7 Study Hacks Every College Student Should Know

So after a year at college I have discovered some apps and resources that have been literal life savers throughout my time. These can also help someone in day to day life or even people in high school

Google Drive

From storing personal files to backing up my academic work, I highly recommend exploring some kind of cloud storage. Google Drive has always been my go to because it’s linked to my Gmail account and it’s easy and it also means my work is secure in the cloud up there

Pro tip for college: ALWAYS back up your work

Google Docx

Following on from that is google docx. These come most handy when you’re doing group or partner work as multiple people can edit the same document at the same time while being miles apart! Not only that but my friend and I would take lecture notes on the same doc so we were getting double the knowledge and double the insight

OneNote

Once you get to college handwritten notes become a scarcity which is why OneNote is the best platform I believe. Instead of having five hundred different word documents you have one space for all your subjects and all your week’s worth. It’s literally your one stop shop for note taking

StickyNotes

On my Windows 10 the sticky notes application comes installed but nonetheless, just having something up on your screen to jot down important times and dates is always handy. It’s also great for list making

Cite for me

I don’t know how I went almost 20 years without this in my life. It creates your bibliography for you! you just select whether you want Harvard or MLA etc and fill in all the fields and voila!

Lost on campus

This app is a lifesaver in terms of finding rooms and lecture theatres and even coffee shops on campus. What I love about this app is that it shows pictures of the place you’re trying to find which just makes it so much easier

Those are all the hacks I have for now, let me know what works for you!

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5 Tips On Writing A Kick-Ass Blog Post

The key to having a successful blog lies in creating appealing content, right?

After all, that is what makes people hit that ‘follow’ button and ultimately a Kick-Ass blog post is what will make people want more and keep coming back.

As a result of a few agony aunts I’ve received about blogging and advice on blogging and also because I totally consider myself a professional in this field I’ve decided to give some advice on what consists of a good blog post.

1] Plan

ALWAYS ALWAYS have a plan. I mean sure it’s good to be impulsive and spontaneous with your content sometimes however, quality content comes out when you have a basic plan or a general outline of where you’re heading.

Planning is as simple as jotting down things in your notebook or as complex as scheduling your posts for the next two months. Whatever floats your boat and whatever calls for the situation.

Just remember, people will appreciate you having put some thought into your post before hitting that ‘publish’ button.

2] Keep It To The Point

This is pretty self explanatory but say for example, you were writing a review post about the book Pride & Prejudice, as tempting as it might be, don’t go off topic and write two meaningless paragraphs about how hot Mr. Darcy is (meaningless as in meaningless to the post, I’m not attacking your feelings okay). Keep it to the point, what did you like about the book? what did you not like? why?

Having a purpose in mind and reminding yourself of this purpose as you write the post will help you from wandering off. In the case of my example the purpose would be to inform people about your views on Pride & Prejudice.

3] Less is More

Having a post that is straight to the point and minimal wandering off topic will ensure this. Here’s the truth, NO ONE has time to read six long paragraphs about your thoughts on Pride & Prejudice okay. Come to think of it, it doesn’t look appealing either.

First impressions are everything. In a short amount of time you have the task of grabbing the reader’s attention, keeping it and ideally by the end making them wanting more.

Use dot points, Use a few pictures, avoid clutter.

A neat, tidy blog post never hurt anybody.

4] Format

This ties in with the last tip.

FORMATTING IS EVERYTHING. Not really but.

Present your blog post in a neat fashion by avoiding huge chunks of information or like ten consecutive GIFs.

As I said before:

• Dot Points
• Pictures/GIFs
• Highlighting important points by making them bold or italic
• Using appealing colours

Which reminds me, it is HIGHLY IMPORTANT that your blog is easy on the eyes, I mean white writing on a neon green background? hurts to even think

5] Proof-Read

PLEASE PLEASE proof read. I personally cannot stand spelling errors. I mean blogging is about self-expression so it’s okay to skip punctuation altogether however, all I ask is you don’t butcher the words.

Proof-reading also ensures you’re getting your point across correctly, which is important.

I hope that helps and that now we’ll all be writing kick-ass blog posts!

Let me know if you’d like more blog posts providing advice