How to Recover from Study Burnout

It happens; sometimes you can work too hard without realising it, other times it hits right before exam season. Burnout can happen to anyone and it’s important to address it as soon as possible so that you can get back on track. Today we’re discussing the top three things you can do to recover from study burnout and if you’re interested in study-break-related tips to help prevent it, you can click here. Otherwise, without any further ado, here are today’s tips!

The first anti-burnout strategy you can undertake is to set time for yourself to do what you enjoy. You could journal, go for a run, do some yoga, watch a TV show or read a book. All of these things can be really beneficial to your mental health and will assist you in rediscovering your passions. I think this step is really important as sometimes, studying makes it feel like there’s nothing more to life than school. Doing something you truly enjoy can definitely improve your mindset and mood – it’s a crucial part of my recovery strategy.

Next, do something to look after yourself (mentally, physically, emotionally and/or socially). Spending time to reset your daily routine and make yourself feel good can prepare you for the next chapter of your life. You can go to a spa session, cook one of your favourite meals or catch up with your friends. This doesn’t have to be anything fancy but it can make you feel physically better, subsequently improving your mental and emotional wellbeing.

Lastly, make sure you’re sleeping well. Physical fatigue is a huge contributor to study burnout and feeling tired can make it difficult to retain new information at school. Go to sleep at a decent time for an entire week and set an earlier alarm in the morning. By improving your sleep schedule, you can get into healthy habits for later in life as well as feeling super refreshed.

That’s it for my top three burnout-curing tips, I really hope you found them useful. I’m not trying to give medical advice here so make sure you consult your GP if excessive fatigue is plaguing you and take these tips as simple suggestions. Remember, support is always close at hand!

How I Revise for History

Hello and welcome back to my exam preparation series. Each week, I’m explaining “How I Revise for …”. If you want to check out my other posts in this series, you can do so by clicking this link. Today, though, we’re focusing on history and I’m sharing the three key things I do before a history exam.

1. Create a timeline for key dates
   This is so useful for me as I’m a very visual learner Most of my timelines are on paper and I like to create mindmaps (more on those here) to link dates with historical concepts.
2. Test yourself with flashcards
   I transfer important dates that I often forget onto flashcards and I sometimes make digital copies to be able to use them on my laptop too – here’s my 20th century history quizlet in case you’re interested.
3. Practise analysing sources
   To do this, I like to begin by watching youtube videos that analyse sources for me. Later on, I use textbook sources or I search online to find possible cartoons or speeches that I can analyse.

So those were my top history revision tips! Did I miss out on anything? There are so many ways to revise for history and I’d love to know how you structure your study!

20th Century History Important Dates

Hi everyone, I’m back again with another online flashcard tool! The quizlet below includes important dates from my recent unit on the history of WWII and the Cold War.

Apart from using the flashcards in the standard way in an attempt to memorise dates, you could also create a timeline from the ones listed and hang it in your room. That way, when you’re getting dressed in the morning or going to sleep at night, you can read it and test yourself (you could try to recall all the dates in the correct order before having finished brushing your teeth)!

Don’t forget to use eye-catching colours and highlight the dates you need to remember most as this will optimise memorisation.

Here’s the link: https://quizlet.com/445489617/year-10-history-exam-flash-cards/ . Enjoy!

How to Memorise Quotes

Writing an English essay for an unseen prompt can be REALLY hard. Especially if you need to remember a bunch of different quotes for all the possible prompts! Today I’m sharing three ways that you can try to remember quotes more efficiently so that you can blitz your English exam or assessment…

1. Act (or draw) it out!
   Linking movement to words can be a great method for memorisation, and images can be really helpful too. Moving around while reading aloud your quotes is particularly helpful for plays or poems as the language can be really descriptive. Similarly, you can associate a certain finger (or other body part) to each word in a quote like this; thumb: TO, index: BE, middle: OR, ring: NOT, pinky: TO, hand: BE (and so on, do you get the gist?). However, if you’re less of a kinaesthetic learner and more visual, consider drawing out quotes or even just writing them out with nice fonts and different colours.
2. Stick it on the wall.
   If you’re a visual learner, writing your quotes on sticky notes with lots of different colours and images can be a great way to memorise quotes. What’s even better is to put these up where you’ll see them. You can put them in the bathroom (for when you’re brushing your teeth) or in the kitchen (for when you’re eating breakfast). The possibilities are endless!
3. Say them aloud in different accents or voices.
   I can’t confirm if this is just a mind trick or it actually works, but this is a funny idea for learners who like listening to information.

I hope you find all my tips helpful! I found some of them on this site which has heaps of tips for school. Enjoy!

How to pick your Year 12 subjects

Subject selection is in full swing here in Australia and all I can think about is how to choose which subjects I want to do in Year 12. In the past I was very determined about what I wanted to do but I’ve been worried that not changing my mind may lead to regrets in Year 11 and 12.

Today, to help you out, I’ve decided to create the ultimate guide to subject selection which you can use for any year level’s subject choices.

Do you already enjoy the subject?

Choosing a subject that you don’t like for your last two years of schooling is not a great idea; it can make your teenage years feel like such a drag. And anyway, you’ll do much better in a subject that you like than one you don’t as you’ll probably be willing to dedicate more time and effort to it. Don’t forget that you’ll also be meeting other people with similar interests to you so it can be a great way to make new friends.

Does it complement the other subjects that you’re doing?

Are you doing any similar subjects that would give you the contacts of teachers and friends who can help you with the class content? If so, choosing this subject can be a great way to strengthen friendships and create a support network of teachers and students at school. On the other hand, you may be trying to choose too many subjects with a large workload or lots of content. Make sure that you think through how you much work you would need to do for your subjects to not overwork yourself. You definitely don’t want to spend two whole years of your life doing nothing but studying!

Is it the last chance you have do to do this subject?

In other words, will you be studying it in further education? If you love the subject but won’t have any other chances to work on it, you should probably pick it. Firstly, it will give you a foundation for the topic if you ever change your mind and decide to go back to it but secondly, it will allow you to connect with other people who have similar interests to you. You never know, it may change your university and career preferences, maybe even your whole life!

Is it a pre-requisite for any courses you wish to complete in further education?

From what I’ve heard, universities are really strict on pre-requisites. If you don’t complete a subject required, you will be automatically be disqualified from gaining a place in the course. Choose various courses of a similar scope as there can be very similar classes at different universities that require different foundation subjects. Often, the more specific a course is, the more pre-requisites it will have but you may be able to achieve a similar degree with fewer pre-requisites. On the flip side, don’t lock yourself in too early. Make sure you achieve the pre-requisites for some university courses that you might be interested in taking as lots can change in two years.

Will it have enough other students to go ahead?

At my school, if a subject doesn’t have enough students undertaking it, it won’t run and the students who had picked that subject need to choose a different one. Be strategic in your back-ups and don’t just pick random subjects that you’re not interested in. If there aren’t any other ATAR-contributing subjects that you enjoy, consider applying to university extension programs, TAFE courses or applied learning subjects. These can be fun subjects that you’ll look forward to every week rather than boring ones you only picked because you had to.

I hope this post helped you work out what subjects you want to do in upcoming years. If half the words on this page are jibberish to you, it may be because all my advice is directed towards Australian students. Our final two years are graded differently to many other countries and applying to university is done with your final score. If you’re interested, you can read more about Australian schooling here.

The Lotus Diagram

I’ve got another super useful study resource for you all today, The Lotus Diagram. I found out about this revision technique at school in my forensics class and I think the Lotus Diagram is an amazing way to revise for subjects with a lot of content.

I used it for science, biology in this case, and I think it’s a great way to define key concepts and summarise information. Since it doesn’t always provide enough space for writing, I used sticky notes to add detail but please leave me a comment if you have another idea for including more information! But for now, make the most of the Lotus Diagram…

Straight lines aren’t your thing? Check out the Lotus Diagram’s curvier relative, the Mind Map, here.

How to get ALL your questions answered…

A New Discovery…

So, I don’t want to be dramatic today this but I honestly think this study technique is amazing and could help SO MANY people learn better. If you’re a person who learns best when someone else is explaining something, This. Is. For. You.

I found this study hack on the ATARNotes website, an awesome resource for students in Australia so I wanted to give them a quick shout-out. I love their site because it not only has really interesting articles but also includes heaps of study resources for pretty much every subject!

And so, without any further ado, the life-changing study technique I have discovered is …

make a shared document with your friends for all your homework-related questions

Ok, I get it. It’s not even that revolutionary. I just think it’s the smartest thing ever, though. I guarantee you that as soon as I finish writing this I’m going to create this doc for my class and share it with everyone. It’s an amazing way to get all of your school-related questions answered in a formal context. You could even include your teachers on the document and ask them to contribute too!

You may not be fangirling over this as hard as I am right now, but I highly recommend using this technique. If you do, let me know in the comments below! I’ll be sure to keep you updated with what I’ve learnt.

Want more study tips and tricks? Everything you need is right here.

‘Til next time!

Year 9 Politics Revision

Hey guys!
I haven’t been posting much about hums ’cause I haven’t taken it in a while but I’ve still got all of my resources from Year 9 that you can use to spice up your exam study. Here we go!

As part of my Year 9 humanities exam, one section was entirely focused on national politics so I created a practise exam to prepare me for it. I’ve added the solutions as a separate document for you to check your answers.

Oh, and every single image included is from the Oxford textbook my school uses (Oxford Big Ideas Humanities Victorian Curriculum) – even the political cartoon. All credit and copyright for them goes to Oxford publishing.

Yr9-Politics-ExamDownload

Yr9-Politics-AnswersDownload

How to ACE any English presentation.

(by memorising a script)

Sometimes memorisation just needs to be done but how will you ever remember your 800-word script for that peer-to-peer debate? Just follow these easy steps.

1. Create a script that makes sense aloud.

There’s no point carefully crafting a sonnet packed with complex literary techniques only to find out that the alliteration makes it practically a tongue twister. Make sure what you’re writing is clear and easy to understand as it’s likely your audience won’t have a copy of your script in front of them (see Tip No. 3 for a super-effective way to do this). Practise reading your script while in the drafting stages and get someone to listen to it to help you out.

2. Use visual cues and prompts.

Try to have one slide for every key idea (if you’re using a slideshow) to make sure the audience remembers what you’re saying. If you prefer posters or writing on a whiteboard/blackboard, ensure that you keep it consistent; don’t forget about your prompts half-way through! Having something concrete to present is great because it gives you marks for body language each time you turn to it. You’ll even get points for preparation/effort AND audience engagement if people are reading it individually. If you can, try to subtly include some prompts from your script in your actiond in case you blank out on the day. (#stagefright 👻. Never a good thing.)

3. Record yourself.

By audio recording yourself, you are not only practising your script, but you’re also giving yourself an AMAZING tool to memorise it. It means you can listen to your presentation on the go. By hearing it over and over, you’re using different learning techniques (compared to reading the script) for memorisation. As an awesome bonus, this is perfect for editing your script as you can easily hear if something doesn’t sound quite right (see Tip One for more info).

That’s all for today but if you’ve got any other handy tips for memorising scripts leave a comment below! I’d love to improve on this skill as it can be pretty challenging!

P.S. Sorry, I’ve got to jump into a Quick Disclaimer: Memorising is of varying ease to different people. While these tips can definitely help you increase the amount of content you memorise, they may not work as well for you as they do for me or my friends or anyone else. Nevertheless, I hope these give you some new ideas on how to prepare for oral presentations.