Organising Your Studies

written by Anthea Hawthorne

Do you find the sheer amount of information Hogwarts has to offer daunting? Do you get overwhelmed at the number of classes, or find it hard to keep track of which lesson you're on at any given point? Do you wonder how on Earth you'll remember everything shown in lessons? This book covers my organisational tips, and how I use technology and planning to make the most of my studies. I use Notion as a planner, and Anki for flashcards, and will detail how to use them. You will also learn my personal tips on how to pass all your classes. This is not a study guide, and cannot replace lessons, but it will help guide you in your studies, and hopefully have a less stressful time in your academic career. This will be updated as I carry on through my studies and explore different methods and subjects.

Last Updated

08/31/24

Chapters

6

Reads

401

General Principles

Chapter 1

Hello, and welcome! In this book, I will cover how I personally organise my Hogwarts studies, from planning to revising. In this chapter, I'll tell you precisely how I study.


If you haven't already, I would highly recommend reading all of the Harry Potter books before starting on any course. Not only will it give you a solid foundation on which to build your knowledge, but will also get you well acquainted with wizarding history and culture in a more accessible way than a textbook. The film versions are also a nice starting point, but I find that the books contain much more detail, and are thus more useful.


Here is a quick overview of my studying process: 



  1. I complete lessons on Hogwarts is Here simply whenever I feel like it. This is for enjoyment, so I don't force myself to study if I don't have to or want to. If you want, you can set make a more rigid schedule to progress however you want, such as a dedicated hour every evening. I track how far I am in each course on my Notion page, which I will talk about in the next chapter. I take four courses at a time. This means I don't get overwhelmed by having too many different subjects going on at once, but I also get enough variety that I'm not bored.

  2. While I do each lesson, I make flashcards on the content I want to remember. I like this more than taking notes, as it forces me to interact more with the content, rather that just mindlessly copying out the lesson. I use digital flashcards on a program called Anki. I will explain more about this program in another chapter. I review these flashcards everyday, so that I can remember them long term. They are spaced out at intervals that are optimal for memorisation. This is known as spaced repetition, and the flashcard system is called the Leitner system. I use Anki as it saves me the hassle of sorting the cards by hand, but you can emulate this on paper flashcards if you want.

  3. I complete every assigment, with few exceptions. Yes, even extra-credit. I do them as soon after the lesson as I can, and I do them first just by memory, then open book before I submit. It forces me to do more research on the wizarding world, and makes you apply the knowledge you review on flashcards, so you aren't just memorising static facts. Using them in assignments both cements the facts in your memory, and lets you draw links between different pieces of information. Sometimes the quiz assigned asks me questions I forgot to put in my flashcards, so I use this opportunity to also sometimes make new flashcards I might have missed. 

  4. I like to ask myself a lot of questions, and generally ponder what I've learned. If you go on my page, you'll often find me posting my thoughts and observations. This is just something I do for enjoyment.


Of course, you can adjust your system to fit your wants and needs. As HiH is generally open book for assignments, you could just take notes and refer to them as you complete assignments. You can do extra-credit assignments, or skip all of them. You can take every single elective, or only core classes. I simply like to use flashcards to memorise, as I like having the information in my long term memory (and you might not have your class notes on you when you really need to remember how to perform the Shield Charm in combat, for example!). 

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