I guess these topics are related but probably should have been two separate posts... oh well!
As school comes nearer, I have begun my final preparations for this semester. This is the first year I have attempted to do these three things: get a hold of class textbooks before school begins, get them other sources than the school bookstore, and pre-read/learn for my classes.
Figuring out which textbooks are assigned for this semester has been difficult. Most of my classes didn't update on the day UBC told me they would. Apparently there have been some technical issues, but also some courses don't have assigned professors yet.
Getting a hold of the textbooks at a cheaper price has been much easier. So far, I've gotten one textbook through amazon.ca, one through craigslist.com, one through usedvancouver.ca and one through piratebay.org. Through UBC bookstore, the total of these texts would be $514.70 plus tax... My total comes to (drum roll) $311.49... including shipping and tax AND one textbook that's for next semester! Not bad, eh?
This lead me to think about learning styles. I started to procrastinate and look up research regarding different learning styles. What I found was a very controversial topic. What I've mostly heard before hand was information regarding the VAP (visual, audio and physical) style. Most of the studies I looked up seemed to state that there is no evidence proving people are a particular type. So what then?
Know thyself and maximize your possibilities! Whenever I talk to people in regards to healthy eating and/or working out, they always ask me what I think is the best method. I usually respond with "the method you actually do." The truth is doing something that is more efficient will only help you so much if you rarely ever do it. Also, even if one method helps you to learn better, doesn't mean the others can't help you learn even more. Mix it up then!
Read, take notes, do problem sets, ask questions, and discuss things with your professor, TA and peers. Get an overall understanding with enough ability that you could teach someone else. If you do this, no matter what, you will do well!
While writing this I listened to NIN's album Year Zero
Single Variable Calculus, Second Semester:
Text: Calculus of a Single Variable, 9th Ed.
Why did I divide calculus into two parts? Because, in my mind they are very different and this will help emphasize that point. The first semester is almost solely memorization of rules; meanwhile, second semester is predominately problem solving and learning strategies. In first semester you look at a question, see it wants you to differentiate/integrate, and then you try to decide which rule(s) to use. Example: Differentiate "blank" over "blank". "Oh, okay it's a quotient. Use the quotient rule." In second semester you learn a few rules and shortcuts; but for the most part, you're mostly using the strategies in second semester with the rules from first semester. The proecedure that seems correct may lead you to an unfortunate dead end. The questions usually result in a stronger problem solving and pre-calculus background than the first semester.
Some people find second semester ridiculously easier, while others find it much harder. I just found it different.
Although material and stylistically I found the two calculus' different, I still attacked them the same way.
How I Did
A
How to Do Well
Yet again PatrickJMT, and Maple (or Wolfram) were used. Yet again, lots of practice is encouraged for problem set style course. Math is always practice, practice, practice. Rinse. Repeat.
I guess what I'm getting at is although I didn't use a different strategy for this course from Calculus I, you may. You may find it easier or harder. As always: work hard, play hard and get plenty of rest.
While writing this post I was listening to the wind blowing cos its just darn to nice out and peaceful.
PS. I'm too lazy to proof read this one so good luck understanding me
Calculus. Most students dread this course more than any other (with the possible exceptions of English and Organic Chemistry). It is a lot of work and not everyone has taken pre-calculus, or something similar, in High School. In my case, it is also a prime example of how your favourite, find-most-interesting, or easiest course may not be your strongest mark (see my debate on "bird courses" in my first post). This was my strongest mark... but definitely not the easiest course.
Single Variable Calculus:
Text: Calculus of a Single Variable, 9th Ed.
Coming fresh out of High School, a lot of these topics can be completely new and alien (ex: limits, derivatives, integrals). If you are typically weak at Math you may want to consider taking a pre-calculus course first. These courses will introduce you slowly to the ideas and concepts that calculus is built on and is a good baby step between Math 12 and Calculus I.
A lot of universities and colleges are starting to offer calculus courses that are topic specific. For example, in addition to regular calculus, UBC offers a calculus course specifically for life sciences and for business students. I highly recommend taking one of these if you are eligible. Having course material that is more relevant can decrease the difficulty in learning new topics.
I worked hard at this class and physics in my first semester, because I knew these were the "tough ones." There is one great thing about math; there is only one right answer. Calculus will be easier if you have a good mix of logic and conceptualization (specially for second semester).
I ended up with 98.7% in the course. To be honest though, I went into the exam with 92% but my professor challenged us to a bet: if any of us beat our class mark in the exam, the exam would become 100% of our grade. I would of ended up with an A+ regardless, but I wouldn't have been the top mark in the school that semester if it weren't for my pretty exam.
How I Did
First semester: A+ (my highest mark in percentile)
How to Do Well
I said it before: PatrickJMT is amazing for math. In fact, there are a lot of good sources on the internet for helping you. Many of my classmates used the online Wolfram, while I used a copy of Maple, for checking over answers. Heed my warning: do not use these programs as a crutch. Getting the right answer on an assignment will not help you on the test if you cannot replicate the problem solving on your own. I saw many classmates beat me in assignments only to be destroyed by the unit tests.Just like physics, this course is almost purely problem sets. The only exception to this would be memorizing rules and possibly theorems/derivations. After each section was completed I would attempt 1-4 problems to see if I understood the concepts. When it came to a few days before the exams I would crash the books hard. This will get boring. This will get hard. This will get frustrating. Try to break up with quick study breaks here and there. I would either eat or workout for 5-10 mins every half hour or so. With calculus you can be brilliant but do bad or slower but do well. Practice makes perfect.
I did 1-4 questions a day each weekday, plus ~100 before my three unit tests, plus ~200 before the exam. This adds up to a lot of practice. With that much practice, I'm sure you could beat my mark. :)
While writing this post I was listening to In Flames and Deadmau5
I think next time when I write two posts in one day I will post both of them and not accidentally save as draft the second post... :P
General Chem
Text: Chemistry: The Central Science, 8th Ed.
Since my last post was about my weakest course, english, I thought I would follow up with my strongest course, chemistry. Most chemistry class are formated the same: labs, 1-2 midterms, maybe a few assignments, and a final. A lot of students dread lab courses as it means 2-3 extra hours of class time and an assignment (lab report) each week. I have to admit I'm quite the opposite. Chemistry tends to come easily to me. I have yet to experience problems with understanding the material or really getting stuck on a question. Because of all this, I knew to spend less time on understanding this course and placed most of my effort on other courses.
I don't say this to boast how awesome I am; I say this to once again show the importance of strategy in undergrad class selection. I have selected a program where I have 1-2 chemistry courses each semester. I play to my strengths while allowing me to concentrate on my weaknesses. Like most first year university courses, you will find most of the objectives to be review and expansion of their grade 11 and 12 equivelants. I did find the textbook helfpul in many ways and will discuss this later. My text named chemistry the central science because chemistry can easily be related to all the others. I continuously found the knowledge in my other courses helped me with chemistry. Some obvious examples: integrated rate laws and calculus, almost anything in cellular biology and organic chem, quantum physics and any chemistry dealing with the atoms.
How I Did
First semester: A+
Second semester: A+
How to Do Well
The reason why students have issues with lab courses is because of time management and efficiency issues. Try to complete your lab reports as soon as possible (easier said than done). Labs are usually integrated with the previous section of lecture, so it is important that both the lab and course work is as fresh as possible. I will stress again that a student excells when the teachers expectations are met or exceeded. Every proffesor or TA wants different information and style for lab reports. I try to find out right away what they are looking for. I then work increadibly hard on getting the first lab report as perfect as possible. After this, all subsequent lab reports are just minor alterations of the first with new data. I used this method even when my proffessor excluded a section for one lab. Example: lab three didn't require theory but I kept that section regardless to keep my format and to show understanding throughout the report. Another tip for labs is to approach it as a seperate course from the lecture. Although I did state previously the two are usually integrated, I did notice how my fellow students would get hung up on this idea and would get confused when they did not perfectly match.
General chemistry has a decent balance of memorization, problem sets and theoretical application, where the chapters will differ in magnitude of each. That's why a diverse strategy works best. I would preread the text the day before class, watch Freelance Teacher just before class, and then review my notes the next day. On average this would represent about 30 minutes for every hour of lecture.
Test studying would completely depend on the subject. For theoretical subjects I would make note summaries. For memorization topics flash cards and mind maps always work best. For problem sets I would practice as many problems as possible (priority for any ones given by proffesor or previous students over text book).
Overall, don't get frustrated and enjoy your time in undergrad! There will be stresses but don't let it get you down.
While writing this I was listening to Periphery!
Hello random people who stumble on to this website,
I want to apologize for starting of the blog with a long pause between posts. I do plan this to be semi-weekly but last week was my wife's birthday. Due to my super busy schedule with school, work, music and volunteering, I made it a week of small events instead of one large one and that took most of my time.
To give everyone (or anyone?) an idea of what my plans are for this blog in the next few weeks.... I plan to start off with giving an analysis of and how to strategize for the courses I have taken.
In no particular order (and not my planned order):
First Year Physics
First Year Chemistry
First year Evolution/Diversity/Genetics Biology
First year Cellular and Organismal Biology
First Year English
Calculus I
Calculus II
As I write each post I'll change these into links.
Also, I'm currently listening to Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains album The Big Eyeball in the Sky
Well here's my first real post...
One real controversial topic is regarding the selection of courses/majors. In my opinion the actual controversy is multi layered. I'll try to split the topics with respect to the layers.
GPA's Importance
First off, GPA is the least subjective, most controllable (at first), and most important aspect of your application. While there are many counter arguments used against this statement, I strongly disagree with those arguments. Volunteer work, character sketches, MCAT, letters of reference, etc. are important, but not every school will look at all of these aspects. Some of these will be used as flags, some as tie breakers, some as a small or major part of the algorithm. You may put all your eggs in one basket regarding your dream school, but the best way to succeed is to increase your chances statistically (see read the section on Do The Math by Matt Might). It is important to keep yourself as competitive as possible. As well, MCAT's can be rewritten (and usually are); volunteer work can be increased after school. It's far more difficult to change a weak GPA than it is to improve on the other aspects (this is an unfortunate reality for me...). A weak GPA can be an unrepairable injury. These things are important to succeed of course but GPA is your number one priority. Also, some people will argue that you need to prepare yourself for medschool by challenging yourself or taking courses that are med related... I've yet to hear a single doctor agree to that statement. Nothing will prepare you for medschool and if you're not competitive enough to get in, you'll never know for yourself.
Bird Courses
Bird courses are another layer to this onion. For those of you who don't know, bird courses are courses that are considered easy. Wait? Are you saying there are courses that are ridiculously easy for everyone? Sounds too good to be true! Because in part, it is. Think about it logically. Everyone is different, including in their individual strengths and weaknesses. It seems illogical that one course would be easier than another for everyone. Also, just because it's easier doesn't mean you will do better. Some of my best marks have been from difficult courses (98.7% in Calculus I was not easy to come by!!). So some would say try to use statistics to your advantage? UBC posts the class distribution of grades for all their courses, sections and teachers. Due to my GPA deficit I researched to try to find all the bird courses I could. Well I noticed a few things here as well. Some courses had really high class averages (consistently looking at the same teacher over multiple years), but the professor would have a really low percentage of higher grades. I saw one teacher have only one A+ in 4 sections of a course that had about 200 students in each and class averages in the high 70's - low 80's. Hmmmmmm... Makes you think doesn't it. In my opinion, a bird course is purely subjective. So my main point:
Know Thy Self
This is where the truth starts to reveal itself. You are the defining point on what is easy and what is not. The courses which will be most interesting to you or easiest for you (not always the same thing, but sometimes there is a relationship) are because of your own individuality. Use this to your advantage! Find the courses that interest you and you can do well with. Find the teachers that teach for your style. Do this, and you have the highest chance of success.
Stratagize, Then Attack!
There are some universal tips, but I will try to avoid stating some obvious ones (ex: study, time management, etc). Your strategy to how you approach the course is imperative. Not all courses/professors are equal in their style. Some are subjective; some are objective. Some are problem sets; some are conceptual; some are straight up memorization. Don't waste your time doing practice problems for a memorization course or conceptual course unless you think it's the best way for you to learn the concept or memorize the information. It would be useless to try to memorize all the possible questions that could come up in the Calculus I final. Also, don't waste your study time reading a textbook if your teachers marks are strictly testing you on their PowerPoint presentation or vice versa.
I also highly recommend trying to balance a life. Workout, run, hobbies, girlfriends/wife/boyfriends/husband, whatever... These things will actually help you as long as you don't waste all your time. Social interactions and physical activity stimulates the brain.
There are many more things but simply this is the major extent of my habits. I will sometimes preread, review, and other study techniques, but I think it all comes down to strategy and effort. Find out what works best for you.
While writing this I listened to Fall In Archaea's Gatherings and Mars Volta's Roulette Dares
