About a week ago I decided to go on a stationery shopping trip to buy everything I needed in order to stay organised and encourage myself to keep working. On my trip I went to both Ryman and Muji in central London and below are the things I have purchased. Enjoy.

Aside from my pens I have also decided to purchase some other stationery which I would categorise as "the usual" as those are the supplies everyone purchases before the start of every new academic year; pens, rubber, ruler, you name it. I also decided to purchase a clear pencil case for this year as I feel like that is what works best for me due to the fact that I can see all of my supplies and easily get what I need or identify what I need to put into my pencil case. I purchased this particular pencil case from Ryman, however you can get it from Ebay or Amazon too.





 Lastly, I also purchased some folders before the start of this new academic year alongside some dividers which I find very useful at helping me separate information within my folders and therefore make the large ring binders easier to navigate. I purchased both my folders and dividers from Ryman as their folders tend to last a long time period and look nice and presentable. I purchased the regular folders sold at Ryman, all in different colours in order to assign them to different subjects and therefore make my system of organisation easier to navigate.

Since I missed 4 months out of my first year of A levels due to glandular fever, I have had a lot of catching up to do this year. This means I have had to stop procrastinating as much as I used to and have collected some pretty useful tips on how to do this.

1. Make a schedule. Last year I revised what I felt like revising when I felt like revising it, which meant that some topics that I enjoyed had been revised thoroughly, whereas others didn't get looked at at all. It also meant that often I'd spend an hour or so revising and then get bored. If I have everything planned I do my revision and then fit everything else around that.
2. Plan for rest days. Make sure there is at least one day every week that you leave free for doing all the fun things which would otherwise distract you from your work.
3. Get a proper sleeping schedule. If you're tired, you're less focused and therefore more likely to put off doing important things. It can also become tempting to take naps, which is very dangerous because you never know how long they will last and can take up a lot of your time.
4. Allow yourself a daily treat. A massage, an hour reading a good book, even just a tea break. Taking a small step back from work makes it seems less daunting and allows a calmer more focused approach. Be careful to stick to your allotted time for this though, otherwise it can become procrastination itself.
5. Set realistic targets. If you plan to do one chapter's worth of notes you're more likely to do it than if you try and force yourself to do a whole book. Similarly, make sure you leave enough time to achieve the goals you have set out for yourself.
6. Prioritise. This may seem obvious but last year I tried to do everything at once and it was just too much. This year I get my work done in order of priority so if I don't manage to do something it doesn't matter so much.
7. Eat breakfast!!! It's the most important meal of the day for a reason.
8. Plan a trip. This works particularly well if you're revising, plan something for after exams that you can look forward to and makes all your hard work seem worthwhile. Since you probably won't go out much during exam season it should be easy to save up for too ;).
9. Remind yourself why you're doing this. I want to do well in my a levels so that I can go to university next year, therefore I have a photo of the campus up on my wall to motivate me. A friend of mine is trying to make his mum proud so he set a reminder on his phone to tell him that once a day if he's struggling. It just makes it all easier to bear when you think of the outcome.
10. Don't be too hard on yourself. If things don't go to plan, don't give up and put off working at it again, keep focused and try again. Also if you're having a bad day, don't overwork yourself. Take a break. It makes everything better long term.

To finally continue my revision series on here, I thought I would pull a page that I made in my bullet journal a while back, about some ideas to do during revision breaks. Usually I'll be revising and think to myself 'ooh I should take a break' but then not actually know what to do in it.

• Go for a walk. Apparently fresh air is good, and sometimes a room can just get too stifling.
• Read a book. For some ideas on books that I've wanted to read this year, look here; for Klara's favourite books look here, and I should be making a list of some trashy books to read when you don't want to have to think.
• Watch some tv. Recent highlights for me have been Riverdale and The Good Wife
• Make a Spotify playlist. Revisit the 2000s, or trance, or even just document some of your all-time favourites, and this is something I definitely enjoy doing, and even looking back on my 2015 and 2016 playlists.
• Write
• Buy something online. Maybe not something to do all of the time, or you'll end up with no money and blame me, but it can be quite therapeutic even to just browse. I think the same theme can be applied to Pinterest if you do that, which I personally don't.
• Drink tea <3
• Take a 20 minute nap. Sleep is such a nice thing, and you'll wake up feeling nice and refreshed after 20 minutes, as it's not too long, and not too short.
• Play the ukulele, guitar, harpsichord or whatever musical instrument you play.
• Take a bath
• Colour. There are so many colouring books made for people over the age of 7, and there are loads of apps as well, as there's been a recent trend in adults colouring, as it is both therapeutic and pretty.
• Bullet journal or organise. You'll feel more in control of your life, and at some point I'll document my bullet journal process, but if you look at the many many beautiful blogs out there, you can get an idea of some themes.
• Call a friend. Usually I'll call my friend Francesca, which is lovely, as she unfortunately lives quite far away, but we have the best chats.
• Tidy up. Same effect as the organising, but it also gets you moving.
• Plan for the summer: think of all of the fun things you're going to do once exams are over!
• Catch up on the world, scroll blindly through Facebook and text everyone you know.

I am an avid non-championer of the revision timetable.

go away :)

I love organisation but cannot STAND them. Let me tell you why.

Firstly they're super inflexible. Say you follow the method of 25 minutes of work, then a 5-minute break, then changing subjects, this is awful. I find that I end up so frazzled and my head doesn't really have enough time to wrap itself around one topic before I'm moving on.

• If you do something for 25 minutes, by the time you've found the sheets, pens, cards etc, you're barely going to have time for work. And repeat for each subject. 

• I get into subjects and can power through far more once I'm in a rhythm. This method above is disjointed, clunky, and makes your brain run around going from thinking of logarithms to how to say 'what are the problems the youth of today face?' in French.*

• What if something happens? Is a 5-minute break really enough? What if I stub my toe on the way downstairs to make my cup of tea, which takes 3 mins to brew, 45 seconds for the kettle to boil and 1 min 15 total walking up and downstairs time? That's 5 mins plus gone. 5 minutes is ridiculous. Take the breaks you feel you need, but be sensible: don't binge watch Netflix for 6 hours. 

So I bravely propose an alternative: structure less, to be more organised. It seems counter-intuitive but it's not. Sure, make a list of the subjects you need to do and go through the list over the days you have.

What I like to do is dedicate as long as I can productively work on a subject, before moving on. Some subjects require more time to get into them, whereas others need just a refresher for 10 minutes every few hours to learn efficiently.

I write out all of the topics for every single subject I take. This in itself is quite a lengthy process, especially sourcing each specification, but once it's done, it's a really useful way of having all of your progress in front of you. Then I either colour code or use a system of filling in squares depending on how far through a topic I am.


This process is far more relaxed and independent, allows for things like a meal going on for longer than you thought, and is also better for doing what you want. You can also see what you've done and which areas need more focus.

Another bonus: this will make you trust yourself, rather than putting all responsibility into a military style timetable. Be empowered!

*for the record this is /Qu'est-ce que les problèmes qui les jeunes d'aujourd'hui font face/ although that's unlikely to appear on any syllabus./