All The Best For Your Studies And Have A Great Day!

Oooh I’ll probably give this a go! I’ve been meaning to get back into regular posting ☺️✨

Here is my brand new challenge! I hope that you will all enjoy taking part in this challenge <3

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Info

This challenge will begin on the 1st October 2020 and will run for the entire month

HOWEVER! My plan for this challenge is also that it can be done at any time (like the 100 days of productivity challenge for example), so although it will be officially starting then (and that is when I will be doing it) you can start it at any time

There are 31 prompts - one for each day of the month

If you do the challenge, use the tag #studyblr community challenge so i can track the posts and see what you are all posting (and so others can see as well!)

Days 1 -14 are essentially a way to introduce yourself to the community and to find out about the person behind the blog!

Days 15 -28 are what really excite me about this challenge! Essentially, my initial idea was to do an ‘appreciation challenge’ and so these days are essentially this idea within the larger challenge. It is an opportunity to tag studyblrs that you love and let them know that you appreciate them 

The final three days of the challenge are about reflection and looking at yourself positively.  

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Aims

As the name suggests, I want this challenge to be about community 

Studyblr has personally helped me so much and I’ve met some incredible people and I thought this challenge would be a good way to bring the community closer 

When I was creating this challenge, I tried to keep in mind new studyblrs. I think that it is a good way of introducing yourself and getting involved in the community, as well as having things to post, if you have just started! It could also be a good way for people to find your blog!

That said, if you have been in studyblr for a while (for example, like me!), this challenge is definitely still for you! I think it will be a good way for your followers to find out more about you and to discover some new blogs!

Overall, I hope that this challenge will promote positivity, appreciation and productivity

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Rules

If you want to do this challenge, please reblog this post

There are daily prompts for 31 days but challenges should never be a burden so you can post as frequently as you like/are able to 

When tagging, please do not spam people. Tag someone different for each day so we can share the love. 

I would suggest only tagging 1 person for each of the days but I understand that it could be a hard choice for some days. Therefore, I would say that a maximum of 3 people can be tagged for each of the days. 

Please be respectful. Some of the prompts are asking about personal opinions and you might disagree, but make sure to remember that everyone has had different experiences and the questions are designed to promote the sharing of ideas. 

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Prompts

Day 1 - Introduce yourself and tell us what you study!

Day 2 - Explain your studyblr URL! 

Day 3 - Why did you create your studyblr?

Day 4 - How long have you had a studyblr?

Day 5 - Have you ever done a challenge before?

Day 6 - Why did you decide to do this challenge and what is your goal?

Day 7 - What is your goal for your studyblr for the next few months?

Day 8 - What is the best thing about studyblr in your opinion?

Day 9 - What is the worst thing about studyblr in your opinion?

Day 10 - What is one thing you wished you could change about studyblr?

Day 11 - What is something that you have learnt from studyblr?

Day 12 - How much time do you spend on studyblr per day on average?

Day 13 - Do you have an ‘aesthetic’? If yes, what is it?

Day 14 - What are some of your study essentials?

Day 15 - Tag someone you look up to

Day 16 - Tag someone who has beautiful handwriting 

Day 17 - Tag someone who you think is really kind

Day 18 - Tag someone who makes you think more deeply about things

Day 19 - Tag someone you are grateful to have met

Day 20 - Tag someone who has a lovely aesthetic

Day 21 - Tag someone you think works really hard and deserves appreciation

Day 22 - Tag someone who makes you smile

Day 23 - Tag someone whose blog you always check 

Day 24 - Tag someone who posts the best text posts

Day 25 - Tag someone who gives good advice

Day 26 - Tag someone who you would like to get to know

Day 27 - Tag someone who makes you laugh 

Day 28 - Tag someone who you think everyone should follow

Day 29 - What are three things that you are proud of?

Day 30 - What are three things about yourself that you love?

Day 31 - What are three things that inspire you? 

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I really hope you will all get involved and if you have any questions, please feel free to send me an ask!

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TAGLIST

Okumaya devam et

Hey! Wanted to thank those few accounts who I see repeatedly liking and reblogging my posts, i see you and it means a lot!

That is all :)

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thu06jun2022

passed c234 earlier this week, now working on c233 employment law. now that i’m pretty much recovered from having a baby and getting the hang of a schedule, it’s time to pick up the pace so i can get this degree done by the end of september 😬

Day 70/100 days of productivity ☕️🌙

Finally committed to a paper bullet journal! It looks pretty good so far and I’m super proud! It’s really therapeutic to fill out. I also got most of my jobs done today! There were a few I missed but I’ll get them finished tomorrow ☺️✨☕️

14th July - Have your plans changed at all because of the pandemic?

Yep! I was supposed to do GCSEs this year but those have been forgotten :/ it’s nice to not do exams but it feels kind of anticlimactic and a bit like the work I did for the last two years DIDNT end up being used properly. However! It did mean I got to relax on my birthday instead of revising, every cloud ⛅️ ☺️✨☕️

Day 57/100 days of productivity

Sorry it’s late! This is for yesterday but I was so tired it completely slipped my mind aha 😅 anyways, I had a good day yesterday and got a good amount done ✨🌿🍯

back to basics!

Cottagecore Playlist ✨🌾

As it was - Hozier 🍃

Arms unfolding - Dodie 💫

Lemon boy - Cavetown 🍋

Oxford comma - Vampire Weekend ✨

Leisure gardening - Lullatone 🌿

Milk & honey - Billie Marten 🌱

Here comes the sun - The Beatles 🌤

Like real people do - Hozier 🍯

Sunflower, Vol. 6 - Harry Styles 🌻

Playlist for @starryrobyn the mood board will be up next, I hope you enjoy! 🥰

Day 23/100 days of productivity

Today:

Completed notes on the Liberal Reforms for history

Completed Orbital Speed questions for physics

Did an hour of aerial

Read three chapters of my book

Learnt the first two pages of my lines for my drama scripted piece

Not so much done today, it’s a Monday though so I’ll accept it :)

The Oxbridge application process

Hey, stxdywarrior here! I’ve recently just applied to Cambridge University to study English, and I wanted to share my tips and experiences to help you if you’re interested in applying. First of all, if you’re applying to Oxford or Cambridge, that’s great! They’re both amazing universities, and applying is going to be challenging but so rewarding. I have no doubt that you’ll excel, whatever you want to do.

Please share this and add to it if you wish to!

A quick note: While this masterpost is general, I have to stress that lots of these tips may only apply to humanities subjects. I don’t have much to say about the sciences, I’m afraid. If you are applying for a science, however, I still hope you can find some great content in here for you.

UCAS application

Okay, first thing’s first: the application itself. Applying to Oxbridge is different because you have to have your UCAS form sent by October 15th (while everyone else has the luxury of waiting until January), and while that sounds stressful, it’s a great feeling to get it done early, trust me. And this means having applied to ALL your chosen universities, not just Oxford or Cambridge.

Another thing that’s different about Oxbridge is that they’re collegiate universities, so you’ll have to choose a college. Or, you can choose to make an open application, meaning you’ll be assigned a college later by the university. Don’t stress too much about this stage - people choose certain colleges for all sorts of reasons, and they’re all good anyway. I chose my college because it was small and had good student wellbeing services.

Because the deadline is so early, I would recommend you start thinking about your personal statement by Summer, so that when you get back in September, you can hit the ground running. Here are a few tips I have for your personal statement:

 Get all the help you can. And by this I mean: ask everyone you know who might be helpful to have a look over it. This means teachers, family members, classmates, and anyone you know who’s recently been through the same process you are going through.

That being said, make sure all of the opinions don’t leave you at see. I found it really hard when one person was telling me one thing and another was telling me the opposite, but I learned to balance my OWN judgements with other peoples’.

Don’t worry about the character count until your last drafts. Make sure you nail the content first.

It doesn’t matter how many drafts you have to get through, as long as you save all the drafts. I think I got through like 14 drafts?

Don’t JUST write it for Oxbridge. What I mean is, the other universities on your list matter too. So even though Oxbridge don’t care much about your extracurriculars, that doesn’t mean you should ignore them.

It isn’t about quantity, it’s about quality. Even if you’ve only done a few things, if you write about them well, then they’re still just as impressive.

A tip not everyone hears is that the universities want to hear about your personal response to things. Don’t just say you read a book; say how it made you feel, and why you were interested in it. Use phrases like ‘I was fascinated by’ and ‘this intrigued me’. I’m serious.

Remember that your personal statement is literally the hardest piece of writing you have to do. It’s easy to feel daunted by it, but there are plenty of resources out there to help.

Supplementary Application Questionnaire (Cambridge only)

If you’ve applied to Cambridge, you’ll soon get ask to do the SAQ. This isn’t a big deal, but it’s quite a long form to fill out, so it’s best to do it carefully and start early. You’ll be asked things like what modules you’ve studied in your a levels, and you have to include a profile photo of yourself. At the end, you can also write an additional personal statement. This is optional, but just for reference, my one included some things I’d done that I hadn’t included on my personal statement, and I related them to some of the specific modules on the Cambridge course.

Entrance exams

Depending on which subject you’re applying for, you may be asked to sit an exam. This will be typically registered through your school or college, and it’s important to make sure you sign up before the deadline (which will be set by your school). The exams happen around late October.

As I was applying for English, I took the ELAT (English Literature Admissions Test). In the ELAT I was given six texts (poems or novel excerpts), all linked by a theme, and I had to pick two to ‘compare and contrast’. So there was no set structure, and I couldn’t strictly revise for it. In terms of preparation, you can find past papers, and it also helps to do language analysis of some unseen poetry just so you’re used to it. You will NEVER be tested on things you don’t know; they’re more looking for the way you form and present an argument.

Essay submission

Depending on which subject you’re applying for (mainly humanities), you may be asked by email to submit essays to your chosen college. I was asked to send in two essays that I’d done in a school setting (I got to choose, whew), and I needed to print four copies of each (no idea why) and get my teachers to sign it to prove it was my work. The essays can’t be edited.

One thing to note is that, while Oxford usually let you email them, Cambridge are still in the Dark Ages and will only receive them by post. So if you’re applying to Cambridge and are a confused millennial like me, who literally never uses post, I’d get the essays in early.

Another thing is that my college constantly emailed me reminders about the essay deadline, so unless you live under a rock you can’t miss it.

The interview

As the final stage of the application process, you will (hopefully!) be invited to interview. They’ll let you know by email in late November. Cambridge typically invite about 80% of applicants, whereas Oxford invite less, which I think is about 50%. So if you get an interview, congratulations! And don’t panic. People say it’s the biggest factor in the process, when in reality the universities treat each part of your application equally.

Interviews are done differently by each university. In Oxford, you’ll be asked to stay at your college for a few days, because not only do your college interview you, but your application is sent around other colleges, so you could be invited to interview at another college at any time. (Sorry I can’t shed more light on this, as I didn’t apply to Ox.) In Cambridge, you only get interviewed by one college, and you have the option of staying overnight or just going for the day.

How to prepare:

While you don’t need to go overboard with this one, do read a lot around your subject in the few weeks beforehand, so that if they ask, “so, what have you been reading lately?”, you’ve got a lot to say.

If you have the opportunity to do a practise interview, take it. My school organised one for me, but even if your school doesn’t, find someone - like a teacher - who can do it for you. Even if it’s them just grilling you on your personal statement, at least you’ll be used to articulating your arguments in an interview setting.

If you sent in essays, make sure you read over those essays beforehand. They asked me about one of mine.

Map out some generic questions that they might ask you. For English, for example, I researched questions like, “is it better to read a play or see it in production?” and “what’s the difference between literacy and literature?” and even “what is literature?”

You’ll be notified by email the professors who will be interviewing you. I’d recommend looking them up (they’ll be on your college website) and finding out what they specialise in.

Read over your personal statement as many times as you have to. They’re very likely to ask you about something on there.

This sounds cliche, but PLEASE look after yourself before the interview. It always takes place right at the end of a really busy term, so watch out for colds and things (I’m telling you this because I was recovering from a chest infection when I interviewed, and had only just got my voice back RIP)

The interview itself

If you’re doing a humanities subject, you might be given a source or written extract to look at before one of the interviews, and then they’ll discuss it with you. I’d bring lots of highlighters for you to annotate. (I was expected to just be given a poem for English, but I actually got a poem AND part of a critical essay. Go figure.)

No one cares what you’re wearing. I mean, wear sensible stuff, but there’s no need to try to hard.

This is a bit random, but my teacher told me to make a list of all the things I love about my second choice university the night before, to remind myself that Oxbridge isn’t everything. Believe it or not, it worked.

You have to expect to be put on the spot, and this means on-your-feet thinking. I heard they can smell a rehearsed answer from a mile away.

When you’re waiting to interview, you’ll probably meet loads of other applicant like you. It’s up to you whether you chat with them or not - I know some people like to keep themselves to themselves to keep their focus, while I personally loved getting to know people, as chatting helped me stay calm. Either way, everyone’s in the same boat, so don’t worry.

If you’re like me, and easily get distracted by social media, I’d recommend staying off it for the whole day if you can. I did this, and it helped me protect my mental space and keep out negative thoughts.

Some of your interviewers might come across as a bit scary. They might also disagree with everything you say, which can be off-putting. Try not to worry too much if this happens - stand your ground.

When you make an argument, be prepared to justify it, but also, if you want to change your mind, do it. The interviewers are looking for a teachable mind, not someone who’s right all the time and knows everything, so show you have an open mind.

Once the interview’s over, all you have to do is get some well-deserved rest and wait! Try not to overthink how it went, because in reality you have no idea. Some people think they did awfully, but end up getting an offer, so.

The decision

Okay, here’s the truth: Oxbridge is not the be-all and end-all. It just isn’t. Your worth and intelligence cannot be defined by an institution.

For when you’re waiting for a decision: think of Oxbridge as a bonus. This is what I did: I had another university as my ‘first choice’, so that Cambridge was just an extra.

If you don’t get an offer: You will be so happy at wherever you decide to go instead. Think of it as Oxford or Cambridge’s loss, not yours - hundreds of applicants who are very much smart enough to get a place don’t, and that isn’t because they aren’t good enough.

While it’s okay to feel disappointed, it’s best to focus on the amazing learning experience that applying has been. You’ve shown yourself that you can handle all that while still maintaining your priorities and sense of self. So you should STILL be proud.

If you do get an offer: Congratulations! Party time. Except it’s not time to party just yet, because you’ve still got to get the a level grades to secure your spot.

I hope this helped! Don’t hesitate to ask me anything else you want to know.

Just tagging a few people who have been through the same process/have asked about it: @rebeccaravenclaw @littlebitofstudy @lesbianlondongrammar @sectumsempracurse

Hey all! I just created this new studyblr for my international business and language studies! I already have been lurking in the community, but recently i felt motivated to make my own blog. So let me talk a bit about

- me -

i’m Lilla (she/her) a 20 year old Capricorn from hungary

i’m a hoe for the cottagecore + dark academia aesthetic

i am a grandma at heart so i love to knit, crochet and make a lot of baked good for my loved ones :)

i love nature and wandering in the wilderness aimlessly (or in the local park at least)

serious book- and plantaholic

also a proud mom of my cat-son, Aramis. Be prepared to see tons of images of himb

i love philosophy, especially stoicism

- academics -

i’m second year international business uni student, and aspiring to be a project manager

i take my classes completely online this year, and work full time at a bank as an intern (so yeah, this year will be kind of hectic)

besides these i love to work on my french and programming skills

and in the future i would love to learn russian

Thank you for your attention, and special thanks to the marvelous studyblrs that inspired me to start my own:

@sonderstudy @coffeeandpies @sosiaalitieteet @clabujo @eunoiamaybe @kleinbluu @emmastudies @spell-studies @frogstudies @akadanie @diaryofastemstudent @phoebe-does @elkstudies 

btw i wanted to add a banner to make it more ✨aesthetic✨, but tumblr messed up the quality real bad, so if anyone has any tips how to prevent that, i’m all ears 💕