. Avoid Autopilot Brain at all costs.
5. Vague is bad. Vague is a waste of your time.
6. Write it down.
7. Suck it up, buckle down, get it done.
Plan of Attack Phase I: Class
8. Show up. Everything will make a lot more sense that way, and you will save yourself a lot of time in the long run.
9. Take notes by hand. I donât know the science behind it, but doing anything by hand is a way of carving it into your memory. Also, if you get bored you will doodle, which is still a thousand times better than ending up on stumbleupon or something.
Phase II: Study Time
10. Get out of the library. The sheer fact of being in a library doesnât fill you with knowledge. Eight hours of Facebooking in the library is still eight hours of Facebooking. Also, people who bring food and blankets to the library and just stay there during finals week start to smell weird. Go home and bathe. You can quiz yourself while you wash your hair.
11. Do a little every day, but donât let it be your whole day. âThis afternoon, I will read a chapter of something and do half a problem set. Then, I will watch an episode of South Park and go to the gymâ ALWAYS BEATS âStarting right now, I am going to read as much as I possibly canâŠoh wow, now itâs midnight, Iâm on page five, and my room reeks of ramen and dysfunction.â
12. Give yourself incentive. Thereâs nothing worse than a gaping abyss of study time. If you know youâre going out in six hours, youâre more likely to get something done.
13. Allow friends to confiscate your phone when they catch you playing Angry Birds. Oh and if you think you need a break, you probably donât.
Phase III: Assignments
14. Stop highlighting. Underlining is supposed to keep you focused, but itâs actually a one-way ticket to Autopilot Brain. You zone out, look down, and suddenly you have five pages of neon green that you donât remember reading. Write notes in the margins instead.
15. Do all your own work. You get nothing out of copying a problem set. Itâs also shady.
16. Read as much as you can. No way around it. Stop trying to cheat with Sparknotes.
17. Be a smart reader, not a robot (lol). Ask yourself: What is the author trying to prove? What is the logical progression of the argument? You can usually answer these questions by reading the introduction and conclusion of every chapter. Then, pick any two examples/anecdotes and commit them to memory (write them down). They will help you reconstruct the authorâs argument later on.
18. Donât read everything, but understand everything that you read. Better to have a deep understanding of a limited amount of material, than to have a vague understanding of an entire course. Once again: Vague is bad. Vague is a waste of your time.
19. Bullet points. For essays, summarizing, everything.
Phase IV: Reading Period (Review Week)
20. Once again: do not move into the library. Eat, sleep, and bathe.
21. If you donât understand it, it will definitely be on the exam. Solution: textbooks; the internet.
22. Do all the practice problems. This one is totally tiger mom.
23. People are often contemptuous of rote learning. Newsflash: even at great intellectual bastions like Harvard, you will be required to memorize formulas, names and dates. To memorize effectively: stop reading your list over and over again. It doesnât work. Say it out loud, write it down. Remember how you made friends? Have them quiz you, then return the favor.
24. Again with the friends: ask them to listen while you explain a difficult concept to them. This forces you to articulate your understanding. Remember, vague is bad.
25. Go for the big picture. Try to figure out where a specific concept fits into the course as a whole. This will help you tap into Big Themes â every class has Big Themes â which will streamline what you need to know. You can learn a million facts, but until you understand how they fit together, youâre missing the point.
Phase V: Exam Day
26. Crush exam. Get A.
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What are days for? Days are where we liveâ where can we live but days?
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September 8, 2019 // week 1 of 1L done and dusted
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[february 25, 2020 âą tuesday]
are you guys currently in HS or college? and what year? I'm currently a third year in college ăœ(ă»âă»)ïŸ
instagram @studie_ss âš
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đœ/đčđ¶ đđđąđ đđ đđđđđđđđđđđđą
Notes notes notes. I couldnât live without my notebooks; I tried typing up thoughts and lecture notes, but itâs just not the same (and I quickly forget almost everything). I treated myself to some new Moleskines this semester, just because the whole world feels slightly out of hand these days, and now they accompany me on a daily basis. Currently working on ancient metallurgy and literary theory while itâs raining.
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Essay writing and cat naps
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đ
28.04.17 đ
Green + yellow for notes on Trotsky đ€                              (click for better quality!)
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How to Study Like a Harvard Student
Taken from Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld, daughter of the Tiger Mother
Preliminary Steps
1. Choose classes that interest you. That way studying doesnât feel like slave labor. If you donât want to learn, then I canât help you.
2. Make some friends. See steps 12, 13, 23, 24.
General Principles
3. Study less, but study better.
4. Avoid Autopilot Brain at all costs.
5. Vague is bad. Vague is a waste of your time.
6. Write it down.
7. Suck it up, buckle down, get it done.
Plan of Attack Phase I: Class
8. Show up. Everything will make a lot more sense that way, and you will save yourself a lot of time in the long run.
9. Take notes by hand. I donât know the science behind it, but doing anything by hand is a way of carving it into your memory. Also, if you get bored you will doodle, which is still a thousand times better than ending up on stumbleupon or something.
Phase II: Study Time
10. Get out of the library. The sheer fact of being in a library doesnât fill you with knowledge. Eight hours of Facebooking in the library is still eight hours of Facebooking. Also, people who bring food and blankets to the library and just stay there during finals week start to smell weird. Go home and bathe. You can quiz yourself while you wash your hair.
11. Do a little every day, but donât let it be your whole day. âThis afternoon, I will read a chapter of something and do half a problem set. Then, I will watch an episode of South Park and go to the gymâ ALWAYS BEATS âStarting right now, I am going to read as much as I possibly canâŠoh wow, now itâs midnight, Iâm on page five, and my room reeks of ramen and dysfunction.â
12. Give yourself incentive. Thereâs nothing worse than a gaping abyss of study time. If you know youâre going out in six hours, youâre more likely to get something done.
13. Allow friends to confiscate your phone when they catch you playing Angry Birds. Oh and if you think you need a break, you probably donât.
Phase III: Assignments
14. Stop highlighting. Underlining is supposed to keep you focused, but itâs actually a one-way ticket to Autopilot Brain. You zone out, look down, and suddenly you have five pages of neon green that you donât remember reading. Write notes in the margins instead.
15. Do all your own work. You get nothing out of copying a problem set. Itâs also shady.
16. Read as much as you can. No way around it. Stop trying to cheat with Sparknotes.
17. Be a smart reader, not a robot (lol). Ask yourself: What is the author trying to prove? What is the logical progression of the argument? You can usually answer these questions by reading the introduction and conclusion of every chapter. Then, pick any two examples/anecdotes and commit them to memory (write them down). They will help you reconstruct the authorâs argument later on.
18. Donât read everything, but understand everything that you read. Better to have a deep understanding of a limited amount of material, than to have a vague understanding of an entire course. Once again: Vague is bad. Vague is a waste of your time.
19. Bullet points. For essays, summarizing, everything.
Phase IV: Reading Period (Review Week)
20. Once again: do not move into the library. Eat, sleep, and bathe.
21. If you donât understand it, it will definitely be on the exam. Solution: textbooks; the internet.
22. Do all the practice problems. This one is totally tiger mom.
23. People are often contemptuous of rote learning. Newsflash: even at great intellectual bastions like Harvard, you will be required to memorize formulas, names and dates. To memorize effectively: stop reading your list over and over again. It doesnât work. Say it out loud, write it down. Remember how you made friends? Have them quiz you, then return the favor.
24. Again with the friends: ask them to listen while you explain a difficult concept to them. This forces you to articulate your understanding. Remember, vague is bad.
25. Go for the big picture. Try to figure out where a specific concept fits into the course as a whole. This will help you tap into Big Themes â every class has Big Themes â which will streamline what you need to know. You can learn a million facts, but until you understand how they fit together, youâre missing the point.
Phase V: Exam Day
26. Crush exam. Get A.
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Today was a rainy day and it was perfect to chill amd relax a bit before another new week starts!! đđâš
What did you do this weekend?
Instagram
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some cafes and restaurants will be opening next week and i am too excited!đ„°đ§Ą even if i canât spend as much time as i usually do sitting in a cafe, iâm still excited to be able to dine inđ„șâšâš
.
also i hope youâre all having a wonderful day! how are you all spending your weekend? iâve been working on my lab report for days (on top of so many other assignments) and iâm hoping i can at least get through half of the content by tomorrowđđ (at Perth, Western Australia)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CANubnansfQ/?igshid=11cxi7fug5ctc
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hi everyone! itâs been quite a while! sorry for the lack of posts :( iâve also yet to answer all your questions on my story but iâm getting there! iâm popping in for a bit to let you know that my review for the starless sea by @erinmorgenstern is now up on my blog (link in the biooo)đ§Ą
.
i am on my non-stop grind for exam season but i will be back very soon! my last exam is this saturday, and i CANNOT wait to be able to read and write and take pictures againâșïžâš thank you soooo much for all your support despite my absence. so much love for all of youđ„șđ§Ąđ„° (at Perth, Western Australia)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4fUY7IHAtO/?igshid=qajosx3n8qhn
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but seriously though iâm sick and tired of those masterposts that are like âhere! A reference site on Greek mythology for all your needs! Look it has all fifteen Greek gods on it!â And Iâm like. tHERE WERE LIKE HUNDREDS OF FIGURES IN MYTHOLOGY YOUR CRAPPY HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL BIBLIOGRAPHY SITE MEANS NOTHING TO MEÂ
if you want a basic outline of Greek mythology okay sure fine??? but like. if you want an extensive fucking reference site you are looking in the wrong goddamn places
as a self-declared greek mythology snob my reference site is fucking always this fucker right here. almost every single figure ever mentioned in a Greek text is on it, it has the most obscure gods, spirits, nymphsâ itâs GREAT. You really wanna extend your mythological knowledge past the basic 12 and like four others? USE THEOI.  plus plus PLUS everything is cited so you can actually read the source material written about whoever it is youâre looking at.
fucking signal boost this. iâm so sick and tired of writerâs helpers blogs referring people to sites with as much information you would get from opening a third grade mythology book jesus chriiiiiist
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21.4.20 - working on some writing exercises for my short fiction unit...
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13.02.20
I've been off the past two days because the first week of each term is always a mess đ” I will be active every day from today, promised! Anyway, these notes are from Industrial Fermentations đŠ
Instagram: whoislales
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// Study Mode
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