how i revise: english lit

Hi guys! Welcome back or welcome if you’re new! Today’s blog post is actually part of a new school-themed series on my blog where I’m going to do separate posts on each subject (maybe not maths) and how I’m revising for each one. I thought I would start off with my favourite subject – English Literature. I’ll be going through how I revise and learn all my English texts by myself in preparation for my exams…

quote flashcards

Not that this is in any particular order but for my English texts the first thing I tend to do is make flashcards on the key quotes from the texts. If you are quite new to the text you are studying, I would recommend using Quizlet. Quizlet is an app where you can find flashcards made by other students about pretty much any topics/texts you’d like, just search it up. This way you can search something like ‘(insert text name) quotes’ and find pre-picked key quotes without having to go through the whole book. If you want you can also use the app the study the flashcards or, like I do, copy them up on paper flashcards. I like making these very early on – I made my Macbeth ones in Year 9 and now I can remember the quotes quite well as I’ve had them for a long time. Make them and learn them early!!

annotating the text

This is optional and I don’t put too much pressure on myself to do this but recently I bought new annotatable copies of the books I’m studying – Macbeth, An Inspector Calls and A Christmas Carol – so I have space when reading to make my own insights and thoughts into what it says. Linking to my last point, this also makes it easier to find quotes you individually have lots of ideas about. Obviously it’s not very necessary compared to other things but definitely read the text once or twice by yourself before the final exams so you can remember everything chronologically.

act mindmaps/summaries

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This is something I’ve done recently for An Inspector Calls is make A3 mindmaps with ideas and key events from each act/chapter/stave. The way I make these is by using the CGP revision guide on whatever text you’re studying and going to the section where it talks about all the main parts of the play and which chapters they fall in. I like to highlight the quotes on my mindmaps and use a different colour pen to write where different themes/context points are shown in the play. It is kind of hard to explain but hopefully the pictures make more sense!!

theme/character notes

For every subject, I have a separate notebook aside from my class exercise book to write my revision notes in so when I revised An Inspector Calls I took notes from my tuition classes on it and my own independent notes which I find from memory and most of the time my CGP guide. For taking notes on the themes I like to make them about how something is displayed throughout the play/text, how it develops, specific parts where it is shown and quotes. For taking notes on characters the main thing I like to focus on how the characters’ manner and viewpoints develop throughout the play and I also write a few select quotes for the character in a different colour.

I’m not sure if you do the same texts as me but if you do I’ll link all the resources mentioned below and if you don’t it’s very easy to find equivalents to everything on Amazon:

Macbeth annotatable copy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1796632619/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

An Inspector Calls annotatable copy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1909608408/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

A Christmas Carol annonatable copy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1075347556/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Macbeth CGP Revision Guide: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1841461164/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

An Inspector Calls CGP Revision Guide: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1841461156/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

A Christmas Carol CGP Revision Guide: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1782943099/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Quizlet: https://quizlet.com/en-gb

And that’s the first installment of my new little series! Let me know what subjects you want next! I hope it was helpful but feel free to ask any questions about resources or other specific things in the comments! Like and follow for more content like this! Link and stuff below.

Keep Smiling and Goodbye 🙂

Last Post: life update time (mocks are over, among us, m*n, music, and productivity )

Instagram: http://instagram.com/imaanazizblogs

life update time (mocks are over, among us, m*n, music, and productivity )

Hello all! I- I am alive! It’s been a hot minute but it was so worth because now I can ‘relax’ now that it’s half-term. And by relax I mean constantly stress about not doing well, letting my grades define me and messing up my sleep schedule all over again. And that’s on a mocks. For real though HI, HOW ARE YOU ALL?! I thought for today’s post I would just catch you up with what’s been going on… keep it casual and real.

Before we get into my diary entry diguised as a blog post I thought I’d let you know this post is actually in collaboration with Zainab from Zainab Chats! Zainab’s a little younger than me and just starting her GCSEs and as you may know based on the intro of this post I am in the last year of the GCSE course. We thought it would be cool to see some varied perspectives on all of this so far as both of us are at very different points! Y’all best be checking out her blog post right here: https://zainabchats.wordpress.com/2020/10/04/my-perspective-on-starting-my-gcses-collab-with-imaan/

my mocks are over!! & half term

One cool thing at the moment is that the burden of my mocks is over as I finished all my exams last Friday (if you’re reading this the week it’s been published). Although I am still quite nervous about what I may have gotten… but I keep reminding myself that if something isn’t where I need it to be I have seven months to get it up. And then I remind of myself of that lovely, unpredictable global pandemic we’re having! Chile anyways…

It’s now half term so I do have somewhat of a break, but at the same time my teachers have given me about 20 assignments and 3 exams for when I come back. Whilst simultaneously telling us to spend time with our families, get lots of sleep and stay healthy. Maybe I just suck at time management.

thumb hurts from playing too much among us

I’m sure you’re as obsessed as I am with Among Us! It’s kind of dangerous how addictive this game is and has sucked away hours of my time recently, it do be captivating. If you don’t already know Among Us is a game of teamwork and betrayal where everyone tries to figure out who the Impostor is. I’ve actually been playing this game so much and watching this game so much that I made a little edit of one of my games in some spare time:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CGxgQhrHcZG/

dragging the misogynists

As we always do and as we should, my friends and I have been having lots and lots of conversations about our political views, human rights and why all men are trash. I actually want to a whole ranting blog post on this stuff but the gist was men should be respectful, toxic masculinity is not it and women are not forces to be reckoned with.

main character music

Something that has been getting me through everything lately is listening to music! I have so many songs that just boost my serotonin levels and have major main character vibes! I know it’s annoying when I say this but I have a full playlist blog post coming on Sunday (yes we have double blog posts!!) so look out for it! But for now these are my top three favourite songs at the moment, as a little peek for y’all:

And that’s pretty much what I’ve been up to! Just simple things but they make me happy 🙂 Oooo I also watched About Time on Netflix and it was such a bittersweet story – which definitely taught me some life lessons. I would definitely recommend! But for now I’m going love you and leave you! Like & follow for more content! Comment below something small that makes you happy! Make sure you check out Zainab’s blog, linked below.

Keep Smiling and Goodbye 🙂

Zainab’s Blog: https://zainabchats.wordpress.com/

Instagram: @imaanazizblogs

my new bullet journal ft @masielaneco !! + mini life update

Hi all! Welcome back to my blog or welcome if you’re new! I am back. I am alive. It has been one crazy month for me and I’m so glad to be back to blogging. Before we get into today’s post (a very exciting one hehe) I thought I’d do a little life update because it’s been a hot minute!

My mocks are actually starting tomorrow if you’re reading this the day it’s published. If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen my massive to do list on my story for this weekend (sat 3rd – sun 4th). I am pretty much ready for about six of my exams, which I think is a pretty good place to be?!!? It’s Saturday today and my plans are to finish up this blog post and do lots of past papers and last minute revision before Monday.

I’ve been really struggling to keep up with my content and my studies, my workload has never been this intense, let alone straight after 6 months off school! I’m sure some of figured this out haha! Stress has been a recurring theme throughout this month, and I’m worried it may get worse throughout exam weeks! Hopefully I’ll be able to keep my head up high and just try my best! I mean it’s a blessing I’m even able to write this and know it won’t effect my studies! Unfortunately that’s pretty much my life update for this month, just *studying.*

Talking about stress and time management, I recently got a new bullet journal which has been a lifesaver for planning out all my studies, and conveniently is what I’ll be talking about today…

the new bujo:

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I am very grateful to say that this year’s bullet journal was gifted to me by this wonderful small company @masielaneco! They make beautiful personalised bullet journals and they made one for me! You can choose between four colours, a variety of *cayoot* fonts & text colour! For mine I got the colour ‘Garden Sienna’, the font ‘Dainty’ and the text colour ‘Matte Gold.’ As my little quote/ text I put ‘collect beautiful moments.’ I thought it would be a fun idea because sometimes I forget a bullet journal isn’t just a planner but it’s also a little keepsake. You can get whatever you’d like! I loved how it turned out and the quality/ page thickness are so good! I would definitely recommend them it you’re looking for a new bullet journal!

I am so honoured to be working with them! Use ‘imaan15’ for 15% off!!

Check out their Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maisielaneco/

Check out their shop: https://maisielane.co/

my fave spreads so far ~

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quote page –

This year I thought it would be a nice idea to start with a quote as they are perfect for some positive vibes. I chose the quote ‘dancing in the rain.’ For all of us, this year has been a whirlwind of events and emotions, I mean there’s a new thing every month! I used this quote as a little reminder for myself to still see the good in things and to still try to embrace life through hard times. I also wanted a reminder to romanticise my current life and my future, to kind of see the beauty and excitement in everything I do. That sounds too cheesy but I love the vibes!

Throughout all my spreads, I used my Crayola SuperTips in pink, purple, grey and blues. As you can see in my first page!

brain dump –

As you may already know if you’ve read my other bujo posts I always like to have a brain dump somewhere! Usually, I will make a new brain dump every month but this time I decided to just use one big one, as I also have a whole separate notebook for content planning. For those of you who don’t know, with my brain dumps I use them to splurge all my new content ideas. I decided to make it even easier to use by categorising it, I made different sections for each aspect of my content. For example, I split it between blog post ideas and Instagram post ideas. Then I split it up further by putting different sections for my blog post ideas like: rants, productivity and strategy.

And those are definitely my two favourites so far that have kept me planning, positive and productive! There are more but they’re kind boring lol. I kept this years setup very simple. Just these two spreads, a mock revision timetable (do you want a post on how i’m revising for gcses??) and all my weekly spreads, sticking to the same colour scheme and little stickers!

That wraps up today’s blog post, short n’ sweet! I hope you enjoyed and make sure you check out @masielaneco if you’re looking for your new bullet journal! It is honestly my favourite bujo so far!! They also do other cute stuff like washi tapes and stickers! Like and follow for more! Comment below what you would put on your bullet journal!!

Instagram: @imaanazizblogs

Last Post: all my back to school advice!

all my school advice! (mindset, workload, studying, gcses etc)

Hey guys! Welcome back to my log or welcome if you’re new! Today I have an advice blog post for all of you either back at school or going back soon! It doesn’t really matter because most of my tips apply to the whole school year! I shared my advice on having the right mindset, starting a new school, managing workload, starting GCSEs and balancing the rest of your life! Hope you enjoy, let me know if you want a part two in the comments! Also, feel free to ask me any specific questions about school in comments!

starting fresh

The last academic year has been pretty ~interesting~. I hope and pray that this one will at least partially resemble a normal school year! Regardless of what happens, the new school year is a great time to make a fresh start, no matter what year you’ll be going into! Although the back to school season can be a total mess and stress for some people, try finding the positives!

mindset & attitude

The beginning of the new school year can be such a great time to change, set intentions and create a tone for your new school year! I love the buzz you get to be the best you possibly can at the beginning of the year! Your uniform is ironed, bag all organised and pack, the most extra class notes! Take advantage of that! The buzz does unfortunately wear out sometimes, which is totally understandable… but when you have that desire to hustle use it! For example, my my mocks are in October so I’ll be spending my motivation and drive to make as many revision resources as possible!

starting a new school (hello year 7s)

Starting a new school can be so daunting and intimidating. So here are my tips and stuff I would like to say to new year 7s –

• ask for help – chances are in a completely new place you’re going to need help with a lot of things! Ask older students for directions or what your timetable means, most of the time they are happy to help! Also, your teachers are huge asset you can use to help you, so ask them! It can be intimidating because you probably haven’t built a proper relationship with them but most of them encourage questions! Go to one you find the most approachable and let them know your worries!
• write down your homework in your planner – the workload isn’t a huge change between year 6 and 7, but you may find it harder! Most of the homework is stuff like, ‘make a poster,’ ‘decorate your books,’ ‘write a paragraph about….’ So enjoy that while it lasts because writing essays and filling out workbooks is a struggle! Anyways to my point, make sure you write the homework you have down! Most schools provide a planner for your to write down homework and important dates so use it!
• find friends with similar interests – forget about the popular kids and just go for people you actually like. You won’t believe how much I tried to suck up the the ‘popular kids’ in year 7 and 8. Really not my proudest moments. Generally the ‘popular kids’ aren’t really friends so don’t worry about them and don’t waste your time!

the gcse content 😮 (year 9/10s)

So once you get into Year 9 or 10 (depending on your school) you will start the GCSE content. The first decision you have to make when it comes to GCSE work is your options. I would say pick one that you like & have an interest in and one that you are good at or could be good at! This way you have a good balance between things you like and dislike when it comes to your work. If anyone’s interested I chose Geography, History and I had to to German, along with all the mandatory subjects.

Now you’ve chosen your options, the work will come and your classes will change! As my History teacher says, ‘The work is not hard, it’s just consistent.’ The work your set won’t be a huge change from Year 9 work because that’s when they start introducing some of the GCSE topics. However, your workload will definitely increase, prominently in Year 10! You’ll have more exams and more homework but it all your amazing effort will pay off once you sit your exams. Now moving on to how manage regular tests and crazy amounts of homework.

how to manage your work

Okay, let’s start with something every year group is used to, homework:

• do it as soon as you get it – this is something I started doing before the big RONA happened. Try and do your homework as soon you get it. Either the night of or even during school. I was always and will always be that nerd doing her homework and revision at form or break in school since day one! I don’t regret it all because that small twenty-minute period still has me in a working mode, so I like to take advantage of it!
• don’t stress out if you miss something – don’t beat yourself up if you miss a piece every now and then, just try your best and catch up when you need to!
• keep track of it – I have a list of all my homework in my bullet journal and it’s so helpful for me! You could make a list in your notes app or just on a sheet of paper. It really does help plan out when you’re going to do it all if you have the due dates written out in front on you!

balancing the rest of your life

Once you have your time management sorted out everything else with gradually fall into place! For example, at the beginning of year 11 I thought I would be able to resume my regular 2x a week blog posts. However now that I’ve started school and I have big stuff coming up, I know that 2x a week won’t be possible for while! Something that has really helped me is having designated days for doing specific stuff. By this mI mean:

Monday – Friday: Studying & Hwk

Friday: A day off from school work, do some content planning

Saturday: write out Sunday’s blog post & study

Sunday: publish blog post, study, rest

This plan isn’t set in stone but now my mind can be at ease knowing that I’ll have time for all the important stuff in my life. In regards to a social life, seeing friends and family, yes make time for it and have days off but be reasonable and know when you’ll have time to catch up!

And those are all my tips so far! I do have lots of other tips related to school so let me know if you want more blog posts like this in the comments! Like and follow for more content like this! Come back every Sunday for new blog posts! Comment below any questions you have or how school is going for you?! K bye!

Keep Smiling & Goodbye 🙂

Last post: reacting to your pet peeves!

Instagram: @imaanazizblogs

reacting to your pet peeves (rant #2)

Hi guys welcome back to my blog! In a previous blog post I went on a rant about all my pet peeves and as a second installment of that I thought I would react to yours! I put a box on my Instagram asking my followers to drop their pet peeves and I got so many responses! I still have quite a lot left after this blog post, so let me know in the comments if I should do a part 2!

disorganisation & not tidying up after yourself

I can totally relate but at the same my room is a mess! As you guys already know I am huge planner, I love writing down things and I always like to know what’s coming each day, so I totally relate on the disorganisation aspect of this pet peeve. I’ve gotten into a weird habit of only organising things I like or am excited about like my makeup draw, my skincare products, new jewellery I bought and my stationery, while the rest of my room is a complete mess!

being tickled

I hate this too, but I feel like after a certain age it just doesn’t happen anymore, unless it’s your siblings that do it! It can be really annoying and intrusive especially when whoever was tickling me wouldn’t stop if I told them! This is a tangent but another thing this remind me of is when a random aunt or grandma will literally pinch you cheeks until they are numb and not understand or realise it is so painful! Like you could just hug me, give me a handshake, why do you feel the need to hurt me?!

people watching your phone

I feel like this one happens more with younger kids or siblings. Like at a big family gathering when some kids you have never met before are just pawned off to you to look after so the adults can talk. This might just be an Asian thing, let me know hehe. Then the kids will proceed to either watch what you are doing on your phone or ask to play games on it. The only game I have on my phone is Subway Surfers because it is elite and defines my childhood/ side of tiktok. Anyways back to this irritating situation, why can’t they just use their imagination like I would when I was little.

being left on read

Honestly I don’t have enough people that I need to talk to, to be left on read. But I still get the frustration. I hate being left on read in engagement group chats because the whole purpose of them is to help people and make new friends. Maybe some people are just too shy to talk! It’s fine to be honest because I do have a lovely set on internet besties!

someone on their phone when you are talking to them

Parents are so guilty of this. Which is very hypocritical considering how much they tell us to get off our phones. I hate those moments when you feel like something you are talking about isn’t important because nobody seems to listen or care. Obviously parents do care they’re just ‘busy.’ Even if you are talking about something that isn’t that big of a deal it’s still nice to know people care about the little things you are excited about. People should see others talking to them about things are a compliment, the person trusts you and likes you enough to confide in you so you should see that as a good thing!

talking during a movie

This really bugs me! I feel like questions are understandable if you’re watching a movie you have seen but someone else hasn’t, but not when the answers will be revealed like five minutes later in the movie. The thing that really triggers me is when people point out the obvious in movies and tell you what’s happening. Like thank you but I don’t need an audio description right now! The thing that annoys me the most is when you’re watching a really intense or upsetting scene and someone is just making jokes about it!

And that’s all I have for this ranting session! I am really loving this new category on my blog, they are the best blog posts to write hehe! Drop your pet peeves in the comments if you couldn’t get involved and I will react to them! Links and stuff below!

Keep Smiling & Goodbye:)

Insatgram – @imaanazizblogs

things u can do to prepare for the new school year

get a new planner ~

A new bullet journal really scream fresh start to me! I have a new bujo coming that I can’t wait to share with you guys! Obviously some people prefer planners so you could get a new academic planner. I find those really useful for school as you will always have a place to jot down assignments, important school dates and of course your to do list! I also have one of those on the way too! I thought I’d use my bullet journal this year for general things and blog things and my planner for school things… I have a feeling my next year at school will be crazy busy, especially as I’m going into year eleven!

paperwork ~

Another thing you could do before school is get all your papers organised. We all have an unnecessary abundance of old papers from school that are no longer useful so why not recycle them to clear up some space for the new year’s work… by all means please don’t throw away things and info from previous years that may be useful!

clean & organise your room ~

The next thing I really want to do over the next couple weeks is give my room a huge deep clean and purge all the things I don’t like. I want to dust, mop, vacuum, wipe down surfaces and change my bedsheets as a nice fresh start for the new academic year. I already I’ll already have lots of responsibilities next year and I certainly don’t want to be swamped in a bunch of mess too!

recap previous years topics ~

Just so your in a work mode and don’t have to adjust too much to being back at school with a consistent work schedule. I also think being a little on top of past topics is really useful for exams that often tend to include previous year topics too. This doesn’t have to be anything drastic, maybe just reading over your notes and making a couple flashcards to summarise them. I have to do this and a lot more this year because I have mocks coming up, but this definitely helps with all years!

I hope you liked my ideas! Good to everyone going back to school soon! Comment below when you go back to school! Like and follow for more content! Links and stuff below!

Instagram – @imaanazizblogs

all of my pet peeves (rant #1)

Hi guys, just wanted to let you know I am writing this at 00.35am the night before this goes up and I  have decided it is now the correct time to rant!! Which leads me onto a new category I’m  introducing on my blog: ranting! Therapy is expensive, so I’m  just gonna create a place we can all splurge  our thoughts! I’ll  be talking about new topics regularly and I  want your opinions in the comments too! Please leave any suggestions for things to rant about in the comments, we gotta have some girl talk!!

For the first installment of my new category, we are going to be taking about pet peeves! I have made a list of all the things that irritate me and I’m  ready  to rant about it! There’s eight in total, so let’s just GO OFF! Also, no promises anything will be grammatically correct in my ranting posts, I officially declare spelling as the first pet peeve. Anyways, it’s midnight  and we’re getting thing off out chest so there is no space for proper English. Let’s  get into those little annoyances…

instagram  reels

Honestly I  do like that Instagram has this new reels feature. But editing them is the worst! I will spend like ten minutes making my video perfect and then get the editing stage. By the time I’m done adding all the text my app always crashes and I  will lose everything. Like why?! Does this happen to you? I do like the transition alignment feature on the reels maker thing. But did they have to copy tiktok? It’s literally the off brand tiktok.

sticky pages

Pov: your sticking something down thinking it will be a simple process, however it becomes hell later on when your pages decide to cling to eachother. Like girl, you have attachment issues. But for real, when my pages stick together, especially  in my bullet journal, it is a huge mood killer. Like I want to see my cute as hell spreads please. I’m  being neat with my glue stick, so please just don’t.

being told about plans last minute

I think this is just a kid problem because hopefully when I’m  older I’ll actually know what’s  going on. I know I  don’t have these big extravagant plans myself but sometimes you just want the option to stay home and either chill or get stuff done. When someone just drops a bomb on you randomly telling you you’re  going somewhere in an hour, it is so stressful! Like you did this for what??? I really hope people understand my tiktok  references. As I was saying, please tell me things at least a few days in advance so I  can plan out my school work, blog stuff and self-care. You already know I’m  a huge planning nerd.

clothes looking better on the model

This is stressful because of two reasons:

1. Firstly, the cute clothes you ordered look bad and don’t even fit so you can’t wear them
2. Secondly, it can make you feel so crappy seeing this flawless model wearing a piece of clothing you really liked but it looking better on her/him

I understand that the websites pick these ‘perfectly proportioned’ models and that’s  most of the reason I feel like crap when this happens. However, even when I  know they picked out these specific  people it still makes me feel bad about my body and how I look. But let’s just try and remember this stuff happens and we should normalise normal bodies.

wanting to sleep when you can’t

I’m  sure we can all agree that qurantine has messed up our sleep schedules. Most of the time when I  stay up late it’s voluntary, like right now when I’m writing this. But when I actually need to sleep and want to sleep it never works! This is probably because my body is used to staying up late and it’s mainly my fault for creating this weird schedule for myself. Then again, I feel like I’ll never truly have a schedule again until I’m back at school for a few weeks. Regardless if this is my fault or not, it’s still hella frustrating!

accidental alarms

The biggest mood killer in my life is when I accidentally forget to cancel an alarm that is no longer needed. Like I just woke up earlier for no reason! What could be worse? Also the confusion of when it goes off and you thinking there’s a fire or something. Just me?..okay. Once I had a dream my alarm was ringing and I just thought it was the beginning of the dream but turns out I just needed to wake up and find out it was reality.

‘your storage is full’

No❤. This lovely, welcomed, joyous notification pops up very frequently for me. I hate not having more storage, is there a way you can add it on or something? It’s especially frustrating for me because I’m always filming videos so it get all filled up very quickly. But you know what’s worse than the ‘your storage is full’ notification? It’s when you literally delete all your photos and back them up to Google photos, delete several apps you actually need and clear your downloads folder but it still says ‘storage is full.’ Like what would you like me to do? Reset my entire phone to factory settings or something?

And that’s the final pet peeve! I hope you enjoyed this blog post, it was so fun to rant to you all, like a little journal. Thank you for being my cheap therapists! Let me know in the comments what we should discuss next and what your pet peeves are! I have a part two to this coming very soon, where I’m going to be reacting to your pet peeves. So if you’d like to be involved drop one in the comments! Like and follow for more content, links and stuff below!

Keep Smiling (when your pet peeves aren’t annoying you) and Goodbye 🙂

Insatgram: @imaanazizblogs