tips i've collected from personal experience, upperclassmen, and nerd emojis
will do a part 2 on ap tips after i've finished locking in for them
and hopefully a part 3 on college ap tips... in like two years lol who knows if i'll be on aops then anyway

hopefully these are tips i can use/apply for myself in the near future as clearly i'm not applying it right now
fool me one time shame on you
fool me two times can't put the blame on you, i guess
(j cole)

1. balance between enjoyment / "in all seriousness" mentality
i'm seriously all for getting to learn more than your actual topic in order to learn more overall, if that makes sense

ex going further with ap physics 1 and studying integration (ap physics c), which can be more challenging and entertaining, while overall this information helping ap physics 1 back again

also using silly informative videos, like "all of physics in 14 minutes", extra history, or flipping physics, which i personally show some great favouritism towards

but, it's also important to recognize when you should lock in and when you can stick to sillier ones. that's why i usually tend to stick to locking in to establish my contextualization and basic understanding and watch the funny ones in order to better understand it, make good connections, while allowing myself a break at the same time! besides, the jokes are funnier if you're already somewhat familiar with the content

2. free time balance
to me this is a really significant on not just being more productive but improving the quality of the work you do while you lock in
personally, it's better to do 1 hour of straight productive work versus 3 hours of just sitting there and doing work on and off

if there's something that's really on my mind, i use the "3 times a day" rule, where i allow myself to give into what i want 3 times a day. ex if i want to hang out with my friends for a bit and that thought is getting in the way of my productivity, i let myself do it. i usually divide the 3 into like one big two small, like the other two would be getting up to get a snack, etc

it helps me to keep myself in check on how productive i am while allowing myself freetime so i don't get too burnt out

3. usage of music into studying
this is a big one that i feel like goes unnoticed a lot! i know that a lot of people use music as a motivator or think it "helps them study", but as a former victim of this mindset, i'm going to inform you that it's not true. our brains aren't wired to perfectly multitask, so while listening to music you take away the effectiveness of the other thing you're doing.

for physics nerds, it's kind of like momentum--if you have a total momentum, you can transfer it to another object (in this case, essentially listening to music) but because momentum (your study capacity) is conserved, you lose the momentum on the other task (the task you really want to accomplish)

but of course, studying does get boring often, so i think it's important to choose wisely on when to giveup some of that capacity in order to save yourself from burnout

i think that matters in the context of:

what type of music you listen to
if i choose to listen to music, i tend to stick to quieter music or music that i'm already familiar with, so my brain doesn't register it as much as a new song
some artists i listen to when i'm studying are billie eilish, sza, or minecraft music () because i'm super familiar with them and even if they're not my favourite hype artists, can keep me chill and motivated
it's also good to stick to music with non-lyrics, obviously, but i still enjoy these artists as they're more on the calming side and don't have weird lyrics that stand out especially

when you listen to it
never listen to music when you're in complete lock in mode, like i said before
here are some tasks that i feel like are ok to listen to music when doing:
- drawing / sports
- cleaning (ex you need a break from studying so you decide to clean your area--turn on some music)
- self-grading yourself on a practice mcq
- looking over your planner for the day or writing it out, sending emails

here are tasks that i feel like you shouldn't listen to music to while doing:
- self-grading essays
- taking notes
- watching a video on a subject (audio over audio, seriously?)
- literally any other task that wasn't on the list above

4. food/meals/snacks
so first off, don't skip meals while studying. your brain needs a break anyway, so i'm a firm believer that during meal time you should put your work aside and just forget about studying while you eat. literally it could be the day before the AP exam and i still believe you shouldn't skip meals. if you really want to get extra reps in, you could talk to your parents or your siblings or to yourself while eating about whatever your studying about, like tell them the process of archduke franz ferdinand's assassination or whatever. but any work shouldn't follow you to the table--it helps your body focus on eating to get you the energy you need while letting your brain take a break, too

snacks: don't eat snacks that are like, high effort--ex chips that can get all over your hands, snacks with a ton of plates that need to be washed afterwards, super sugary foods that you spend more time enjoying than actually studying

i like bringing healthy food so i feel more ego-boosted (like dang, i really am healthy and not a big back after all) and i can still focus on my work since i'm not basically worshipping whatever i'm eating. focus on the packet, not the pocky is my go-to line now

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super weird how i give all of these crazy tips and i'm still not a very productive person

but, then again, the real productive people are the ones who shrug when you ask them for productivity tips

all us cursed ones seem to have the best tips