TIPS FOR SCHOOL, COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY

Since the academic year has recently started I thought I'd do a quick post to share some tips that I used or wish I knew at the time! I often found myself feeling pretty prepared and motivated at the start of the year but hopefully, some of these will help that to continue all year round, or more at least!

Attitude and Behaviour

> Put in the effort now - when you get further into the year you'll thank yourself for putting in the time to learn everything properly, especially when it comes to revision as you'll already have materials to look back at.
> Mistakes are good - it can be disheartening when you make mistakes or don't get the feedback you hoped for but learning from them is a really productive and useful way to help improve.
> Strengths and Weaknesses - everyone has things they are better at and things they may struggle with, finding that out now and setting time aside to focus on the things you find harder will help reduce stress. You could also study with a friend who has different strengths and that way you can help each other out!
> Try out revision techniques - assuming you'll be taking some sort of test or exam at some point, revision is a huge part of school life and finding what technique works for you is very useful. Try different things out and see what suits you best, it's often good to have a couple you can use.
> Be prepared - always write details about the work you need to complete and the deadline, sometimes I'd put something really brief and wish I'd written more information down at the time. Similarly, if you need to bring something additional to a lesson or there is some sort of change to the usual routine then I'd advise you write that down somewhere too as you don't need the stress of feeling underprepared!

Essentials 

> The right pen - a pen is a pen right? However, I always found that I could write much easier and neater with certain pens (usually an average biro), and that makes a huge difference when it comes to writing essays, you want to feel comfortable and prepared.
> Lots of highlighters - I always found myself reaching for highlighters, they're particularly useful if you know you're going to need to come back to a certain piece of information. I also found colour coding really helpful when revising too!
> Expanding folders - you get given so many loose papers, especially as you get older and then you often have individual papers to hand in too, so an expanding folder is really useful. They take up less room and you can organise them according to subject or topic.
> On the go snacks - I could never focus when hungry so I always made sure I had something small to snack on, some sort of cereal bar was usually my go to. This was especially useful during A Levels as I could have a quick bite during a free study period and then didn't have the embarrassment of a rumbling stomach (we've all been there!)
> Handcare - whether it's writing, typing, painting or experiments, you use your hands a lot at school. I liked to always have a hand sanitiser on me if I ever felt like I needed a bit of a cleanse. I found hand cream was useful too, especially in Art as paints and other materials can dry your hands out pretty easily.

> Plasters - nothing worse than being on the go and walking to different classes with blisters is there? So I always made sure I had a spare couple in my bag, just in case! 

Other useful stuff

> Browse websites - there are some great ones out there to help with your studies, one that I used a lot was Get Revising. There was a lot of content for revision but I also liked 'The Study Room' where you could post queries and talk to other students as it was interesting to compare things!

> Utilise your phone - similarly, there are also some really great apps. A favourite of mine is one called 'Notebook' which is ideal for creating checklists but you can also add text, images, documents, drawings or audio. 

> 'StudyTube' - something that I definitely wish I would have looked into whilst I was at school is the content made by study Youtubers. Some of it is really helpful and it's great to relate to people in the same boat as you. The first person I came across was Jade Bowler or 'Unjaded Jade', she's been featured in various media for her videos and work as a study Youtuber and I'd definitely recommend checking her out! There are also lots more including Eve Bennett, Ruby Granger and Jack Edwards who all give great advice with regards to school and university. 

> Saving money - any sort of student discount is great but recently I stumbled upon Honey which is a free tool that automatically finds deals and vouchers for loads of well-known stores and brands. You can add an extension to Chrome and then you can make sure you have the best deal just by clicking on it. Head over here if you'd like to sign up!

Hopefully, some of these tips are helpful to some of you out there! I actually really miss school and look forward to studying again at some point, but of course, there are good and bad days so good luck to everyone for the next year!