revising for postgraduate exams resulted in this 'random nuggets of knowledge' notebook

During the last twelve months, I have taken two surgical exams. Postgraduate exams are a whole new kettle of fish! At medical school, we needed to know a little about everything so you'd think revising for exams that were for a subset of that 'everything' would be easier? Nope. Turns out there is still a mountain to learn for surgery. The little about everything still applies, but for everything to do with surgery and every surgical specialty out there.... And it's actually a 'little bit more' rather than just a 'little'.

In September, the first exam I took was a written one and it was a multiple choice question exam. Easy enough - question banks were how I approached my revision and they served me well. I passed and then decided to sit the next exam in February which was a practical one. It is 'OSCE'-based (obstructive structured clinical examinations) where there were anatomy stations, practical skills ones, communication ones and anything you can imagine that is related to every surgical specialty out there. This was more difficult to revise for!

During my shifts at work (I was doing my clinical shifts in the Emergency Department at the time), I approached every potential surgical patient as if it was part of this exam. I did pretty well in the examination stations so that must have worked!

However, for the more knowledge-based stations, I used another question bank. This and revision for the first exam resulted in the most random notebook full of nuggets of knowledge from pretty much every surgical specialty.

I have to admit, this wasn't my most organised way to revise for an exam but it seemed to work ok. Part of it was that I didn't expect to pass the second exam as it was meant to be a practice one, albeit an expensive one!

My next exam won't be for another five years or so but for that one, I'll make sure I'm much more prepared and organised!

eighteen months with a moleskine planner: 2016 - 17 briefly reviewed

This is possibly the first time I've managed to stick with one planner until the end. This Le Petit Prince Moleskine is an 18-month planner, beginning July 2016 and I managed to see it until the very last day - 31st of December 2017. It has been well used as you can see from the ink stain on the fabric cover.

The double page spread for each week worked well for me. The note page allowed me to plan outfits and meals, as well as there being ample space for a to-do list that would last for the full seven days.

Surprisingly, the paper took most inks pretty well. My pen of choice for most of the time was a Pilot Kakuno in fine, inked with Diamine Blue-Black (I'm a little obsessed with this ink for some reason) and the paper actually didn't kick up too much of a fuss! The barest amount of show through and very little (if any) bleeding the majority of the time.

The note pages though are another story. There were only seven sides in total and these sides were quickly filled up. I had to resort to post-it notes in the end which wasn't ideal!

Overall, I enjoyed my eighteen months in this planner. The paper performed better than expected, the design and layout were adequate for my needs but the amount of note paper left a lot to be desired. Seven sides for eighteen months is extremely stingy considering how many pages are wasted on measurement conversions and things like that. For that reason, my Leuchtturm 1917 planner for this year should serve me well.

2018 planner: do I go back to a six-ring organiser or a bound one?

My main dilemma for next year's planner was whether to go for six-ring organiser or a bound one. The last time I used a six-ring organiser was back in 2014 and if I'm honest, there was a burning desire to go back to my Smythson. To decide, it was a fight between the head and the heart...

Six-Ring Organiser

Pros
- Flexible layout: I can choose which extras to include aside from the diary pages. You can also take out half of the year's pages once July comes around, thus making it a lot lighter to tote.

- I absolutely love my Smythson planner (and do miss it a lot!). The gold rings, the bright pink colour on the outside and the pale pink colour on the inside...

Cons
- Can get quite heavy! Therefore, not too practical to carry around daily.

- Limited capacity with the rings... Conversely, it can be tempting to stuff them, thus ruining them.

- Not a great number of diary inserts to choose from and the quality of many is still lacking. Some are also quite expensive!

Bound

Pros
- Light to carry around.

- Priced the same as some diary inserts.

- Many brands to choose from! Leuchtturm 1917, Moleskine, Quo Vadis, etc.

- Also many layouts to choose from! Day per page, week to view, week to view with a note page, vertical week to view...

- Most have better quality paper than some diary inserts for organisers.

Cons

- Not so flexible when it comes to the extra sections. You can't really rip out the ones you don't use either due to how unsightly it'd look.

- Any essential information that doesn't change year on year has to be copied in every time a new planner is started - this can be time consuming.


With all this in mind, I've since bought next year's planner and it'll be revealed in due course :)

preparing for a new academic year with Viking

With just over a month until I start back at university again and working full-time, I don't have the luxury of being able to spend a day buying new stationery to prepare for a new year. The internet has been a God-send in this sense and Viking is definitely a place where you can find all that you need to be adequately equipped to do some learning and studying.

Each year, I struggle to find A4 lever arch files that fit all of my notes from a single module so this year, I'm going to try out a Leitz lever arch file and an Elba one.  

Leitz is a brand that I've not personally come across before but I like the curved design of the file and also the elastic fastening to ensure that the file stays closed. On the inside left of the folder, there is a pen loop and a few pockets to store those loose bits of paper.

Leitz's offering manages to hold an entire module's worth of notes and it does look as if it could hold a bit more too! However, I'm aware that overloading rings is never a good idea so I'll happily leave it to hold one module's notes. The rings seem very sturdy and the lever is not too weak, nor too strong - just right and time will reveal how good these rings really are but they do offer a five year guarantee on their lever arch files - could this be an indication of the amount of confidence they instil in their own organisers?

Aaaand, onto Elba's lever arch file. Although it doesn't seem as spacious as the Leitz one, it actually has 80mm rings (whereas Leitz possesses 75mm ones) and boasts a potential capacity of 800 sheets. This should be ample room for my biggest module then, right?

Extra labels for the spine is included with the file - always a nice touch as you never know when you might want to switch out the contents of the folder. My only problem with the Elba file is the design - it is too simple with its white exterior and purple interior and I don't find it aesthetically pleasing at all.

Notebooks are something I get through quickly during term-time and next year, I want to use a mix of A4 and A5. I'm also going to try a thing where I don't use the lecture notes and take my own notes instead - here's hoping that falling asleep in boring lectures will be a thing of the past and that things will enter my brain quicker and more efficiently!

I chose an A4 notebook from Foray and an A5 offering from Moleskine. Moleskine is a brand I haven't exactly been complimentary about in the past - their paper being my main gripe and I just find them a bit overpriced and lacking in quality. Here's hoping they've improved since 2011 when I last bought a Moleskine product...

Foray is another brand I've yet to come across but this notebook does look impressive. It comes with a pen loop on the right hand side, a secretarial pocket in the inside left cover and a full length pocket in the inside right cover. The cover isn't rock hard but it isn't soft either - it kind of feels like PU leather and is mildly pliable but still sturdy enough for me to feel confident that it won't bend and shape-shift in my bag.

The rule is feint against the cream-coloured paper and has an air of luxury to it. It feels smooth and of a decent thickness too - I'm guessing 80gsm or 90gsm. In its product description, it states that the paper is partially recycled or from an FSC forest - always a positive but in a world where we are becoming more and more electronic, I do wonder how long this sort of thing will influence consumers. Just playing devil's advocate there...

In terms of performance, the paper does well with ink that isn't too pigmented or wet - the only pens shown here that I wouldn't use with this notebook are the Kuretake Cocoiro brush tip, Uniball Eye Needletip and any fountain pen.

The Moleskine notebook design is as minimalistic as always with its black hardcover and feint narrow ruled cream paper. It is classically stylish and is designed for pretty much any purpose.

It seems that my post back in August 2012 may no longer ring true... If you want to see what inspired that post, see this post here.

Anyway, compared with the ridiculous show-through experienced when I used a Moleskine diary back in 2011, the paper seems to only have trace amounts of show-through. There is a tiny bit of bleeding with a few of the pens but not enough for me to complain about so I definitely think the quality of the paper has increased significantly. I'll definitely re-visit the notebook once it is in full use to see if it really is true but this brief pen test is definitely promising.

Finally, pens are an important part of my university life - the type of pen I use can determine how neat or messy my handwriting is. Muji Erasables have come in super handy in my planner but seeing as I decided to give Moleskine a second chance, I opted to also give Pilot Frixions a second chance. I first reviewed them in 2011 and I wasn't really that impressed - the rubber didn't rub the ink out cleanly and the flow of ink just wasn't as good as the Muji Erasables.

Fast forward a few years and there are now Pilot Frixion Clickers that have 0.5mm nibs! In my original review, I had a 0.7mm Frixion and I didn't like how thick it was so there's one thing I already like about the Frixion Clickers. Another thing these Frixion Clickers win on is the fact that they are retractable - no faffing about with pen lids and also, the rubber is much better this time round.

You can see that the 0.5mm nibs aren't as thick and gloopy and the rubber left no residue behind (you can just about make out the 'test test' bit at the bottom which has been rubbed out.

With all of these items, I definitely feel more prepared for the new academic year. Thank you, Mark of Mediaworks and Viking UK for sending me samples to review :)

NB: Although I received these products as review samples, I have reviewed them just as I would have if I had paid for them.

how I use my moleskine for university

One of my many problems at uni was time management. Not in the sense that I wasn't optimizing my time but in the sense that I found that I had too much to do sometimes! So, I had to make sure that all my time was optimized and I did this using my Moleskine. Now, my Moleskine is pretty big in terms of the amount of space I had to write things in and I tried to use all that space to my advantage.

Now, as you can see below, I write in what time my lectures are, what the lecture is and also what lecture number it was. From this, I can deduce how much time I realistically have to do other things e.g. write these lecture notes up and revise them and also do other things such as socials, sport, etc.

Every day, I planned my outfits so that I would have one less thing to worry about.

I also used tick boxes for things I had to do - such as renewing library book loans (books are usually on one week loans).

As for the vitamin D and numbers - that correlates to the vitamin D capsules I've been taking. Maybe I just need to be in the sun more as I tend to walk in the shade when I'm out and about!

Any more questions or do you want more pictures? Let me know via a comment :)

when a format no longer works for you

I'm saying that because I've now switched to a Moleskine for 2011. For me, the week on two pages for my Filo wasn't enough space. I wanted to record daily outfits that I had worn, plus when TV shows would be on the internet for me to watch and also what to have for lunch and dinner that day. I'm one of those who like to make my own lunch to save a few pennies - and plus, it means I can eat what I want too, rather than having to choose between the restricted options at university.

So, I took the plunge and bought this Moleskine - which I don't regret as it was in the sale. There is a page for each day of 2011, and there are even spaces for the weather and temperature! Also, sometimes, I like to stick things into my diary - such as a train ticket for a trip I took which had awesome memories or as shown in my previous post, perfume samples.

So all I can say is; when a format no longer works for you, don't be afraid to take the plunge and try a new one. Yes you may waste a few british pounds / US dollars / money on splashing out on a new format, but after you've found the perfect one, you'll stick with it for many years to come*, AND, you'll experience better organisation. I'm already warming to my Moleskine layout (after debating with myself if the day per page was a bit excessive for someone like me) but I can see it working far better for me than the week on two pages ever did. My next aim is to try the day per page for my Filofax, maybe in 2012?

*Disclaimer: I know this is true as the number of diaries and planners I went through before I purchased a Filofax, and then this Moleskine said it all. Now that I've experienced the Filofax and the Moleskine ways, I know that these two will probably be the two that I will flit between in the future!

the dark side?

WARNING: THIS IS A VERY IMAGE HEAVY POST. 

I succumbed to the 'dark side' and have bought a Moleskine 2011 diary. My excuse? They were half price in Paperchase and with only a quarter of the year gone, half price is a good deal, no?

Anyway, I was lusting after one before I bought this one and now that I've bought this one, I think it may well be love at first sight. I bought the hardback one (not sure what size it is) with a day per page to it - something which is completely different to the layout I had been using in my Filofax - a week on two pages.

Here are a few pictures of my new Moleskine.

Upon opening my Moleskine, I am greeted with two perfume cards sprayed with the respective perfumes from a perfume counter:  Marc Jacobs Daisy and Marc Jacobs Lola. Marc Jacobs perfumes (along with Dior, Chloe and Chanel ones) are my guilty pleasures.

This ensures that I open it in a good mood and so am ready for some organisation!

A very handy month view:

I copied up the stuff I had in my Filofax into my Molskine. I tried to make it as colourful as possible!

Also, note that on the 28th of March, I ordered from Rymans...More on that later.

Another perfume sample: Daisy Eau So Fresh by Marc Jacobs:

As you can see, there is actually some bleed through in the paper. The pen that has bled through is a Uni-ball eye pen with a 0.5mm nib for those of you interested.

I love that there is a dedicated space for the weather and temperature at the bottom of each page:

With this layout, it means I can do more with each day. I can write down what I wore (I love fashion and am always looking for ways to improve the way I dress), the weather, or even a mini diary entry with interesting things that may have happened that day! This is something I love and if I do head back to the Filofax in 2012, I think I may just opt for the day per page layout instead. Hope they do that in cotton cream!

The back pocket where I keep my NHS card and the paper counterpart of my driving licence:

The back cover where I have an interesting illustration from the Harajuki perfume range. The card does not smell but I liked the illustration so stuck it here:

Now onto my Ryman's order. I have been going through pens like no tomorrow lately due to writing up lecture notes and through revision and as a result of this, I decided to bulk purchase some pens. I bought a few Uniball Signo Gelsticks in blue and red (when I say a few, think 'quite a lot') and then fifteen of these as they had been reduced to 99p! I already have this pen in the 0.5mm thickness but decided to try this one and this is how it looked... (ignore the 'WORE', that was written using a Uniball Eye pen in 0.5mm).

I'm pretty much loving the space and freedom I'm having with this Moleskine at the minute and will see how my love/hate develops during the course of this year before deciding whether to return to my Filofax (which I do love) or purchase another Moleskine. Right now, it looks like Moleskine has the upper hand but we'll see how everything changes after this 'honeymoon period'.