lapisora's Study Log

[hanecco]

This thread is intended to help me keep track of what I'm studying for school.
My last blog pretty much devolved into me crying about how much I hate studying and school - I still do, but I think that those rants should probably be kept private. It makes this place depressing if I only write negative things, right? Probably won't help my mindset either.

I should at least try to get something done to improve my situation. Motivation to do my work is something I struggle with a lot, so writing here what I'm going to do and what I've completed. Being able to keep track of what I've achieved should hopefully encourage me to keep moving forwards.

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26 June, 2019 First entry!

• Read up on determinism & compatibilism
• Test myself on what I learnt about God & Free Will yesterday
• Do some questions about approximating square roots using binomial expansions

Today's Music:
Lilycove City & Contest Hall Theme (Viola Cover)
https:// www.youtube.com/ watch?v=7JgasbMD9cA

I'll probably start with the maths - I really should catch up on that. :x

 

[hanecco]

27 June 2019 Second Entry!

Alright, I completed reading about compatibilism, determinism, and whether or not we have free will!
I'm going to test myself on that topic tonight, and invent a few exam questions for me to do. Awesome ~

The next thing I should cover for philosophy is God & Eternity. Hopefully, I finish it by the end of this week: that gives me three days to do it (Friday - Sunday).

As for maths, I didn't manage to get much of it done :/ Also, I should probably also cover the algorithms we learnt in Computer Science. I didn't understand them too well in class. Both of these are probably what I'll focus on for next week.

Note to self - start work earlier in the day, because you feel less tired then. ^0^ When I get home, I always want to relax after my one-hour bus ride, but that always means putting off work 'till it's too late.

Today's music:
Route 120 - Hoenn Fanfare (Piano Cover) - by insaneintherain
https:// www.youtube.com/ watch?v=A_UkR_GjW6M
They managed to make the Route 120 theme sound almost peaceful, which is amazing when the first word that comes to mind for the trumpets in that track is "blaring".

 

[hanecco]

Third Entry 29 June 2019
I keep procrastinating even though I really should get the God & Eternity stuff done. After that, I just want to quickly review compatibilism & determinism, because I'm not too sure about them. It doesn't help that my country's going through a heat wave and it's too hot for me to do be bothered to do anything...

Entry three-and-a-half 1st July 2019
God and Eternity is done! I have a test coming up on Friday about the nature of God in Philosophy, so I will probably go over my notes on Thursday or something.

So now I'll move on to the Computer Science/Maths work... yay (not). I do sometimes wonder if I would be happier with a different set of subjects which weren't so maths-based, but it is what it is.

 

[hanecco]

Entry Four 2nd July 2019
Completed notes for Breadth-First Search!
So, I made a start on algorithms today, but could not bring myself to complete it for a variety of reasons:

• I put on the song Hello Planet by sasakure.UK, but instead of studying I kept focusing on the song instead :/
• I really wanted to post some art on Instagram, but was held up from doing that, so I procrastinated by using that as an excuse
• I always feel pretty nervous about doing any Computer Science/Maths related work, and that was another excuse to procrastinate

I'll try again tomorrow!

 

[hanecco]

Entry Five 3rd July 2019

I now understand the basic steps needed to perform Dijkstra’s and A* pathfinding algorithms! Now onto solidifying my understanding by coding them. My notes are thankfully done~

As long as I remember that learning isn’t a race, I’ll be fine.

Today's music:
This charming but little-known piano cover of Hello Planet.
https:// www.youtube.com /watch?v=uURei_7TwCM

 

[diamondpearl876]

This is a good idea, methinks. Good luck with your studies! If you're interested, there's a studyblr/studygram community on Tumblr and Instagram, respectively, that's helped me to get inspired for my own studies quite a few times. Mostly they've helped me with note organization.

 

[hanecco]

Thanks! I do follow quite a few study bloggers on Instagram, although they all seem really hardcore and study for five hours straight (0.o)

Entry 6 6th July 2019

After a few days of not updating, I'm back at it again. The summer holidays have just started; since I have exams right afterwards, now is a better time than ever to kick my studying into full gear.

I planned not to do a whole lot today, just revise different search & sort algorithms & complete the Nature of God topic test. (which we were allowed to do at home) However, I got stuck on a particularly hard algorithm (merge sort) and it looks like I won't get that done today. Never mind - I can always do it tomorrow! I'm going to do the Nature of God test now as a "break" from CS.

Here's my plan for the rest of the holidays:

• Using the online guide, start making my way through Maths - doing small topics first, then moving to larger ones. I'm going to use the questions in the old textbooks first, then use the modern textbook's questions as a way to test myself.
• Continue making notes for & doing practice questions for Philosophy. I'm going to do the topics I find hardest first.
• Steal flashcards off Quizlet for Computer Science and find more practice questions to do.

 

[hanecco]

Entry 7 7th July 2019

I completed the Nature of God test!

Although I realised my writing technique needed improvement. I wish I'd kept better track of all those example answers my teacher gave me. It's hard coming up with coherent paragraphs and foolproof definitions in the heat of a test. Part of it might be that I wasn't 100% sure about some of the definitions - I'm still shaky on applying ET-simultaneity to actual situations, for example. Apart from that, I didn't do too much this weekend; that was kind of my intention, haha... I wanted a nice, relaxed start to the holidays.

Tomorrow, I will round off my algorithms notes, and make a start on the Maths stuff. I'm going to have to make a real effort if I really do want to improve. >:T

 

[hanecco]

Entry 8 8th July 2019

I completed the algorithms notes.
I'm still note sure if I'd be able to actually implement them, but I understand how they work, so that's good.

Going to move on to binomial expansions now... man, I've been putting that one off for a long time

Today's Music:
Undella Town (Autumn) Remastered

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcntZ1P0Cdw


Opelucid City (White) Remastered

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URXbXUi14uU


Two of my favourite town themes, both very nostalgic. ^_^

 

[hanecco]

Not-an-Entry #1 12th July 2019
'cos Wynaut?

I haven't updated here in a while, and that's because I haven't studied for a few days. The reasons are varied, but I will probably try to get some things done on the weekend.

I'm planning to use time playing Pokemon games as a reward for my studying. I haven't actually played in a very long time, but taking fun things out of my life to force myself to study doesn't seem to be a good approach. :x

 

[hanecco]

Not-an-Entry #2
So, it turns out that I did not do anything over the weekend. I became pretty upset due to my family's financial situation, but that's about it. I'm still irritated each time I think about it.

Oh, and I also worked on my Pokemon website a little! I created some Javascript that should process a quiz I made, and I put the code up for review on StackExchange. Over the holidays, I am planning to do more coding (not in Javascript, though, in C++, a language I'm much more used to.)

Finally, I have school tomorrow. It's only three to four days of school, so I'm not as irate about having to go as I usually am. Here's hoping that I survive.

 

[hanecco]

Entry 9 23rd July 2019

With the start of the holidays, I ended up shirking my studying duties for almost a week or two. A few days ago I went to the library, and today I finished what I had started there: partial fractions. Now that I've completed that, I'm going to move on to calculus, starting with differentiation.

As for Philosophy, I'll probably read a chapter of my Epistemology book each night, make some simple notes, and lie in bed puzzling over things until I've understood them. I'm a notoriously bad sleeper - typically not falling asleep until 2am - so at least I'll do something productive instead of thinking about god knows what. This relaxed approach will probably suit the holidays better than spending the daytime studying.

Computer Science...
I made a lot of progress on my Pokemon fansite, now called Mirage Island. It has a new layout, more content, and I even learnt a bit of Javascript to code out a quiz! I've now got two lined up to be launched with my site. After having wrangled those, I felt inspired to create a study log website (I might share a link if I ever do get around to making it.)

That's when I remembered that's not my actual Computer Science work. I need to get started on the design section of my project, and I'll go back to Analysis to clean it up a little and add more detail. I should also decide where I'm actually going to code it. Finally, I should find a flashcard deck on Quizlet and actually go through it each day to make sure I remember key concepts, and make notes on the more understanding-intensive things. Boy, I'm glad I actually made notes on algorithms the other day.

 

[hanecco]

Entry 10 26 July 2019
I switched to the Misty's Cerulean Blues theme. It's all very different 0_o

I managed to finish Absolute Value equations today! It was a pretty simple topic but I couldn't bring myself to start doing it for some reason. Hopefully I can make myself get started with Calculus today, too...

Studying Epistemology, specifically the JTB stuff, didn't go well. That was also a relatively small and easy topic, so maybe I didn't complete it because I got bored too quickly? Since all I really need to do is look at the definitions, maybe making - or finding - a set of flashcads would be better than making notes for this.

Not-an-Entry #3
I always try (that there is the key word, you know ^^ to keep my personal life off the internet. When I say personal, I don't mean something mundane like this study log - I mean complaining about what's going on in my life, and how it's making me feel. But then I always find myself back at square one, spilling my guts on a random online forum. It makes me feel pretty bad, especially when I write down a load of negative, depressing thoughts for everyone else to see. I should really stop. >_>

 

[ii kanji]

Hey well done, sounds like you're doing really well with knuckling down & studying despite all the external pressures Good luck with it all!

 

[hanecco]

Thanks, ii kanji!

Entry #11 5th August 2019
I haven't updated in quite a while!

In Maths, I started doing Trigonometry. (I'm so bad at it that I got a whole 4 out of 40 on my test.) Although I still find basic things in it difficult, I managed to work out why I kept getting things wrong: I was getting confused between the x and y axis. After I made sure not to do that, there was an uptick in the number of things I was getting correct. The next step of Trigonometry would be to start tackling equations.
I also hope to keep working through IXL, since I got halfway through Section C before my concentration took a hit. (Thanks to my parents for getting me IXL; it's actually pretty useful.)

I also went over the "What is Knowledge?" topic in Philosophy. I now understand it a lot better, especially when it comes to the more complex theories such as reliabilism and virtue epistemology. Hopefully I will find some old test papers and try to do some practice questions. Another thing I'd like to do is get through the flashcards I made on the "Rationalism & Empiricism" topic.

Finally, I need to start doing some plans for my Computer Science project. I'm still procrastinating this one, because I'm not entirely sure what the requirements are for it. So that's another thing I need to do - find out the requirements and get going.

Lots of to-dos in this update, but I actually enjoyed writing it quite a lot, since I've achieved a good bit over the past week or so.

Final note -
A recent post on the Instagram account @study.achieve echoed what I'd noticed during this holiday. I tend to have one or two very productive days, followed by three to four days which seem to function as breaks. It looks like five days a week of sustained effort is just not my thing.

 

[hanecco]

Hello, everyone. It's been a while. It's currently the holidays, and I have less than a week left until school starts again, and guess who didn't even bother to start a sixty-page essay due the moment they get back?

Today, I'm probably going to:

• Draw out the diagrams I need for my essay and write a description for each of them
• Do some Philosophy flashcards - one deck, Leibniz vs Locke

I'm not going to lie, I have no idea what I will do for maths. I don't think two weeks is enough time for me to improve...