TL






mathbrain:

As a university student whose course load is heavily math-based, I’ve had my fair share of encounters with math problems that seem unsolvable, and notes that make absolutely no sense. Fortunately, I’ve also come across a lot of useful resources that I thought I would share with my fellow math comrades! So here is my list of “life-saving” math resources that will hopefully make your math life a little bit easier.

Wolfram Alpha

Definitely the most used resource when I am doing math homework. It’s capable of solving basically any math problem. You have to pay to see the step-by-step solution, and I have a shared account with my friend, so that’s an option if you want to pay a little bit less!

Symbolab

Similar to Wolfram Alpha, but free! You can see the step-by-step solutions without paying, so that’s great. However, the downside is that if your math problem is quite complicated, it may not have the solution (i.e. crazy integrals)

Paul’s Online Math Notes

This website has notes on algebra to multivariable calculus, with plenty of examples and explanations. This is an actual life saver for my friends who are doing advanced/university level math. Especially if your professor has atrocious writing but can’t seem to stray away from hand written notes. 

Khan Academy

Has video lessons on elementary to university level math. Great for visual learners, since the lessons include a lot of graphs and diagrams. Not to mention this website offers video lessons on a variety of subjects!

Desmos

Graph functions (single and multivariable) and plot data tables!

Slader

Textbook solutions!!! You can probably find the solutions to most of the calculus textbooks used in universities. Really great for those who like to study by doing a bunch of practice questions.

Bonus: Scannable (not really math related, but still useful)

For those with professors who prefer digital submissions of assignments: turn your phone camera into a scanner without the bulk. The best scanner app I’ve come across - it will make your papers look like they’ve actually been scanned, even if you take the photo in bad lighting.



to uk peeps

shadowraven27:

gooseweasel:

chibi-koun:

theappleismightierthanthesarah:

pleiadic:

damn-peppy:

infjconfessions:

akireyta:

writerdarkflamespyre:

thesneakyfox:

gingerautie:

terrasigillata:

sootonthecarpet:

windcalling:

roachpatrol:

so you guys are facing down yet another global warming summer and as an american i feel entitled to barge over and give you a lot of advice about how to live your life. also i’m used to surviving 90-110 degree summers (32—43 celsius) with no ac. so here we go. 

  • you need to drink  a lot of water. on average you should be drinking about two liters. on hot days, double that. 
  • fill plastic water bottles halfway up and stick them in your freezer. take them out once they’ve frozen and fill the rest up with water, drink the water, fill it up again, and carry it around with you until it’s time to get the next ice bottle. also you can put the icy end against your throat or over your chest for maximum refreshment.
  • consider making a lot of sun tea. get big glass jars or a pitcher. put a bunch of your preferred teabags in it with some sugar. if you want to be an american southerner, your tea should be green or black and your sugar amount should be enough to kill a child. if you want to be sane, put in as little sugar as you can get away with so it’s not dehydrating, and stick with herbal teas because the last thing you want during the heat of the day is a caffeine boost. leave your tea on a windowsill. after a few hours it’s steeped and you can put it in the fridge. tadaaa. 
  • fruit juice, soda pop, beer, and a lot of sports drinks like gatorade all dehydrate you, and in really hot weather they’re dangerous because people will drink them instead of water. drink an equal amount of water as anything with sugar. see prior point about sun tea. 
  • when you sweat you lose salt. so don’t feel bad about eating some junk food. 
  • freeze grapes. eat the grapes. repeat. 
  • get a hat with a brim. baseball caps are ok but wide brimmed hats are better because they shadow the back of your neck and that’s one less thing to have to worry about. 
  • don’t wear knit caps. just… no. 
  • you don’t get more sunburned because it’s hot, you get more sunburned because when it’s hot you wear less clothes. so don’t freak out.
  • if you don’t have AC you can put a bowl of ice behind a fan. this creates a swamp cooler, by pulling the air over the ice. also, put on a wet t-shirt and sit in front of it, and you’ll cool further by evaporation. 
  • speaking of evaporation, watch out if it’s humid. you don’t cool down from sweating as much when the air’s already saturated. drink more water, have more salt, and change your shirt a lot. 
  • heatstroke is serious shit, and kids and the elderly are prone to it. but whatever your age, if you feel nauseous, headachy, or short of breath, the heat’s getting to you. pour your water bottle over your head and go sit in the shade. keep an eye on friends and family as well. 
  • if someone stops sweating when they’re still out in the heat, that’s serious business and get them medical treatment as soon as possible. it’s a case of dehydration and/or heatstroke.  

Other things that freeze really well, a short list:

  • Orange juice! Other fruit juices too, but I tend to have best results with oj or cider. Pour some into an empty ice-cube tray, let them freeze, and the result is slightly-flaky frozen goodness. This is also an easy way to make homemade popsicles–put a sheet of aluminum foil over top of the tray and stick toothpick/popsicle sticks in so the juice freezes around them.
  • Grapes were mentioned. Grapes are TRUE.
  • NOT SODAS. Do not freeze sodas! They explode.
  • Strawberries! These can be hard to find cheap, especially outside of strawberry season, and I don’t know about their availability outside of my part of the US, but if you can get them they’re great frozen in your water. Freeze-dry strawberries by laying them out on a tray or sth in the freezer, and then when they’re frozen just put them in a bag to conserve space.

Other general tips:

  • Fruit in water is amazing when you’re someone like me who doesn’t like water’s lack of taste. Strawberries and mint leaves are fairly traditional, but basically anything you like will work. there are lots of combos online.
  • If you have a blender or a food processor, smoothies are a good way to eat something when you’re too hot to function. Fruit+ice+milk+yogurt is pretty traditional.
  • Have sunscreen. Make sure you don’t have any skin reactions to the sunscreen. If your sunscreen has fragrance, make sure you can deal with the fragrance when it’s constantly on your face in heat.
  • Speaking off: sunscreen is not just for arms/shoulders. Put sunscreen on your face, especially nose/cheekbones/forehead. Put sunscreen on the tops of your ears! If your hair has a tight part, try to put sunscreen there if you don’t wear a hat (scalp burns are PAINFUL). Put sunscreen on your legs, especially the backs of your calves. Put sunscreen on any visible parts of your feet.
  • Wear loose clothing if you can, especially if you’re wearing long sleeves. Any constrictions on your breathing feel much worse in the heat.

If you need to cool down quick, run cold water over your wrists (or put ice cubes on them maybe?). This is a trick they taught us in gymnastics class but it works just as well on hot days.

When you start getting that feeling like you’ve adapted to the heat, like it’s not bad, like you could just stay where you are for hours and hours, even get a blanket, and maybe you feel like you’re zoning out a little, it’s time to reconsider, move around, have something cool to drink.

And it can be hard to remember to eat when it’s so hot, for some reason. Cold food in small portions is generally easiest to manage. But remember to eat food with a lot of salt, a lot of potassium, a lot of vitamins. I can’t believe bananas aren’t on this post. My god, get your potassium, you’ll feel SO much better. If you’re eating something salty and it tastes unusually, amazingly good, it’s because you’re running low on salt, so keep eating it.

and seriously yeah keep an eye on people like kids and the elderly and anyone who’s under your care. ask them how they’re feeling if they’re able to tell you, and if not, try to see if they’re looking unusually unfocused, breathing too hard, haven’t had anything to drink in a while, etc.

If you bind, be even more careful about how long you bind and pay even more attention to your binder’s effects on your body.

sometimes there’s nothing else for it but to just fill a bathtub with cool water and get in. Seriously, it can be so helpful. Also, showers. Showers are good.

also take care of your dogs I don’t know anything about dogs but be careful for them! maybe look up some tips.

also could anyone who even thinks about reblogging this from me to make fun of brits, pls stop?? when it gets hot here it’s kind of awful bc A/C is rare and they’re really not used to this kind of heat. if you add any sort of teasing if u reblog this for me i will find u and push you

Seriously, air conditioning is basically not a think here. And most of our houses are designed to trap heat. Our old people’s homes are not air conditioned. Our hospitals are not air conditioned. When we have unusual heat waves people die.

If you find yourself shaking, feeling dizzy, or feeling cold in the middle of a heat wave, sit yourself down in the shade and sip water (don’t chug, you’ll make yourself throw up) until you feel normal again. These are some of the first warning signs of heat exhaustion and ignoring them is dumb.
If you’re at a sports practice or being otherwise active in the heat and you recognize these or other symptoms of heat exhaustion/heat stroke, don’t let yourself be pressured into playing through it. Listen to your body and take care of it.

I have so many British buddies, you guys, pay serious attention to the tips up above. For those who don’t know, I live in Australia, one of the driest and hottest places on earth, and we get those same temperatures that the first poster quoted, hotter in the centre of Australia. I didn’t know half of those tips, and I’ll likely utilise them next summer myself.

Please, take care in the heat, I’ll make sure to reblog this later on when it gets closer to you guys’ summer, but please, take this seriously. Even with us being used to the heat the way we are, we still have fatalities because people do not properly look after themselves.

also, since everyone always forgets – if you’re wearing sandals or flipflops, PUT SUNSCREEN ON YOUR TOES. Those little piggies are not used to being grilled, and sunburnt feet isn’t fun. Actually, suncreen everywhere (nape of neck, all over your ears, right down to your figures. Put your sunscreen on before getting dressed, and let it soak in, so you don’t get burn lines along the hems, and re-apply FREQUENTLY. In fact, if you don’t regularly use sunscreen, read this helpful FAQ

As someone with skin cancer, let me tell you, DON’T LET YOURSELF GET BURNED!

/psa

another point to cool off is behind the ears, press an ice cube there when your head feels hot

lie down on the floor to refresh, if your house is all wooden floors and carpets, the floors won’t be fresh but where there are tiles (like the bathroom) would work

and yo, if u have towels, u should soak ‘em in cold water or a tub of ice if one is accessible, and just wear it around your neck

also, the sunscreen thing is rly important
even if you don’t think you need it, you can still get sunburnt and have ur skin peeling, and that’s no fun.

If you have access to multiple floors, it can be a good idea to set up an air mattress or even just pile up some blankets on the floor and to sleep on the lowest floor you can. Heat rises, and even with a/c we used to sleep on the ground floor when we were in an old farmhouse. It’s also not a bad idea to wear loose, light colored clothing that’s a little more covering, since this helps keep the sun off of you and makes it easier for sweat to evaporate, which both help keep you cool. Idk if anyone’s mentioned this, but you can tie up loose hair in a bun or braid to keep it from sticking to your neck. It’s a small but quick thing that can make you feel a bit better, just make sure to keep the back of your neck in the shade and sunscreen.

If you plan on lying on your stomach in the sun SUNSCREEN THE BOTTOMS OF YOUR FEET. Really sunscreen every 1-2 hours and make sure you apply at least 15 min before going outside.

I like sticking my top sheet and pillowcase in the freezer about 30 min or more before going to bed. And cold wet hair is a blessing for a while if you have longer hair

About clothing: If you can wear loose clothes made of 100% cotton or linen, wear them! A lot of synthetic fibers (I’m looking at you, polyester) will stick to your skin like plastic wrap.

Also, FROZEN BANANAS. Frozen bananas are excellent. And having something salty to snack on, because it will make you thirsty and remind you to drink water, as well as replacing any salt you lose by sweating. Just keep a bag of chips (er, American-style chips, I mean) or pretzels handy and munch on them.

I get super dizzy in the heat- not related to dehydration or heat stroke or dangerous things, it’s just a thing with my body. If you’ve figured out that you do the same (and aren’t suffering heat stroke) it can be a pain. Best thing I’ve found to counter that is rest my head between my knees or on a table or whatever, face down, and put something frozen on the back of my neck. A frozen towel or ice pack or whatever. Like all the other cool down points people mention are good but I’ve found that to be the best one to counteract dizziness is the back of the neck at the base of the skull. 

Reblogging because this information is helpful for everyone around the world.  I’m heat-sensitive so I’ll be trying some of these this summer myself.



aspiiro:

How I: Make Revision Notes

Hello everyone! I hope you’re having a productive day. 

I decided to remake a post about how I make revision notes. What’s different about this one? Well, it’s a lot more detailed! I’m really sorry that the font is so small but I needed to fit the information onto the picture (if you click on the post, the font looks larger) If you guys have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to message me! 







noteology:

It’s 11 pm on a Sunday night, the big paper is due tomorrow morning, and you’re staring at an empty Word document you should’ve started working on two weeks ago. We’ve all been there. Here are some tips to prevent those all-nighters and help you kick procrastination’s ugly butt.

KEEP A TIME LOG

As you move throughout your day, keep a record of all your activities and the time you spent on them. This log can be on paper, on your laptop, or in your phone, as long as it’s within easy access all day. An example time log might look like this:

image

Be honest about how long you spent on each task! At the end of the day, look back over your log and conduct a reflection and analysis. Ask yourself:

  • Am I spending too much time on tasks that could be completed much more quickly?
  • Am I wasting time on activities that don’t make me truly happy?
  • Am I prioritizing the things I value most (school, health, family, etc)?
  • Am I spending too much time on small, easy tasks to avoid larger, more difficult ones?
  • Am I focused intently on one task until it’s complete, or am I constantly getting interrupted?

After answering the five questions, I’ve marked up my example log with some reflections and comments:

image

Although it’s probably not feasible to keep this time log every single day, I recommend trying it out for at least 3-5 days to give you a better idea of where your time goes and where your procrastination potholes lie.

ELIMINATE DIGITAL DISTRACTIONS

Turn off your phone and put it in another room or someplace you won’t be able to see it. Close all your email/Facebook/Tumblr tabs. If you need to focus intently for a longer period of time, consider temporarily deleting all the social media apps off of your phone so you won’t be tempted. For your computer, use website blockers {Chrome//Mac//Windows} to block distracting websites (or the entire Internet).

Basically, make it as difficult as possible to impulsively scroll through your feed and get sucked into the “just one more post” vortex.

GO ON AN ADVENTURE

Reject the tradition that finals week means jam-packed libraries and overcrowded Starbucks stores. If you have the means of transportation, take your books and flashcards to a scenic, peaceful, inspiring new location. Cal Newport dubs this “adventure studying” and claims that studying in novel and beautiful places will enhance creativity, improve comprehension, and most importantly, be fun.

Here are some suggestions for adventure studying destinations that are sure to increase your motivation:

  • a park or botanical garden
  • the pool or beach
  • a little cafe far off-campus or in another town
  • the middle of the woods
  • a museum (make sure it’s not during peak visitor times!)

And now for the most cliché but effective advice ever…

JUST START.

Think about a big assignment or project that’s been scaring you. Then think about what your desired outcome for that project is. And then think of the very next step you need to take to move you just a little bit further towards the end result you want. Is it writing the first paragraph? Contacting a mentor? Finding a certain resource online? Whatever it may be, go take that first step. Now. It doesn’t have to be perfect— let’s face it, you could spend the rest of the day rewriting that first sentence and it still wouldn’t be flawless. But you’ll feel so, so much better just by beginning. So cut the excuses, start a timer, and go get that shit done.

Thanks for reading! If you have questions, feedback, or post requests, feel free to drop me an ask. To find the rest of my original posts, click here. :)

—Sophia



soshestudies:

(this is my first ‘tips’ original *yay*)

throughout years being a true procrastinator myself, i’ve learned a few things about it. and recently, i’ve been able to (sometimes) “control” this bad habit.


  • procrastinating is a bad habit. and keeping it that way wouldn’t make it better in the present nor in the future.
  • being a procrastinator is not something to we should be proud of. there’s no part of being a procrastinator that brings good to us, in fact there’s nothing good about being a procrastinator.
  • the feeling of procrastination itself comes from inside, our brain tricked ourself which makes us not in the mood of doing tasks / makes us post-pone things.
  • postponing tasks shouldn’t be accustomed or else, it’d be a reaalllyyy bad (i mean like a really bad bad ) habit.
  • procrastination can be prevented or stopped. and all it takes is the willingness from ourself.

here are some tips on overcoming/preventing procrastination:

  1. ask yourself why do you have to finish that task. is it for a deadline? for extra grades? knowing your goal on finishing a particular task tends to boost up your spirit on finishing it.
  2. make yourself a ‘deadline’. a report is due in a week? set yourself a due date in the middle of the week. this way, you can 1) prevent not handing in the task late (because you procrastinate THAT much) 2) having deadlines jumbled up together 3) make it as a motivation to finish it.
  3. force yourself to do it. even if you don’t want to. here’s the thing about tasks. whether you like it or not, you want to do it or not, it’s an obligation. at the end of the day, you have to do it anyway, so do it. now.
  4. break your tasks. i feel like sometimes we’re just so fed up just by looking at how much we have to finish. because of that, you’d have to break it. a biology exam next month? start tomorrow by collecting materials, continue the next session by highlighting what you need to learn, taking notes the next, you named it. by making the tasks seem less, it’ll visualize our brain in thinking that we could do this.
  5. practice. there’s no way you could just stop procrastinating abruptly on day. just like meditation, it all takes progress. starting from a small change can make a huge difference. it could take months, years possibly. remember that just because you’re a procrastinator you can’t finish tasks, get good grades, or have an organized life. surely you’d get through it right now, but it will grow to be a bad, unhealthy habit in the future. it’s better to prevent it before it occurs than treating it after it occurs.

this is an encouragement to those out there who has been trying to get over procrastinating, you can do it!



Common mistakes when studying for exams:

study-studymore-studyhard:

1.       Not starting early enough
While many students intend to begin studying for final exams a couple of weeks beforehand, that timeline often slips as exams approach. After several days of convincing yourself, it will be OK to skip this one day and get started tomorrow, suddenly what was supposed to be a week of studying turns into one or two frantic nights of cramming. Studying for exams often takes more time than you might anticipate, so make sure you get started early! 

2.       Studying in chronological rather than priority order
One common approach to studying for exams is to sit down and look through all of the notes from class in chronological order. In addition to being a very passive study strategy (more on this below), it also puts you at risk of running out of time to review the material you learned most recently, which is often emphasized more heavily on the final exam. Instead of studying in chronological order, try studying in priority order, spending the majority of your time on the information that will be most important for you to know for the test. 

3.    Practicing in the wrong format (not how you’ll be tested)
I often find that students will study the same way for all of their exams, regardless of the format. For example, they might study for history by making flashcards for all the key terms in their notes. This might be a great strategy for a test that is mostly multiple choice and matching questions…but it could get you into trouble if your test is the mostly short answer and essay questions that require you to answer “why” and “how” questions about the bigger-picture concepts from the class. If you want to be prepared for your exams, you need to make sure that the way you are studying for your test is similar to the way you will actually be tested on the material. 

4.    Reviewing information you already know
Even when students are testing themselves and using active study strategies, they often spend the majority of their time on topics they already know. Doing problems you are familiar with and know how to solve is more comfortable, and gives you a nice boost in your self-confidence. The problem with this approach is that you often end up running out of time to work through the challenging problems that you don’t know how to solve…and those are the ones that you end up missing on the test. Don’t waste your time studying things you already know! Once you’ve confirmed that you understand and can answer questions about a certain concept, check it off your list and move on to something more challenging.

5.    Memorizing, rather than understanding I frequently see students who have been studying by trying to memorize all of the facts from a class, rather than truly understanding the underlying concepts. Memorizing can work well in some classes, especially in elementary and middle school, but it often backfires in more advanced classes. If you’ve memorized a definition but don’t really understand what it means, then as soon as the information is presented in a slightly different format, or you’re asked to apply it to a new type of problem, you will have no idea how to proceed. Rather than memorizing the information from your classes, use study strategies that encourage you to understand it. Explaining ideas out loud in your own words, or teaching them to someone else, are great examples of study strategies that promote understanding.

6.    Calculating Your Final Grade A lot of students try to figure out what effect different final exam grades will have on their final grade in the course. (For example: “I have to get at least a 90 on the final to get an A in the class.”) Indeed, almost every e-mail I get asking for exam preparation tips seems to be prefaced with some range of scores the student has to hit in order to get some desired final grade.

Don’t do this! No good can possibly come from such a superficial focus on the numbers. It will add stress. This, in turn, will make it harder for you to execute a reasonable, specific, and efficient study plan. Also, it’s just plain crass. You don’t want to be that person…Forget about your G.P.A., and focus, instead, on how you can best prepare for the specific challenge in front of you. If you screw up, you screw up.

Source 








About Me

BASIC INFO

Selina Mae| 21 | ZA/PH

BSc Computer Science (Distance Learning)

INFJ | Slytherin | Sagitarrius

Purpose

My purpose is to chronicle my attempts at achieving maximum productivity and better focus/grades/life. Emphasis on 'attempts' cause lols, I'm not great at keeping it up.
We shall see how it goes.

CURRENTLY

READING
  • School Books :P
  • Inferno by Dan Brown
WATCHING
  • Brooklyn 99 (S03)
  • Timeless (S01)
  • Once Upon A Time (S05 rewatch)
LISTENING TO
TRACKING

studyattempts
captainwiley

Updates

LIFE STATUS

I discontinued my Industrial Psychology Degree and so now I'm starting Uni all over again with a Degree in Computer Science and Information Systems. First Semester of my first year. Whoo!

SCHEDULE

February
  • 17: EUP1501 A01
  • 20: COS2601 A01
  • 27: EUP1501 A02

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Credits
  • Unless stated otherwise, all pics/edits/gifs used in this blog are all made by me.
  • Reblogs obviously don't count.
  • Some of my own edits use icons/textures/etc. downloaded from people who upload "texture packs" on tumblr for free.
  • Update bar pic: x