ATAR Notes: Forum

Uni Stuff => General University Discussion and Queries => The University Journey Journal => Topic started by: K.Smithy on December 26, 2020, 10:55:57 pm

Title: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on December 26, 2020, 10:55:57 pm
Hello you beautiful specimen you ;)

If you don't already know me, my name is Katelyn and I am part of QLD's graduating class of 2020. It has certainly been a year to remember (however unfortunate that may be). But this journey is about to come to a close and a new one about to begin. So, what is the plan Stan? Where did we come from? Where will we go? Where'd we come from Cotton-Eye Joe? (You can find my new version of Cotton-Eye Joe on Spotify  8) ... no you can't, but wouldn't that be pretty cool).

Between 2019 and 2020 I studied Physics, Psychology, Biology, Mathematical Methods, General English and Study of Religion. Having now graduated and accepted my offer for uni, I thought it would be fitting to start this uni journey journal. I will be studying a Bachelor of Advanced Science (Honours) at The University of Queensland. My life plan, as of right now, is to pursue a PhD in physics (so this may end up being a very long journal...).

What will this look like?
Bachelor of Advanced Science (Honours): 4 years
Master of Philosophy: 2 years Edit: I have recently learnt you don't need a masters to get a PhD
Doctor of Philosophy: anywhere between 4-7 years
That brings us to a grand total of: 10-13 years :o (it's a good thing that I like learning)

This is my plan as of right now,  but things may change. Maybe I'll figure out that physics isn't for me but neuroscience is right up my alley, or maybe I'll be content and fulfilled even without the PhD. Things may change, and that is entirely ok, but right now I am super excited about the journey ahead and am keen to hopefully walk away with a PhD.

I've begun the process of trying to figure out which courses I want to study next year. So far, 2021 will look something like this:

Semester 1
- SCIE1000 || Theory & Practice in Science
- PHYS1001 || Mechanics & Thermal Physics
- MATH1050 || Mathematical Foundations II
- NEUR1020 || The Brain and Behavioural Sciences

Semester 2
- STAT1201 || Analysis of Scientific Data
- SCIE1200 || Introduction to Science Research
- PHYS1002 || Electromagnetism & Modern Physics
- MATH1051 || Calculus & Linear Algebra

Summer Semester
- MATH1052 || Multivariate Calculus & Ordinary Differential Equations

So... yeah.. this is the plan as of currently (I'm going to get it checked out by someone at UQ over the next few weeks to make sure everything is a-ok). Because I didn't do specialist mathematics it means that I can't do MATH1051 and MATH1052... So, I have to do MATH1050 in the first semester so that I can keep going. After I catch up on MATH1052 in the summer semester, I'll be back on track (none of my other courses are affected by this, so that is great! :))

I sat down today and made a rough plan of the courses I want to do over the next four years and I think I have figured out a way to graduate with a specialisation in physics, a minor in astrophysics, and a minor in psychology. That sounds pretty sick to me  8)

Anywho, that is all that I have for today :) I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and is doing well and I wish everyone a happy New Year <3
- Katelyn
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: Sine on December 27, 2020, 01:37:13 am
Sounds very exciting! Looking forward to reading any new updates  ;D
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: The Cat In The Hat on January 15, 2021, 08:22:12 am
Hello you beautiful specimen you ;)

If you don't already know me, my name is Katelyn and I am part of QLD's graduating class of 2020. It has certainly been a year to remember (however unfortunate that may be). But this journey is about to come to a close and a new one about to begin. So, what is the plan Stan? Where did we come from? Where will we go? Where'd we come from Cotton-Eye Joe? (You can find my new version of Cotton-Eye Joe on Spotify  8) ... no you can't, but wouldn't that be pretty cool).

Between 2019 and 2020 I studied Physics, Psychology, Biology, Mathematical Methods, General English and Study of Religion. Having now graduated and accepted my offer for uni, I thought it would be fitting to start this uni journey journal. I will be studying a Bachelor of Advanced Science (Honours) at The University of Queensland. My life plan, as of right now, is to pursue a PhD in physics (so this may end up being a very long journal...).

What will this look like?
Bachelor of Advanced Science (Honours): 4 years
Master of Philosophy: 2 years
Doctor of Philosophy: anywhere between 4-7 years
That brings us to a grand total of: 10-13 years :o (it's a good thing that I like learning)

This is my plan as of right now,  but things may change. Maybe I'll figure out that physics isn't for me but neuroscience is right up my alley, or maybe I'll be content and fulfilled even without the PhD. Things may change, and that is entirely ok, but right now I am super excited about the journey ahead and am keen to hopefully walk away with a PhD.

I've begun the process of trying to figure out which courses I want to study next year. So far, 2021 will look something like this:

Semester 1
- SCIE1000 || Theory & Practice in Science
- PHYS1001 || Mechanics & Thermal Physics
- MATH1050 || Mathematical Foundations II
- NEUR1020 || The Brain and Behavioural Sciences

Semester 2
- STAT1201 || Analysis of Scientific Data
- SCIE1200 || Introduction to Science Research
- PHYS1002 || Electromagnetism & Modern Physics
- MATH1051 || Calculus & Linear Algebra

Summer Semester
- MATH1052 || Multivariate Calculus & Ordinary Differential Equations

So... yeah.. this is the plan as of currently (I'm going to get it checked out by someone at UQ over the next few weeks to make sure everything is a-ok). Because I didn't do specialist mathematics it means that I can't do MATH1051 and MATH1052... So, I have to do MATH1050 in the first semester so that I can keep going. After I catch up on MATH1052 in the summer semester, I'll be back on track (none of my other courses are affected by this, so that is great! :))

I sat down today and made a rough plan of the courses I want to do over the next four years and I think I have figured out a way to graduate with a specialisation in physics, a minor in astrophysics, and a minor in psychology. That sounds pretty sick to me  8)

Anywho, that is all that I have for today :) I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and is doing well and I wish everyone a happy New Year <3
- Katelyn
Sounds interesting! :)
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: hel256 on January 15, 2021, 11:07:29 am
I'm impressed by your meticulous planning! Looking forward to reading more of your journey!
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on January 20, 2021, 02:55:01 pm
How do you do this fine afternoon? :)

I spent the entire day at UQ yesterday (no, I did not enjoy wrangling public transportimagine being able to drive... ha!) and I had a very pleasant time! Aside from the fact that I'm pretty sure I got heatstroke and now have a wicked sunburn (gotta love Aussie summers), it was a very good day.
I sat down with an academic advisor and to be honest, I was incredibly nervous.... So so so nervous. I struggle a lot with social interaction, it doesn't come easily to me, and I'm super awkward - so I was worried about not making a good first impression. But, thankfully, the meeting went really well. I got to discuss my four year plan, ask a bunch of questions about courses and research opportunities, and finally found out what calculator I need (because my school lied when they told me I would be able to use my graphics calculator at uni.... I'm salty about it).
The academic advisor I spoke to definitely knew his stuff and I gained a lot of insight into what the path to a PhD would look like and how I can best prepare myself for the future. I also found out that when you specialise in physics, you automatically minor in applied mathematics - so it turns out I'm doing 3 minors. But yeah, I'm fairly certain that the advisor also takes physics lectures, so I'm hoping that I'll be in his class at some point because he was just super approachable, happy to answer my millions of questions, was passionate about physics, and was able to communicate very clearly (all things you'd want in a lecturer ahaha ;D).
So yeah, my first impressions of UQ have been wonderful. I've heard a lot of talk about how students get treated as a number and that staff don't seem to care or want to answer questions, but every single person I have spoken to so far has been super kind. I've had multiple discussions over the phone with the science faculty and everyone I have spoken to has been super helpful and is more than happy to answer questions. But I guess only time will tell whether this will hold up.

In other news... I submitted my timetable preferences on Monday! Very exciting - it'll be interesting to see what my timetable ends up looking like ahaha... I hope its not too bad. I also went and got my student ID last week so the fact that I am actually a UQ student is starting to hit me. I did learn a lot on the day I went to collect my ID card however... One thing is that I am absolutely hopeless at using public transport...

My public transport horror story
I was using the TransLink app to help me find my way around... but my first mistake was putting the destination as "St Lucia" and not "The University of Queensland"... turns out, St Lucia is a whole suburb... the University is only a small section of that suburb... So after catching one bus, a train, and another bus... I was dropped off at the very beginning of the St Lucia suburb... No where near the actual campus... I had to hike for what felt like kilometres to finally reach the campus.... That was my leg workout for the year done

I did have to make some adjustments to my courses for this year however. Instead of doing SCIE1000, I am now doing SCIE1100 (Advanced Theory & Practice in Science). I have also decided that I want to put another course in my summer semester - PSYC1030 (Introduction to Psychology: Developmental, Social & Clinical Psychology).

If you want to see my current plan for the next four years of my life, open this :)
First Year
First Semester
SCIE1100 || Advanced Theory & Practice in Science
MATH1050 || Mathematical Foundations II
NEUR1020 || The Brain & Behavioural Sciences
PHYS1001 || Mechanics & Thermal Physics
Second Semester
SCIE1200 || Introduction to Science Research
STAT1201 || Analysis of Scientific Data
MATH1051 || Calculus & Linear Algebra
PHYS1002 || Electromagnetism & Modern Physics
Summer Semester
MATH1052 || Multivariate Calculus & Ordinary Differential Equation
PSYC1030 || Introduction to Psychology: Developmental, Social, & Clinical Psychology

Second Year
First Semester
MATH2001 || Calculus & Linear Algebra II
NEUR2020 || Neuroscience for Psychologists
PHYS2020 || Thermodynamics & Condensed Matter Physics
PHYS2955 || Advanced Fields in Physics I
Second Semester
MATH2100 || Applied Mathematical Analysis
ANAT3022 || Functional Neuroanatomy
PHYS2941 || Advanced Quantum Mechanics I
PHYS2082 || Space Science & Stellar Astrophysics

Third Year
First Semester
NEUR3272 || The Neuroscience of Social Behaviour
PHYS3080 || Extragalactic Astrophysics & Cosmology
PHYS3951 || Advanced Fields in Physics II
PHYS3040 || Quantum Mechanics II
Second Semester
NEUR3002 || The Integrated Brain
NEUR3302 || Cognitive Neuroscience
PHYS3920 || Advanced Statistical Mechanics
PHYS3900 || Perspectives in Physics Research

Honours Year
This is the year I am having a bit of trouble with... now... I will be doing PHYS6487 (Physics Honour Research Project).. but I also have to choose 4 courses to do this year.... when I am interested in 7 courses .... I know I will definitely do MATH4105 (General Relativity), PHYS4030 (Condensed Matter Physics), and PHYS4040 (Quantum Field Theory)... so I have one more spot, but four more courses I am interested in... smh  :o So I will have to figure that out at some point

I did discuss research opportunities with the academic advisor, so hopefully I'll be able to partake in research over the summer at some point in the next four years.

I have a few things I need to do/get before uni starts up however:
- complete both parts of the academic integrity module (they aren't due for a couple of months but I want to get them done ASAP)
- purchase the one textbook that I need for PHYS1001
- get a new calculator
- buy a lunchbox
- buy a new pencil case
- buy a diary

I have started making friends in my courses through Facebook, which is super relieving. Making friends is something that I was really worried about, but I have met 6 people so far who I share courses with - 5 of which are doing the same degree and specialisation as me :) I'm hoping to meet up with some of them during O-week

Anyways, this is my update for today. I'll probably update again once the timetable comes out :)
I hope you are all having a wonderful day <3
- Katelyn
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: tiredandstressed on January 20, 2021, 03:39:19 pm
Oh wow kudos to you for planning your whole course, I'm in the final year of my degree and still have not picked all my subjects XD
A very interesting mix with neuro and physics- im sure you will enjoy it (especially the way the two are connected when we think about how neurons transmit electrical impulses and how physics relate to this with electricity and voltage fun stuff!!)
Looking forward to hearing to future entries
Taking two summer subjects in the first year, seems intense! But it looks like you got it all sorted :)
Wishing you all the best
-T&S
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on January 20, 2021, 03:47:53 pm
Oh wow kudos to you for planning your whole course, I'm in the final year of my degree and still have not picked all my subjects XD
A very interesting mix with neuro and physics- im sure you will enjoy it (especially the way the two are connected when we think about how neurons transmit electrical impulses and how physics relate to this with electricity and voltage fun stuff!!)
Looking forward to hearing to future entries
Taking two summer subjects in the first year, seems intense! But it looks like you got it all sorted :)
Wishing you all the best
-T&S

I completely agree! I found that understanding the connection between physics and neuroscience certainly helped when I came to comprehending neurotransmission in senior psychology :) Psychology is certainly great in terms of its connections to other subjects - i.e. physics, biology, and even English and SOR.
Good luck with your final year! I hope everything goes well for you :D
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: Joseph41 on January 20, 2021, 04:47:35 pm
Really glad to hear you've enjoyed your UQ experiences so far. :)
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: katie,rinos on January 20, 2021, 05:51:37 pm
Glad your meeting meet well!  ;D

What does your ideal timetable look like?

I also have a public transport horror story the first time I went into uni! I'm terrible at directions but it gets a lot easier after you've been there a few times!  :D
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on January 20, 2021, 06:31:16 pm
What does your ideal timetable look like?

I'm really hoping to get this - but I know there is a good chance I won't. Fingers crossed it's as close to this as possible tho.
(There is a clash between the SCIE1100 CON1 and PHYS1001 WKS1 but I was told by the academic advisor not to worry about it :) )

(https://i.imgur.com/M9IxYL9.png)

I also have a public transport horror story the first time I went into uni! I'm terrible at directions but it gets a lot easier after you've been there a few times!  :D

I've been holding onto hope that it'll get easier ahaha ;D Hopefully if all goes well with my driving test, I'll only have to use public transport for the first three weeks :)
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: Bri MT on January 20, 2021, 07:36:10 pm
Are you planning on staying home on Fridays?
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on January 20, 2021, 07:50:03 pm
Are you planning on staying home on Fridays?

I'm hoping I have the motivation to go to all of my classes (obviously not the ones that are external tho lol). So I will end up going in on Friday mornings (assuming this is the timetable I get) for that 10am lecture. I also heard that they usually have physics colloquia on most Fridays at 11am - so I'll hopefully be able to go to those as well :)
I did try my best to make sure Fridays were just lectures so if I am just exhausted and need a break I can stay home. Also, my sister is still in school and a lot of school events are on a Friday, so I would love to go to those to support her. My old school also has a homework help club on Monday and Thursday afternoons, so I tried to keep Thursday afternoons free in case they need more volunteers :)
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: turinturambar on January 20, 2021, 11:48:28 pm
So yeah, my first impressions of UQ have been wonderful. I've heard a lot of talk about how students get treated as a number and that staff don't seem to care or want to answer questions, but every single person I have spoken to so far has been super kind. I've had multiple discussions over the phone with the science faculty and everyone I have spoken to has been super helpful and is more than happy to answer questions. But I guess only time will tell whether this will hold up.

Different university, but my experience is that as you specialise more in later years you will be part of a smaller cohort and better known and treated more as an individual (that is, by lecturers and tutors and fellow students - not talking admin staff here).

Quote
I did have to make some adjustments to my courses for this year however. Instead of doing SCIE1000, I am now doing SCIE1100 (Advanced Theory & Practice in Science). I have also decided that I want to put another course in my summer semester - PSYC1030 (Introduction to Psychology: Developmental, Social & Clinical Psychology).

If you want to see my current plan for the next four years of my life, open this :)
...

It's good to have a plan, and your combination of minors probably doesn't give you a lot of flexibility anyway.  And I think you're already aware of this, but I'd just say to be aware that your plans can change a lot as you learn more about the various subjects and about yourself, and that's a good thing.

There were some things I did in 1st and 2nd year that I thought I'd never grow tired of, and yet was glad by the end of the year I wasn't continuing with them.  And there's no way I would have expected to be doing some of the subjects I did in 3rd and 4th year - some were new subjects, some had become more or less interesting to me because of what I learned and how I had changed in the first couple of years.
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on January 22, 2021, 12:36:16 pm
Different university, but my experience is that as you specialise more in later years you will be part of a smaller cohort and better known and treated more as an individual (that is, by lecturers and tutors and fellow students - not talking admin staff here).

Yeah, I heard a lot that it was particularly bad in first year just because there are so many students in your classes. But yeah, I guess only time will tell - not long now before uni starts up  ;D

It's good to have a plan, and your combination of minors probably doesn't give you a lot of flexibility anyway.  And I think you're already aware of this, but I'd just say to be aware that your plans can change a lot as you learn more about the various subjects and about yourself, and that's a good thing.
There were some things I did in 1st and 2nd year that I thought I'd never grow tired of, and yet was glad by the end of the year I wasn't continuing with them.  And there's no way I would have expected to be doing some of the subjects I did in 3rd and 4th year - some were new subjects, some had become more or less interesting to me because of what I learned and how I had changed in the first couple of years.

I think that is, oddly enough, what I'm most excited for. Generally, I like to take time out to carefully plan everything so that I can be 100% prepared, but I am actually very excited to see how much I will end up deviating from this plan that I have now :) I think that any deviation will show that I have come to learn more about myself while at uni. So yeah, I am keen. Maybe my plan will change, maybe not - but I am ready to enjoy the journey to "self-discovery" 8)
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on February 21, 2021, 09:04:07 pm
It's that time of year again! After a long(ish) wait, school is finally starting back up 8) wooooaaaaahhh wooaahh Mamma Mia~f*ck~here i go again

O-week was fabulous - however, I do feel pretty betrayed. I was promised a lot of cool freebies. What freebies did I get? You may ask... Hand sanitiser... I got hand sanitiser...
I did also get a free uni t-shirt tho, which usually sells for upwards of $20, so that was cool. Now I can publicly rep the uni... if I ever suddenly get the urge to do that....doubt it, but who knows?? ::)
I got to meet a lot of people from my degree and caught up with a guy who, like myself, is interested in science communication/popularisation. Everyone I've met so far has been lovely and I hope that I can keep in touch with them.
I also joined some clubs - PAIN (Physics club), SASS (Student Association of Science Societies), WiSA (Women in Science Association), and UQGC (German Club). They have some events this week that I am looking forward to :)



In other news, this year has brought with it an influx in students studying physics at UQ (which is always fantastic!!!). Because of that, more classes were timetabled to cater to the increase in demand. This has meant that I have been moved around a bit, but I am still very happy with my timetable and have no complaints. Additionally, with the new change in COVID restrictions, one of my courses will now be offered on campus - awesome!!

My new timetable
(https://i.imgur.com/IDPp35E.png)

I'm very excited for the week ahead and the start of classes. Today I started putting my assessment pieces into an excel document to see what my semester will look like, and booooyyyyyy its a lot. Thankfully, most of the assessment pieces are only worth a few percent and aren't too tedious to complete (which is great because every percentage matters to me). For 2 of my courses I can get up to like 10% of my grade just by participating in classes - I don't even have to answer questions correctly, I just need to give it a shot.
I also found out that one of my physics lecturers is an experimental quantum physicist, so I did get chatting to her about what that is likeit sounds very interesting.
On Friday, I will be meeting up with the peeps from WiSA and PAIN, and on Wednesday I'm going to a toga party (the night before my 8am... pray for me). So those should be a good time :)

I feel like I'm forgetting something, but oh well ;D I'm gonna end this post here. I hope everyone is doing well. Until next time ;)
Katelyn
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: tiredandstressed on February 22, 2021, 10:06:51 am
-snip-
I'm going to a toga party (the night before my 8am... pray for me). So those should be a good time :)


Ahhhh the joys of going to a party the day b4 an 8 am, an essential university experience. I remember when me and a couple of mates did this, we actually booked an Airbnb in the city so we could get to class on time. We ended up falling asleep around 4:30 only to get up by 7:30 to get to class XD
Unsurprisingly, we all ended up sleeping through our stats class and we had three more classes back to back (we did end up skipping bcoz we were so tired)
Hope you're able to have a better experience! But don't be too hard on yourself, these parties and events are part of the whole university experience.
Glad to see a positive update! Looks like you're really keen to get started which is great to see.
Looking forward to further updates
-T&S
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on February 22, 2021, 10:49:21 pm
Ahhhh the joys of going to a party the day b4 an 8 am, an essential university experience. I remember when me and a couple of mates did this, we actually booked an Airbnb in the city so we could get to class on time. We ended up falling asleep around 4:30 only to get up by 7:30 to get to class XD
Unsurprisingly, we all ended up sleeping through our stats class and we had three more classes back to back (we did end up skipping bcoz we were so tired)
Hope you're able to have a better experience! But don't be too hard on yourself, these parties and events are part of the whole university experience.
Glad to see a positive update! Looks like you're really keen to get started which is great to see.
Looking forward to further updates
-T&S

Oh wow ahaha! Booking an Airbnb is definitely a smarter way to go about it ;D I'm just gonna wing it and hope for the best.
I wouldn't feel too bad about sleeping through a stats class though... I would (even if I didn't go to a party the night before  ;D). Fortunately, I only have 2 classes on that day (a neuroscience tutorial - which I'll definitely stay awake for bc it should be interesting - and then a Science lecture - the lecturers are awesome and it was super engaging today, so I doubt I'll fall asleep). So fingers crossed everything will be ok ahaha.
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on February 26, 2021, 11:37:32 pm
~Week 1 has Come to a Close~

Let me just say... I have had a fantastic first week!! My lecturers are freaking awesome. I made sure to spend some time chatting to them after classes - I have been given tones of helpful information for pursuing PhDs and have started making great connections with them. I've also met some more people from my degree and they are all lovely (making friends has certainly been much easier than I was expecting).
I had a few club meetings this week:
- I got to meet up with the German Club over a free cup of coffee score
- I had a picnic with the Women in Science Association
- I had a club induction/lab tour/scavenger hunt with the Physics Association
I also went to a toga party on Wednesday night (going to bed at 2am and waking up at 5am for an 8am lecture really does not feel nice) and then had an undergraduate party on campus on Thursday (it ended at 7pm, thankfully ;D).
Overall, it was a very good week and I look forward to next week :)

I do, however, have a bit of work to get done over the weekend. My to-do list:
SCIE1100
- Complete pre-workshop questions on worksheet 2
- Start communication assignment
PHYS1001
- Complete workbook questions
- Complete pre-workshop readings and quizzes
- Complete EdX modules
- Review uncertainty this week kindly reminded me that I was shit at calculating uncertainty
NEUR1020
- Complete EdX modules
MATH1050
- Complete preparation questions
- Complete quizzes

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! :)
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on March 29, 2021, 07:47:24 pm
~Midsem Break Can't Come Soon Enough~

Every cloud has a silver lining! The recent COVID outbreak in Brisbane has meant that we are in a three day lockdown - but I'd like to think that, thanks to COVID, midsem break is just being extended  8)
I was going to wait until next week to post an update, but, seeming as though I now have a tonne more time on my hands, why not post one now?

General Update
Life is    ~~H E C T I C~~    and I am slightly dying - but that's ok. My uni workload is a lot. I have assessment every single week and I am still trying to figure out how to balance everything. I haven't had any time to just sit down and study, as I've been to busy getting my next piece of assessment complete. I think I need to work smarter and rethink my study schedule.
I drove into uni for the first time this morning and that was really good. I ended up getting to campus almost 3 hours before my first class which gave me plenty of time to catch up on 2 lectures that I had to miss last Friday. Once uni starts back up (assuming the COVID situation is sorted) I intend on driving in early everyday to do work - that way I can get to bed early every night.

In non-workload news, I have made myself an amazing group of friends. They are, without a doubt, the only reason I have remained sane this semester. I met a few people before semester started and I still get to see and talk to them frequently, but I have met a group who share most of my courses. I think that uni has the potential to be such a lonely experience (I mean, on Wednesdays most of my friends stay home - so that's now the saddest day of the week ahaha), so I am extremely grateful to have met some amazing people to chill/procrastinate with everyday :)
With all of the friends that I have made and the clubs that I have joined, it is safe to say that my social life has never thrived this much before.

SCIE1100 Update
This course is so confusing... I don't even know what it is meant to be about... We are covering science communication, modelling, coding, general scientific knowledge... I'm very confused ahaha. The course is going well so far and the lecturers are amazing.
I've had 3 assignments and 1 exam, and I must say... the assessment has been quite interesting.
The 3 assignments were communication tasks (all of which I procrastinated doing and ended up starting and finishing the night before they were due). To my surprise I ended up with 100% on the first assignment (no complaints here 8)). I am yet to find out how I have performed on the other two.
The exam was weird. I feel pretty conflicted as it seemed pretty straightforward, yet I had no clue what some of the questions were asking me. I'm not too worried about it though as it's worth between 0-10%, depending on how well I do on the final.
I will be given another assignment this week. This time, it is a philosophy essay, which should be interesting :)

PHYS1001 Update
I BOTH LOVE AND HATE THIS COURSE SO MUCH.
Physics - love it, it's amazing, could spend my whole life studying it
PHYS1001 - wtf.
I may love physics, but this course makes me think that these feelings are not mutual.
Lets start with the content: it should all be simple... We learnt most of it in high school.... yet, somehow, it has become so overcomplicated that I now understand nothing. I thought I knew things, oh how wrong was I... I really just need to knuckle down and find time to study properly - that is a major goal of mine for the midsem break.
Lets talk about assessment: :) :) :) I HATE LABS WITH A BURNING PASSION. THEY ARE THE EXACT REASON I WANT TO GO INTO !!THEORETICAL PHYSICS!! AND NOT EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS :) :) :)
I don't want to sugarcoat things and pretend that I am tracking really well in this course... because I'm not. I do find it very embarrassing to admit as I love physics so much and it's what I want to devote a large chunk of my life to, but I am struggling with PHYS1001. The content I can work on and should be fine with given some practice. The labs on the other hand  >:(  >:(  >:(
I barely passed my first lab, and failed my second. These are worth 20% of my final grade. Am I willing to work to improve? Absolutely!! Do I know what to do to improve? Absolutely not!!
How do labs in PHYS1001 work?, you may be wondering... We are given three hours to conduct an experiment. We produce our own methodology to gather the data we need. We then have to do some error propagation. And, the worst part, write an entire lab report to hand in at the end of the three hours... We are given no instructions and virtually no help. Now, I have no issue with experimentation, collecting data, writing reports... I can do that all... What I can't freaking seem to do is error propagation. You see, in highschool the most I ever had to do when it came to calculating uncertainty was: (xmax - xmin)/2...
Do YoU kNoW hOw MaNy FoRmUlAe ThErE aRe FoR ErRoR pRoPaGaTiOn?!?!?!
I went into the labs and they were like "You should be familiar with error propagation, but if not, these labs are meant to help you develop those skills."... The catch? They can't answer our questions and actually help us  :'(  :'(  :'( I am trying to teach myself how to propagate and combine uncertainties BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING AND CAN'T GET HELP ... I've just settled with the fact that I will not be doing amazing in this course.

Anyway, on to better things...

NEUR1020 Update
This course doesn't really go beyond high school psych so I'm ~thriving~. The 2-hour zoom lectures kinda suck tho... I did fall asleep in one the other week... my camera was on... yes, it was embarrassing. This is a nice course because I don't really need to study. I just review my notes before the module quizzes and I've been doing really well so far.
I get given a research claim essay this week and it is going to be very boring. Essentially, my entire assignment is just me analysing the strengths and weaknesses of psychological studies and identifying the dependent and independent variables  :-\  :-\  :-\
I was hoping to do something more exciting but that's ok.

MATH1050 Update
I don't really have much to say about this course. I'm tracking alright. The content isn't too difficult. No complaints really.
I handed in my first assignment for it last week and I accidentally saw my result (it wasn't meant to be released yet). I apparently got a 25/26 but that may be subject to change as they haven't been finalised.
I have a midsem exam coming up in a couple weeks time, so I will start preparing for that ASAP


That's all I've got for this update. I might start posting to-do lists to keep myself on track during the break. I hope everyone is doing well! :)
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: The Cat In The Hat on June 12, 2021, 10:45:59 pm
How goes it? :)
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on June 14, 2021, 06:32:53 pm
~Semester 1 Has Come to a Close~

Despite the ups and downs, my university experience thus far has been fantastic. Sure, I hated PHYS1001 (with SCIE1100 also being a bit of a bust). And sure, I should have had more of a focus on my academics. We live and we learn and I wouldn't have it any other way. This semester has been such a fantastic learning experience :)

To start this update off with some positivity, I have a list of the things I am most grateful for this semester:

General Update Since Last Post
.... I never ended up finding time to just sit down and study.... the only time I studied this entire semester was during SWOTVAC.... needless to say, I am not feeling confident about my performance on the finals (bar one). One thing I desperately need to work on next semester is work/study/social life balance. Academics definitely wasn't my focus for this semester (being a first generation uni student I didn't feel I needed that extra pressure straight off the bat). However, I really wanna put my head down and work next semester and start focusing on the quality of work I produce and actually getting some effective study done.

On that note, since the last update I've had quite a few assessment pieces to hand in and results I've received:
SCIE1100
PHYS1001
Oh gosh how I hate this course...
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on June 30, 2021, 02:33:42 pm
~Results Come Rolling In~

Picture this: It's roughly 8am on a cold, winter's morning. You have no desire to leave the comforting embrace of your weighted blanket, but a flickering light to your left begs desperately for your attention. Reaching out quickly, in an attempt to ensure that your encounter with the brisk air is as brief as possible, you grab the very thing seeking your attention - your phone. Message after message from the "pAiN kILleRs" (the group chat consisting of a large chunk of your uni friends) occupies the screen. Well... this surely can't be good. Below the barrage of attacks on your confidence lies a text from UniQLD, "Hi y/n" the preview reads... Oh no. It's results day... You forgot that was today.... After a long wait, they're here. Your quivering thumb hovers over the notification before a burst of courage forces you to open it.

Results
They were much better than expected lol. A couple days ago I was looking at the dates for supplementary exams and the process for requesting them as I thought I'd have to retake PHYS1001 and potentially MATH1050. But nope  8) we all ~Gucci~. My overall GPAs for each course are as follows:
SCIE1100
6
PHYS1001
6 - surely a mistake
NEUR1020
6 I was 1 mark off of a 7  :o def should've put more effort into that essay
MATH1050
6

I don't feel deserving of these results given the lack of effort I put in, but that does also make me feel more confident about next semester. I will put my head down and actually study. I'm hoping to develop a good routine early on and maintain it, and hopefully I might see some 7s next semester :)
My goal is to make better use of the tutorial and workshop times. I never went to any of my MATH1050 workshops and I didn't even catch up on the worksheets in my own time (which probably would've been helpful for the exam). I will also make better use of the physics tutorial times. In sem 1, I would go to them but I never did any practice questions - I spent the entire time talking to my friends. In SCIE1100 workshops, I would go to them because they were compulsory but I'd spend the entire time playing online chess or whatever (really, I would do anything but actually put effort into the worksheets we had to complete). So, that is no more! I will actually utilise my classes!

I put in my timetable preferences last week and this is what I'm hoping for:
(https://i.imgur.com/s8O9CQJ.png)

The practicals on Monday and Tuesday only occur once a fortnight, so that's nice. I'm hoping that the SCIE1200 tutorial will be optional, that way I can take every second Monday off, and every Thursday and Friday off (I don't think I will find the SCIE1200 tutorials to be of much use, but if I do then I may go to some of them).

As you can see, PHYS1002 - just like PHYS1001 - doesn't have any lectures. But it's ok... because I have devised a plan. I have gone through the list of topics we will be covering and all the textbook chapters and stuff, and I have found lectures from other universities that have been uploaded to Youtube. I am determined to get my lecture fix in and if this is how I have to do it then so be it.

Anywho, that's all I have for now :) I'll probably update again in the coming weeks once timetables are finalised.

I hope everyone is doing splendidly! :D
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on July 12, 2021, 03:03:06 pm
~Semester 2 is Right Around the Corner~

Ahhhh :) It has been a fantastic break. I am incredibly fortunate enough to have been able to catch up with some friends from high school. Most of my cohort are studying at QUT - only 5 or 6 (out of the ~150 of us) chose UQ. However, most of them are studying law or some form of humanities so I never see them around anyway. So it's definitely been good being able to see how everyone is going and what they've been up to since graduation. God, I miss high school sometimes. Don't get me wrong, uni is fantastic and I definitely prefer it to high school. But I do miss the people, the community, that I had to leave behind after graduating. I do get sad sometimes when I realise just how many people I had to say goodbye to. I'll scroll through my Facebook or Instagram feed and it's full of people from my cohort hanging out and studying together at university. It just reminds me of how many friends I have, who I spent so long getting to know and making memories with, that I rarely see nowadays.
Well... that was a lot more depressing than I had originally anticipated... This is meant to be a happy, up-beat entry... Whoops ahaha.

(Exciting???) Life Updates:
So, after months and months and months of being unemployed I have finally landed myself a job (which is fantastic because my broke ass can't afford to live at this rate). I did realise recently that the length of my unemployment was likely a fault of my own.... You see, now don't laugh at me, but my parents have preached "stranger danger" to me ever since I was young. This mindset extended to phone calls - I was never allowed to answer the phone at home. So... therein lies the problem. I had applied to so many (and I mean SO MANY) jobs, and every time I did that I gave them my phone number. Now for months I have been receiving so many calls from unknown numbers that, because of "stranger danger", I didn't pick up.......... Who knows how many of them were potential employers....... Whoops. BUUUUUUT, a couple weeks ago I got a call from a random number and decided, "You know what, I'm gonna pick this one up. I'm feeling adventurous." And thank God I did because I had landed myself a job interview with Art of Smart Education.
Long-story short, the interview went well and I got the gig :) I was also asked if I was interested in another position, which I had my interview for today (the girl who took my interview was super friendly, it was probably one of the chillest job interviews I've ever taken. She said my interview was "Awesome"  ;D ;D ;D). Anywho, I digress, the position I was interviewed for today is one in which I get to produce resources for QLD students (so practice exams and problem-sets, stuff like that). Which sounds pretty sick to me.
So I am a tutor and potentially a resource writer person ahaha. Now, this is going to be a bit of work. It's expected that I will work 10 hours a week if I get the writing position, and I have agreed to take 3 students a week (there are no set lesson durations but I'm expecting 1-2 hours per student). So, it'll definitely ramp up my workload but that's ok.

In other news, I'm going on a space camp next week so that should be cool as  8) The UQ physics club is heading out to Avoca Vale for 4 days to do star gazing. Don't ask me what we'll be doing in the day time because I have no clue. But I'm excited to go nonetheless. There's no reception though, so I am mentally preparing to lose the 742 day streak I have with someone on snapchat  :'(

Finalised Timetable:
(https://i.imgur.com/F8MPB4g.png)
This is my timetable. I ended up getting all of my first preferences. They did make some changes to contact hours though, which means instead of having two one hour lectures per week for SCIE, I have 1 three hour lecture every week for the first half of semester. For the second half I will have pracs in that time, so there are no clashes :) It appears that the pracs will be online (unless they haven't set a building for it yet) which would be nice because then I can take Mondays off. I'm thinking of taking Fridays and Mondays off, if that's the case, because then I can have a four day weekend and get tonnes of work done  8)
As you can see I've also allocated times for study for each course (I made sure that each course gets the recommended 10-12 hours a week). However, once I start tutoring this will likely look a lot different.

Now, with the significantly increased workload I have next semester, I have adopted a new plan of attack for assessment. I trialed it at the end of last semester and it worked really well... The whole idea is that I will start my assignments as soon as I get them, instead of leaving them until the last minute. Honestly guys, it worked a charm at the end of last semester. I highly recommend it. I would've probably failed a few assessment pieces if I hadn't done it.


Ok, well I think that's all I have for now. I may update again with my thoughts on each of my new courses once the ECPs are released.
I hope everyone is doing well! :)
Katelyn
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on July 31, 2021, 03:27:19 pm
~First Week Done and Dusted~

On the last week of break I was fortunate enough to go away for 4 days with the UQ physics club to spend some time star gazing. Though, not much star gazing actually took place. I think the get-away was more so an excuse for everyone to get together and drink. My friends and I weren't aware of everyone else plans to drink so we came unprepared. Nevertheless, it was a good trip. I got to know my uni mates better and I look forward to hopefully going away again next year :)

The first week back was very good. It was a lot more busy than I anticipated however (I have three assignments to do already  :'( :'( :'(). I was planning to get some stuff done on the forums this week but I just wasn't ready for how busy life would become. Hopefully next week I'll smash out some posts - fingers crossed. So far I've been doing a very good job at keeping on track with my study schedule, so I am feeling quite confident right now about how the semester will track.

First Impressions
PHYS1002
This course is already so much better than 1001. Omg I can't put into words how nice it feels to finally understand physics content again!! The module 1 lecturer seems very nice so far, but I am really looking forward to having the module 3 lecturer as I had him for SCIE1100 last semester and he was fantastic.
MATH1051
My lecturer is adorable!!! She is the sweetest human being I've ever met  ;D ;D ;D I adore her. I very much look forward to her lectures this semester. The course itself seems pretty good. Really easy so far as all we've done is review functions. There are only two components to this course: calculus and linear algebra (2/3 of the course is calculus though) so I'm not too worried. I don't think it will be too difficult. That being said, 30% of students enrolled in this course last semester failed. So....
Assessment: I got my first assignment on Friday and aim to start that today. I have to use Matlab though and I don't know how that works, so I'll have to figure that out.
SCIE1200
This course is interesting. The three hour lectures are kind of sucky but it is what it is. We are just watching research seminars and taking notes on the aims and findings of studies. It's kind of weird but interesting.
Assessment: I got my first assignment on Thursday. I have to write 2900 words  :o ... It's due in two weeks... we haven't finished the content... we have to write a literature review.... we haven't learnt how to write a literature review...  :) :) :) I aim to start this today.
STAT1301
idek what we're meant to be learning. The lecturer speaks so slowly... In the last lecture of the week we only answered 1 question. I don't know what's happening but I'm hoping it will sort itself out.
Assessment: I got my first assignment on Wednesday. It's just a statistical review so it should be easy. I will start and probably finish that today.

General Life Update
I had my first tutoring session today. My student is awesome and we get along really well. I will be taking them for year 11 biology. They have their research investigation due soon so we spent the entire 1.5 hours going over that - just breaking down each individual section and the requirements to meet all of the ISMG criteria points. Was good fun. I will be doing weekly lessons with them on Friday afternoons over Zoom; I very much look forward to our next lesson.

Weekend To-Do List:
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on August 06, 2021, 10:35:45 pm
~Lockdown Or Really Long Extended Weekend???~

So, COVID may have stopped a lot of things from going ahead on campus, but it has not yet halted my motivation!  8) 8) 8) I was kinda hoping to get my shit together this week, but I didn't - maybe that was just an overly ambitious goal  :P Though I am happy with what I have achieved as I did get through most of my to-do list.
I actually quite enjoy the whole online learning thing. It means I don't have to leave my house by 6:30am to make sure I get parking on campus. I can roll out of bed a few minutes before my class if I wanted to (or 36 minutes into the class if you take my 8am MATH1051 workshop, for example). I quite miss my friends though, so I spend quite a lot of time on discord chatting with them (I was peer-pressured into downloading it a couple days ago and I'm glad I did bc it is fantastic still being able to chat with them during classes). I was worried that video chatting friends during lectures would be a distraction, but it actually keeps me focused and zoned in - it's probably helpful though that our conversations rarely deviate from the content lecturers are discussing.
Anywho, despite lockdown potentially ending for my area this Sunday (unlikely), UQ will be shut for the entirety of next week. There have been a few cases amongst students (I'm pretty sure this outbreak was actually a result of a UQ student unknowingly having COVID), so a lot of UQ buildings have been deemed high risk exposure sights. Also, majority of my lecturers are close contacts and have to self-isolate for two weeks anyway.

Course Update
PHYS1002
Still a fantastic course. For the most part I am understanding the content quite well, but we did go over quite a tricky integral last workshop and I had a bit of trouble following it. I think it may have been a result of the lecturer choosing whacky variables, but I'm sure I will be fine if I review it a little more :)
MATH1051
The lecturer is still adorable. I am struggling a bit with MATLAB though. I will definitely have to get some more practice in, but
Assessment: I have almost finished the first assignment. I am just a bit stuck on the last question. If I'm to be honest, I'm not sure I quite understand what it's even asking for. But it's not due until Thursday so I have plenty of time to figure it out.
SCIE1200
COVID has really messed with this course. With going online it messed with the course schedule. We were meant to watch the last research seminars on Monday so that we could hand in assignments by next Thursday. But we couldn't do that, so we finished them yesterday.
Assessment: Thankfully, they pushed the assignment back a week. I haven't started yet but I'm think I'll do the significant piece on Optomechanics (the options were beer making, dynamical systems, coastal geography, and opto - I was gonna do dynamical systems but opto seems both easier and more interesting). I will hopefully (fingers crossed) start this tomorrow. If not, I'll start on Sunday
STAT1301
I still don't know what we're meant to be learning  :o we are still only getting through one question a lecture... except, last lecture I don't think we even got through any of the assigned questions... the lecturer just made random graphs on R for an hour... On that note, I really don't know how R works ahaha. We were also told that learning R isn't really a part of the course and we will just have to teach ourselves (I don't really have the time for that but ok). I am quite concerned about the pace of the course... We were meant to be going through chapter 3 this week and moving onto 4 next week... we're still on chapter 1  ???
Assessment: I finished my statistical review pretty quickly ahaha. The hardest part was finding a paper I could use for it. I have to do an ethics review later on in the semester, so I tried to find a paper I could also use for that.

General Life Update
I had my second tutoring session with my yr 11 biology student today and it was fantastic. We covered the entirety of the "Energy and Metabolism" subtopic from Unit 1, Topic 1.
I also picked up a second student this week. I will now also be tutoring yr 12 biology which is exciting as I am more familiar with that content (there's also more resources available for it which is helpful). I had my "kickstarter" with that student yesterday and we devised a plan of attack for the next 13 lessons leading up to the external. Should be fun  ;D ;D ;D
I also ended up getting a couple writing positions with my tutoring company. So I will be writing lesson study guides for QCE physics, as well as general study articles/practice questions. So I'm now under 3 different contracts with this company which is fun to keep track of ahaha. I've had to get pretty good at invoicing very quickly lol. I have already been assigned my first article and lesson guide to write - both are due next week.

Weekend To-Do List:
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on August 14, 2021, 10:43:16 am
~Getting Back to Business (sort of)~

Online uni has been a hoot. I'm really enjoying it :) I get to save a lot of time by skipping the gruelling drives during peak-hour traffic. Uni will slowly be returning to campus come next week. Though, I think I only have three in-person classes all week (all lectures and workshops will be online). So, as far as I'm aware, I will only be on campus from 8am to 11am on Tuesday, and 1pm-2pm on Wednesday (so is it really worth going in on Wednesday? Idk...).

Course Update
PHYS1002
We're still going strong in this course. It's good stuff. We're getting close to the end of Module 1, so that's cool.
Assessment: I got my first assignment for the semester yesterday. I haven't had too much of a look at it yet but I hope I can get started on it this weekend. I also have a mastering physics activity due at the end of the week so I will get that done as well.
MATH1051
I handed in my first assignment the other day. It was pretty good. The last question took me quite some time to get but I had kept making silly mistakes that were taking me further and further from the answer, even though my plan of attack was correct.
Assessment: I got my second assignment the day I submitted the first. It looks interesting. Will hopefully get started on it this weekend.
SCIE1200
I am slowly working through the assignment. I hope to have bulk of it finished this weekend.
STAT1301
This course is still confusing  :o

General Life Update
I had my two biology students this week. Was very good. I look forward to next week.
I also picked up a third student who I will start working with next week - year 5 mathematics.
My first article went really well and they were very happy with it. So I am working on the second now. It's due Monday but I've made good progress on it.
My first lesson guide was also received very well. They were impressed with what I had come up with. The term hasn't been fully planned yet, so I won't be receiving my next lessons to write until that is finished. But once it is, I will be writing two a week.

Weekend To-Do List:
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: Bri MT on August 16, 2021, 11:34:43 am
I'm glad to hear things are going well for you!

Btw, not at all surprised that your students had positive feedback for you :D
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on August 19, 2021, 01:47:42 pm
~Bring on Week 5~

It's been a hectic, hectic week! I am writing this update earlier than usual because I will have 0 time to do it on the weekend  :o

Course Updata
PHYS1002
Assessment: Gotta finish the assignment
MATH1051
Assessment: Gotta finish the assignment and start studying for midsem
SCIE1200
Assessment: So close to finished. It's due tomorrow at 2pm. We also received the second assignment which is a literature review
STAT1301
Still confused about this course  :o

General Life Update
Haven't done any tutoring yet. I have 2 lessons this evening (yr 5 maths and yr 12 bio). My yr 11 student has asked to move their lessons to Saturdays, so my Friday evenings have freed up.
The second article went well, I am starting work on the third which is due Monday.
They've taken a guess as to what the plan will be and have assigned me some lessons to write. I have one due on Sunday and one due next Thursday.

To-Do List:



I'm glad to hear things are going well for you!

Btw, not at all surprised that your students had positive feedback for you :D

Thank you! Too kind  ;D
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on August 27, 2021, 06:56:11 pm
~Another One Bites the Dust ~

This week was also another hectic one, but I was able to tick off most of my to-do list which is very good :)

Course Update
PHYS1002
Goodbye electricity and hello magnetism! Module 1 has come to a close and now we are doing all things magnetic  8)  The new lecturer seems very knowledgable which is good. So far the content is relatively easy so hopefully it stays that way ahaha.
Assessment: I handed in my first physics assignment today and it was pretty interesting. The questions were pretty thought-provoking and, if I'm to be honest, I'm not entirely sure whether I got some of the questions correct but that's ok. This is a learning process  :)
MATH1051
This course has been good, as always :)
Assessment: I handed in my second assignment for this course on Thursday. It was certainly something ahaha. My midsem is in 2 weeks time so I am beginning preparation for that.
SCIE1200
This course is so weird lol. We don't actually learn anything. We just listen to people talk about research or we read scientific papers and then write about it
Assessment: My second assignment for this course is an abstract writing and figure analysis task. It's due next Friday so I'll hopefully make good progress on that over the weekend.
STAT1301
I don't like this course, and I don't think this course likes me  :'( On the upside, we have been doing distributions in the past few lectures which is good because I somewhat remember that from methods.

General Life Update
I had my lessons with my yr 5 and yr 12 students yesterday. They were very good lessons - lots of fun. I will have my yr 11 tomorrow afternoon.
I wrote two physics lessons this week and am yet to be assigned any for next week. I have an article due on Monday which I will start tonight.
I had to pick my sister up from school this afternoon while my parents got their second covid jab. As I was doing that I got to catch up with my high school physics teacher which was fantastic  ;D It was so good getting to talk to her.

To-Do List:
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on October 09, 2021, 03:18:16 pm
~Overdue Update~

Wow, it's been some time since I have updated this. My life has been so hectic since the last update.
Since the last update I have completed:
- the second LaMPS module review,
- a literature review for SCIE1200,
- a MATH1051 mid-semester exam,
- a PHYS1002 lab report,
- a team oral presentation for SCIE1200,
- another seminar review for SCIE1200,
- the third MATH1051 assignment,
- the second PHYS1002 assignment

I'm yet to find out how I went on most of these.
All I know is that for the PHYS1002 lab report I got a 5 (which is big improvement from last sem - but hoping to do better on the second and third), for the MATh1051 midsem I got 50%  :o (which I wasn't happy with until I found out it was above the class average), and the MATH1051 assignment I got 15.5/20 (they mark so harshly and its killing me).

I'm seriously struggling to get work and study done this semester. I've had three tutoring lessons a week where I have to prepare resources myself bc the company is currently developing them. Because two of my students have online lessons, it means I have been spending hours each week making powerpoints to deliver the content. I'm also on the content development team, so I am one of the people who are working on the resources that tutors will eventually use once we finish them up. I am on physics duty, so I write two lessons a week. Each has at least 38 questions and numerous content blocks with lots of theory. They take hours and hours to write. I then write an article every week which can range from practice questions to entire practice exams, or guides to completing certain assessment pieces all the way to example assessment pieces. These also take a good few hours to write each.
Sooo... as you could imagine, with the near constant assessment and this workload, I am slightly dying :) :) :)

I'm seriously concerned I'm going to fail stat because its really difficult and the lecturer isn't very good. Physics is ok, content wise, so I'm not too concerned about it... I thought I was doing fine in MATH1051, but that midsem proved otherwise. SCIE is still the weirdest course and the final project scares me (i have to write about qubits and energy levels and schrodingers equation - it's all 2nd year physics stuff that we haven't been taught and some maths that I am yet to learn and will have to teach myself in order to complete the report  :'().

Thankfully, I get a few weeks of a break from tutoring so I am going to make the most of that and try to get some good study done. My year five student has seen improvement with their grades so we will be taking a break from lessons until she needs me again. My year 11 student is just started grade 12 content, so they will be waiting for their teacher to start delivering the content before we continue with lessons. My year 12 students is preparing for exams now, we just completed our last content-based lesson this week so for the next three weeks it'll be straight exam prep - which means I wont have to make powerpoints (which saves me a lot of time).
I will have finished the entirety of U3/4 physics content for the lesson writing this week. I'm hoping the company gives me a bit of a break before starting year 11 lesson writing. If not, I might ask to drop down to 1 lesson a week for the tail end of semester so I can spend more time preparing for exams.

I would do an individual course update but I think I can sum it all up in: "I am dying". I feel that perfectly encapsulates the present situation.

To-do list for the week:
- finish the STAT ethics review that is due Monday (we're very close to finished  8))
- finish the final LaMPS reflection that is due Monday
- finish the PHYS lab report that is due Tuesday (we're very close to finished  8))
- finish the MATH assignment that is due on Thursday (we're very close to finished  8))
- write the two physics lessons that are due this week
- do some general MATH1051 study
- do some general PHYS1002 study
- do some general STAT1301 study
- get started on STAT project
I'm still enjoying uni and am as motivated as ever. I just wish I had more time to really appreciate the process of learning and be able to get some study done. Hopefully everything will sort itself out next year...
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on October 24, 2021, 04:13:54 pm
~Nearing the End~

Exams are coming around quickly and things seem to not be getting any less hectic.

Course Update
PHYS1002
We are on to module 3 and I'm loving it. Module 3 is the modern physics component of the course - relativity, quantum mechanics, etc. It is the part of the course that allows me to watch Interstellar (which, fun fact, is my favourite movie btw) and convince myself its for "study purposes".
I HAVE MAJOR NEWS!!!! I got a 7 in my second lab report  8) I am beyond happy. This, honestly, feels so amazing. To have gone from scraping passes (and even failing one lab) last semester, to getting a 7!!!! It feels incredible!!!
In less happy news... I got a 5.5 in my second assignment  >:( For reference, I got two 6s and a 7 last semester for the assignments. And so far, I've got a 5 and a 5.5... I feel quite defeated. I put a lot more time and effort into the second assignment than I did the first and I only improved by 0.5. To put it in perspective, my first assignment was only 7 pages long, my second was 21 pages long... The annoying thing is, I checked the feedback and I had pretty much everything correct. I was getting docked a lot of marks for stupid things like not specifying the direction of the current in a wire - even though the answer I got in the end was still correct  :'( :'( :'( Oh well... I have the next assignment, I'm aiming for a 7 so my average grade for the assignments makes me less sad...
Assessment: I have my third and final lab report due Tuesday. I have almost finished it. I think it is pretty good and I've taken the same structure that I used for the second lab report, so if I can get another 7 I may shed some tears of joy. I also have the third and final assignment now, its on relativity (which I think is my strong-suit for this course, so we're aiming high to try and fix my average).

MATH1051
This course is still lots of fun - even though it's kind of kicking my butt. The midsem = terrible, assignments = not terrible, but not fantastic.... The final is two weeks away so I will be studying hard. I'm aiming for a 6 in this course, so fingers crossed...
Assessment: All assessment has been finished. I should get my results for the 4th assignment on Monday. And from now on its all exam prep for me.

SCIE1200
Weird, weird course. I got a 7 in the second assignment, which was an abstract writing and scientific figure critiquing task. I'm pretty proud of that, given that I was out at a party the night before and wrote a good chunk of it the day it was due ahaha. Girl boss moment. I'm still awaiting my results for the group assignment, and the second set of individual seminar summaries. I'm hoping it goes well because I am aiming for a 7 in this course but am not confident the final report will be great. I need to bank as many marks as I can now, so I can worry less about the final.
Assessment: I have a presentation tomorrow on why we can't use qubits to approximate harmonic oscillators. I still have no clue how it works, but thankfully the presentation isn't assessed. I still have a few weeks to write the report, fingers crossed it goes well.

STAT1301
I am streeeeesssssed. I submitted an ethics review a few weeks ago, so I am still awaiting my result for that. I am confident that I didn't do terribly so fingers crossed. I am incredibly stressed about the final which is in three weeks time as I wouldn't be able to answer a single question asked about the content as this current moment. So, surely I can cram 13 weeks of knowledge into my brain in 3 weeks... Surely.
Assessment: I am currently working on my research report which is due tomorrow. I have no clue what I'm doing  :D I only have 800 words to work with which is proving difficult. We'll see how it goes. At the moment, it is pretty much finished, I just need to add a conclusion and then cut a whole heap of words.

General Life Update
Tutoring and all the other work I do is going well. My yr12 bio student has their external next week (I'm fairly certain), so we've been spending the past few weeks working through practice exams in our lessons. I'm confident they will do well, but am a little sad that I will have to say goodbye after our next lesson.

To-do list:
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on November 20, 2021, 10:08:41 am
~Semester Two Done and Dusted~

So, there goes another eventful semester. God, time goes so quick once you leave highschool! To think I should have finished my degree in only three more years  :o
This semester was so hectic, but fun, but hectic, and I'm tired and want to sleep but I now have to start the summer semester  :P

Course Update
PHYS1002
I did it! I got a 7 on the third lab and third assignment  8) 8) 8) y'all are in the midst of an Einstein. The exam was cooked though, it was so bad. Every past paper I did was horrible, so I knew I was screwed for this exam. In the past, there would be 6 questions on the exam and you would choose four to answer, but this year we had to answer all 6 in the same amount of time :( :( :( I opened the test and only knew how to do one of them. I only ended up answering four questions, though I'm sure my answers are wrong for 3 of them  :P turns out everyone felt the same though, so at least I'm not alone.
After talking to some older students who have taken this course before, I am feeling more confident about the next few years. They said that 1002 is the worst physics course, final exam-wise and that future courses get much better. So that's reassuring.

MATH1051
I ended up with 20/20 on the last assignment  8) The final exam was also significantly better than the midsem. Like I opened it and knew how to answer stuff  ;D There were a few questions in the calculus section that stumped me - I stupidly forgot to change dx to d(theta) in a trig sub, so I couldn't actually solve the integral in one question lol. They also never showed us how to figure out what to sub in for a trig sub, they always just told us what to sub in but this time they didn't. Thankfully, I watched a Nancy Pi video on it the night before so I knew what to sub in. Didn't remember to change dx tho  :o I also can't do Maclaurin series for some reason. Like, I get how they work and what we're meant to do to find them but every time I do it it goes wildly wrong??? Idk what I'm doing wrong lol. So I definitely got that question wrong.
But the linear algebra section was super easy so yay.

SCIE1200
The group assignment went alright. I was hoping for better but it is what it is. For a 7 overall, I need 87% on the final report - which I think is doable. So, fingers crossed!

STAT1301
My ethics review went alright and so did my report. The final was so much easier than I expected. There were five questions and I struggled with the first two because I'm really bad at probability. But I answered them. I just know that there are lots of mistake (I did know the general process for solving those questions though, so hopefully that shows in my working). The last three questions were good. I'm much better at statistics than I am probability, so they weren't too bad. I did stuff up one question though. They gave a linear regression model and we had to provide an estimate based on some parameters and stuff. I got a whacky number, and I knew the regression had been log-transformed but stupidly I forgot base e was a thing lol. So I tried base 10 and got some really whacky number and was like "Oh well". It was only after walking out of the exam that I was like "Whoops, base e is a thing that exists". But that's ok.

General Life Update
I had a job interview on Thursday for Elevate Education, so hopefully that goes well. A lot of my writing stuff will be finished come the start of semester 1 next year. This is a blessing and a curse. It's great because it gives me more time for study (I truly struggled with balancing everything this semester), but it sucks because I also need money so I can afford to go to uni lol. So, hopefully I get the Elevate gig.
I have a week long break before I start the summer semester. I am taking MATH1052 as well as PSYC1030. Should be fun. Unfortunately, I have to go to a 2 day conference next week for a leadership program, so two days of my break are gone  :'( I'll also be spending the other days getting back into writing for work. So not much of a break .
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on February 18, 2022, 12:08:10 pm
~Second year coming through  8)~

So, second semester didn't go fantastic grade wise. I just scraped by the hurdle on the PHYS1002 final (I mildly failed the exam with a 3.3  :o :o :o, but managed a 5 overall???). I made a lot of silly mistakes on the MATH1051 and STAT1301 finals, which meant I missed out on a 6 in those courses by just a few percent  :'(  Though, I do feel pretty alright with getting a 5 in 1051 given that over half of the cohort failed the course overall and it has one of the highest fail rates of all UQ courses. So, I can't beat myself up too much. I did, thankfully, end up with a 7 in SCIE1200 so that was pretty good. The final report was difficult but interesting.

I just finished up my summer semester like a week ago. I think it went quite well. I really, really enjoyed MATH1052. I think I learnt so much in that course (it was a lot nicer than 1051, that's for sure). I enjoyed ODEs so much and I also really enjoyed the multivariate calculus. I don't think there was anything that I didn't really understand in the course. That being said, I panicked big time before the final and wasted like 20 minutes of the exam freaking out because I wanted to do really well. Most of the exam was super easy and straight forward. There were a few questions that I got a bit stuck on (e.g., we had to do some implicit differentiation for a second degree differential with the -Fx/Fy formula thing... had no clue how to do it). Because I was ~panicking~ I made a lot of small mistakes that made some questions impossible to solve. For example, I integrated P^-1/2 as ln(P^1/2)  :o :o :o :o Instead of -2P^-3/2. I realised my mistake once I walked out. I couldn't figure out why the second part of the question was unsolvable ahahah. That was why.
I was hoping for a 7 in the course and was at 99.56% overall going into the exam, so I was feeling hopeful. But there was an 80% hurdle on the exam for a 7 overall in the course. So I'm scared I made too many mistakes to get an 80%. Though I'm certain I got at least a 6 overall.

PSYC1030 went really well. Final grades haven't been released yet but I know enough of my results to deduce that I got a 7 overall. Happy days. I'm awaiting one more written response, but the best 2 of 3 are counted and I got 10/10 on the first and 9/10 on the second. I do have a feeling that I did better on the third tho, so I guess we'll see (not that it matters really). I also got 68/70 on the lab report which was cool  8) So looks like I'm just a lab report genius in both physics and psychology now ahaha.

Semester One, 2022

I am feeling more hopeful about this coming semester. I've had a look at the blackboards for all of my courses and there is already way more physics resources available in one of my physics courses than there was in 1001 and 1002 combined.

This semester, I will be taking:
PHYS2955: Advanced Fields in Physics I. I am nervous because this is the first time this course is running. So I don't really know what to expect. I also don't know how different it'll be from it's non-advanced counterpart PHYS2055. But I guess only time will tell...

PHYS2020: Thermodynamics and Condensed Matter Physics. This course has a million resources!!!! I am super excited!!! The one thing I really didn't like about 1001 and 1002 is that there were no resources and no support. I had no clue what I was doing or where to go for practice questions. We had access to past exams but no solutions to those exams... Like, what am I meant to do with that??? In 2020 we get a whole booklet of practice problems to work through. We get a lecture workbook with all of the lecture question. We also get tutorial sheet questions every week. We get past exams WITH solutions. We also have access to a tonne(!!!!) of online resources they've made for us (e.g., topic summaries). I am feeling a lot more confident about how my journey through physics will go now.

MATH2001: Calculus and Linear Algebra II. So.... this is the second part to MATH1051  :'( :'( :'( :'( I'm not looking forward to it, but I think I will be ok. I learnt over summer that keeping up with the tut sheets and actually attending tutorials is really helpful  :P So I intend on doing that. I am nervous about the 70% final though.

NEUR2020: Neuroscience for Psychologists. Not nervous for this course, I think it will be fine. Got nothing really to say about it ahaha.

Work life
I have almost finished up all of the writing things I need to do (currently procrastinating two physics lessons as we speak ahaha - they're almost finished tho so its ok). By midsem break I should have everything finished and I'll be down to just tutoring. I have two year 12 physics students this year, and one year 12 bio student. I've done 3-4 lessons with them all so far and they're just super lovely and I really enjoy our classes. Physics has been a joy to tutor and its so fun actually knowing what to do in physics  ;D



Anywho, that's all for this update! I have two lessons to finish off and then a toga party to get ready for so  :P Until next time!
I hope you're all doing well,
Katelyn
Title: Re: An Apple A Day Won't Keep This Dr. Away
Post by: K.Smithy on February 28, 2022, 01:44:30 pm
~Unexpected events have occurred~

So... some of you may be aware of the current happenings in South East Queensland (particularly in the Brisbane area). For those who aren't aware, there has been major flooding throughout SEQ. Days of heavy rain, mixed with a rising Brisbane river, king tides, and major dams being over capacity, have resulted in major flooding. The flood levels are close to what they were in 2011 in many areas and while the days of rain have finally come to an end, the dam has once again gone above capacity and needs to be released for I think the third or fourth time in the last few days - combine this with the king tide expected today and it is incredibly likely that the water levels will continue to rise over the coming days.

I was hanging out with a friend in Brisbane on Thursday (the day the rain started) and have since been trapped at their house. I haven't seen my family since 6:30am on Thursday and don't know how long it will be until I see them next. My friend's family have been so welcoming and I honestly couldn't thank them enough for keeping me safe. The highway and surrounding roads that I would need to drive on to get home have been severely flooded and are now inaccessible.

My university has been hit pretty bad. There will be major clean up work needing to be done once the flooding subsides. The central library flooded only a couple of years ago and was reopened at the beginning of last year. It is likely that it has probably flooded again and will need to be renovated once again. So, needless to say, uni won't be happening for a bit. I know for certain that I will have no classes today, tomorrow, and Wednesday (even online classes have been cancelled), and it is likely that we will soon hear that Thursday and Friday classes will be cancelled.

Anywho, that is my update for now. I will take this as an opportunity to get more work done and to maybe get a head start on some of the work for the weeks ahead.

I hope all of those who live around the affected areas are doing well and keeping safe. Remember, if it's flooded, forget it.